Chapter 9: Coach Jiang Transforms into a Hype Master
Jiang Yuan said seriously, “I told you, learning Go helps train your mindset. You don’t want to lose in this weekend’s match, do you?”
“…”
Su Wanwan certainly didn’t want to lose.
She looked at this plastic Go set, and in a trance, old memories came flooding back.
Little her, staring through the TV screen, watching that elegantly dressed female Go player with fascination.
The woman had slender fingers and made calm, deliberate moves.
Click—
The stone fell, as if it could light up the entire universe.
“Mom, I want to learn Go, just like her!”
“People should know their limits.” The calm voice was like cold water poured over her head. “You can’t even handle your studies, what makes you think you can learn Go? Do you have the brains for it?”
Little her pouted: “I do have brains.”
To prove her point, she knocked on her forehead, making crisp tapping sounds: “See! My brain is right here!”
“Don’t even think about it.” The voice was ice-cold, without a trace of emotion. “You’ll never learn it.”
“Oh…” She quietly turned off the TV, also closing that little window in her heart that had just opened to let in some black and white light.
All these years had passed, and she’d long since grown bold enough to defy her family—demanding pocket money when she needed it, playing games when she wanted to.
But oddly enough, those two words “Go” were like an untouchable knot in her heart. Whenever they came up, she instinctively felt she wasn’t good enough.
The night wind blew down fallen leaves, swirling them onto Su Wanwan’s head.
Under the dim streetlight, Jiang Yuan picked off that leaf.
“Seeing how down you look, let me tell you my story.”
“My family actually didn’t support me going into esports either…”
“I used to think they were pretty open-minded, since they were willing to send sixteen-year-old me to youth training camp.”
“Later I found out they’d pulled strings to specifically arrange that training camp just to make me give up.”
“So the difficulty was cranked up to maximum in every aspect, and the coach was especially hard on me. I couldn’t even last a month before I slunk away with my tail between my legs.”
Su Wanwan looked up, frowning: “How could they do that?”
Jiang Yuan said, “Actually, they weren’t wrong. Esports really is like thousands of troops trying to cross a single-log bridge. Who would want their son to abandon the wide path and squeeze through a narrow gate instead?”
“So… you don’t blame them anymore?”
“Usually not.” Jiang Yuan rubbed his chin. “Though I did hold a little grudge the other day when BLG lost.”
“Your mindset is pretty good then…”
“Their mindset is even better, right? After all, even though I didn’t become a player, I came back as a coach. My dad wanted me to study medicine, but after all that back and forth, he still couldn’t get me out of this circle.”
He paused.
Jiang Yuan continued:
“When I first started coaching the men’s esports club, people always said I wasn’t good enough too.”
“Back then, coaching was all about rank—whoever had the highest rank got listened to. I was only Master tier, so I had no real voice.”
“If I’d listened to what others said, I probably would have given up long ago.”
“But I believe that coaching and playing are essentially two different professions, just like how swimming coaches don’t necessarily have to know how to swim.”
“What others say—just listen and let it go.”
“Sticking to what you want to do and believing you can definitely achieve it—that’s the mindset you’re lacking right now.”
“So learn Go, princess. I believe in you—there’s nothing you can’t do!”
Jiang Yuan suddenly got all inspirational.
It made Su Wanwan laugh.
She said, “Dad, getting a bit cheesy there, aren’t you?”
Jiang Yuan spread his hands: “Kiddo, honestly, in my mind, you’re going to be the woman who faces off against Faker in the future. This little difficulty is nothing—just go for it.”
“Hoping your daughter becomes a phoenix?”
“I trust my judgment, and I trust you. You’ll definitely become the world’s number one mid laner.”
Su Wanwan pretended to dry heave: “This bowl of chicken soup… I’m stuffed…”
“Tch…” Jiang Yuan was about to retort when he unexpectedly caught sight of Su Wanwan’s glistening eyes under the streetlight.
He froze, swallowing the words he was about to say.
Su Wanwan rubbed her face, her fingertips brushing past her eyes: “Fine, I’ll learn. Who told you to be my dad? But I can’t guarantee I’ll actually learn it well—it’s just for training my mindset…”
The task panel lit up.
[Completed Serial Task (1/3): The Princess Can Do Anything.]
[New Task (2/3): Universe at Fingertips]
[Description: Help Su Wanwan pass the 14k level skill test on ‘101 Go Network.’]
Jiang Yuan had learned Go as a child.
On this website’s skill test, the lowest level was 15k, then 14k.
Within the time limit, you just needed to get eight out of ten questions right to pass.
Jiang Yuan took the Go set from Su Wanwan’s lap and spread it on the bench, using the stone containers to hold down two corners of the plastic board.
“Alright, let’s start. I’ll teach you how to play.”
“Don’t mislead me.”
“Less talking, pay attention.”
The basic rules of Go weren’t complicated.
Jiang Yuan took out his phone and logged into 101 Go Network: “Come on, time for a test.”
Su Wanwan was stunned: “I just learned for five minutes, what test?”
“It’s fine, just testing the waters. You’ll probably get zero out of ten questions right.”
“Oh…”
Su Wanwan took the phone and looked at the first question.
A capture problem—on the entire board, there was basically only one spot where you could place a stone…
She frowned and tapped that empty point.
[✓ Correct! Well done!]
Correct, moving to the next question.
Jiang Yuan transformed into a hype master, acting shocked: “You… you got it right already?”
Su Wanwan frowned: “Is it hard?”
“It’s not hard, but you just started learning! No way, you must have gotten lucky. Try another one if you’re so confident!”
Su Wanwan looked down and placed a stone.
[✓ Correct!]
Jiang Yuan: “????”
He rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself: “It took me several lessons to figure out these problems. Su Wanwan, could you actually be… a Go prodigy?”
Su Wanwan’s face flushed slightly, and she stopped talking, focusing on the problems.
The questions really weren’t difficult.
[✓ Correct!]
[✓ Correct!]
Soon, all ten questions were done.
Except for one she didn’t look at carefully, she got the other nine right!
Su Wanwan pressed her lips together, her fair little face turning as pink as her hair.
“Kiddo, you’re amazing! I’m looking at you with new eyes!” Jiang Yuan gave her a thumbs up.
“It was alright, pretty simple.” Su Wanwan smoothed her hair and pouted.
“Next I’m going to teach you some advanced stuff that normally takes people dozens of lessons to learn!”
Jiang Yuan was totally making this up.
The questions weren’t nearly that difficult!
But Su Wanwan was the type who remembered praise but not criticism.
To maintain her genius image, her eyes were unusually focused right now.
The lesson continued for about half an hour.
A clear female voice suddenly rang out beside them:
“Jiang Yuan?”
Jiang Yuan and Su Wanwan both turned around to see a girl in a plaid skirt with a ponytail looking at them with surprise, holding a book in her hand.
The girl looked at Jiang Yuan, then at Su Wanwan with her slightly flushed cheeks, and suddenly understood, covering her mouth to giggle:
“Ohhh~ So that’s why you weren’t in class today! You snuck out for a date!”