Chapter 55: Chess Game
The old man was momentarily embarrassed, clearing his throat before saying, "Well, that's very good. Keep it up."
"Alright," Su Jinli responded cheerily, readying himself to leave.
"Do you know how to play chess? (Note: Go)" The elder gestured towards a chessboard not far away.
"Huh? I need to get back to the production team," declined Su Jinli promptly.
"What production team?"
"It's a talent show; I'm participating in the competition."
After listening, the old man nodded but expressed his disdain. "What's so good about being a celebrity? The whole industry is filled with foulness, I don't like these celebrities at all."
"But you'd be loved by so many people! When you stand on stage, seeing fans holding placards with your name and shouting for you, it's exhilarating."
"I don't like it, it's noisy," the old man immediately retorted.
Su Jinli was helpless. Just as he was about to suggest leaving again, the old man pointed to the chessboard, asking once more, "Do you know how to play chess?"
"Huh?"
"Play a game of chess with me. I'll send someone to inform your production team."
Su Jinli had no choice but to sit down as a chessboard was brought out and placed before him.
Of course, they weren't going to play Five in a Row, but Go.
The old man took the black pieces, and Su Jinli was left with the white ones. The elder was confident and asked Su Jinli, "Do you need me to go easy on you?"
"No need, you just play as you wish."
Was Su Jinli merely knowledgeable about chess?
During his early years, he and his brother often sneaked out to watch a group of intellectuals play chess, from which he naturally picked up quite a bit.
Also, his master taught his disciples how to play chess, and Su Jinli had listened to plenty of these lessons.
Su Jinli was in a rush while playing. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, so he played his moves very quickly, almost without hesitation.
The earlier part of the game went fine, but towards the end, the old man began to struggle, deliberating for quite some time before making a decision and making a move.
Su Jinli glanced once at the board and immediately made his move in response.
The old man, looking at the chessboard, realized that he was about to lose and couldn't help but feel a bit deflated.
He was a Go enthusiast who often honed his skills with fellow chess enthusiasts over the years. He had even been waiting for a chess companion today. He considered himself to have a decent level of skill, yet he was completely crushed.
Su Jinli played the game nonchalantly, leaving the old man without a chance to recover.
Had others been going easy on him all these years?
"Let's play again," said the old man, not willing to accept his defeat.
"Oh no, I really need to get back," Su Jinli exclaimed anxiously.
The old man immediately instructed someone beside him to inform the production team, and Su Jinli finally agreed.
At this time, the old man's previously scheduled chess partner arrived. He was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his fifties, exuding an elegant demeanor.
Upon entering, he looked at Su Jinli with confusion and asked with a chuckle, "Old Shi, who is this?"
"The young man who saved me during the recent accident."
"Oh, he is your lifesaver then!"
"Mhm," Old Shi nodded in response, continuing to have Su Jinli play chess with him, "Let's have another round."
The middle-aged man who had just arrived also sat down and watched them play chess.
This time, the game was still in the same state as before: the old man thought deeply before making a move, while Su Jinli quickly followed with his own move, almost without any hesitation.
The middle-aged man watched in astonishment, but he didn't say anything due to the unspoken rule that 'silent observers shouldn't comment on the game.' He stared at the chessboard, remaining silent, observing the moves on the board.
In the end, Su Jinli won again.
The old man and the middle-aged man stared at the chessboard, discussing and analyzing the game, trying to find a possible solution. However, they couldn't come up with anything.
Seeing that they couldn't figure it out after a long time, Su Jinli assumed they were both "novices." He began to explain his thought process to them.
After explaining, Su Jinli stood up promptly, "I really have to leave now; we have a dress rehearsal."
Su Jinli quickly left and went downstairs.
Old Shi and the middle-aged man looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
They had been playing chess for half their lives and were utterly defeated by a young man. Hearing Su Jinli's tone of pity earlier, it was apparent that he thought they were not good players.
"This kid is quite interesting," commented the middle-aged man.
"He's too naive. With a mind like that, he wouldn't survive three years in the entertainment industry without being taken advantage of," Old Shi grumbled.
"It's rare for you to chat with a young star."
"Well, he did save my life."
"Have you thanked him?"
Old Shi shook his head.
"Did he ask for anything in return?"
Old Shi shook his head again.
"Why do I get the feeling that you somewhat like him?"
Old Shi said disdainfully, "He doesn't even eat walnuts, so picky, why would I like a kid like that?"
"Oh, okay. Let's you and I play chess."
"I'm not in the mood," Old Shi, who had been thoroughly trounced by Su Jinli, had lost all interest in playing chess.
"Such a bad temper you have."
________________________
When Su Jinli returned to the place arranged by the program group, some participants were already back. Wu Yu, Fan Qianting, and Chang Siyin were all present, but there was no sign of An Zhihan.
It wasn't until close to the deadline that An Zhihan returned, wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, and carrying a bunch of snacks in his hand. He waved them towards the group.
They immediately pounced on him, grabbed the snacks, and went away.
"How did you buy these? We don't have any money," Su Jinli asked as he ate a barbecued lamb skewer.
"There is a KTV nearby that belongs to my family. I went in and said, 'I need money.' They gave it to me."
"It sounds like you robbed them," replied Su Jinli. On seeing Zhang Caini panting from exertion as she returned, he immediately asked, "Do you want some?"
"Are you giving away my stuff?" An Zhihan asked, not pleased.
"Aren't you my brother?" Su Jinli retorted.
An Zhihan was immediately deflated. He waved his hand at Su Jinli and said, "Take all if you want."
Zhang Caini immediately walked over with a big smile, exclaiming, "I've been longing to try these since I went out, but unfortunately I didn't have a penny in my pocket, and I didn't have my phone."
As they all ate together, the staff from the program group arrived to announce today's plan.
The program they needed to perform was quite random. If they wanted to perform the program from previous competitions, they could form a team. If they had other ideas, they could form combinations freely or perform solo.
Each person could sign up for up to two programs which would be screened during the rehearsal.
After listening, Su Jinli and the rest started preparing to team up for a performance.
Since they had joined the program group, the maximum they had was two people in a team, and sometimes they were even in competition. This time, the freedom to form groups and just go out and perform was quite exciting for them.
"Let's not choose songs with high pitches. Su Jinli's voice can't handle it," Wu Yu voluntarily gave up what he excelled at.
"Let's sing some common songs. We haven't rehearsed before, so we shouldn't be like going to karaoke, that would be beneath us," An Zhihan suggested.
After going back and forth with their suggestions, they eventually found out that the biggest problem was Su Jinli.
Su Jinli hadn't heard many songs.
"How about we find music, and you perform beatboxing on the spot..." An Zhihan suggested.
"Or let's just sing the theme song..." Su Jinli said aggrievedly.
The group looked at each other, then agreed that this was the best option.
"Are we signing up for other programs?" Fan Qianting asked.
"Why don't we sing a song together? It might pull in some votes for you," Su Jinli suggested to him.
"Let's not push it, just sing a song. Your voice isn't so great."
"Then you can dance.”
"But we've never worked together before, what kind of dance could we perform?"
Su Jinli then decided to showcase a heart dance move. Watching this, Fan Qianting couldn't help but roll his eyes. When the handsome Su Jinli performed this silly dance, it looked cute, but if he tried, it would just look tacky.
Zhang Caini quietly sat to one side, munching her food while watching their exchange.
"Do you want to have a duet with me?" Su Jinli suddenly asked Zhang Caini.
Seeing this, An Zhihan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and comment, "You two are getting along quite well. You should sing 'The Moon Is Full and Flowers Are Blooming', it's easy on the vocals."
"I won't do a duet with you; your fans would roast me," Zhang Caini immediately refused.
"Let's have a duet!" An Zhihan slapped Fan Qianting's shoulder, extending the proposal.
"What will we sing?" Fan Qianting asked in resignation. He didn't particularly like An Zhihan, who once on stage, would bounce about like a monkey.
Would he need to coordinate and jump along with him if they teamed up? At least An Zhihan was an attractive monkey. As for him? The ugly often are more prone to misbehavior.
"Why not sing 'Elope to the Moon' by Sugar High? I'll take the female part, and you cover the male part."
"Why won't you sing with Wu Yu?" Fan Qianting replied, still looking disgusted.
"I fear having a heart attack."
In the end, both Su Jinli and Wu Yu only registered for their group performance, singing the theme song. Only Chang Siyin and Zhang Caini found common ground and planned to perform a piece together.
When the time for rehearsal came, they found out that An Zhihan and Fan Qianting's duet resembled a comedy sketch performed on stage.
They initially thought this act would be dismissed, but to their surprise, the program team kept it. They really let these two perform.
After singing on stage, Fan Qianting was on the verge of collapse.
For this competition, the contestant who brought in the most audience members was An Zhihan.
When An Zhihan came off the stage, he boasted, "See, that's how popular I am."
"Tell me, how many people from your company came to support you?" Wu Yu chided him.
An Zhihan didn't answer. However, it seemed like all the employees from the KTV had taken time off work to come.
________________________
An Zhiyan had finally wrapped up the filming for the day, and this marked the end of the entire shoot.
To celebrate, the production team had organized a wrap party that night.
An Zhiyan, holding a glass of wine, moved to a corner, took out his mobile phone and checked Weibo; Su Jinli and his crew had managed to top the hot search again.
He casually searched for An Zhihan's name, and images taken by fans of An Zhihan at the venue flooded his screen. The fans were praising that An Zhihan was a thousand times more handsome in person than on TV.
When he then searched for Su Jinli's name, a strange hot search keyword appeared: "Su Jinli's boyfriend energy."
This term... seemed ill-suited for him.
Upon clicking, he saw a short clip of Su Jinli with his fans, shooting arrows and handing out stuff toys to fans one after another. The clip actually did give off a "boyfriend energy" vibe.
This youngster did seem to have quite a few tricks up his sleeve, including archery. Indeed, a vintage enthusiast.
As he was engrossed in watching, Jiang Pingqiu came up to him.
"What's up?" An Zhiyan asked.
"Zhou Wenyuan is dead."
"What?!" An Zhiyan asked in surprise. He had anticipated that Shenzhen and his men might seek revenge, but he hadn't expected that they would actually kill him.
Over the years, he and Shen Cheng had played numerous tricks against each other.
He had even exposed some scandalous information about a female artist from Shen Cheng's camp, which had led to her going into obscurity for two years. She had recently made a comeback, only to be met with a slew of curses.
Of course, if the female artist hadn't tried to hitch a ride on the popularity of one of his male artists and attempted to stir up a scandal when things didn't go her way by claiming the male artist had mistreated her, An Zhiyan wouldn't have made a move against her.
With Shen Cheng's ruthlessness, would he have been targeted for revenge multiple times?
"The manner of death was... very bizarre. He turned into a desiccated corpse, but you could see many wounds on his body, quite gruesome. The most frightening part was that the wounds were caused by his own distress. Moreover... the news has been suppressed, and Zhou's family isn't making a fuss. If we hadn't been paying close attention lately, we probably wouldn't have known about it," Jiang Pingqiu replied.
An Zhiyan nodded, picked up his phone, and looked at Su Jinli in the video.
Su Jinli...
Are you even a normal person?
And what about Shen Cheng?
What exactly is the relationship between the two of you?
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