Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 600 IF Side Story: Assuming Lu Mingfei is a Go prodigy (Part 1)

(Suddenly back to everyday life, I'm having trouble finding my rhythm in writing slice-of-life stories. Let me warm up with an "what if" side story about my senior sister.)
one.
I have never missed the past so much.

two.
Luzhou City has a long-standing Go culture, which is not only related to the city's Go tradition, but also thanks to the "Baidi Go Academy," a Go training institution in Luzhou City, which has produced a current national Go champion.

When Lu Mingfei was pulled out from a mountain of journals and documents, the regiment's television was rebroadcasting an interview with the newly crowned world Go champion, Chu Zihang.

Lu Mingfei glanced at the TV, pushed up his glasses, and rolled his bloodshot eyes at the newcomer with dark circles under his eyes: "Senior Sister Nuonuo, this is the Literature Department. The Go Department should be two doors down. You've come to the wrong door."

The girl's face was gloomy, and her charming eyes, hidden beneath her bangs, glared resentfully, adding a touch of fierce and valiant spirit to her beauty.

She said through gritted teeth, "How many times have I told you? My name is Chen Motong now, not Nuonuo."

"Oh, really? When did you change your name, Senior Sister? Why didn't you tell me?"

"?"

"Don't push my information, I was wrong, I was wrong."

Seeing the girl's expressionless hand on her book, Lu Mingfei quickly covered the pile of books in front of him with his hand: "But to be honest, I think the name 'Mo Tong' is too common. There are more than a dozen girls in our grade named Yu Mo Yu Tong. It would be better to call her Nuo Nuo, which would be more catchy."

"Crash..." That was the sound of the book falling over.

Chen Nuonuo—oh no, she's now known as Chen Motong—is actually quite miserable.

Her parents, who were Go enthusiasts, originally named her Chen Luoluo. The name Luoluo, though a bit uncommon, is still a girl's name, and it's a poetic phrase they can use to explain the origin of her name when asked.

Who would have thought that the staff member in charge of registering the household registration was old, hard of hearing, didn't hear clearly, and didn't ask if it was a boy or a girl, and directly registered it as "Chen Nuonuo".

When Nuonuo was in kindergarten, he didn't think there was anything wrong. Children's speech isn't always clear, and Chen Luoluo and Chen Nuonuo both pronounced the same sound. It wasn't until he enrolled in a Go (Weiqi) class in elementary school that Lu Mingfei, Nuonuo's Go partner who was a year younger than him, saw her name on the roster and exclaimed, "Hey, your name is Nuonuo? Aren't you a girl?"

The names on the elementary school roster are based on the household registration book. Nuonuo's parents negotiated with the teacher to make corrections, but to no avail. Unable to bear their daughter's crying and tantrums at home, they had no choice but to take her to the household registration office to change her name.

Information systems were not as developed back then, unlike today's nationwide networks, so changing a name was a huge undertaking. By the time the couple and their daughter had completed all the necessary paperwork, Nuonuo had already been carrying the name Nuonuo for three years.

When it came time to change her name, Nuonuo, who was about to enter the fourth grade, felt that the name Luoluo was too common. Since she was going to change it anyway, she might as well choose a better-sounding name. After some discussion, she chose the name Motong and submitted it.

From then on, Chen Nuonuo officially changed her name to Chen Motong. However, to Chen Motong's surprise, Lu Mingfei, who had been in the same Go class as her, ended up attending the same junior high school.

On the first day of the second year of junior high school, when she met Lu Mingfei at the school gate as a member of the student council's welcoming team, Lu Mingfei looked at the name tag on her chest and brought up her embarrassing past: "Hey, Chen Motong? Aren't you called Chen Nuonuo?"

What Chen Motong didn't expect was that the parents of the post-00s generation all had the same idea and named their daughters Mo and Tong, which became an unbearable lightness of being for her.

Chen Motong, her face cold, pulled the boy out of the collapsed mountain of books. Lu Mingfei looked at the culprit who had kicked over the documents and said sadly, "Senior sister, are you just incompatible with the school magazine materials that I spent five whole days organizing?"

The thing that clashes with my birth chart isn't the school magazine materials, it's you.

Chen Motong crossed his arms, not saying what was on his mind: "The school's Go club was challenged by the No. 1 Middle School in the neighboring city."

Lu Mingfei buried his head in a pile of books, searching for information, and said innocently, "If someone is challenging me, go find a senior in the department. I'm not in the Go department, so why are you looking for me?"

"Who would come to you if they could find a senior student?" Chen Motong sighed. "The other side came to challenge us a few days ago. The team's goalkeeper lost a round, and the team leader also lost. Only you can hold the fort."

"No, we're not going. So what if we lose? Our school's Go club used to challenge the No. 1 High School all the time. Now that a master has come to No. 1 High School, it's only natural that they'd like to challenge you back."

"But this concerns the appointment of the head of the Municipal Central Credit Cooperative. If we lose again today, the head of the Municipal Central Credit Cooperative will go to No. 1 Middle School."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Really not going?" Chen Motong narrowed his eyes.

"I really'm not going." Lu Mingfei shook his head firmly.

"Then I'm going to expose your secret to the public."

"……Depend on!"

three.
With the rapid development of internet technology today, Go players generally arrange to play online, except in special circumstances. Currently, the most popular online Go platforms in China are FoxGo and Yicheng. Yicheng was established earlier, and Go enthusiasts in Luzhou City are generally accustomed to using Yicheng.

Chen Motong logged into her Yicheng account on the literature club's computer and searched for the room number where she had challenged the other player. The game inside the room had already entered the endgame.

The Go club president, playing black, displayed clear thinking and a steady approach, preparing to build a large group of stones in the early opening stages. White's style was completely opposite. Facing black's large group, white's attacks were relentless and unpredictable, responding to every move with lightning speed. Before black's large group could even take shape, white effectively stifled it in the middle of the board.

"Waaaaah, Junior Sister Chen, I got killed so badly." Upon seeing Chen Motong's account enter the room, the head of the Go club, who had just lost a game, sent a message in the room's public chat room.

"Don't shout, it's embarrassing," Chen Motong replied.

"If I remember correctly, your minister is an amateur fourth dan, right? Who is this opponent? How did they manage to break your minister's mentality?" Lu Mingfei whispered among himself.

Chen Motong shook his head: "I don't know. No one in our club has ever seen the opposing player. We've only heard that he's a transfer student."

"A transfer student?" Lu Mingfei clicked his tongue. There's such a master in Luzhou City? Never heard of him. "Could he be a professional Go player?"

Amateur ranks are divided into kyu (kyu) and dan (dan). Kyu is the lowest and 1 kyu is the highest. Above 1 kyu is amateur dan. Amateur 5 dan is basically the highest rank that most amateur players can aspire to. Amateur 6 dan and amateur 7 dan players have a level equivalent to mid-to-low-level professional players, or they are retired professional players.

The Go club president's amateur fourth dan level is already considered quite high among Go enthusiasts. The opposing player's level was clearly one or two dan higher than the Go club president's, leading Lu Mingfei to speculate that they were a professional player.

"Why don't you go and test their skill level?"

"Even if they were real professional players, I might not be able to beat them."

"It's best if you don't get out of here, let's shut you up and curb your arrogance." Chen Motong stood up and made way for Lu Mingfei with practiced ease.

Lu Mingfei sat down and typed in the public chat room: "I want to give it a try."

"QAQ Junior Sister, are you trying to avenge me?" the Go club president, whose mentality had been shattered by the defeat, said.

Lu Mingfei turned to look at Chen Motong and, at the other's instruction, replied, "Shut up."

The head of the Go club silently left his playing position. A user with the ID "Green Bean Ice Cake" asked in the public chat, "Do you want to play black or white?"

"Green Bean Ice Cake" was the opposing player's ID on the online Go platform, Yicheng. Next to the ID was her Yicheng rank of 8-dan, indicating she was at least an amateur 5-dan level player. Incidentally, Chen Motong's ID was "It's Chen Luoluo," and her Yicheng rank was 6-dan, many of her wins having been boosted by Lu Mingfei. Lu Mingfei replied as he entered the game, "Let's play white, I prefer to go second."

In modern Go, the player with the black pieces moves first, giving them a significant advantage. During a game, the player with the first move controls the game's progression, forcing the opponent to respond to each move.

When someone proactively requests to play white, others might assume it's because they feel the opponent is weaker and are deliberately being modest. However, Chen Motong, who has played Go with Lu Mingfei since childhood, knows that Lu Mingfei is actually more skilled with white. His request to play white demonstrates that he also recognizes his opponent as a formidable opponent.

Online Go games are generally 10-minute rapid games by default, with each player having 10 minutes available. After the allotted time expires, a 30-second countdown begins, during which players must decide their next move. Players can exceed the time limit three times; exceeding the time limit more than three times will result in an automatic loss.

Green Bean Cake, playing black, made the first move, choosing a common star point. After a short period of thought, Lu Mingfei responded with a corner approach. Without much deliberation, his opponent immediately countered with a pincer attack.

Both players seemed confident in their moves, and in the opening moves, neither hesitated for long before placing their pieces. The game progressed from a tangled struggle between black and white in the upper right corner to a protracted struggle that led to the center of the board.

Unlike most chess players who stick to fixed patterns, Lu Mingfei's moves were unconventional and flexible, favoring offense over defense. Before anyone knew it, Lu Mingfei's white pieces had already fallen into the heart of Black's territory.

The members of the Go club were unaware that Chen Motong's account was backed by a professional player. They only felt that the opposing player was coming on strong and that it was no surprise that Chen Motong, playing white, would be at a huge disadvantage. They had already prepared their own comforting thoughts.

Chen Motong stood to the side, her gaze fixed on Lu Mingfei. The boy bit his thumbnail, his eyes, surrounded by dark circles, were tightly fixed on the computer screen.

Lu Mingfei can play Go, but few people in the school know that he can. Only Chen Motong knows about his little gestures when he is seriously playing Go, just like only Lu Mingfei knows that she used to be called Chen Nuonuo.

With meticulous thinking, Lu Mingfei calmly set up his encirclement. After a minute of deliberation, Lu Mingfei's white piece chose to directly attack the corner.

"Directly target the corner?"

White's move caused quite a stir in the public chat room, with spectators starting to discuss it.

The first few moves by White were a standard, light and agile move. Black's subsequent jump was both a search for the root and a necessary encirclement. But in the blink of an eye, White managed to occupy a large area and defend the corner, while Lu Mingfei completely abandoned a small group of White stones in Black's heartland.

"Junior Sister Chen is trying to avoid playing first," the head of the Go club explained in the public chat.

"Playing outside the first move" is a classic technique in Go. In order to seize the initiative in the overall game, players often sacrifice some local interests and use this technique to gain greater benefits at the overall level.

Green Bean Ice Cream clearly saw through Lu Mingfei's intentions, and instead of falling into the trap, Black made a move to a key position, preparing for a big capture. Lu Mingfei remained composed, and White made a series of close maneuvers, and after a few moves, he actually seized another large area.

The spectators gasped in unison. Although White had lost a large number of stones, it had successfully escaped twice and encircled the fifth line in the lower left corner. Although it was still at a disadvantage, its position had become more active.

The mung bean cake player was clearly panicking. Although she still held the advantage on the field, she had lost the initiative. From initially making moves without hesitation, to gradually needing to think things through, and now having to ponder every move for a long time.

The 10-minute time limit quickly expired, and the 30-second countdown began. Pressed by time, Green Bean Ice Cream had no time to carefully assess the situation and opted for the most aggressive move in the battle below.

The more anxious Black became, the more composed White became, charging recklessly and dodging skillfully. By the time Black discovered White's trap, the large Black group had already been cut in two within White's thick walls, making a complete retreat impossible. Caught between two equally difficult situations, Black had no choice but to cut off its tail to survive, and Lu Mingfei caught up in the score.

The next few dozen moves were more like routine, and finally, after the big dragon in the lower right corner was killed, Green Bean Ice Cake resigned in disappointment.

Four.
The chat in the game room was buzzing with excitement.

"To be fair, Shilan Middle School's Go Club is better than No. 1 Middle School's Go Club."

"Those two hands off the ground were so cool!"

"Senior sister, you're awesome!"

"We won!" Although he stubbornly said he hoped Lu Mingfei would lose, Chen Motong couldn't help but cheer with joy when he saw Lu Dou Bing Gao surrender.

"No, actually I lost."

The young man who was playing chess behind the computer screen snapped out of his frenzy and turned around, only to meet the girl's lingering gaze.

The moment their eyes met, the girl's heart skipped a beat. The next second, she subtly looked away, turning her gaze to the chessboard on the computer to change the subject: "Why? Didn't the opponent concede?"

Lu Mingfei shook his head: "The opponent originally had a big advantage but was reversed. They were too nervous and couldn't withstand the pressure, so they surrendered. If they had played a few more moves, they would have found that they could save their big group by making two consecutive moves on the right side. My disadvantage was too great in the beginning. Even if I killed the big group, I would definitely lose in the later stages."

"The opponent is indeed a master."

Just as Lu Mingfei and Chen Motong were whispering in the literature club, a wail erupted in the No. 1 Middle School Go club. The members all looked like they had lost their parents, while on the other side of the screen, the player "Green Bean Ice Cream" was also filled with regret.

Despite holding a significant advantage in the early stages, the opponent repeatedly turned the tide, even managing to capture a large group of stones in the lower right corner. Overwhelmed by frustration, the player ultimately chose to surrender. However, after resigning, the player carefully reviewed the board and realized there was still a great chance of a comeback.

It would be fine if she lost to her opponent due to superior skill, but she lost because of her own mindset. In terms of pure skill, she felt that her skill level was no weaker than her opponent's.

And the opponent's account was only a sixth-dan player on Yicheng! Their win rate... was only 48.9%, less than 50%. It was definitely just pure luck!

Although... mindset is also part of strength.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She clicked on the other person's profile picture and typed in the private chat box: "Hello, are you there?"

Just as Lu Mingfei was about to get up and give up his seat, the beeping notification sound of a private chat suddenly rang out, and the avatar of "Green Bean Ice Cake" vibrated on the screen.

Clicking on it immediately brought up a private chat window.

Lu Mingfei looked at the message, frowned, and typed, "Yes, what's up?"

"You're really good at Go! Are you in the Go club at Shilan High School?"

"That's right, I'm the Go player from Shilan Middle School... a professional player!" Lu Mingfei glanced back at Chen Motong furtively and replied guiltily, "Yes."

There shouldn't be any problem with my reply. Even if the other party gets suspicious and investigates, they can only find that the account is registered under the real name of Chen Motong.

"You're amazing! You turned around such a big advantage I had earlier." Green Bean Ice Cream typed out her prepared draft, word by word: "If you have time, could you please help me review the game and see where I went wrong?"

Lu Mingfei didn't suspect anything: "Sure."

“Then it’s settled!” Green Bean Ice Cake typed quickly on the keyboard, afraid that the other party would change their mind: “I’ll be waiting for you at the No. 1 Middle School Go Club this Friday afternoon after school.”

"what?"

……

(End of this chapter)