Chapter 34: Chess Meets Its Match
"Me?" Su Nan pointed at himself in surprise, this old man Li was really lovely, and without considering whether he was willing or not, directly let him play chess on his behalf. "Old sir, you should do it yourself, my chess skills are not good, it's better not to make a fool of myself."
"Come if you want to come, no excuses!" Old Man Li's face turned dark, and without waiting for Su Nan's response, he stood up and pulled him down.
Su Nan couldn't possibly go against Old Man Li, so he was easily pulled into the seat. Although he didn't resist, Su Nan's mouth still expressed his disapproval.
"Hey Lao Li, don't be so shameless, who's going to lose this round?" Hu Lao watched Lao Li making a fuss on the side, not getting angry but feeling amused.
"Of course, count this kid in." Since Old Man Li had already started being unreasonable, he might as well see it through to the end. After all, there were only a few people present, and they were all old friends who were used to fooling around together every day, so he wasn't afraid of them teasing him. As for Su Nan, he had already been ignored by him and didn't know this kid, and even if he wanted to tease him later, he wouldn't be able to find him.
"Alright! Young man, how about we start a new game? Do you want to continue or start fresh?" Old Hu knew Old Li's temper and since he was being stubborn, with his thick skin, it was impossible to get him to continue.
"Then let's continue," said Su Nan. Since he had already sat down, standing up again would make himself look bad, so he might as well play a game with this old man.
Lao Li's level is not enough, this chess game has only been played halfway, but his layout is not well done, and all aspects of his strength are being suppressed by Lao Hu. His own base will soon be taken away by the opponent.
Taking the chess piece from Old Man Li's hand, Su Nan retreated one step back and voluntarily defended.
"Great, great, great!"
Old Hu couldn't help but praise Su Nan for this move.
"What's so great about it, I didn't see anything special?" asked Li old man curiously to Wang old man beside him.
Wang Lao Tou was also confused, "How would I know? Hu Lao Tou is talking nonsense and mocking us two." After thinking for a while, he finally found the answer and explained it clearly to Li Lao Tou.
"Hmm, that makes sense." Old Man Li heard this and was very much in agreement. Because Su Nan's move was clearly putting his own piece into the opponent's mouth, letting them capture it. "Old Hu, if you don't know how to play chess then don't speak nonsense, giving your own pieces away for others to eat, can that be called clever? Clearly a terrible move!"
"What do you know?" Old Hu glared, but instead of taking the chess piece that Su Nan had sent over, he actually withdrew his main force back to his own territory.
"What a strange thing!" Li and Wang, the two old men standing aside, saw Hu not eating the good chess piece, but instead avoiding it, clicking their tongues in wonder.
"Old Hu, is this young man your junior? Are you intentionally letting him win?" Li's imagination was not rich enough, and he thought that Old Hu had a relationship with Su Nan just because he retreated one step.
"If only he were my junior." Old Hu sighed, "If that were the case, I wouldn't have to worry about no one being able to inherit my chess skills."
A master makes a move, and it's clear whether he has any skill or not. Su Nan had only made one move, and in the eyes of Old Man Li and Old Man Wang, it was still a bad move, but to an expert like Old Hu, that move was incredibly brilliant. If Su Nan hadn't made that move, even if he were in that situation, he wouldn't have thought of another way to resolve the crisis.
"Hey, kid, you're not bad," said Old Hu, moving his piece again. Due to the previous move, the balance of power between the two sides had changed, from Old Hu having the upper hand at first, it had become a stalemate. And there was also a possibility that the situation would turn in Su Nan's favor.
"Old master is being too kind." Su Nan said humbly, "Your level is truly high. After all, you've already played several games earlier, physical strength will be consumed a lot, and insufficient spirit will affect the layout."
"Haha, you're a interesting young fellow," Old Hu said with a smile. "You're not anxious or arrogant, it's hard to find such a young person these days. Most young people nowadays are too reckless."
"Maybe it's because the old man has less contact with young people, actually many young people are not bad, it's just that due to poor communication, it's easy to cause misunderstandings." Su Nan continued.
Just now, he gave Old Hu a pulse diagnosis and found that there was a breath of air stuck in Old Hu's heart. But when he said those words just now, his expression changed obviously, it is clear that this breath of air can be linked to these words. Combining the two, how could one not understand that this old man was being bullied by his younger family members?
It seems that Sou Nan is blaming the old man, not understanding his younger generation. In fact, Sou Nan has seen that the old man loves his younger generation very much, and even if he gets angry, it doesn't change his love for him. From this perspective, standing from the younger generation's point of view to persuade the old man would make him more acceptable. If not understood, following the old man's words about young people would only trigger his reverse psychology.
As expected, when Hu heard Su Nan say this, he liked him even more. "This young man has his own opinions and doesn't blindly follow others, he's a good seedling."
Although Li and Wang are not as good at chess as Hu, they can still tell the situation on the board. "Hu, don't just talk, your situation is not good, if you're not careful, you'll lose this game."
Looking at the excited Li old head beside him, Hu old head asked expressionlessly, "Li old head, what are you so happy about? Whether this round is won or lost has nothing to do with you."
"What's wrong with that?" Old Man Li fully displayed his rascal spirit, "This round was started by me, if I win, it means I won a round against you."
"What? Old Li, can you be any more shameless?" Even with Old Hu's good upbringing and calm demeanor, he was still provoked by Old Li's unscrupulous behavior. "Earlier, you said that if you lost, it would count as this young man's win. How come now that you're about to win the game, you want to take credit for yourself?"
"Of course it's mine!" Li said with a straight face, "Because I gave him a good start, winning is naturally counted as mine. If he lost, it's because his level isn't up to par, wasting the good situation I created, of course it should be counted on his head."
"Hmph!" Old Hu rolled his eyes and ignored him. "Young man, it seems that no matter how hard you try, you're destined to only give without receiving anything in return."
"Haha, what's wrong?" Su Nan smiled lightly, "Being able to play chess with the old man, experiencing this free and easy feeling, and finally being happy, isn't that a kind of gain?"
When Su Nan said this, not only did Hu Lao Tou look at him with new eyes, but also Li Lao Tou and Wang Lao Tou standing beside him looked at Su Nan with a different gaze.
"Good boy, it's not easy to see the win and loss so clearly, and you can grasp the essence. It's really rare. Indeed, playing chess is just a kind of entertainment, as long as you're happy, that's all." Old Hu nodded at Su Nan, his eyes full of approval.
Old Hu's chess level was indeed there, and Su Nan tried his best to control it, neither wanting to lose nor win, nor could he let Old Hu clearly see that he was letting go. It can be said that this game of chess was the most difficult one Su Nan had played since he was born. Nevertheless, in the end, Su Nan still controlled the situation and tied with Old Hu.
"Not bad, really not bad!" Old Hu praised again, the more he looked at Su Nan, the more pleasing to his eyes. Although he knew in his heart that Su Nan was letting him win, he couldn't point it out clearly. Because from the chess situation, every move of Su Nan's was the best choice, otherwise, he would have lost this game long ago.
"What's your name, young man? Where are you from?" Old Hu asked on his own initiative.
"My name is Su Nan, I am from Qicheng."
Old Hu nodded slightly, didn't say much, and took out a business card from his pocket to hand it over to Su Nan. "I usually come here for tea every Friday morning. If you have time, you can come over to play chess with me. Your level is far better than Li and Wang. It's not easy to find an opponent in chess."
"Okay." Su Nan took the business card and looked at it. There was only a name and a phone number on it. The old man's name was Hu Yanling.
Mr. Li and Mr. Wang, who were standing by, also handed over their business cards after seeing Mr. Hu do so, "Young man, you can't just accompany Mr. Hu, you have to spend time with us too."
Su Nan politely accepted the business cards handed over by the two men. Similarly, there was only a name and phone number on it. The old man Li was called Li Yuan, and the old man Wang was called Wang Feng.
Because he wanted to make money with his medical skills and targeted wealthy people, Su Nan also prepared business cards. Coincidentally, after thinking for a long time, he really didn't know what to print on the card, so he simply printed only his name and phone number. Anyway, he believed that as long as those people let him treat them once, they would definitely remember his contact information, and there was no need to worry about the style of the business cards.
Looking at the business card handed back by Su Nan, the three old men took it over and looked at it. Their eyes showed surprise again. Others print their business cards with all their honors, how did Su Nan learn from these old men to play hide-and-seek?
"Xiao Su, this name card is too simple. What do you do?" The three old men who didn't want to know more about Su Nan couldn't resist their curiosity and asked after looking at the name card.
"I'm doing health care," Su Nan replied simply. Mainly because the things he wanted to do couldn't be explained clearly, there was no way to say them. If he said doctor, he obviously wasn't in a hospital and didn't have a license, that would be illegal medical practice. But if he didn't say doctor, the things he wanted to do really didn't have a suitable name.
"What's with the health?" The three old men heard Su Nan's response and their eyes narrowed, sizing him up from head to toe, their expressions also becoming suspicious.
These days, there are too many scammers using the banner of health care to cheat elderly people, and such cases are numerous. Originally, they had a good impression of Su Nan, but when they heard that he was in the healthcare industry, they subconsciously put him in the category of scammers.
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