Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 377 - 374: Are You a Sore Loser?

For the people of Mao County, noodles are definitely not as delicious as bamboo tube rice; the people from Jiangnan Road and further south to Lingnan Road are not very interested in noodles.

For example, people in Chang’an eat dumplings made from wheat noodles during Chinese New Year’s Eve or Winter Solstice, while people in Jiangnan Road and Lingnan Road prefer glutinous rice balls.

However, the center of royal power in the Great Tang has always been around Luoyang and Chang’an, which has led to historical records suggesting that Great Tang people all love noodles, seemingly excluding the South from the Great Tang.

This is similar to ancient and modern Spring Festival Galas. Every year’s gala always treats Northern customs as national customs.

In the end, the host always says to let people nationwide eat dumplings, without even considering that people south of the Yangtze River eat glutinous rice balls during the New Year, not dumplings.

At tonight’s banquet, Lin Wanwan has certainly hit the right spot for the people of Mao County.

Besides the specialty bamboo tube rice, there is also the Sheep Hall catering to the mainstream.

The lamb selected by everyone was not roasted in the Great Tang style but rather by using modern whole lamb roasting techniques, liberally sprinkled and rubbed with spices like pepper, making the aroma of roasted lamb so delectable it whets the appetite just by smelling it.

Also, the Great Tang banquet’s main dishes like bear paw, carp tail, raw slices, sugar crab, raw shrimp, prawn, lobster, mung bean soup, and ginseng soup were all served.

With gourmet food, there naturally isn’t a lack of fine wines.

The green ant cloudy wine that appears most often in the writings of destitute poets is not worthy of aristocratic tables. Here, it is three-leaf wine, tulip wine, Yicheng wine, pear blossom spring wine, and the extremely precious grape wine from the fourth year of Zhenguan in the Great Tang.

Li Bai once wrote, "Lanling fine wine tulip, jade bowl shines like amber." Lanling fine wine is sweet and fragrant, emitting amber light in a jade bowl, glistening and radiant, making it full of color, fragrance, and taste.

As a direct descendant of the Xiao Family from Southern Lanling, Xiao Chong would certainly not miss this hometown fine wine.

Among these wines, only the grape wine is modern red wine bought by Lin Wanwan, while all others are native Great Tang wines, with low alcohol content.

Therefore, everyone could drink poetically, each toast, one cup after another, and not become drunk.

As they ate with excitement, many started to engage in dance battles. Lin Wanwan, as the host, naturally had to participate.

She had played Mui Tei Gee several times in the Great Tang, and now swaying in dance is not as embarrassing as it initially was; she is more at ease.

Moreover, they had divided into male and female tables here, each surrounding their own long table for meals; thus, dance battles were also divided into male and female, without fear of losing propriety.

After everyone was satisfied with food and drink, Lin Wanwan sent them off one by one.

Except for the people of the Xiao Family, the rest gradually bade farewell and left.

As everyone departed and the house was empty, Xiao Chong grabbed a bottle of red wine, planning to continue to the next round.

During the banquet earlier, he did not drink because he knew the strength of red wine and knew he would get drunk.

Given his character, he would not let himself fall into disgrace in front of people, so it was not difficult to hold back and not drink.

Lin Wanwan’s third cousin, Xiao Jingkun, had been flattering Xiao Chong all the while, but the latter, perhaps intentionally, had poured Xiao Jingkun much wine; thus, the former was now quite tipsy and was taken away by Xiao Ronghua and Xiao Xianghua together.

Lin Wanwan called out to Xiao Chong, who was planning to start drinking red wine with Dugu Di and others, and challenged him to a game of chess. The challenge was in chess and Go. The loser must agree to one thing proposed by the winner.

Xiao Chong was surprised by Lin Wanwan’s confidence today; she seemed full of determination, as if certain of her victory.

Having played a few chess games with Lin Wanwan previously, Xiao Chong was quite aware of her chess skills, yet he wondered where her confidence came from.

"Well, since cousin has this elegant interest, Xiao naturally will accompany." Xiao Chong put down the red wine, nodded in agreement, and followed Lin Wanwan to the study.

Dugu Di and Xiao Ce went along to observe and encourage; whereas Lin Wanwan had little Yue-er bringing her pet lynx cat-cat and little elephant Bai-bai to cheer for her.

Little Yue-er held the lynx cat-cat, leaning on little elephant Bai-bai’s belly, watching Lin Wanwan and Xiao Chong play chess.

First, they played chess, in a best-of-three format.

Lin Wanwan took the red and was the first to move, her first step being her favorite central gun, Xiao Chong raised his horse to defend the central pawn, Lin Wanwan lowered her head and secretly tapped twice under the desk.

Xiao Chong glanced at her curiously; despite his sharp gaze, in the candlelight at night, he couldn’t see that Lin Wanwan had specifically attached an anti-peep screen to the phone under the desk; he just thought she was playing with a glass mirror!

Lin Wanwan initially did not entirely rely on AI chess master, playing a few moves with Xiao Chong herself; it was only when about to lose a rook that she started to cheat.

Alas, in any high-level contention, one wrong move leads to continual mistakes; seeking AI’s help now was already too late, and even by cheating in the latter half of the first game, Lin Wanwan still lost.

Lin Wanwan: "..."

Xiao Chong’s strength was terrifying; it was reminiscent of when, in the afternoon, Lin Wanwan played chess with noble ladies, not needing AI help throughout. She was able to match them fairly, only referring to one or two moves at critical moments, enough to defeat the opponent decisively.

Yet, facing the resourcefully intelligent Xiao Chong, it was clearly not feasible; AI had to be fully utilized, missing a single move was unacceptable.

Fully understanding Xiao Chong’s prowess, fortunately, they had agreed on the best-of-three rule previously. In the next two games, Lin Wanwan planned not to make a single move herself, relying entirely on AI!

Starting from this game, Xiao Chong’s thinking time lengthened, even the observing Dugu Di and Xiao Ce couldn’t resist frowning.

To be fair, the semi-blind Dugu Di could enjoy the drama under dim candlelight mainly because his personal guard kept reporting the chess moves like "the right route horse moves 1 space forward, the right route chariot moves 1 space forward."

Therefore, Dugu Di "listened" to the chess instead of watching.

Lin Wanwan, with AI in hand, believed she was assured of victory and didn’t care about the number of observers. The more people there were, the less Xiao Chong could deny his loss, making it even better.

Indeed, after an extended match in the second game, Lin Wanwan narrowly won.

It wouldn’t work, letting the opponent think too long; thinking too long could overpower the AI installed on her phone, disrupting his rhythm.

Thus in the third game, Lin Wanwan created a distraction, chatting about household gossip with Xiao Chong and urging him when he pondered, "Cousin, hurry up, you’re too slow, do you need to think that long just because I think slow?"

Xiao Chong, once disrupted his train of thought again, looked up at Lin Wanwan and revealed a barely noticeable smile.

Afterward, he indeed accelerated, and the conclusion, naturally, was his loss.

"Checkmate!"

Excitedly, Lin Wanwan made a move and cheerfully declared, "Fatal strike! Cousin, two out of three games, you lost."

Xiao Chong put down his pieces and sighed, "Hmm, I lost. After three days, one ought to look at a person anew; cousin’s chess skill has progressed amazingly, Xiao admires you."

Xiao Ce also sighed beside him, "Village Lady’s chess skill is indeed superb."

Only Dugu Di showed a bit of perplexity, but Lin Wanwan naturally paid no heed to others; she only stared at Xiao Chong, saying, "Cousin, there’s still Go; let’s play a game of Go. It takes longer, so let’s decide the winner in one game, shall we?"

Xiao Chong humorously replied, "Did cousin obtain some high-level chess book, eager to show Xiao certain superiority?"

Lin Wanwan smiled happily, "Cousin, why say such things; could it be you’re a sore loser?"

Xiao Chong: "...Fine. I will accompany you."