The Bet 2

Sima Yi watched the ongoing Tanqi match between Zhang Ran and Cao Pi, reflecting on recent events.

Cao Pi, who had just sought out Sima Yi upon his arrival in Ye, asked him for a strategy. When Cao Pi inquired how to obtain Zhang Ran, Sima Yi analyzed Zhang Ran based on what he had heard and investigated so far.

Zhang Ran was different from other ordinary women. It was more appropriate to consider her a resolute military general rather than a woman.

‘Does Your Majesty wish to obtain only Zhang Ran’s body, or her heart as well?’

‘What meaning would there be in obtaining just the body? I desire true loyalty, exchanging poetry and taking to the battlefield for me.’

‘If that is the case, Your Majesty must make Zhang Ran understand on her own.’

The more forcefully you press down on unyielding types like Zhang Ran, the more strongly they spring back up.

Even if you threaten and capture her forcefully, it would be like keeping a fierce beast that wants to break out and escape by your side.

Therefore, Sima Yi guided Zhang Ran to seek out Cao Pi directly. Blocking the audience with Emperor Xian was part of that plan.

If Zhang Ran hadn’t come to inquire about it, Sima Yi would have drawn her in through other means.

And using Liu Bei’s two daughters as bait to make Zhang Ran willingly agree to the bet. Everything flowed according to Sima Yi’s plan.

‘Smooth sailing.’

The first match, Tanqi, was a game of hitting each other’s Go stones. Unlike modern times which use flat Go boards, Tanqi used a cosmetic table with a convex center in the shape of the character 凸, and started with 8 Go stones each.

In future stone-flicking games, stones are only considered dead if they fall off the board, but in Tanqi, a stone was treated as dead as soon as it was hit by the opponent’s stone.

And in this Tanqi, Cao Pi was a master who had reached a level that could be called an expert.

‘I’ve only seen one person better at Tanqi than the King of Wei.’

Cao Pi was accurate every time, whether using his fingers or even flicking stones with the corner of a handkerchief.

Except for that eccentric who used the corner of a headscarf to flick stones, it would be fair to say there was no one in Wei who could beat Cao Pi at Tanqi.

No matter how much heaven-given martial talent Zhang Ran possessed, this was a different matter. Unlike large-movement martial arts, Tanqi’s core was precise control of strength.

It was a gentlemen’s game requiring a complex combination of caution, judgment, and delicacy.

‘I acknowledge the unprecedented military achievements accomplished in a woman’s body. I never dreamed there would be a heroine surpassing even Chunhua, how vast the world is… But strength alone doesn’t solve everything.’

In reality, Zhang Ran struggled against Cao Pi. Though it seemed she had played Tanqi quite a bit before, Zhang Ran kept missing opportunities.

Seeing Tanqi conclude with Cao Pi’s victory, Sima Yi was convinced.

‘It’s over.’

The outcome of this bet was decided.

Zhang Ran would probably take the second round. She would stake a match she was confident in.

But the outcome of the bet wouldn’t change.

Because what the final third match would be was already decided.

With even the possibility of Zhang Ran being a hidden Tanqi master, the only variable, gone, there was nothing more to see.

Just as Sima Yi loosened his tension, Cao Pi too stretched and giggled, thinking he had won. As he had been bending over to focus on Tanqi, cracking sounds came from various parts of his body.

“Not bad. As expected of a general, you have talent in using your body.”

No answer came. Was the shock of defeat so great? Come to think of it, Zhang Ran had never experienced anything that could be called failure before.

She had always won and monopolized glory. So it’s understandable she would have no immunity to losing.

‘But how disappointing. To be shaken by just this much.’

Sima Yi clicked his tongue, thinking he had misjudged the person.

“Now it’s your turn to decide. What will you compete in?”

Only at that question did Zhang Ran raise her head. Her eyes, which hadn’t lost their intelligence, were far from those shown by people who had given up on the match.

“Good. Yancai, clear these away, and wrap up the banquet.”

“No, it’s fine. Leave them as they are.”

Zhang Ran grabbed the wooden box containing her Go stones. Since there were many games that could be played with Go stones, Cao Pi speculated on what it might be and said:

“Hmm? Gekioh or Go wouldn’t be bad either. I’ll have a board brought.”

“That’s fine too.”

Sima Yi, belatedly realizing Zhang Ran’s intention, was shocked.

The evaluation of Zhang Ran, which had been fading until just now, raised its head again. Interest spread like a small fire turning into a huge forest fire.

‘Surely not, even after seeing the King’s skill…’

Sima Yi seemed to know what Zhang Ran would say next. But even though it was clearly suicidal, there wasn’t a hint of wavering in Zhang Ran’s eyes.

A bluff? It wasn’t that. This was confidence.

As if to represent that, a clear voice rang out.

“Let’s play Tanqi one more time.”

§

Tanqi was a bit different from the stone-flicking game I knew.

First, the Go stones were different. The Go stones made of jade, both black and white, were flatter than the modern ones I remembered, and the black stones weren’t made larger to account for visual differences.

I had played stone-flicking in modern times too. Having completed military service before phones were allowed, I had mastered various board games.

I had played stone-flicking quite well, so remembering the advantage of black stones, I chose black, but it didn’t matter much.

Using the cosmetic table protruding like an obstacle in the center as the game board, and fumbling due to playing after a long time, but I regained a sense for it to some extent.

And when I actually played, it wasn’t completely unfamiliar. Considering we used to play on the hinge part of a folding Go board to increase difficulty, this felt even easier with 2 reduced to 1.

‘Of course, in exchange for becoming 1, it got bigger.’

The biggest problem was the difference in stone specifications, but I found a solution for that too.

Cao Pi must have proposed Tanqi because he had firm confidence in his skills, so winning was impossible from the start. So during the game, I focused on Cao Pi’s hands rather than the progress of the game.

By checking the contact point between fingers and stones, the angle of the fingers hitting the contact point, the strength of the stones according to the speed of flicking fingers, and adjusting my strikes, I succeeded in grasping the proper feel by the end of the first game.

It was the result of combining the experience accumulated in my past life with the innate physical talents of this life.

Surprisingly, Cao Pi went through a conscientious confirmation process.

“…You know once we start, there’s no turning back?”

“I have no intention of making excuses. I’ll choose Tanqi.”

“That’s good for me. Shall we start right away?”

“Let’s do that.”

And the second Tanqi that began flowed in a tight pattern unlike before. If Cao Pi hit one of my stones, I would immediately remove one of Cao Pi’s stones to equalize.

Unlike in the first round when he had been full of leisurely nagging, Cao Pi now focused on Tanqi without saying a word, even holding his breath.

He exercised utmost caution in flicking his fingers, and struck the stones reverently, even holding his breath.

If he had poured such concentration and composure into state affairs, perhaps Cao Pi would have unified the world regardless of the Three Kingdoms.

Cao Pi, who took pride in Tanqi, gave his all as if he absolutely couldn’t lose, and I too, pushed to the edge of a cliff, approached it with utmost seriousness.

To be frank, Cao Pi was still superior in pure skill.

No matter how amazing my body’s performance was in micro-control of strength when it came to using the body, Cao Pi also possessed excellent talent when it came to Tanqi.

However, there was something I had that Cao Pi didn’t.

“This is…!”

For the first time, an exclamation tinged with dismay came from Cao Pi’s mouth.

The unique strength that only I possessed. That was thinking outside the box of Tanqi’s fixed developments.

Unlike future stone-flicking, in Tanqi stones were treated as dead upon contact, so in the first round, Cao Pi focused on accurately touching the stones.

However, for me who was more familiar with stone-flicking, dropping them off the board was more natural than that.

I had played modern stone-flicking where it was common to flick one stone out and hit another stone for a two-in-one effect, like in billiards.

When I finished adjusting my aim and not only hit Cao Pi’s stone but also struck the adjacent stone, exclamations of admiration burst out from those around.

“Both stones were touched, so they’re both captured, right?”

“…Fine. I’ll acknowledge it.”

For some reason, Cao Pi accepted the result without forcing the issue. And immediately on his next turn, he aimed for 2 stones simultaneously just like me, but…

“Oh no…”

He narrowly missed.

It’s not easy to calculate and hit the rebound without experience.

It was clear that Cao Pi’s talent was real, given how close he came to hitting it, but that was all it amounted to.

Once shaken, Cao Pi couldn’t close the gap that had opened up and ended up conceding the second round to me.

“You have talent. To absorb things so quickly.”

I can’t resist gloating after winning.

When I praised Cao Pi as if a master instructing a novice, he glared at me fiercely, seemingly quite irritated.

“Let’s proceed with the third round quickly. Bring the bamboo slips.”

Servants brought bamboo slips for drawing lots. The method was to write the competition type on the bottom of the bamboo slip and have a third party draw from a container.

To prevent the opponent from having time to prepare in advance, Cao Pi secretly conveyed what to write, but I spoke clearly in front of Cao Pi’s face:

“Write ‘Tanqi’.”

Two pairs of eyes, Cao Pi’s and Sima Yi’s who had been discussing something, turned towards me. I made them hear it once more clearly.

“I will write ‘Tanqi’ on my bamboo slip.”

Provocation.

I continue to put forward Tanqi, the game Cao Pi had so confidently proposed.

“I heard Your Majesty is Wei’s best Tanqi player, but perhaps… are you not confident?”