The autumn breeze drifted gently,
Golden maple leaves fluttered down from the branches in the courtyard, lightly decorating the chessboard on the stone table.
An Qingyu held a black stone between his fingers, frowning at the interwoven black and white pieces on the board. Sweat slid down from his temple as if he were struggling to think through something.
Jiang Er floated on the other side of the stone table. Seeing An Qingyu like this, she spoke with heartache in her voice:
"Qingyu... how about taking a break?"
"I'm fine." An Qingyu shook his head. The piece hovered in midair for half a minute before he slowly placed it somewhere on the board.
Jiang Er sighed. A white stone floated automatically out of the stone bowl and landed beside the black piece.
An Qingyu sank into thought once more.
Just then, the courtyard gate was pushed open. Lin Qiye and Li Yifei walked inside, and both froze when they saw An Qingyu playing against Jiang Er beneath the tree.
Lin Qiye immediately frowned and strode over. "You haven't even rested for a few days... why are you starting again?"
"It's only chess. The strain on my brain isn't actually that great." An Qingyu forced a smile. "Do you know, Qiye? I've already found the pattern..."
"What pattern?"
"It's not that I can't use my Forbidden Ruins. It's that after I use them, my brain can't calculate the immense burden they bring... To completely cure this, I can't try to reach the heavens in one step. I have to start with the underlying logic of computation and train it bit by bit."
An Qingyu pointed to the board before him. "For the past few days, I've been trying to rehabilitate my brain. Go is the best method I could think of.