233 To Not Lose (2/2)
This time, it was still a draw.
Ye Qingxuan did not win and Abraham did not lose, but the frustration of not knowing the opponent was more painful than a bloody defeat.
”I don’t want to play anymore.” Ye Qingxuan gave it up with a bitter expression. ”How did you do that, sir?”
”The rules decided it, didn’t they?” Abraham's awkwardly put away his scattered cards with his steel prosthetic arm and said, ”Don't be upset, I'm not a very smart player compared to you, and my calculations aren’t accurate either. But if winning requires the right time and place, then it's easy to be not to lose. Just follow the rules.”
”The rules?” Ye Qingxuan smiled wryly. ”What rules? Poker rules?”
”Everything runs from life to death; the sun and moon rise from east and set to the west; the ocean brings tides; a year is divided into four seasons; fruits will mature after sowing and the ripe fruit will fall to the ground...these are all rules, Yezi. Or, a term that you’ll understand better, it’s called music theory.”
Abraham's words stunned Ye Qingxuan, like blow to the forehead by a big ax. There was enlightenment in the moment of pain.
The professor's voice sounded in his ear, ”The core of the Abstinence is to know the rules and music theory and apply your strength to it...What we are concerned with is not the object outside the body, but the music theory followed by the aether. Thus, we can remain undefeatable.” He paused, clinked his beer with Yezi’s, and let out a relieved chuckle.
”Now do you understand? This is the first step in the field of the Abstinence and the deeper core of the interpretation method.” He murmured, ”Congratulations, Yezi, you have stepped into enlightenment through your own understanding, even if I have not taught you anything. You're a genius, and moved faster than I’d ever expected.”
Immediately after the enlightenment, Ye Qingxuan finally grasped the inexplicable sentiment brought by the sublimation ritual, but when he finally thoroughly digested this understanding, he could not help but become a little frustrated. ”Sir, you shouldn’t teach me Abstinence, right?”
”You thought it up yourself, didn’t you?”
Like an illusion, Abraham's smile seemed vaguely sneaky. ”After all, I haven't taught you anything about it. What you’ve learned has nothing to do with me.”
After a long silence, Ye Qingxuan suddenly laughed. It was a rare burst of laughter. He practically slid over on the table.
Who told him that his professor was an honest man? Mr. Abraham had been honest for so many years, but the rare time he played tricks, he passed the oath of the military and musicians.
All these years, he had been regarded as a fool or a dull man, but compared to the achievement of his musical theory, the academy's mediocre and struggling people were absolutely the idiots.
”I told you so.” Charles blocked his shoulder and clinked glasses with him. ”Our professor is the best teacher in the world, the best.”
”Yes, the best.” Ye Qingxuan smiled, toasted him, and drank the beer in the cup in a gulp.
-
”Right, there’s another good news. Yezi, you were late today, so you probably still don't know this.” After another large cup of malt beer, Charles looked at Ye Qingxuan with sleepy eyes and began retelling the story of today's meeting animatedly.
At the school review that day, Abraham submitted his interpretation process and related documents, and vaguely faint grasped Ingmar’s Achille’s heel—the guy had interpreted the final part in his own way, but the result was in a completely wrong direction and there was a clear break in logic.
Ingmar seemed to realize this, so his arrogance was far less rampant than at the beginning.
Speaking of this, Charles whistled. ”Tomorrow we’ll publish the correct interpretation and process in the school review meeting, and if Ingmar doesn’t withdraw his manuscript before the news is announced to the world, then he’ll be done.”
Ye Qingxuan did not expect the progress to be so unexpectedly fast. He could not help but feel happy too. ”Cheers!”
Everyone raised the cups and looked at the professor who was a little shy.
”To Mr. Abraham, who’s about to become a famous master of the ancient studies!”
-
The office came with a fierce broken sound.
”B*stard! B*stard! B*stard!” Ingmar furiously swept everything on the desk and crushed it into pieces. ”They're all a bunch of b*stards who want to see me embarrassed!” he shouted angrily, raising his bloodshot eyes and looking at Bart. ”Did you see?”
”Yes, sir.” Bart stood in the corner, responding cautiously, ”Not only the School of Royalty stood on their side, but also Modifications and Summoning. I saw it with my own eyes this morning. Cullen quietly handed the information to Ye Qingxuan. If they cross-reference that information with your manuscript, the contradiction in the last part of your interpretation might…”
”No wonder.” Ingmar was so angry that he laughed. ”No wonder they were so arrogant at the meeting today. They thought they had found my weakness just by those things?”
He punched the table, forming a faint dent in the solid table. A crack even appeared in his hand. Blood dripped from his fingertips dripped and flowed into the cracks in the table like a grinning face.
Ingmar squeezed his crazed voice from between his teeth, ”In their dreams!”