Chapter 143: A Gift of Three Crushing Defeats!

Jiao Nanxin failed to gain the upper hand verbally and sneered, "Let's see if you can still laugh in a moment."

"I'll do my best," Tang Zhong said with a smile.

Jiao Yuheng saw the two whispering to each other but could not tell what they were saying. Seeing his granddaughter’s expression change drastically, he quickly tried to smooth things over. "Let’s play, let’s play. I’ve been waiting to watch."

Jiao Nanxin played with the white stones, and Tang Zhong played with the black. According to the rules, the black stones go first, so Tang Zhong placed the first piece.

Jiao Nanxin adopted an aggressive, close-quarters combat style from the start; clearly, she was anxious to see Tang Zhong "stripped of his armor and left without clothes."

Tang Zhong feigned timidity, pretending to be beaten back step by step by Jiao Nanxin’s offensive, forced into a purely defensive position with no sign of a counterattack. Jiao Nanxin fell for it, her offensive growing more urgent and her moves faster. She kept urging Tang Zhong, who was still clutching a stone and hesitating in deep thought, to play more quickly.

The first half of the game was Jiao Nanxin pressuring and chasing Tang Zhong. By the middle, Tang Zhong had finished his layout. After placing a single stone at the "dragon’s eye," his seemingly chaotic black stones suddenly came to life.

It was the finishing touch!

The tides turned, and it was Jiao Nanxin’s stones that were suddenly surrounded and slaughtered by Tang Zhong. Very quickly, the first game was declared over. Jiao Nanxin lost; Tang Zhong won.

Jiao Nanxin stared fixedly at the board, her hands clenched into fists. Through thin lips, she spat out two words: "Again."

"It's fortunate you were careless earlier, otherwise my 'great dragon' could never have been formed," Tang Zhong said with a smile. "Are you still going to give me a three-stone handicap this time?"

Jiao Nanxin hesitated for a moment and said, "One stone."

"Is one stone a bit too little?" Tang Zhong asked. "If that’s the case, I have absolutely no hope of winning. I won't play. I won't."

"Two stones!" Jiao Nanxin said angrily. "I'll give you a two-stone handicap." Losing to Tang Zhong through carelessness was a profound humiliation to her; how could she let him walk away just like that?

"Two stones?" Tang Zhong pondered for a moment. "Alright then. But I must still play with the black stones."

"Fine," Jiao Nanxin agreed to his terms.

With the black stones moving first, Tang Zhong seized the initiative. This time, Jiao Nanxin became cautious, responding carefully and guarding against everything. Her moves were much slower, while Tang Zhong’s pace was actually faster.

Fifteen minutes later, the second game ended. Just like the first, Jiao Nanxin lost, and Tang Zhong won.

The first game was lost due to underestimating the enemy, but what about the second? Jiao Nanxin realized she had been tricked. This guy had been playing the pig to catch the tiger all along. His skill might far exceed her own.

Jiao Yuheng followed the old adage, "A true gentleman remains silent while watching chess," and had not spoken until now. Only then did he sigh softly and say to Jiao Nanxin, "Let's stop here for today. Let's go eat."

Jiao Nanxin refused to get up. She stared at Tang Zhong with burning eyes and said, "One more game."

"Alright," Tang Zhong agreed.

In the third game, neither side gave any handicaps. This time, Jiao Nanxin took the black stones to go first. Although it was a bit shameful, for the sake of victory, she couldn't care about that anymore.

Jiao Nanxin played with a mix of caution and boldness, finally displaying her true strength. Tang Zhong also shed his previous timidity and lukewarm demeanor; his moves were swift, grand, and bitingly murderous. The third game was less a battle where Jiao Nanxin fought and fell, and more of a crushing defeat at the hands of Tang Zhong.

Tang Zhong had won three out of three. Jiao Nanxin hadn't won a single game; her beautiful wish to see Tang Zhong stripped of his clothes had unfortunately fallen through. She sat frozen, unable to collect her thoughts.

Jiao Yuheng sighed gently and said to Tang Zhong, "Tang Zhong, go sit in the living room for a moment. I have a few words for Nanxin."

Tang Zhong nodded, stood up, and left the study.

"Can't figure it out?" Jiao Yuheng sat in the chair Tang Zhong had just vacated and asked with a smile.

Jiao Nanxin looked up at her grandfather and then lowered her head, remaining silent.

"Let me analyze why you lost all three games," Jiao Yuheng continued without waiting for a reply. "In the first game, you fell for Tang Zhong’s trick of feigning weakness. He said he wasn't good at chess, so you immediately gave him a three-stone handicap—if he were truly as unskilled as he claimed, given your current level, beating him wouldn't have been difficult. But you were too eager for success and overlooked many details. Thus, he turned the tables on you."

"In the second game, you knew he had hidden his true skill, yet you refused to believe it in your heart, blaming your own underestimation instead of accepting that he could be your match. Driven by a desire for revenge, you agreed to his request for a two-stone handicap. That alone sealed your defeat. Even though you made no mistakes in the final moments—and actually played more brilliantly than before—you still lost."

"In the third game, Tang Zhong didn't use tricks, nor did he need to. He used his genuine skill to show you that there is always someone better out there—your chess skill is simply inferior to his. Moreover, by then, having lost two games, your spirit was crushed. You had too much caution and lacked the inspired, brilliant moves that catch the eye. Without spirit or luck, you still lost."

Jiao Yuheng picked up a black stone and said softly, "He had a strategy to lure the enemy, and you lacked the heart for defense. Three games, three losses—you have no reason to complain."

Jiao Nanxin suddenly looked up, her eyes red. "Is he better than me at everything? Why is he better than me at everything?"

"Sigh," Jiao Yuheng reached out and patted his granddaughter’s head. "Whether he is better than you at everything, I don't know. But your desire to win must be stronger than his—you fight for everything, which is why you are constrained at every turn. He fights for nothing, so he is more composed by taking a step back."

"Just like in the chess game. Because you lost the first one, you were desperate to win back the second. Tang Zhong’s indifferent attitude made you worry he might try to escape—so you agreed to his handicap request. Otherwise, how could the second game have been such a miserable loss? And if you had lost the second game fairly, how could you have been so unjustly defeated in the third?"

"One wrong move, and every step thereafter is wrong. Every move you made fell into his trap. What way does a trapped beast have to fight a hunter? Tang Zhong isn't the best student I've ever had in psychology, but he is the one who applies its knowledge the best."

Jiao Yuheng looked at Jiao Nanxin and added, "And although he said he would return to be a prison guard after graduation, his ambition is far greater than we could ever imagine."

"Ambition?" Jiao Nanxin looked at her grandfather, puzzled.

"In all matters of poetry, painting, wine, chess, or any craft, one must possess an innate foundation and be gifted by heaven," Jiao Yuheng said.

"You mean he's talented? What does that have to do with ambition?"

"Only those with talent can have ambition. A person who has nothing but ambition is merely a dreamer." Jiao Yuheng guided his granddaughter; it was not a disgrace for a young person to make mistakes, but rather to refuse to admit them and learn from them. "Have you seen Tang Zhong’s handwriting?"

Jiao Nanxin thought for a moment. "I have."

She remembered the characters for "Tang Zhong" he had written on the blackboard when running for class monitor—the iron strokes and silver hooks were so striking they seemed to capture one's very soul.

"His writing is that of a master; his chess is that of a grandmaster." Jiao Yuheng looked at Jiao Nanxin with a serious expression, not feeling in the slightest that his description was an exaggeration. He asked, "What kind of father could raise such an outstanding son?"

Before the grandfather and granddaughter could finish their conversation, the grandmother knocked on the door. "Dinner is ready. Come out and eat. Tang Zhong is a guest; how can we leave him sitting in the living room alone?"

Jiao Yuheng patted Jiao Nanxin’s shoulder and said to his wife, "Open a bottle of good wine. I’ll have a couple of drinks with Tang Zhong."

"Tang Zhong brought two bottles of Qin Jin," the grandmother said.

"Oh? Then we'll drink the Qin Jin," Jiao Yuheng replied.

Returning to the living room, Jiao Yuheng saw Tang Zhong sitting at the coffee table, writing. He walked over and saw him using a pencil to write on a sheet of white paper. The characters were neat and upright, as if printed by a machine. Clearly, Tang Zhong had mastered more than one style.

"Tang Zhong, what are you writing?" Jiao Yuheng asked with a smile.

"I noticed the teacher's wife had bloodshot eyes; she must not have rested well these past two days. Is her blood pressure a bit high?"

"It’s not just a bit high. It’s very high," Jiao Yuheng said. "Nanxin often makes her blood pressure spike, which scares everyone."

Tang Zhong reviewed the prescription he had written before handing it to Jiao Yuheng. "I happen to know an old traditional doctor who wrote many prescriptions, and I memorized a few by rote. This one is for lowering blood pressure, and it is said to be quite effective. Teacher, you might want to have her try it. These herbs are nourishing and will not harm the body."

Jiao Yuheng was astonished; he hadn't expected Tang Zhong to know medicine as well.

The grandmother was a wonderful cook; the food was exquisite in color, aroma, and taste. Before even tasting it, the sight and smell were enough to make one salivate. Tang Zhong praised the meal, and the grandmother beamed, urging him to come over for dinner often. She added that one of Jiao Yuheng’s former students used to eat there frequently and had even learned her cooking skills.

Tang Zhong thought that the student must have cooked to curry favor with Jiao Yuheng. He didn't see anything worthy of discrimination or criticism in that; life was not easy for anyone, and some were simply better at seizing opportunities than others.

After the grandmother urged them a few more times, Jiao Nanxin finally came from the study to the dining room. She still wouldn't speak to Tang Zhong, only glancing at him with a strange expression.

Tang Zhong had bought wine for Jiao Yuheng and given the grandmother a prescription for her blood pressure. He really couldn't think of what to give Jiao Nanxin. Listening to his grandmother chatter at the table about the prescription Tang Zhong had given her, Jiao Nanxin couldn't help but stare at Tang Zhong and ask, "Where is my gift?"

"Didn't I already give it to you?"

"What?" Jiao Nanxin asked.

"I gifted you three crushing defeats," Tang Zhong said with a smile.