At this moment, Qingque, who had just gotten out of bed, inexplicably sneezed.
"That's strange? Why do I keep sneezing lately?"
Qingque mumbled, starting to change her clothes... It was nine o'clock.
Selene and Qingque appeared punctually at the entrance of the Archives. The cat and the person looked at each other, then smiled.
"Now this is more like it! You've finally grasped the essence!"
Qingque said, looking at Selene, her tone filled with relief! Just like a teacher praising a student who has made rapid progress!
"Oh my! That's all thanks to Qingque's excellent teaching!"
Selene said with a beaming smile.
"Want to play cards?"
Qingque pulled out a qiongyu cards from somewhere and asked.
However, this time, Selene shook her head, refusing Qingque.
"You always win when we play this. How about we play something else?"
Selene said, purchasing a Go set from the system's store.
"Alright! That's a good suggestion! It does get a bit boring when I always win!"
Qingque replied.
Selene: ... "Go? I'm quite good at that too!"
Qingque said confidently.
"No, no, no, let's play something else! Do you know Gomoku?"
Selene asked.
However, she knew that Xianzhou didn't have such a thing as Gomoku, so she was certain Qingque wouldn't know it at all!
As Selene expected, Qingque shook her head, indicating she had never heard of it.
Seeing this, Selene's lips curved into a wild grin! At the same time, she let out a cackling laugh in her heart!
The next few minutes were Selene's time to explain the rules of Gomoku to Qingque!
However, Gomoku itself is simple and easy to understand, so Qingque quickly figured out how to play and seemed very interested in it!
"I already know how to play, when do we start?!"
Qingque said, somewhat impatiently.
"Don't rush, how about we add a reward for winning? Doesn't that make it more interesting?"
Selene said, taking out a Qigong Roasted Sweet Potato from her system space!
"How about this roasted sweet potato as the prize?"
Selene said with a mischievous smile.
"Then? Best two out of three? Whoever wins gets the roasted sweet potato?"
Qingque asked.
Selene nodded in agreement.
Poor Little Sparrow was just like that, tricked by Selene!
... Selene unwrapped the Go set, set up the board, and the two prepared to start playing.
"Huh? Your pieces? Why aren't they black and white?"
Qingque looked at the yellow and green pieces, confused.
"Uh... these are special Gomoku pieces!"
Selene said with an awkward laugh.
Indeed... this Joyful Edition of the system store is a bit off!
Aha's items were disliked again, Aha really lost face!
... In the first game, Selene placed her pieces at three close points, forming a triangle.
It could be said that Selene wasn't very good at Gomoku; this opening triangle move was her classic opening.
And Qingque, being her first time playing, didn't block in time. Once the triangle formed, it became difficult for Qingque to block!
Because the subsequent turns of offense would all be held by Selene!
The game quickly ended, and Selene won the first round.
But from the second game onwards, Selene continued with the same old strategy. Qingque, having learned her lesson, immediately blocked with her pieces!
Not long after, Qingque won!
Although this was the result Selene wanted, she was still shocked by Qingque's incredibly fast learning speed!
She had only played one game! And she was already this good?!
... In the end, Qingque was the first to win two games, receiving the prize Selene had offered—the Qigong Roasted Sweet Potato!
Just then, Yanqing passed by the Archives entrance and saw the two women playing chess.
Yanqing, who had never won a game against Jing Yuan, immediately became interested! He walked into the Archives!
"What are you two doing? Playing Go? Uh? The colors don't seem quite right!"
Yanqing said, looking at the pieces on the board, noticing they were yellow and green, and feeling puzzled.
Seeing Yanqing's inquiry, Qingque took the initiative to explain.
"Interesting! Can I play a couple of rounds?"
After hearing the rules of Gomoku, Yanqing immediately showed an interested expression and expressed that he also wanted to play!
Seeing this, Selene naturally agreed! After all... she was just wondering where to find a hapless person! And wasn't someone delivering themselves to her?!
"How about best two out of three again? This time the prize is, [Fortune Pill]!"
Selene said with a beaming smile.
"Ah? What kind of pill is that?"
Yanqing asked, puzzled.
"Ahem! This is a new pill concocted by Bailu of the Alchemy Commission! Its effect is just like its name!"
Selene began to bluff, passing the blame to Bailu.
Bailu: Don't drag me into this!!!
And when Yanqing heard that the pill was concocted by Bailu, the look of suspicion on his face instantly vanished!
After all, this was a pill concocted by the Dragon Girl! The Dragon Girl's medical skills were well-known!
"Perfect! My luck hasn't been great lately! I desperately need this pill to boost my luck!"
Yanqing said excitedly.
The reason he said his luck was bad was because lately, when playing chess with Jing Yuan, he always just barely missed winning against Jing Yuan!
In other words, lately, Jing Yuan had been winning by a narrow margin! This gave Yanqing, who was usually suppressed, a glimmer of hope!
Hope of defeating the General!
Perhaps, after taking this Fortune Pill! With better luck, he could defeat the General!
Jing Yuan: Is there a possibility that one or two narrow wins can be explained by luck, but if it happens often, can it still be explained by luck?
... Since Qingque wasn't interested in pills and was busy eating the roasted sweet potato, it was naturally Selene who played chess with Yanqing.
Selene had initially thought this too, mainly because she was afraid Yanqing wouldn't be able to beat Qingque, and it wouldn't be fun if the pill ended up in Qingque's hands!
And the final outcome was, of course, Yanqing getting his wish and obtaining the Fortune Pill.
It can only be said that everyone was very satisfied with this result!
Selene herself wanted to give away the Fortune Pill, and Yanqing just happened to want it! Wasn't that perfect?!
"By the way, Yanqing, why are you at the Divination Commission again?"
Qingque swallowed the last bite of roasted sweet potato, then asked curiously.
"Uh? Well... General Jing Yuan asked me to deliver something to Diviner Fu."
Yanqing said, scratching his head.
"Alright, I should head back! We can play again when I have time!"
Yanqing said, waving his hand, then left the Divination Commission.
After Yanqing left, Selene and Qingque started playing chess again.
"By the way, do you have any more roasted sweet potatoes? They were really tasty!"
Qingque asked Selene while playing chess.
Hearing this, Selene hesitated! Because she had no idea what effects the sweet potato would have after being eaten!
...
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!