A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Family Head shared his sentiments. He had not even passed the test nor gifted the dowry, and was already calling him “Dad”? Did he think his daughter was an easy girl? No, it was time to give him a piece of his mind!

Xia Family Head coughed deliberately and portrayed his most serious expression. “Call me Uncle.”

That meant to say that he would not acknowledge this “son.”

Fortunately, Li Lei was thick-skinned. He simply smiled and said, “Everyone says that a son-in-law is half a son, isn’t it too distant to call you Uncle? Dad, I brought you, Mom, and Brother some gifts.”

“Gift?” Xia Family Head was curious, what did this son-in-law to-be bring?

Xia Moyan’s expression darkened. “Dad, don’t be fooled by him.”

Seeing that his future brother-in-law was about to ruin things for him, Li Lei quickly added, “You’ll like it. It’s a chessboard made from old, antique wood. The chess pieces are constructed with dark jade and sheep-fat white jade. Oh, and there’s a game record.” Before anyone had time to react, he had signaled for Ah Nuo, who had been standing quietly behind him all along, to get the presents out.

Ah Nuo had been holding onto a piece of luggage the whole time, and now it was time for him to serve his purpose. He took an exquisite chessboard set out of the luggage and handed it to Li Lei, while Li Lei politely handed it to Xia Family Head.

The family head received it with a nonchalant demeanor. “The Xia family is no short of such playthings… the Galaxy Game Record!”

He shrieked all of a sudden as his hands trembled.

Li Lei smiled. “It’s the Galaxy Game Record indeed, the one that existed in the legend of the chess world. The original record has been completely destroyed; the one in your hands is the one and only replica in the world. You can’t find another one.”

“No wonder… no wonder!” Xia Family Head’s fingers found their way across the discolored record. “No wonder I haven’t managed to find it, despite trying for half my life. So it’s been in your hands all this while!” Xia Family Head wasn’t exactly talented in chess, but that did not make him love it any less. He had always been interested, or even in awe of these game records.

From a short distance away, Little Shaohui discreetly gave Dad a thumbs up.

Dad had gotten his help a long time back. He had told Dad that Grandpa loved all sorts of chess game records, and there was one named the “Galaxy” that he never managed to find. If he could bring it along, Grandpa would definitely have a good impression of him.

God was on his side.

Li Lei activated all his resources and took to various resorts in order to get hold of this godforsaken record.

Seeing how overjoyed Xia Family Head was, Li Lei was delighted as well. “Dad, it’s such a shame for me to hold on to such a gem. Only someone with your wisdom and eye for this form of art should deserve to keep it.”

“Good! Good! Good!” Xia Family Head had no better words.

Xia Moyan couldn’t watch on. His father was simply intellectually challenged at this game but always refused to admit it. “Only someone with your wisdom and eye for this form of art should deserve to keep this”? Li Lei, don’t you feel a tinge of guilt at all saying this?

He blurted out, “How do you know if my father’s good at chess?”

Li Lei looked at him innocently. “Of course I do know. When Shaohui was with us down the mountains, he couldn’t stop telling me about how good his grandpa was at chess. In my heart, Dad is the number one expert!”

He looked so sincere when he said that.

Xia Moyan now understood how this man ran an entertainment firm, he was being so dramatic! He glanced at Little Shaohui with a straight face—well then, little one, I see that you’re learning from your mom and helping outsiders. Watch how I’ll teach you a lesson later.

Little Shaohui felt a chill from his uncle’s look. Oh no, Dad. Even if you’re trying to curry favor with Grandpa, don’t drag me down. Once Uncle holds a grudge against me, my days here are going to be tough…

He felt sorry for himself. It was always the son giving the dad away, why was it the other way around for him?

Xia Family Head looked at the record over and over again with joy and agitation. He wouldn’t let go of it.

Xia Moyan said coldly, “Dad.”

Xia Family Head had no response.

Xia Moyan called out a little louder this time. “Dad!”

Xia Family Head finally snapped out of it, only to see his son’s serious, almost threatening glare. Oh no, how did I get bribed so easily by this young brat Li Lei? I’ve yet to do my part for my daughter!

He cleared his throat and tried to recover his original, somber expression as he said to Li Lei, “It’s good that you put in heart and soul into finding something as rare as the Galaxy Game Record. But I don’t quite like superfluous youth, what good is there in trying to curry favor with others? You said I’m the number one expert in chess, do you not feel conscious at all?”

To be fair, everyone enjoyed listening to praises.

The family head was already more than happy to hear that he was a chess expert.

But with his son eyeing him from the side, he had no other choice but to be hard on his future son-in-law.

Li Lei looked even more sincere now. “To be honest, Dad, I enjoy playing chess as well and often get Little Shaohui to play against me. Little Shaohui said I was nowhere as good as you. Initially, I refused to accept it, but after he gave me a recount on a particular game that you played, every move and strategy… Impressive! I believed his words immediately. Really, Dad, you’re my idol!”

Little Shaohui was speechless.

So was Xia Moyan.

Xia Family Head was only half convinced. “Really? You really admire the way I play chess? Which game did you watch, exactly?”

Li Lei didn’t hesitate for even a moment. “It was the one in which you started the game with this black piece, and then dived right into a sophisticated strategy. You made sure that the opponent was unable to play a single good move after that. I was utterly amazed by how swiftly you did it! I wondered to myself, why didn’t I think of that? I’d gotten Little Shaohui to recap that game of yours with me over and over again so I could pick up that strategy too.”

Xia Family Head tried to recall and realized that he did play a game like that indeed. Well, it seemed like this young man wasn’t lying at all, he was genuinely in awe of his skills. Li Lei’s words hit the right spot, causing him to burst out laughing with joy. “But of course! My skills are pretty impressive, but not many people know how to appreciate them! Come here, lad, I’ll tell you about another strategy…”

He held on to Li Lei and began to speak passionately about the chess.

Li Lei listened in all seriousness with a look of wonder and admiration. He even exclaimed in awe every once in a while.

Little Shaohui quietly covered his eyes…

He remembered recounting Grandpa’s chess game to Dad. But it was with Dad’s IQ score of 200 and impressive chess abilities that he managed to “revive” Grandpa’s originally hopeless and logically-flawed gameplay.

He remembered showing Dad the moves Grandpa had made, and how Dad could barely watch on: [That’s how your grandpa plays? I could win him with my eyes closed!] He had even demonstrated a hundred ways to defeat Grandpa.

Back then, Little Shaohui had been in awe of his father.

But why was it that the moment he came to Grandpa’s house, Dad… just…

Began lying through his teeth?

Hey, Dad, where have your morals gone?