I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 53: Lingerie, This Wicked Foe, Deserves a Lifetime of Battle!

After hearing Xu Zijin’s words, Yu Shao was a bit surprised. He glanced at the Go board again, silently committing the names Yang Shirong and Gong Sheng to memory.

“Hey, Yu, are you coming or not?”

Zhou De called out impatiently from the doorway.

“I’m coming.”

Yu Shao replied and turned to leave the activity room, walking towards the school gate alongside Zhou De.

“What were you talking about with Xu Zijin just now?”

As soon as they walked a little distance, Zhou De couldn’t hold back and started scolding him, “For the sake of a pretty face, you made your buddy wait at the door! What happened to loyalty? If I hadn’t called you, were you planning to make me wait until tomorrow?”

“I just asked her what game records she was studying.”

Yu Shao retorted, “Normally, when I take a bathroom break and ask you to wait, you don’t say a word. But now, when I talk to Xu Zijin for a few minutes, you suddenly can’t handle it? Can’t bear to see your buddy doing well, huh?”

“Don’t you already have Wu Zhixuan’s WeChat? The thought of it still pisses me off!”

Zhou De adopted an exaggerated expression of betrayed indignation, exclaiming, “You already have such a cute girl, and you’re still not satisfied?”

Yu Shao didn’t argue back. After all, having someone’s WeChat doesn’t mean you have their heart. Instead, he nodded seriously and agreed, “Yeah, she is very cute.”

“Which is why I’ll make sure to protect her—by not letting my other girlfriends find out about her.”

Zhou De was stunned into silence for a moment before he erupted, “You bstrd! Yu, I misjudged you! You’re not just a scumbag, you’re an outright bstrd!”

The two continued their playful banter as they strolled to the school gate. Zhou De didn’t take Yu Shao’s words seriously, and Yu Shao was clearly just joking.

That’s how boys are—one pretends to believe the other’s joke, then starts mock-seriously criticizing them in return.

Although their houses were in different directions, the two shared the same route until the second intersection to the left of the school, so they kept walking together.

“By the way, Yu, don’t you think Xu Zijin’s been acting a little off recently?” Zhou De asked suddenly.

“Off?”

Yu Shao was puzzled. “She seems perfectly normal. Why do you say that?”

“She looks normal.”

Zhou De sounded unsure. “But I keep feeling like she’s pretending to act normal.”

“And you can tell?”

Yu Shao joked, “Why not go be a psychological counselor?”

“I’m serious.”

Zhou De’s tone shifted to seriousness. He began analyzing, “In the past, she always gave off this vibe, like she didn’t take anyone seriously. A little arrogant—or maybe self-important.”

“Did she?”

Yu Shao shook his head. “She’s always been so polite and proper. How does that make her seem arrogant?”

“Yes, polite and proper.”

Zhou De didn’t deny it. “But that’s because she has good manners. It doesn’t show on the surface, but it’s something you can’t completely hide. A lot of people could sense it. That’s why hardly anyone at our school ever dared to chase her—it would’ve just been humiliating.”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and continued, “But now, she doesn’t seem like that anymore. She feels... downcast. Almost lost, maybe even a little repressed.”

“She’s trying hard to act normal, but some things can’t be faked. Her whole aura has changed.”

“This change... it feels like it started after I went to the activity room that day. Did something happen before that?”

Yu Shao fell silent.

The day before Zhou De went to the activity room… Yu Shao had played a game of Go with Xu Zijin.

Not a single person, not even Zhou De, had heard about that game. It was an unspoken agreement between all parties involved not to bring it up.

At that moment, Zhou De’s eyes suddenly widened as if struck by a realization. He yelled, “No way—Yu, do you think she confessed to someone and got rejected?!”

Yu Shao was startled by his outburst. “Can you keep your voice down? Why are you shouting? And do you think that’s even possible?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Zhou De nodded, calming down. “It’s hard to imagine Xu Zijin confessing to anyone. It doesn’t fit her character. Then what could’ve happened? It’s so weird.”

Yu Shao remained silent.

Zhou De also fell into contemplation, pondering what could have happened to Xu Zijin. The two walked on in silence.

Suddenly, Yu Shao noticed an electronic billboard outside a department store by the roadside. He stopped in his tracks, gazing up at the screen.

The screen displayed a middle-aged man with a dignified and stern face. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, seated in front of a Go board, deep in thought.

Next to the man was a caption identifying him as the spokesperson for Karren Suits: Zhuang Weisheng, Tenth Dan.

“Zhuang Weisheng?”

Yu Shao murmured the name, which was far from unfamiliar. In fact, it left a deep impression—he had studied several of Zhuang Weisheng’s game records recently.

In this world, the absence of advanced Go AI meant that players often found it hard to break free from traditional thinking.

The Go players of this world adhered to proper principles of the game, but their moves lacked efficiency. Their ability to assess the value of a situation, balance gains and losses, and understand the strength and shape of formations differed vastly from the Go players of Yu Shao's previous life.

However, Zhuang Weisheng's understanding and judgment of the game far surpassed the standard of this era.

From Yu Shao's perspective, Zhuang Weisheng's insights and evaluations were still somewhat lacking, but even so, his skills were terrifyingly impressive.

What shocked Yu Shao even more was that a top-tier international brand like Karren Suits would choose a Go player as their ambassador instead of a celebrity. In his previous world, this would have been unimaginable.

“Even though I know that Go holds a much higher status in this world, seeing a player endorse a brand of this caliber with my own eyes is still hard to believe…”

With a complicated expression, Yu Shao was just about to move on when he noticed Zhou De standing frozen in place, staring off into the distance.

Puzzled, Yu Shao followed Zhou De's gaze and quickly spotted another electronic screen, this one displaying a bikini advertisement.

On it, a stunning blonde woman with a curvaceous figure strutted along a beach in a bikini, drawing countless glances from people around her.

“Lingerie, this wicked foe, deserves a lifetime of battle!” Zhou De declared with a solemn expression, as if swearing an unshakable vow of dedication.

“Let’s go!”

Yu Shao rolled his eyes and decided not to entertain Zhou De any further, continuing forward on his own.