Ni Tiansong was genuinely stunned for a moment.
In fact, his record had been standing there for many years, and it was quite normal for it to be broken; he didn’t mind or have any particular thoughts about it.
What shocked him was that right after he said those words, the news of his record being broken came through—what a coincidence.
The butler also looked at him dumbfounded, as if questioning life itself, wondering if there was some kind of “speak-it-into-existence” law in this world.
But words spoken couldn’t be taken back.
Ni Tiansong paused quietly for a moment, then finally put down the pen in his hand, gently placing it on the inkstone nearby.
His hand was slender, pale with visible blue veins, nails neatly trimmed, revealing a faint pink hue.
Ni Tiansong looked up and asked,
“Has Li Xunwen arrived? Who did he say it was?”
“Um, this…”
The butler hesitated for a moment, still reeling from the news sent by the chess association rather than what Young Master Li had said about his formidable opponent.
He glanced at his phone, put it down, and looked at Ni Tiansong with a hesitant expression, saying,
“Would you like to hear about the person who broke the record first?”
Ni Tiansong looked at him and asked,
“Is there a difference?”
“They say it’s someone recommended by Master Qi. The record for that endgame was supposedly broken by her when she was 16, and she’s currently the only one who’s solved it.”
Ni Tiansong knew that this field often produced young prodigies.
His record had stood for a long time, so it was only natural for it to be broken.
There was nothing to dwell on.
He even nodded and praised,
“This kid is very talented.”
“…It’s not a kid.”
The butler scratched his head, sweat beading on his forehead.
“They say…it’s some family’s young lady.”
“And she has no prior record of competing—just appeared out of nowhere.”
Seeing that Ni Tiansong didn’t pay much attention to this and walked out without any reaction, the butler followed, saying with some concern,
“I feel like this record might not be legitimate. She’s never shown any history of being skilled at chess. To just appear out of nowhere and break your record directly—it doesn’t seem normal. Could it be some scheme by her family to promote her…”
“Don’t casually doubt others’ achievements,”
Ni Tiansong said casually.
“The chess association requires live recordings, preservation, and the judgment of multiple industry experts to certify these things. No matter who broke it or when, it’s her ability. I’m just someone who held the record, not the record itself. Don’t be too possessive about it.”
As he turned and left, the butler was stunned, regretting his careless words while sighing, feeling a sense of pity.
The young master’s mindset was just different from theirs.
Almost everyone in their household was a fan of Ni Tiansong.
Having such an heir— frail but upright, reserved yet refined—and someone who rarely refused to help when needed, was why Li Xunwen dared to ask for his assistance.
If it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t played chess in a long time, he wouldn’t have declined.
True to his word, the butler thought he was practically a Chinese-style incubus.
Upon receiving Ni Tiansong’s message, Li Xunwen rushed over right after leaving a recording set.
Seeing Ni Tiansong waiting outside, he hurriedly approached,
“Oh! Tiansong-ge, sorry to keep you waiting!”
“It’s fine,”
Ni Tiansong said calmly.
“Who’s this person you mentioned? Where are you competing against her? Let me see how I can help.”
“But I can’t guarantee I’ll be effective. It’s been a long time since I’ve touched chess.”
Ni Tiansong was undeniably handsome, with a refined, almost classical Chinese elegance.
Despite modern clothing and hairstyle, he exuded an ink-painting-like aura.
Li Xunwen couldn’t help but stare for a moment, thinking his skin was like jade, with a delicate, luminous glow on his high-bridged nose.
“Tiansong-ge, I need to tell you—this is a big deal, which is why I had to come ask for your help. I made a bet with someone—no, not just a bet, we signed an agreement! This time, we have to settle the score!”
Li Xunwen snapped back to reality, practically standing up as he leaned on the table, speaking to Ni Tiansong with agitation.
But Ni Tiansong wasn’t fazed, calmly pouring him a glass of water and saying,
“Take it slow.”
“This person is super cunning, you know? She hid so many skills before, trying to show up others on the show, and no one knew! She’s actually good at jujitsu, skiing, and all sorts of random stuff…”
Li Xunwen paused, recalling that Gu Zhaoping had mentioned these skills in the first episode’s introduction, but no one took her seriously at the time.
He let out an awkward “uh” and quickly moved past the topic.
“Now she wants to bet on a chess match with me!”
“Per our last agreement, I get to move first this time, but I’m not sure if she’s hiding even more skills because what she’s shown so far is terrifying! Tiansong-ge, can you believe it? A woman who’s like 100 pounds threw around a nearly 1.9-meter-tall guy like it was nothing, leaving him defenseless! Is that normal for jujitsu?”
Ni Tiansong looked at him and said calmly,
“With high-level jujitsu training, that’s possible. She must be very skilled.”
Li Xunwen: …
He was speechless.
Was this really the time to praise Gu Zhaoping’s skills?
He continued urgently,
“Tiansong-ge, that’s not the point! The point is we signed an agreement! If I lose this time, I have to write an essay every day praising how great and innocent she is, post it online for everyone to see, and detail how I misunderstood her. Can I even stomach that?”
Ni Tiansong continued to ask seriously,
“If you win, does that mean she has to do the same?”
Li Xunwen nearly choked.
Come on, Tiansong-ge, I’m your childhood friend!
We’re closer, aren’t we?
Why are you worrying about her now?
Fine, fine—he knew Ni Tiansong’s personality: fair to all, never showing favoritism just because of familiarity.
Li Xunwen could only plead begrudgingly,
“Tiansong-ge, I’m really begging you this time. I’ve never asked you for anything all these years. Just help me out this once, okay?”
“I can help. If my skills haven’t regressed, I can give you some advice before the match, see where you can improve, so you’ll be more relaxed during the game.”
Li Xunwen’s eyes widened.
That’s it?
Ni Tiansong nodded earnestly.
That’s it.
No, wait—he thought Ni Tiansong could at least do something more, like teach him a killer move that could instantly defeat his opponent.
Back when Ni Tiansong was active in the chess world, he had such a move that almost no one could counter.
Li Xunwen was hoping to learn some secret technique, but Ni Tiansong’s idea of help was just to train with him??
Li Xunwen almost laughed in frustration.
“Tiansong-ge, if it’s about training, I could just find a coach and practice on my own!”
“I’m a good coach too,”
Ni Tiansong said, his clear eyes calm.
Then, his pale lips curved into a slight smile.
“Want to try?”
A wail echoed through the room.
After being forced to train chess with Ni Tiansong for a day, Li Xunwen’s face was completely drained of life.
It was terrifying—
Ni Tiansong was still terrifying.
Even after years of not playing, facing him in a match, Li Xunwen felt the crushing fear of being outmaneuvered step by step.
“Your mindset still isn’t strong enough.”
Ni Tiansong said as he packed up the chess pieces, looking at Li Xunwen’s expression, which was as if he’d been struck by lightning.
Li Xunwen was truly desperate now.
After a day of matches, he felt like he’d been thoroughly beaten by Ni Tiansong without any transformative improvement.
His heart was now even more on edge.
He didn’t know Gu Zhaoping’s true skill level, but since she dared to talk so big, the pressure on Li Xunwen was immense.
Ni Tiansong finished tidying the chessboard and prepared to leave.
Li Xunwen hurriedly called out to him, wailing in despair,
“Tiansong-ge, I really have no confidence now! If word gets out that I lost to some young lady who’s never touched chess, where will I put my face? Bro, can’t you teach me a real, surefire winning strategy?”
Ni Tiansong was about to warn him that there are no shortcuts, but then he paused, feeling that Li Xunwen’s description sounded vaguely familiar.
Where had he heard it before?
A young lady who’s never touched chess…
Nowadays, there are quite a few such people getting into chess.
Ni Tiansong paused, thinking it was a good thing.
“No,” he said gently, but he still gave Li Xunwen a sliver of hope.
“When it’s time for your match, I’ll be there with you.”
Li Xunwen’s eyes lit up immediately.
Great!
With Ni Tiansong by his side, he’d feel much more confident!
He refused to believe he’d still lose to Gu Zhaoping with Ni Tiansong there!
After leaving the recording set, Gu Zhaoye was still enveloped in an unprecedentedly dark mood.
Ruan Nian wanted to say something to him but didn’t dare.
This was the most terrifying accident in her life.
She never expected Liang Zhiwei to show up like that.
The words she said—
Ruan Nian didn’t even want to hear them, let alone recall them in detail.
Just thinking about it made her feel a stifling anger in her chest, yet she couldn’t vent it.
She could only grit her teeth and say,
“Liang Zhiwei is just too much. I think she’s deliberately retaliating.”
“Deliberate retaliation?”
Gu Zhaoye finally spoke, letting out a cold laugh that tugged at the wound on his face, causing him to wince in pain.
His expression grew even darker, and his voice sounded almost broken.
“If she was deliberately retaliating, if she had even the slightest feelings for me, would she say those things?”
Ruan Nian was startled, timidly looking at him without making a sound.
The truth was hard to accept—it was like both of them had been slapped hard.
Liang Zhiwei didn’t care about them at all, making them look like clowns.
No, this couldn’t be their ending.
Ruan Nian was still worried.
“By the way, Zhaoye, that person just now…was he really your brother?”
Gu Zhaoye wasn’t in the mood to answer, only giving her a cold glance, and Ruan Nian understood.
She hadn’t expected this rumored third brother to seem even more difficult to deal with than Gu Zhaoping.
She’d thought there’d be at least one person in the family to join them in opposing Gu Zhaoping.
Weren’t all the Gu family brothers supposed to have a bad relationship with Gu Zhaoping?
What was going on?
Ruan Nian’s hoped-for ally turned out to be useless, and she couldn’t help but grit her teeth, her heart bleeding with regret.
“And what he said…about the fiancée, could it…”
Ruan Nian was worried about this.
Other things didn’t matter, but if Gu Zhaoye’s fiancée situation was exposed, the nature of everything would change completely.
She had always thought that Gu Zhaoye would eventually break off the engagement with his fiancée, and then she’d have no worries.
But who could’ve expected that before the engagement issue was resolved, Gu Zhaosi had already spilled the beans.
In a prestigious family like the Gus, marriage arrangements for their children were handled with extreme caution and weren’t publicly announced before the wedding.
Even the crew and staff who worked closely with Ruan Nian didn’t know.
She feared that if someone couldn’t keep this secret, a storm would soon erupt.
Gu Zhaoye looked up coldly and said,
“It’s fine. What’s there to fear? No one dares to spread rumors about my affairs.”
If he were just another young master of the Gu family, it’d be no big deal—mere gossip.
But as the near-confirmed heir of the Gu family, his status carried a different weight.
Media coverage about him was carefully managed to lean positive rather than negative.
All the disputes between him and Ruan Nian over the years had painted him as a devoted romantic, not a scoundrel—that was the advantage of controlling the narrative.
As for recent incidents…it was because of the variable that was Gu Zhaoping, plus too many passersby, making it impossible to block every lens poking out from the shadows!
Gu Zhaoye’s expression grew even darker.
His people brought a car to pick him up.
Ruan Nian followed, asking,
“Zhaoye, where are you going?”
Gu Zhaoye took a deep breath and said,
“I’m going to apologize to the old man now.”
“Do as you please.”
Ruan Nian hurriedly followed,
“Zhaoye, I’ll go with you!”
This time, Gu Zhaoye didn’t stop her.
He had a feeling that whether it was Gu Zhaoping or Gu Zhaosi, one of them would secretly tell the old man about the Snow Mountain incident.
The incident from the last show where things got heated with Gu Zhaoping was exactly why they needed to apologize to the old man.
The summit was still ongoing and hadn’t concluded yet, so he might still make an appearance in the final two days, at least to prevent the families close to theirs from suspecting he’d been abandoned by the old man or pushed out of the power center.
These were far more pressing matters, and he couldn’t spare any attention elsewhere.
Gu Zhaosi, dazed and clutching his ski poles, followed Gu Zhaoping step by step into the estate.
He glanced back—the man named Theodore, who had escorted them, politely nodded goodbye.
His sister didn’t show much expression toward him.
But before leaving, Theodore said,
“Miss Gu, I’ll come see you in a couple of days.”
Gu Zhaoping glanced at him, gave a slight smile, and responded noncommittally with a hum.
“Welcome.”
The trip up the snowy mountain had convinced Theodore to attend her speech.
They’d confirm later whether he’d join her in vying for control of the Gu family’s affairs.
She was confident.
Gu Zhaosi was still confused.
What?
Coming to see his sister in a couple of days?
As they entered the main hall, he asked Gu Zhaoping in a daze,
“Sis, did the old man specifically call you here this time?”
“Who else would it be?”
Gu Zhaoping glanced at him, tossing back a question.
Gu Zhaosi was instantly intimidated.
What a commanding tone.