Seeing the concern and care in Matthew Hill’s eyes, Ethan Brooks felt waves of warmth in his heart. However, the more he felt this way, the more he knew he couldn’t stay here for long. He still had many things to do and didn’t want to disrupt the lives of his aunt and uncle. Besides, he couldn’t let his studies fall behind, and there were things he enjoyed doing, as well as his research goals.

Originally, he had planned to wait a few more days before bringing it up, but seeing the current situation, he thought it would be better to say it sooner rather than later. After some thought, Ethan Brooks decided it was best to bring it up early.

“Uncle, actually, the main reason I came this time was to see you and Aunt. As for the rest, I want to go out on my own, gain some experience, and challenge myself.” As soon as Ethan Brooks finished speaking, he saw the light in Matthew Hill’s eyes dim, looking quite disappointed. He quickly added, “Don’t worry, now that we’re in the same city, I’ll definitely come visit you and Aunt often.”

Matthew Hill looked at Ethan Brooks, not expecting him to say this. After a brief pause, he said, “Ethan Brooks, is it because you saw something happen at the chess club that you’re making this decision? You don’t need to worry about that. No matter what happens with the club, you’ll always be welcome here. Stay as long as you like.”

Matthew Hill thought Ethan Brooks was making this decision because he saw trouble at the chess club.

Ethan Brooks quickly shook his head and said, “Of course not. You said before that although I have some talent, I’m a bit older now. Besides, I’m only interested in Go as a hobby. I want to do other things, but I do love Go and will definitely come by often.”

The hardest part would be convincing his aunt, so Ethan Brooks had decided to talk to his uncle Matthew Hill first, and then have him talk to his aunt. Matthew Hill asked a few more times, but seeing that Ethan Brooks had made up his mind, he sighed and didn’t say anything more. After all, young people have their own world, and you can’t force them.

“It’s good for young people to have ambition, but this place is different from your hometown. Be extra careful when you’re out, and contact me if anything happens.”

Seeing Matthew Hill like this, Ethan Brooks felt bad as well and quickly nodded, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely come by often. By the way, Uncle, when I arrived yesterday, I saw there was a match at our chess club, and a big crowd had gathered. Did something happen?”

Such a sentimental topic was best moved past quickly, so Ethan Brooks hurriedly changed the subject.

Sure enough, as soon as this topic was brought up, Matthew Hill’s attention shifted. He gave a wry smile and said, “Speaking of that, it’s a long story. Come on, let’s go inside. Your aunt is making breakfast for you.”

As he spoke, Ethan Brooks followed behind Matthew Hill, walking from the garden lawn back into the living room.

Chapter 7: Arrogant Ambition

After Ethan Brooks arrived yesterday, Ma Yuzhen took him around to get familiar with everything. With Ethan Brooks’s memory, he was probably even more familiar with the layout of the house than the two elders themselves.

He went straight to the living room, took out some Tieguanyin tea and brewed it—Matthew Hill’s favorite. Ethan Brooks himself grabbed a drink from the fridge. Seeing Ethan Brooks act so naturally, as if he were at home, Matthew Hill showed a gratified smile. The sadness he’d felt earlier about Ethan Brooks leaving was truly lessened.

When people grow old and their children aren’t around, no matter how comfortable life is, it’s still lonely. The more Ethan Brooks treated this place as his own home, the happier Matthew Hill felt.

Gently blowing on his teacup, Matthew Hill began to explain. The Kong family was a prominent clan in China, not only with vast economic and social connections, but also holding high status in the martial arts world. Matthew Hill wasn’t too familiar with the martial arts world himself, only having heard from friends that William Thompson was the eldest grandson of the Kong family’s generation. In his teens, he was already recognized as a martial arts prodigy, and besides martial arts, his other passion was Go.

He was also a super genius at Go, ranking in the national top ten in his twenties, and in recent years had become even more formidable, with few rivals in the country. Not long ago, he established a company called Yingjie Group, which focused mainly on two areas: martial arts and Go.

With William Thompson’s outstanding talent and the Kong family’s economic and social resources, his group rose rapidly. Not only that, he proposed that for Chinese Go to once again lead the world and surpass Japan and Korea, the domestic scene must be unified. Only then could the best talents be gathered, the best professional system developed, and the most outstanding players selected. So, after rapid development, he began a campaign of mergers and acquisitions.

He recruited a group of top players, including himself, and went around issuing challenges. If a club refused to be acquired, people would keep coming to challenge them. Imagine—a club that’s always being challenged by others; who would still want to come?

“Does he also challenge and acquire martial arts schools?” What an arrogant guy.

Matthew Hill nodded, “It seems so, but I don’t know the details. That’s another world. But his actions have thrown the Go community into chaos.”

As Matthew Hill spoke, Ethan Brooks found William Thompson more and more interesting. He was very dissatisfied with the current domestic training system, believing that those small clubs that only cared about making money had no reason to exist. There had to be a unified organization, and only the strong should survive, so that everyone could work together to develop a new system.

Of course, the prices he offered for acquisitions were quite good, and with the Kong family’s background, most clubs surrendered without him even showing up. Others, after being repeatedly defeated by him, also found it hard to continue. Only those clubs that could win two out of three matches against him were qualified to remain and participate in the new Go Grand Alliance.