Jun Jiuling

Chapter 196: Please Put Down a Stone

Seeing this group of people withunar<anno data-annotation-id="67c8492a-f51f-48e0-f80f-7b10a5f654b8"> hands without an inch of steel…</anno>. No, he couldn’t say they had no steel, the servants on the right were carrying stools…

The young man swept his gaze over the crowd. Of course, they didn’t pose much of a threat. It wouldn’t be difficult to kill his way out, naturally.

Right now he needed to weigh the tradeoffs. What was more shameful, being beaten down by a crowd intent on plundering him, or being pulled out by this improper girl.

Just as he thought this, the hands around his waist moved.

He cursed in his mind.

"Hey, don’t touch where you want."

Soft fingers grabbed onto his belt.

"Come with me," she demanded.

"What do you think you’re doing? Are you thinking of forcing yourself on a man in full light of day?" the young man shouted.

She clenched his belt tightly and, wordlessly, stepped forward.

He looked around once more, but once he saw everyone's ‘don’t you dare run’ expressions, he cursed again.

Truly, there is nothing too bizarre on this earth.

The girl possessed no little strength, but she couldn’t grow larger than this man. If he lifted his arm, he could send her tumbling.

But did he really want to be pursued by the whole city? Also, because of this one woman, such a big commotion had occurred.

He couldn’t attract any more attention now.

He cursed his misfortune to meet with this girl, and walked directly into the nearest tea house.

The people in the teahouse had earlier ran out to watch the happenings. When they saw Miss Jun pulling this man in, they stepped aside.

"What do you think you’re doing?" he asked again.

Miss Jun sized up the room. Seeing a Go board and a hanging flag next to hit, she strode over there.

The person setting up the Go board was a stick thin man. He had gone with the crowd to see what was happening, and when he saw that it was coming towards him, he hurriedly ran along.

"How much?" she asked.

She wanted to play?

"Ten, ten coppers," the skinny man stammered.

"Chengyu," Miss Jun called out and turned around.

The crowd didn’t realize that at some point in time, Fang Chengyu had appeared silently, holding his crutches. He watched Miss Jun with a smile. Lei Zhonglian passed the money to Hu Gui.

Hu Gui hurriedly stepped forward and threw the money onto thee plate next to the skinny man.

So it was playing Go.

"So Miss Jun could also play Go; is there nothing she can’t do?" Hu Gui laid on thick. "As the proverb goes, ‘the red sleeve brings fragrance’, but in Miss Jun’s case she is the ‘blue sleeve attending to Go’.

‘Your mother’s sleeve.’ The young man looked at Hu Gui. ‘You don’t need to be thinking out loud.’

The skinny man trembled and sat up.

His own reputation would be much brighter once the Miss Jun of the Jiuling Hall came to play Go.

He hadn’t sat down before Miss Jun pinched a white stone and swiftly placed it onto the board.

A white stone, a black stone. Miss Jun put down alternating white and black stones, her fingers fluttering like dancing butterflies. It was enchanting.

The room was silent save for the clear sounds of the pieces being put down.

At a certain moment, Miss Jun’s arm dropped.

"Okay, the Go arrangement has been solved," she said.

The skinny man was dumbstruck.

Others went for a three or four moves with him before they discussed winning or losing, but this young miss went over ten steps. Although it was a match against herself, the wonderful him had no way of responding.

"Aiai, Miss Jun won," Hu Gui said to the audience excitedly. "Miss Jun only took several steps all by herself to solve it. There is nothing she cannot do."

Everyone cheered.

It was a cry that could unify the Jianghu.

Have you seen a ghost? Do you understand, or are you just blindly cheering?

The young man looked at the girl who was holding on to him with her other hand.

Really rare. What is this person? An immortal? A monster?

"This is the money." The skinny man regained himself with the cheers. Flustered, he handed over the remuneration.

Miss Jun stopped him.

"Okay, I won, so please make way. I want to borrow this GO board," she said.

The crowd froze again.

So she only wanted to borrow the Go board?

Miss Jun simply leaned forward again. She picked up the white and black stones with a single hand. As they plinked on the board, a Go arrangement began to emerge.

"Please," she said to the young man, tilting her face up at him.

Please what? Play Go?

Until now, Miss Jun had not released his belt.

She wanted him to play? So it wasn’t lust after all.

Everyone looked at the young man, then at the Go board.

Lei Zhonglian glanced at the board and his face filled with realization.

At first glance, the arrangement seemed unfamiliar, but he realized that it was the arrangement of the Lantern Festival board after it had been solved.

Lei Zhonglian had spent years in front of the exchange firm, idling his time away. He often watched others play Go, and he himself liked to play as well.

He had tried to solve the Go arrangement in his head when he had been guarding it at the lantern festival, but, of course, he couldn’t solve it. Afterwards, when he saw Tian San’s placed stone, he had realized the brilliance of the move. Of course that stone had to go there.

Afterwards, in his leisure time, he had tried to think of how to receive Tian San’s move, and after a long time, he had found a response.

This was the step Miss Jun had taken just now.

Lei Zhonglian had been excited over his wild guess, then he tried to think, but couldn’t think of the next step.

The outstanding Go arrangement was not something he could respond to. He could only helplessly look at the young man.

He was Miss Jun’s Go opponent.

How would he respond? What sort of brilliance will appear in the next move?

Everyone was focused on the young man.

He was seriously studying the Go board.

Neither a crow or sparrow could be heard.

The one speaking the loudest, Hu Gui, felt like he was being suffocated when the young man finally moved.

He would have to pick up a stone.

He would have to set down a stone.

What step would he take?

But the man’s hand stopped at the Go board. He tapped it a few times, but did not move anything.

"I don’t understand," he said simply, while looking at Miss Jun.

The room felt stifling for the audience.

Doesn’t understand?

What does that mean?

Hu Gui, Lei Zhonglian, and even Fang Chengyu were startled.

Miss Jun looked at him without saying anything. She picked up a go stone and then gestured at his extended hand.

His lips curled up, and he looked at the board again.

"I don’t understand," he repeated.

The room broke out into low murmurs.

Without hesitation, Miss Jun leaned forward and picked up another stone and gestured at the man again.

Lei Zhonglian looked at the Go board and saw that it had returned to the same position as it had been at the Lantern Festival.

The young man was getting impatient.

"What are you doing," he demanded. He looked again, then his expression suddenly changed. He immediately got up and walked around the board.

Miss Jun was still holding on to his belt without letting go, so she was pulled along.

Then he abruptly stopped.

"Ha!" He looked at the board and shouted.

The room jumped in fright.

The young man was really flustered.

"Oh, oh," he said after his shout. He was pointing at the Go board with a strange expression on his face, while also smiling at Miss Jun. "Young Lady, do you want to use this Go arrangement to earn money? You really can tease, setting up something so amazing. You are a…"

"What, what about me?" She did not wait for him to finish speaking and stepped forward. "What about me?"

Her hand was still holding onto his belt, and by stepping forward they were now even closer to each other. When she lifted her head her forehead almost grazed against his chin.

At this close of a distance, the man could clearly see this girl’s large and bright eyes.

He helplessly leaned backwards.

"You…" He was about to finish, but when he saw those large eyes filled with excitement and urgency and all sorts of tangled emotions, a lantern carousel turned in his mind, bringing a lot of other chaotic memories.

A split second of calm flashed through his eyes, then realization, then shock. These emotions twisted together on his face, leaving something that was hard to make out.

He narrowed his eyes and his mouth hooked up into a smile as he looked at Miss Jun.

"So." He wrapped his arms around himself, stopping Miss Jun from getting closer, and raised his eyebrows. "So you are that dunce."

Dunce?

"What does dunce mean? " someone whispered to another. "A pet name?"

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