Chapter 226


    Stanley was delighted, but the face of the old man across from him turned grave—so did the faces of the


    group of old men surrounding them.


    Everyone at the scene fell silent at once. After pondering for several minutes, the grey-haired old man


    moved one of his chess pieces to make a move. Soon after that, a hand appeared behind Stanley and


    moved Stanley’s bishop two squares diagonally.


    Only then did the old man notice the youngdy standing behind Stanley. She seemed pretty young, but


    she looked wise and prescient.


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    She yed chess using apletely different approach from Stanley’s. While Stanley yed by


    constantly retreating, she kept closing in on her opponent at all costs, knowing very well that a good


    offense was the best defense.


    Such a chess-ying method caught the old man off guard, and it was now his turn to have his chess


    pieces under threat.


    Stanley quickly moved over to make room for Sophia to sit down. He then said warmly, “Come, Sophia.


    You can y it yourself.”


    Sophia had been so wrapped up in the game; she didn’t realize that she had made a chess move on


    Stanley’s behalf without asking for Stanley and the old man’s permission. She felt a little embarrassed,


    but seeing that the old man didn’t object to Stanley’s words, she sat down and yed against the old


    man with rapt attention.


    Chess was one of her specialties as well; back when she was in high school, she had enjoyed free


    tuition, free board and lodging, and not to mention monthly allowances and annual schrships. The


    only thing that enabled her to attend the best high school in Riverdale despite her poverty was her


    academic excellence.


    Her high school was packed with outstanding talents, so she had to perform better than anyone else in


    order to keep staying at school and study for free. Besides earning top scores on every subject and


    staying among the top ten of the ss in every exam, she also forced herself to develop extracurricr


    skills.


    Since her high school’s women’s basketball team kept losing every year, she forced herself to learn


    basketball so that her school team wouldn’t suffer from an embarrassing defeat. Also, since her high


    school’s chess team kept losing to other high school teams every year, she made an effort to learn chess


    so that she could win prizes for the school annually. That way, she could be awarded with schrships


    as well.


    Feeling threatened was reason enough for her to learn everything with great speed!


    Sophia and the old man were silent as they engaged in an intense fight by capturing each other’s chess


    pieces repeatedly.


    It had started to get ufortably hot in thete spring, and Sophia’s snow-white forehead was covered


    with a thin sheen of sweat. On the contrary, the old man across from her was drenched in sweat.


    Half an hourter, the sky had grown visibly dark, and Sophia gained a steady upper hand on the


    chessboard, pushing her opponent to the verge of defeat.


    Having changed sides long ago, the group of old men now stood behind Sophia along with Stanley as


    they chanted, “Check his king! Check his king!”


    Now it was the grey-haired old man’s turn to be under tremendous stress; any bad move would make


    him lose the entire game. Then, with another chess move, Sophia said with a victorious smile, “Thank


    you for ying with me, old man. Checkmate!”


    The old man tossed the chess piece in his hand away in frustration. He argued, “No, the move I yed


    just now isn’t valid! I was too careless just now. Let’s start from there once again!”


    However, Sophia wasn’t offended; she retracted her previous moves and resumed the game. This time,


    the old man managed to make another five moves before Sophia seeded in capturing all his chess


    pieces once again.


    Unwilling to concede defeat, the old man said, “Let’s start again!”


    They retracted their moves and resumed the game once again. This time, Sophia dealt the old man


    another crushing defeat before thetter could even make five moves.


    Atst, the old man tossed his chess piece away and said, “I’m not ying anymore!”


    With that, he turned around and left in a huff.


    Now it was Stanley’s turn to be smug. He yelled at the old man from a distance away, “You lost the


    game, old man! Did you hear me? You lost the game!”


    The old man merely responded with an angry snort.


    Stanley grabbed Sophia’s hand and squeezed it as hard as he could. He then said, “Sophia, you’re


    basically my savior! This old man has been scourging me for over ten years; he kept forcing me to y


    chess with him despite knowing that I’m terrible at it! You did a great job just now! If he ever asks me to


    y chess with him in the future, I’ll let you y in my ce!”


    Sophia could only respond with a helpless expression.


    The group of old men had gone their separate ways to enjoy their pleasant nightlife. The military


    compound didn’t seem any different from other ces since there were also a group of old men and


    women doing square dancing and exercises.


    Sensible as he was, Sean took his leave first, leaving Stanley, Sophia, and Nathan to themselves.


    Sophia first had Nathan apologize to Stanley and his pet dog. Walking up to Stanley, Nathan bowed his


    head and said, “I’m sorry, Stan. I won’t fiddle around with your things anymore.”


    Then, he apologized to Stanley’s pet dog. “I’m sorry—I won’t hit you anymore.”


    The dog merely responded with a woof.


    Stanley turned up his nose, saying, “Hmph, I’ll forgive you this time since you seem so sincere, but you


    must not make the same mistake more than three times. If you do it again, I’ll send you to Uncle Joel’s


    ce and let you undergo training with them!”


    After Nathan had apologized, Stanley took a walk in the militarypound with Sophia’s aid, whereas


    Nathan wheeled the stroller and the pet dog inside.


    Sophia was silent the whole time, whereas Stanley babbled on and on like a chatterbox. He said,


    “Sophia, it never urred to me that you’re so good at chess. It just so happens that our university will


    be having a chess tournament. Are you going to join it? Also, I’ll bepeting in the Aseanos finals of


    the Esports World Championship. Please make sure to watch me y!”


    After listening to his bragging for a long time, Sophia and Nathan left together.


    No sooner had she left, the grey-bearded old man from just now sprang up out of nowhere. Leading a


    group of old men to surround Stanley instantly, he began by asking in an interrogative tone, “Who is the


    girl that came with Nate just now? What is your rtionship with her? How far has the rtionship


    between you two progressed? Have you two held hands and kissed each other? When will you two


    register for marriage? When will I have a great-great-grandson?”


    His bombardment of questions made Stanley’s head swim. Feeling a little shy, Stanley scratched his


    head as he said, “Why are you so anxious, Great-Grandpa? There’s nothing between us yet.”


    The old man who had just been badly defeated by Sophia was none other than Mark Fletcher, the Old


    Master of the Fletcher Family. Not only was he Michael’s grandfather and Stanley’s great-grandfather, he


    was also well-known in Cethos as the God of War and one of the country’s founding fathers!


    Old Master Fletcher had retired many years ago. As he was pushing 100, he was now concerned about


    the marriages of Michael, his youngest grandson, and Stanley, his eldest great-grandson.


    Michael was over 30 years old already, yet he showed no signs of finding a bride. Old Master Fletcher’s


    face nearly contorted with rage when rumors had it that he had registered for marriage with that Winston


    brat.


    Because of that, he began worrying about Stanley’s marriage when Stanley was still attending university.


    He said, “You aren’t young anymore—you’re 20 already, which is almost the same age as Mike! Where is


    the girl from? What kind of background does shee from? Just court her with confidence as long as


    shees from a decent background. You don’t have to care about the difference between your


    families’ statuses; I’ll talk to your parents about it.”


    Stanley was ted. He said, “Really? You’re so kind to me, Great-Grandpa!”


    He then continued, “She is Sophia Edwards, an orphan and a student of Bayside University who is now


    working as Nate’s babysitter at Uncle Michael’s home. She’s attending university with Nate every day.


    Great-Grandpa, it seems that Uncle Michael doesn’t want Sophia and I to be together, so please talk to


    him, okay?”


    Old Master Fletcher beat his chest and promised, “Don’t worry—just leave this matter to me.”


    Then, he patted Stanley on the shoulder and added earnestly, “Stan, my greatest wish in this life is for


    the Fletcher Family to have five generations living under the same roof. I’ll be entrusting you with this


    arduous task.”


    Stanley nodded with determination as he said, “I promise toplete this task!”


    He thought to himself, It’s great! Now that Great-Grandpa is going to take action, nothing is going to be a


    problem!


    Michael didn’t speak much with other members of his family, but Old Master Fletcher, his grandfather,


    was an exception. Out of everyone else in the family, Michael listened only to him.


    Having gotten a guarantee from Old Master Fletcher, Stanley went home happily and started preparing


    the gift he wanted to give Sophia to dere his love for her.