"Haha, Yanran, your little brother is really interesting. Why didn't you bring him out earlier to meet everyone?" Xu Zijing said with a smile.

"I would have liked to, but he was only recently brought back by my father," Qi Yanran replied.

Xu Zijing was somewhat confused. Recently brought back, could he be an illegitimate son of Qi Yanran's father?

"Don't overthink it!" Qi Yanran seemed to see Xu Zijing's meaning and explained: "He's the son of my father's sworn sister."

"So he's Uncle Qi's sworn sister's son. That means you're not blood siblings, not even blood cousins?" Xu Zijing understood. This relationship wasn't too complex and was easy to understand, but why did he say that last part?

"What does that matter? As long as I acknowledge him as my little brother, that's enough, regardless of blood relation," Qi Yanran said indifferently.

At this moment, Xiaoyao spoke up: "I say, sister, if you want to chat, go ahead and chat. I need to bathe and eat. I don't have much time, I still need to play Go..."

"You're playing Go?" Qi Yanran was somewhat confused. "Who are you playing Go with?"

Right, who are you playing Go with? Don't tell me you're playing Go with Chu Xinan!

...

Xiaoyao came out of this private room and said he needed to play Go, plus he had been missing for several days. Combining all this, Xu Zijing guessed a result he couldn't believe.

"Playing with some fool who claims to be Zhuge reincarnated. Takes half a day to think about each move, exhausting. Sigh, next time you couldn't pay me to play Go like this with anyone. Too boring. If it weren't for the ten thousand taels, I absolutely wouldn't do it..." Xiaoyao said irritably.

Silence. The entire scene became completely quiet, even breathing sounds disappeared. Now even if an embroidery needle dropped, everyone could hear it.

The fool claiming to be Zhuge reincarnated, this should be referring to Chu Xinan. Not mentioning other meanings in these words, if this was true, then it meant the person playing Go with Chu Xinan inside was this young man, Qi Yanran's little brother.

This seemed a bit too incredible!!

At the same time, judging from his tone, he even complained that Chu Xinan played Go too slowly. Go should naturally be played this way, how could those brilliant moves come without being slow?

Wait, if he said this, didn't it mean he never considered for such long periods when playing Go? That is to say, his Go-playing time was his thinking time.

Impossible. At this level of Go match, how could it be played so casually? Each of his moves should be carefully considered.

Most speechless was that he didn't seem to take this Go match, publicly recognized as the Go battle of the century, to heart. Moreover, he seemed to be doing something very trivial, even somewhat boring.

"Haha, you mean Chu Xinan, right? He's indeed a fool," Qi Yanran laughed. At this moment, only she still had a normal expression, others became very strange.

"Eh, Sister Yanran, you know Chu Xinan?" From the tone, Xiaoyao understood that Qi Yanran should know Chu Xinan.

"I know him, but not very well. We're all in the same circle," Qi Yanran replied. "By the way, how did you get involved with him? Also, you're not the one playing Go with him, are you?"

"Yes, I'm the one playing Go with him. Bored to death, he plays Go too slowly. Compared to Third Miss, he's far inferior," Xiaoyao replied. He had played Go with Third Miss Nangong. Her Go skills were definitely above Chu Xinan's and above his own too. However, his Go-playing speed was very fast, this wasn't something Third Miss could match.

Third Miss was much faster than Chu Xinan, but not as fast as Xiaoyao. Making decisions in an instant. Third Miss even suspected whether Xiaoyao was holding back against her, not playing Go seriously.

Actually, even if Xiaoyao played seriously, it wouldn't be much better. His thinking was naturally fast. Go matches had too many limitations. Without deep study, some things weren't as good as those who studied deeply, like Third Miss.

Xiaoyao knew too many things, basically skilled in everything, but to say he was invincible in everything was impossible!

"I'd like to meet those young ladies of yours sometime. Each one seems very interesting," Qi Yanran said. She occasionally heard Xiaoyao mention Guxing and the others, the two Nangong sisters were among them.

"They're indeed very interesting. I like them very much," Xiaoyao said. If Guxing and the others heard this, they would definitely be very happy, especially Guxing. What she pursued was actually just to gain Xiaoyao's praise.

"Um, can I interrupt you? I want to confirm, Yanran, is your little brother really the person having the Go match with Chu Xinan?" Xu Zijing asked. Though Xiaoyao had already said so, everyone still couldn't believe it.

Just as Xiaoyao was about to answer, someone appeared and said in surprise: "Who is Sister Yanran's little brother? Could it be this slow kid?"

This person was none other than Miss Xiaofeng who had recruited Xiaoyao. She seemed quite familiar with Qi Yanran too. That made sense, people in the same circle, and both women, would naturally be familiar.

"Sorry, that would be me," Xiaoyao said with a smile.

"You bastard! You're Sister Yanran's little brother, yet you pretended to be a slow kid and took my ten thousand taels! This is my pocket money saved by eating frugally. You're a fraud!!" Miss Xiaofeng was furious and wanted to pounce and bite him. Fortunately, Qi Yanran caught her.

Originally, this ten thousand taels didn't matter, take it if you take it. But Xiaoyao made her feel too detestable. Clearly he was also someone with money, yet he still cheated her money.

Qi Yanran's little brother was Shadow Moon Valley's young master. How could he lack money? Though she had never heard that Qi Yanran had a little brother or that Shadow Moon Valley had such a young master.

"I feel like I lost money on this ten thousand taels, wasting so many days of my time. If I casually went to do anything else, it would be worth more than ten thousand taels. You still have the nerve to mention this," Xiaoyao also got angry. Whatever he did, he could make money. Over so many days, he could definitely get ten thousand taels, and with much more freedom, not restricted here.

However, to others this sounded different, they felt Xiaoyao was taking advantage yet acting virtuous, actually taking Xiaofeng's ten thousand taels...

"You still say that! I'll bite you to death!" Miss Xiaofeng struggled, wanting to pounce and bite.

"How much per bite?" Xiaoyao asked.

"..."

At this point, everyone was speechless. This little brother of Qi Yanran's was really interesting, first time seeing someone who could anger Miss Xiaofeng to this extent.

"Alright, you two stop arguing. Tell us what exactly happened. Xiaofeng, how did you originally select Xiaoyao?" Xu Zijing was very curious about how they happened to select Xiaoyao.

"How would I know? They randomly selected him. This slow kid was eating something at the time, looking around with the appearance of a country bumpkin entering the city. We thought selecting him could better strike at Chu Xinan. Anyway, we could find anyone. Better to find someone a bit slow. But this kid was very cunning, wouldn't come with me no matter what. I was afraid of losing face, so I gave him ten thousand taels, and he immediately came wagging his tail..." Miss Xiaofeng looked at Xiaoyao, the resentment in her eyes very obvious.

"..."

Miss Xiaofeng's words also left everyone speechless. From these words, they could hear what Xiaoyao was like at the time, somewhat detestable.

"Give me back the money!" Thinking of Xiaoyao's current status, Xiaofeng wanted to get the money back.

"Not a chance. This ten thousand taels isn't even enough for my appearance fee. I'm considering whether to ask you for some additional hardship fee if I win this Go match," Xiaoyao directly refused and considered taking more money. For him, not taking any would make this trip very unprofitable.

"You little rascal, ten thousand taels isn't enough? Still want money?" Even Qi Yanran couldn't help smacking Xiaoyao.

"Of course it's not enough. My time is very precious. I've earned tens of millions in one night before," Xiaoyao said. He was stating facts, but no one believed him.

"Brag away. Was it tens of millions of copper coins?" Miss Xiaofeng said disdainfully.

"Too lazy to argue with you."

"Even tens of millions of copper coins would be a thousand taels of silver, quite a lot. How did you earn it?" Xu Zijing said with a smile, trying to smooth things over, not necessarily needing to know the details.

"Won it gambling," Xiaoyao replied casually.

"That's possible. Anything can happen in gambling. Right now people have set up betting on your match," Xu Zijing followed Xiaoyao's words.

"Ah, someone's taking bets? What are my odds?" Xiaoyao asked. If the odds were good, he'd place a bet.

"Your odds are very high, five to one..." Xu Zijing said, somewhat embarrassed to speak, because high odds meant others didn't favor him.

"Chu Xinan's odds are much higher than yours, he's two to one," Miss Xiaofeng said.

"Who among you is taking bets?" Xiaoyao ignored Miss Xiaofeng and shouted to the people below, because he believed whoever was running this betting would definitely have someone here.

"That's me," a middle-aged man stood up. This was public business with nothing to hide. Even if he offended Xiaoyao, he would still stand up.

It wasn't that he looked down on Xiaoyao. Xiaoyao was now Qi Yanran's little brother with extraordinary status. If he could choose, he wouldn't want to offend him.

"I'll bet ten thousand taels on myself winning. Is it still in time?" Xiaoyao asked.

"..."

No one expected Xiaoyao would bet on himself at this moment. Everyone thought he was displeased with the odds, not expecting this.

"Yes, as long as the outcome isn't decided and you're not betting on your opponent winning, there's no problem," the middle-aged man immediately said. As a participant in the betting, Xiaoyao could naturally only bet on himself winning, otherwise who knew if he might deliberately lose.

(End of Chapter)