Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2629 Still Vigorous in Old Age 10.0
"A complete defeat? How is that possible? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"It's not an exaggeration, it's just the truth."

"How could that be?" Xue Ruitian looked at Shen Cha, then at Jin Miaomiao, and saw her nod at him. He was puzzled. "You are indeed not good at this, but you are at least better than me and Xiaobaizi. You shouldn't have lost so badly, right?"

“It’s not that I did badly, it’s just that when playing against someone who is single-minded and only has the game in their eyes, it’s inevitable that someone as thoughtful as me will lose.” Shen Cha sighed softly. “As you all know, I only use chess as a method of strategizing. If I’m playing chess simply for the sake of playing chess, I’m even less good at it. That time, I was playing chess just for the sake of playing chess, so I had to be careful not to bring out my usual thinking, which made the game more difficult and challenging.” She thought for a moment and beckoned to Merlin, “Bring me a chess set.”

Merlin responded and carefully left the tent. In no time, he returned carrying a chessboard and two sets of chess pieces.

Jin Miaomiao stood at the door early and waited. When the person came in, she quickly took the things and handed over a hot water bottle to warm their hands.

"Warm your hands quickly." She looked at Merlin and brushed the snowflakes off her clothes. "How's it outside?"

“I don’t think we can go back for the time being.” Merlin looked at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, sighed and said, “It’s snowing very heavily, and the snow on the ground is already very thick. If we really can’t go on, we’ll have to stay here for the night.”

"Let's decide on this for now and wait and see." Shen Cha pointed to the charcoal fire next to her. "Go and warm yourself by the fire to ward off the cold. There's also ginger soup over there; drink it while it's hot."

"Yes!" Merlin handed the chessboard and pieces to Jin Miaomiao and went to warm himself by the fire and drink ginger tea.

Jin Miaomiao placed the chessboard and pieces in front of Shen Cha, raised an eyebrow at her, and said, "You want to review the game?"

"do you remember?"

"Hmm," Jin Miaomiao thought for a moment and nodded gently, "I remember most of it, and maybe as the rain continued, I'd remember the rest."

"Then come on!"

Shen Cha took the white pieces and pushed the other jar of black pieces to Jin Miaomiao.

Jin Miaomiao made the first move, placing a piece on the chessboard while explaining, "Back then, that old gentleman, playing black, placed his piece here."

When the others saw that they were going to restore the chessboard, they all swarmed around them.

Shen Haolin watched the two of them move their pieces back and forth on the chessboard for a while, then chuckled softly.

Xia Chen looked at Shen Haolin, and the two exchanged a glance and nodded at the same time.

"How was it?" Prince Hui strolled over to Duke Shen and nudged his arm. "If it were you, would you have won?"

"It's difficult." Shen Haolin stroked his chin. "The timing of the tea serving isn't exactly wrong, but..."

“There are indeed better spots, but…” Xia Chen pointed to the supposedly better spot, “If you actually play there, you’ll lose even more pieces, and you’ll lose even faster.” He sighed, “Even if Xiao Cha is holding back, he wouldn’t be a match for him. This game looks calm on the surface, but it’s actually full of hidden traps. From the very beginning, it’s been full of pitfalls, making it impossible to defend against.” “Anyone else would have lost too,” Shen Haolin said, glancing at Shen Cha who was looking at him. “This old gentleman is a master.”

Shen Cha glanced at the still-sleeping Fourth Master Jiang and lowered her voice, saying, "What if it were Fourth Grandfather and Uncle Qi?"

“We can have a match.” Xia Chen glanced in the direction of Fourth Master Jiang. “If it were the two elders, it would be a question who would win.” He looked at the chessboard that was still in progress and said, “Why don’t we wait until Fourth Grandfather wakes up and play a game with him?”

"Good!" Shen Haolin thought it was feasible, and continued to watch Shen Cha and Jin Miaomiao play chess. "His moves are quite interesting."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems to be very good at predicting things." Shen Cha sighed softly after hearing Xia Chen and Shen Haolin's words. "Every prediction is very accurate, and he manages to block my path to survival. In addition, I was hesitant and timid, and I fell into his traps time and time again. It's only natural that I lost."

Shen Haolin didn't speak. He looked at Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng, then at Ying Bao and Ying Jun. Seeing the blank expressions on their faces, he shrugged helplessly at Xia Chen.

“It’s not just that they find this hard to understand; even I sometimes don’t quite get it.” Xia Chen stroked his chin. “This old gentleman, as a son-in-law, has managed to remain a pillar of the Haernu family and hold a place in Linhuang Prefecture. He’s quite capable.”

"I really don't understand these last few characters," Shen Haolin said, puzzled. "Is this... a trap?"

“I don’t understand it. It seems like a useless move, but then again, it shouldn’t be. Given his style, there’s no way he would make a useless move.” Xia Chen patted Shen Cha’s shoulder. “Let’s stop here for now. We don’t need to continue.”

"Alright!" Shen Cha waved her hand at Jin Miaomiao, "That's all for now."

Jin Miaomiao put the black pieces back into the chess set, looked around at the people, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"That basically covers most of it; beyond that, I can't remember." She picked up the tea beside her and took a couple of sips. "But even so, Xiao Cha still lost, right?"

“Yes!” Shen Cha looked around and pointed to a large piece that had already been eaten. “When this piece was eaten, the defeat was already inevitable.”

Eagle Leopard stood up and looked at the entire chessboard from directly above. He stared at it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out.

“Indeed, playing chess is a profound art, not something that people like us can master.” He looked at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, smiled apologetically, and said, “However, the princes are quite good at chess, as are the two princes. When they play, we stand by and watch, but we can’t understand it no matter how we look at it. Later, the young master said that if we treat the chessboard as a sand table, we should be able to understand it.”

"Speaking of which, where is the Crown Prince?"

"They went to find Young Master Xiao and Young Master Qi, saying they wanted to avenge some grudge from last time." Eagle Leopard glanced at Shen Cha, "I didn't understand."

"It's a revenge match for Pai Gow." Shen Cha smiled. "Brother Yao Jia has never been very good at this game. He lost badly last time, so he's probably been practicing hard for days. This time, he's specifically looking for an opportunity to get revenge." She thought for a moment and said, "We're still missing one person. Who will join them?"

“Madam Ning,” Eagle Falcon said, “Madam Ning likes this. She was especially happy when she heard they were going to play Pai Gow. She’s not allowed to go home until she’s played twenty rounds.”

"Twenty laps?" Bai Meng and Shen Cha exchanged glances. "I wonder how many laps Brother Yao Jia will lose this time!"