Chapter 169 : Duang! Duang! Duang!
"Looks like I've won this round~"
Ling Ning was seated at the small chess table in Zhou Xiaoxiao's courtyard, facing none other than Zhou Jingshan. She had barely taken two sips of tea after arriving before she was pulled over for a game of Chinese chess.
Zhou Xiaoxiao watched the two with an expressionless face. Despite both being terrible at chess, and constantly taking back moves, they were still clearly enjoying themselves.
Qian Xu stood silently behind his former father-in-law, staring at Ling Ning across the board. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen this "boyfriend of Zhou Xiaoxiao" somewhere before. He was sure of it, yet couldn’t quite place it.
No matter. Today, he had one mission—to win back his pride. He wanted Zhou Xiaoxiao to understand that he was the one truly deserving of her.
The last time Ling Ning came over and played chess with Zhou Jingshan, Qian Xu had closely observed her skills. He knew just how terrible she was at the game. After that day, Qian Xu had even enrolled in a chess class, training diligently. Today, he was ready to redeem himself and crush the opponent's confidence.
"Uncle Zhou, you've been playing for quite a while. Why don't you take a break and let me play a round for you?" Qian Xu suggested with a smile.
Zhou Jingshan nodded, feeling somewhat tired after the long game. It was a good time to take a bathroom break.
As Qian Xu took his seat opposite Ling Ning, she raised an eyebrow, sensing his unfriendly intentions.
"Qian Xu, don't think I don't know you've been taking chess lessons! If anyone's going to play against you, it'll be me!" Zhou Xiaoxiao pouted angrily at Qian Xu. She was well aware that he had gone for special training.
"I just did a little learning, that's all. I’m still very much a beginner. Surely Brother Ling Ling, an expert like you, wouldn't be afraid of a novice like me, right~?"
"Relax, just leave it to me." Ling Ning spoke casually, completely unfazed.
"But..." Zhou Xiaoxiao hesitated.
"I said, leave it to me!" Ling Ning's determined expression finally silenced Zhou Xiaoxiao, who decided to sit quietly by Ling Ning's side.
Though Ling Ning appeared nonchalant, she had already made preparations. Casually pulling her phone out of her pocket, she pretended to scroll through the news, while in reality, she opened a single-player chess app and set it to "nightmare" level.
Zhou Xiaoxiao, initially worried, almost burst out laughing at this. Watching Ling Ning play against Qian Xu while secretly consulting her phone was quite a sight.
Qian Xu, seeing Ling Ning fiddling with her phone mid-game, scoffed internally. Didn’t she know that he was called a "genius chess boy" by the instructors at his class? If she dared take him so lightly, she would be in for a rude awakening.
The game began.
To Zhou Xiaoxiao's surprise, Qian Xu actually played quite well. Even she wouldn’t have been able to make better moves than him. Unfortunately for him, Ling Ning had an advantage: cheating with a nightmare-level chess AI.
Every time Qian Xu made a move, Ling Ning would make the same move in her phone’s app and then follow the computer's response for her own move. It might not have been the most ethical strategy, but considering Qian Xu had undergone formal training to bully a self-proclaimed beginner, she thought it was justified.
Qian Xu quickly sensed something was wrong. His pieces had dwindled into a pitiful handful of survivors, while Ling Ning’s side was also reduced to only a few remnants.
"How is this possible?!"
Qian Xu was incredulous. He remembered Ling Ning being awful at chess—so how had she improved so much, to the point of being evenly matched with him? It just didn’t make sense.
Then, a frightening thought occurred to him: Ling Ning had been hiding her true strength all along, purposely playing badly against his former father-in-law to win favor.
"This Ling Ling is a manipulative schemer!" Qian Xu thought, feeling like he had uncovered Ling Ning’s true nature. He became even more determined not to let her stay with Zhou Xiaoxiao. He needed to expose her for who she truly was.
"Checkmate, Brother Qian Xu." Ling Ning smiled brightly.
Qian Xu stared at his defeated king, clenching his teeth in frustration. He had been just one step away! He could definitely win the next round!
"One more game! I was careless this time!"
"Sure~" Ling Ning nonchalantly pressed the "Restart" button on her phone.
Ten minutes later, Qian Xu looked at the checkmate before him again. How had this happened? Everything was going fine at the beginning—why did it always end up like this? He was still just one move short!
"No! One more game!"
Ling Ning had no reason to refuse. She found that the AI was exceptional at creating scenarios where both players ended up almost equally depleted, unlike other AIs that would mercilessly crush their opponent. This left a glimmer of hope, which was perhaps even more infuriating.
It was that one-step-short feeling that stung the most, making people think they could win in the next game. Ling Ning was sure Qian Xu was convinced that he would definitely win the next time around.
"You’re so mean~" Zhou Xiaoxiao whispered in Ling Ning's ear.
"Oh, come on, I'm only a little mean~" Ling Ning whispered back with a grin.
Watching the two whisper to each other, Qian Xu felt his chest tightening in fury. Could they be any more obvious with their public display of affection? Did they have to ignore the feelings of her former fiancé like this?
Already rattled, Qian Xu lost the next game even faster.
After yet another defeat, Ling Ning yawned, feeling bored. While it was satisfying to use the computer to crush an opponent, it took away all the fun of chess.
She glanced at Zhou Jingshan, who was sitting in the living room pretending to watch TV. From his occasional glances, it was obvious he wanted to continue playing chess. However, with Qian Xu hogging his spot, he didn’t want to openly compete with the young man. Instead, he silently hoped Qian Xu would take a hint.
"Uncle Zhou! Why don’t you come play here? I’ll go see if there’s anything I can help with in the kitchen."
"Oh, it’s fine, you should keep playing! My wife’s got everything under control in the kitchen," Zhou Jingshan said, though his body instinctively moved towards the chess table.
"Another hand in the kitchen won't hurt! Go ahead and enjoy your game, Uncle. Besides, Brother Qian Xu here is quite a skilled player." With that, Ling Ning headed into the house.
Seeing Ling Ning leave, Zhou Xiaoxiao quickly got up to follow.
Qian Xu wanted to follow them, but with his former father-in-law now sitting opposite him, there was no way he could just walk away. If he did, his favorability with Zhou Jingshan would surely drop—'Duang,' 'Duang,' 'Duang'—straight down.
With no choice left, Qian Xu continued playing with his former father-in-law.
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Author's Note:
I really want a Saber-style tiger pincer... Oh, and I definitely don’t have thirty chapters in my stockpile. Nope.