Chapter 52 - 52: What A Funny Man

She had googled the chess rankings and saw Mitch's photo. With her memory, if she saw someone in a photo, she could recognize that person at once.

Mitch was happy to meet someone who could communicate with him. He looked happy and said to Sophia, "Miss, can you change my money?"

Sophia shook her head, "No. I don't have much money on me. You can just go to a bank nearby to exchange!"

She glanced at what Mitch had in his hand. It was just a bottle of water. She said to the cashier, "I can pay for it!"

The cashier relaxed, took the soy sauce in Sophia's hand, and checked it out with the water in Mitch's hand. She paid and gave the water to Mitch, "Here you go!"

Mitch took the water and handed some money to Sophia, "Thanks. This is for you!"

Sophia didn't take the money. A bottle of water was not even worth a dollar. But the money in Mitch's hand was one hundred euros. She didn't want to take advantage of this foreigner.

"No, no, really."

Mitch laughed, and his beard swayed, "You're so nice, girl. By the way, I want to ask you something. Do you know if there's a chess master here?"

Sophia stumbled, "A chess master? Who are you talking about?"

Mitch sighed, "I don't know who she is. I just know she's at Colin High School. I want to find her and play chess with her face to face."

Sophia didn't know what to say, "If you don't know her name, I can't help you find her. Out of curiosity, who's worth you coming all the way here? You live far away, right?"

Mitch was number one in the world, and he would come all the way here to play chess with someone. Sophia couldn't imagine who this person could be!

Mitch nodded, "It's quite far. It takes a dozen hours by plane. I came so impulsively that I didn't get much information about her. I can't find her, and I only have a few chess friends here. I haven't seen them yet, and I don't want to bother them."

Sophia thought this foreigner was quite cute in a crazy for chess kind of way. But she could not help him, so she just showed him the way to the bank and told him to go there to change money.

Mitch thanked her again and walked to the bank.

As he arrived, he got a call. He didn't know the number but answered anyway.

"Mr. Watson, I heard you've come over to visit us!"

On the other end of the phone, a strange voice said in French, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have given you a warm welcome!"

"Sorry, you are…"

"I'm Toby Damon. We've played chess together before. Lanie called me and told me you are here and asked me to help to take care of you… Where are you now? I'll come to pick you up."

"Thank you. I'm in a bank right now." Said Mitch.

"I see. And what is the specific address?!" Toby responded, a little disbelievingly, he might as well have said he was under the sky.

When Sophia got home, she handed the soy sauce to Kate and relayed her encounter.

"What a funny man!" Kate said as she cooked.

She thought for a while and said, "I remember one of my students who was quite good at chess. He used to sign up for the school chess competition and won the championship!"

Sophia was interested, "Who?"

"I think his name was… Albert Pearson. Yeah. That's the name! It was a long time ago. The boy was very clever and had even skipped a grade, which impressed me very much. I've always remembered him."

Sophia thought of the Pearson she remembered. She asked, "What happened to him?"

Kate smiled, "I don't know. I was teaching middle school. All I know is he went to Colin High School after graduation. As for other things, I don't know."

"Oh." Sophia said. She didn't know if it was the same Albert Pearson she knew. Pearson skipped a grade? She didn't seem to have ever asked about school or heard anything about it.

She suddenly realized that she knew nothing about Pearson.

Kate had finished cooking. She picked up a plate and served up. "Oh, I remember taking a picture with him at that time. The picture should still be here somewhere."

Sophia went out of the kitchen to look for her mother's photos. She knew where the family album was. Soon, she brought out several thick albums.

As a teacher, Kate took photos with students every year, and there were lots of them. Kate was a thoughtful person. She organized all her photos by date, which made it all very convenient.

According to Pearson's age, the photo should have been taken more than a decade ago. Sophia found the album and soon found the photo.

Although he had just been a teenager in the photo, Sophia recognized him at once. It was him!

Albert Pearson had not changed much. He was as handsome then as he was now. It was just that he looked cold. There was no smile on his face in the picture.

Kate was young and beautiful at that time. Her smile was sweet. A little girl held her hand; she must have been about seven years old. The girl was very cute, and her head was turned up, looking at Pearson, with curiosity in her big eyes.

Right then, Kate came up. She looked at the photo and said, "As I remember, the photographer came late that day. You were in primary school and finished school early.. I picked you up first and then went back to school for the photos. As a result, the whole class all wanted to take a photo with you! When I took a photo with Pearson, you ran over, held my hand and asked me, 'Why can't this boy smile?'"