??Chapter 203: Chapter 200 Do You Know Diaoti Country?
Chapter 203: Chapter 200 Do You Know Diaoti Country?
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Things ended up unresolved, and Ye Zixin, who thought she would succeed, was completely befuddled. She had not anticipated such a twist in events.
It wasn’t until Su Qingqing and Huo Sining had followed Yin Zeyan a good distance away that Ye Zixin snapped back to reality and, grinding her teeth, she turned and left.
Yin Zeyan appeared intimidating, but in reality, he was a very amiable person. He was known by a nickna in the Antique Street area, called “Black and White Yin.”
The Yin family had an established antique shop in Antique Street called Yin Yizhai, which specialized in the pawnbroking business.
The pawnbroking trade sounds simple, but it cos with many intricacies. As a century-old pawnshop, Yin Yizhai had its unique rules: it only accepted forfeited pledges, never active loans; it appraised only antiques, avoiding other types of assets.
The Yin family was not greedy; they focused on their craft, earning steady profits over ti and thus continuing the pawnbroking legacy generation after generation.
Professor Xie also had so connections with the Yin family. As a young man, he had apprenticed under the old manager of Yin Yizhai. After completing his apprenticeship, he entered the antique circle and later beca a professor at S University, taking Yin Zeyan as his first direct disciple.
As such, Professor Xie’s relationship with the Yin family was quite close. By extension, Su Jinyuan and Yin Zeyan were also well acquainted. Even though Donghua and Yin Yizhai operated in different trades, the two young owners often got together for small gatherings or discussions.
Su Qingqing had been especially fond of visiting Yin Yizhai since she was young, mainly because she adored Professor Xie’s ntor, the old manager of Yin Yizhai.
The old manager had spent half his life in the rough and tumble of shareholders’ etings and had seen plenty of strange events, knowing many tales about the origins of antiques.
Older folks have no other vices than loving to dwell on the past, and the old manager was particularly lively and entertaining when speaking of these odd occurrences, much like a professional storyteller. At the climax of the stories, he loved to add a sense of mystery by holding back and saying, “To find out what happens next, please stay tuned for the following episode.”
Every ti this happened, at the most suspenseful and mysterious part of the story, Su Qingqing felt an itch in her heart, wanting to know the rest of the story.
But no matter how much she coaxed or threw tantrums, the old manager simply wouldn’t continue, insisting she would have to wait until her next visit.
While walking, Su Qingqing introduced Huo Sining to Yin Zeyan and didn’t forget to share these childhood mories with Huo Sining as she talked about Yin Yizhai. Huo Sining was quite interested in this old manager.
Upon entering, Huo Sining saw an old man lecturing to the shop’s staff with a purple clay teapot in hand. Noticing soone entering the doorway, the old man stopped his lecture imdiately.
“Qingqing, is that you? Co on in. So, have you co to listen to my stories again?” The old man’s eyes and eyebrows were full of smiles as he looked at Su Qingqing and teased her.
Su Qingqing blushed: “Last ti you left off with the Miaojiang Witchcraft, and you haven’t finished telling
about it…”
The old man laughed upon hearing this: “If you play a ga of chess with , I’ll continue the story!”
“Grandfather Lu, didn’t we agree last ti that you would tell
the rest of the story when I co over? You can’t go back on your word!” Su Qingqing beca unhappy as soon as she heard this, what a joke, playing chess with the old man was tantamount to asking for torture.
“Haha…” Manager Lu burst into hearty laughter and then turned to look at Huo Sining, who was standing quietly by the side.
“Eh?” Upon seeing Huo Sining, Lu Huairu’s eyes widened with surprise.
Huo Sining felt puzzled and looked up, eting Manager Lu’s sharp and scrutinizing gaze head-on.
Huo Sining was startled, but she managed to conceal her expression while still looking directly at the old man in front of her without flinching.
Only then did Huo Sining see the old man’s features clearly. His hair was silver, but his complexion was ruddy and his skin was remarkably smooth and delicate for his age. Describing him with “youthful features despite old age” would not be an exaggeration. At first glance, one would not take him for soone well into his seventies.
“What’s your na, young lady? How old are you?” After a while, Lu Huairu finally broke the silence and asked.
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Seeing that Lu Huairu’s stern expression softened, Huo Sining let out a slight sigh of relief and answered calmly, “Huo Sining, 18 years old this year.”
A flicker of peculiarity crossed Lu Huairu’s eyes, and after a few seconds of silence, he asked, “Young lady, do you know how to play Go?”
Huo Sining was taken aback, while Su Qingqing at her side couldn’t help but cover her mouth and snicker.
Lu Huairu swept his gaze over, and Su Qingqing imdiately straightened up, “A Ning knows how to play chess. Grandfather Lu, please play with A Ning. I’m going to see what good items the shop has acquired these past few days.”
Huo Sining was dumbfounded, while Su Qingqing was already running faster than a rabbit over to the antique shelves, making a face at Huo Sining with an expression of schadenfreude as if she were delighted to watch the show unfold.
Without allowing her to refuse, Lu Huairu had already started to bring out the Go board, and Huo Sining, resignedly, could only take a deep breath and sit down opposite the old shopkeeper.
Lu Huairu could tell that Huo Sining was a bit nervous and thus said with a smile, “I’ll give you a three-stone handicap.”
Huo Sining’s expression froze, even more at a loss for laughter and tears. Why did she feel like she was being forced to do sothing she wasn’t prepared for? Was her skill at Go so poor in the old shopkeeper’s heart that she needed a handicap?
With these thoughts in mind, she followed her past life experiences in playing chess, promptly placing a black stone each on Tian Yuan and two star points on the board.
Unlike the majority of amateur players, Manager Lu’s moves were very quick. Although his face carried a faint smile, Huo Sining could clearly sense the murderous strategy within his seemingly gentle moves.
However, after a dozen or so moves, Huo Sining already felt trapped in a cage, struggling to break out of the encirclent. No matter how she fought to escape, there were more cages waiting for her outside.
Failing to find a breakthrough, Huo Sining felt frustrated, akin to a mouse scurrying under a cat’s claws, futilely struggling no matter which way it turned.
Contrary to Huo Sining’s pent-up frustrations, Lu Huairu seed like a cat that had successfully toyed with a mouse, a graceful smile on his lips, occasionally glancing at Huo Sining’s face, as if he had found a new toy.
After three consecutive gas, without a doubt, Huo Sining was utterly defeated by Lu Huairu. In the last ga, Huo Sining concentrated all her ntal attention and finally found a deeply hidden breakthrough amidst the encirclent, decisively making her move on the board.
“…”
Lu Huairu, thoroughly enjoying the cat and mouse ga, had not expected that Huo Sining would be able to turn the tables so unexpectedly. Surprised by her move, he couldn’t help but raise his head to look deeply at Huo Sining.
“This move… is exquisite,” Yin Zeyan, who was watching the ga, comnted with a hint of amazent, yet shook his head regretfully, “It’s just that it’s a pyrrhic victory, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy at great cost to oneself. Such a strategy of mutual destruction is inadvisable.”
Breaking through the encirclent, although she wasn’t able to completely resolve the predicant, at least she secured a chance to cling to survival.
Huo Sining lifted her head to look at Yin Zeyan, “By retreating, we advance. Though the losses are heavy, who can guarantee that this isn’t a situation of desperation leading to rebirth?”
Huo Sining’s words left Yin Zeyan stunned for a full three seconds.
On the other side, Lu Huairu burst into hearty laughter, “Well said, ‘desperation leading to rebirth.’ Truly, the younger generation is to be feared. Who would have thought that a young girl could have such insight? Zeyan, when it cos to choices, you are not the match of this young girl!”
Huo Sining felt embarrassed deep down, for she didn’t really understand the concept of making choices. It was just that, having lived again, having been through two lifetis, she felt that this life was stolen, so she no longer pursued everything so aggressively, only wishing for peace in the present life, content to live each day as it cos.
Lu Huairu looked up at Huo Sining, a glint in his eye, and then asked cryptically,
“Young lady, have you heard of Diaoti Country?”
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