Chapter 164: A Rotten Butt
The first round of chess began instantly.
Jiang Huai did not hesitate in the slightest with any of his moves, which made Mu Lingwan momentarily dazed. She asked in confusion, “Don’t you want to think?”
“I play chess purely by instinct. The moment I hold a piece, I know I’m the best in the chess world. If any move makes me hesitate for more than three breaths, I lose.” Jiang Huai’s small face showed an expression of immense pride.
Mu Lingwan suddenly felt an inexplicable unease. As the pieces were placed one by one on the board, from her slightly narrowed eyes and fingertips tapping the board, to breaking out in a cold sweat with her fingers trembling slightly, not much time had passed.
Jiang Huai said not a single word. He silently waited for Mu Lingwan to finish her moves. After she finished, he instantly made his move. Wen Wanwan sat obediently behind Jiang Huai, gently massaging his shoulders. Luo Yueguan watched the chessboard with amusement, her lips involuntarily curling upwards.
She had to be careful with this little guy. He had too many wicked thoughts in his head, but he just didn’t show them, pretending to be foolish every day.
The first game took a long time. In the latter half, Mu Lingwan hesitated for a very long time with every move. Jiang Huai, just as he had said, never thought for more than three breaths. In terms of momentum, Jiang Huai had already gained a dominant victory, and the result of this game ultimately ended with Jiang Huai’s victory.
Jiang Huai leisurely took a sip of the tea Luo Yueguan had brewed on the table. He looked up, smiling. His angle was maintained at forty-five degrees, a subtle, almost infuriatingly polite angle as he spoke, “I believe Senior Mu went a little easy on me. Such noble character is truly a model for us all. However, for the next two games, please, Senior Mu, take them seriously. This is respect for me, and respect for the chessboard before us.”
Mu Lingwan took a deep breath and nodded slightly. It would be unreasonable not to take the offered step down.
The second game quickly began.
This time, Jiang Huai still played almost without thinking. However, while his moves in the first half were still exceptionally perfect, several of his moves in the latter half were very poor. It was unclear if this was due to carelessness from playing too hastily. In the end, it concluded with Mu Lingwan’s victory.
The score was now tied at one all. Jiang Huai calmly gathered the chess pieces and looked at Mu Lingwan in front of him. He said softly, “Senior Mu’s chess skills are indeed exquisite. But I will also use all my lifelong learning next. Senior Mu, please be careful.”
Mu Lingwan began to feel inexplicably flustered. If Jiang Huai hadn’t made so many obvious mistakes in the second game, it would have been hard to say who would have won.
Luo Yueguan narrowed her eyes slightly.
So wicked!
When she saw Mu Lingwan win the second game, her heart had been pounding. But when she looked at the look of annoyance on Jiang Huai’s profile, she suddenly realized that Little Huai was faking it.
After all, he had no reason to be annoyed. These two hundred thousand spirit stones were from her pocket. It was unlikely he would feel pained by it. The little guy was truly cunning and wicked.
The third game began quickly. This time, Jiang Huai’s moves were still without any pause. However, this time, every one of his moves could only be described as perfect, with no more mistakes. Even with Mu Lingwan’s best efforts to struggle, it was ultimately futile.
When Jiang Huai placed the last piece, the chessboard was set. Mu Lingwan, who had lost every piece on the board, stared blankly at the chessboard, clearly unable to accept the fact that she had been completely defeated.
Jiang Huai didn’t say anything either, just quietly waiting for her to snap out of it.
…Actually, he felt a little guilty. It was too much of a bully. He had won without any sense of accomplishment. Most things were like this. If something was obtained too easily, it was no fun at all.
After about half an incense stick’s time, Jiang Huai coughed lightly. Mu Lingwan finally came back to her senses. She stared blankly at Jiang Huai in front of her, and after a good while, she finally spoke, “A bet is a bet… Here… take it.”
She reluctantly took out the two hundred thousand spirit stone tickets and placed them on the table, pushing them towards Jiang Huai. Jiang Huai hesitated for a moment, then only took one hundred thousand, leaving the other ten thousand on the table. He said softly, “Senior Mu’s willingness to lower herself to play three games with me is already the junior’s fortune. We don’t need to be so serious about the previous bet. I’ll take one hundred thousand spirit stones. As for the remaining one hundred thousand…”
Before Jiang Huai could finish speaking, Luo Yueguan had already snatched the remaining hundred thousand spirit stones on the table into her hand. With a pat on Jiang Huai’s head, she said, “What are you saying? Do you think Mu Lingwan is someone who would renege on a debt if she lost? If you take even one spirit stone less than these two hundred thousand, Senior Mu will think you look down on her. When have elders ever broken their word with juniors?”
Mu Lingwan looked at Luo Yueguan’s smiling eyes in front of her, her smile so wide it seemed she couldn’t close her mouth. She felt as if she had eaten a dead fly. She gradually understood something, feeling that something was not quite right, but Luo Yueguan had already patted Jiang Huai’s shoulder, “Alright, the chess game is over. It’s time to go back, isn’t it? Aren’t you going to thank Senior Mu quickly?”
Jiang Huai looked helpless, but when his eyes turned to Mu Lingwan, he said respectfully, “Thank you, Senior Mu.”
Mu Lingwan suddenly felt as if all her strength had been drained. She waved her hand, unable to speak, and gestured for them to leave quickly. Jiang Huai tactfully stood up and followed Luo Yueguan back to Luo Yueguan’s room, along with Wen Wanwan.
“Hahaha ha ha ha ha ha.”
Luo Yueguan’s small hands pounded on the bed, laughing so hard that tears were almost streaming down her face. After returning to the room, she had already taken off her outer clothing. The inner garment had thin straps at the shoulders. Her chest trembled so violently that Jiang Huai was always worried that the two straps would break under too much pressure and be unable to hold on.
She laughed, her chest heaving. Jiang Huai placed the spirit stone tickets that Luo Yueguan had given him earlier, along with the ones he had won, on the table by the bedside. “They’re all here, you keep them.”
Luo Yueguan finally restrained her laughter and picked up the spirit stone tickets. She pulled out a hundred thousand spirit stone ticket and handed it to Jiang Huai in front of her, chuckling softly, “Here, this is for you.”
Her hand hovered in the air, but Jiang Huai did not take it. He shook his head. “You keep it. I don’t need it. There’s nothing I need to spend spirit stones on anyway.”
“Take it.”
“No.”
“I told you to take it!”
“I said I don’t want it.”
Even though Luo Yueguan raised her tone slightly, her tone seeming a little displeased, Jiang Huai’s reply remained so innocent. It wasn’t because he couldn’t figure things out, but rather, accepting favors made one feel indebted. Jiang Huai always felt a little awkward after accepting.
“You won it in the first place. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t get back a single cent of the money I lost. Why don’t you want it?” Luo Yueguan’s breathing suddenly became a little rapid. Her centuries of self-cultivation seemed to fail completely in front of Jiang Huai.
“Why should our friendship care about this little bit of spirit stones? You keep it.”
“Precisely because I don’t care… why don’t you want it?”
“I don’t lack it. I told you, you keep it.”
“I don’t lack it either. You keep it. If you don’t… I’ll be sad.”
“If you’re sad, then be sad.” Jiang Huai shrugged. However, when he inadvertently looked back, he suddenly realized that Luo Yueguan, who was sitting on the bed at this moment, had her skirt disheveled. She was biting her lip tightly, her eye sockets slightly reddening, and her eyes were particularly stubborn. Yet, mist had already coated her beautiful eyeballs, as if tear drops like ice and snow would fall in the next second.
She stared straight at Jiang Huai like this, no longer speaking, but her tears seemed on the verge of falling.
“What are you feeling wronged about?”
“You’re deliberately pushing me away.”
“…Really.” Jiang Huai, having been exposed, refused to admit it. He leaned closer to her and clutched the one hundred thousand spirit stones in his hand. “Alright, alright, I’ll take it. Is that good enough?”
“Your tone is so fierce.” Luo Yueguan’s voice trembled slightly, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. It was as if Jiang Huai had committed some grave sin. Jiang Huai looked at her helplessly and said softly, “Thank you, Auntie Luo.”
Luo Yueguan’s lips curved slightly, and she snorted, “That’s more like it.”
Jiang Huai stood in front of her helplessly, glanced at the one hundred thousand spirit stones in his hand, and saw the charming smile that appeared on her lips, changing as quickly as a flipped book. It was too late to stuff the spirit stone tickets back. He looked at Luo Yueguan’s reddened eye sockets, “If you use the same trick again, it won’t work.”
“What trick? What trick did I use?”
“You’re quite quick at squeezing out tears.”
But in the next second, water droplets clung to Luo Yueguan’s eyelashes. She stopped speaking and didn’t even look at Jiang Huai. Instead, she directly grabbed the quilt and covered herself. In the next moment, Jiang Huai realized he had said something wrong. “No, no, it’s just that I haven’t seen you cry much… Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. I said the wrong thing, it’s my fault.”
But Luo Yueguan just buried herself in the quilt, refusing to speak. Her body inside the quilt seemed to tremble slightly. Jiang Huai leaned closer and sat by the bedside, reaching out to grab her quilt. But Luo Yueguan held on tightly, unwilling to let go. It wasn’t until Jiang Huai reached out and gently tickled the sole of her white and tender little feet, which were not covered by the quilt, that Luo Yueguan’s strength weakened slightly. Jiang Huai seized the opportunity to pull away the quilt and saw the tears on her eyelashes.
Honestly… she was just like a sixteen-year-old girl, crying one moment and laughing the next, her moods as unpredictable as summer rain. Jiang Huai always thought that being six hundred years old, her emotions should be incredibly stable. But he overlooked that Luo Yueguan truly no longer concealed her true self in front of him.
“You’ve really regressed.” Jiang Huai sighed helplessly and reached out to gently touch her cheek, trying to wipe away the tears in the corners of her eyes. But Luo Yueguan made as if to grab the quilt again and disappear like a little ostrich. Their eyes met for a moment in mid-air. Jiang Huai looked at the stubbornness in her eyes.
What kind of way was this to sulk? At this moment, Luo Yueguan was like a female classmate he had teased when he was little. The female classmate would bury her face on the desk and cry, and he was that annoying little boy who especially wanted to peek into the desk drawer to see if she had cried. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and in the end, it was Jiang Huai who relented, “I was wrong.”
“Where were you wrong?”
“I was wrong everywhere.”
“Then tell me one thing you were wrong about.”
“I was wrong for… saying you were squeezing out tears.”
“Tell me another one and I’ll forgive you.”
In the next instant, Jiang Huai raised his hand and, through the quilt, slapped her snow buttocks heavily. There was a dull thud.
“Are you done playing around?”
Luo Yueguan’s cheeks turned red, and a hint of shyness and annoyance appeared in her eyes. Just as she was about to erupt, Jiang Huai raised his palm high. “If you’re not good, I’ll hit you again.”
Luo Yueguan stared at him intently for three to four seconds. In the next instant, Luo Yueguan suddenly flipped over. Jiang Huai hadn’t even reacted before she pulled him onto the bed. In the next moment, his body was pressed onto the bed. Luo Yueguan sat directly on his back, preventing him from getting up, and slapped his butt with one hand.
“No manners.”
“Who has no manners, really? You’re six hundred years old and you’re acting like a child, throwing a tantrum and expecting me to coax you. That’s unreasonable, isn’t it?”
“Who, who wants you to coax me?”
“Alright, alright, you don’t want me to coax you… Then what are you doing now? Hurry up and get up. You’re an elder, and you’re wrestling with a child like me. What does that make us? Where’s your shame?”
“I have no shame.”
“Junior Sister Wanwan is watching.”
Luo Yueguan only then noticed Wen Wanwan, who was a short distance away from the bedside, innocently sipping tea from a tea bowl. Noticing Luo Yueguan’s gaze, Wen Wanwan blinked innocently.
Shyness and annoyance surged into Luo Yueguan’s mind at this moment.
“Let her watch… I don’t care. From now on, you’re not allowed to hit me casually… Did you hear me?”
“Okay, I heard. If I hit you again, my butt will rot.”
Surprisingly, Jiang Huai did not struggle or retort. Instead, he immediately agreed.
He had been regretting it in his heart just now. He hadn’t intended to hit her, but it just happened. Perhaps it was a habit from when he used to roughhouse with Qingyu. Seeing Luo Yueguan’s face, he subconsciously thought of Luo Qingyu.
Luo Yueguan was momentarily dazed. He had agreed so easily.
Suddenly, a feeling of indescribable loss quietly surfaced.
