“I won’t play if you are so rude!”

“Well if you don’t want to play, let Shijing take your place! Even Ziyu and Zimu are fine.”

“Play without regrets! This is the basic requirement of playing cards!”

“We’re just learning, regrets are allowed.”

Wang Nizi pouted and moved closer to her red faced little father, tugging at her little father’s sleeve. Shao Yunan, who was fighting Jiang Kangning’s cards, turned his head in surprise, “What’s the matter, Nizi?”

Wang Nizi sniffed, ” Dad, I lost all my candies. Brother Xi is too good.”

“Ah?”

Everyone at the mahjong table froze. Jiang Kangchen was the first one to look at his son, only to see a small pile of candy in front of Jiang Moxi and only three pieces of candy in front of Wang Qing. There were no candies left in front of Wang Nizi’s seat.

“Brother Moxi is so good?!” Shao Yunan stood up holding Nizi’s hand, secretly shocked that Jiang Moxi would actually play with Brother Qing and Nizi?! Jiang Kangchen and Jiang Kangning also stopped playing cards and together with Elder Cen got up and went over to watch. Shao Yunan sat down in Nizi’s place, seating Nizi on his lap, and picked up the dice cup.

“Come on, Brother Moxi, Uncle Yunan will play two games with you.” Jiang Moxi still didn’t look up at anyone, but only focused on the dice cup in front of him. Shao Yunan also didn’t care whether Jiang Moxi could understand him or not and just picked up Nizi’s dice cup and smoothly shook the dice. After setting it down, he lifted the dice cup. Two fours and a six. 

Then a surprising scene took place again. After Shao Yunan opened the dice cup, Jiang Moxi picked up his own dice cup and shook it, completely acting as if he was playing along. Jiang Kangchen and Jiang Kangning looked shocked and Jiang Kangchen even rubbed his eyes, doubting that he might be hallucinating. Jiang Moxi’s skinny little hands moved uncontrollably. After a few moments, he put down the dice cup and opened it.

“Wow!”

 Three sixes! Jiang Moxi withdrew his hand and did not respond again, but gave the ‘illusion’ of waiting for Shao Yunan to continue. Shao Yunan looked at Jiang Kangchen, who was so excited that his eyes were filled with tears, blinking fast… so Shao Yunan just said, “Qing, lend your Little Father some candies.”

Wang Qing gave all three of his candies to his Little Father. Shao Yunan picked up a candy and put it in front of Jiang Moxi. Jiang Moxi lowered his head and gathered that candy into his own loot, making Jiang Kangchen cover his mouth. Jiang Kangning wrapped his arms around his big brother’s shoulders. Smiling, Shao Yunan rolled up his sleeves.

“Brother Jing, bring me some candy.” Their whole group no longer played mahjong, but all watched Shao Yunan play against Jiang Moxi. Shao Yunan put down the dice cup with a lot of gusto and opened it.

“Three fives!”

Jiang Moxi picked up the dice and the dice cup, and shook them with a clatter.

Snap!

“Two fives, one six!”

“It’s Brother Moxi again! I can’t believe it!”

Shao Yunan played ten times and won only once. Jiang Kangning said, “I’ll do it.” Shao Yunan moved to the side with Nizi still in his arms and let Jiang Kangning sit down. After watching the game for some time, Jiang Kangning already knew how to shake the dice and put the dice into the dice cup in a decent manner and shook it up.

“Open!”

The crowd, “…”

Nizi snickered, three ones, haha, uncle is really stupid. Jiang Kangning’s face was very upset, but Jiang Moxi did not give his uncle a chance to start over. After a clatter and shake up, three sixes again.

“Okay, brother Moxi’s luck is just too good.” Shao Yunan was amazed as Jiang Kangchen couldn’t hold back his tears. “Come again!” Jiang Kangning also tried his best to endure the shock in his heart and picked up the dice cup. After an incense stick’s worth of time, Elder Cen patted Jiang Kangning, “You lost all of Yunan’s candy, now it’s my turn.”

Wang Shijing had the good sense to grab a handful of candies for Elder Cen, while the mountain of candies in front of Jiang Moxi was piled so high that there was actually a slight glow in his eyes. Jiang Kangchen quietly walked behind his son and sat down, gently hugging him as Jiang Moxi stared straight at Elder Cen’s hand holding the dice cup.

Shao Yunan has seen what it means to be a little genius. Compared with Jiang Moxi, Jiang Kangning was not good enough! Except for Madam Cen, everyone took turns to play, even Guo Zimu played ten games. Wang Shijing also played several games without believing in evil. In the end, Jiang Moxi only lost one to Guo Ziyu, two to Wang Shijing, and won the rest of the rounds. Seeing the mountains of candies and peanuts in front of Jiang Moxi getting higher and higher, while everyone else lost, it was a mess.

Shao Yunan wiped his face and gave Jiang Moxi a thumbs up. “Moxi you are really good. Uncle Yunan is willing to bow down.” Jiang Moxi picked up a lump of candies and put it in his mouth, lowered his head, and played with his mechanical bird with a textbook [mortal techniques are too poor] ‘contempt’ look.

Shao Yunan looked at Jiang Kangchen, who kept wiping the corners of his eyes. “Brother Kangchen, Brother Moxi is a genius. He just learned how to defeat men in seconds. I can’t say how good I am at playing dice, but definitely not bad. But as a result, it is still completely inadequate in the face of Brother Moxi, ah!”

Elder Cen stroked his beard and nodded. “Brother Moxi is indeed great, it can’t be just luck.” Jiang Kangchen was choked up and speechless. It was the first time his son was called a genius. He felt like his heart that was dead for a long time had finally begun to recover.

Shao Yunan looked down at the child playing with the mechanical bird and a light flashed in his head. He stood up and patted Wang Shijing. “Well, I remember you came back with that thing. We never knew what it was, so maybe Moxi will know it. Go with me to find it.”

Wang Shijing stood up in silence and went out with Shao Yunan. The two of them went back to the courtyard where they lived and when they entered the house, Wang Shijing asked, “What are you talking about?”

Shao Yunan said, “It’s a Rubik’s Cube, a kind of educational toy from my place. I have – a set of pure crystal, let’s say you got it after you defeated the mountain bandits. You don’t know what it was, but because it looked like a novelty, you brought it back.”

“Will the crystal one be exposed?” The mechanical bird could still be justified, but this ‘crystal’ magic cube, or modern toys could easily attract people’s suspicion. “Just because it’s crystal, it won’t show what is inside. You will know when you see it.”

After saying that, Shao Yunan slipped into the space, while Wang Shijing stayed outside on guard. Shao Yunan did not remember how the mechanical birds came into his space, but he clearly remembered that he had a set of very high crystal rubik’s cubes. They were very valuable and he received them as a gift from a friend who had just come back from abroad. Purely because it was so nice, Shao Yunan originally wanted to keep it, but for Jiang Moxi, its use might be more significant than keeping it in his collection.

Edited by: Jaisland

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