Chapter Thirty-Eight: Chess Skill Conquers Others

  Xing Ye knew the whole story, but didn't take it to heart. She listened to Old Man Lin's words as if they were a joke, still smiling, serving her grandmother food and pouring tea for her grandfather, not forgetting to invite Grandpa Lin to eat and drink.

  Grandfather looked at the starry night without putting it in his heart, feeling very relieved, and continued to argue with Old Man Lin while maintaining his demeanor and temperament, but the words he spoke were not letting up.

  The pearl earrings that Xing Ye and Jia Kai gave to Grandma were indeed well-received, and when Xing Ye helped her put them on, everyone said they suited her perfectly and praised Xing Ye for choosing a good gift.

  One evening, Lin Laoye's impression of Xing Ye greatly improved. This girl was calm and composed, unflappable in the face of events, sweet-tongued and considerate, and most surprisingly, knew how to take care of others. At her age, girls usually still need others to take care of them, let alone think of others!

  One night without words, the second day Xīngyè broke the rule and didn't go for a morning run, but instead helped Měi Yí prepare breakfast for everyone. As they ate the dumplings and spring pancakes made by Xīngyè, Lín Lǎo Yézi kept praising her, saying that she was not only elegant in the living room but also skilled in the kitchen, and it would be a pity if such a girl didn't become their own family's daughter-in-law.

  After breakfast, Xing Ye practiced calligraphy in her grandfather's study while her grandfather and Lin Grandfather played chess on the side.

  The two people, despite having quarreled for decades, actually have a somewhat affectionate relationship. After all, they both have someone in common that they want to protect. It's just that their years of interaction have made them unwilling to change their way of communicating with each other. Xing Ye also thought that these two people are usually quite dignified and serious in front of others, always putting on a stern face, so they need some way to vent their emotions, which is why they choose this childish and meaningless bickering.

  Looking at the two men's chess skills, Old Man Lin launched a fierce attack, but although he seemed to be in control, he was actually weak and unable to follow through. On the other hand, my grandfather played steadily, but his chess skills were only average. The two of them were evenly matched, a perfect pair of mediocre players. It's laughable that they still had an air of disdain for others as if no one could beat them.

  After finishing the calligraphy at night, she was no longer writing large characters, but instead rewrote plum blossom small regular script. Two hours of suspending her wrist to write didn't make her feel uncomfortable anymore. She brought a cup of tea for each of the two elderly people, "Grandfathers, you've been working on several dishes already, why don't you take a break and have some tea?"

  "No big deal, I've been waiting for half a year to see who's better at chess between your grandfather and me. Look how I'm going to defeat him today, making him kneel down and beg for mercy." Grandpa Lin was clearly in high spirits, apparently having won more often than not.

  "Depend on you?" Starry Night's grandfather said with a sneer, "You're far from being able to beat my disciple. If you can win against him, then I'll consider it a win for you."

  "Your apprentice? You're still taking on apprentices?" Old Master Lin was even more displeased, thinking that this bookworm was no match for him and was just making excuses.

  "Xīng yè, you've also been with me for a few months now, come and play a game with your Grandpa Lin." The grandfather winked at Xīng yè, implying that she should acknowledge herself as his apprentice and win the game properly.

  "How can we play chess at night? Alright, come on, let's play a game." Old Man Lin said enthusiastically.

  Helpless Xingye sat down to play chess with Grandpa Lin under the eager gaze of his grandfather. Every time Xingye played chess with his grandfather, he carefully made sure not to let him lose too badly, and sometimes even deliberately lost a few games to him, so as not to make his grandfather feel like he couldn't keep up, after all, playing chess was just a way of humoring the old man.

  It's now clear that her uncle is letting her take revenge on Grandpa Lin, to vent his anger. Xīng Yè looks up at the white-haired Grandpa Lin and thinks: At such an old age, shouldn't you be more careful and slow down a bit? Don't let him lose too badly!

  "Huh?" Old Master Lin looked at Xing Ye, who was smiling as he devoured his own "cannon". "Does the little girl have two tricks up her sleeve?"

  "It's not like you're the one who taught him." Grandpa chimed in from beside them.

  Mr. Lin looked at him without saying a word, and his grandfather was so happy that he almost burst out laughing.

  The more Mr. Lin frowned, the tighter his eyebrows became, while Xing Ye still maintained a smiling expression throughout the night.

  "Grandfather Lin, General, you have no way to retreat." The night fell and the game of chess came to an end.

  "Unexpectedly, you're so young and yet play such a great game of chess, not bad," said Grandpa Lin, who had lost the game but didn't mind at all. He glanced over and saw that his opponent, Starry Night's grandfather, was smiling triumphantly. "You're much better than your grandfather, those two moves were especially good. Your chess skills must have been taught by a master, there's no way your grandfather could have taught you."

  Xing Ye never thought he was good at playing chess, and playing Chinese chess was something his grandfather taught him when he was young. He only played with his grandfather and older brother Ye Ye at night, but most of the time he lost to those two people. Even when he cheated, it was hard for him to win a game against his brother.

  "Whatever it is, I didn't teach her that," said Grandfather, "I played chess with her for several months."

  "Are you going to lose at chess too? Don't deny it, we're evenly matched, neither of us is much stronger than the other. With our skills, neither of us can beat Little Ye." Old Man Lin said this very seriously, and Starry Night's grandfather couldn't help but say that he had taught Starry Night himself.

  "Grandfathers yielded to me, what can my two moves do? When I was young and played chess with Huiye brother, I never won. Occasionally, when I won a game, it was because the brother was afraid that I would get angry and deliberately lost to me."

  "Do you have an older brother? From what you're saying, he's even better than you." Old Man Lin became interested.

  The starry night piqued Old Man Lin's interest, and he mentally organized what he wanted to say before slowly telling him everything about Kaguya.

  When he heard about Huiye giving up his studies to work and support his mother's medical treatment, as well as his sister's education. "He's a good brother, just like I was with Yingzi back then," Old Man Lin said emotionally, not forgetting to boast about himself.

  When he heard that Kaguya was arguing with someone over wages and had injured the person, the old man clapped his knees and exclaimed: "Good kid, has a temper, just like me when I was young."

  When the other party demanded a huge compensation and wrongly sentenced Kaguya, the old man suddenly stood up, "It's because of this kind of thing that the world is messed up," then turned to Hoshizora's grandfather and said, "Something like this happened, you don't care about it? Such a good child has to suffer this injustice, no way, I have to take care of this, I'll go call Shigoku right now."

  "It's done, no need to wait for you, Zhong Liang had already found someone to ask about it, naturally there will be a conclusion, don't worry about it." Xing Ye said.

  "That's all right, Zhong Liang handles things better than you, I'm at ease," said Old Master Lin, not forgetting to tease his old partner.

  "Xīn yè," her grandfather said softly to Xīn Yè, "your eldest uncle had already gone to investigate the matter of Huì Yè a long time ago, but there was no result so he didn't want to tell you. Now you don't have to worry about it anymore."

  She nodded in the starry night, this kind of thing is just a nod, no need to say it too clearly. The corner of her eye saw Old Man Lin secretly winking at her, making her blush instantly, really, people get more cunning with age, her little cleverness couldn't fool him, he was just playing along with her reaction.

  Old Master Lin chuckled and said, "Come on, little girl, let's play another game of chess. After playing with you, it's no fun playing with your grandfather."

  At night, he could only take orders and play chess with the old master again, but he was thinking about how to make the old master win this game happily, but unexpectedly, the other party didn't appreciate it.

  "Don't let me win, I don't care about winning or losing, as long as we have fun playing." Old Man Lin said with a broad smile.

  Under the starry night, he said so, and I didn't yield to him. I used all my strength and defeated the old man, who retreated in defeat without any power to resist.

  It turned out that Grandpa Lin was a man who had lost many battles but remained undaunted, and he didn't bother Starry Night's grandfather anymore. Instead, he pulled Starry Night into playing game after game until Starry Night's grandmother called them to lunch, finally freeing Starry Night from the ordeal.

  Mr. Lin, who had a little wine at lunch, was more and more fond of Xing Ye, smart, capable, and could accompany him to play chess. Such a girl is too hard to come by, he must arrange for his grandson to settle down with her. If yesterday's suggestion that Xing Ye become his granddaughter-in-law was 70% meant to annoy her grandfather, today it was truly 100% genuine.

  If Xing Ye found out about his change of mind, he probably wouldn't play chess with him again no matter what.