Beside the road stood a row of beautiful garden villas.
Shen Mo entered one of them, pulled open the iron gate, and in the courtyard, under the grapevines, a middle-aged man sat alone at a low square table, playing Chinese chess.
The chess set was an original item from the villa, made of wood, the paint already mottled, the edges worn smooth and rounded.
Shen Mo sat down at the other end of the low table, observing the situation on the chessboard.
It seemed to be a desperate, life-or-death endgame.
He glanced at his father across from him.
In his memory, his father had never played Chinese chess. His usual pastimes were always fixed: reading, writing, mountain climbing, and golf.
Of course, some of those pastimes were no longer possible.
The middle-aged man looked at the chess game before him and said calmly, "Don't take Shen Fei's words too seriously. It's not like I'm an old man in my sixties or seventies, unable to move. I have my own hands and feet; I haven't reached the age where I need my children to take care of me. You don't need to come here so often to see me."
As he spoke, he looked up at Shen Mo and smiled faintly, "Even if I were in my sixties or seventies, I wouldn't necessarily need someone to take care of me. I heard there's an old man in your team, is that true?"
Shen Mo sat across the table and replied, "Yes, his name is Cheng Weicai. He's a teacher at a middle school in Nanjing."
"Is that so?" Shen's father nodded, then lowered his head again, silently looking at the chessboard in front of him.
The silence continued, as if the father and son had nothing to say.
After a while, Shen Mo spoke, "I didn't know you knew how to play Chinese chess."
"When I was younger, I played with your grandfather." Shen's father picked up a chess piece, then hesitated and put it down, sighing, "It's been so long since I touched this thing, I'm rusty."
Shen Mo looked at the board, reached out, picked up the chariot, and moved it five spaces directly in front of the general, "Check."
Shen's father chuckled, "That won't work, my horse is guarding here."
He moved his horse, capturing Shen Mo's chariot.
Shen Mo moved a pawn over, "Check."
"That's a dead end, it won't work." Shen's father still shook his head, moved his advisor, capturing the pawn.
Shen Mo moved his cannon, placing it on the general, "Check."
Shen's father was stunned.
Shen Mo said calmly, "If a one-step dead end appears, take two steps. If a two-step dead end appears, take three steps. Grandpa taught me that the way out is forged by moving forward."
Shen's father stared at the chessboard for a full half a minute, then moved his hand to take back the move he had just made, "I made a mistake just now, I won't move the horse."
Shen Mo said, "Dad, you can't take back moves."
"It's not like we're on a real battlefield, it's just a game between father and son, it doesn't count as taking back a move." Shen's father restored the chessboard, moving the general behind the advisor, "This time, it should be foolproof, right?"
Shen Mo looked helpless.
But seeing the strands of white hair at his father's temples, he felt a pang of bitterness.
His father was a typical rich young master, living in luxury and ease. Because of strict family education, he had never picked up any bad habits, and the old master was fair in his dealings, so there had never been any ugly scandals of brothers fighting over the family fortune. It could be said that he had lived a carefree life for half a century.
Now, facing this kind of situation, he could still remain calm, which was not easy.
Shen Mo was silent for a while, then said to Shen's father, "I plan to leave in a few days, heading north."
"Heading north?" Shen's father was slightly startled, looking up at him, "…Do you want to help Weiwei find her mother?"
Wang Jingxian had also gone north.
Shen Mo shook his head, "The scope is too large, it's too difficult to find one person. We're heading north to collect puzzle pieces."
"Collecting puzzle pieces…" Shen's father understood, "I heard your second uncle say last time that there were mazes in Wuhan and Zhengzhou, but I don't know if those mazes are still there after so much time…"
As he spoke, he sighed softly, "Although Shanghai doesn't have a maze, it has attracted the game as a result. If the 21st game can't be cleared, the base will probably have to relocate elsewhere."