The Way of the Blind Girl Chess Saint

That's right... they were made to stand as punishment!

The four people led by Ji Yingting... Hua Shenxi, Luo Qiu'er, and Shang Gongying were punished by the chess academy by being made to stand.

Although this incident did not have a negative impact on professional chess academies, the fact that it helped the elderly men at the chess halls became a source of pride and a laughing stock.

However... violating the rules still requires punishment. Although they weren't banned from the chess academy, they were punished by having to stand for two hours!

Ji Yingting gently pulled her long, light green hair with both hands and rolled it up to cover her face so that others couldn't see her. It was so embarrassing... It was the first time they had ever encountered such a punishment.

However… a few pretty girls being forced to stand in a row at the entrance of the chess academy? It's quite a sight to behold…

Perhaps professional Go academies will use this method to increase media attention in the future? Just like the female Go players being punished by being made to stand, it is indeed a way to attract attention.

"Hmm?" A little girl with long light green hair walked over curiously a short while later, her light green eyes widening in shock.

"Sakuraba-nee! Why are you guys being punished by standing?! It looks so funny!" Luo Zhuyu laughed and tugged at Hana Shenxi's long pink hair.

"Ugh, go play somewhere else!"

Hua Shenxi said unhappily, shaking her long pink hair slightly and slapping her fair face a few times... Being mocked by Xiaoyu is truly a sad thing.

"yawn……"

A woman with light green hair followed Luo Zhuyu toward the crowd, looking somewhat dazed.

"Xiaoyu, what are you doing? Don't run around like that, okay?"

"Ah! Auntie, come quick! My friends are playing with puppets here! They're not moving at all!"

Luo Zhuyu said, pulling on Luo Jiangxing's arm.

"Oh...this looks interesting."

Who's playing with puppets?!

Ji Yingting's lips twitched slightly in anger. Although she was blind, she could understand how humiliating they had been this time. It was extremely fortunate that they hadn't been banned by the chess academy.

After Luo Zhuyu left, many more curious chess players came to watch the four girls standing at the entrance of the chess academy. It was unimaginable how they had endured those two nightmarish hours. Ji Yingting felt her legs were about to ache from standing!

.........................................

Standing on the top floor of the chess academy, two figures were talking in hushed tones.

"Really... They'll be here tomorrow? Those examinees from Full Moon Province..."

"What was the result?"

"We haven't received any news yet. Tomorrow is the last competition of the Full Moon Province professional examination, which is about five days earlier than the New Moon Province... Are you here to participate in the Tiger Breeding Competition?"

"Dean, the Tiger Chess Tournament is to determine the players for the StarCraft Tournament a month later, right? ...Who do you think has the best chance of being selected from our professional chess academy...Shang Gongying or Ji Yingting?"

"That depends on how the match goes tomorrow..."

However, I have a better opinion of Ji Yingting. I've met her twice... I've met that girl named Ji Yingting.

A hoarse female voice spoke in a deep voice.

"Dean, you said you've seen her twice? What does that mean...?"

“That’s right, I met her once when she was little... when I visited the Ji family.” The woman, who had long, dark blue hair and was known as the dean, gradually recalled the events of ten years ago, when she was not yet the dean of the Yongyue City Chess Academy.

.....................

Hmm? A young girl with long, dark blue hair paused slightly. As expected of the Ji family, the pressure this place exerted on the chess players was so great that it even slowed their breathing. Was Xuehuang studying here?

Upon entering the Ji family mansion, the presence of the girl with long, dark blue hair intensified the sense of oppression!

Not only her, but even the little girls who lived in the Ji family had stayed away from the vicinity of the Ji family's chess academy. They usually stayed in the amateur chess academy in the outer courtyard to study. That chess academy was a place specifically for training children who had not yet become professional chess players, while the inner courtyard of the Ji family was a place for professional chess players to study.

"Wait a minute!! What's that little kid over there?! She can't be the Ji family's professional Go player... right?"

I'm overthinking it... How could a child who looks only a few years old be a professional chess player?

The girl with long, dark blue hair was suddenly startled. She saw a cute little girl with long, light green hair squatting on the ground playing with a white kitten. She was wearing a snow-white cotton coat.

With a wary mind, the girl with long, dark blue hair walked slightly to the front of the girl with long, light green hair, her eyes narrowed as if they were not open.

Then, the little green-haired girl with squinty eyes clearly didn't notice that she had stood up and held her breath next to her...

"Little sister?"

Huh? The little girl with long, light green hair suddenly stopped playing with the cat, stood up, and looked around curiously.

What are you doing here? Don't you feel uncomfortable?

The girl with long, dark blue hair asked in confusion, "The intense pressure from the Ji family isn't just directed at people who have studied Go. It's like the children who live far from this area; they feel uncomfortable even just standing at the door."

"Oh? Feeling unwell? Are you feeling unwell, big sister?"

"I'm asking you, little sister, what's your name?"

Young Ji Yingting tilted her little green head slightly, looking a bit puzzled, and said calmly.

“Ji Yingting…I really like this place…it has a familiar feel to it…”

"Uh, is it?"

She tossed her long, light green hair and continued, "Hmm, I like the smell of the chess players at home. They... they have a gentle feeling, like the little animals I usually play with, and some are like little insects. If I grow up a little more, will I be able to hold them in my hands and play with them?"

"What!!!!!!"

Instantly, cold sweat covered the face of the girl with long, dark blue hair. She was absolutely certain then… this little girl named Ji Yingting!!! She was a living monster!!!

Chapter 252: Childhood Season of Sakuraba

"Hmm, I like the smell of the chess players at home. They... have a gentle feeling, like the little animals I usually play with, and some are like little insects. If I grow up a little more, will I be able to hold them in my hands and play with them?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the beautiful little girl with long, light green hair squatted down again, gently stroking the kitten's soft fur. She didn't notice... the woman with long blue hair standing behind her was already covered in sweat, her hands trembling slightly.

"What's wrong with this girl named Ji Yingting?!" Her long, dark blue hair was soaked with sweat, and the girl named Chu Kuangxi completely lost her composure, quietly taking a few steps back.

I'm a Go player who just got promoted to professional 5-dan!

How could she possibly sense fear from this little girl with green hair? Besides, she wasn't even a chess player; a child that age probably hadn't even touched a chess piece before.

Through the purple gap, Chu Kuangxi saw a pair of curious eyes, the kind of eyes that look down on tiny reptiles from the top of the food chain, the kind of eyes that look like a child seeing ants, flying insects, and other creatures...

A curious gaze that wanted to peel them skin and tendons, break their wings, and pluck their limbs bit by bit.

Playing with crawlers isn't a child's malicious act... it's just a casual way of greeting from a creature at the top of the food chain.

That kind of look... is most likely to instill fear in people.

How could one not feel pressure at the Ji Family Chess Academy, a place occupied by twenty professional chess players from the Ji family, a place teeming with monsters?

But this little girl, the same age as my daughter… she treated me, and the other chess players from the Ji family, like insects.

"Ah, Kuangxi, you're here?" Just then, a stunningly beautiful girl with long, ice-blue hair walked out from the back door of the chess academy. She immediately spotted the blue-haired girl standing behind Ji Yingting.

"Um... I accidentally arrived a little early." Chu Kuangxi wiped the cold sweat from her face and chuckled softly. Seeing her friend, the tension in her heart gradually dissipated.

The beautiful woman with long, icy blue hair glanced at Ji Yingting, who was playing with a cat. She gently squatted down and stroked Ji Yingting's green hair. Her gentle touch made Ji Yingting squint her eyes.

"Sakuraba, did you accidentally wander here again? Take your cat and go play with Hongying, it's easy for pets to get lost here."

"Okay, alright... Aunt Xuehuang"

The cute girl with long, light green hair stopped what she was doing, grabbed the white kitten, and ran out of the chess academy.

"Who is this little girl?" Chu Kuangxi couldn't help but ask as he watched Ji Yingting's green-clad figure walk further and further away.

Watching Ji Yingting walk away, the stunningly beautiful girl with long, ice-blue hair gently twirled a strand of her hair, calmly blinked, and said, "Ah? You mean Yingting? She's the daughter of Hongyun and Qinghe... Isn't she adorable? It's a pity she's blind, otherwise, she'd be old enough to start learning Go."

Blind person!!! In the next instant, Chu Kuangxi's deep blue eyes widened suddenly. Blind person... How could that be? That little girl with long green hair, those pale purple eyes, how could it be simply explained that she was blind?

What was contained in that gaze...? Didn't even the Ji family members themselves understand?

"Kuangxi, come with me to pay your respects to the head of the family first... As for Sakuraba, I suggest you don't think too much about it."

With his icy blue eyes, he glanced at the girl with long, dark blue hair and said in a low voice.

"However, that was more than a decade ago... Thinking about it now, those memories seem quite distant, but I still haven't forgotten that child, haven't forgotten that child named Ji Yingting... haven't forgotten the look in her eyes back then."

Chu Kuangxi, the dean of the Yongyue City Professional Chess Academy and a professional ninth-dan Go player, spoke calmly, his snow-white Taoist robe fluttering like endless snowflakes as he faced the night view dozens of floors below.

"Dean..." Standing behind the girl with long, dark blue hair, a girl with black hair murmured in shock.

The fact that it could instill fear in Dean Chu Kuangxi... She couldn't imagine what Ji Yingting was like as a child, what kind of look was that fearful gaze that the Dean described?

Of course... the dean would never lie. She has a deep connection with the Ji family, so it's normal for her to know members of the Ji family.

Although... given her status, she's not really suited to marry into the Ji family... but all the professional chess players on the Moon know one thing, a piece of solid evidence that could be considered gossip and rumors.

Chess master Ji Xuehuang has a fifteen-year-old daughter named Ji Xuehu...

However, Ji Xuehuang, who gave birth to a daughter at the young age of sixteen, never married; her intended father was...

Chu Kuangxi, the director of the Professional Go Academy in Yongyue City, Xinyue Province, is a professional Go player with a 9-dan ranking.

Although neither of them has ever admitted to it, they have never denied it either...

"Regarding Ji Yingting... all I know is that the previous head of the Ji family didn't like her... As for the reason, I don't want to speculate. At the time, Xuehuang told me not to pay attention to her... but I can roughly guess the reason."

Chu Kuangxi's deep blue hair floated in the air like an endless deep sea, and her deep blue eyes were slightly profound.

She was kicked out of the Ji family... and not just because she was blind!

No, to be precise, being expelled from a Go family simply because someone is blind is inhumane, even for the Ji family with its strict rules, and many people cannot understand it.

"Ji Yingting... the previous head of the family didn't like her very much." The girl with long black hair secretly remembered what Chu Kuangxi said.

That's right... Ji Yingting, the former head of the Ji family and the former chess master, had seen Ji Yingting's eyes with her own eyes.

She had seen Ji Yingting's pale purple starry eyes before, so... she was afraid, she was terrified, she feared that her meaning and value as a chess player would be erased, like pencil marks being easily wiped away by an eraser.

She was terrified... that one day this little girl with long, bluish-green hair would look down on her with those pale purple starry eyes, looking down on her as if she were an ant.

Therefore, she made a decision... she couldn't let Ji Yingting live in the Ji family, even if she was a blind person who couldn't see the chessboard.

Her long, bluish-green hair resembled a withered lotus. Ji Yingting left the Ji family not long after Chu Kuangxi visited them.

Only her snow-white kitten remained, standing blankly at the door, waiting... waiting for its beautiful little owner to come home.

Perhaps... it is still waiting for Ji Yingting to return, or perhaps... the little cat has died of old age and transformed into another kind of being, into a spiritual entity to protect her, for example, into... her chess moves.