Invincible Young Master in the City
Chapter 371 - 371 367 Forced Date

371: Chapter 367 Forced “Date 371: Chapter 367 Forced “Date Zhou Zhiqian received Ye Fan’s phone call and had no objections to moving their meeting time to noon.

After hanging up the phone, Ye Fan made a quick tidy up and then headed out.

At 10:42 a.m., Ye Fan arrived at the intersection of Tianyan Road and Anding Road in the Xujiahui area and waited for Zhou Zhiqian’s Mercedes, which they then drove along Tianyan Road together.

Tianyan Road was almost a street filled with chess and card tea houses, many of which were quite nice.

They chose one that looked upscale from the exterior and parked the car in front.

Stepping out of the car, three days had passed, and it was time for Ye Fan and Zhou Zhiqian to meet again.

Zhou Zhiqian wore an elegant and pure ladylike dress, her features sweet, her figure tall and slender, exuding a graceful aura that was indeed pleasing to the eye.

Moreover, compared to their last evening encounter, now in the broad daylight of late morning, Zhou Zhiqian looked even more energetic and stunningly beautiful.

However, he planned to say goodbye after this meeting.

Ye Fan approached her with a smile and greeted her, “Hehe, Zhiqian.”

Zhou Zhiqian, with a restrained smile that became a girl’s, nodded slightly and said, “Ye Fan.”

“Shall we go in?” Ye Fan pointed to the chess and card house.

Upon entering the tea house, since they were late and it was a weekend, the good seats were all taken, even the private booths were fully booked, so Ye Fan and Zhou Zhiqian could only find an empty table in the center of the Go hall and sit down.

There was no charge for the table, but there was a fee for the tea and snacks.

188 yuan for a pot of tea, thirty yuan for a small dish of sunflower seeds or peanuts.

Ye Fan ordered a pot of tea and two dishes of snacks, then engaged in a game of Go with Zhou Zhiqian.

“First off, I’m not very good at Go.

You’ll have to give me a handicap of twelve,” Zhou Zhiqian said with a smile.

“Sure,” laughed Ye Fan.

The real purpose wasn’t really the game of chess; it was just a pretext.

The true intent was to dine and have fun together after the meeting and game.

Zhou Zhiqian played the black stones first, and Ye Fan followed by easily placing the white stones.

Since they didn’t care about winning or losing, neither of them played seriously and even chatted occasionally.

After about a dozen moves, Ye Fan had made a preliminary assessment of Zhou Zhiqian’s skill level in Go—roughly around the level of amateur 2-dan.

It was nothing impressive, but not too shoddy either, which was quite decent for a pretty young woman in her early twenties.

Although he could easily suppress her, the game was meant for fun, so Ye Fan deliberately played down to keep a slight upper hand.

After about twenty minutes, during the final dozen or so plays, Ye Fan changed his style of play, revealing his sharp edge and swiftly killing many of Zhou Zhiqian’s stones.

When the game finished, and after taking into account the twelve-stone handicap Ye Fan had given, they proceeded to count the score.

In the end, Ye Fan won by exactly one stone.

Zhou Zhiqian’s eyes lit up with admiration as she smiled and said, “Your skill in Go is really high.”

During the game, she had certainly noticed Ye Fan holding back, but the ability to precisely control the victory margin to a single stone despite that indicated an extraordinary level of skill.

“Hehe,” Ye Fan replied with a nonchalant smile, “Your skill isn’t bad either.

These days, it’s rare to find girls who can play Go.”

Zhou Zhiqian giggled and said, “I’m definitely no match for you.

Teach me how to play.”

“I wouldn’t dare teach you—let’s just learn from each other,” Ye Fan replied with a smile.

It was still early for dinner, and Zhou Zhiqian knew very well that she was no match at chess, clearly not willing to be tortured again, and Ye Fan had no plans to take her shopping, so the only thing left was to pass the time by teaching Zhou Zhiqian chess.

After lighting another pot of tea, Ye Fan and Zhou Zhiqian started a new game, teaching her chess through playing.

About ten minutes into the lesson, a dignified elderly man with graying hair and wearing elegant clothes approached, calling out to Zhou Zhiqian, “Zhiqian girl, what brings you here?”

Upon hearing the voice, Zhou Zhiqian looked up, her pretty face slightly blushed as she quickly stood up, respectfully greeted the old man, “Grandpa Ren, hello.”

Ye Fan stood up as well, turning his body to face the elder.

The elderly Mr.

Ren nodded slightly and glanced at Ye Fan.

Zhou Zhiqian hurriedly introduced, “Ye Fan, this is my elder, Mr.

Ren…”

“Just call me Grandpa Ren,” Mr.

Ren obviously didn’t want Zhou Zhiqian to reveal his identity.

Ye Fan immediately smiled and greeted him, “Mr.

Ren, hello.

My name is Ye Fan, Ye like in Ye Gucheng, and Fan meaning extraordinary.

I’m Zhiqian’s friend.”

“Heh, young man, you’ve got spirit!” Mr.

Ren approved with a nod.

Zhou Zhiqian replied to Mr.

Ren’s earlier question, “Ye Fan and I were passing by in the car, so we stopped by to take a look.

We didn’t expect to run into you.”

Mr.

Ren gave a grunt of acknowledgment, looked down at the chess board for a few seconds, and then raised his head to Zhou Zhiqian, “Zhiqian girl, you are using the black pieces, aren’t you?

Not bad at all, you’ve improved a lot.”

“Grandpa Ren, I’m not the one playing,” Zhou Zhiqian said, “Ye Fan is teaching me.”

“Oh—” Mr.

Ren responded, then turned to look at Ye Fan with a hint of interest in his eyes and asked, “Young man, what rank are you in amateur play?”

Ye Fan replied with a light smile, “I just play casually, I’ve never formally tested for a rank.

Heh, you flatter me.”

Mr.

Ren, wise and experienced, had already guessed that Ye Fan and Zhou Zhiqian were on a date, and assumed Ye Fan was using his good chess skills to show off and impress Zhou Zhiqian.

He took a look at Ye Fan from head to toe, noting that his clothing was very plain, with each item of his attire—his clothes, pants, and shoes—worth only a couple hundred yuan, suggesting that Ye Fan’s family was very ordinary, far different from Zhou Zhiqian’s.

Worried that the inexperienced Zhou Zhiqian might be deceived by Ye Fan, he hid his smile and said with a hint of warning, “Young man, you play chess quite well.

However, it’s not good to fancy yourself a teacher.”

Ye Fan, of course, could detect the meaning behind Mr.

Ren’s words and replied with a calm smile, “You’re right, my chess skill is indeed not something to show off.”

“Grandpa Ren, you misunderstand Ye Fan,” Zhou Zhiqian said, “I begged him to teach me.”

Mr.

Ren turned to Zhou Zhiqian and said, “You girl, why didn’t you come to me if you wanted to learn chess?

Don’t you trust Grandpa Ren’s skills?”

“No, not at all,” Zhou Zhiqian said stiffly, “Your chess skills are famous throughout the city, how could I doubt your ability?

I just didn’t want to bother you.”

Of course, she wasn’t there to learn chess, but simply to interact and communicate with Ye Fan.

The old Mr.

Ren took another glance at Ye Fan, then again at the chessboard, deciding to crush the admiration Zhou Zhiqian might have gained for Ye Fan’s skill in chess.

Therefore, he said to Zhou Zhiqian, “Since we’ve run into each other today and I happen to have some free time, Zhiqian girl, let me teach you a bit about chess.”

Without waiting for Zhou Zhiqian to accept or decline, he turned to Ye Fan and said, “Young man, why don’t you and I finish this game?

What do you say?”

He pointed to the chessboard laid out on the table.

Although Ye Fan and Zhou Zhiqian had been playing for about ten minutes, the game had barely started, as it was more of a teaching session with various explanations and only a few moves had been made in relation to a full game of chess.

Ye Fan was clear-headed; although he had no intention of pursuing Zhou Zhiqian, the old man’s condescending attitude and interference were quite irritating.

“Sounds good.” Ye Fan agreed with a calm smile.