Chapter 212: Jealous Leonard: Hey, Beth Harmon, What Are You Looking At?
Let's get started.
Chuck had the voluptuous Linda start recording a video explaining the whole story for later use, then asked, "Where is your husband now?"
"He was invited as a guest speaker at Bergen County High School today,"
Linda replied.
"Bergen County High School?"
Jane looked at Chuck in surprise. "Isn't that Leonard's school?"
"Yes, let's go."
Chuck nodded and walked out.
"Was he doing it on purpose?"
Jane quickly caught up, expressing her thoughts: "I feel like he did it on purpose, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?"
"Whether it was intentional or not is unimportant."
Chuck got into the driver's seat, Jane sat in the passenger seat, and Linda, who had originally wanted to follow, was directed to sit in the back: "From now on, until I confirm that your husband has given up his plans, and then you get a divorce, your every move must be done according to my instructions, understand?"
"Understood."
The heavyset woman Linda nodded, then hesitated: "Do we really have to get a divorce?"
"..."
Jane said incredulously: "Even after all this, you still won't get a divorce?"
Saying this, she suddenly realized and looked back at Linda: "Yes, even after all this, why won't you get a divorce?"
"This..."
The heavyset woman Linda opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.
"In that case, let me correct myself,"
Chuck said as he drove. "From now on, until I'm sure your husband has given up on his plans, you must do exactly as I say, understand?"
"Understood, understood!"
The heavyset Linda nodded repeatedly, clearly relieved.
Jane glanced at Chuck, opened her mouth to speak, but met his calm gaze, and could only suppress her inner complaints. The car soon arrived at Bergen County High School. After parking and getting out of the car, Jane finally had a chance to quietly ask Chuck, "Is this a good idea? Even if the criminal thoughts are temporarily suppressed, they might reignite over time. There's always a risk if we don't divorce."
"Do you think she doesn't know?"
Chuck said. "She knows better than you what she wants! A housewife who drinks all day, do you think she has the courage to divorce?"
"You mean money?"
Jane asked doubtfully. "After the divorce, she can get a lot of money and continue drinking."
Chuck looked at her without speaking.
"…Okay."
Jane felt extremely uncomfortable under that gaze. Suddenly realizing what was happening, she smiled bitterly, "He's a chess grandmaster. According to Linda, he can see through all her moves. Naturally, it's impossible for him not to have a prenuptial agreement or something to avoid losing a large sum of money in a divorce."
She still seemed puzzled, "But is she really willing to risk being killed for that?"
"It seems you don't know what alcoholics are capable of."
Chuck shook his head. "Alcohol addiction in America is a serious problem. So many Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and they even had Prohibition back in the day. What happened? People still drank! If she doesn't divorce, her alcohol supply won't be a problem, and she might not even die. But after the divorce, the thought of not being able to continue her comfortable lifestyle is probably more painful than the fear of dying.
And in her opinion, someone as smart as her husband, once deterred from killing her by external forces, is unlikely to have that thought again.
With all these factors combined, do you still think she's being stupid?"
"No, not stupid."
Jane's lips twitched.
"No, still foolish!"
Chuck's tone shifted. "To entrust your life to someone else, especially a clever person who harbors murderous intent towards her and can completely control her—that's still incredibly foolish!"
"Then how can you avoid being foolish?"
Jane retorted helplessly.
Chuck remained silent, only giving her a meaningful look.
"..."
Jane was speechless. After working with him on numerous cases across various scenarios, she had become quite experienced at reading Chuck's expressions. But this time, she was truly astonished.
Because what she understood was that Chuck was referring to what he had previously said about Linda's husband's most foolish mistake...giving his wife a chance to retaliate.
"How could you think that?"
"What am I thinking?"
Chuck countered.
"You know what I'm talking about,"
Jane said urgently. "Even if we don't mention that this idea is illegal and immoral, just the fact that she actually did it means she won't be able to enjoy the life she wants afterwards. Isn't that incredibly foolish?"
"What do you think of Linda's appearance?"
Chuck still didn't answer, only asking a question in return.
"She's quite attractive, and has a good figure too."
Jane frowned. "What does that have to do with our question?"
"Then why do you think her husband, who clearly said he was going to kill her, still sleeps with her every night, giving her a chance to fight back?"
Chuck reminded her. "Besides his arrogance and the logical possibility of defending himself, is there any possibility that Linda still interests him?"
"...What are you trying to say?"
Jane was so frustrated she didn't want to think anymore.
"There's an old saying: 'A beautiful woman at sixteen, with a blade at her side to strike down foolish men.'"
Chuck said, "Linda is a beauty in your eyes, while her husband seems smart, but in my eyes he's a complete fool. She has every right to fight back legally and legitimately."
"..."
Jane was dumbfounded. Her first reaction was, "How is that possible! Women are no match for men..."
Hmm.
In her subconscious, a deeply ingrained idea had already formed from her experience: the field gets worn out, but the plow never breaks!
But then she realized that Chuck's case was an exception, not the general situation; the opposite was usually true.
Linda's physical attributes are undeniable; despite her alcoholism, she appears naturally strong, making her a strong contender for overpowering even the most foolish men.
This led Jane to digress again, her thoughts drifting to the formidable wives in Summit, whose husbands, despite being faithful, were rumored to be either thin or pale...
Bergen County High School.
"Chuck, what brings you here?"
Leonard looked at Chuck with surprise.
"Something came up,"
Chuck said succinctly.
"Leonard, your school invited Patrick Kloster?"
Jane suppressed her chaotic thoughts and smiled as she looked down at Leonard.
"Yes,"
Leonard said shyly, avoiding Jane's eyes, and nodded, "Today is the most exciting day for our high school chess club. The club's advisor somehow invited a little girl who's supposedly very talented to play a simultaneous exhibition against us. They just told us there's a surprise coming later; some well-informed people have already found out that it's World Grandmaster Patrick Kloster coming."
"A little girl playing against all of you?"
Jane asked curiously, "How does that work?"
"Yeah."
"Now everyone's picking on us," Leonard complained.
After his outburst, he began explaining to Jane what a simultaneous exhibition was: "Our high school chess club has 12 members, including the seniors. When she comes, she'll play against all 12 of us at the same time."
"What?"
Jane exclaimed in shock, "You can do that?"
"That's the treatment for a prodigy,"
Leonard said, scoffing. "For us, it's a blatant insult. But our club's instructor said she's only 9 years old and has the ability."
"Patrick often plays simultaneous exhibitions like that,"
the heavyset Linda couldn't help but interject.
"Then try your best to defeat her."
Chuck looked at Leonard. "What's the use of complaining in private?"
"I will!"
Leonard's face flushed instantly, then he excitedly promised, "I will definitely defeat her!"
"I said try your best."
Chuck corrected him. "The important thing is to let your strength speak for itself. Don't say things you're not sure about. There are always people more capable than you. If it were Paige who came today, would you still say you would definitely defeat her?"
"…"
Leonard was speechless.
Sheldon's contempt had already made him feel uncomfortable, but in terms of intelligence, he was actually convinced.
Because although his IQ was 173 and Sheldon's was 187, which seemed similar and both belonged to the category of super geniuses, Sheldon's intelligence was indeed overwhelming. He had no choice but to admit it.
But even so, Sheldon, when facing Paige, was like facing a final boss—well, a pint-sized final boss. His usually arrogant super genius intelligence was completely useless. He was outmatched by Paige at every turn, which was very frustrating.
If Paige were here today, facing 12 opponents, he wouldn't call it a blatant insult or insist on defeating her. Instead, he'd say it was an honor for them and that they had to hold out a few more moves before losing, hoping the little terror Paige would look at them differently.
"Who's Paige?"
Linda asked Jane curiously.
"Hehe,"
Jane couldn't help but chuckle, "Remember that young Sheldon with the IQ of 187 I told you about? She's a 12-year-old girl whose IQ is no less than Sheldon's, perhaps even higher, yet she still admires Chuck's intellect."
She hadn't even mentioned Dr. Reid, whose IQ was exactly the same as Sheldon's, also 187, and a huge admirer of Chuck.
"..."
Linda was speechless, looking at Jane with disbelief.
"You don't believe me?"
Jane laughed.
"It's not that I don't believe it…"
Linda, needing a favor, phrased it tactfully: "It's just strange that we haven't had such prodigies before. If we had, the Soviets wouldn't have consistently dominated the top rankings in chess."
These geniuses, with IQs easily exceeding 180 and as young as 12, if producing super geniuses were so easy, why hadn't they appeared before?
The Cold War had only ended less than a year ago. Before that, to ensure their respective sides won, everything was a competition, often escalating to the level of national pride.
Last year, these super geniuses were only 11 years old, and the year before, they were 10. If they were truly that good, they could have easily competed and won a world championship, defeating the Soviets in a fair and square fashion.
"…"
Jane paused.
Yes, why was this?
She couldn't help but look at Chuck.
This was indeed strange.
"To the victor go the spoils,"
Chuck said bluntly.
"?"
Jane looked puzzled.
What did this have to do with victors and spoils?
Chuck didn't explain that this was a composite world of American TV shows, where destiny favors the US, naturally leading to a proliferation of super geniuses like Sheldon. There were as many as one could imagine, and anyone with an IQ below 180 wouldn't even be considered a super genius.
In the near future, even the university janitor in this TV show world might be a down-on-his-luck former Soviet scientist who could easily rival Sheldon, and the cleaning lady working for the mob might be an elite female doctor from another country.
All of this was because America had emerged victorious from the Cold War.
Otherwise, the competitive atmosphere in this world would definitely be much more intense.
"Leonard!"
someone called out Leonard's name. A group of somewhat nerdy high school students walked by, one of them waving at Leonard.
"I'm coming right now!"
Leonard shouted, then looked at Chuck and the others: "Chuck, it's about to start. Shall we go to the science lab? The match is being held there."
"Lead the way,"
Chuck nodded.
"Yes!"
Leonard readily agreed, jogging ahead to lead the way.
"I didn't see Patrick's car."
Linda, the heavyset woman, had looked around the parking lot while Chuck and Jane were talking, but hadn't seen her husband's car. "But maybe the school sent a car to pick him up."
"Yeah, don't worry."
Jane reassured her, "He'll show up when it's his turn. He's the one who should be anxious now."
The science lab at Bergen County High School.
Calling it a science lab was generous; it was really just a classroom with a science lab sign, which Leonard and his chess club had taken over as their after-school activity room.
Leonard jogged ahead, leading the way, catching up with a group of high school students. Besides the 11 contestants, there were also a few spectators.
As they filed in, a blonde girl with bangs stood in the middle of the classroom, watching them enter. Behind her, long tables were set up along all four walls, with chessboards already arranged on them.
On the blackboard at the very back, someone had written in large chalk letters: "Welcome Beth Harmon!"
Young Leonard smiled at Chuck and the others, then quickly went to the front, mimicking tough guys by crossing his arms and leaning back slightly to look at today's 'opponent'—the nine-year-old chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who had emerged victorious from her matches against the old janitor in the basement of the Methuen Home orphanage!
It was fortunate he wasn't standing on tiptoe and bouncing, otherwise it would have immediately turned into a comedy sketch.
"What an interesting little girl!"
Jane watched Beth Harmon, surrounded and confronting a group of boys, and a strange feeling rose within her.
Hmm.
How to put it... there was a sense of kinship. If it were her, relying on her own strength, challenging the world alone, and winning... just thinking about it felt pretty exhilarating.
"Huh!"
Just as Jane was admiring this, she suddenly noticed a change in the blonde girl Beth Harmon's eyes and expression, and immediately exclaimed in surprise.
Beth Harmon, who had initially kept her eyes slightly lowered, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under everyone's gaze, quickly returned their stares with indifference, but when her gaze swept over Chuck, it suddenly stopped, and she stared intently at Chuck, her eyes fixed on him, seeing no one else.
"Does she know you?"
Jane was very sensitive to this kind of look.
"Hey!"
Leonard was genuinely annoyed. He walked up to Beth Harmon, first stopping his posturing and leaning back to try and block her gaze from Chuck. When that failed, he could only wave his hands in front of her face to block her staring eyes. "What are you looking at! Let's play chess!"
"Everyone, take your seats and be quiet! Leonard Hofstadter, you'll use board number 1 because you're our best player. Everyone else, feel free to sit anywhere."
The instructor, who was sitting at the desk, stood up and smiled. "Beth, shall we begin?"
(End of Chapter)
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