The little boy nodded and it made Zhihao feel satisfied. It was really rare that Zhihao found someone who would be interested in playing games with him so when he saw this little kid who was really interested to know more about online games, he couldn't help but feel happy as he finally had a partner with whom he could share his love for gaming.
When Huang Zhi Juan saw the two interacting friendly, she realized that it was best for her to stay out of their business. The more she lets herself interfere, the more she worsens the situation so it was better to let them settle it among themselves. She took this as a sign for her to leave, knowing that her son wasn't going to bully this little cute boy again.
Zhihao pulled the boy along with him and took him to the other side of the arcade which had a lot of computers that were specially designed for games.
"What's your name?" Zhihao asked as he side-glanced at the boy.
The boy turned his head to look into Zhihao's eyes as he answered the question with a bright smile. In fact, the smile was so bright on his red face that Zhihao didn't even remember the name the little boy gave him. All he remembered was the look on the boy's face and the little beauty spot under the boy's right eye that seemed to stand out the most.
The boy's smile looked somewhat like the sunshine after a rainy day. Considering the fact that he had been crying for the most part of it, it wasn't too ridiculous to compare the two.
Zhihao looked away, "You have to call me Laoshi.1"
"Laoshi?"
Zhihao snickered, "Since I'm teaching you how to play, I'm your teacher. Do you understand that? You have to show me respect."
The little boy nodded enthusiastically, "Understood, Laoshi!"
Zhihao nodded in satisfaction as he sat down at one of the chairs which had just been emptied due to the person who was sitting on it previously losing and walking away.
The little boy stood by Zhihao's side and watched him play for more than thirty minutes before he finally woke up from his amazed expression and asked, "Can I play?"
Zhihao didn't even spare the boy a glance as he answered, "No way! You will make me lose."
The boy pouted, but didn't do anything. He stood by Zhihao's side and watched the boy play on his own. In the name of teaching the boy, Zhihao was simply playing on his own with the little boy as an audience who would watch Zhihao play with amazement and would cheer for Zhihao every now and then.
Now that Zhihao looked back at it, he still could not understand why that little boy had been so amazed by him. It wasn't like Zhihao was a good player back then so why did the boy cheer him on as if he were the best player in the world? From that day onwards, Zhihao had always felt like his love for gaming had increased and that chance encounter with the kid who liked how Zhihao played indirectly led to Zhihao choosing this as his career.
After an hour or so, the seat next to Zhihao got vacant and the little boy took this chance to sit down on it. Zhihao looked at the boy who was sitting beside him, watching him play, and frowned.
"You have a seat. Why aren't you playing?"
The little boy seemed to be taken back as he heard this. He hadn't taken a seat to play, rather, he had taken a seat because his feet hurt from standing so much so he just wanted to sit down and watch this boy play.
Zhihao leaned in on the boy's side and turned the game on, giving the controller over to the little boy as he said, "Try beating me."
In the name of teaching, once again, little Zhihao was being selfish. He only wanted to compete against the boy to show him how much better Zhihao was and to get praised for his amazing skills. Who was to know that when this game ended, it would leave Zhihao unsatisfied and regretful for teaching the boy how to play the game although he hadn't really contributed much.
The little boy turned his head to Zhihao with an excited look that was asking for praises, "Laoshi, I won!"
Zhihao turned his head back to the computer as he responded, "I let you win. Why are you so happy about that?"
The boy pouted as he heard this.
"Let's play again. Try to beat me this time. I'm not going easy on you again," Zhihao cracked his knuckles and got ready for the countdown to turn to zero, so that he can attack the boy first and win the game, but somehow, this young boy was too talented in this, although it was his first time playing.
Zhihao hadn't taught the boy anything. He had simply let him watch how he plays, but for over an hour, the little boy wasn't just watching at how awesome this young player was. He was analyzing more than he was looking. He wasn't amazed at Zhihao's gameplay, he was amazed at the game and was quietly watching it attentively, learning all of Zhihao's moves, and now that he was playing against Zhihao, all of his self-learning came to use.
He had watched Zhihao play before and at this age, Zhihao was still a young player who didn't know much so he didn't know how to change strategies or how to play when he was at a disadvantage. Basically speaking, he lacked experience and it wasn't his fault.
The little boy knew what Zhihao was about to do before Zhihao would even think about doing it. It was like all his attacks had been predicted by the little boy before he knew it himself. This was the power of an observer. You can learn the players better by observing and if you know what type of player you are against and what type of attacks you would be hit with, you will surely increase your chances of winning.
The second round also ended and the little boy won against Zhihao once again.
Zhihao frowned and turned his head away in annoyance, "My fingers hurt so I can't play that great today."
The little boy nodded his head, "If your fingers weren't hurting, there is no way I could've won against Laoshi."
Zhihao had started to dislike the boy, but when he heard this, his self-pride inflated and he shamelessly nodded in agreement, "At least you know your own capabilities."
"Will Laoshi play with me again?"
"Of course I will."
The game resumed for the third round and ended pretty soon with the little boy beating Zhihao by more than double the points Zhihao had accumulated and this made Zhihao glare at the boy as he felt like he was somehow being tricked and this boy was cheating. He had to be cheating. There was no way such a beginner who started playing today could beat Zhihao like that.
The little boy looked at Zhihao and smiled brightly, "This game is probably broken. How could I win against Laoshi?"
Zhihao nodded in satisfaction as he heard the boy and exclaimed, "This game is probably broken! Let's try again."
The little boy couldn't be happier as he heard this. They played for the fourth time and once again, like all the previous times, Zhihao lost miserably and it made his pride take a hit, but before he could hate the boy for it, he heard the boy boosting his fallen pride once again.
"Stupid game! Why isn't it working correctly?"
Zhihao felt his pride swell up once again as he joined the little boy in blaming the game for his own incapability of winning against this newbie.
They played for the fifth time and it ended in the same manner. They played for the sixth time and once again, the little boy won and left Zhihao to lick the dust left behind. They played again and again till Zhihao really felt his lie becoming a reality as his fingers started to hurt.
Huang Zhi Juan who was watching everything from start to finish suddenly looked at the little boy in surprise. She had never felt like her son was dumb, but after the two played for so long, she suddenly felt she had overestimated Zhihao. This boy was too stupid and this little boy whom Zhihao was calling stupid was really too intelligent.
The little boy was tricking Zhihao into playing with him and Zhihao, who previously refused to play with this kid at all costs was now being happily fooled into playing with him because of how much this little boy was boosting his ego.
It was quite funny to see the little boy who looked to be so innocent act so sly like a little cute fox.
At this time, another little chubby kid came running over to Huang Zhi Juan and hugged her leg as he called out to her, "Mommy!"
Huang Zhi Juan looked down at the kid and smiled happily as she picked him up, "Is little A-Zhen tired?"
The chubby little boy nodded his head and hugged his mother back tightly.
"Let's wait for your brother." Huang Zhi Juan didn't want to interrupt Zhihao who was making a new friend. The method of doing so was weird, but it wasn't like she was complaining.