Chapter 733: Guilt and no guilt
【Caller: Little Witch】
……Um?
She...she called me back? ! !
At eight o'clock in the evening on the same day, in Pengze City, Greater Bay Area, in the dormitory of the Pengze team.
Xiao Chu Jiudan, who had sent a text message of comfort to the opponent immediately after the game, but had not received a reply, was thinking about how he had offended Miss Witch, so much so that he had inquired about it a week ago. His team has been left out in the cold ever since.
But just when he was already thinking about whether he should ask Rui Zhao about the Pohu team's return plan tomorrow so that he could talk to Yang Manjing offline, that "comrade of the same age" suddenly called him!
This can catch the little glasses off guard a bit.
This...what's going on? !
Could it be that I have made her unhappy again and she wants to spray directly over the phone? !
Thinking of the worst-case scenario, Chu Jun couldn't help but swallowed, but thinking that this was an opportunity, he hurriedly answered the phone and answered with butterflies in his heart:
"Hey, good evening! Little witch!"
Hearing Chu Jun's trembling greeting, the young player from the Pohu team on the opposite side seemed to be laughing and said:
"Hey, hey...
"Why don't we say hello to each other so bluntly?"
Hearing the other party teasing him, Chu Jun seemed to be in a good mood. At this moment, Chu Jun finally let go of his hanging heart and breathed a sigh of relief:
"You've even been blocked on WeChat. I thought I had offended you! How could I not have a harsh tone!"
But when the little witch opposite heard this, she immediately had an opinion:
"What does 'thought' mean? You did something wrong, okay!
"Seeing that you won the chess game, I specially sent you a WeChat message to congratulate you, but you turned out to be good, and you opened your mouth to ask Rui Zhao!
"As long as you think in your right mind, shouldn't you congratulate me on my victory first?!"
"...Eh?
"So you care about this?"
Chu Jun blurted out:
"But the quality of your chess game was too poor. In the end, you still won by the opponent's child Jingyou playing the spoon!"
"Where is it?!
"Am I your comrade-in-arms or is Rui Zhao your comrade-in-arms? Can't you congratulate me?"
"Ah, yes, yes! I was wrong, I was wrong!
"I should fight, I should fight!"
Hearing that Queen Mulan's tone was obviously unhappy again, Little Glasses, who finally began to develop a desire to survive, began to self-examine continuously.
"Oh...so Sister Wang and Sister Yu Hong are absolutely right.
"Sure enough, men all need to be trained a little bit..."
It's obviously hard to guess what you women are thinking, okay?
——Except for that silly Ruizhao!
Chu Jun complained angrily in his heart, but naturally he did not dare to complain more.
Just when he was thinking about how to try to divert the topic away from his "fault", he didn't expect that the other party actually handed him a pillow first:
"...But, forget it!
"This time... I'll forgive you!
"Rui Zhao's lone game of chess to kill the enemy... was really good enough. It's not surprising that you would ask...
"Including the one where I won against Tong Jingyou, it was essentially thanks to her!"
"...Eh?"
Chu Jun was quite surprised by such a reaction.
Although the little witch was not hostile towards Rui Zhao, she still had a strong sense of competition. The common title "Sister Rui" best explained the problem.
The result is today...
He actually put in a good word for Rui Zhao for the first time? !
For a moment, Chu Jun, who had just begun to have his own desire to survive, was a little unsure whether this was fishing for law enforcement, so he tentatively asked:
"Just... okay? I don't think the gap between you two is that big!
"Anyway, they are all female title holders, and they are all under the armor..."
"Well...not bad! This attitude is not bad!"
Yang Manjing expressed satisfaction with Chu Jun's statement:
"You just need to exercise. This kind of words is flattering at first glance, but it still sounds a bit stiff."
"...Oh." Chu Jun simply responded speechlessly.
"So, there is no need to comfort me like this! I still know how big the gap is between me and her!"
Queen Mulan continued to sigh softly:
"That...Chu Jun."
"Huh?"
"This year's Tongge Cup preliminaries...I will sign up for the open group just like her."
"...Eh?
"Are you going to apply for the open group like Rui Zhao?!"
Hearing this, Xiao Chu Jiuduan couldn't help but be stunned, quite unable to understand the little witch's decision.
As a 48-player world championship, the Tongge Cup has a special quota for female chess players for China, Ying and Korea, and is selected through the women's group. Other places will be selected through an open group with no restrictions.
In last year's Tongge Cup women's group qualifiers, Zhao Tianhou, who had already announced that she would no longer participate in the women's individual competition, went straight to the end. She even applied for the open group in the World Championship qualifiers! As a result, he was defeated by the prodigal son in the last round of preliminaries, and had to rely on Gezhou City to provide a wild card to get this "image ambassador", which aroused a lot of cynicism from the Zhaohei people at the time.
With Rui Zhao absent, the qualifying spot for the women's group was suddenly in doubt. In the end, the little bird narrowly defeated the little witch to get it.
However, another year has passed, and as the new Queen Mulan has matured, the outside world generally feels that 80% of the quota for this year's women's group belongs to the little witch.
At the same time, considering that the Little Witch's performance in the Weijia playoffs was better than expected, according to calculations, it is very likely that she will advance to the 9th level in the Tongge Cup qualifiers and become China's first women's 9th dan in the new century.
But the result...
Now, Miss Witch suddenly announced that she will hold the open group pre-selection?
This is not even asking for the World Championship spot in front of me!
"...No, what are you thinking!" If you apply for the open group, you will probably not be able to qualify! ”
Chu Jun immediately advised:
“When we both qualified for the Mengli Lily Cup, didn’t we make an appointment to see each other again in this tournament for the Tong Ge Cup?
"Why are you planning to break your promise first?!"
"Why did you break your promise! Don't be so arrogant!"
The little witch immediately protested:
"There are still more than three months until the Tongge Cup qualifiers in late June, and I will continue to get stronger!"
"Uh..."
Seeing the resolute attitude of Queen Mulan, Chu Jun knew that he could not force her to make her unhappy, so he said in a roundabout way:
"Of course I believe this!
"But...but what's wrong with you?
"Didn't you say at the beginning that you wanted to wait until you became China's first female ninth-dan in the new century before gradually withdrawing from the women's competition? Why did you start before you were promoted to ninth-level?
“You must know that the Asian Games selections in the first and mid-June are internal selections, but they are not counted in the grade points and promotion points!
"In the Mulan Tournament in late March, you only need to defend the title, and the number of sets is too few. Starting in April, the Tianyuan Tournament will be a completely unrestricted tournament, and the competition is fierce.
"If you don't participate in the Tongge Cup women's group preliminaries, it is very likely that you will not be able to be promoted to the ninth level smoothly. When the new siege league opens in July, when you can be promoted to the ninth level will depend on your fortune in the siege league. ”
"I know all this...that was indeed the original plan..."
The little witch opposite seemed to reply with emotion:
"But after today's game, I suddenly felt that... I may not be worthy of the title of 'China's first female 9th-dan in the new century'.
"Compared with the Zhaojun of that time, I am still far behind!
"Besides, it's a bit ugly to rely on women's competition to advance to the ninth level..."
“What do you mean by ‘relying on women’s competition to advance to the ninth level is a bit ugly’!
"The women's competition is also an official competition stipulated by the association and counts towards promotion points!"
Chu Jun immediately retorted:
"Besides, you performed well in the second half of the siege. You even defeated Tong Jingyu in the playoffs, and you also had a stalemate with world champions like Lin Ruixin and He Wei until the end!
"In my opinion, you are definitely worthy of the title of 'China's first female ninth-dan in the new century'!"
"Ah, thank you... By the way, you have to learn how to comfort people so quickly!"
Yang Manjing thanked Chu Jun and teased Chu Jun:
"But... after all, Rui Zhao deserves it more than me, right?"
"Uh..."
Chu Jun was speechless for a moment - this was indeed true.
She can only look up to that Empress Zhao, even a talented young man like him who has reached the ninth level!
And if Yang Manjing is really thrown into the unrestricted competition, I am afraid that he has just obtained the eighth level now, and he will not be able to compare with Rui Zhao.
Seeing Chu Jun fall into silence, Yang Manjing on the other end of the phone continued to speak calmly:
"This time in the playoffs, I didn't win the game, and I also occupied all the fast chess tables at home. It can be said that I have been taken care of.
"In the end, I didn't win the two rounds of the game against the Tiangang team... It really hindered Rui Zhao, who won four games in black, and I feel sorry for her...
"So... just after dinner, I went to Rui Zhao in her room and told her some follow-up plans: I also don't want to participate in women's competitions anymore!
"It is estimated that my promotion points will not rise for the time being, and may even fall... She is very likely to be promoted to 9th Dan before me and become the 'first female 9th Dan in China in the new century'!"
"Yang Manjing, there's no need for you!"
After hearing what the other party said, Chu Jun couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
With rich experience in "Nan Murong", he naturally knows how important honorary encouragement is for "geniuses" who have to compete with monsters!
This is also the reason why he attached so much importance to consecutive Rookie of the Year titles - even if he won the Rookie of the Year title after Lei Qi had already won the national championship and decided not to participate in the Rookie of the Year Championship, it was still precious and could last for a long time. Motivate yourself with the honor!
As a result, it was rare that the little witch had the opportunity to make Rui Zhao suffer, but she had to let him go "because she felt that the other party was more worthy". Chu Jun felt that there was no need to be so "strict on self-discipline".
"...Hey! It's true Rui Zhao, doesn't she usually care less about honors and ranks?
"Why are you asking your team members to sacrifice themselves at this time?!"
"...Yes! That's why she didn't agree to this plan!"
"She didn't agree to this plan...eh?"
Chu Jun complained for another two seconds, and then suddenly realized something was wrong:
"What did you say? She didn't agree?!"
"Yeah...after all, he's the stupid one!"
Across the phone, Chu Jun seemed to see the helpless smile of the little witch:
"She told me not to care about today's game and just continue to train and improve at my own pace. We will work hard to win the championship in the next league!
"As for the so-called 'China's first female ninth-dan in the new century'...she never cared about it at all."
"Well...
"She is indeed the Queen Zhao who made Chairman Shang unable to get off the stage in front of everyone at the Weijia Award Ceremony!"
Hearing this, Chu Jun couldn't help but sigh, but he immediately realized something was wrong:
"...Hey, wait a minute!
"Didn't Rui Zhao tell you not to act carelessly?! Why did you still say you wanted to participate in the open group pre-selection?!"
"This?"
Yang Manjing doesn’t think there is any problem at all:
"Rui Zhao only said that she didn't care about the honor of being the first female 9th-dan player in China in the new century, but she still wanted me to continue training and improve!
"Then I will naturally work harder and fight for the championship with her next season!"
"Eh?"
"Besides...if you don't participate in the women's preliminaries, it doesn't mean you won't be able to reach 9th Dan."
Before Chu Jun could recover, Yang Manjing's calm and relieved voice came slowly again:
"If this can still lead to promotion to ninth grade before her...
"I can be more worthy of it!"
(End of chapter)