Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

Lin Bei glanced at the old man, then at Shen Wancheng.

The old man was frowning as he stared at the chessboard, his fingers tapping lightly on his knees, as if he were calculating something. Shen Wancheng leaned back in his chair, his expression relaxed, a slight smile playing on his lips, seemingly confident of victory.

Lin Bei refocused his attention on the chessboard. He didn't speak, but just watched quietly.

But he made a decision silently in his heart.

Starting today, he will seriously learn chess.

It's not about winning against anyone, it's about...

"Xiao Lin." The old man's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Lin Bei raised his head.

"Xiao Lin, come here, tell me how to make this move?" The old man pointed to the chessboard, his tone casual, as if he were testing him. "It's alright, just say whatever you want, we don't have that many rules in our family."

Lin Bei glanced down at the chessboard.

Red has a cannon on the river, Black has a rook on the rank line, and both sides' generals are in the center, separated only by a minister.

He stared at the chessboard for a few seconds, and a picture suddenly flashed through his mind.

That was a checkmate he'd seen in his previous life when watching old men play chess in the park. An elderly man with white hair had used it to turn the tide, leaving the boastful old man opposite him speechless. He'd watched it several times, and it stuck with him deeply. Later, he even went to look up a book on basic checkmate techniques in chess to find out what it was called. The book seemed to call it "White Horse Appears."

The current situation is almost exactly the same as that chess position from back then.

Whatever it's called, this move will win.

"Grandpa Shen," Lin Bei said, his voice not loud but steady, "you can take that step... to put the cannon right up to his horse's mouth."

The old man was stunned for a moment.

He looked down at the chessboard, tapped his fingers on his knee a few times, then looked up at Lin Bei.

"You're not talking about Cannon 2 to 5, are you? Wouldn't that be handing him a piece of the pawn's mouth?"

"He's afraid to eat it," Lin Bei said. "Your car is waiting downstairs. If he eats it and your car goes down, he'll lose."

The old man's eyes slowly brightened.

He lowered his head and stared at the chessboard for a long time, his fingers tapping faster and faster on his knees.

Then he laughed.

"You've got a good eye, kid." The old man looked up and sized Lin Bei up. "Didn't you just say you only knew a little bit?"

"Just a little bit," Lin Bei said. "Just this one move, which I happened to have seen in a chess manual. I might not be able to do the others."

He added to himself: I learned this trick just to show off in front of the old men in the park, but I never thought it would come in handy today.

The old man looked at him, then at the chessboard, then picked up the cannon and placed it on the second to fifth position.

Shen Wancheng leaned forward slightly, his brows furrowed, and stared at the chessboard for several seconds before looking up at Lin Bei.

"Have you studied chess?" Shen Wancheng asked.

"No," Lin Bei said. "I just flipped through a few chess manuals when I was bored and memorized one or two checkmate techniques."

Which books?

"I read 'Basic Chess Checkmate Techniques' and a collection of chess scores, but I forgot the title," Lin Bei said.

Shen Wancheng looked at him for two seconds and didn't ask any more questions. He lowered his head, picked up his horse, hesitated for a moment, and instead of taking the cannon, made another move.

The old man smiled.

"You don't dare to eat it, do you?" He looked at his son smugly. "I told you you were a coward."

Shen Wancheng didn't speak. His habitual smile was still on his face, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. His fingers gently caressed the chess pieces, his brows furrowed, as if he were calculating something.

The old man seized the opportunity and took a step on the vehicle.

Shen Wancheng's brows furrowed even more.

He looked up and glanced at Lin Bei again.

This time, the scrutiny in that glance was even more intense.

Lin Bei sat there calmly, his hands on his knees, his expression unchanged. But his heart was pounding at nearly 120 beats per minute.

[The system has detected that the host's acting skills are on point. A calm exterior masks a turbulent interior. This ability to "act convincingly" is what the system calls a "social mask." The host is advised to maintain this.]

Lin Bei took a deep breath and continued to stare at the chessboard with a blank expression.

After walking a few more steps, the old man's advantage became more and more obvious.

Shen Wancheng's pieces were reduced to only three, while the old man had six or seven left. Shen Wancheng looked at the chessboard, remained silent for a few seconds, and then overturned his general.

"I lost," he said calmly, but his movement of pushing the checkmate away was a little more forceful than usual. A piece that had been pulled away rolled to the ground beside him.

The old man burst into laughter.

"Finally won a game!" He leaned back in his chair, smiling like a child. "I've been losing so much these past few days that I'm too ashamed to show my face. Today I finally won back a game." Shen Wancheng glanced at him, and that habitual smile returned to his lips.

"Dad, it wasn't you who beat me, it was this young man." The old man paused for a moment, then looked at Lin Bei.

"Yes, yes." He nodded. "Xiao Lin, your move of moving the cannon to the fifth rank was excellent. I wouldn't have thought of it if you hadn't reminded me."

"Grandpa, I just happened to have witnessed that situation," Lin Bei said. "You were the one who played the game."

The old man waved his hand: "You don't need to be modest. I know exactly what I'm doing. Without your move, I wouldn't have won this game."

He stood up and patted Lin Bei on the shoulder.

"Come on, let's go inside and have some tea. It's tiring to stand and talk." Lin Bei followed the old man and Shen Wancheng out of the pavilion, through the garden, and into the villa.

The living room is very large.

It's bigger than Linbei's entire house.

A crystal chandelier hung from the second-floor dome, sparkling in the sunlight. The floor was dark solid wood, making no sound underfoot. The sofa was off-white genuine leather, looking soft and large; it must be very comfortable to sit on.

Lin Bei sat down on the sofa, trying his best to look natural.

[The system has detected that the host appears calm on the surface, but is inwardly turbulent, and is sitting stiffly like a statue. Recommendation: Relax; don't let your nervousness show on your face.]

Lin Bei cursed the system in his mind, then leaned back against the sofa back.

The old man took out a tea set from under the coffee table and began to boil water and brew tea. His hands were steady, his movements slow, but every step was practiced.

The teapot wasn't large, with a few shallow scratches on its surface and a small chip the size of a millet seed on the edge of the lid. The old man's fingers gently traced the chip, as if he were touching something very precious.

"This teapot..." he paused, "has been with me for forty years."

Lin Bei didn't reply, but listened quietly.

"When your Grandma Shen was alive, she used this teapot to brew tea every day." The old woman's voice lowered, her fingers still tracing the nick in the teapot. "After she passed away, I put it away. I only took it out recently."

The living room fell silent for a moment. The water in the teapot gurgled and bubbled, white steam rising from the spout and slowly dissipating into the air.

The old man raised his head and smiled, a smile that held something indescribable.

"Let's not talk about this anymore, let's have some tea."