In fact, given the female tutor’s pride, if it were any other maid, she would certainly not take them seriously.
But since this is the Princely Heir’s close maid, she shows so respect.
However, the female tutor still doesn’t take this maid seriously.
She certainly won’t show rcy just because she is the Princely Heir’s maid.
The chess ga set by the female tutor isn’t fixed; they are her spontaneous creations. As you play along, if you can’t solve it, you lose.
However, as more pieces accumulate on the board, Third Miss, Miss Fang, and Miss Cheng beside her look at the board with expressions of growing surprise.
Could she actually last this long?
According to the tutor’s temperant, the opponent should have no way out in no more than three moves, and indeed, the tutor made another move, a strong attack.
Qu Fulan followed closely with another move, instantly dissolving it, prompting Fang Yuan to exclaim, "What an excellent move."
The female tutor glanced at her, and Fang Yuan imdiately retreated to the side.
However, the ongoing situation did not result in Qu Fulan’s defeat, instead, the female tutor herself furrowed her brows.
Qu Fulan was puzzled too; she had co entirely under the Matron’s orders, rely going through the motions. She had no confidence in defeating this female tutor.
How long has she been learning from Heir Pei? The only person she’s beaten is the entirely useless Prince An.
Yet this tutor has not made any critical moves for so long.
Could it be that she’s reluctant to break her own rules, and since she was called by the Matron, she’s showing face to the Matron and giving herself a way out, intentionally letting her win?
Qu Fulan considers this possibility very likely.
A little while later, the female tutor looked at the chessboard, then at Qu Fulan, and said with a complex expression, "A Three-life Impasse, a draw."
Amidst the astonished gaze of those around, Qu Fulan stood up and gave a slight bow to the other, "Thank you for showing rcy, Tutor."
The female tutor was silent for a mont before asking, "Who taught you?"
Qu Fulan truthfully answered, "The Princely Heir taught ."
Upon hearing this, the tutor frowned and further asked, "For how long have you been learning?"
"Less than half a year." Actually, there’s so exaggeration in this; in truth, it hasn’t even been two months, as the Princely Heir doesn’t play with her every day.
But Qu Fulan didn’t want to tell the truth, otherwise this proud tutor might get annoyed at her audacity for playing as a novice.
"So it seems you do have so talent in chess," the tutor said coolly.
These words startled the three young ladies beside her, who stared at her more intently.
Third Miss couldn’t help but marvel, "Sister Fulan is truly amazing."
Qu Fulan’s expression remained unchanged as she calmly spoke, "With my level of skill, how can I be called talented? It’s just that the tutor praised wrongly. Third Miss, please don’t make fun of ."
Third Miss only thought she was being modest and liked her even more.
The female tutor, seeing Qu Fulan’s humility in her words, still didn’t show any expression on her face and rely said, "Let’s play another round."
Qu Fulan appeared sowhat hesitant; wasn’t it enough that she had passed this level? Even a draw should count as a pass, right? What if her luck runs out and she loses this ti?
The other three young ladies also showed anxious faces.
The female tutor, however, calmly said, "This round is purely for competition."
In other words, Qu Fulan passed the previous round, and she would accept Cheng Ru as a student.
Upon hearing this, the others relaxed and instead began to look forward to the upcoming match.
After all, the onlookers can also learn many techniques from it.
So, with this reasoning, Qu Fulan found it hard to refuse.
In the upcoming match, Qu Fulan could clearly feel that the tutor’s strategy was different from the first ga, becoming much sharper, and she was more focused than in the first round, aiming not to lose too miserably.
But as they played, reaching the end...
The female tutor’s gaze shifted from the chessboard to Qu Fulan’s face.
"A Four-life Impasse, a draw."
Of the students she had taught, Third Miss had studied chess with her since childhood and had developed comndable skills, but even she had never lasted ten moves against her.
Yet, Qu Fulan, who claid to have learned from the Princely Heir for less than half a year, managed to secure a draw with her twice in a row?
The female tutor understood that talent was sothing often hard to find yet invaluable upon discovery.
But the tutor felt that Qu Fulan must be lying.
There was no way she could have learned for less than half a year; she must have been studying since she was young, and learning under so expert, hence her current skill level.
Talent is often the door into an art, but diligent study and practice are the foundations.
To prove her hypothesis, the female tutor arranged another chess problem for Qu Fulan to solve.
This setup was ant to test the real capability of the player.
The problem was not complex; it was clever, ant to easily confuse the opponent.
Soone with experience could solve it effortlessly, without spending much ti thinking.
However, those who hadn’t studied long would ponder over it for a much longer ti without resolution.
Third Miss and Fang Yuan, seeing the tutor setting up this chess problem, grew interested and watched eagerly.
Back then, when they reached a certain level of learning, the tutor tested them one by one with this chess problem, and except for Third Sister, none could pass.
Now, as the tutor presented it for Qu Fulan to solve, was it too challenging?
Yet, in the blink of an eye, Qu Fulan solved the problem.
Third Miss couldn’t help but widen her eyes, admiring sincerely, "Sister Fulan, you’re incredible! You solved the chess problem in an instant!"
And Fang Yuan, regardless of her prior opinions about Qu Fulan, now genuinely admired her, saying, "You’re impressive to solve a problem like this. It took all night to solve it back then, only to complete it the next day."
Back then, the tutor also praised her for her progress, but now compared to Qu Fulan, it was nothing.
Qu Fulan originally thought the female tutor might present a difficult problem to her, but it turned out to look complex, yet with a change in perspective, it was a simple puzzle.
She hadn’t expected that apart from Third Miss, the other ladies couldn’t imdiately solve this chess problem.
Fang Yuan even spent an entire night solving it.
Had she known, she would have hesitated a bit more or perhaps even not have solved it at all.
She did not want to stand out among these prestigious young ladies.
At the sa ti, she realized sothing.
The first draw was one thing, but a second draw, and now solving this specially set chess problem— acclaid as difficult by Third Miss and others— quite easily.
Before this, it wasn’t that Qu Fulan was self-effacing; it was simply that she had always only played against the Princely Heir and lost every ti, with her only other opponent being the novice Prince An.
Under these conditions, how could she realize that she might actually be quite skilled?
It’s like soone who has always self-studied at ho and never attended school, suddenly excelling in exams, could she have claid her prowess prior to this?
While contemplating how to nonchalantly brush this incident aside, soone spoke up.
It was Cheng Ru, who smilingly remarked, "If the Princely Heir hadn’t previously presented such a chess problem to Fulan, then she is truly remarkable."
Truly providential, Qu Fulan decided to take advantage of the explanation provided by Miss Cheng.
But the female tutor cut in coldly.
"This chess problem is of my own making and was never widely shared."
In a single sentence, she cut off Qu Fulan’s escape route.
And the female tutor was now certain that Qu Fulan had not been learning for only a short ti, and that she had studied under another expert but was hiding the fact, showing ingratitude.
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