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墨書 Inktalez
Chen Rui stared in shock as the pile of red balls in front of him suddenly scattered. Two of the balls bounced up after colliding, and one even landed on the floor.
After a moment of stunned silence, the entire billiard room erupted with laughter, especially Zhou Yan, who was clutching her stomach and clearly laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
Chen Rui shot a resentful glance at Li Li for two reasons. First, it was Li Li who had urged him to hit the ball harder. Although he felt he might have overdone it, how could someone who had never even touched a cue know what "hit it harder" really meant? Second, this guy was laughing at his misfortune. It was one thing to laugh, but to cover his mouth and try desperately to stifle it? Come on, did he really think no one could tell he wanted to laugh?
Li Li also felt a bit guilty towards Chen Rui. After coughing a couple of times to regain his composure, he said seriously, "Let's redo that shot. After all, it's his first time. Uh, Zhou Zhi! Did you get that on camera?"
Zhou Zhi made a 'K' gesture from the audience and couldn't help but suppress his laughter.
Zhou Yan nodded in agreement; after witnessing that opening shot, she was starting to believe Chen Rui's claim that he didn't know how to play billiards.
After resetting the balls, Chen Rui prepared to take another shot. This time, he dared not use as much force for fear of embarrassing himself again.
He aimed at the same spot where Li Li had indicated. The cue ball struck the red ball and then veered towards the edge of the pocket on the right front side. It then bounced off another edge and slid toward the center of the table. However, due to a slight lack of power, it came to a stop after hitting the center three times and failed to return to the starting area.
Li Li let out a light sigh. He wasn't sure whether to feel happy or to smile wryly. For someone who had never even touched a cue before, this was already quite impressive. Expecting him to perform like a seasoned player on his second shot was asking too much; it was commendable that Chen Rui hadn't sent the cue ball straight into a pocket.
The red balls had partially spread out, but the cue ball still hadn't returned to the starting area. Zhou Yan approached the table with a beaming smile and smoothly pocketed one of the red balls before aiming at the blue ball positioned in the center.
In no time at all, she played quickly—so fast it was almost dizzying—making it seem like she cleared the table in one stroke or something close to it.
Since Chen Rui hadn’t scored any points at all, Zhou Yan decided to hit the cue ball into a position where it would be very difficult for him to make any shots. Even if he could hit it, there was no way he would score, leaving Chen Rui completely unable to make any shots, let alone string together any consecutive ones.
Li Li watched from the side and sighed deeply. At this level of play from Chen Rui, there was no need for him to even attempt a snooker; if he ever did manage one, he'd just be left staring blankly in confusion.
The first match ended without any suspense. Zhou Yan happily scored ninety-seven points, thinking that if she had been a bit bolder, she could have broken the hundred mark.
Scoring over a hundred in one shot would indeed be something to boast about, but a total score over a hundred wasn’t particularly impressive. However, since Chen Rui's score was zero, it could easily mislead people into thinking that Zhou Yan had cleared the table with just one shot and almost reached a hundred.
A delicate female voice broke Zhou Yan's good mood. "What are you doing? It's so noisy! Can't anyone sleep?" Li Xue walked in wearing light purple pajamas. Upon seeing the score displayed on Li Li's scoreboard, she rubbed her eyes and, after confirming it was correct, stared at Chen Rui. "What’s going on? You cleared the table and still didn’t break a hundred?"
Chen Rui smiled helplessly and pointed to the board with ninety-seven written on it. "That’s her score; the one next to it is mine."
Zhou Yan shamelessly smiled, while Li Xue looked as if she had seen a ghost. After checking the scores again and confirming them, she quickly walked over to Chen Rui, touched his forehead with the back of her hand, and muttered, "You’re not burning up; did you eat something wrong? Did your brain go fuzzy? Come on, let’s go see a doctor!"
Chen Rui found Li Xue's reaction both amusing and exasperating. He gently pushed her soft hand away and forced a smile. "It’s my first time playing, and Sister Zhou didn’t go easy on me at all. That’s why it turned out like this."
Li Xue seemed to want to say more but ultimately just shot Zhou Yan a glare and smiled. "I’ll teach you how to play later!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yan immediately became displeased and waved her hands in the air. "Hey! No cheating! How can you bring in outside help?"
Li Xue playfully punched Zhou Yan lightly. "I promise I won’t touch the cue stick; is that okay?"
Zhou Yan wanted to argue but fell silent after hearing that. If Li Xue didn’t touch the cue stick, no matter how skilled she was, it would be impossible to significantly improve someone’s skills in such a short time just by talking.
After a brief break, both sides resumed play, with Zhou Yan breaking this time. She aimed carefully before striking; the cue ball quickly collided with the red balls. After several hits, it successfully returned to the ball area. However, due to slightly insufficient force, the cue ball stopped just behind the left side of ball three, missing being directly behind it by a hair.
Watching the cue ball move, Chen Rui felt secretly pleased. If the cue ball had completely slid behind ball three, he would have another chance to take a shot because from that angle it would be nearly impossible to hit the red ball in a game of Snooker.
Zhou Yan let out a light sigh, but her expression brightened instantly upon seeing Chen Rui. Given Chen Rui's skills, it would be difficult for him to make a successful shot even now.
Chen Rui shot her a glance, questioning her lack of faith in him. Yet, he seemed to doubt himself as well. He approached the pool table, preparing to lean down when a hand wrapped around him.
"Just think of yourself as a big doll for now. Listen to me, and you'll definitely win!" Li Xue's voice came from behind him, and before Chen Rui could react, she pulled him toward the other side of the table.
Zhou Yan watched with furrowed brows, but since Li Xue hadn't touched the cue stick, she felt there was little she could do.
Li Xue brought Chen Rui to the right side of the table and leaned over him, aiming at the cue ball. Her hands quickly covered his, and her body pressed against his back. Although she wasn't directly holding the cue stick, it felt almost the same.
"Referee! She's committing a foul!" Zhou Yan pointed at Li Xue, but Li Li remained unmoved.
"I'm not touching the cue stick," Li Xue said with a mischievous grin, sticking out her tongue and ignoring Zhou Yan as she carefully guided Chen Rui to adjust his angle.
Chen Rui slowly adjusted his aim, but the soft and elastic sensation from behind him distracted him. He still hadn't fully calmed down, especially with Li Xue constantly shifting against him, drawing away what little focus he had left.
Li Xue wasn't much shorter than Chen Rui; in fact, if she wore high heels, she would be taller than him. However, he had never seen her in heels before. Both of them had slender builds, so her current position felt entirely natural rather than forced.
"Just follow my rhythm later. Don't use too much strength; go with my flow. If my hands are pulling you back, ease up; if I'm pushing you forward, put in more effort. And make sure your supporting hand doesn't shake!" Li Xue's lips were right by Chen Rui's ear, her warm breath sending shivers down his spine.
Hurry up and end this game, Chen Rui thought to himself.
"Hit!" Li Xue's voice rang in his ear. Chen Rui's mind went blank as he instinctively pushed the cue stick forward. The cue ball swiftly struck the side of the table and slid toward a red ball near the pocket. After a slight collision, the red ball slowly rolled toward the pocket before suddenly dropping in...
"Yeah!" Zhou Yan cheered again. This time, she had won, but it wasn't the overwhelming victory of the last match; it was a narrow win, with only a two-point difference. Chen Rui had made significant progress in his skills during the later stages of the game, and with his superior judgment, Zhou Yan found herself being led around the table. If it hadn't been for her substantial lead from earlier and Chen Rui's incomplete grasp of the rules of Snooker, which prevented him from setting traps to let Zhou Yan score points, the outcome could have been very different!
Li Xue grumbled, "Let's have another round! I won't assist anymore; I'll just watch you two play!"
Indeed, Chen Rui's cue skills had improved remarkably. His control over power was spot on, and his ability to judge angles gave him an edge. Even without Li Xue's help, Zhou Yan could no longer defeat Chen Rui.
"No way! I've already won two out of three games. Besides, I've played two rounds in a row; I'm exhausted both mentally and physically. I need a break," Zhou Yan said with a giggle. She wasn't foolish; Chen Rui's understanding of billiards was astonishing. If they played another couple of rounds, he might be ready for competitions. There was no need for her to keep pushing herself against him since she had already achieved her goal.
Li Xue remained unconvinced. "How long do you plan to rest? Once you're ready, we continue! I refuse to believe this!"
"No, no, no! After this battle, it's going to take me at least two or three years to recover, so don't hold your breath. Hahaha!" Zhou Yan laughed as she dashed toward the audience seats, leaving no chance for Li Xue.
"Alright, alright, I'm tired too. Let's call it a day," Chen Rui said with a hearty laugh as he joined the audience.
Zhou Zhi tossed her phone to Zhou Yan and smiled as she stepped off the stage. "Come on! I'll join you for an epic showdown!"
"Not a chance! Just wait until I take you down in one shot!" Li Xue was also getting excited as she quickly picked out a suitable cue stick, ready to start a new battle.
Note: Snooker refers to a situation in billiards where one player’s shot results in dead balls obstructing the opponent’s ability to hit the cue ball so that it can pass straight through both sides of any ball on the table.
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