Chapter 39: A Blunder? Your Eyes Are Simply Too Untrained

“Liu Muxuan, whether there was cheating or not will be judged by the sacred artifact after the literary gathering. Do not cast aspersions on my friend’s honor!”

Before Xu Ye could respond, Lin Buyu stepped forward, her face seething with anger as she glared at Liu Muxuan.

“Miss Lin, you seem awfully anxious. Are you not worried that his cheating might be exposed?”

Liu Muxuan shot Lin Buyu a cold smile.

“You—!”

Lin Buyu was so incensed she found herself lost for words.

“Sister Buyu, if Master Xu’s skill at Go truly surpasses Elder Ke’s, why should he fear solving another problem?”

At that moment, Bai Zijin walked over to Lin Buyu’s side, her eyes crinkling as she smiled. As she spoke, she deliberately emphasized the phrase “surpasses Elder Ke”—a touch both calculated and malicious.

“Hmph!”

Sure enough, Elder Ke’s expression changed at these words. In the world of Go, victory and defeat mattered above all else; anyone lacking a competitive spirit would never make it far, and Elder Ke was no exception. Though he had admitted defeat earlier, he was loath to concede that his skill was bested by a mere youth barely into adulthood, especially one who was only a petty underworld bailiff.

“Elder Ke…”

“Miss Buyu, say no more.”

Seeing Elder Ke’s grim face, Lin Buyu wanted to speak on Xu Ye’s behalf, but Elder Ke cut her off before she could finish.

“Xu Ye, what do you say?”

Elder Ke turned to Xu Ye. Beneath his competitiveness, he harbored a seed of doubt—wondering whether Xu Ye had indeed cheated.

“Please wait a moment, Elder Ke.”

Xu Ye did not answer immediately, but instead turned to the anxious Lin Buyu and asked, “Would you have me agree or refuse?”

He himself was indifferent; if he agreed, he was confident in his skill at Go. If he refused, he was equally confident in his thick skin.

“Are you truly confident you can solve Elder Ke’s problem?”

Lin Buyu leaned in, whispering her worry near Xu Ye’s ear. Knowing her personality, she would always stand by Xu Ye, right or wrong.

“Yes.”

Xu Ye nodded.

“Then leave it to me.”

Lin Buyu nodded as well, choosing to trust him.

---

“Xu Ye, if you borrowed this endgame from someone else, admit it now and none of us will make things difficult. After all, you’re just a bailiff, not a scholar.”

Seeing Lin Buyu and Xu Ye whispering, Liu Muxuan became more certain that Xu Ye had plagiarized the endgame, and grew all the more smug.

“Elder Ke, according to the rules of the literary gathering, isn’t it unfair to make Xu Ye play another game?”

Lin Buyu met Ke Youshan’s gaze, her stance neither humble nor arrogant.

“It is indeed irregular, but the suspicion against him is great. For the sake of fairness, he should play another round to prove his innocence.”

Ke Youshan frowned.

“Another round is acceptable. But for the sake of my friend’s reputation—if he demonstrates his skill, I ask that Elder Ke see justice done and have Master Liu apologize before everyone present. He must shout three times, ‘Brother Xu did not cheat. I, Liu Muxuan, judged a gentleman with a petty heart!’”

Lin Buyu pointed at Liu Muxuan, who had first called for Zhu Mo Xi.

“Yes, exactly! I can’t let your false accusations go unchallenged either.”

Xu Ye chimed in, playing along as if he were a mere bystander.

“Liu Muxuan, what do you say?”

Ke Youshan now turned to Liu Muxuan. He could see that Liu Muxuan had been fanning the flames all along, so even though Lin Buyu’s demand was harsh, he saw no reason to refuse.

“This…”

Faced with such humiliating words, Liu Muxuan hesitated.

“Brother Muxuan, just agree, won’t you?”

Bai Zijin sidled up to Liu Muxuan with a sweet smile, stepping hard on his foot as she spoke.

“Uh… Alright, I—I agree!”

Pain shooting through him, Liu Muxuan nearly cried out, but managed to nod vigorously, masking the agony on his face.

“In that case, Xu Ye, play another game.”

Elder Ke nodded in satisfaction, then seated himself before the board and began to set up the pieces.

At the literary gatherings of Liang’s scholars, the rules were not so strict; most of the time, the examiner had the final say, so no one found it odd to add another round.

*Click!*

By the time Xu Ye sat down, Elder Ke had already placed the final stone on the board, then folded his arms, looking at Xu Ye with confidence.

“Well?”

It was clear that this endgame on the board was one of his proudest creations.

“The Four Elders Ascend the Mountain?”

Xu Ye’s eyes fell upon the board and he recognized at once that Elder Ke’s endgame almost perfectly resembled the “Four Elders Ascend the Mountain” formation from the Mysterious Go Manual.

“Four Elders Ascend the Mountain? That’s an apt name.”

Elder Ke’s eyes lit up, thinking Xu Ye had just christened his endgame.

“Heh… Elder Ke, this puzzle is truly interesting.”

Xu Ye gave an awkward smile.

---

“Enough talk—solve it!”

Ke Youshan’s impatience was evident; he was eager to test Xu Ye’s skill with this endgame.

“Very well.”

Xu Ye nodded, picked up a stone, and pondered in silence.

The difficulty of the Four Elders Ascend the Mountain lay in the fact that when the four black stones and three white stones were in a kill-or-be-killed situation, black was short by one liberty. The only solution was for black to sacrifice all four stones to break white’s eye shape; the one who could not weigh gain and loss would easily fall into a trap.

*Click!*

Without much hesitation, Xu Ye made his move.

Elder Ke’s lips curled into a smile as he immediately captured Xu Ye’s four stones with white. Clearly, though he had devised the puzzle, his solution differed from Xu Ye’s.

“What a blunder.”

“Does this fellow even know how to play?”

At once, the onlookers began to murmur, most of them mocking and criticizing Xu Ye for losing four stones right away.

“I knew it! He must have copied his last game from someone else!”

Liu Muxuan sneered openly.

“Wait—he’s alive!”

But just then, as Xu Ye destroyed white’s eye shape, the previously confident Ke Youshan suddenly exclaimed in shock.

“To think he sacrificed four stones to block white’s eyes, seizing a chance at life!”

“To abandon stones for survival—who could have thought of such a move?”

Some scholars with a keen sense of Go now grasped the subtlety on the board and marveled aloud.

Gradually, as these skilled players explained, even those less adept at Go came to appreciate the brilliance of Xu Ye’s move, and the scorn on their faces turned to astonishment.

Lin Buyu, already well-versed in the game, saw immediately the ingenuity of Xu Ye’s play. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and could not help but glare with pride at Liu Muxuan and Bai Zijin, thinking, “Prepare to apologize.”

Liu Muxuan, though ignorant of Go, was keen enough to read the room; seeing the disciples’ changed expressions, his heart sank. Yet he muttered to himself, unwilling to give up, “Elder Ke hasn’t resigned just yet. The outcome is not decided.”

*Snap!*

But no sooner had this thought arisen than Elder Ke tossed the stone he’d been holding back into the bowl—a sound that might as well have been a slap across Liu Muxuan’s face.

“He… he resigned?”

Liu Muxuan was struck dumb on the spot.