Soon, staff from the inn sent up some porridge and a few simple snacks. Su Tang sat down with a vegetarian steamed bun in one hand and a chess piece in the other and said, “Ready?”
Pei Xuan saw her leisurely appearance and couldn’t help but blink. Still, he stretched out his hand and said, “Please!”
In the end, everyone was born with certain advantages. When Pei Xuan made this gesture, coupled with his good appearance, it really cause his noble temperament to shine through, and Su Tang couldn’t help but take a second glance. Of course, she didn’t plan to be polite just because this guy was a little handsome, so she just nodded and set down her piece.
“Are you sure you want to put it there?” Pei Xuan was stupefied as soon as he saw Su Tang’s move. He had really never seen such an opening move, it seemed random and useless.
Su Tang secretly smiled. This situation really brought back memories. Back then, hadn’t Song Yi once asked her the same question in the same tone? Needless to say, Su Tang just nibbled at her steamed bun and said with a smile: “Please!”
Pei Xuan could only see his little junior sister being “stubborn” so he just shook his head and said, “Well, don’t cry if you lose!”
With that, he also set down a piece.
“I’ll give those words back to you.” Su Tang didn’t even think for a second before immediately putting down another piece.
Pei Xuan saw how Su Tang was “randomly” placing her pieces and decided not to take the game too seriously and just followed along with her. Of course, he was unknowingly underestimating his enemy. But thanks to that the pace of the game became very fast as the two people both put down their pieces very quickly, seemingly not thinking about their moves at all.
At the beginning, both of them were very fast but as time went by the speed of the pieces on Pei Xuan’s side became slower and slower, until he was carefully thinking about each new move.
Su Tang was a bit surprised after playing with Pei Xuan for a while. She could tell that he played chess with the same style that she did, his “random” moves all actually had a purpose but the seeming randomness concealed it.
With this kind of style, if a person’s reaction was a bit slow, they might lose without even realizing that they had already lost.
After a while, Pei Xuan looked at the finished gameboard in front of him and was in a state of disbelief. “I lost.”
Su Tang had clearly just been placing her pieces at random, so how did he lose? Pei Xuan looked at Su Tang, a small little girl, and decided it must have been a case of a blind cat meeting a dead rat. She had just won by luck. That must be it.
Moreover, Pei Xuan was at least considered to be a famous genius in the capital, so how could he lose to a nine-year-old girl? It was no wonder Pei Xuan couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, it’s true. Senior brother, let’s play again, but don’t keep letting me win.” Su Tang secretly laughed in her heart. Ah, what should she do with this young master in the future hehehe…
Pei Xuan pursed his lips and nodded, “En, I won’t let you win next time.”
They started a second game, and this time Pei Xuan was much more cautious and pondered each move over and over again. Meanwhile, Su Tang opposite of him was still the same, playing very casually and seeming to place her pieces completely at random. However, in less than the time it took for two sticks of incense to burn, Pei Xuan looked down at the board and discovered he had lost again.
Then they started a third game.
When Jiang Hong came back from outside he wanted to report that he had contacted the owner of the land and would need to go to the Yamen to go through the formalities the next day, he was surprised about the scene he stumbled across. The sun was slowly setting above, and his young miss had a naive look of surprise plastered all over her face. “Wow, I’m really lucky today. Senior brother, you shouldn’t give in to me so much, it makes me feel embarrassed.”
And opposite of her, Young Master Pei Xuan’s eyes were completely red. Why did he lose again? He looked up a Su Tang with eyes full of disbelief. It had to be good luck. It had to be. How could this little girl who only thought about money all day and who had only been learning for half a year be better than him at chess?
Young Master Pei began to doubt life.
Su Tang still had a sweet smile on her face. Winning once was cool, and winning every time was stylish. Then she finally spoke up: “Hehe, well, as you know, all I know how to do is make money. As for chess, I only know a little bit about it.”
She had been waiting here for Pei Xuan this whole time!
Pei Xuan looked at Su Tang and said, “You…”
Su Tang blinked her big eyes. “What’s is it?”
In the end, Pei Xuan couldn’t even manage to say “tricked me”. He had lost too many times and was already doubting life.
.
tl begging corner:
humbled him fufufu