OBS Chapter 1049 Because our family lacks a TV
Chapter 1049 Because our family lacks a TV
Chapter 1049 Because our family lacks a TV
"Qin Hao, the guesthouse is over there."
"Yes, I know. I'll make a call. You guys go back first."
Qin Hao walked straight to the newsstand nearby: "Boss, can I make long distance calls on this phone?"
"Sure, long-distance calls cost 60 cents a minute, and 10 cents if the call fails."
I have to say, making phone calls is damn expensive these days.
However, Qin Hao still gritted his teeth and picked up the phone, dialing the number at the entrance of the cotton mill alley.
"Hello, I'm Qin Hao. I'm looking for Song Ying. If she's not at home, Engineer Lin will be fine too. Okay, thank you."
At the same time, Song Ying's family was having dinner in the courtyard.
Seeing that Song Ying looked worried, Lin Wufeng comforted her, "Don't worry, Haozi is much more mature than other children his age. He will take good care of himself."
"I know, but after all, this is my first time traveling far away, and it's so far to the capital. I don't know how he is doing now." Song Ying said anxiously.
Lin Dongzhe also sighed: "I don't know if Brother Hao remembers to bring me something."
Song Ying glared at her son in anger, and suddenly heard someone outside the yard shouting, "Is Song Ying home? There's a long-distance call from the capital."
"Yes, I'm here." Song Ying didn't bother to teach Lin Dongzhe a lesson. She dropped her bowl and chopsticks and ran out.
Before Lin Wufeng could say anything, Lin Dongzhe quickly followed him.
"Are they like this at home when I'm on a business trip?" Lin Wufeng muttered to himself sourly.
Huang Ling from the next room pushed the door open and asked curiously, "What's the matter with Song Ying?"
"It should be Haozi calling from Beijing."
“No wonder.”
On the other side, Song Ying trotted all the way to the state-owned store. Before she could catch her breath, she picked up the phone: "Hello, is that you, Haozi?"
"It's me, Aunt Song. Long-distance calls are expensive, so I'll make it short. I'm doing fine in Beijing, so you don't have to worry. Also, I won both preliminary rounds today, and the main competition will start tomorrow. Also, you don't have to save up to buy a TV. The second place prize for this competition is a TV, and I'll bring it back."
Song Ying listened to Qin Hao finish his words, feeling happy and sad at the same time. This child was so sensible that he was still thinking about her while saving money to buy a TV from such a far distance.
"Kid, second place is not something you can get easily. Just play well in the competition and don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's already amazing that you can make it to the finals. I'm proud of you."
"And me, Hao."
Hearing Lin Dongzhe's voice, Qin Hao's mouth corners slightly raised.
"Aunt Song, please tell Lin Dongzhe that I will bring him a gift. Please also give Uncle Lin a hello for me. I'm going to hang up now. I'll be back after the competition. Don't worry."
"Okay, please be safe."
After Song Ying gave the money, Lin Dongzhe kept complaining on the way back: "Mom, why did you hang up so quickly? I haven't even had a chance to talk to Brother Hao yet."
"Haozi has already promised to bring you a gift, what's there to say? Long-distance calls are expensive, and if you say a few more words, you'll have no money left to buy the gift."
After hearing what Song Ying said, Lin Dongzhe had no choice but to shut up in disappointment.
When the two returned to the courtyard, Huang Ling's family had finished their meal and were taking a fresh air in the yard. Although the weather in April was not hot, there was a lot of rain in the Jiangnan region, and the house was small and very damp, so it was more comfortable to stay outside.
"Hey, Song Ying is back, how is Haozi?"
"That's good. Haozi said he has passed the preliminary round and the main competition will start tomorrow."
Zhuang Chaoying was a little surprised when he heard this: "You passed the preliminary round?"
"Yes, Haozi also said that there are extra prizes for this competition. The second place winner will get a TV, and he said he would bring the TV back." Song Ying said with joy. In her opinion, this was the child's filial piety. No matter whether he could do it in the end or not, she was already very satisfied to have this intention.
Suddenly, the sour voice of Wang Yong's wife came from the yard next door.
"Oh, if that's true, it's incredible. Song Ying, you are so lucky. Your biological son hasn't even started to show filial piety yet, but your adopted child has already repaid the favor."
Song Ying became unhappy when she heard this, and was about to fight with Wang Yong's wife for eight hundred rounds, but Huang Ling saw this and quickly changed the subject.
"Haozi is a really good kid. He is more sensible than our Tunan. He knows how to be grateful at such a young age."
Song Ying's nose was sore when she heard this, and she held Huang Ling's hand: "Sister Ling, this child is so sensible. She didn't have much money with her, but she spent so much money to make a long-distance call just to make sure I would worry. Sister Huijuan has taught this child so well, but it's a pity that she is not so lucky..."
Huang Ling hugged Song Ying to comfort her, and Wang Yong's wife next door had to stop seeing this.
At night, when Huang Ling had just washed up and lay down on the bed, she saw Zhuang Chaoying thinking about something, quite absorbed in it.
"What are you thinking about?"
Zhuang Chaoying looked at the room outside and said in a low voice: "I was wondering how Haozi made it to the finals."
"Look at what you said. Why can't Haozi enter the main competition?" Huang Ling rolled her eyes.
Zhuang Chaoying quickly explained, "That's not what I meant. I heard from Lao Wang about the National Children's Go Competition. The competition is very cruel. Just think about it. Young geniuses from all over the country gather together to fight. The winner is determined by one game in the preliminary round. You have to win two games in a row to qualify for the main competition. This is equivalent to eliminating three-quarters of the players at once. Lao Wang's son has learned Go for so many years, but he didn't even make it to the preliminary round."
"No matter how talented Haozi is, he is still young, has never learned Go systematically, and has no famous teacher to guide him. How did he make it to the main tournament?"
Huang Ling doesn't think so: "The reason why a genius is a genius is that he is different from ordinary people, just like the top students in your school. Maybe he just has this talent and can become very good through self-study."
"Can a genius really be so unreasonable?" Zhuang Chaoying expressed his doubt. Although he had seen many smart students, they still needed teachers and books to guide them. It would be too despairing if they could be better than others with the guidance of famous teachers just by self-study, right?
"Haozi is a really good kid. Before, Lin Dongzhe went to Grandpa Zhang's house to watch TV and was disliked. Song Ying said that she wanted to save money to buy a TV. It so happened that the prize for the second place in this Go competition was a TV, and Haozi said he wanted to bring it back." Huang Ling said with some emotion.
Zhuang Chaoying shook her head when she heard this. "In a national competition like this, it's rare to be in the top ten. You can't just take second place. I guess it's just to make Song Ying happy. You should talk to Song Ying and ask her not to put too much pressure on the child."
"Don't worry, Song Ying won't care about these things. As long as Haozi can have this heart, it will be good. Finally, Song Ying's efforts will not be in vain."
Zhuang Chaoying's expression changed slightly. He always felt that his wife's words were like accusing his family of being ungrateful.
He had a feeling that his wife's temper had been getting worse and worse since they divided the house.
“Is it because the feng shui of this house is bad?”
The next day, the news that Qin Hao had entered the national competition spread throughout the cotton mill’s family alley.
"Oh my, this Haozi is incredible. At such a young age, he represented our Suzhou Children's Palace in the national competition."
"Yes, that child has been smart since he was young. I have watched him grow up."
"It's such a pity for such a good child. His parents passed away too early, and he met such an uncle and aunt."
"I also heard that the second prize for this competition is a TV. Haozi said he wanted to win the TV back for Song Ying."
"Tsk tsk, if Haozi really wins the TV back, his uncle and aunt will be furious."
When Qin Jianjun and his wife heard about it, they were dismissive: "Humph, you speak as if it were true. Just because he got second place, he is not afraid of blowing his own trumpet. I think the second to last is more likely."
"That's right. I've never seen him play Go since he was a child. I don't know how he got into the Children's Palace. You still expect him to get a good ranking in the national competition? You're dreaming!"
The emotions of the old couple of the Qin family were much more complicated. Originally, this was an honor that belonged to their Qin family, but because of their second son, they and their eldest grandson became enemies. But the eldest son died, and they still relied on the second son for their future retirement. They could only pretend that they didn't hear it, and sighed helplessly while hiding in the quilt when they went to bed at night.
……
The next day, early in the morning, Qin Hao and his party took the bus to the Beijing Children's Palace.
As soon as he arrived at the gate of the Children's Palace, Wu Yue was pleasantly surprised to find that a group of people were surrounding Nie Weiping and Chen Zude for an interview.
"Oh, if I could ever have this kind of treatment, even for just one day, it would be worth dying for."
Liu Hong laughed and scolded: "Look at your lack of ability. Instead of daydreaming here, you should play chess well and strive to get a good ranking."
Wu Yue scratched his head and chuckled, "Teacher Liu, I will play well, but it will be hard to get into the top ten. If I can get into the top 24, I will win."
The group chatted and laughed as they came to the rest area. At nine o'clock, Liu Hong was arranged to draw lots. From the beginning of the main competition, there was no distinction between people within and outside the province, so Liu Hong had mixed feelings when drawing lots. On the one hand, he hoped that Wu Yue and Wang Yang would not be drawn together, but on the other hand, he felt that if they were drawn together, at least someone could move forward one step.
As for Qin Hao, Liu Hong never worried about what kind of opponent he would draw. What he should worry about is whether the opponent would be defeated and cry.
The final result of the draw was that Qin Hao and the other two drew opponents from other provinces.
From the beginning of the main competition, it is a best-of-three format, which provides a certain amount of room for error.
Nie Weiping and Chen Zude each held a list of opponents on the podium.
Chen Zude suddenly turned to Nie Weiping and said, "It seems that there is no strong competition in this round today."
"Well, the seeded players have basically avoided it, but there is one match that is still worth paying attention to." Nie Weiping said slowly.
"Oh? Which one?"
"Do you remember the guy who made his opponent cry in fifteen minutes yesterday?"
"I have some impression of him. His name is Qin Hao, right?" Chen Zude looked at the battle list in his hand.
"Yo, I just said yesterday that my opponent was too weak, and today a touchstone came."
Nie Weiping took a sip of tea with a smile: "This touchstone is quite strong. It depends on whether he can chew it off."
A breeze blew by, and the top page of the battle list was turned over, revealing the player information on the page below.
Zhou Tao, male, born in January 1963, has participated in three national children's Go competitions, with his best result being in the top 1.
In the competition area, the referee reiterated the rules of the game and announced the official start of the competition.
"Zhou Tao, please give me your guidance."
"Qin Hao, let's start."
Qin Hao grabbed a handful of chess pieces from the chess box and placed them on the chessboard.
Zhou Tao frowned, somewhat dissatisfied with Qin Hao's "arrogance". After hesitating for a moment, he took out a chess piece from the chess box: single.
Guessed wrong, Qin Hao got the right to play first with black.
"Point three three."
Facing Qin Hao's somewhat strange first move, Zhou Tao chose close combat: "Four of three, stick!"
On the rostrum, Chen Zude and Nie Weiping had been observing the game between Qin Hao and Zhou Tao. In the first thirty moves, both sides played very quickly, but after the thirty moves, Zhou Tao's speed of making moves slowed down significantly. After the fifty moves, he spent more and more time thinking.
Chen Zude said to Nie Weiping: "It seems that this child's understanding of Go is much better than we thought."
There is actually no direct connection between the speed of making moves and chess strength, but when entering the middle game stage, one can still make moves almost without thinking. This means that one either knows nothing about Go or has enough confidence in one's own ability. Obviously, Qin Hao is the latter.
Sure enough, just as Chen Zude and Nie Weiping expected, after about 120 moves, Zhou Tao chose to give up and admit defeat in a sweat.
After the referee records the chess game, he announces the start of the second game.
Chen Zude and Nie Weiping found the referee and asked for the game.
"This kid's chess moves are full of murderous intent."
"I feel a little sorry for Zhou Tao now. This is his last year, but he has run into such an opponent."
Nie Weiping frowned: "Who do you think this kid learned chess from?"
"It doesn't look like anyone, so it's hard to say." Chen Zude shook his head.
"Also, did you notice that although this kid always plays at point 3-3 at the beginning, his pattern is different in every game. Or, in other words, he doesn't use any pattern at all."
"It could also be that this is a pattern we haven't seen before."
While Chen Zude and Nie Weiping were studying Qin Hao's chess moves, his second game with Zhou Tao had already ended.
Zhou Tao's eyes were red and tears welled up in his eyes, and he placed a handful of chess pieces on the chessboard unwillingly.
"I surrender."
After the referee announced the victory, Qin Hao was about to leave but was stopped by Zhou Tao.
"Kid, how old are you this year?"
"Ten years old in five months."
Zhou Tao laughed bitterly when he heard this: "Less than ten years old... Do I really have no talent?"
Qin Hao thought about it and gave up the idea of comforting the other party. One cannot succeed in the field of Go without being a genius. The other party looked quite old, but his chess skills were only at this level, which meant that he was not suitable for this job. It would be better for him to change his career. Maybe he could get better opportunities in the wave of reform and opening up.
As the first player to advance, he also attracted the attention of many coaches and teachers off the field. However, when they asked many people, they were all unfamiliar with the name Qin Hao, let alone knowing anything about his chess style.
The reporter from Beijing TV station had nothing to do, so he found Qin Hao.
"Can you do a quick interview?"
"Ah."
"What's your name, kid? How old are you? How many times have you participated in the National Children's Go Competition?"
"Qin Hao will be ten years old in five months, and this is his first time participating in the competition."
"Wow, it's amazing that you can make it to the top 48 at such a young age. What are your expectations for this year's competition?"
"Get second place."
The reporter asked in confusion: "Why is it the second place and not the champion?"
"The second prize is a TV, and we just happen to be short of one at home."
reporter:……