Chapter 191: Chapter 0191: Liu Ruomei, You Betrayed Me_1
At a chess stall by the park entrance, Zhang Bin sat across from the shabbily-dressed old vendor. "Let’s play three games, best of three," he said nonchalantly. "How about it?"
The old man chuckled, his goatee jutting upwards. "Young man, a game here costs five hundred yuan. As long as you have the money, we can play three games or thirty. It makes no difference to me."
"That’s right, Master Xu never fears a challenge," said a middle-aged man standing nearby with a grin. "And the master isn’t short on cash. If you’re a good player, you could make a real fortune tonight."
Master Xu? Could he actually be an expert? Zhang Bin felt a flicker of caution. But after looking the old man over again, he saw nothing special about him. Besides, he was one of the ten best chess players in Sanchahe Village. Why would he be afraid of this old guy? In any case, he was in too deep to back out now. "I won’t win too much off you," he said proudly. "I know making money isn’t easy. I’ll just win three games, so you can get one thousand five hundred yuan ready."
"Heh heh..."
The old man and the onlooker laughed at the same time, and so did the growing crowd that had gathered around.
Master Xu promptly took one thousand five hundred yuan from his wallet and slid it under the chess box. Looking at Zhang Bin, he said, "Best of three it is. The stake is fifteen hundred. My money’s on the table. Where’s yours?"
"How could I possibly lose? I don’t even need to take my money out," Zhang Bin said, craning his neck stubbornly.
"It seems you’re quite the expert. I’m surely doomed to lose," Master Xu said, a look of apprehension appearing on his face. "But this is a bet. You still have to put up the cash, or I won’t play with you."
The surrounding crowd snickered, struggling to hold back their laughter.
Even Liu Ruomei, who was standing beside Zhang Bin, was shaking with suppressed giggles, but she somehow managed not to make a sound.
"Fine, then. Fifteen hundred is about to become three thousand," Zhang Bin muttered. He took out his wallet, counted out the cash, and slid it under another chess box.
And so, the two of them set up their pieces, and the great match began.
Zhang Bin played as red and went first, immediately setting up a central cannon.
Master Xu simply smiled and moved his knight.
Zhang Bin began to attack fiercely, putting on a show of aggression.
But he carelessly lost a horse, and then a chariot. To add to his frustration, his opponent launched a successful sneak attack, blasting his elephant with a cannon and putting him in a smothered checkmate.
The game was over in just a dozen or so moves.
Zhang Bin was dumbfounded. He stared at the chessboard, unable to utter a word for a long time.
The onlookers chuckled, as if they had known this would be the outcome all along.
Disappointment was written all over Liu Ruomei’s face. She had been observing Zhang Bin the entire time and had now confirmed her suspicions: this guy was all talk and no substance. Of course, his hacking skills were still the best in the world; that was undeniable.
But this persona of his was just an immature youth, a far cry from the real Zhang Bin.
Master Xu chuckled and said, "Come, come, let’s start the second game."
"Wait a minute. Let me study this board a bit more."
Zhang Bin was quite thick-skinned and didn’t just run off in shame despite his earlier boasts. He stared at the chessboard, replaying every one of the old man’s moves in his mind and analyzing them carefully. He soon realized that the old man’s playing was simply perfect, completely unassailable. Compared to him, Zhang Bin was a mere firefly next to the brilliant moon.
In other words, this old man was an incredibly powerful chess master, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Furthermore, he suspected Liu Ruomei had set him up.
He seethed with anger. Tutu, look up this old man’s information.
In a flash, Tutu completed the search. "Master, his name is Xu Dahe, a Xiangqi grandmaster. He has won the national individual championship eighteen times... You could say he is China’s number one chess master."
"PFFT..." Zhang Bin almost coughed up a mouthful of blood. He sputtered in exasperation, "You’re Xu Dahe? The one who won the national individual chess championship eighteen times? The Xu Dahe who was undefeated for a decade?"
"Eh... You actually recognize me?" Xu Dahe looked surprised. If this young man knew who he was, why would he still dare to gamble on a game of chess with him? How could he dare to boast like that?
"The foolish kid finally recognized Master Xu?"
The onlookers began to jeer, looking at Zhang Bin as if he were an idiot.
"Liu Ruomei, you set me up!" Zhang Bin whipped his head around to face her, his voice filled with anger and frustration.
"You agreed to it yourself. You were just too overconfident," Liu Ruomei said with clear irritation.
The implication was that he was too arrogant, completely unaware of his own limitations, and devoid of any modesty.
"But you didn’t tell me he was Xu Dahe!" Zhang Bin said furiously.
"Even if he weren’t Xu Dahe, just some other old man with a stall, could you have won with your pathetic chess skills? You still would have been slaughtered," Liu Ruomei said, cutting straight to the point.
"The lady is right. Young man, your skill level is truly awful. Everyone here is miles better than you," Xu Dahe said with a smile. "In fact, many of the people here could give you a handicap of a rook, cannon, and knight."
With that, he collected Zhang Bin’s one thousand five hundred yuan and stuffed it into his pocket.
He felt it was his by right. In his eyes, Zhang Bin’s chess was so atrocious he could have won playing blindfolded.
Therefore, there was no need to play the other two games. The money was already his.
"You’re really rubbing it in, aren’t you?" Zhang Bin was mortified, so annoyed he wanted to punch the old man’s nose flat.
"Young man, I’m just stating the facts. You should go home and practice for ten years before you come back to play me," Xu Dahe said.
"Ten years? That’s not nearly enough! Even if he trained for a hundred years, he’d be no match for you, Master."
"Even if he trained for a thousand years, the master could still give him a rook handicap."
"A rook is nothing. He should give him a rook, knight, and cannon!"
The crowd of onlookers snickered, mercilessly taunting Zhang Bin.
"Chen Junheng, I’m leaving. Goodbye." Liu Ruomei’s patience had run out. She turned to go.
However, Zhang Bin said indignantly, "Liu Ruomei, are you going back on your word? We’ve only played one game out of three! It’s best two out of three. I may have lost one round, but I still have a chance to turn this around. How can you leave now?"
Liu Ruomei walked back over, saying irritably, "Fine. I’ll watch. I’ll see just how you ’turn this around.’"
Of course, she was being sarcastic. She only stayed because she wanted to see him lose so badly he’d be left speechless. Then, she could finally be free of this nuisance. She had to admit, though, the guy was annoyingly persistent; he’d thwarted her attempts to leave several times already.
However, the large crowd of onlookers erupted in laughter.
"Hahaha... I’m dying! This is hilarious! Someone actually said he’s going to turn things around against Master Xu?"
"So arrogant, so pretentious..."
"He’s not arrogant or pretentious; he’s just hopelessly clueless..."
"..."