Chapter 29
Chapter 29 - 22: Go Game (One Update)
1,441 words
•
8 min read
Su Rong brought Yuewan, Zhou Gu brought Ziye, and the four of them left the Governor’s residence by carriage.
In the carriage, Su Rong saw that Zhou Gu seemed uncomfortable no matter how he sat, so she asked him, "Are you usually more accustomed to riding a horse?"
Zhou Gu nodded.
"The sun outside is too intense, it’s not suitable for riding a horse at noon. Taking a carriage can provide some shade and relief from the heat. Just bear with it, we aren’t far away, we should arrive in an hour." Su Rong also wanted to ride a horse. Every time she left the city, she would sneak out of the city gate and then have someone bring her a horse. But she couldn’t just break her facade right after meeting Zhou Gu, so she had to endure the slow pace of the carriage.
𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
"Is it that far?" Zhou Gu frowned. An hour on the road, stuck in a carriage, made him almost regret coming out with her.
"It’s not too bad, it’s just that the carriage is a bit slow." Su Rong took out a chess box, "Should we play some chess?"
Zhou Gu nodded, "Okay."
So, Su Rong laid out the chessboard and asked him, "Which piece would you like to play?"
"Doesn’t matter."
So Su Rong decided to play with the black piece, and made the first move.
Zhou Gu took the white piece and made his move.
At first, Zhou Gu played rather carelessly, treating the game as a mere pastime to kill time, but halfway through the game, he sat up straight, surprised. He looked up at Su Rong.
Su Rong’s face was serene, and she didn’t even look up. It seemed that she didn’t notice his gaze and was completely focused on the game.
Zhou Gu’s gaze shifted from her face to her hand. It was a delicate face, with slender fingers that seemed fragile, yet when this gentle girl played chess, why was her style so fierce and aggressive? If he wasn’t careful, would he not lose this game?
Zhou Gu naturally didn’t want to lose to a girl. So, for the latter half of the game, he was very serious.
However, after being serious, he realized that he still couldn’t be sure of winning. To his surprise, especially as the game progressed, he couldn’t figure out Su Rong’s strategy. Suddenly she would make a sharp move here, then a piercing one there. Her moves were unpredictable and versatile, quite different from his orthodox style learned from the Grand Tutor Qin at the Eastern Palace. In the end, he couldn’t resist and lost.
After placing the last piece, Su Rong smiled, "Zhou Gu, you lost!"
Zhou Gu: "..."
Ziye leaned over, his face in shock, "My master actually lost?"
Yuewan clapped her hands, "Yay, yay, my lady won!"
Zhou Gu stared at the chessboard. He had tried to salvage the situation in the latter half of the game, but he lost anyway. He touched the corner of his mouth, and turned to look at Yuewan.
Upon his gaze, Yuewan immediately put her hands down and dared not to celebrate anymore.
Zhou Gu turned back to look at Su Rong.
Su Rong tilted her head to look at him, "You’re not upset, are you?" Seeing that he didn’t respond, she immediately said innocently, "It’s your fault for not taking it seriously at the start, and not considering me a worthy opponent. It’s not my fault."
Zhou Gu grunted in agreement, "I don’t blame you. Another round?"
Su Rong nodded, "Sure."
So, the two of them started another round.
This time, Zhou Gu naturally took things seriously from the start. With each move, he watched Su Rong carefully, calculating her reactions and trying to predict her next moves. However, Su Rong played completely differently in this round than the last, seeming unfocused and random, with no apparent aggression in her moves. He could not discern a pattern or predict her next strategy.
Zhou Gu reminded her, "I’m not angry, be serious, and play properly."
"I am serious." Su Rong gave him a playful smile, "If you lose this round, you won’t be mad, will you?"
"I won’t lose again."
Su Rong thought to herself that it wasn’t necessarily the case.
This round took a bit longer, but Su Rong ended up winning again, this time by a single piece.
Ziye dropped his jaw in shock, "Master, you lost again?"
Yuewan clapped again, "My lady, you’re so awesome, you won again!"
Zhou Gu: "..."
He rubbed his temples and looked at Su Rong, suddenly breaking into a smile, "Feeling pretty smug, aren’t you?"
Su Rong curved the corner of her mouth, an obvious touch of pride on her face, "All my childhod study of chess manuals has finally paid off."
Yuewan wanted to say, "My lady, when did you ever study chess manuals as a child? You just played a couple of games with yourself when you were bored. I’ve never seen you pouring over a chess manual." But she wasn’t silly enough to actually say that, she was afraid that it would make Young Master Zhou lose even more face.
"Although I’m not very good at chess, I’ve always been decent, and I was taught by Grand Tutor Qin at the Eastern Palace." Zhou Gu played with a chess piece, twirling it between his fingertips, "You said you’ve been studying chess manuals since you were a child? Which manuals?"
Su Rong sighed, "They were anonymous chess manuals, all burned now."
Zhou Gu raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Yuewan promptly added at his side, "Young master, when my lady was seven, she accidentally knocked over a candlestick and burned down an entire courtyard. It was at night, and the wind was strong. We couldn’t control the fire and everything was burnt to ashes. The two of us barely escaped."
Zhou Gu was taken aback, "You two were quite lucky."
Yuewan nodded vigorously, "I was so scared that I cried, and my legs were soft. The lady dragged me out. As soon as we ran out of the yard, the roof collapsed. It was terrifying."
"Hard to believe, you with your thin arms and legs, could drag someone and run." Zhou Gu pondered and felt it quite perilous.
Yuewan wanted to say, "My lady is pretty strong." But felt that she couldn’t say that, it would expose her lady, since the lady said that men prefer gentle and docile women. So she said only: "In times of crisis, my lady is more useful than I am."
Su Rong smiled, "The potential of people is limitless."
Zhou Gu nodded earnestly.
Su Rong asked, "Shall we continue playing?"
"Let’s not. Besides, I probably can’t beat you anyway." Zhou Gu felt that it would be too embarrassing to lose a third game in a row after having lost two already. It was better to quit while he was ahead!
Su Rong thought that it was nice of him not to feel upset about losing to a woman, graciously accepting his loss.
She reached out to pack up the chessboard and asked Yuewan, "How far are we now?"
"Five more miles."
Su Rong nodded and asked Zhou Gu, "How about we take a river cruise today? Tomorrow morning, we can ride horses and then climb Phoenix Mountain. We don’t have enough time to climb the mountain today."
Zhou Gu looked at her, "Do you know how to ride a horse?"
Su Rong nodded, "I learned from my elder brother."
Zhou Gu’s gaze fell on her, wondering whether her delicate frame could handle horse riding. If she were on a galloping horse, would she not be thrown off? But he preferred not to ride in a carriage if he could help it, so he agreed, "Deal!"
Unconsciously, he did not notice that Su Rong had already planned out tomorrow’s excursion as well.
The carriage arrived at Maple Leaf River. Even though it wasn’t the season for the leaves to turn red yet, there were still quite a few people gathered there.
Su Rong and the others got off the carriage. Their good looks, along with their cute and handsome maid and guard, immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
A group of people were about to get on a boat and glanced over. Their movements immediately froze when they saw Su Rong and her companions.
— End of Chapter 29 —