Seeing that Ashley was still trembling, Chant opened his mouth. "Can you play Go?"
'Huh?'
Upon hearing the question, Ashley looked at Chant and found out that he was watching her. She
quickly drew back her eyes and replied, "Just a little."
"Can you make tea?"
Ashley let out a sigh and honestly replied, "No."
She never had a chance to touch these kinds of things. How could she know the intricate techniques of
the tea making ceremony?
And she always spent her spare time on other things. She never thought of learning this skill.
She started to guess what Chant was thinking about.
She became worried that Chant would be unsatisfied with her since she knew nothing about the things
he cared about.
Following Chant's order, Andrew went to his study.
But the desk inside the study was clean and tidy, with nothing on it. Where was the calligraphy work
Chant mentioned?
He was just looking for an excuse to get him out of his sight.
Andrew felt helpless as he paced around the study before going downstairs.
Inside the living room, Chant was asking questions and Ashley was doing her best to answer as swiftly
and politely as possible.
It was like a teacher had singled out one student and was giving the student a graded recitation.
Chant's eyes flashed and he cracked a small grin. He stared at Ashley for a while, pulled a long face
and said, "Do I look formidable?"
'Formidable?
Of course, how could you not be?'
But she didn't have the guts to say what she was thinking out loud.
She waved her hands hastily and replied, "No, not at all. You're very nice."
"Then why don't you look at me when you talk to me?" asked Chant.
Ashley gave a quick glance at Chant and then lowered her head again. "I..."
Before she could finish her words, she heard footsteps coming from behind.
It was Andrew. He went upstairs to fetch the thing he was asked to, but he came back empty-handed.
He sat down beside Ashley and looked at Chant. "Grandpa, I couldn't find the calligraphy work you
mentioned."
Chant reacted naturally without showing any sign that he had pranked his grandson. "Oh, I have to
blame my bad memory."
He stood up and said, "Okay, girl, come play with me."
Since he had ordered her, Ashley placed the glass of lemonade in her hand down and stood up, ready
to follow him. "Okay, Grandpa."
Chant began to leave the room, but he soon remembered something. He turned back slightly and
looked at Andrew. "You stay here, Andrew."
Andrew looked at Ashley and hesitantly replied, "Grandpa..."
Chant didn't pay attention to Andrew and headed upstairs.
Ashley gave Andrew's hand a squeeze and said, "Don't worry. I'll be okay." 'Just playing Go.'
Andrew looked back at Ashley with resignation. He was the one who brought her to see Grandpa, but
now for reasons he didn't understand, he felt that he was undesired.
Andrew had an impulse to follow them but he chose to obey Chant's order in the end. He sat in the
living room and eagerly waited for them to return.
Without Ashley by his side, he felt nothing was right.
He was becoming restless as the seconds seemed like hours. To pass the time, he took out the
notebook computer and started to work on the business of the company.
The villa was big but only had two floors due to Chant's old age.
For his convenience, the house was designed with only two floors. The study and bedrooms were on
the second floor while the kitchen, living room and guest room were on the ground floor.
Ashley followed Chant and walked to the room on the right-most end of the second floor. Chant slowly
pushed the door open.
After Chant went in, she followed him into the room.
When she saw the inside of the room, she couldn't help but gasp.
The study was spacious and the floor was paved with red sandal wood. As she walked further into the
room, she could see the simple and natural style of the decoration. There was a huge book shelf right
in front of her, with numerous books on it.
The designer of the room obviously tried to create a primitive and unsophisticated air and a quiet and
comfortable place for reading.
Ashley secretly wondered why Chant looked intimidating when he was serious.
Didn't people say that people who liked reading should be amiable and friendly?
His style didn't go with this study.
Though she was busy looking around the study, she was still mindful of Chant's actions. When she saw
Chant had already sat down on a chair, she quickly moved to his side and stood in front of him.
"Why are you standing there? Sit down," said Chant.
"Okay," replied Ashley.
And she sat down on the opposite side.
"Which color do you prefer, black or white?"
asked Chant.
"I'll let you have black," said Ashley.
Chant pressed his lips down but Ashley didn't notice it as she was lost in her thoughts.
"I'll let you have black, so that you won't say that an old man took advantage of you," said Chant.
Ashley had to accept the arrangement.
She thought that maybe Grandpa was nice deep down in his heart.
They started to play the game. Ashley hadn't played much of this but when she looked at the
checkerboard, she felt that she was good at this. She imagined that somebody was teaching her.
Ashley didn't know how good she was at this because she hadn't played it seriously with other people.
So she just decided that she should play by instinct.
When she was thinking about the moves, she didn't notice that Chant's eyes looked different when he
was observing her.
On the checkerboard, the black and white pieces seemed to be jockeying for position. Overall, the
white pieces had the upper hand. Meanwhile, the black pieces were a little messy and wrong-footed,
but they managed to block all the ways of the white pieces.
So of course Chant now observed her differently.
Just now he asked her if she could play and she said just a little and appeared timid and shy. But
based on her performance, she was a natural.
Every time Andrew came to visit, he usually came and left hurriedly, only staying for a short time. Chant
couldn't play Go with him to his content. Now it was different. He had company who can play with him.
Chant drew back his eyes and focused on playing the game.
They played for almost one hour until Andrew came up to ask them to go and have lunch. His words
seemed to wake them up from a dream.
Ashley shyly smiled at Chant and said, "Grandpa, let's go downstairs and have lunch."
"Okay," said Chant while looking at her.
When they stepped out of the study, Ashley saw Andrew and caught up with him.
Andrew squeezed her hand and asked, "Are you okay?"
Ashley nodded and said, "Sure. Grandpa is very nice."
Chant heard Andrew's words and took a glance at the two of them. He snorted, "For what reason would
I bully her?"
And then he ignored Andrew and directly went downstairs.
Ashley became worried. "Andy, is Grandpa getting angry?"
"Never mind him. He'll be okay in a while," replied Andrew.
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