The work of the Go master

"Okay, since that's the case... wait! This is just something you made up, isn't it? What does studying cooking have to do with chess?" Just as Harushima Shika was about to roll up her sleeves and get to work, she immediately realized that something was wrong.

Pshaw, they've actually gotten smarter and aren't falling for that anymore.

Could it be that when the chains on the dragon-locking pillar broke, they also taught her some cleverness?

Ke Zhiguang remained calm and composed: "Uh... you have to think of it this way. Many ninth-dan Go players, besides the way of Go, are also keen on studying tea ceremony and calligraphy, which shows that you need to have a side job to support your main job. Only in this way can they complement each other."

Based on my past life's impressions, there were indeed some chess players with good calligraphy skills, but whether this was related to their improved chess skills is unknown.

"Alright, alright, since you've begged so much, I'll agree to come and do the research with you. But you'll have to help me pack my luggage later," said Harushima Kashiwagi.

So the morning's culinary research began, which involved selecting a dish from a cookbook and then choosing ingredients from the refrigerator.

Harushima Kashima had originally planned to just give it a perfunctory answer, but the moment she received the recipe magazine, she suddenly became energetic and unconsciously devoted herself to studying the recipes, carefully planning the cooking methods and dishes.

So, as she continued her research, Ke Zhiguang started paddling around without her noticing.

A little while later, Ke Zhiguang had already gone to the living room to watch the morning news, while Qingdaolu was focused on preparing dishes in the kitchen, and the fragrant aroma of breakfast wafted over.

"Done! A Harishima-style breakfast!" Harishima Deer said proudly.

On the kitchen table, the glistening dishes shimmered and sparkled, as if they had special effects.

Miso soup, salmon, and tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet) as the main dish, along with sencha (a type of savory tea), officially signaling the show's transformation into a gourmet anime.

This is truly remarkable. It was made by someone who had never touched a kitchen utensil before. Their culinary talent is enough to make millions of housewives envious.

Perhaps this is the power of "The Soul of Cooking".

"Hmm, not bad, not bad, Auntie can really eat Masu." Ke Zhiguang made the sound of me starting to eat.

"Hmph, savor my deliciousness... Wait a minute! We agreed to study together, how come you disappeared halfway through the research!" Harushima Shika finally realized the problem.

"Mmm! This is really delicious, you should try it!" Ke Zhiguang immediately exclaimed in praise, which made Qingdaolu give up her idea of ​​criticizing him.

This tamagoyaki is really delicious.

Although this dish is theoretically an essential skill for every housewife, and it can be seen in the bento box segments of many anime series, in reality, the simpler the food, the more the final taste varies from person to person.

After all, theoretically anyone can make egg tarts, but not many people can actually make them taste like KFC.

"I feel like you're lying to me again..." Hearing Koji's praise, Shinohara Shika looked doubtful. Although she was very confident in her success, it was her first time cooking.

She took a bite of the tamagoyaki she had made, still somewhat skeptical—

My heart was pounding.

The pudding-like texture bounced in my mouth, and the tender taste melted away layer by layer, reaching the deepest part of my taste buds.

A rainbow of light, like a clear spring, rippled in her spiritual world, pink flowers bloomed behind her, and the word "delicious" flowed through the background.

In addition, there's the song "The Great Wall," a classic background music that's played almost every episode of "Cooking Master Boy." To put it simply... ding ding ding ding ding ding ding.

It seems that Journey to the West can also be written as the character "当".

"W-This is what I made?! What? Cooking is so simple! I used to think it was so difficult!" Harushima Kashima excitedly added more food.

Hmm, it seems they've already forgotten about Ke Zhiguang's halfway through and running away.

Moreover, judging from her absorbed and engrossed expression, Ke Zhiguang knew that he had successfully lured her into the world of cooking.

"Then I'll leave breakfast to you from now on. In return, you can use my kitchen," Ke Zhiguang said calmly.

"Yes, no problem!"

Plan worked! I successfully tricked her into cooking for me!

After breakfast, Ke Zhiguang came to her room to arrange the furniture.

Although she only had a few pieces of furniture in the women's dormitory, she brought several large suitcases with her when she moved here.

When I opened it, it was full of dolls, and each one looked more familiar than the last.

Hmm... it seems like I took it from the claw machine when I was standing downstairs at the women's dormitory that day.

However, this was only half of the total number of dolls; the other half remained in the girls' dormitory and was inherited by Xingcai.

By the way, the women's dormitory has now been renewed by Xingcai and Xingjia.

As the winning team of the Dragon Throne Battle, funding was of course not a problem. In addition to the original prize money, there were various interview fees, program appearance fees, and even the most basic salary increased significantly.

Logically speaking, Hoshino's vacation should have ended by now, and Lord Inugami should have called her back to work, but for some reason Inugami didn't give the order, so she simply stayed there and refused to leave.

Thinking about it this way, it's actually a bit chilling. After Xingcai came to school, she quickly took Baimeng's place and became the leader of the club. After coming to the girls' dormitory, she quickly became the new owner of the room. If you really want to talk about it, after she joined the TV station, she seems to have squeezed out Miss Lizi's place and became the new generation of professional female commentator. What... what kind of constitution does she have? Professional home raider?

"By the way, why did you move out? Wouldn't it be better to live with everyone?" Ke Zhiguang suddenly asked.

“Hmm… it’s not a question of whether it’s good or bad to live here…” Harushima Shika thought for a moment.

She put down what she was doing and said solemnly, "If I had to say, I would say I want to prove my ability, my ability to stand on my own."

"Prove it to your mother?"

“Yes, that’s right, especially to prove it to Mom.” Harushima Shika nodded.

"You're already the number one female figure in the true world of martial arts, isn't that enough proof?" Ke Zhiguang asked.

"Tch, what's the point of proving this to her? She doesn't care about any of that. She told me that until I'm capable of standing on my own, she'll treat me like a child, no matter how much I achieve," Harujima Shika snorted. "So, I'm going to move out on my own. I have to prove to her that I'm capable of living independently!"

That makes Ke Zhiguang quite emotional.

Although she said she was trying to prove something to her mother, Ke Zhiguang always felt that she was trying to prove something to her father.

Since the father is no longer here, proving something to him is equivalent to proving something to oneself, and proving something to oneself is often more important than proving something to others.

Ke Zhiguang suddenly remembered an interview with a well-known writer in Jump magazine. The writer said that in shonen manga, the word "mother" is often the opposite of "adventure." The specific reason is not "with parents alive, one should not travel far," but rather that mothers would not let their children travel far.

Therefore, most authors chose to kill off the mother so that the child could embark on the adventure smoothly, and incidentally, the mother could become a powerful tool for the protagonist when he was emotionally vulnerable... What a ruthless yet delightful reason!

Thinking about it this way, if the protagonist were a woman, the father would probably have to lie in his grave and become a tool for his daughter to gain power later on.

Ke Zhiguang continued to work diligently, placing one small and exquisite tool after another on his desk.

At that moment, Kata suddenly sidled up to Ke Zhiguang's feet.

Ke Zhiguang happily plucked the dog's head a few times.

Suddenly I remembered that there was a Border Collie breeding pass lying in my little drawer, which I had obtained from a Sunny Island deer during the Nova Wars.

Perfect timing! Now's the time to finally fulfill my long-held dream of raising a Border Collie.

While I certainly don't have to worry about buying a dog given my current financial situation, well... as we all know, free things are often more enjoyable to use.

After rubbing against Ke Zhiguang's leg, Kata quickly ran to a box in a corner and started barking at Ke Zhiguang.

"Is this box for me to pack the things in?" Ke Zhiguang walked over, his first thought being that the box contained his toys.

With a ripping sound, the seal on the cardboard box was torn open—

Hmm... that's really something.

If I'm not mistaken, the white, delicate thing in this cardboard box, with embroidered piping and printed with Hello Kitty and various animal patterns, looks like...

This thing can actually fill a whole box!

This is quite thought-provoking. It suddenly reminded Ke Zhiguang of some marketing accounts he had read before, which talked about Japanese little joys. One of them was to buy enough underwear and stuff it neatly into a small drawer to achieve a feeling of fullness and satisfaction. So this is true.

"Ahhh! Don't touch that box!" Harushima Deer suddenly flew over.

"Uh... cough cough, Kata, you, why don't you learn something good, but instead learn this!" Ke Zhiguang immediately began to lecture it righteously.

"Heh heh, don't even think about shifting the blame!"

"To be honest, you told it to open the door, so I think it's only reasonable for me to teach it a lesson..."

The early morning passed by happily, with tiny particles floating in the morning light and the air filled with the pleasant scent unique to a girl's room.

After everything was settled by noon, Ke Zhiguang leisurely tidied his clothes and headed to the chess academy.

It feels so good to voluntarily go to work at noon.

The foreshadowing in Chapter Two has been buried for way too long!

After many days, Ke Zhiguang finally stood in front of the chess academy gate again.

The chess academy remains peaceful today.

Every year from June to August is the time for the professional ranking tournament. Full of vigor, the newcomers will put on their newly ordered suits, step into the gates of the Go Academy, and engage in this battle to leap over the dragon gate.

This period is also the most leisurely time for chess players. Their competition schedules are blank, and they can go to nightclubs or late-night food stalls as they please.

Those still in the chess academy are mostly middle-aged and elderly people, as well as energetic young people eager to show themselves.

Inside the central courtyard of the chess academy, the bamboo tube used for adding water emitted a Zen-like sound. Although the air conditioning was not on, the room remained cool, as if the entire chess academy was protected by an unknown force.

Yamaoka sat in front of a Go board, patiently reviewing and explaining the game to a player opposite him who had just reached the first dan level.

Time has passed, and he is now a senior. His rank has risen from the initial second dan to the current fourth dan, making him one of the fastest-rising newcomers in his cohort.

After the debriefing session ended, the junior colleague opposite him nodded politely in respect before leaving, and Yamaoka smiled with satisfaction.

Narita Shunji leaned against the side and said, "Yasuhiro, it's hard to believe you've become a senior already."

Yamaoka nodded modestly and cheerfully: "Haha, not at all. Compared to you two seniors, I am still far behind and have a lot to learn."

"Speaking of which, it's so comfortable to get paid just by lying down. I really hope this kind of life can continue forever," Sasahara Noriyuki sighed, swaying his hips as he looked out the window at the scenery.

“Yeah, yeah, he spends his days loafing around at the Go academy, and then he can have fun with the girls at the shop at night.” Narita Shunji nodded in agreement.

"Hey! At least give me a compliment, you two! I just said you need to learn a lot!" Yamaoka complained.

The days after the great battle were so pleasant. After returning from the Dragon Throne battle, everyone felt a sense of accomplishment, like the end of final exams. Every day afterward was dedicated to creating wonderful memories.

It's so hot right now, and everyone's pretty low on energy, so why not just get together and chat a bit, and show off a bit in front of the cute newbies? What's not to like?

After resting quietly in the cool air for a long time, Narita Shunji suddenly spoke up: "Speaking of which, the Castle Go Tournament is in four months."

“Yes, it’s something we have no connection with, so we can just treat it as something to watch,” said Noriyuki Sasahara.

The wind howled and the leaves rustled, like a distant prelude to the approaching army.

When the Imperial Chess Tournament begins, the warm breeze will turn into a cold one, the sunshine will not be as bright as it is today, and it might even snow.

This year is a very special year, with the Grandmaster Tournament, Dragon Throne Tournament, and Imperial Castle Tournament all happening at the same time, making it a year of celebration. Prize money is pouring in like rain, and the air is filled with the scent of capital.

The title fights don't have fixed dates; they're all held whenever the higher-ups decide.