““ancient and she’d never played on an antique one before. She looked up at the old man and realized he was lonely. Maybe that was why he was so gloomy. Did Sky spend any time with him at all? Her Ye Ye was lucky; he was always surrounded with girls wanting his attention. Who did the old man have? “Just wait? We can do more than that. Why don’t you let me beat you in xiangqi?” The old man looked taken aback for a moment. Even speechless. Then he looked down at the board and to the watch on his wrist. “Why not? I’ve got another eight hours of nothing to do before I can go to bed. Set it up, girl.” Linnea smiled to herself. She’d have Sky’s grandfather eating out of her hand in no time. After all, it was obvious the man was starving for companionship and interesting conversation. Linnea would give him both. Half an hour later Sky had still not appeared, but Linnea was becoming intrigued with his grandfather as he worked carefully to set up the xiangqi board. She could’ve had it ready in minutes, but she sat patiently and watched as the old man examined every piece before placing it in the correct spot. She felt sure he was grateful for the attention and wanted to stretch it as far as possible. “So, what would you like me to call you, Laoren?” she asked, realizing she’d never been formally introduced. Though she was using the universal Chinese title for an old person, she’d like to have something other than old person to know him by. “Mr. Lau will be fine. Linnea,” he answered gruffly,””
