Why don't you wear a helmet when you play chess?

Chapter 38: Why aren't you wearing a helmet when you play chess?

However, this gloomy expression lasted less than a second. The next moment, Liu Jin'er's face changed, and she returned to her usual cheerful smile.

"Your Majesty is so fierce. Are you in a bad mood?" Liu Jin'er said.

"I haven't fully recovered from my illness and need rest. It's inconvenient for me to be disturbed," Chu Lu said, not wanting to get entangled with this person. "If you have nothing else, please go back."

"Don't go," Liu Jin'er pouted. "We finally meet, and we haven't even said a few words before you're rushing me away. Do you hate me that much?"

"Pretty much," Chu Lu replied.

"Wuwuwu, I'm so sad. Your Majesty, you actually hate me. But I don't want to leave. Your Majesty..." Liu Jin'er said, blinking her big eyes. "How about we do something fun?"

Chu Lu was stunned, then shocked. He said in his mind, "Xu Liniang? Her? Holy crap? Sister?!"

"No! It's not like that! I wish it were, but it's not!" Xu Liniang screamed in Chu Lu's mind. "Ahhh, it's come to this. I didn't want you to know! I really didn't!"

Chu Lu was filled with confusion.

At this moment, Liu Jin'er pushed the tall woman in front of her and said with a smile, "Let's have a chess match, just like last time."

"Huh? A chess match?"

"Your Majesty, don't you remember? Just like last time. Last time you asked me about your elder sister's weaknesses? I said we'd have a chess match. If you won, I'd tell you. If you lost, you'd have to kneel and bark like a dog three times." Liu Jin'er said with a grin. "You lost five games in a row last time. You haven't forgotten, have you?"

Chu Lu was dumbfounded.

He asked in his mind, "Xu Liniang, you wouldn't..."

"Ahhh!" Xu Liniang screamed in despair. "No! Don't say it! I was trying to save Consort Ping!"

Chu Lu was silent.

Before transmigrating, he had heard Xu Liniang talk about how hard she tried, but he hadn't taken it seriously.

Now, it seemed she really had tried her best.

It was just that her intelligence wasn't enough. The harder she tried, the more miserable her outcome.

"No wonder you were so afraid of her and wouldn't tell me the reason," Chu Lu thought.

"Chu Lu, please don't tell anyone else in the Chat Group. I beg you, I'll do anything! I beg you!" Xu Liniang said pitifully.

"I know. I won't say anything."

After comforting Xu Liniang, Chu Lu looked at Liu Jin'er and shook his head. "I'm not interested. You should go back."

He wasn't Xu Liniang, so there was no need for him to do such a thing.

Liu Jin'er raised an eyebrow when she heard this. "You won't bet? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Chu Lu shook his head. "Please leave."

"Okay, then I'll be going. Oh, by the way, I heard from my elder sister that Your Majesty has two favorite consorts in the palace. One is Consort Ping, and the other is Consort Xian. It's said that Your Majesty can't bear to leave their beds. Consort Ping is a Winnowing Basket Demon, and she's already been burned by my elder sister. I don't think Consort Xian is any good either." Liu Jin'er showed a cute yet cold smile. "Why don't we burn her too?"

A cold glint flashed in Chu Lu's eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

"So what if I am?" Liu Jin'er retorted.

"Then you'd better be prepared for the consequences," Chu Lu said slowly. "A chess match, right? Fine, let's do it!"

Liu Jin'er's smile immediately became cheerful. "Your Majesty is indeed straightforward."

She immediately ordered someone to bring out a chessboard and prepare.

At that moment, Xu Liniang's voice echoed in Chu Lu's mind.

"Chu Lu, you don't have to force yourself," Xu Liniang said. "That woman is a disciple of the Chess Saint, the number one National Master of this era. You can't win against her. Just give up."

To be honest, Xu Liniang didn't want Consort Xian to die. How could she bear to see the soft and cuddly Consort Xian, who was so comfortable to hold, die?

But there were priorities. She was in trouble herself and couldn't possibly care about others. Moreover, once this precedent was set, Liu Jin'er would definitely keep threatening him with this matter.

What's more, Chu Lu was originally an unrelated passerby. It was already extremely difficult for him to risk coming to help her. How could she bear to let him be humiliated?

"It's okay," Chu Lu replied in his mind. "I can win."

"Really?" Xu Liniang was surprised. She wondered if Chu Lu was a Go master. This was truly... one shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Then she became excited. No matter what, she wouldn't be humiliated, and Consort Xian could be saved. It was the best outcome.

Soon, the chessboard was set up.

After both sides decided who would go first, they began to play.

Xu Liniang watched with great interest at first, wanting to witness Chu Lu's superb chess skills.

However, after watching for a short while, she was filled with confusion.

—Why does it feel like... Chu Lu is so bad?

At first, she thought her own skill level was too low to understand Chu Lu's strategy. She watched for a while longer. Only when the situation on the board had completely tipped to one side did she realize that Chu Lu was genuinely bad.

"Chu Lu..." Xu Liniang was deeply moved. In her eyes, this was clearly Chu Lu deliberately sacrificing himself to save her beloved consort.

Liu Jin'er leaned over to take a look. She understood some Go herself and immediately saw that Chu Lu's defeat was inevitable. She said with a grin, "Okay, is that enough? There's no need to continue, right? Your Majesty, admit defeat."

Chu Lu shook his head. "No, I still have a chance to win."

The National Master sitting before him heard this, a hint of disdain appearing on his face. "May I ask what other chance of victory you have?"

There wasn't a trace of respect for Chu Lu in the National Master's tone.

After all, she already knew Chu Lu was an emperor who had lost his power, and she had witnessed Xu Liniang's embarrassing display of acting like a dog. Naturally, she couldn't respect him.

"That's right," Liu Jin'er chimed in. "Your Majesty, what other chance of victory do you have?"

Xu Liniang in his mind also said, "Chu Lu, just give up. Don't force yourself. As the saying goes, the sooner you die, the sooner you reincarnate... Let's just grit our teeth. Anyway, it's my body being used, and my face that's being disgraced."

Chu Lu shook his head and said, "This Master's skill is indeed superb. To possess such ability at such a young age, besides having a strict teacher, he must have also put in a great deal of effort and hard work?"

"Naturally," the National Master replied proudly. "I started playing chess at three years old and haven't slacked off for a single day. At ten, I reached the Third Rank. At fifteen, I defeated all the famous players in the land and ascended to the First Rank Human God. At twenty, even my Master admitted defeat."

The National Master's statement was a counterattack to Chu Lu's earlier claim of having a chance to win.

With such a brilliant resume, how much stronger was his chess skill than yours? How could you have the nerve to say you still had a chance?

"As expected, impressive. Unfortunately, you've made a huge mistake," Chu Lu sighed.

"Heh," the National Master couldn't help but scoff. "Oh? What mistake did I make?"

The National Master's eyes were full of mockery. In her opinion, the outcome of this game was already decided. Chu Lu simply refused to bark like a dog and was talking nonsense.

—How embarrassing. No wonder he couldn't even hold onto his imperial power.

"You..." At this moment, Chu Lu looked at her with a sincere expression and said, "Why aren't you wearing a helmet when playing chess?"

"Huh?" The National Master was stunned.

—A helmet? What helmet? Why would one wear a helmet to play chess?

The next moment, Chu Lu grabbed the straight wooden stick beside him and swung it violently at the National Master's forehead.

Thump!

The National Master's vision went black.