CSGM - Chapter 145

Chapter 145: National Champion

Chu Xi always spoke with an air of authority that left no room for argument. Although Fan Yuzhe was stunned for a second, he hurried off to do as she said.

The other members came to their senses and began a heated discussion, asking Chu Xi if it was really necessary to play this street-side Go match.

"Chu Xi, isn't this a bit too risky?"

"Is this the money-making method you found for us?"

"But I don't know how to play Go…"

"I don't know much about it either…"

Chu Xi cut off their endless questions and said simply, "I know how. I'll play."

Among the regular cast members, there was a male actor who knew a little about Go. He was still concerned about their respective skill levels and pressed Chu Xi for more details.

"Sister Xi, are you an amateur or a professional?"

Chu Xi thought for a moment. She had never had her skills officially certified.

"Amateur."

The male actor continued to ask.

"Then what's your rank?"

Oh, Chu Xi knew the game had ranks and levels, but they all required going through certain procedures to be recognized.

She had never done that.

So she answered frankly, "I don't have a rank. It's just a hobby."

The male actor froze for a moment, a worried expression soon appearing on his face.

Go was a highly professional board game. Compared to other board games, its barrier to entry was slightly higher, and it was more difficult.

Moreover, playing Go required studying game records and strategies, so an amateur player could never compare to a professional.

Little did he know, the game records he was thinking about were things Chu Xi had already studied when she taught herself Go.

She had memorized them so well that they were ingrained in her mind, giving her a solid foundation for countering various moves.

Coupled with her formidable calculation and reasoning abilities, the "look ten steps ahead for every one move" slaughter on the Go board didn't feel mentally taxing to her at all.

This was also why she felt there was no need to redeem the "Mastery of Board Games" talent from the System Mall.

After telling the onlookers in front that he was getting in line, Fan Yuzhe squeezed out of the crowd and reported back to Chu Xi.

"That player seems to be a professional! He's won over three thousand yuan this morning!"

The male actor said worriedly, "Sister Xi, what's your plan?"

Chu Xi replied, "Just winning all his money should be enough."

If they were frugal, three thousand yuan would be enough to buy ingredients for the restaurant to operate for another two days.

It's just…

The male actor dampened the mood by asking, "But what if you lose?"

Chu Xi turned her head to glance at him and smiled.

"You're overthinking it."

The male actor complained silently. He wasn't overthinking it at all…

He hoped that if Chu Xi lost the first game, she wouldn't stubbornly keep at it.

Otherwise, they would lose money and waste time, making it even harder for the restaurant to recover.

But-

The most important problem facing them now was-

The restaurant manager asked, "But we don't have any money right now. The entry fee is fifty yuan. What do we do?"

Chu Xi was speechless.

She was rendered speechless by their poverty.

Even at its most difficult moments, last season's restaurant had never sunk to this level, right? They couldn't even come up with fifty yuan.

She stood on the pavement of the square and glanced around.

The area was filled with mobile vendors and pedestrians.

So Chu Xi said to the five of them, "Go borrow it."

The five members: "…Huh?"

Borrow money from strangers on the street?

Chu Xi showed a slight hint of disdain.

"Did you think you could get something for nothing?"

The path to riches was laid out right there. If these five couldn't even scrape together the initial capital, she figured there was no need for her to help them through this crisis. They might as well just disband on the spot.

Chu Xi's scorn made the five of them feel ashamed. At a time like this, who cared about face? Even the viewers of the live stream couldn't stand it anymore.

【Don't be so proud, guys and gals. Chu Xi is willing to help you, so can't you at least try to pull your own weight!】

【Uhhhh, although asking strangers for money on the street is embarrassing, hahahahahaha… I can tell you're all introverts!】

【Just go borrow it. You have no other choice. It's your own fault for losing all the money and even owing the production team three hundred yuan.】

【Actually, I'm a little worried QAQ. Can Xixi really win money from that stall guy later? What if he's a scammer?】

【Well, speaking of which, a lot of those endgame puzzles on the street are just an IQ tax. Some are set up to be guaranteed wins for the owner to trick people into giving away their money.】

Amidst the audience's anticipation and worry, a calm Chu Xi was strolling around near the Go stall.

The other five members looked around sheepishly, searching for a good place to borrow fifty yuan.

In the end, thanks to their famous faces, borrowing money didn't turn out to be much of a challenge.

The pretty actress ran into a convenience store manager who recognized her. When she said she needed to borrow fifty yuan, the manager smiled, waved his hand grandly, and directly handed her a crisp, red bill.

So, sometimes celebrities really could get special treatment just by using their fame.

It just didn't quite work out for Chu Xi-

She was standing in front of a blind vendor, trying to buy a pair of blind person's glasses on credit to play with, but the blind man was guarding against her as if she were a scammer.

Chu Xi rubbed her nose, feeling the helplessness of being rebuffed.

Fortunately, a member of the Our Restaurant cast soon brought her the one hundred yuan they had borrowed.

The pretty actress said happily, "We can play two games now!"

She thought to herself that this increased their margin for error. Even if Chu Xi lost the first game, she would still have another chance.

Who would have thought that as soon as Chu Xi got the money, she spent fifty yuan on a pair of pitch-black glasses.

The pretty actress paused, her expression a little hard to control.

"Sis… Sister Xi…"

"Hm?" Chu Xi put on the glasses and looked up.

The light-blocking effect of these glasses was top-notch. Once they were on her nose, her vision went completely dark.

"What did you buy these for?"

"Just for fun. I'll pay you back later."

The actress's mouth fell slightly open. It was hard to comment. She was just too unconventional.

"Weren't we going to use this money to enter the Go competition…?"

"Isn't there still fifty left?" Chu Xi retorted. "That's enough."

Seeing that there was still some time before her turn, Chu Xi took the glasses and walked over to some round bollards by the roadside, observing their layout.

Then she put on the literally pitch-black blind person's glasses and, in visual darkness, walked around the bollards at her feet.

She just wanted to test if her proprioception was that good.

As expected, she had a very magical experience—no matter how she weaved between the round bollards, her legs never hit them or tripped her up.

Her brain's strong intuitive commands allowed her to avoid the obstacles she had already seen.

Once she had her fun, she heard Fan Yuzhe shouting that it was her turn. "Teacher Chu, hurry up!"

Chu Xi took off the glasses, walked over to the Go stall, and sat down on the small stool on the black stones' side.

The onlookers looked at the cameraman following her, then at Chu Xi. Someone who recognized her let out a sharp, excited cry.

"Whoa! It's a celebrity!"

"I've seen her… I know, I know…"

"Chu Xi, it's Chu Xi!"

The stall owner on the white stones' side was a slightly overweight, square-faced middle-aged man. He glanced at Chu Xi, and though he showed surprise, his gaze quickly became steady again.

"Fifty," he said, holding up five fingers.

Chu Xi handed him the money and glanced at her own bowl of stones.

"I'm playing black?"

The stall owner: "Yes."

Chu Xi: "I'll take white. You can go first."

In Go, the player with the black stones always goes first. Since the man's payout odds were already 10-to-1, Chu Xi didn't want to take that advantage.

But to her surprise, the stall owner said, "Challengers always take black."

After speaking, he looked at Chu Xi and offered a small reminder in response to her earlier courtesy, "Playing first doesn't guarantee a win. I don't mind either way."

His words revealed his confidence in a sure victory.

Since setting up his stall to challenge passersby, the owner hadn't lost a single game. In fact, he had earned over three thousand yuan in one morning.

After all, he was hiding his identity. If any random person on the street could beat him, wouldn't his title as the national Go champion be an undeserved reputation?

The fact that Chu Xi was even thinking of letting him go first was simply laughable.

Chu Xi nodded. "Alright."

Her peripheral vision caught the blind person's glasses clipped to the collar of her T-shirt, and she was suddenly struck by an idea.

She beckoned to Fan Yuzhe with her finger. Fan Yuzhe immediately came over and bent down.

Chu Xi said, "In a moment, you'll be responsible for placing my stones. I'll say where, you place it there. Then, also read out the coordinates of his moves."

Fan Yuzhe didn't understand why, but he reflexively agreed. "You got it!"

Chu Xi unclipped the glasses from her collar, slowly put them on, and sat up straight on the small stool, her arms crossed over her chest.

Anyone who didn't know better, just looking at her relaxed and content posture, would think she was sunbathing on a beach in Hawaii.

This didn't look like someone playing Go at all. And wearing sunglasses? The spectators nearby started to laugh.

"Pfft, celebrities are so stylish even when they play Go."

"Hahahaha, didn't you see the camera behind her? Of course she has to maintain her image."

"Wearing sunglasses, she looks more like she's sunbathing than playing Go. So classy. I'm afraid her vision will be too dark to see the board clearly."

"She can definitely still see the stones. You don't have to worry about that. How could she play if she couldn't see the board?"

Amidst the rising and falling discussions around her, Chu Xi blocked out all the external noise, and a Go board appeared in her mind.

She instructed Fan Yuzhe, "16, 4."

Go strategy emphasizes golden corners, silver sides, and a grass belly. Her first move was no different from conventional openings.

Everyone played like this.

Her opponent did as well.

Fan Yuzhe announced, "4, 16."

Her opponent played a diagonal corner, just as Chu Xi had expected.

Chu Xi: "6, 17."

Fan Yuzhe placed the stone and then reported the stall owner's coordinates, "3, 14."

The crowd of spectators discussed cheerfully, "Why does calling out the coordinates make this game seem so much more high-class?"

"As expected of a celebrity. Playing like this feels like an international competition."

"Right? It instantly became so much more sophisticated. No wonder she specifically asked someone to call out the coordinates!"

"She's better at this than we are, hahaha…"

The laughing and chatting of the surrounding crowd became background noise, automatically filtered out by her ears. Chu Xi focused only on the sound of Fan Yuzhe's voice.

A dozen stones had already been placed on the board constructed in her mind, and she was constantly deducing and rehearsing the subsequent moves.

It was just one game, so it was easy to remember in her head. It hardly added any difficulty to her memory. In fact, Chu Xi found deducing the game in her mental space to be even more stimulating.

"2, 17."

Fan Yuzhe: "8, 17."

"9, 17."

Fan Yuzhe: "9, 18."

Her opponent's skill was also impressive, which made the match all the more captivating.

And so, as she played, the corners of her lips gradually curved into a smile.

Only the other four members of Our Restaurant had expressions that were less than optimistic.

It was because they heard someone in the crowd let out a cry of shock.

"Isn't that Yuan Ke? Are you Teacher Yuan Ke?!"

Then, amidst the confused and surprised murmurs, everyone realized that this stall owner challenging passersby was actually the champion of the national Go tournament!

The crowd: "?!!"

A master was hiding his identity to crush them on the street?!!

No wonder his skill seemed so profound when they were watching earlier. It was almost unfathomable. They had never seen him lose!

A quick Baidu search of the name solved the mystery. The man was a big shot in the world of Go!

Because Yuan Ke's identity was exposed, a commotion quickly erupted around the Go stall.

Even the previous challengers felt flattered—although they had lost, they had actually played a game against the national Go champion. What a surprise! What an honor!

When Fan Yuzhe heard the title "national champion Yuan Ke," he couldn't help but swallow hard and look at Chu Xi.

His eyes seemed to say: Should… should we keep playing?

The man was a six-time national champion.

But Chu Xi remained motionless, her expression unchanged. She didn't even acknowledge him, as if she were completely oblivious to his gaze.

Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds. Chu Xi noticed Fan Yuzhe's slow reaction, realizing his silence had gone on for too long. Only then did she ask curiously:

"Fan Yuzhe, what are you spacing out for? Keep playing."

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