Hogwarts, My Ass

"So... Hoggy what's-his-name?... Bah! What a weird name, it's really tongue-twisting!"

"...It's Hogwarts, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England." Li Mu looked speechlessly at the old man in front of him.

The old man sat opposite Li Mu, with a whole square stone table between them. The tabletop had nineteen deep grooves running vertically and horizontally, forming a standard Go board.

Li Mu was playing Go with the old man. This old codger was terrible at Go, but he loved it, and had been teaching Li Mu to play since Li Mu was "1 year old". As a result, Li Mu originally knew nothing about Go, but after some teaching and cultivation, he was evenly matched with the old man when he was "6 years old", and now he won more often than he lost.

The old man's eyes were focused on the chessboard, turning back and forth, frowning and looking for weaknesses. His white beard was casually tied into several thick braids, long enough to almost drag on the stone table, making Li Mu worry that his beard would "accidentally" sweep the pieces off.

Over the years, the old man had used his long beard to cheat countless times.

"Tsk, but... England ah... you little rascal who grew up in the deep mountains, do you even know foreign languages?" After a long while, the old man probably hadn't found a weakness and was still holding a chess piece in his hand, hesitating to place it, so he continued the previous topic.

"Do you think this young master wants to stay in the deep mountains all the time? It's all because you won't take me out!" Li Mu slammed the stone table, feeling angry.

Then, his eyes rolled, and he suddenly cleared his throat: "Ahem, listen... Youre not Why do you know I cant speak English? (You're not me, why do you know I can't speak English?)"

From his mouth, a fluent English suddenly burst out. The authentic British pronunciation immediately made the old man's eyes widen.

"This... not bad." He was stunned, squinting his eyes slightly.

"That's natural!" Li Mu patted his chest, "This young master is the reincarnation of the Wenqu star in the sky, proficient in everything from music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, to medicine, divination, and astrology!..."

Unexpectedly, this time, facing his boasting, the old man didn't kick him directly as usual, but instead seriously pondered. Seeing his serious expression, Li Mu couldn't continue his bragging and stopped awkwardly.

Then, he heard the old man ponder and say—

"That's right, you are indeed one of the most talented people I've seen in the younger generation."

Li Mu couldn't help but widen his eyes, as it was rare to hear words of praise from the old man's mouth.

But... what does "one of" mean? I am clearly the chosen one, "born divine, able to speak at a young age" is talking about me, quickly remove the "one of" ah!

Before Li Mu could think more, the old man suddenly seemed to have made up his mind, stroked his white beard, and nodded.

"When a chess piece that shouldn't appear joins the battle, the fate of the entire chessboard will suddenly change... Sometimes, we will always need such a chess piece. You want to go to England, then go!"

He actually agreed?

He just agreed like that?!

You must know that since he could remember, Li Mu had tried all kinds of tricks to leave the mountains and go to the outside world to play, but he had never succeeded.

A chess piece that shouldn't appear...?

The fate of the entire chessboard has changed?

He reacted for a long time, pondered the old man's expression, and after a long while, he suddenly jumped up, pointed at the crisscrossing chessboard, and roared: "Li Jianmin! You cheated again!!!"

On the crisscrossing chessboard, a white piece had appeared at some point, blocking the air vent of Li Mu's black army.

"Damn it, I cheated with my own ability, what are you going to do, you little brat?" Exposed on the spot, the old man Li Jianmin was even more confident and full of vigor than Li Mu.

"I..."

"Are you still going to England?"

"...Alright, whatever makes you happy, old man."

"Damn it, this disrespectful old geezer..."

Even when he returned to his room to pack his luggage, Li Mu kept muttering to himself.

Logically speaking, he should have gotten used to it after all these years. But every time he saw Li Jianmin's appearance and behavior, he couldn't help but curse "vulgar" under his breath, and a sense of superiority from having received higher education would rise from the bottom of his heart.

But ah, that "once" was really too long ago to trace.

Li Jianmin was Li Mu's Master, or rather, his adoptive father in this life. He was used to calling him Old Man.

According to Li Jianmin, about ten years ago, a strange fire suddenly descended from the sky, and a meteorite fell into the deep forest at the foot of the mountain. He went to investigate it himself, but found nothing. He only saw a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes among the scattered gravel. The baby looked less than a month old, but was fair and clean, neither crying nor fussing, just sleeping soundly.

The Old Man then calculated with his fingers and felt that this baby had a destiny with him, so he took him back to the mountain to raise him.

Later, after being exposed for cheating in chess many times, Li Jianmin would tearfully tell this story. Li Mu looked grateful on the surface, but countless wild horses had already galloped through his heart: What destiny? Why should I, a top student who graduated from a prestigious university in the 21st century, stay with you, you old man who picks his feet, in the deep mountains and old forests for so many years?!

Li Mu was naturally the baby in the swaddling clothes. He knew that the story the Old Man told was true. Because he already had memories at that time, not only memories, but also a lot of information about the past and the future.

He was a transmigrator.

The original Li Mu was just an ordinary person. He finally made it all the way to university graduation, and then squeezed his way into an ordinary clerical job. As a result, one day he worked overtime until four in the morning, and he couldn't help but fall asleep. When he woke up, he found that he had transmigrated into a baby in another world.

From then on, he lived with this old codger whose robe was always stained with oil, whose white hair was always tied up in a messy bun, whose face always had a silly smile, who often uttered catchphrases like "Damn it" and "His XX," and even whose name "Li Jianmin" was enough to make people complain.

Almost eleven years had passed, and Li Mu had long given up the idea of returning to his original world. On the one hand, humans are very adaptable creatures. He had been here for a long time, and his nostalgia for the previous world had long faded. On the other hand, it was because this world... was just too damn magical!

This was not an ordinary world, even though this world was very similar to the Earth he used to live on in every aspect. But here... supernatural abilities existed!

At first, Li Mu didn't notice this.

He and the Old Man lived on the mountain, but they were not isolated from the world. They lived in a small farmhouse, with three main rooms on the left, middle, and right. In the middle of the main hall was an old and bulky black and white TV and an old-fashioned rotary phone. Outside the courtyard gate was a green mailbox. The Old Man often watched TV when he had nothing to do, and occasionally phone calls would come in. Those newspapers and letters could always appear in the mailbox mysteriously.

At first, Li Mu thought that the Old Man was a poor mountain dweller, so his living equipment was a bit backward. It wasn't until shortly before his 1st birthday that he secretly flipped through the newspaper that the Old Man had thrown on the table... He saw the brand-new Tianchao Daily, with the striking date "January 4, 1981" marked in the upper right corner, and he also saw the large headline below that edition: "The Gezhouba Dam Water Conservancy Project Successfully Completed"...

He finally figured out the era he was in. It turned out that he had transmigrated back to the 80s. Then he realized...

Damn it, he was being tricked! This old man Li Jianmin wasn't poor at all. Being able to own a black and white TV in this era definitely counted as a local tyrant, right?

After two months of preparation, the new book is out! ~ The new book will be updated once a day during the new book period. I hope everyone will support it! Please give me a wave of collections and recommendations~~~ Thank you!

(End of this chapter)