The next day, a carriage arrived in front of Hou Li’s house.

After receiving many stern warnings and advice from his father and a long and tearful embrace from his mother, Hou Li climbed into the carriage and closed the door behind him. Looking through the window, he spotted Xing Yi and waved him goodbye.

Xing Yi smiled and waved back.

Soon, the horses at the front started moving with their hooves clipping and clopping against the dirt road. Hou Li and his carriage moved further and further away until it eventually went beyond the hills and into the world.

Xing Yi stood there for a while in a daze. What was he going to do now?

His only friend had just left and here he was. Still in the village. Noticing Xing Yi’s worried look, Hou Li’s father walked over and gave him a bitter smile and a pat on the shoulder before he moved over to his wife and consoled her as she wouldn’t stop crying. Her sobs caused Xing Yi to become even more saddened than he already was.

Turning around on the spot, he went to the only place he felt like going to at that moment. Moving past long stretches of rice fields and up the terraced hills, he found himself underneath a wide, shady tree with many leaves. Lying against the base of the tree, he looked upon the valley with a depressed expression.

He saw small black dots working upon the hills within terraced rice fields. It was a powerful, lush green that seemed to just soothe his eyes. He had seen this sight with Hou Li many, many times before. The colour was just so rich.

He sighed.

For he would never see that damn smirk of his anymore. And that eternally calm attitude of his had always gotten them out of trouble. He was always a good listener too. He was grateful for that too.

He would never see him again.

As he uttered this within the chambers of his mind, tears began to swell within his eyes. As he laid there in silence, tears fell down his cheeks and onto his clothes.

Never again.

The memories they cherished. That they had shared. All of them flashed through his mind very vividly. A soul crushing, heavy feeling took over his body as tears ran down his eyes. An hour later, Xing Yi had calmed down.

With a clogged nose and red cheeks, he sat up and looked down upon the village.

He closed his eyes valiantly and stared into the darkness within.

Am I really going to stay in the village my whole life? To toil away endlessly at the mercy of my local lord? To live under cruel taxes and be subject to the societal hierarchy?

Xing Yi breathed heavily as he thought upon this topic.

Hope filled him as he began thinking upon what would happen if he left the village.

He fantasised of riches, beautiful women and fame.

But as his mind drifted as to how he was going to do that, fear and despair overtook that hope.

I’m just a peasant. How could I do that?

A flame was snuffed out at that very moment.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Xing Yi stood up and walked down the hill. His mind completely forgot about what thoughts had transpired upon that hill. For better or worse.

As Xing Yi walked past a certain house, he saw an old man with thinning hair and a studious gaze towards a board with many white and black pieces. Stroking his long beard up and down, he seemed to be in a state of distress. This was Old Man Jin.

For some reason, Xing Yi walked up the terrace and approached Old Man Jin.

Xing Yi studied the board for a few seconds until Old Man Jin glanced up and noticed his presence.

“Hm?” Old Man Jin seemed surprised he had come over.

“Hi. What are you doing?” Xing Yi smiled.

With a hoarse voice, Old Man Jin replied, “Studying game three of the State of Xia go championship. This game was played just three weeks ago.”

Xing Yi furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “How are you doing that?”

Old Man Jin picked up a scroll at this side and waved it around.

“I bought this record of the go championship games off of the merchant last week. It took me a whole week just to truly contemplate upon both of the first two games fully,” Old Man Jin clicked his tongue as if it was a truly difficult and stressful matter.

Xing Yi stood closer and looked at the board which was filled with white and black pieces.

Just then, Old Man Jin looked up and gestured to the opposite seat, “Please, take a seat if you must.”

Heading Old Man Jin, he sat down and sat opposite of him in a small wooden chair.

Although Xing Yi hadn’t played go that many times, he still knew how it worked and could get a basic grasp of the situation of the board. He had played quite a few games against both Hou Li and Old Man Jin and he had always lost. It wasn’t that he was terrible, they were just far better. Against Hou Li, he could put up a far fight. But against Old Man Jin, he could only dream. Even for Hou Li it was the exact same.

“This looks pretty complicated,” Xing Yi commented with a dry laugh.

“Indeed, it is!” Old Man Jin strongly agreed.

A few moments later, Old Man Jin shook his head and suggested, “Do you want to play a game?”

Xing Yi thought about it for a few seconds before accepting his challenge.

Scrapping the current game, Old Man Jin and Xing Yi piled the black and white pieces back into their wooden boxes on the side of the table until it was completely empty.

Smacking his lips against the inside of his mouth like an old tortoise, Old Man Jin said, “You can go first.”

Xing Yi nodded and placed his first piece.

One by one, Xing Yi and Old Man Jin placed their pieces onto the board.

While Old Man Jin placed his pieces with a steady hand and confidence, Xing Yi had a pensive expression and had much difficulty making up his mind. He would often retract his hand as he was about to place a piece, unsure of his decision and would do so many more times until he finally placed it.

Old Man Jin wasn’t impatient. He remained patient throughout the whole match and merely stroked his beard while gazing upon the board with an intrigued expression.

As the matched progressed, Xing Yi leaned forward in his chair and attentively gazed upon the board, his mind thinking of all the possible moves he could make. Soon, at a critical moment, it was Old Man Jin’s turn. At the same time, Xing Yi gazed at the board with a sunken face.

Not making a single sound, Old Man Jin placed down a single piece, which in tandem with other his pieces, allowed him to capture a few dozen of Xing Yi’s pieces at once. Xing Yi stared on as Old Man Jin took his pieces off the board one by one until they were all gone.

“I lost,” Xing Yi sighed.

He scanned the board with a pained expression.

“Xiao Wu, how old are you?” Old Man Jin asked.

“Eleven, I’ll be turning twelve in about a month,” Xing Yi replied.

Old Man Jin nodded his head before asking, “What did you think of our game?”

Xing Yi delegated his answer as he studied the board until a few moments later he answered.

“I think…”, he paused, “That I was playing too safe. It didn’t feel like the right thing to do. But I still did it because I haven’t always been an aggressive player. I’ve always liked to play safe and not take too many risks anyway.”

“A strikingly accurate analysis I must say,” Old Man Jin approved, “Indeed, you did play incredibly safe, making sure not to pose any sort of aggression to my pieces on the board. That in itself does have some charm. While not very common, there are some players who are very well suited for such a playstyle.”

Old Man Jin’s face turned serious as he gave Xing Yi a long hard look.

“However,” Old Man Jin started, “I can sense that such a playstyle is not meant for you. You are limiting yourself severely by playing like this. Maybe if you played a bit more aggressive, took some more risks and thought outside the box, you might achieve success and capture the heart of the game.”

Hearing this, Xing Yi could only stare at the board in a daze.

Seeing this, Old Man Jin smiled and suggested, “How about some tea?”

Snapped out of his daze, Xing Yi accepted, “Sure.”