A Chess Master chapter 2

The two of them placed their pieces again while everyone held their breath. Only Dad’s breathing was a bit heavy. Tom knew he was extremely nervous. Dad had brought his son here hoping to win some money, but it seemed that things were not going well tonight. How could he not be nervous? Tom began to regret boasting to his dad about his excellent chess skills!

Fortunately for Tom, he won the eighth game. That meant they were tied after the first eight games, with neither side winning nor losing. At this time, the bearded man proposed to play two more games to make it a total of ten. Tom hadn’t won any money, so according to the rules, he could refuse. But after thinking for a while, he still agreed. So, under everyone’s watchful eyes, the two – game battle ended. Tom won one and lost one. In the end, the ten – game battle between the two ended in a draw!

The bearded man let out a long sigh and asked Tom, “Do you want to play more?”

Tom replied firmly, “Sorry, I’m tired!”

Tom stood up and pulled his dad to leave. Suddenly, there was a burst of applause behind them. Tom was startled. He looked back and saw that all the gamblers were smiling and clapping their hands at him. The bearded man was clapping the hardest. What was going on?

Dad patted Tom on the shoulder and said, “Tom, tell me the truth. How good is this Uncle Beard’s chess skills?”

Tom lowered his head and thought for a while, as if choosing his words. Then he looked up and said sincerely to the bearded man, “I’ll tell you the truth. Uncle, don’t be angry. Your level is no match for mine. I deliberately let you win from the fourth game on, so we ended up with five wins and five losses each.”

Hearing this, Dad asked in confusion, “Is it really true? You didn’t want all that money?”

Tom said seriously, “Dad, if you need money, you can wait until I start working and earn it for you. We can’t do anything illegal!”

Hearing what Tom said, the bearded man burst into laughter and said, “I’ve long heard from your dad that you’re great at chess. Now I see that you really live up to your reputation. Tom, you’re really good. We’re all relieved!”

Tom was a bit confused when he heard this. Did the bearded man know his dad and himself? He turned his gaze to his dad and saw that Dad carefully took something out of his chest and handed it to him. Tom took it and saw that it was the admission notice from the tax bureau. He had been admitted with the first – place score in the county!

Tom was both surprised and happy, but he was still very puzzled as to why Dad gave him the notice at this time. Just as he was about to ask clearly, he heard Dad say seriously, “Tom, in our small town, the tax bureau is a great place to work. It has a high income and good social status, but it’s also a special industry. You need to be especially firm in the face of temptation. So when I received the notice in the mail, I didn’t know whether to be happy or worried. You gave up the development opportunities in big cities and came back to this small town. We already felt that we were holding you back. If you had any financial problems in your future work, we’d really regret it for the rest of our lives. Last time, I told these old chess – friends of mine about my concerns, and they came up with an idea to test you. That’s why we staged this chess – gambling show today. The fact proves that you’re not greedy at all. You could have won a lot, but you deliberately played to a draw. But there’s something you don’t know. You’re actually no match for this Uncle Beard. He’s the champion of the city’s chess competition, which has a much higher gold content than your campus championship. If you had been greedy and wanted this ill – gotten money just now, you would have lost badly. That’s exactly what we want to warn you about today – you must be honest and clean at work, or it will bring disaster to yourself!”

Tom listened quietly, then looked at the notice in his hand and solemnly bowed deeply to everyone.