National Fortune Golden Shovel: I Can See Hidden Bonds!

79: Chapter 80 The Three Games of Chess Against the Gods Back Then! Long Chen’s Bet...Thanks to all my brothers for the tips!

Thanks to ’Lord Yunyi’ and ’Dream Cloud Who Loves Eating Luoshen Chrysanthemum Tea’ for your generous tips!

You’ve spent too much! Adding an extra chapter!

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”...”

Shen Mo was speechless. How come Old Man Zhang seemed to have let himself go a bit ever since arriving here...

That loud voice was truly on par with Old Man Li!

He silently surveyed the furnishings in the courtyard. It was very simple. Upon entering, there was a large courtyard. Since it was now autumn, piles of various fallen leaves lay scattered about, likely because no one had taken care of it for a long time.

On the left side stood a stone table, with small stone chairs on either side.

Shen Mo gave a light cough, walked over to a stone chair, and plopped down. It looked like no one was home, so he might as well rest for a moment.

Traveling is exhausting!

Shen Mo felt that both of his legs were numb!

Creak—

However, before Shen Mo’s seat had even warmed up, the door to the inner room suddenly opened. A man of about thirty-something, with disheveled hair and holding a wine bottle, suddenly appeared: ”You’re here~? *Hiccup*~ Make yourself at home...”

Shen Mo’s eyes widened.

Don’t tell me this guy is...

”Hahaha! Long Chen! Long time no see!” Old Man Zhang immediately stepped forward warmly to greet him.

Long Chen narrowed his eyes: ”Oh~ it’s Old Zhang. You’re not dead yet?”

Old Man Zhang’s face instantly darkened: ”You brat, what kind of way is that to talk!”

Long Chen couldn’t be bothered to pay him any mind. He walked past Old Man Zhang, swaying as he approached Shen Mo: ”Shen Mo! That’s you, right?”

”Senior Long Chen!” Shen Mo quickly stood up.

”Senior my foot. Just call me Long Chen.”

Long Chen waved his hand dismissively and pointed to the stone chair: ”Sit, sit down and talk.”

After saying that.

He turned his head again to look at Old Man Zhang: ”There are only two chairs, so I won’t bother hosting you. Find a spot yourself~”

Old Man Zhang: ...

This brat! He hasn’t changed a bit after all these years. He has absolutely no idea how to respect his elders!

Shen Mo smiled awkwardly. Anyone with eyes could tell that Long Chen must have had an indescribable past with Old Man Zhang and the others. The fact that Old Man Zhang didn’t get angry at Long Chen’s behavior showed that the old man clearly still felt indebted to Long Chen...

”Brother Chen, I came here this time because...”

Shen Mo just started to speak, but Long Chen interrupted again: ”Do you have any wine?”

Although he said this while looking at Shen Mo, the implication in his words was clearly directed at a certain old man.

Old Man Zhang stood up with a resentful look on his face.

”I do! Your favorite osmanthus wine. I brought you two big jars this time! I’ll go get them for you right now...”

”I’ll go!”

Shen Mo stood up to help, but was pressed back into his chair by Long Chen: ”Don’t bother. Let the old man go. Let’s just wait here.”

As he spoke, Long Chen conjured two wine glasses from who knows where and placed them on the table. He picked up his wine bottle and, looking pained, poured a cup for Shen Mo: ”Try it, I brewed it myself... This wine, the more I drink, the less there is.”

Although Shen Mo wasn’t particularly fond of drinking in his past life, he didn’t abstain from it either.

So, he didn’t refuse. He picked up the glass, looked at the orange-yellow liquid, and downed it in one gulp.

*Hiss~*

A fiery sensation flowed down his throat, followed immediately by a surge of cool, fragrant wine. The aroma was extremely unique; it had a floral top note, followed by the sweet, clear taste of glutinous rice and grain in the middle, and finally a slight, lingering warmth.

”It’s good, right~” Long Chen winked at Shen Mo.

”Great wine!”

Shen Mo’s eyes lit up!

It was indeed great wine!

In his past life, as a corporate slave for a large company, Shen Mo had attended gatherings with executives and had drunk plenty of high-end stuff like Moutai, but honestly, those couldn’t compare to the wine in front of him!

”Brother Chen, this wine of yours...”

Shen Mo had just started to speak when Long Chen put the wine bottle behind his back with a guarded look: ”Don’t you go eyeing this wine, kid. This is all that’s left! Since you came today, I’ll let you have a taste, that’s enough...”

”...”

That’s not what I meant at all!

Shen Mo’s mouth twitched slightly, but he wisely skipped the topic and asked curiously: ”Brother Chen, have you been staying here all these years...? Haven’t you thought about going out to take a look?”

Shen Mo actually still had many questions about the legend that was Long Chen.

One of the biggest doubts was that although Long Chen had lost the competition back then, according to the typical behavior of the Gods Arena, since he hadn’t climbed the Gods Ladder, it stood to reason that Long Chen could continue to participate in the competition!

Just look at someone like Hoshimi Sakura; she lost her first attempt at the ladder, and isn’t she here again this year?

If she could do it, there was no reason Long Chen couldn’t!

If Long Chen had taken action, how could the Dragon Kingdom have been suppressed by the Western Countries for a full eleven years?

”I know what you’re thinking, kid...”

Long Chen took a sip of wine and sighed deeply: ”As for me, I’m no longer the person I was back then~”

”Uh... what do you mean?”

Long Chen looked at Shen Mo strangely: ”Haven’t you been following Old Man Li all this time? Didn’t he tell you?”

Shen Mo was bewildered: ”Tell me what?”

Long Chen fell silent. After a long while, he suddenly scoffed: ”That’s true... What happened back then is considered top secret nowadays. It’s normal that he didn’t tell you.”

Shen Mo thought for a moment and said: ”I only know... that back then, when you, Brother Chen, played against the deities, I heard you lost the match. As for the rest, I don’t know much. Actually, I’m still curious why you don’t go participate in the competition.”

”Because I lost~”

You can’t participate in the competition just because you lost?

Shen Mo still didn’t understand.

Long Chen smiled helplessly: ”Kid... let me tell you the truth. Back then, after I passed the ’Nightmare-level’ trial of the Gods Ladder and ascended to the Divine Palace, I was supposed to obtain a rank and head to the Second District. But then, the deities appeared.”

”Playing against the deities is just what the outside world calls it. The real reason... is that I just didn’t like the look of that guy!”

Didn’t like the look... of that guy?

No, Brother.

Are you really that brave?

Long Chen curled his lips: ”Yeah, so what if I didn’t like it? During the first Gods Arena competition, I crushed the other countries by a landslide. And what was the result? The rewards given were stingy. That was clearly favoritism!”

Shen Mo broke into a sweat: ”So you went up against them?”

”Of course!”

”With my temper back then, how could I tolerate such a thing? I immediately proposed to compete against that guy! Whoever lost would have to call the other ’Daddy’!”

Long Chen looked like he was reminiscing about the past.

Seeing this made Shen Mo’s scalp tingle: ”You asked the deities to call you ’Daddy’...”

”That, of course, was impossible...” Long Chen looked at him like he was an idiot: ”How could that guy agree to that? So, we bet on something else instead...”

”Something else?”

”Yeah, three games! We played a total of three games! One win and two losses!”

Wait!

Shen Mo was suddenly stunned: ”You played three games, and you actually won one of them?”

Long Chen curled his lips: ”Not just one of them. I won the very first game. The stakes were just a bit high, that’s all. Later, that guy got angry out of shame and cheated! Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to beat me at all!”

???

Shen Mo’s eyes went wide. The amount of information in this short sentence was simply explosive!

The deities... angry out of shame?

And it cheated?

Shen Mo stammered: ”Brother Chen, may I ask, what exactly was the wager for the game you won?”

Long Chen chuckled and pointed to his dilapidated little wooden hut.

”It was nothing much...”

”The wager was...”

”I broke off a piece of the Gods Arena and brought it back.”