Chapter 82: You Are So Arrogant, Young Girl!

Xu Nuo took a deep breath, walked to the Go table, and sat squarely opposite Natsu Yasuda.

Natsu Yasuda was somewhat surprised and pushed his glasses:

"Oh? Nuo-chan, want to play a game with me? But when I play Go, it's always with a little prize money oh."

His tone was gentle, but the meaning in his words was very clear.

Xu Nuo didn't speak. She just silently took out a small cloth bag from her pocket and pressed all the paper money inside—a crumpled thirty thousand Yen—flatly onto a corner of the Go board.

This was her entire current net worth.

Natsu Yasuda was stunned for a moment, hesitating:

"We... play an even game?"

(TL: "Even game" means playing without handicap stones.)

He came here often and knew Xu Nuo's approximate level. If it was an even game, it was basically impossible for him to lose.

Xu Nuo just nodded firmly, her eyes like an ancient well without ripples.

This time, even the old men replaying games in the corner looked over, speaking up one after another to dissuade her:

"Nuo-chan! Don't be impulsive! Yasuda-san is very strong!"

"Yeah, little girl, it wasn't easy for you to earn this money, don't just give it away for nothing!"

"Yasuda, really now, you have the nerve to play wager Go with a little girl? And an even game at that?"

Yui Fujisawa also hurried over upon hearing the sound, calling softly with worry:

"Nuo-chan..."

Natsu Yasuda felt he couldn't quite maintain his face after being spoken to like this, but seeing the thirty thousand Yen under the Go board, he really couldn't bear to let it go.

He bit the bullet and said:

"Alright! Since Nuo-chan is in the mood, then I'll accompany you for a game. Please instruct me!"

The Go game officially began. Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure sat directly by the Go board, using his finger to point at the intersection to guide Xu Nuo where to place her stone.

After merely a few moves, the spectating crowd let out sighs of incomprehension.

"Opening at the 3-3 point? Why would Nuo-chan play this kind of move?"

"This... isn't this a vulgar move only beginners use? Is she too nervous?"

"It's over, it's over, this thirty thousand Yen is probably going to be thrown into the water."

Even Xu Nuo was stamping her feet anxiously in her sea of consciousness:

"Old geez... Teacher! What the hell are you doing? This opening at 3-3, I'm going to be looked at like a baka! If I lose this, I really will have to drink the northwest wind this month!"

Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure crossed his legs, leisurely drinking an energy-replenishing beverage, while looking at Fine Art on his phone showing that Xu Nuo's black stones' win rate was already 98%:

"What are you panicking for? Let you experience what is called a dimensional strike."

Xu Nuo could only bite the bullet and, following where Xu Yunzhou's finger pointed, place down moves step by step that seemed bizarre to onlookers.

At first, Yasuda still had a relaxed smile, feeling that the little girl had indeed lost her composure.

But as the game progressed, his smile gradually froze, the speed of waving his fan slowed down, and fine sweat began to seep from his forehead.

He found that his familiar routines and anticipated attacks were always easily neutralized by the opponent's seemingly unreasonable, even slightly "wretched" moves.

After only a little over a hundred moves, his group of nearly thirty stones actually had no way to live!

"This... how is this possible..."

He touched his smooth, sweaty head in disbelief,

"I actually didn't calculate my moves deeply here... Nuo-chan, let's play another game!"

Xu Nuo raised her clear eyes to look at him. Her voice was calm yet carried unquestionable power:

"Okay. This game, the wager is sixty thousand Yen."

"Nani?"

(TL: "Nani" is Japanese for "what.")

Natsu Yasuda's breathing stalled.

Looking at this thin and weak young girl before his eyes, then looking at the disastrous situation on the Go board, an evil fire mixed with an unyielding drive surged up,

"Alright! Sixty thousand it is!"

The second game started faster, and ended even faster.

Natsu Yasuda tried to change his strategy, but the opponent was simply calculating without omission, always easily controlling the situation.

In less than seventy moves...

"I... lost..."

Natsu Yasuda scratched his head dejectedly, still unable to figure out exactly where he lost.

Everyone was stunned by this bizarre scene.

"My god... Nuo-chan she... beat Yasuda? And two games?"

"Even... winning two consecutive games? This Go... I can't understand it, but Nuo-chan seems like a completely different person!"

"Sugoi! Hiding her strength deeply!"

(TL: "Sugoi" is Japanese for "amazing" or "awesome.")

Xu Nuo silently gathered the nine Fukuzawa Yukichi bills handed over by the other party neatly. Added to her principal, a full one hundred and twenty thousand Yen felt heavy in her hand.

"Thank you for the instruction."

She nodded slightly and carefully put the banknotes into her inner pocket.

That heavy touch against her chest made it seem as if even her heartbeat became exceptionally powerful.

When walking out of the Go salon, it was exactly dusk. The sky of Edo was dyed a warm orange color.

The afterglow of the setting sun passed through the eaves of the traditional Japanese wooden townhouse, exactly outlining a soft golden edge for her side profile.

She subconsciously narrowed her eyes.

How long had it been since she stopped her footsteps like this to feel the warmth of the sun, rather than calculating when it would set so she could rush to her next part-time job.

Xu Yunzhou coughed, his tone carrying a trace of undetectable concern:

"Now that you have money, don't just stand there dazed. Hurry up and go buy some decent food. Looking at this little bean sprout body of yours that would fall over if the wind blew, it's really an eyesore."

"Mhm..."

Xu Nuo responded gently, her voice a tiny bit softer than usual,

"Thank you, Teacher..."

She walked into that familiar Lawson convenience store on the street corner.

Through the bright glass window, she took down a thick-cut pork cutlet bento priced at 980 Yen from the bento section.

The golden and crispy pork cutlet was so thick it almost burst the packaging box, the sauce was rich, and the side dishes were abundant.

This was the first time in three months she was willing to buy a bento exceeding five hundred Yen for herself.

Holding the warm bento, she suddenly remembered something and asked seriously:

"Teacher, do you want me to buy a portion for you too? I can find a quiet park, carefully carve a spirit tablet for you, and offer it punctually every day."

(TL: "Spirit tablet" is a memorial tablet used in East Asian ancestor worship.)

Xu Yunzhou:

"..."

Ultimately, Xu Nuo sat down on a bench in a small park nearby and carefully opened the bento box. The alluring aroma immediately drifted out.

She ate the long-lost hot food in small bites, feeling the satisfaction of the crispy crust and tender, juicy pork melting in her mouth.

Hesitating for a moment, she spoke softly, asking that question that had hovered at the bottom of her heart for a long time:

"Teacher, why... did you come to my side? Is it like Sai choosing Hikaru Shindo, wanting to nurture me into a vessel carrying your Go will to climb to some peak?"

Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure sat down beside her, shook his head, his tone carrying a detached casualness:

"No. What you want to do is your own choice. Mhm... but regarding this path of Go,"

He paused,

"In another half a year, humans on the Go board will be thoroughly pressed to the ground and rubbed by computers. It'll be meaningless. You should just properly study your computer technology, that is the true future."

Xu Nuo nodded, swallowed the food in her mouth, fell silent for a moment, and her voice lowered:

"Teacher, do I really... not need to pay any price? It's been a long, long time since anyone was this... good to me for no reason. I'm a bit... scared."

Looking at her guarded side profile, Xu Yunzhou's heart stirred slightly. He thought for a moment and said:

"Actually, there's no harm in telling you. I am a person of cultivation, currently accumulating merit in the mortal world. When my merit is complete, I can naturally regain my physical body, but at that time I will become a true ordinary person, without half a bit of magical power anymore."

"When that time comes, if you see me, for the sake of our master-and-disciple relationship today, look out for that ordinary me a bit more, and that will be considered your repayment."

"Oh... understood..."

Xu Nuo was certain in her heart, as expected... he is that kind of ghost who needs to accumulate merit...

"Right, Teacher. Tomorrow, we go to another Go club and continue?"

"Correct."

Xu Yunzhou's voice carried a leisurely smile,

"This matter of wager Go, in Nihon at least carries a bit of the elegance of cultured people. Those who play Go are mostly company employees with respectable jobs or old men enjoying their twilight years."

"Losing tens of thousands of Yen to a foreign little girl is mostly just treated as giving some pocket money to a junior. They won't be like those gamblers in the casino who lose their minds, yelling yamete at the drop of a hat, or even finding people to retaliate."

(TL: "Yamete" is Japanese for "stop," but I bet you guys already knew that... winkwink)

Xu Nuo gave an "mhm," her tone flat:

"Then I'll bring 'Introduction to Algorithms' with me from now on. When they are in deep thought, it's just right for me to read, so as not to waste time."

Xu Yunzhou supported his forehead:

"You are so arrogant, young girl! Aren't you really afraid that those old men who lost their minds will have their blood pressure spike, chasing you yelling 'baka' all over the street?"

Translator's notes:

A lot of TL notes this chapter...

+1 with this xD