Su Rong didn’t feel bored, but she still accepted the Nine Rings puzzle.
The Nine Rings that Zhou Gu carried with him was very complex. Su Rong didn’t have much interest in such things since she was a child. She preferred finding things to do, making silver, going to the mountains to hunt game, going to the river to catch and roast fish. The stuff other kids her age loved to play with, she didn’t. But she did do many things that her peers wouldn’t, and that were seen as unusual by others.
For her, she’d rather go and hide on the third floor, lying on a couch and listening to half a day’s music than bother with puzzles like this.
So, she casually fiddled with it, only hearing the sound of the Nine Rings, without any pattern.
Zhou Gu saw her messing around for a while without solving it and asked, "Don’t you want to play?"
"Not really."
"So, what are you..."
"I don’t know how."
Zhou Gu was surprised, "You actually don’t know how?"
Su Rong was annoyed, "Yes, I don’t know how! What’s there to make a fuss about? I never played with these kinds of things when I was a child."
Zhou Gu gave an "Oh," as he thought she was someone who seemed to be good at everything. Fishing was such a hard task, but she could do it effortlessly. She could even master using a needle as thin as a hair for killing, never missing her aim. He thought that giving her a small Nine Rings to solve would be just right for fun. To his surprise, she actually did not know how to do it.
Zhou Gu burst into laughter, "Shall I teach you?"
"No need."
Zhou Gu saw her continuing her aimless fiddling and wanted to ask her if she was really okay with that, but when he saw that she seemed to only want to mess around, he held his words back. Regardless, it’s just something to pass the time, so she can play with it however she wishes.
He noticed that Su Rong seemed to be in a bad mood today and wasn’t very friendly towards him. Thus, he stopped annoying her and turned his head to talk with others.
Su Rong played with the Nine Rings for a while, and then returned it to Zhou Gu, finding it uninteresting.
Zhou Gu put it away, and then asked her, "I brought a chess set too, do you want to play chess?"
Su Rong nodded.
Zhou Gu put the Nine Rings into his sleeve, took out a chess box, handed it to her, and then moved back a bit. He hadn’t forgotten the time when he first came to Jiangning County and played chess with her on the carriage, and how he lost. There were so many people here; he wanted to save face and didn’t want to play chess with her.
Ever since Su Rong heard the words of the Lady Doctor yesterday, she had held a grudge against him. Now that he had come to provoke her, she planned to teach him a lesson. Seeing him back off, with no intention of playing, she raised an eyebrow, "You want me to play by myself?"
Zhou Gu blinked, "You can find someone else to play with you?" He looked towards Lu Weiran and Lu Fengyan, "Both the Crown Prince and Brother Fengyan must be excellent in chess."
Su Rong glanced at the two of them, then looked at the others. Seeing everyone watching her, she smiled and suggested, "We have plenty of time anyway, why don’t we all play together? Three rounds for each person, how about it?"
As soon as Su Rong finished speaking, she readied herself and said to Zhou Gu, "You go first."
She thought to herself that after going around like this, the gathering would surely be dispersed.
Xie Lin burst into laughter upon hearing this, "Lady Su Qi, is your chess skill really that good? Would you dare play with us in a continuous round robin?"
"It’s okay!" Su Rong looked at him, "You’ll know after you try it."
Xie Lin nodded, his interest piqued. He urged Zhou Gu, "Hurry up, she said for you to go first, so you go first."
Zhou Gu didn’t want to go first, but seeing Su Rong staring at him, her look seemed to suggest he’d be in big trouble if he backed out. He had no choice but to brace himself and agree, "Alright!" Then he whispered to Su Rong, "Please be gentle, Lady Su Qi."
Su Rong snorted inwardly, "Don’t worry."
There’s absolutely no way I’m going to go easy on you.
The chessboard was set up. Zhou Gu played as white, and Su Rong played as black.
Only three moves in, Zhou Gu saw that Su Rong was full of killing intent. He raised his eyes to see Su Rong, but she didn’t look at him. She tapped on the table, "Focus! Don’t cry when you lose."
Zhou Gu had no choice but to give his full concentration.
Su Rong’s chess style was cunning and changeable. No matter how Zhou Gu played, she killed ruthlessly. A game of chess didn’t take long before Zhou Gu lost, miserably and pitifully.
Xie Lin was wiping his sweat, "She is so awesome."
He knew his chess skills were inferior to Zhou Gu’s and didn’t want to be embarrassed, so he thought about backing out.
"Again." Su Rong glanced at Zhou Gu.
Zhou Gu kept a straight face and nodded.
So, another round began.
Just like the previous round, despite Zhou Gu’s efforts to change his chess style, he was still annihilated by Su Rong.
Xie Lin took out a handkerchief, and really started wiping his sweat, "Incredible."
He felt a bit sorry for Zhou Gu, but he felt more sorry for himself, whose chess skills were inferior to Zhou Gu’s. Wouldn’t he lose even more miserably later?
"Again." Su Rong didn’t even lift her eyelids.
Zhou Gu nodded.
Thus, another round began.
In this round, Zhou Gu learned his lesson. He didn’t confront Su Rong head-on, instead choosing to avoid the important and go for the less significant, using strategic withdrawal. They went back and forth, Zhou Gu planning his moves. But despite all this, in no time at all, he was still utterly defeated.
Zhou Gu had lost so much face already that he didn’t care anymore. He smiled at Su Rong and said something similar to what Xie Lin had said, "Impressive. I admit defeat."
Su Rong looked up at him, "A few days ago, on the way to the Big Buddha Temple, I played chess with Guixue, and we drew every round."
Zhou Gu’s smile froze, and he fell silent.
Su Rong didn’t look at him anymore, she turned her head and asked Xie Lin, "Lord Xie, will you play?"
Xie Lin backed away, "No, no, let His Highness Lu go."
He pushed Lu Fengyan forward.
Su Rong didn’t care who it was, and smiled at Lu Fengyan, "Then will Young Master Lu go?"
Lu Fengyan nodded.
The style of Su Rong’s chess remained unchanged, still full of aggression. Lu Fengyan lost all three games. Perhaps because Zhou Gu had started it, Lu Fengyan didn’t seem to mind losing. He bowed with a smile, saying, "Lady Su Qi is amazing. Fengyan admits defeat," and gave up his place.
Su Rong looked at Lu Weiran.
Lu Weiran smiled and sat down, saying to Su Rong, "After cousin Guixue started staying at the Duke’s Residence, I played chess with him once and lost terribly."
Su Rong laughed, "He is indeed very good. I have never won against him."
Su Xingze added from the side, "The fame of Second Young Master Ye spread across the world initially due to his unparalleled chess skills. You didn’t win against him, but you didn’t lose either. That already puts you above countless people."
Xie Lin slapped his forehead, "Right, right, right, I wanted to say that too."
After he finished speaking, he quietly patted Zhou Gu’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Don’t be discouraged, your Double-Handed Sword is still unparalleled."
Zhou Gu turned his head and glared at Xie Lin. His Double-Handed Sword wasn’t perfect yet, or else he wouldn’t have needed Su Rong to send Fen Ling to rescue him on the way back from the Big Buddha Temple. Guixue’s martial arts skills were not weak either. When Zhou Gu compared Guixue to himself, he seemed to be losing on all fronts.
Su Rong didn’t take it easy on Lu Weiran just because they weren’t familiar with each other. Her aggressive chess style remained unchanged, treating everyone equally, which was also a sort of respect towards Lu Weiran.
After three rounds of chess, Lu Weiran naturally admitted defeat, laughing and bowing his hand, "As for Lady Su Qi’s chess style, it seems only my cousin Guixue can compete with you."
These words left a bitter taste in Zhou Gu’s mouth, as if only Ye Guixue was worthy of standing beside her.
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