Wu Jiasheng finally looked up, his gaze landing excitedly on soone behind Xia Liang. "Bro, you're here."
Xia Liang turned his head to look as well.
Not far away, Wu Chao was holding a cup of water, fidgeting and seemingly unsure of what he was doing. Wu Jiasheng, however, didn't notice anything odd and simply called out to him.
"Bro, where were you just now? I couldn't find you! Co here and teach this liar a lesson; he's the reason Dad caught ."
As he spoke, Wu Jiasheng pointed at Xia Liang, who responded with a wry smile.
Are kids these days so impolite?
Wu Chao did indeed walk over and knocked Wu Jiasheng hard on the head. He finally understood the feeling his third uncle had experienced earlier.
Why must there always be soone courting death?
Afterward, Wu Chao slowly handed the cup of water to Xia Liang, his hand trembling slightly. Even his words ca out muffled and unclear. "Master... Master Xia, I accidentally offended you just now. It's all my fault. Please, Master Xia, a great man like yourself shouldn't hold a grudge against a small person like . My father will co to apologize in person another day!"
He bowed his head, extending the teacup toward Xia Liang as beads of sweat dripped continuously onto the floor. Seeing Wu Chao's deanor, Xia Liang found it sowhat amusing.
"It's a trivial matter," Xia Liang said casually, waving a dismissive hand. "However, I don't want to see you right now. Scram."
"Okay, I'll scram right now."
When he heard Xia Liang say it was a trivial matter, Wu Chao felt a huge wave of relief wash over him. It was as if he had been brought back to life.
Indeed. Master Xia's willingness to overlook petty grievances is truly the mark of a great master.
However, even if there's no problem on Master Xia's end, what about Dad...
Thinking of this, Wu Chao broke out in another cold sweat, knowing that a vicious beating was unavoidable when he got ho.
Watching Wu Chao respectfully take his leave from Xia Liang, Wu Jiasheng snorted again. "Just what did you do to fool them all so completely?"
Seeing that Wu Jiasheng was finally speaking to him, Xia Liang laughed. "Why do you think I'm fooling them? Every single word I've said is the truth. What, you think I'm a con artist?"
"Of course! I don't know how you found out about my situation, but you're definitely not so fortune-telling master or 'Living Immortal' like my dad says!"
The conviction in Wu Jiasheng's eyes was unshakeable; he was utterly certain that Xia Liang was a fraud. Xia Liang, for his part, understood the boy. At that age, one is full of pride and boundless rebellion. The idea that an all-knowing fortune-teller truly existed was sothing few people his age would believe.
Seeing Wu Jiasheng's rebellious expression, Xia Liang was reminded of his younger self.
"You really don't believe ?" Xia Liang chuckled, picking up a piece of paper from the table in front of Wu Jiasheng. "How about we play a ga to see if I'm the con artist you think I am?"
At Xia Liang's suggestion, a hint of wariness flashed in Wu Jiasheng's eyes, but being a fearless youth, he agreed in the next second. "Alright, just you wait until I expose you. What's the ga?"
"It's simple." Xia Liang took a pen from Wu Jiasheng's pencil case and placed it on the paper he had just picked up. "You write, and I'll guess."
"I write and you guess? That's it?" Expecting sothing far more impressive, Wu Jiasheng was suddenly disappointed. The Master Xia his father described as all-knowing and all-powerful was only going to play such a childish ga with him.
"Exactly," Xia Liang said with a smile. "It's the small things that reveal true skill."
Hearing this, Wu Jiasheng's eyes flickered with doubt. But after a mont's thought, he had to admit that Xia Liang's words made sense. Although it was just a small ga, it could indeed reveal a lot. Besides, there was no one else around, and since the pen and paper were his own, there was no chance they had been tampered with.
Alright then, let's see how you're going to guess what I write.
"Okay, you're on."
With that, Wu Jiasheng picked up the paper, propped his backpack in front of him to block the view, and kept his hand movents as subtle as possible. He didn't want Xia Liang to deduce what he was writing by watching his hand. As the son of Director Wu, he had t many extraordinary individuals before. There were indeed people who could tell what soone was writing from several tables away just by observing their hand movents. Although such people were rare, Wu Jiasheng remained vigilant.
Apart from the top of the boy's head, there was nothing for Xia Liang to see.
Watching the wary Wu Jiasheng, however, Xia Liang just smiled faintly, not moving a muscle.
A few monts later, the pen in Wu Jiasheng's hand stopped. He imdiately covered the paper, glancing around to make sure no one was approaching. Only after completing this ritual did he slowly look at Xia Liang.
"Guess," he challenged.
As he said this, Wu Jiasheng had already planned his escape route. In the event Xia Liang actually guessed correctly, he had various denials and deflections prepared. After all, he had seen magicians before and knew they could guess all sorts of things correctly, often in ways he couldn't even begin to figure out. So even if Xia Liang was right, he wouldn't admit it. A rebellious sixteen-year-old is a master of being contrary.
You think you can make believe in you with a little ga? Dream on!
But Xia Liang, a smile playing on his lips, had already seen through it all. After Wu Jiasheng spoke, he slowly recited a few numbers.
"You wrote... 460, didn't you?"
Hearing Xia Liang's words, Wu Jiasheng froze for a second before flipping over the paper in front of him. He didn't lie and admitted it openly.
Even so, his gaze toward Xia Liang didn't change in the slightest; his face was still a mask of disbelief. "It's just a string of numbers, that's nothing special," he continued. "So magicians can do that. And what if there are tiny caras around here that I don't know about? What if soone over there is secretly watching with binoculars? Guessing a string of numbers is no big deal."
As he spoke, Wu Jiasheng gestured toward the surrounding crowd and the distant high-rise buildings. And what he described was, indeed, possible.
Listening to him, Xia Liang didn't argue. Instead, he nodded in agreent, as if helping Wu Jiasheng make his case. "The sunshade above our heads, if it had a small cara, could certainly see what you just wrote. And from that high-rise building behind us, soone with a telescope could have also seen your movents."
As Xia Liang's voice trailed off, Wu Jiasheng was completely taken aback.
Whose side are you on? Shouldn't you be claiming you divined what I wrote? And then bragging about how amazing you are? Why are you helping make excuses?
Thinking this, Wu Jiasheng glanced up at the canopy and then back at the tall building in the distance. Although he couldn't see any caras or people, he knew such things could very well exist. If you could spot them with a glance or two, they wouldn't be called "small caras."
But still…
Wu Jiasheng scratched his head, completely puzzled. Why would Xia Liang say all that? His words seed to imply that he had, in fact, used other ans to guess what he wrote.
A statent like that does nothing to change my impression of him!
Watching Wu Jiasheng's perplexed expression, Xia Liang finally spoke.
"Co on. Let's play one last round."
"Again?" The confusion in Wu Jiasheng's eyes could no longer be hidden.
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