The Way of the Blind Girl Chess Saint

Ji Yingting nodded, her greenish-blue buns bobbing. "Yes, I'm going to Crescent City to participate in the provincial competition."

Because... tonight she will be traveling by night-shift spaceship with Xin Yufei and the other junior students in the Go club (excluding the junior high students) to Crescent City, the center of Crescent Province.

That was the meeting place for the provincial competition. Many amateur Go players under the age of eighteen in Crescent Province, except for those who were 5-dan, had to participate in the provincial competition, a large competition with more than a thousand people.

In fact, compared to the provincial promotion competitions which only take place twice a year, the city-level competitions are more frequent, but they come with many restrictions and inconveniences.

For example, in the city competition, you can skip grades, but you cannot skip tiers.

2. Players with an amateur rank of 3 or higher accumulate points by participating in city tournaments. Therefore, if someone becomes an amateur 4-dan and wins first place in the city tournament for the first time, they may not be able to advance to 5-dan in one go.

3. Provincial competitions allow people without a ranking to directly reach a certain rank in one go, or even become a high-ranking amateur player in one go.

Whoosh!!!

A violent storm arose, and blue lasers sparked from the bottom of the spaceship. A spaceship hundreds of meters long rose into the clouds and slowly came to a stop in the air.

Inside one of the cabins, Ji Yingting, Xin Yufei, and other members of the Go club sat nearby, waiting for the spaceship to begin its flight.

These spaceships are incredibly fast and are an important mode of transportation for intercity travel on the moon. It only takes ten minutes to get from here to Crescent City. Of course, the tickets were purchased in bulk by everyone in advance and were very cheap in this era.

"By the way, what are your goals for participating in this competition? Is Sakuraba-senpai aiming to get the fifth dan rank directly?" a girl asked.

"Yes, as long as we have eight wins and two losses, we can guarantee a fifth dan, right? We'll play ten games in total," Ji Yingting nodded.

"Huh? Didn't they say there are only ten spots for the fifth dan? How are people with the same win rate evaluated for promotion?" Xin Yufei asked curiously, having only participated in the city tournament before.

"A seven-win, three-loss record still gives you a chance to advance to the fifth dan, but it depends on the tiebreakers. Out of 1000 people, only one person can theoretically achieve a perfect record of ten wins out of ten. I assume none of you have participated in the provincial tournament before? Let me explain it to you in simple terms."

Zhao Xiao pushed up his glasses and began to explain the significance of points in Go matches.

Simply put, in this competition, everyone will play ten games, meaning each person will encounter ten different opponents. Each game earns 2 points, so winning 7 games would earn 14 points.

However... if all 6 people have 7 wins, then after excluding those with 10, 9, and 8 wins, the number of spots for reaching 5-dan is practically zero. Let's assume that in the end, only 3 out of the 6 people can reach 5-dan.

All six players have the same total score of 14 points. To decide who will join the final three spots, the six players will compete based on their individual scores.

For example, if a player wins all 10 games, they will accumulate 20 points. Then, the total points of all the opponents they have played against will be added together to form their total score. Therefore, the opponents' records are also very important.

Because in the first few rounds, each round of the competition among the thousand players is a match between the winners, the player with the most consecutive wins at the beginning will have a higher score in the end.

"Oh..." the crowd responded in unison. Although many were still confused, they nodded respectfully, pretending to understand.

The spaceship landed in Crescent City quickly, and the competition will officially begin the day after tomorrow.

After changing trains, Ji Yingting and the others successfully arrived at the Crescent Hotel, a grand hotel in Crescent City that hosts the provincial Go tournament.

"Let's go find our rooms first, Sakuraba-senpai. We should all be on the same floor. Girls, come and meet us together!" Xin Yufei shouted loudly, dragging her luggage.

After the retirement of her senior from the third year of junior high school, Xin Yufei, who had participated in the junior high school league with Wang Xi and others in the Go club of Minghaiji Middle School, obviously became a figure like "Big Head Sister".

"Hmm, I need to call Senior Sister Niu Xiaochai first. She said she'll be a referee at the provincial competition... She should be staying nearby." Ji Yingting rarely travels far, so she was in a pretty good mood.

After she finished speaking, she took out a brand new light green iPhone 100, which her father, Ji Hongyun, had given her as a birthday gift a few days ago.

Next, Ji Yingting used her smartphone to call Niu Xiaochai's number.

***********************

Ji Family, Jiyue City, Manyue Province.

With a thud, a beautiful young woman wearing a bright red cheongsam and with long, waist-length hair styled in two large red buns put on two small black cloth boots.

"Hongying, it's so late and you're going on a long trip. Be careful," a beautiful woman with long, light green hair said, holding her bag for her.

Ji Hongying gently tossed her long red hair a few times and said softly, "Who knows what Dad was thinking, insisting that I go to Crescent Province to be a referee..."

Her nasal tone was even higher than Ji Yingting's, and her slightly hoarse voice sounded quite adorable.

……

"So... it was Dad who sent you to Crescent Province to be a referee?"

The beautiful woman with long, bluish-green hair suddenly froze, a look of confusion and shock appearing in her light green pupils.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Ji Hongying casually took the bag the beautiful woman handed her.

"Red Tassel... Sakura, take this with you."

The beautiful woman with long, light green hair hesitated for a moment, then gently took out a small pendant that resembled a photograph from her breast pocket, placed it face down in the red-haired girl's hand.

The red-haired beauty frowned. "Mom, what is this?"

"Hongying, don't look now..."

The beautiful woman slowly grasped Ji Hongying's hand, closed it, and stuffed it into the pocket of her cheongsam.

"But...when you feel lost, confused, in pain, bewildered, or sad, please...look at this photo."

The green-haired beauty revealed a sorrowful smile and gently stroked Ji Hongying's red bun.

Chapter 70: If life were only as beautiful as our first meeting, why would the autumn wind bring sorrow to the painted fan?

The next day, the second night in Crescent City, was a very special day.

Moon Festival, the day the first humans migrated to the moon, is the biggest carnival on the entire moon today.

Even though it was already night, Crescent City was still ablaze with lights, and countless beautiful beams of fireworks shot into the sky with a whoosh.

"Ah, Sakura, wait for me!" Ji Sakura was tidying up her light blue Taoist robe and her light green bun when she came out of the bathroom and was stopped by someone.

"Hoo, hoo," Qi Yue walked over carrying a small bag. Her hair was purple, with two small light purple buns on top of her bob. Because of the buns, there wasn't enough purple hair, so she didn't even bother with bangs.

"Looks like I'll have to grow my hair long from now on..." Qi Yue said helplessly. Her height was about the same as Ji Yingting's, and their rooms were next to each other in the hotel.

Because the moon was the place where the Donghuang people migrated, many girls would comb their hair into buns and wear Taoist robes or cheongsams to commemorate this ancient tradition on the Moon Festival.

"Has Yufei arrived?" Ji Yingting asked, turning around.

"She said she's already downstairs waiting for us..." Qi Yue said, supporting Ji Yingting. They had already made plans to go out together tonight.

Holding onto the sleeve of Ji Yingting's light green Taoist robe, Qi Yue walked up the stairs. Her expression was slightly dazed as she recalled the scene when she first met Ji Yingting.

"Can't you...see it?"

"Um, could you please help me press the elevator button for the first floor?"

Do you need me to help you?

"Um... thank you!"

Recalling that scene, Qi Yue couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.

So much time has passed without me even realizing it… A slow smile appeared on Qi Yue’s lips as the elevator doors opened.

"Ah! Senior Sakuraba, Senior Qi Yue!" A little girl wearing a snow-white cheongsam, with her black hair styled in a bun and long black hair draped over her shoulders, was waiting in the lobby on the first floor.

Although her appearance is still somewhat youthful and her figure is still very petite, it has to be said that Xin Yufei has shed her original ugly duckling look and has become more and more adorable.

"Everyone's here, let's go?" Ji Yingting linked arms with a girl on each side, and the three of them walked out of the hotel while talking.

The street was bathed in lights, and the people coming and going made the street exceptionally lively, with many stalls set up casually along the roadside.

Holding Ji Yingting's warm little hand tightly, a gentle breeze brushed against the corner of Xin Yufei's eye, and her eyes became slightly moist. She recalled the scene of her first conversation with Senior Yingting.

At the time, her skill level was still very low, and she didn't quite understand the impact of cheating on the game. She also didn't expect that she would do something so annoying.

But... Sakuraba-senpai said to me, "Junior, don't let go, because that's an opportunity I seized with my own hands."

Don't let go... because I held it in my own palm... okay.

"Now that I've got it, it's mine," Xin Yufei couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Her slender arm extended from her snow-white cheongsam, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on Ji Yingting's left hand.

Splash, splash, splash.

The three walked along the path by the sea, with beautiful fireworks constantly going off in the sky.

"Ah! Sakuraba-senpai, come and see this, it looks so cute!!!" Xin Yufei suddenly said, leading Ji Sakuraba to a small stall.

"What, a mask? It seems to suit Sakuraba quite well..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Qi Yue picked up a panda mask and put it on her face.

Xin Yufei was also picking one out, "Then I'll take this black crow!! What does Sakuraba-senpai want? Wow, there's a green cat mask over there that looks really good for Sakuraba-senpai."

"Huh? A green cat? I want it, I want it!" Ji Yingting said quickly.

Although outsiders might perceive Ji Yingting as preferring cute, loyal puppies, she herself actually prefers things related to cats.

After buying the mask, Ji Yingting put the light green one on her face. She twirled around a few times, her long light green hair swinging back and forth, her two big green buns bobbing with her movements.

"Wow, Sakuraba, you look so cute with the cat mask on!"

"Really? I think you're even cuter now."

A light green cat with cat-like markings covered Ji Yingting's entire face.

Because Ji Yingting is blind, wearing a blindfold mask has no effect on her. The three of them bought some barbecue skewers on the way and continued walking along the seaside path.

But... surprises always come unexpectedly. Suddenly, a loud running sound came from not far behind the three of them.

"We'll see a huge celebratory fireworks display from that high spot later!! Let's run over there and check it out!!!"

"It would be such a waste to miss such a massive fireworks display that only happens once every ten years or so!! We might only get to see it once in our lifetime,"

Ji Yingting asked in confusion, "What's going on with these super-large fireworks?"

"Ah, that one was launched from the Moon King City, the capital of the Moon. It's said to be a super-giant firework with a radius of millions of meters, which can be seen by almost everyone on the Moon."

"I've seen videos of these fireworks on my computer. If I walk a little further over there, I should be able to reach the higher ground and definitely see them. I really want to go see them!" Qi Yue explained.

"Wow!!! That's amazing! I really want to see it too!! Fireworks millions of meters long!"

Ji Yingting said with some grievance that she had only heard that fireworks were beautiful, but had never actually seen them.

However, Ji Yingting also knew that such an opportunity was extremely rare, so she shook her hand and said...

"You two hurry up and run over there... you'll be back in about ten minutes, right?"

"Huh? Forget it."

Xin Yufei frowned slightly. It would be too much of a waste to leave Senior Sakuraba here.

"Alright, alright, hurry up and go. Come back and tell me what it's like."