When Jiang Xu called for Ren Xiaosu to go to his office, the students all looked at him sympathetically.
Ren Xiaosu followed Jiang Xu and passed through campus. Whenever any students in the school saw Jiang Xu, they would greet him very respectfully. They were also very curious about who Ren Xiaosu was as he followed the professor.
Jiang Xu limped along while using his cane and said to Ren Xiaosu with a smile, “What’s your real name?”
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and decided there was no need for him to hide it from Jiang Xu. “Ren Xiaosu.”
“Oh, it’s you.” Jiang Xu sighed and said, “What a small world. I was just discussing you with others some time ago. Yet here you are, standing in front of me.”
“Chief Editor, you know about me?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.
“Oh, don’t you know? I’m good friends with Zhang Jinglin. When he called me, he mentioned you.” Jiang Xu said, “But why did you come to the Central Plains instead of staying in the Northwest? Don’t tell me you don’t hunger for authority? I heard from Zhang Jinglin that he wants you to be the next commander of Fortress 178.”
Ren Xiaosu suddenly felt like the entire world knew he was going to be the next commander of Fortress 178. He explained to Jiang Xu, “I came here to the Central Plains to look for someone.”
“Who are you looking for?” Jiang Xu asked.
“Yang Xiaojin.” Ren Xiaosu said, “She’s your student as well, but she left right when I arrived.”
Jiang Xu stopped in his tracks and looked at Ren Xiaosu with interest. “You must be the guy she likes, right? You two seem really compatible.”
Ren Xiaosu immediately grew fond of Jiang Xu!
But he was a little puzzled. “What do you mean by I’m the guy she likes? Do you know her that well?”
“There’s actually a rumor going around campus.” Jiang Xu chuckled and said, “Yang Xiaojin has a lot of suitors at Qinghe University—”
“Where are they?” interrupted Ren Xiaosu, his eyebrows twitching.
“You’re so rude. Don’t you know that you shouldn’t interrupt your elders when they’re talking? Why? You want to fight them? This isn’t the wilderness.” Jiang Xu said, “Let me finish first. There was a guy who confessed to her. But perhaps she got impatient with him, so she said she already has someone she likes. Furthermore, she claims the guy she likes is definitely not pampered like how the Qinghe University students are.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Actually, he had been worried that Yang Xiaojin might think he was dead and slowly forget about him. If that happened, what was he supposed to do?
But now it sounded like Yang Xiaojin had not forgotten about him and even told others she liked him.
However, Ren Xiaosu wondered, “You’re the chief editor of a newspaper, so why are you so interested in student gossip like that?”
Jiang Xu was amused. “How can I be a reporter if I’m not a busybody? A reporter should always be curious about everything and have an enthusiasm for life. Whoever said that a chief editor can’t be a busybody?”
Jiang Xu continued walking forward. He brought Ren Xiaosu into an office building and opened the door to his office. “I’m usually only here in the morning since I have to go back to Hope Media in the afternoon. Do you want to hear more about Yang Xiaojin? If you want to, come in and play a game of chess with me.”
Ren Xiaosu quickly stepped into the office and saw that there were only a table and two chairs inside. There was also a Chinese chess set on the table.
Jiang Xu looked at Ren Xiaosu with interest. The initial impression he had of Ren Xiaosu came from the few words he had uttered. But it was different now. When he learned of Ren Xiaosu’s identity, he became even more interested.
He really wanted to know what kind of person Zhang Jinglin had chosen as his successor.
Jiang Xu was already very old. He had been thinking about who should take over Hope Media so that he wouldn’t have to feel worried. He believed that someone like Zhang Jinglin was probably facing the same predicament as him. Therefore, when Zhang Jinglin said there was someone he could entrust his role to, Jiang Xu actually felt a little envious.
One could get to know a person better through a game of chess. Jiang Xu wanted to play against Ren Xiaosu to see what kind of a person he was.
Both of them sat in the chairs. Jiang Xu set his cane aside. “I’ll let you move first, so you had better not go tell Zhang Jinglin that I bullied you when you get back.”
Ren Xiaosu calmly shifted a chess piece on the board. Jiang Xu was stunned. “You don’t know how to play chess, right?”
Ren Xiaosu asked in surprise, “How did you know?”
Jiang Xu snapped at him, “I’ve played chess for many years, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone move the general on their first move….”
Ren Xiaosu was speechless.
Jiang Xu did not know what to say. How was he supposed to assess this person when he did not even know how to play chess?! The only obvious thing he could see was that this person did not know how to play chess!
“Ahem.” Ren Xiaosu was a little embarrassed. “When I was living in town, the refugees there usually played poker instead of chess. Of course, some people know how to play chess too, but it’s very rare. I only saw them play it occasionally, but I never got the chance to learn the game.”
To say nothing of chess, he even started learning how to play Fight the Landlord only after he had gotten his Explosive Poker power.
As if he could find time to think about such downtime activities. It was already very difficult just trying to survive.
Curious, Jiang Xu said, “Why don’t you tell me why you moved the general on your first move.”
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “I thought the general should be the strongest of these chess pieces, so why should the strongest piece be hiding behind the others? What’s with that?”
Jiang Xu was stunned. He sighed and said, “I kinda get why Zhang Jinglin chose you.”
Playing chess was different from being human. To be human, you had to keep a low profile and consider the pros and cons of a situation before acting. You had to consider the ways of the world. But that was not necessary when playing chess. You could do whatever you wanted as long as that was how you thought.
Some people liked confounding the opponent by making risky moves, while others preferred playing fair and honest to counter any surprises. The way they played would reveal their true nature.
“How about this?” Jiang Xu said, “I won’t teach you the rules of chess, so you can just play however you want, that OK?”
Ren Xiaosu gave it some thought and replied, “Sure!”
Jiang Xu smiled in his head. Perhaps he could learn something about Ren Xiaosu’s personality this way.
But then Ren Xiaosu said, “You lost.”
Jiang Xu looked at the chessboard in a daze. How could he possibly have lost when he had not even made a move yet?
“This ‘car'[1] must be a tank, right? Look here, since I already know where your general is, I can just bombard it from afar.” Ren Xiaosu explained.
Jiang Xu said, “Um… this game is based on ancient warfare, not modern warfare.”
“Alright then,” Ren Xiaosu reluctantly agreed.
Awhile later, Jiang Xu saw Ren Xiaosu running a pawn around like crazy on the battlefield, jumping across five or six squares in a single move. Jiang Xu could not help but say, “How can a measly pawn have such great mobility? You’re just messing around, aren’t you?”
“I was also a measly pawn on the battlefield during the war in the Northwest, and I’m that mobile,” Ren Xiaosu explained patiently.
Jiang Xu stared at Ren Xiaosu in shock for a long time and could not refute him. In the end, he could only say, “Alright, even if it does have such mobility, it still can’t move backwards, right? That would make it a deserter in battle.”
“Why can’t a pawn move backwards?” Ren Xiaosu retorted, “There’s such a thing as guerrilla warfare in tactics. There’s no reason that we should only keep charging forward bravely. Isn’t that as good as being cannon fodder? Are the lives of the pawns not the same as ours? When I was fighting in the Northwest, didn’t we also have to return to the forward operating base to reorganize ourselves? If we were not allowed to retreat, Zhang Xiaoman and the others would have died on the battlefield!”
Jiang Xu was stunned. What the fuck did this have to do with Zhang Xiaoman? And who the hell was Zhang Xiaoman?!
Jiang Xu remained silent for a long time. Then he suddenly flipped the chessboard and said, “I don’t want to play anymore!”
“Alright!” Ren Xiaosu stayed seated. “So can you start telling me about Yang Xiaojin now?”
When Jiang Xu heard this, he finally snapped and said, “Speak, what do you want to hear about her?”
“I just want to know what else she’s said.” At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was sitting quite harmlessly in his chair.
“She didn’t say anything else, and there was still an endless stream of people chasing her. However, she didn’t even notice them. Are you happy now?” Jiang Xu said unhappily, “It was just that she had accused the Qinghe University students of being pampered, which was as good as pitting herself against the entire student body. As a result, she didn’t have a good relationship with her classmates.”
