Meeting a Little Old Man

He had visited the Heavenly Court several times, always on business: interviews, reporting for duty, giving work reports.

Once he was done, he left, just like on a business trip. He had never properly explored the place.

Today, Big Golden Retriever was watching the shop anyway, and if Weasel Old Man got impatient waiting for his bath, he would run the water himself.

Wen Ning decided to visit the Imperial Garden, somewhere he was familiar with.

Lu Ming had brought him here before, but they had run into Dipper Mother halfway through that visit.

This time, he took his time wandering alone, and only then realized that the Imperial Garden was much larger than he remembered.

Besides the koi pond and the trees laden with seven-colored fruit, there was also a vast bamboo grove.

Stone tables and stools lined the path. Several old immortals with white beards were playing board games at the tables, teapots and fly whisks set beside them. Everything was quiet except for the crisp clicks of pieces landing on the boards.

Wen Ning glanced at one game as he passed, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. The main reason he couldn't bear to watch was that those old immortals took over an hour to make a single move.

Their lives stretched on forever. Wen Ning couldn't wait that long.

When Wen Ning reached an enormous ginkgo tree, a Heavenly Soldier in golden armor stepped out from behind it, gripping a long halberd, and looked him up and down.

The Heavenly Soldier had probably just started his shift. A young man strolling around the Imperial Garden in ordinary mortal clothes looked suspicious no matter how he viewed it.

"Halt. Who are you? Do you have a token?"

This was the first time a Heavenly Soldier had stopped Wen Ning for questioning. Previously, he had always been accompanied by Lu Ming or a Thunder Department Heavenly Official.

Wen Ning took the Thunder Department Token from his waist and handed it over.

The Heavenly Soldier took the token and examined it twice. Surely nobody would impersonate those hotheads from the Thunder Department.

Then he looked up at Wen Ning's face again. He doesn't look like someone from the Thunder Department, either. Every other one I've stopped has immediately started mouthing off. This one's actually cooperating.

Still, the Heavenly Soldier didn't dwell on it. As long as the token was genuine, that was enough. Perhaps this was a newcomer who hadn't picked up the Thunder Department's temper yet.

He handed the token back to Wen Ning.

"So you're a colleague from the Thunder Department. My apologies for the intrusion. Several venerable immortals are discussing the Dao in the eastern section of the Imperial Garden, and some young members of the Dragon Clan are playing in the koi pond in the western section today. If you're free, you might like to take a look."

Wen Ning thought, This Heavenly Soldier looks stern, but he's actually pretty helpful. He's even planned my sightseeing for me.

He was about to head west to see Koi, who supposedly had cultivated for three thousand years and still refused to become a dragon.

Just as he reached the koi pond, he saw a familiar figure emerge from a little path beside the rockery—Dipper Mother.

Wen Ning instinctively straightened up. At their last meeting, she had given him a jade tablet containing the Eight-Nine Mysteries, and he hadn't yet had a chance to thank her in person.

Dipper Mother saw him too and gave a slight nod. Anyone not paying close attention might have thought she hadn't noticed him at all.

But Wen Ning caught it. Dipper Mother kept walking, and the back of her dark blue Daoist robe soon disappeared behind the rockery.

Wen Ning rubbed his nose, thinking, My grandmaster really does have an incredible presence. Even the way she says hello is cool.

He continued around the koi pond. When he reached an old pine tree beside the water, he spotted an old man sitting on a stone stool.

The old man wore a worn Daoist robe, his graying hair loosely tied behind his head. A stone table stood before him, with a Go board on top.

Only when Wen Ning came closer did he realize that the board didn't hold an unfinished game.

It was an empty board, with no game started yet.

The old man was idly tossing a few black stones in his hand, as though they were peanuts.

When he saw Wen Ning approach, his eyes lit up. He tossed the stones into their basket and beckoned to him.

"Boy, come here, come here! Play a game with me!"

Wen Ning looked around, then pointed at himself to confirm that the old man was talking to him.

Only then did he walk over and sit on the stone stool opposite the old man.

"Senior, I'm not very good at Go. I only know the basic rules."

That made the old man even more enthusiastic. He pushed the basket of black stones toward Wen Ning, his voice carrying a smug note of All the better.

"That's fine, that's fine! I'll give you a four-stone handicap. You take black and go first. I've been playing Go my whole life."

Wen Ning thought this old senior certainly talked big. He stopped declining, picked up the black stones, and placed several on the board.

The outcome was obvious from the start. The old man drank as he played, setting down white stones at lightning speed, barely needing to think.

Wen Ning had to ponder every move for quite a while, and lost without the slightest suspense.

He readily conceded. The old man tipped his head back for a swig of wine, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and complained that Wen Ning was too weak. He said playing someone at Wen Ning's level was about the same as playing the ginkgo tree by the entrance—at least the tree could hold out a few moves longer.

The old man's remarks got under Wen Ning's skin, and suddenly he had an idea.

He pointed at the board and said that he certainly couldn't beat the old man at Go, but with a different game, the old man might be the one who lost.

Intrigued, the old man set his wine gourd on the table.

"What game? Is there a game I don't know how to play?"

Wen Ning gestured beside the board.

It was called Chinese chess. Each side had sixteen pieces, with chariots, horses, cannons, and soldiers each moving differently. Horizontal, vertical, and diagonal moves all had their own rules. Both sides attacked across the board, and whoever trapped the opposing general first won.

The explanation piqued the old man's interest.

"I've heard of this game. Didn't it only appear in that mortal Song Dynasty?" Wen Ning answered directly.

"That's right. It's a way of playing they came up with during the Song Dynasty. Want to give it a try?"

With that, Wen Ning waved his hand and conjured a Chinese chessboard and its pieces.

He spent another half an incense stick's worth of time explaining the rules: chariots moved in straight lines, horses moved in an L, cannons jumped over a piece to capture, and elephants moved two points diagonally.

After hearing the rules, the old man told Wen Ning,

"I know how to play. Don't treat me like a beginner. Let's get straight to it."

The game began in earnest.

In the first game, the old man wasn't very good. After all, he had always played Go before, and nobody in the Heavenly Court usually played Chinese chess with him. Wen Ning checkmated him with a combination of chariot, horse, and cannon, winning the game.

The old man stared at the board in silence for a long while, then raised his head to look at Wen Ning.

Wen Ning thought he was about to issue some fierce challenge for a rematch. Instead, the old man slammed his wine gourd onto the table, sounding utterly unreasonable yet completely convinced he was right.

"That game doesn't count! I haven't played much, and you took advantage of me before I got the hang of it. That's no honorable victory! Another game! No, three more!"

Holding back a laugh, Wen Ning agreed and played two more games with him.

Although the old man's Chinese chess skills improved extremely quickly,

Wen Ning had, after all, been playing for many years.

For his first time playing Chinese chess, the old man's progress was remarkably fast, but Wen Ning still won three games in a row.

Before Wen Ning could offer a few words of consolation, the old man suddenly slapped a piece onto the table.

"No!"

The old man was so angry that he even stopped drinking, his face full of indignation.

"I haven't played much. Can't you let me win just once? If you don't let me win, I'll go tell Dipper Mother to change the sign on your bathhouse to 'Nightclub'!"

Wen Ning's face paled. Oh no. I've made him lose his temper.

This old man was probably someone he couldn't afford to offend.

Anyone who could make Wen Ning change his sign again with a single word was definitely someone he couldn't afford to offend.

This man carried a wine gourd around and casually threatened to tell Dipper Mother to turn the bathhouse into a nightclub.

Wen Ning set up the pieces again. This time, he had to let the old man win.

Beaming, the old man slapped down a piece, then tipped his head back and took a great gulp of wine.

With Wen Ning doing everything in his power to throw the game, the old man finally won a round.