Chapter 72: Go
The thunder-like applause didn"t fade for a long time.
Everyone had been captivated by the music before they knew it.
No one brought up the fact that the youngest miss of the Xiao family was a fool again. They seemed to have already forgotten the fact that the woman walking offstage was once a fool.
Tears streamed down Old Madame Xiao"s face. She could barely believe her eyes, her ears.
But everything was real.
Her granddaughter who had been dormant these past fifteen years actually had such skill at the guqin.
Perhaps these past fifteen years, she had been faking this. She had actually been aware of everything…
Hua Ruxue"s eyes also lit up and she started examining Xiao Susu carefully. She hadn"t expected for the Xiao family to have such an outstanding descendant. It seemed that she had been too careless.
However, it wasn"t a must for her to get rid of the Xiao family. As long as there was use for the Xiao family, she wouldn"t let them go.
Currently, the south boundary wasn"t completely at peace and the relationship between the three nations was becoming increasingly complicated. Everyone was trying to get the Lei Clan Stronghold and the nation of great Yan on their side.
They say that the emperor of great Yan has always appreciated talented and beautiful women…
Then Xiao Susu was a very good candidate.
She watched Xiao Susu sit back down and nodded in satisfaction.
The guqin compet.i.tion went on for an entire day, but the people remained very enthusiastic. However, no applause contained as much intensity as the time that Xiao Susu went onstage.
Everyone that went onstage afterwards was compared to Xiao Susu and was only criticized.
When the sky darkened, the emperor left but the imperial guards stayed. However, Xiao Mi left as well since she had to stay by Hua Ruxue"s side to protect her.
After all, all three nations were gathered. Each side tended to exploit opportunities like this, so they had to be very careful.
“My dear minister Xiao, that young girl truly has the same manner you used to have,” remarked Hua Ruxue as they headed back to the palace.
Lei Yufeng who had left with them sized up Xiao Mi. This person was already over fifty, but her imposing aura hadn"t diminished in the slightest. He had heard of this valiant female general but he had never interacted with the rumored Xiao family before.
Even now, he still felt like there was something familiar about Xiao Susu.
“Many thanks for Your Majesty"s praise.” Xiao Mi"s expression remained unchanged.
“I"m looking forward to tomorrow!” Lei Yufeng smiled. He also had a high opinion of Xiao Susu. Her aura was strong enough to suppress everyone just by standing there.
Even if she didn"t do anything, she was capable of attracting everyone"s line of sight.
Xiao Mi didn"t say anything. She suddenly had a feeling that Xiao Susu"s performance today had dealt Baili Mo a hard slap. However, this also attracted a lot of unnecessary trouble.
She had served Hua Ruxue for many years, so she was clear on her current intentions.
However, it seemed too late to do anything about it.
Xiao Susu wasn"t very interested in this event, so after she finished performing, she left with Xiao En. Currently, they were sitting in the pavilion of the main courtyard and chatting over wine.
“Tomorrow"s topic is Go. Little Sis, do you have confidence?” Xiao En only had admiration left for this younger sister of his. That guqin skill wasn"t something that could be trained in one night.
He couldn"t understand how this girl had managed to do it.
After tilting the fruit wine back, Xiao Susu slapped the cup down. “Big Brother, don"t worry. I won"t shame the Xiao family.”
She gazed towards the horizon. Go… It"s been a long time since she has touched the board. However, when she was little, her only pastime with her mother was playing Go. It had always been enjoyable to them.
Xiao En no longer knew how to evaluate Xiao Susu. Her performance today had given him a huge shock and he was certain that she would continue to bring him pleasant surprises.
The next day, the Jasper Flower Banquet continued.
The emperor, two princes, and Lei Yufeng were still present.
The order of performances didn"t change. Not long after Xiao En got off stage, it was Xiao Susu"s turn. Of the ten sets of Go on stage, Xiao En was the only one who had managed to solve one. The other nine were still unsolved.
They were all dead piece scenarios that no one in history had been able to solve.
Even the emperor hadn"t been able to solve these problems.
There were many lovers of Go that dedicated their lives to studying these plays, but they had never made much progress. The set that Xiao En had solved would now help open the way.
It caused all the young men and women below the stage to cheer.
Xiao En truly did not disappoint.
It caused the Xiao family to once again become the focal point of Cloud City.
Lei Yufeng and Hua Ruxue were currently talking but both of them kept their eyes on the Xiao family.
Xiao Susu"s skills had suppress the entire stage yesterday, so what kind of shock would she bring today? A lot of people were looking forward to it.
Even Hua Ruxue was curious about Xiao Susu"s performance today.
Her guqin skill had been superior to all the people present, but that wasn"t hard to achieve with hard work.
However, Go tested true knowledge.
In all the previous years of the Jasper Flower Banquet, no one had managed to obtain points from the Go compet.i.tion.
Xiao Susu walked up to the white jade stage in the middle of this silence.
Today, she had changed into a white dress. However, her sleeves were decorated with a ring of orchid flowers of the same color. Her slender waist was made apparent by this garment and her hair was held up with a single jasper hairpin while the rest of her hair fell casually over her shoulders. Every single movement was dignified and fitting. Her confident face was beautiful to the point it seemed like she didn"t partake in the food of the mortals.
She once again suppressed all the other young men and women present.
When she got to the first set of Go, she just glanced over the setup quietly without a change in expression.
However, since her head was slightly lowered, no one saw the smile that flashed through her eyes.
In reality, she had been able to see the general placement of all ten sets from the moment she walked up. Other than the one that Xiao En had just solved, she was very familiar with the rest.
She and her mother had often competed on who could solve a Go board the fastest…
So these ten sets were just child"s play to her.
After lightly setting down a few pieces, she had already managed to easily undo the first deadlock.
Originally, she had planned to just stop there. However, when she looked up, it was right in time to meet Baili Mo"s gaze. His eyes seemed to contain contempt.
Indeed, Baili Mo still felt contempt. Victory wasn"t certain until the last moment.
Even if she had been able to shock everyone with a single song yesterday, it still didn"t mean much.
He refused to believe that a person who had been a fool for fifteen years could wake up knowing everything.
He did appreciate the current Xiao Susu, but he didn"t believe that she was truly capable of solving the deadlock plays that had stumped the south boundary for hundreds of thousands of years.
That glance made Xiao Susu change her mind. She smiled faintly as she walked to the second set and shifted the pieces with a few lifts and lowerings of her hand. Then she walked to the third set…
Below the stage, there came numerous gasps.
“Do you think that she"ll be able to solve all of them?” Baili Mo was finally unsettled and looked towards Nangong Mo.
Nangong Mo shook his head. “No one has ever been able to solve these ten sets. This little girl is probably… just pretending to know what she"s doing. However, Xiao En is actually quite impressive. He actually managed to solve one.”
In their free time during leisurely gatherings, they"d often use these ten sets as entertainment.
However, no one has ever solved even single one.
At this time, Xiao Susu had already walked past the tenth set. Lei Yufeng also shook his head. “Does this girl want to make a fool of herself today? She"s trying all ten sets?”
“She doesn"t seem to be just looking.” Hua Ruxue"s brows were slightly furrowed as well. She was finding this girl more and more difficult to read.
“She did place pieces in every set.” Lei Yufeng rubbed his chin contemplatively.
A fool could wake up and turn out to be so brilliant?
This was unbelievable.
Who in the world would believe?
However, he had witnessed it himself today.
Xiao Susu was a fool and had been intellectually disabled for fifteen entire years. Everyone in Cloud City knew this.
As Xiao Susu slowly walked off the white jade stage, her manner was unperturbed as always. However, the elderly ministers who had gathered around the boards were dumbfounded. All ten sets that were called the most difficult deadlocks in the south boundary had all been solved…
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira"s Corner]
If I went up on that stage, me"d walk slowly past all the boards, then smile helplessly while smoothly walking off stage without a pause. It"s important to recognize your own limits and fail gracefully. Xp
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