I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 26: If She and Xu Zijin Both Fell Into the Water, Who Would I Save?

The brief weekend passed quickly.

After enjoying two days of sleeping in, Yu Shao found himself reluctantly crawling out of bed at 6:30 in the morning. He got dressed, washed up, grabbed his schoolbag, and left home.

At a breakfast shop downstairs, he bought four beef buns and a bottle of yogurt. After quickly finishing his breakfast, he rushed off to school.

The moment he arrived in the classroom and reached his seat, Yu Shao was stunned.

The reason?

None other than Zhou De, who, for some unfathomable reason, had picked up his copy of Introduction to Go: 38 Lessons again!

To give some context: Zhou De initially started learning Go to earn conduct points. Later, he stuck with it for a few more days out of sheer stubbornness toward Yu Shao. But now, for him to suddenly return to studying it—this was borderline terrifying!

After all, today was the day the school was hosting its Go seminar. Even if Zhou De was trying to cram last minute for the sake of his conduct points, this was a bit too last minute. Besides, the participants for the exhibition match had already been decided.

Therefore, after some careful deduction, Yu Shao came to only one logical conclusion for Zhou De’s sudden renewed interest in Go—

"Old Zhou, is the world ending?" Yu Shao couldn’t help but ask.

"What are you talking about?" Zhou De looked at Yu Shao, puzzled.

"Then why are you reading a Go book again?" Yu Shao pressed.

Zhou De flew into a rage. "Yu Shao, what’s your problem? You think your bro can’t achieve the impossible, is that it?!"

Yu Shao had noticed that Zhou De had been throwing around the phrase “achieve the impossible” a lot lately—it had practically become his catchphrase.

Yu Shao thought for a moment, then used a tone one might use to console a child. “Okay, Old Zhou, what happened? Come on, tell me.”

“I fell in love,” Zhou De hesitated for a moment before replying.

Yu Shao was utterly shocked.

Impossible.

Absolutely impossible!

The world ending was more plausible than Zhou De actually falling in love!

After taking a moment to calm down, Yu Shao asked, “Bro, when you say you ‘fell in love’… do you mean you like someone, or are you actually dating someone?”

“I like someone,” Zhou De admitted.

Hearing this, Yu Shao let out a sigh of relief. As he took out his English textbook, he asked, “Aren’t you falling in love every day? Who is it this time? And…”

Yu Shao gave him a strange look and asked, “What does this have to do with reading a Go book?”

“You don’t know?” Zhou De said mysteriously. “Senior Wu Shuheng came to our school this morning.”

Yu Shao’s eyes widened in shock, and he instinctively moved his chair away from Zhou De. “You fell for him?”

“Pah! Yu Shao, I swear you can’t say anything decent, can you? I’m a straight man, okay? A straight man who could punch through a steel plate!”

Zhou De angrily retorted, “It’s his sister. She came along with him!”

“Oh.”

Yu Shao instantly lost interest. Flipping through his book, he asked casually, “Is she good-looking?”

“What do you mean ‘good-looking’? She’s incredibly good-looking!”

“How good?”

“On par with Xu Zijin.”

Yu Shao immediately straightened up in respect. “Then she must be really beautiful.”

“Not just that—her personality is amazing, too. Xu Zijin is beautiful, sure, but she’s like the Mona Lisa—something you can only look at but never touch.”

Zhou De grinned like a lovestruck fool. “But she’s different. When she saw me, she even smiled and greeted me!”

A girl who could smile and greet Zhou De?

If Zhou De wasn’t lying, Yu Shao thought, then Senior Wu Shuheng’s sister must indeed have a great personality.

“So, you’re learning Go to impress her brother?” Yu Shao asked.

“Nope.”

Zhou De shook his head. “She herself is a professional Go player. Just a beginner rank, though.”

“Bro, maybe you should give up,” Yu Shao advised after some thought.

“Why?”

Zhou De looked utterly baffled. “Why would I give up when I’ve finally fallen for someone?”

“Sure, maybe she really does have a nice personality. But personality aside,” Yu Shao said earnestly, “you have to understand—any woman who can become a professional Go player is no fool. She’s smart, Zhou De. Really smart.”

“Yu Shao, I’m gonna fight you!”

Zhou De exploded in anger and immediately tried to start a mock battle with Yu Shao.

After morning self-study ended, the classroom hadn’t even had time to get noisy when Li Kang entered, carrying his thermos cup.

Standing on the podium, Li Kang scanned the classroom. His gaze was like a silencer—wherever his eyes landed, the room fell silent. By the time he had swept his eyes across the entire room, the classroom was completely quiet.

After ensuring absolute silence, Li Kang cleared his throat and said, “In a moment, your senior, Wu Shuheng, currently a 3-dan professional Go player, will be hosting a Go seminar in the multimedia classroom to promote Go culture.”

“Woohoo!”

The classroom instantly erupted into chaos. Everyone was thrilled, and not even Li Kang’s usual commanding presence could suppress their excitement.

After all, the prospect of skipping a whole morning of classes was enough to make these high schoolers jump for joy.

“Quiet!”

Li Kang frowned, and only after the classroom had quieted down again did he continue, “Anyone who needs to use the restroom, do it now. Afterward, gather in the multimedia classroom.”

With that, Li Kang took his thermos and left the classroom.

As soon as he was gone, the classroom burst into a flurry of activity. The boys, in particular, stormed out of the classroom and sprinted toward the multimedia classroom like it was a 100-meter dash.

However, upon reaching the door of the multimedia classroom, they all collectively slowed their pace.

Sitting in the first row of the multimedia classroom was a beautiful girl.

She had waist-length jet-black hair, a small, fair face without a single flaw, and sparkling, lively eyes. She wore a simple white blouse, the hem of which was tied into a knot and tucked into light blue cropped jeans.

She wasn’t the type of girl like Xu Zijin, who stunned people with her beauty at first glance.

Instead, she was the kind of girl you’d see and think, Oh, she’s pretty. Then you’d look again and think, Wow, she’s even prettier. And after another glance, you’d find yourself thinking, Oh sht, I think I’m in love.*

On the table in front of her was a nameplate that introduced her: Wu Zhixuan, Beginner Dan.

When she noticed the boys from Class 7 appearing at the doorway, she flashed a smile, revealing two sweet dimples, and waved at them.

Her smile was so dazzlingly bright that it defied all reason, making anyone who saw it feel like no challenge in life was insurmountable.

In that instant, although the boys of Class 7 didn’t exchange a single word, they all reached the same silent, unspoken agreement—

They were going to walk into the multimedia classroom as slowly as humanly possible.

“What do I do, bro? This is urgent,” Zhou De whispered, lowering his voice as he leaned toward Yu Shao. “If she and Xu Zijin fell into a river at the same time, who should I save?”