Chapter 8: 4.2

“It must be here.”

Xu Youyou walked up and knocked on the door. After a while with no reaction, she decided just to go in. Behind the door was an empty vast yard. It was incredibly quiet and all four sides had multiple rooms. From inside the rooms an occasional “Pada, pada” could be heard. Xu Youyou guessed that it was the sound of people playing Weiqi. The sound was often on the TV and it was rather familiar. 

Just as Xu Youyou was hesitating to go into a random room to ask someone, she saw a youth wearing a white shirt come out from one of the rooms. When he saw Xu Youyou, he walked over, “Who are you?”

“I have come to deliver something, I’m looking for Teacher Wang,” Xu Youyou hurriedly said. 

“Teacher Wang? What are you delivering to him?” The youth asked. 

“He ordered a tea set from our family shop, my mom asked me to deliver it,” Xu Youyou said and held up the gift box she was carrying. 

“Oh, from Teacher Li’s pottery studio?” The youth realized, “Teacher Wang is in the examination room. You can first wait in his office, I’ll go get him.”

Examination room?

Xu Youyou’s eyes lit up: “For Weiqi examinations?”

“Yes, do you play Weiqi?” 

“I don’t know how, I am curious about it. I’ve seen people play it often in TV shows, and I think it is awesome. And it seemed like only incredibly smart people would know how to play Weiqi.” Xu Youyou grew up abroad. She knew how to speak Chinese, but only conversational language. Her knowledge of adjectives were lacking and could only use “awesome” to describe Weiqi.

The youth heard what she said and laughed, “That is a bit exaggerated. There are a lot of people that play Weiqi. As long as they like it, anyone can learn. It is just that people who play well are often very smart.”

Only half understanding, Xu Youyou nodded her head. She followed the youth through the winding corridor towards the backyard. As she walked, she looked at the engraved signs on the rooms. 

“Youth class, potential class, Chongduan class……” As Xu Youyou passed, she curiously asked, “The first two I can generally guess what they mean, but the last one, ‘Chongduan’ what does that mean?”

“Do you know what a Chongduan youth is?”

Xu Youyou shook her head.

“Let me give you an analogy, Chongduan is actually like the Gaokao of the Weiqi world. After successfully completing Chongduan, you become a professional Weiqi player and can participate in competitions. You can even represent the country and attend competitions abroad,” The youth explained. 

“That sounds very awesome.” Xu Youyou said. 

After talking, the two arrived at the office doors. 

“We’re here. This is Teacher Wang’s office. You can wait here and I’ll go fetch him.” The youth left Xu Youyou and turned to get Teacher Wang. 

The office wasn’t big, around 10 square meters, with two desks. Xu Youyou didn’t no know which was Teacher Wang’s, so she held the gift box and sat on the couch. Just as she was about to pull out her phone to play, in the corner of her eye she spotted something very familiar. 

On the coffee table, there was an open book randomly left on the table. The book contained a lot of numbers and black dots, and it was like Qiao Mu’s practice book that she picked up at the end of class. The only difference was that the vertical and horizontal lines in Qiao Mu’s book were hand drawn in and the book on the table was printed. And the numbers at the end of the lines seemed to be more standard. 

“What is this?” Curious, Xu Youyou looked at the cover. The cover neatly printed three words in black ink. 

Weiqi Record Book.

Weiqi Record Book? Is it a Weiqi manual?

“You must be Yaoyao’s daughter.”

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Xu Youyou lifted her voice to the sound and saw that a man of around 50 years of age, wearing a long white magua* had come in. The uncle held a fan in one hand, had a big belly, and his mouth carried a smile. 

“You are Teacher Wang?” Xu Youyou rushed to stand up, “I’m so sorry, I saw that there was something on the table so I was curious and flipped through it. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, it is not some secret. It is just a Weiqi manual that students use to play sometimes.” Not minding, Teacher Wang waved his hand. “You probably can’t understand it too.” 

“This is a Weiqi manual?” Xu Youyou asked.

“Yes.”

“I had thought it was a numerical puzzle.”

Teacher Wang seemed to remember something, and laughingly said: “When your mom was younger she also though the manual was a numerical puzzle.”

“You knew my mom when you were young?” Xu Youyou asked surprised. 

“Before Hongluo Town wasn’t this big, everyone knew each other.” Teacher Wang said. 

“Oh, right. Your tea set. Have a look.” Xu Youyou remembered her official business, and hurriedly brought the tea set infront of Teacher Wang. 

Teacher Wang opened the box, the tea set with deep blue base and black and white embellishments appeared before their eyes. 

“Your mom has loved drawing since she was young, this set is beautiful,” Teacher Wang highly praised, and took out a tea cup. In his hands, he carefully examined it. 

“Is the drawing of Weiqi?” In the box, the entire set was like black and white stars dispersed amongst the starry sky, distant and mysterious. 

“Twenty years ago, this was a game my teacher and I played. Next month is my teacher’s 70th birthday and this is the gift I’ve prepared. Please thank your mom for me. This tea set has exceeded my expectations.” Teacher Wang carefully placed the tea cup back in the box and rearranged the image, setting each piece on the board in its correct place. 

“I will let her know. I’ll take my leave now.”

“If you are interested in Weiqi, feel free to come and play.” Teacher Wang said. 

“Thank you, I will.”

Xu Youyou turned towards the path she had come. Along the path, people began to continuously leave the rooms. 

“Was the examination over?”

Some were wearing uniforms that were a bit weird, like ancient Chinese garments. However, the exact dynasty which it was from, Xu Youyou could not place. And among the majority, were students similar to her age. 

Qiao Mu’s bag hid a Weiqi manual, was he a student here too?

Maybe he is in the potential class? She could not help but look towards the direction of the potential class. 

Xu Youyou did not pay attention to the Chongduan class, afterall people who attend Weiqi competitions would not have time to attend school. Besides, in the past life, Qiao Mu was not a professional player. She had not even heard Qiao Mu say he knew how to play.  

—————————Translator’s Note —————————

* A Chinese style garment

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