CM - 45

At the lake, one of the elderly men playing chess, Uncle Er, saw Zhou Shuirong and greeted her. “Hey, girl!”

Zhou Shuirong was in a bad mood, but that didn’t stop her from being polite. She returned a faint greeting. “Uncle Er.”

Uncle Er saw a young man following her and raised an eyebrow. “Bringing a friend home?”

Zhou Shuirong didn’t even look at Shen Tingwen. “I don’t know him.”

Shen Tingwen introduced himself. “Hello, Uncle Er, I’m her boyfriend.”

Zhou Shuirong turned and scolded him, “Don’t talk nonsense!”

Uncle Er understood. “Did you two have a fight?”

Shen Tingwen pouted and nodded. “She’s mad at me.”

Zhou Shuirong frowned even more. “He’s not my boyfriend! Is my taste that bad? Uncle Er, you told me a couple of days ago that I have a sharp eye. Could a sharp eye possibly see anything in this guy?”

Uncle Er chuckled. “You sound exactly like my wife when she talks about me.”

Zhou Shuirong gave up trying to argue. She was tired of it.

Uncle Er saw her walk away in a huff and called out, “Don’t you want to play a game?”

Zhou Shuirong waved her hand. “Come back early tomorrow, sir!”

Uncle Er shook his head with a smile. The girl was not only imitating his words, but his tone as well. “If you come back tomorrow, you’ll miss this brilliant endgame!”

Hearing that, Zhou Shuirong turned back.

Uncle Er teased her. “What’s this? I thought you said you’d come back tomorrow?”

“Don’t tempt me with an endgame, then.”

Uncle Er laughed and pointed to the board. “Take a look. These old guys haven’t been able to solve it and have been stuck here all day.”

The other old men weren’t convinced. “You set up this kind of game where it’s hard to move forward or back. It’s not just a day; it’d be good to finish this game in three days. Who plays chess like this, just for the process and not the result? It’s a waste of time!”

Zhou Shuirong looked at the chessboard. It was a suffocating situation, and judging by the board alone, it was indeed difficult to solve.

Uncle Er offered his seat. “Let’s let the young people take a look. This generation is full of strange and unconventional ideas. Maybe she can break this stalemate?”

The others didn’t believe it. “You’re a chess addict. You eat, sleep, and play chess, and even you can’t solve it. Aren’t you making it difficult for the girl?”

Zhou Shuirong actually dared to sit down, and her sitting silenced the old men.

Uncle Er smiled to himself. He liked that the girl never lost her composure, no matter what situation she was in. She was just like him!

Shen Tingwen stood by and looked at the chess board. His first thought wasn’t how to solve it, but to look at Uncle Er. He had seen this kind of game before. Uncle Er, ranked second? He thought he might know who this Uncle Er was.

Zhou Shuirong was stumped. Every move seemed like a dead end. No wonder they had been staring at this game all day.

Uncle Er saw that Zhou Shuirong was stuck and was about to give her an out so she wouldn’t look bad. But then, Shen Tingwen squatted down, leaned close to her ear, and said something. Zhou Shuirong’s eyes lit up. She looked at the board for a moment, then tried moving a few pieces. The game didn’t end, but it shifted into another dilemma, a different kind of difficult endgame. In a way, the previous endgame was solved.

The old men were stunned by what they saw. Then they all started praising her, exclaiming that she had actually solved it!

Zhou Shuirong’s mind finally cleared. The goal was to break the stalemate by moving pieces. Since they only cared about the process of breaking the stalemate and not the win or loss on the board, breaking the stalemate like this was a win.

Could Shen Tingwen’s mind really be that quick? She looked at him.

Uncle Er also looked at Shen Tingwen.

Shen Tingwen only looked at Zhou Shuirong.

With the stalemate broken, the crowd dispersed, and Zhou Shuirong left.

Shen Tingwen naturally went to follow her, but Uncle Er called out to him, so he stopped.

Uncle Er asked him, “What’s your name, young man?”

Shen Tingwen replied, “My name is Shen.”

That made sense. Uncle Er smiled. “Say hello to your grandpa for me.”

Shen Tingwen acknowledged him and left.

Uncle Er watched Shen Tingwen walk away, marveling at how fast time flew. In the blink of an eye, Shen Cheng’s son was already this grown up. It seemed it was truly time for these old men to be laid to rest.