Chapter 1020: Payment Upon Delivery

“Not at all,” Chen Junnan replied with a smile, stepping forward. “The same move can only be used once against a Bronze Saint.”

“Bronze Saint…?” Yan Zhichun’s expression turned exasperated. “Can you be serious for once?”

“Alright then, straight to the point. Let’s just make the exchange right here,” Chen Junnan said. “You don’t trust me, right? Well, I’ve thought of a new way. We both hand over our ‘characters’ at the same time—left hand for right hand. After we return and use them, we just give them back like nothing ever happened. No hard feelings, and both sides gain a few points. What do you think?”

Yan Zhichun’s expression clearly shifted as she seemed to consider the feasibility of his proposal.

If it really was a straightforward, simultaneous exchange, naturally there’d be little need to worry about betrayal.

But the only question was… whether the “character” in the other person’s hand was equally valuable.

Chen Junnan, as if reading Yan Zhichun’s concerns, opened and clenched his fist.

A crisp “clink” clearly reached the ears of all three people present. It sounded like a bunch of keys in Chen Junnan’s hand.

“Spring Sister… what are you hesitating for? Would a chain make that sound?” Chen Junnan said. “Left-right structure, I swear it’s genuine!”

“I want to hear it again,” Yan Zhichun said.

“Fine, fine. Still don’t believe me, huh?”

Chen Junnan turned around, cupping his hand with the “character” resting in his palm, back of his hand facing Yan Zhichun. Then he tapped the metal doorknob with his palm.

Two clear “clangs” rang out as the object in his hand struck the doorknob. It definitely didn’t sound like a chain.

“Now you can be sure it’s a ‘character,’ right?” Chen Junnan said. “Listen again!”

He clenched his fist again, and another “clink” sounded.

Now Yan Zhichun was certain that what Chen Junnan held was indeed a “character,” and indeed one with a left-right structure.

“You’re saying you want to trade without even knowing what ‘character’ I have…” Yan Zhichun asked. “What if I have a ‘whole-structure’ character, what then?”

“Great question!” Chen Junnan replied. “I’m telling you right now, no matter what ‘character’ you have in your hand, as long as it’s usable in this game, I absolutely won’t give you any trouble.”

With that, he slowly pushed his right hand forward. “Right now, neither of our teams has obtained a ‘character’ from the other side. If you and I make this exchange, we both gain points for our teams. We can go back and tell everyone how heroic we were. Isn’t that nice?”

What Yan Zhichun was thinking about, however, wasn’t about “heroic deeds,” but a more practical issue.

Because what she held was “cannon” (pào).

In this game, the Red Team had only three left-right structured characters: “相” (xiàng, minister), “帅” (shuài, general), and “炮” (pào, cannon).

The rules of “Cangjie Chess” dictated that left-right structured characters could be used as two separate characters. Commanders would only entrust these characters to those with exceptional abilities, so it wasn’t strange that Chen Junnan had a left-right structured character on him.

But there was a problem—if the other party held “帅” (shuài), this exchange would be somewhat disadvantageous.

After all, whether it was “リ” or “巾” (components of “帅”), there were very few characters they could form. Even if they勉强 (qiǎngqiú, meaning “forcefully” or “with difficulty”) formed a few, they might be obscure characters, and their value couldn’t compare to her “砲” at all.

If the other party held “炮” (pào), it would be equivalent to exchanging radicals—simply swapping the “火” (huǒ, fire) radical for the “石” (shí, stone) radical. Both radicals were quite useful. Overall, it would be a fair trade—neither party gaining nor losing anything.

The most profitable scenario would be exchanging for “相” (xiàng), since both “木” (mù, wood) and “目” (mù, eye) could serve as radicals. Although she couldn’t immediately think of what characters could be formed, they would definitely be more valuable than the previous two options.

Yan Zhichun didn’t know whether Chen Junnan had just gotten lucky, or if he truly had such foresight.

It seemed like a fair one-for-one trade, but depending on what character she could exchange for, it could mean “profit,” “break-even,” or “loss.”

The chance of “profit” was one in three, while the chance of “no profit” was two in three. In theory, this was not a gamble worth taking.

After all, she couldn’t guess what character Chen Junnan was holding.

At the same time, Chen Junnan was racking his brain. He knew he held the character “帅” (shuài), which, among all the left-right structured characters, was the least useful. If he could really exchange it for the other party’s left-right structured character, no matter which one it was, it wouldn’t be a loss.

But he was a bit worried that Yan Zhichun might not have a left-right structured character at all, but rather a “车” (chē, chariot) or “马” (mǎ, horse).

After all, there were only four types of pieces that could cross the river: the “rook,” the “horse,” the “soldier” (zú), and the horizontally structured “cannon.”

This was a gamble with very slim odds for both sides—it all came down to whether the other dared to accept.

“So what’s it, Spring Sister?” Chen Junnan asked, holding up his “character.” “Trade or walk away?”

After hearing this, Yan Zhichun seemed to make a decision. She slowly reached behind her head, lifting her long hair. With a “click,” a small hair clip came undone, and she clenched her fist, removing something.

It was the “character” hidden in her hair.

“Whoa…” Chen Junnan let out a low whistle. “I gotta admit, I didn’t expect you to pin the ‘character’ to your hair with a hair clip!”

“Chen Junnan, let’s trade,” Yan Zhichun said.

Chen Junnan didn’t act immediately, only staring at Yan Zhichun’s fist and saying, “I need to confirm first that you really have a ‘character’ in your hand. Otherwise, if things get awkward later, it won’t be good for anyone.”

“Don’t worry,” Yan Zhichun replied. She turned around, imitating Chen Junnan’s earlier action, placing the “character” in her palm and tapping the doorknob with it.

“Ding ding.”

Two crisp sounds rang out—what she held was indeed a “character.”

“Nice,” Chen Junnan said. “Alright then, Sweetie, you be the witness.”

Sweetie hesitated for a moment, then nodded seriously and stepped between the two.

Both had fists in their left hands and open palms in their right, slowly walking toward each other.

When they were close enough, each placed their fist above the other’s open palm. The atmosphere grew tense.

“Spring Sister… we’ve agreed…” Chen Junnan said. “Once the deal is made, no complaints from anyone.”

“Alright…” Yan Zhichun replied. “After the exchange, we leave this room immediately. We’ll check the ‘characters’ after we leave, and no one can go back on their word.”

“Don’t worry…” Chen Junnan smiled. “As long as what you give me is a ‘character,’ I won’t give you any trouble. But if you give me a chain…”

“You don’t need to worry either,” Yan Zhichun replied. “You already stole my chain. Where would I get so many chains from?”