Go Class

After eating and drinking their fill, the group had nothing to do. Ding Yiheng suggested playing games, and Cen Xia called him crazy.

There weren't many customers in the shop, so they ordered a few more snacks and sat around chatting about anything and everything under the sun.

Shi Su had been a little reserved when he first started hanging out with them. Now that they'd spent more time together and gotten comfortable talking, his naturally cheerful, lively personality had emerged.

Shi Su was the youngest of the group, while the other three were all the same age. Fang Sheng didn't talk much, and Ding Yiheng talked too much.

Listening to them talk, Cen Xia's thoughts began to wander.

Before he transmigrated to this world, he had been a professional racing driver for several years. After quitting, he'd spent his days idling at home. A friend's younger sister had recommended some novels to him, suggesting an author named Zifeiyu.

But he'd searched the wrong website and found someone called Zifeiliyu. He'd clicked on the author's profile and seen nothing but a row of novels that had been taken down.

Then he'd transmigrated, just like that, for no apparent reason.

He hadn't read a single book. He'd only seen an author's name, and he'd still managed to transmigrate.

If he ever got back, he would be sure to tell the masses that reading novels wasn't the only way to transmigrate into a book. Looking at other things worked too.

There was no reasoning with transmigration.

"Brother Cen..."

"Brother Cen."

Cen Xia's thoughts were pulled back, and he saw Shi Su's flushed face.

He was older than Shi Su, so there was nothing wrong with Shi Su calling him ge. The kid made it sound nice, too, so he accepted it without a shred of guilt. Ding Yiheng wasn't happy about it and complained that Shi Su only called Cen Xia ge and not him, even though he was a year older than Shi Su too.

But Shi Su continued to do as he pleased, calling only Cen Xia ge.

That wasn't the point right now, though. The point was-

"Did you guys drink?"

"A little." Shi Su made a gesture, then pointed beside him. "What do we do about those two?"

Ding Yiheng and Fang Sheng were slumped over with their heads together. An opened bottle of beer had appeared on the table. Cen Xia glanced at the floor and saw no other bottles.

"...You only drank one bottle, and they ended up like this?"

"Not one bottle." Shi Su shook his head and held up one finger, his breath smelling of alcohol. "One sip."

Cen Xia: "..."

Cen Xia gritted his teeth. "How much did you drink?"

The corners of Shi Su's mouth lifted, a hint of pride in his voice. "Two sips!"

"...Am I supposed to praise you for that?"

Brother Cen didn't praise him, and Shi Su lowered his head, feeling a little wronged. He was clearly better than those two.

Cen Xia was at a loss.

The Ding family's driver was still waiting outside. Cen Xia told Shi Su to carry Fang Sheng on his back, but Shi Su was still sulking because Cen Xia hadn't praised him and refused.

Cen Xia gave him a smack. "Hurry up!"

Shi Su covered his smacked head and picked Fang Sheng up on his back, looking thoroughly aggrieved.

The two of them each carried one of the drunks to the car.

The Ding family's driver was used to it and said cheerfully, "My young master can't hold his liquor. One glass and he's down!"

When they reached the school gates, the car couldn't go any farther.

Cen Xia and Shi Su had no choice but to drag one each.

Fang Sheng and Shi Su were in the same dorm, so that was fine. But Cen Xia only knew which dormitory building Ding Yiheng lived in, not the floor or room number.

Although Shi Su wasn't quite clearheaded, he at least knew the way and knew he had to take Fang Sheng back to the dorm.

After watching the two of them stagger away, Cen Xia shook Ding Yiheng hard.

"Wake up! Wake up! Where's your dorm?"

"...Stop shaking me. I'm going to puke... puke..."

Startled, Cen Xia quickly let go of him and patted his face instead. "Tell me, where's your dorm?"

Ding Yiheng's brain was like a pot of paste. He thought for ages before finally saying, "503. Yeah, right, 503..."

Once he had the details, Cen Xia carried him all the way to their destination. Students around them cast curious glances their way, but he pretended not to see.

At the door, Cen Xia put him down, grabbed his hand, and tried his fingers on the fingerprint lock one by one.

Ding Yiheng had been jostled all the way there and was now so dizzy he wanted to puke on the floor.

Cen Xia said, "If you dare puke, I'll make you eat it back up."

Ding Yiheng didn't dare. He clapped both hands over his mouth.

Cen Xia: "..."

He grabbed his hand again and tried the fingerprint lock. After two or three tries, his left middle finger finally worked.

Cen Xia dragged him inside without complaint and asked which room was his.

Ding Yiheng pointed to the room on the right. Cen Xia tossed him onto the bed and left him there.

The next day, Ding Yiheng woke up with his head spinning and called Cen Xia to ask him to request leave on his behalf, telling him to say he was too sick to get out of bed.

"To end up like that from one sip of beer, you really are one of a kind."

Then he turned around and asked the others in the group chat whether they'd sobered up and how they were feeling.

After sending the message, he couldn't help rolling his eyes inwardly. In all his life, this was the first time he'd seen anyone get drunk on beer. His friend's little sister had once sneaked some baijiu while the adults weren't looking when she was in kindergarten, and even she hadn't gotten as drunk as they had.

Fang Sheng replied quickly: I'm all right. Nothing feels wrong.

At that moment, Shi Su was on his way to class. When he saw the messages in the group chat, he couldn't help remembering how stupid he'd been last night. He wished he could reach into his brain with an eraser and rub the memory out.

He pressed his lips together and tapped forcefully on his phone: I'm never drinking again!

Ding Yiheng: ...So I'm the only one who feels awful?

Fang Sheng: You're too weak.

Cen Xia: You two are six of one, half a dozen of the other. Don't let the man who ran fifty paces laugh at the one who ran a hundred.

Kanlitel occupied an enormous area. Its campus was divided into different zones, including living, activity, and teaching areas, each with a somewhat different architectural style.

The main style was minimalist modern European, but a separate Chinese-style complex had been set apart on the south side. It was the only purely Chinese-style group of buildings in the entire school.

Cen Xia's Go class was held there.

Because it was completely separated from the Western-style main building, he had to walk a long way to get to class.

That was also why few people chose Go. It wasn't just Go, either; few people chose any class taught in the Chinese-style buildings.

Although there were few students in the Go class, the place where it was held was spacious, with its own private courtyard and covered walkways on all four sides.

Since there were only five students, someone was bound to be left without a partner. Cen Xia was that person.

Before class, the Go teacher came running over excitedly and told him that the student transferring into the class had arrived today. He would never have to play alone again. The teacher asked if he was happy.

Cen Xia, who only wanted to slack off, said with a blank face that he was happy.

Once he saw the student the teacher had mentioned, however, happy or unhappy could no longer describe how Cen Xia felt.

Could someone tell him why Lu Mian, who was supposed to be in piano class, had shown up in Go class?

Lu Mian sat across from him, his expression indifferent. His lowered lashes were thick and long, and he gave off an air of languid idleness.

He casually picked up a white stone and placed it down with his slender fingers.

"I won," he said mildly.

Cen Xia: "...What did you win?"

Lu Mian pointed at the board. "Five stones in a row. I won."

"..." Cen Xia held it in again and again, but finally couldn't take it anymore. "Bro, that's how you win at five-in-a-row. This is Go!"

"Oh." Lu Mian gave a slow, low murmur, as if he'd only just found out.

He tilted his head, seemingly deep in thought. Cen Xia thought he was seriously considering where to play.

A few minutes later, he shook his head slightly and said, "I don't know how to play Go."

"..." Cen Xia wanted to smash the board over his head.