The Hidden Master Was Among the Old Men? Gambit Lost Badly!
The shop's wooden door was pushed open.
A tall, thin young man with a neck much longer than average walked in, carrying a roll of cloth in his arms.
It was Longneck, William Hanover.
He was wearing a specially made stand-up collar jacket, with a specially raised and thickened soft collar that thoroughly protected his long neck.
"Master Zhou, Instructor Hu, this is No. 3 Blended Silk that Professor Jiang Si asked me to bring. He said it's for custom-made equipment for our new colleagues."
William with the Longneck smiled shyly and, with Wendy's help, placed the eighty-pound roll of special fabric on the cutting table.
Hu Yingying reached out and touched the fabric, nodded in satisfaction, and turned to Jacqueline to introduce it.
"Jacqueline, come here and feel this fabric. It's a one-of-a-kind treasure in our department."
"When Jiaju brought the Sabretooth back for labor reform, Professor Jiang Si discovered that the keratin secreted by that creature had extremely strong bioductility."
"They extracted two tubes of bio-enzymes from him every day, combined with Carbon Nanotube Elastic Fibers, and then had Sabretooth personally operate the loom in his cell to spin this roll of tear-resistant blended silk."
Jacqueline reached out and yanked hard on the fabric, which stretched by half a foot before springing back to its original shape.
"Damn it! Using that serial killer Victor's bodily fluids and skills to make my underwear? If word gets back to him, that old bastard will be crying his eyes out in jail!"
"Why is he crying? After we finished weaving this roll of A Le gave him two extra meat buns. The guy was overjoyed."
Standing beside her, William the Longneck looked at the surprised yet awkward expression on Jacqueline's face, hesitated for a moment, and then reached out and unzipped her collar.
A silicone anti-abrasion pad was sewn around the inside of his collar, fitting snugly against the curve of his long neck.
"Miss Jacqueline, when I first came here, I was also afraid to walk with my head up because of my long neck. I was even afraid of accidentally breaking my cervical spine at night."
"Master Zhou spent three days taking my measurements and sewing this turtleneck jacket with memory metal support strips."
"In our 749 Bureau, no one ever treats unusual physical structures as monsters. Everyone only tries to make your life more dignified and comfortable."
Looking into William's sincere and clear eyes, Jacqueline's pent-up frustration and anger dissipated without her even realizing it.
This newly emerged domineering older woman raised her hand and slapped William on the shoulder, almost making the tall, thin young man fall to the ground.
"Thanks, brother. I'll consider this a favor!"
"Let's get started now. Who can help this old man lift the cutting machine a bit higher? So I don't hurt my back bending over!"
Master Zhou picked up a pair of scissors, Wendy stepped forward, placing her hands on the edge of the cast iron cutting table.
The iron platform floated up lightly, hovering at the height that Master Zhou found most comfortable.
Christina and Shi Xiaoyan also rolled up their sleeves and helped out, some pulling the fabric, others putting on Carbon Fiber.
While the women inside were busy working on their tasks, the Gambit who had followed them in didn't intend to continue watching.
I decided to stroll out of the tailor shop and come to the old locust tree at the entrance of the alley.
Beside a stone table under the shade of a tree, two old men were locked in a fierce battle, locked in a fierce struggle on the Chu River and Han Border.
On the left, the bald shoemaker Uncle Li, is holding a car and slapping it on the stone table.
"Checkmate! Old Zhang, I've got both your horses pinned down, aren't you going to admit defeat?"
"What's the rush? This old general can still climb to the second floor! If your vehicle dares to challenge my authority, I'll dare to bombard your bottom line with my cannon!"
The Gambit leaned over to look at it for a while, but he couldn't understand the Chinese characters on the chess pieces.
But relying on his intuition from years of gambling, he quickly figured out the pattern of how these wooden discs moved.
When Grandpa Zhang gave up and went to the nearby convenience store to buy soda, the Gambit plopped down on the stone bench, pulled out three five-yuan bills from his pocket, and spoke in broken Chinese.
"Old man, let's play a couple of rounds, five dollars a game, I'll show you what the New Orleans gambling king is all about!"
Uncle Li, the shoe repairman, squinted his old eyes and sized up the handsome young foreign man in the long overcoat, then happily set up the chess pieces.
"Foreign friends can even play our Chinese chess?"
"Fine, I'll teach you a lesson today. You can go first!"
Fifteen minutes later, cold sweat trickled down the Gambit's forehead and temples.
The three five-yuan bills that were originally on the corner of the table all ended up with Uncle Li. Even the half-pack of cigarettes that he was carrying was won by Grandpa Li and placed next to his teacup.
"I clearly calculated that you were going to jump to the left, how could you capture my general right across a piece!"
The Gambit grabbed his hair with both hands, his red eyes fixed on the wooden piece on the chessboard with the character for "cannon" written on it.
"Young man, this is called 'hitting a cow from across a mountain,' are you trying to play chess with that rigid mindset from Western checkers?"
"Hey, you're talented too..."
Uncle Li happily took out a cigarette, lit it, waved his hand, and prepared to leave.
"No, no, I'm not coming anymore. Your skill level is too low. It would be beneath me to play chess with you."
"Wait, let's play one last round. If I lose this time, I'll give you the silver cross around my neck!"
Gambit gambler's competitive spirit was completely ignited. While the old man was setting up the pieces, he made a hidden move with his right hand.
He compressed the purplish-red kinetic energy deep into the wood grain. If the situation turned unfavorable for even a moment, he would detonate this faint kinetic energy to tilt the chessboard, thus creating a way to undo a move without any evidence.
But just as he withdrew his hand, Uncle Li pressed his left hand lightly against the edge of the stone table.
The Tai Chi Energy, combining strength and gentleness, traveled from the tabletop to the center of the chessboard, instantly dissipating the kinetic energy that the Gambit had injected into the pieces.
The Gambit looked up, staring in astonishment at the gaunt old man opposite him.
"Young man, you'd better watch your hands and feet when playing chess in the alleys of our 749 Bureau area."
Uncle Li smiled and patted the Gambit on the shoulder, then tossed the half-pack of cigarettes back to him.
"Since you've kept this old man entertained, here's your cigarette back. And that tall girl's clothes in your room should be finished by now, hurry up and go take a look!"
The Gambit stood up, stunned, holding the half-pack of cigarettes he had just recovered.
Jacqueline, now fully equipped with new gear, appeared before everyone.
He wore a dark green, high-elasticity tactical vest on his upper body, with a temperature-controlled and breathable Silk pad sewn into the lining provided by Da Vinci, and blast-proof work pants in the same color scheme on his lower body.
The fabric, made from a blend of Sabretooth keratin, possesses a remarkable bidirectional shrinkage tension.
It firmly wrapped and secured the burden on her chest, making the Shang-Chi feeling of her heaving disappear without a trace.
"Oh my god, this feels so good!"
Jacqueline jumped up and down excitedly, her limbs showing lion and tiger stripes, and then unleashed a series of wide, sweeping punches.
Jacqueline, her fists clenched and standing still, excitedly rushed to the cutting table and hugged Old Man Zhou tightly.
"Master Zhou, you're like a second parent to me!"
"This craftsmanship is a million times better than those lousy haute couture masters in Paris!"
"Hey! Put it down, put it down! This old man can't take your fussing! There are two more sets of clothes to change into over there, take them!"
On the way back, Jacqueline walked with her back straight in the alley.
Her long, wavy, gray-blue hair swayed behind her head with her brisk steps, attracting frequent glances from passersby.
Passing by a food stall, this woman in a great mood took out her subsidy card and bought a large bag of hot donkey rolls and glutinous rice cakes.
They stuffed them one by one into the hands of Hu Yingying, Wendy, Christina, and Shi Xiaoyan.
"Eat, eat as much as you want! If it weren't for everyone's help today, I'd still be hiding in my dorm like a coward!"
Jacqueline stuffed a donkey roll covered in soybean flour into her mouth, swallowed it in a few bites, and looked at Hu Yingying.
"Instructor Hu, please assign me to your field intelligence covert team?"
"I'm best at following the Silk to uncover the enemy's lair."