The world of film and television begins with Hikaru no Go

By the time the car left the competition venue, it was completely dark outside.

There was no other way; after all, the bigger picture had to be considered. No matter how much Zhang Rui wanted to refuse, he still had to deal with the reporters and media.

Xu Hou, as the recorder, also had some trivial matters to handle, and the two of them finished their tasks around the same time.

Not long after getting in the car, Zhang Rui regretted it. There was no other reason; it was just that Xu Hou was being a bit too talkative today.

From the moment he gripped the steering wheel, his mouth never stopped.

"Seriously, what were you thinking with that '33' thing you did today?"

Sitting in the passenger seat, Zhang Rui's face was turned towards the window, and he didn't want to say anything.

He couldn't explain it because the AI ​​wouldn't provide real-time explanations like Chu Ying did; it simply marked a blue, transparent piece on the board, and Zhang Rui didn't understand why it was placed there.

"The dragon on the left hasn't even come alive yet, and there's still a ko fight in the bottom right corner. You're going to play the 3-3 point... Aren't you just asking for trouble?" Xu Hou's eyes were fixed on the road ahead, and he didn't notice Zhang Rui's condition. He only shook his head slightly when he got excited. "I was sitting there writing down the score, and I almost thought I was seeing things."

"And those moves in the middle," Xu Hou said, getting more and more excited. "I saw you didn't even lift your eyelids when you placed your pieces. If you had calculated those moves, you would have thought about them for at least ten minutes, right? But you just slapped them down like they were free—"

"……Um."

"Hmm what? I'm asking you a question."

"I heard you."

"Then tell me."

Zhang Rui remained silent for a while, as the wind blew in through the window, making a whistling sound.

He rolled the car window up a little before speaking, "So, what do you think we should do?"

Xu Hou was stumped by the question. He opened his mouth as if to say, "Of course, it's to fill in the gaps," but then swallowed his words back.

If Black were to reinforce the center, it would solidify the center, and while White's large dragon on the left would live, the entire outer perimeter would be sealed off, and the stones in the center would be completely rendered useless.

He had calculated it in his mind many times, and it always seemed to be the black pieces' advantage.

"But we can't order 33..." Xu Hou muttered.

"Why not?"

"Because..." Xu Hou paused, "You helped them build up their external strength, and with those two walls standing there, how could they possibly attack the center? If you made a move at that point, wouldn't you be handing over the initiative?"

Zhang Rui didn't continue elaborating on that topic, but instead changed the subject: "In your last game of the Samsung Cup qualifiers against Fang Xu, you made a mistake in the middle game, didn't you?"

Xu Hou's expression changed instantly; he still felt indignant when he thought about that game of chess.

They were eliminated in the final round of the qualifiers by a mere half-point difference.

Back in his room, he spent the entire night reviewing the game. He finally realized that if he hadn't placed move 87 in the lower right corner, but instead had pushed the ball sharply upwards, the entire situation would have been completely different. But at that moment, he...

"How did you know? I don't remember you watching it, right? The qualifiers weren't broadcast live."

Zhang Rui didn't say anything.

Xu Hou was silent for a moment, then suddenly realized something: "You secretly looked at my chess records?"

Zhang Rui remained noncommittal. Actually, it wasn't him who wanted to watch it; it was Chu Ying who wanted to watch it. While watching, Chu Ying would also offer a few comments, which Zhang Rui remembered and was now using to deal with the situation.

"I never expected this, I never expected this. Zhang Rui, a 9-dan player, may not have said it, but he was actually quite wary of me and even secretly studied my game records..."

"Afraid of you?" Seeing Xu Hou getting smug, Zhang Rui retorted directly, "You can't bear to give up what you should give up, and you can't hold back when you should hold back. I've never seen such a terrible game of wrangling."

"..." Xu Hou's face flushed red, and after a long while he managed to stammer out, "I'll let you experience my power later."

"No way, I won't play chess with a terrible player."

"Who are you calling a terrible chess player!"

"arrive."

Xu Hou stopped talking, silently parked the car, and turned off the engine.

Zhang Rui opened the car door and looked up at the building in front of him.

The building wasn't new, but it was very clean.

The steps at the entrance were quite long; Zhang Rui counted them—forty-seven steps.

Climb up to the main gate, where a sign reads "Yi Jianghu Dojo".

"Master Da and the others are really lucky to have taken you as their disciple," Xu Hou sighed, catching his breath.

"You talk too much. You're out of breath after climbing just a few steps. You should lose weight."

"Hey, I'm just complimenting you."

"No need."

Zhang Rui waved his hand and strode into the dojo.

The training center wasn't here before. When Zhang Rui was learning Go, it happened to be the first time that Zhu Dayong and Ban Heng formally taught students.

Although both of them were professional Go players, their results weren't very good, so neither of them had much savings.

At that time, we rented a small courtyard with only two single-story houses, where teachers and students slept together on a large communal bed.

Fortunately, no female students were accepted at the time, but given their conditions, the parents were not comfortable sending them there.

Later, Zhang Rui won the Samsung Cup and received the prize money. He discussed it with his aunt and said that he wanted to thank the two teachers. It was also a way of investing in real estate, so he bought this piece of land.

Zhu Dayong and Ban Heng initially declined, saying they didn't want to take advantage of their apprentices. It was only after several rounds of communication that they finally agreed to the arrangement.

However, Zhang Rui should also be included in the dojo, but since he is still young, these matters are currently registered under his aunt's name and will be discussed when he comes of age.

Zhang Rui usually lives here. It has six floors in total. The first floor is where chess is taught and the canteen is also on this floor. The second floor is the faculty dormitory. Although it is called a dormitory, it is more like an apartment. The real dormitories are on the third floor and above. Four students share a room with bunk beds. The sixth floor is for female students, and the third, fourth and fifth floors are for male students.

Although it was dark outside, the lights on the first floor were still on. Students often stayed in the game room late, but there were only a few of them, since Zhu Dayong knew how to talk—

"You play chess so badly, and you're just wasting my electricity here!"

Of course, his intention wasn't to worry about the electricity bill; he just didn't recommend staying up late to practice chess. But if you're good at chess, that's a different story. At least Zhang Rui never got a hard time from Zhu Dayong...

"Why isn't he back yet? The food's getting cold!"

Before the two had taken more than a few steps, they heard a gruff voice coming from the direction of the cafeteria; it was Zhu Dayong.

Zhang Rui and Xu Hou paused subconsciously for a moment before continuing to walk in together.

Hearing the commotion at the door, Ban Heng came out to greet them.

He was wearing a thin gray sweater and glasses. When he saw Zhang Rui and the other person, he smiled and said, "You're back?"

Zhang Rui nodded, and Xu Hou greeted him, "Teacher Ban."

"Go inside, Old Zhu is waiting there."

The three of them walked into the cafeteria together, and the aroma of the food mixed with the steam immediately hit them.

Zhu Dayong was standing by the table setting out chopsticks when he heard the noise. He looked up, his square face and thick eyebrows giving him a somewhat fierce appearance, but the corners of his mouth were turned up high: "Why are you only coming back now? You're dawdling, the food's all cold."

"There's a traffic jam on the road."

"Why didn't you leave earlier if you were stuck in traffic?" Zhu Dayong said, but his hand had already started putting food into his bowl. "Wash your hands and eat."

Ban Heng laughed from behind: "I told you to do it later. There were interviews after the competition, and you wouldn't be back early. You didn't even say you'd eat first after you finished, insisting on waiting to come back together. Fine, I'll wait, but when you get back, you still won't let it go."

"Who's waiting for him?" Zhu Dayong glared at him. "I'm not hungry yet."

Xu Hou chuckled as he listened next to Zhang Rui, but dared not make a loud sound.

On the table were four dishes and a soup: stir-fried greens, shredded pork with green peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a bowl of braised pork, and a large bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup.

It's not particularly exquisite, but it's substantial.

Zhang Rui and Xu Hou washed their hands and came back, then sat down at the table.

Zhu Dayong poured himself a cup of wine and then poured Xu Hou a cup as well.

"I can't drink much," Xu Hou declined.

"You're so grown up now, have a drink with me."

After Zhu Dayong finished speaking, he started drinking first.

"If you can't drink, then don't drink." Ban Heng smiled and put a piece of braised pork on Zhang Rui's plate. "Eat your food first, don't mind him."

"Did I say something wrong?" Zhu Dayong put down his wine cup. "Four consecutive championships at Tianyuan, isn't that worth a drink?"

"It's not like I won four consecutive championships..."

"What?"

"It's nothing..." Xu Hou quickly stopped muttering, picked up his wine cup, "It's definitely worth celebrating."

Zhang Rui ate a couple of mouthfuls of rice with the braised pork before saying, "Tianyuan isn't very interesting?"

Zhu Dayong's wine cup froze in mid-air: "...What?"

"I wanted to become the Chess Saint, but unfortunately the Chess Saint Tournament was discontinued."

There was a moment of silence at the table. Xu Hou almost spat out his drink: "You're saying the Tianyuan tournament is boring? Do you know how many people go their whole lives without ever winning a title match?"