Chapter 4: Doubts

"The jade elm and catalpa are everywhere, and the bamboos on the eaves rustle in the rain."
Hearing Li Xiangping's elegant words, Miss Xiuqin was stunned at first, then she smiled:
"Mr. Li is very talented. All right, we will set sail now as you ordered. I will take you two gentlemen to appreciate this place where the Six Dynasties gathered together."
"Actually, I'm better at the routine of 'two little bees flying into the flowers'."
Li Xiangping looked at the beauty in front of him with a smile, but these words came to his mind.
He thought to himself, "Why are you pretending to be so nice to me? I just read this poem on purpose because I saw something strange about your pleasure boat and the chessboard I didn't know where it came from."
Pretend! You keep pretending here. What I just read was just a common poem by Du Fu from the Tang Dynasty, and there are these two lines on the chessboard. If I hadn't seen these two lines, how would I have thought that this was the chessboard used by "Dang Hu"?
Since you dare to call yourself an embroiderer and put such a strange chessboard in such a conspicuous place, how could you not know this poem?
Thinking of this, Li Xiangping secretly winked at Zhao Daokai. As close friends who grew up together, Zhao Daokai understood what she meant. Then the two of them acted as if nothing had happened and treated today as an ordinary drinking event, preparing to deal patiently with the beauties on the boat.
The pleasure boat began to sail on the Qinhuai River. Because he was thinking about the chessboard, Li Xiangping was a little absent-minded while touring. Looking at the scenery on both sides of the river, he said to Zhao Daokai:

"It's strange. I think the scenery in this area is just average, nothing special. Why is it so famous?"
Hearing Li Xiangping's question, Zhao Daokai, who had been in Jinling for some time, smiled and said:
"You don't understand this, right? The reason why the entertainment industry along the Qinhuai River was so developed in ancient times was purely because of its good location. Look..." Zhao Daokai pointed to a place on the shore:
"That place is the former Jiangnan Imperial Examination Hall. Every year, 20,000 to 30,000 people come here to take the imperial examination. Just think about it, Xiangping, 20,000 to 30,000 people, and they are all scholars with spending power and who like to pursue a certain lifestyle, so the demand is absolutely huge."
Li Xiangping smiled: "So that's how it is."
Zhao Daokai nodded. "A group of business-minded mamas have long recognized and know that this is a very promising industry. So they vigorously trained their 'daughters' to play the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, etc., in order to attract scholars from the south of the Yangtze River and candidates who came to the Imperial College to take the imperial examinations. Over time, this area became a famous red-light district in the Ming and Qing dynasties, leaving behind so many moving legends and erotic stories. Well, if you don't have enough energy, you can't visit it all."
Li Xiangping agreed with a smile: "Yes, yes, not only do I not have enough energy to visit all of them, but I heard that in ancient times, it was not enough to just be rich to visit a brothel. You also had to have some culture. Only those so-called literati and poets were the most popular. Is that right ?"
"That's right, that's right." Zhao Daokai and Li Xiangping sang in unison:
"Those famous prostitutes along the Qinhuai River back then had long since gotten rid of the low taste of selling their bodies. They preferred not to wear makeup, and sometimes they were too lazy to even put on makeup, and just met customers without makeup. They did not pursue revealing or gorgeous clothes, but mainly elegant and simple. Hey! It was precisely this kind of homely dress that won the favor of customers. The more famous prostitutes could please the literati, the easier it was for them to become famous and become the top star. The literati liked nothing more than cultural entertainment, reading poems and writing essays, playing the piano and painting. Therefore, the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai and the Five Wonders of Qinhuai that you just mentioned were basically all above the cultural level of female intellectuals. If they were lower, they would not be able to communicate or have fun at all."
Li Xiangping nodded, "That's right. Ma Xianglan is the top star among the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai because she is good at painting orchids, calligraphy, and writing lyrics. Gu Hengbo published a collection of poems and lyrics, which is not inferior to those ladies. Dong Xiaowan is also very educated. When Mao Pijiang wrote a book, she would check and copy it, and carefully discuss it. Liu Rushi is even more amazing. She is good at both poetry and lyrics, and often makes Qian Qianyi, the leader of the literary world in the early Qing Dynasty, feel ashamed. She also has a good foundation in literature and history. When Qian Qianyi made mistakes in his historical writing, she could point them out dialectically. Therefore, Qian jokingly called her "Liu Rushi". So if you want to make a name for yourself on the banks of the Qinhuai River in the past, you absolutely cannot do it without some ability and personality. Take the young models and internet celebrities now for example. If they were asked to travel back to the banks of the Qinhuai River in the past to make a living, I guess many of them would not be able to adapt."
Zhao Daokai laughed loudly: "That's not necessarily true. If modern people travel back in time, they will definitely bring back the set of heaven and earth. Xiangping, do you dare to say that those ancient literati and poets would definitely not like the set of heavy makeup and black stockings?"
The two chatted while paying attention to the beauty who was accompanying them. They talked so much, and to put it bluntly, they just wanted to test the reaction of the girl who played the zither, so as to judge where she came from.
It's a pity that all their efforts were in vain. While the two were talking, the beautiful woman named Xiuqin was there to keep them company, but she hardly spoke the whole time. She just smiled at them - it was a very professional, flawless smile that made people wonder what she was thinking, and it was even more impossible to tell her true nature from her expression.
Seeing that all the attempts were ineffective, Li Xiangping and Zhao Daokai looked at each other again, and then nodded at the same time, knowing that if they wanted to find out the details of this person, they might have to play Go in the end. At this time, the rain outside was getting heavier, so everyone took the opportunity to leave the deck and return to the pleasure boat.
It was Zhao Daokai who lost his temper first. After returning to the room, he didn't beat around the bush. He pointed at the chess set that looked like an antique and said to the beautiful lady named Xiuqin casually:
"Since the beauty's name is Xiuqin, and there is a set of Go here, I guess you know how to play Go?"
Regarding this question, the ancient costume beauty named Xiuqin did not hide it. She smiled at Zhao Daokai:
"A little bit. I learned it for a while, a long time ago."
"Wow! A beautiful lady can actually play Go. There are n't many beautiful ladies who can play Go these days. How good is Miss Xiuqin? Hehe, what a coincidence. Let me tell you something. This brother of mine is a Go master..."
Zhao Daokai pointed at Li Xiangping and pretended to be very interested: "He has also practiced regular martial arts since he was a child. It's a standard boy's skill. I happened to meet him today. How about you two play a game?"
"Oh?" Xiuqin turned her gaze to Li Xiangping. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because she felt good about herself, but Li Xiangping always thought that the way this beautiful woman looked at her was a little strange:

"So Mr. Li has received formal training. That won't do. With my level, I definitely can't beat Mr. Li."
Although the beauty spoke very politely and there was nothing wrong with her attitude, Li Xiangping felt a little embarrassed.
It is true that Li Xiangping has been practicing Go since childhood. With his near-professional level, he can certainly be considered an expert among ordinary people. However, it is precisely because he has been practicing Go since childhood that he failed to become a professional three times in a row when he was young, which left a shadow on his attitude towards Go. He felt very ashamed and regarded this as a great shame and even a regret for his whole life.
So to be honest, Li Xiangping actually doesn't like people saying that he is a Go master, especially when facing people he is not very familiar with, he is even more reluctant to mention Go.
However, the situation today was different. Not to mention that the whole pleasure boat exuded a certain weirdness, just the chessboard that was suspected to have witnessed the "Ten Games of Danghu Lake" was attractive enough to Li Xiangping and successfully aroused his curiosity. If he wanted to solve the mystery in his heart right now, it seemed that he could only use the topic of Go as a starting point.
So naturally, after returning to the pleasure boat, everyone began to talk about Go as the main topic.
The atmosphere of the chat was quite good. Everyone talked about Go. Several people talked about the origin of Go, the development of Go, ancient Chinese Go, modern Go, and then modern Go and the Go AI that has recently brought a subversive revolution to Go.
After everyone started chatting, Li Xiangping began to look at this beautiful woman in ancient costume named Xiuqin with a new appreciation. Because of the chessboard, Li Xiangping deliberately led the topic to medieval chess. It was also because of the topic of medieval chess that Li Xiangping discovered something strange.
The beautiful lady in ancient costume named Xiuqin has a wealth of knowledge about medieval chess. No matter what topic Li Xiangping mentioned, she could tell it in detail and know everything about it.
From "Yao invented Go" to the first recorded national player Yi Qiu, from "Thirteen Chapters of Go Classics" to the first great Go player in human history "One Move to Solve Two Conquests", she can connect with any topic.
Especially when it comes to Go in the Ming and Qing Dynasties , from the three major schools of Go in the Ming Dynasty to the nine great masters in the Qing Dynasty, from the "Ten Games of Guo Zhou" to the "Ten Games of Dang Hu", this beautiful woman named Xiuqin seemed to be extremely familiar with it. She casually recounted many anecdotes about the Go world in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many of which Li Xiangping had never heard of before.
Li Xiangping was amazed.
Not only that, what made Li Xiangping feel strange was not just this. During the chat, Li Xiangping noticed that this Xiuqin girl, apart from being extremely familiar with medieval chess, knew little about modern Japanese Go and the world chess landscape in recent decades. When everyone talked about related topics, she behaved like a complete Go novice. Only when talking about the latest Go AI could she barely say a few words.
"It's strange. What kind of person is this beauty? I feel like she looks like someone who just traveled through time from ancient times..."
At this moment, Li Xiangping's mind was opened up and he came up with such a strange idea. At the same time as he had this weird idea, he became more and more interested in the beauty in front of him.
Just as Li Xiangping shook his head slightly, trying to drive this unreliable idea out of his mind, Zhao Daokai mentioned the same thing again:
"Haha, I see you two seem to be getting along really well, how about you two play a game?"
Li Xiangping didn't say anything, but just cast an inquiring look at the beauty.
The beauty was not pretentious. She smiled and said to Li Xiangping: "Since Mr. Li wants to play chess, I will play a game with you."
She waved her hand, and two other maids dressed in ancient costumes brought out another set of chess.
A brand new modern chess set.
"Hmm? Why not use this chess set?"
Li Xiangping pointed at the chess set that looked like an antique.
When Li Xiangping finished saying this, he suddenly felt that the look in the beautiful woman's eyes when she looked at him became more and more strange:
"Mr. Li, do you want to try this chessboard? But I advise you not to try it, or you will regret it after you try it."
What the beautiful woman said was as good as nothing. Li Xiangping even thought she said it on purpose.
You know, as a man, the more a beautiful woman says you can't do something, the less reason you have to back off in most cases. Moreover, Li Xiangping's main purpose today is to get the chessboard, so next:
"Haha, I don't regret it, I don't regret it. Why, could it be that Miss Xiuqin is reluctant to use this chessboard to entertain guests?"
"You really don't regret it?"
"certainly."
However, just a few minutes later, Li Xiangping finally felt a little regretful.
Of course, strictly speaking, Li Xiangping didn't regret it. In fact, he didn't have time to regret at all.
Because when his hand just touched the chessboard, Li Xiangping immediately felt dizzy, and then what happened next.
Then Li Xiangping lost consciousness.

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