Being a dedicated personal driver especially for soone like myself is quite relaxing. As long as the boss isn't running around, I have it easy. Secretary Tang rarely goes out, only needing a ride when inspecting sothing or attending events. The commute is also quite close, sparing Lin Chuan from daily pick-ups and drop-offs.
Tang Yung's lifestyle could not be considered frugal, but she certainly isn't a spendthrift either. The Song family, on the other hand, lives a different story. Song Ming owns a scenic villa by the river where he resides daily; his siblings spend an hour commuting to and from there every day. Additionally, it's been said that Song Ming's villa is like an antiques city, housing all kinds of antiques, treasures, and jade artifacts. Just these possessions alone are worth several hundred million, even up to a billion. And having been in office for decades, would Song Ming not have so cash in hand?
...
Returning to Changlin Community.
Uncle Liu, who repairs bicycles, was playing a ga of chess with a few others, using a worn-out wooden board marked with the traditional territories, albeit with uneven lines, and neatly arranged soldiers, horses, and cannons. The two old n focused intensely, occasionally breaking into clear relief, at other tis ensnared in confusion. The surrounding elderly spectators remained silent, pondering the ga. Before long, the two old n were having a heated argunt, creating a rowdy scene over a disputed move in the ga.
"Go, move this one..." Lin Chuan stepped forward, waving his hand grandly.
"You little rascal, what do you know." Uncle Liu's opponent was Uncle Liang, who was quite hot-tempered in his youth. This ti, his argunt with Uncle Liu nearly escalated to a physical altercation, his face red with anger as if he was about to devour Uncle Liu.
"Heh heh..." Lin Chuan grinned cheekily and hastily took out a pack of high-quality Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, distributing them among the elders. He laughed, "Why all the fuss? It's just a ga of chess and you're all worked up over it?"
"Oh, nice one, kid! Smoking Zhonghua, huh?" One elder noticed the red packet in Lin Chuan's hand.
"I couldn't possibly, it was a gift from soone else," Lin Chuan replied, pocketing the remaining half-pack.
"Dead ga," Uncle Liu snorted, "Old Liang, you've lost."
"Bullshit," Uncle Liang scorned, "What do you an I've lost? I clearly haven't."
"Uncle Liang, give it up," Lin Chuan chuckled, "Let help you turn the ga around."
"Can you even handle it, young man?" Uncle Liang eyed Lin Chuan skeptically, "You think you can win this situation?"
"No problem," Lin Chuan nodded confidently.
Uncle Liang, feeling sowhat indebted after smoking Lin Chuan's Zhonghua, scooted over to make room for him. They squeezed together on a cent slab. Uncle Liang lit up and said, "Haven't smoked in a long ti, this flavor is really rich, incomparable to those two yuan packs."
"Isn't that the truth. Just smoking this one is more expensive than a whole pack of your Plum Blossoms," joked the other elders.
After sitting down, Lin Chuan gestured dramatically and made a piece fly away like a horse.
Uncle Liu was taken aback, "Hey, that's not right. Don't you know the rules? This horse moves in an 'L', how co yours moved straight?"
"Ah, you don't know this, do you?" Lin Chuan bragged with a smirk, swinging his legs, "This isn't just any horse."
"What kind of horse is it then?" Uncle Liu asked curiously.
"This is a thousand-mile horse!" Lin Chuan exclaid, "Ordinary horses only jump one grid, my thousand-mile horse of course should run two grids, right?"
Lin Chuan's remark left Uncle Liu speechlessly stumped.
Ha ha ha...
The watching elders burst into laughter.
"Alright, I won't argue with you, youngster." Uncle Liu quickly played his next move.
Lin Chuan imdiately picked up a soldier that had crossed the river and captured one of Uncle Liu's cannons. Uncle Liu quickly grabbed Lin Chuan's arm, "Hold on, you rascal, what are you doing? Soldiers that have crossed can only move forward, not backward."
"Mine is different!" Lin Chuan replied puffing out clouds of smoke.
"You little scamp, what's so different about your soldier?" Uncle Liu pressed anxiously.
"It's a special forces troop," Lin Chuan coolly took Uncle Liu's cannon, then asserted, "Special forces can skydive and tunnel, why can't they move backward? You're talking nonsense."
"You little bastard!" Uncle Liu grew furious.
"Isn't that you?" Lin Chuan chuckled mischievously.
Ha ha ha...
The surrounding elders laughed again, leaning forward and backward. Seeing this, Uncle Liu had no choice but to accept; he realized that Lin Chuan was intentionally causing a ruckus, purposely stirring trouble. So, Uncle Liu decided just to indulge him to the end.
"Fine, if I can't provoke you, I can still avoid you, right?" Uncle Liu snorted coldly, pushing a chariot right to the edge of Chu River and Han boundaries.
"Capture!" Lin Chuan commanded with a sweep of his hand.
"Are you causing trouble again?" Uncle Liu was anxious: "Can your elephant even cross the river?"
"Why not?" Lin Chuan laughed, "My elephant is a flying elephant."
"Your family's elephant can fly?" Uncle Liu retorted, "Or have you seen a flying elephant before?"
"In this world, with constant new changes and erging high technology, even steel can reach the sky, why can't elephants fly?" Lin Chuan chuckled and said, "I saw a cartoon about a flying elephant when I was a child."
"Cut it out!" Uncle Liu glared at Lin Chuan: "Go on, since you can do it, then I can fly the elephant too and take down your elephant."
Uncle Liu simply imitated Lin Chuan's rogue moves and tussled with Lin Chuan.
But even Uncle Liu, this old hand, couldn't beat Lin Chuan. Lin Chuan's next move made Uncle Liu anxious: "Lin Chuan, you rascal, cannons need to have an empty space to shoot, what are you doing ssing around? Does your cannon have sothing special?"
"Of course!" Lin Chuan laughed proudly: "My cannon is an anti-aircraft one, it can jump over two chess pieces to strike."
"I give up. Continue!" Uncle Liu, in frustration, picked up his own cannon and took down Lin Chuan's crossing pawn.
Uncle Liang, sitting beside Lin Chuan, was dumbfounded; Lin Chuan wasn't really playing chess, he was outright ssing around. He couldn't watch any longer, promptly gave Lin Chuan the entire stone board, and then happily watched from the side.
Lin Chuan had too many tricks, Uncle Liu was overwheld: "You rascal, how can your chariot turn to take my horse?"
"Uncle, have you ever seen a car on the road that can't turn?" Lin Chuan laughed out loud.
"I understand now." Uncle Liu finally grasped Lin Chuan's sches; horses can leap 'eyes', soldiers can move backward, elephants can cross rivers, and cannons can jump spaces. Uncle Liu had fully mastered these, and just when Lin Chuan was about to lose, Lin Chuan smiled and said, "Uncle, I'm going to use my ultimate trick now."
"What?" Uncle Liu asked, puzzled.
At this mont, Lin Chuan picked up Uncle Liu's 'Advisor', then took down Uncle Liu's 'General' and captured it.
"What do you an by that?" Uncle Liu was dumbfounded. Not just Uncle Liu, but also the other onlookers were stunned. By now, the cigarette had burned down to the butt, they didn't feel the burn on their fingers, but were wholly focused on how Lin Chuan was pulling tricks. Uncle Liu hurriedly asked, "Lin Chuan, you rascal, not only do you cheat, but you also refuse to admit defeat? That's not very manly!"
"Uncle, you are mistaken." Lin Chuan laughed.
"Then explain it!" Uncle Liu was really curious about how Lin Chuan was going to explain this ti.
"You weren't aware?" Lin Chuan grinned and said, "This was a spy I planted in your camp since the beginning of our ga. At the critical mont, the spy moves and takes down your general."
"Lin Chuan, you old rascal!" Uncle Liu not only wasn't angry but instead burst into laughter.
At this mont, other watching elders also burst into laughter.
"You kid are simply the ancestor of cheaters in the world of Chess!" Uncle Liu couldn't help but admit.
At this mont, Lin Chuan stood up, quickly distributed another round of cigarettes to the elders, who naturally didn't hesitate to accept and light up again. Then, Lin Chuan said, "Uncle, in life, there are often many frustrations. Why insist on quarreling so fiercely during the only leisure ti we have? Life is short, happiness is the most important, why care about such small rules, right?"
Lin Chuan's words imdiately stopped everyone's laughter. Especially Uncle Liu and Old Man Liang, they looked at each other, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Lin Chuan's words made sense. Life is just a few decades long, why fight and be unhappy over small things? Moreover, they were already one foot in the grave, to almost co to blows over trivial matters was really not worth it.
"Child, listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books." Uncle Liang shook his head in self-derision, "I really do have a bad temper. I should change that."
" too," Uncle Liu laughed, "I'm soone who always nitpicks. What does it matter if you regret a chess move?"
"Enough, enough," Lin Chuan laughed, "You were once the old revolutionaries of Changlin Factory, with no mistakes. In the future, let's not have such incidents again."
"Kid, rest assured." Uncle Liang nodded, "If I don't change my foul temper, next ti you see , just slap my old face."
"Haha..." Everyone burst into laughter.
Things seed to have been perfectly handled, and Lin Chuan took the opportunity to leave the crowd and walked towards the direction of Changlin Factory.
Watching Lin Chuan's retreating figure, Uncle Liu sighed, "The child of the Lin family, an old man having a young child, didn't enjoy a day of descendants' blessings before he passed away."
"Old Lin had a good child," Old Man Liang said with a smile.
...
In the factory, Zhou Kai and others were on a 24-hour watch, afraid that Liu Jianguo the scoundrel might co to steal the goods.
In the factory, two eight-wheeled trucks had already left, heading to a construction site to haul work. It was said to be a job involving tens of thousands of cubic ters of sand and soil. Lu Dapao took a few other fellows to run the job, while the rest of the brothers were dispatched by Zhou Kai to fetch business, which wouldn't take long because the construction site was rushing, and five eight-wheeled trucks were called to help with transport; it was estimated to be completed within a month.
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