Chapter 132 Twenty-Five Years in the Arena
"...Well, don't worry, Old Lei! Lei Qi is in good condition now! He has returned to his residence to review the game now.
"Yes! I will accompany him to Xidu the day after tomorrow! Um! I'll definitely be watching the whole thing!
"I can't control the things inside the market, but I will never let Lei Qi have any accidents outside the market!"
On the evening of June 18, Dajing City.
Shang Chaotian received a call from Lei Jingming as soon as he returned home.
Shang Chaotian was not surprised by this - after all, Lei Qi had just finished playing the first game of the Holy War, so it was normal for his parents to call and ask.
But he never expected that after asking about his son, Lei Jingming would change the subject and ask about another thing...
"...Huh? What? !
"You said you would give Rui Zhao the wild card for this 'Wuyue Cup'? !
"Isn't this...this inappropriate?"
Hearing Lei Jingming's request, Shang Chaotian was a little stupid.
Is this girl Rui Zhao so attractive? !
The old lady helped her carry it, and now Lei Jingming, a teacher, also helped her carry it!
Even if the little witch hadn't overturned, he and Lu Wenjie would have given this wild card to Rui Zhao!
But now that such a situation is in front of him, Shang Chaotian naturally will not act impulsively, so he can only explain slowly and steadily:
"Old Lei! Although Rui Zhao is definitely no problem in determining the first rank, but directly give him a new first-level wild card. This doesn’t quite make sense!
“What’s more, this wild card is definitely going to get the little witch... right! She overturned in the preliminaries! So...
"Uh... Lao Lei, what do you mean you don't care? Rui Zhao will have a chance in the future, and this time is not the worst..."
Shang Chaotian then patiently Xingzi talked to Lei Jingming about the pros and cons, but who knew that Lei Jingming started to play with him directly this time, refusing to let go, and even used his ultimate move:
"...Lao Shang, my son and I helped the country win two world championships, so I won't talk about it anymore. I'll just tell you one thing:
"The Chess Association said back then that what I made Sacrifice is what China Go owes me! I will definitely find a way to repay it in the future! You also know this.
"But now, even if I want to get a wild card for my only student... Do you think the sacrifices I made in exchange for this wild card are not enough?"
Lei As soon as Jing Ming said this, Shang Chaotian didn't know how to respond.
Although Wu Yueyunna is highly respected, she still distinguishes between public and private affairs, so Shang Chaotian can politely refuse her suggestion.
But when Lei Jingming said what he just said, Shang Chaotian really didn't dare to say it back casually: because the Chess Association did owe Lei Jingming a huge favor!
As for the reason for owing favors, we have to start with the most watched Go event today - the China, Ying, and Korea Three Kingdoms Go Tournament.
The "Nongshim Ramen Cup" Three Kingdoms Go Tournament was officially held in 1999. This arena-based team event that best represents the comprehensive level of a country's Go was highly regarded by the whole country once it was launched. focus on.
However, this nationwide attention was hardly a good thing for the Chinese professional Go community at that time...
The reason is simple - the results were too dismal.
Since the arena competition was held, the Chinese team has had no results in the first eight competitions.
Except for the Japanese team that won the first championship in the first tournament, South Korea won the cup in the other seven tournaments, which put great pressure on the Chinese professional Go community.
How to describe this kind of pressure...
Take what young people like to say nowadays as "e-sports against South Korea" as an example. In Shang Chaotian's eyes, this is nothing!
To put it bluntly, domestic e-sports talk about "anti-Korean and anti-Korean" every day, but they have only been resisting for a few years?
Didn’t he win the championship in just five years? !
But you must know that Chinese Go was suppressed by South Korea for seven years in the Nongshim Ramen Cup at the beginning of this century!
Moreover, Go at that time was different from e-sports in recent years - e-sports mainly emerged after 2010. China's national power had gradually turned from weak to strong, and it did not particularly need an e-sports champion. Prove national strength.
But China at the beginning of the century was still an era when national self-confidence was still lacking, and for Go, a national quintessence sport that once defended the dignity of the country, the eight-year absence of a championship in the Three Kingdoms Arena simply cannot be accepted by the people. Endurable!
Shang Chaotian, who was the core figure of Chinese Go at that time, had a deep understanding of the feeling at that time.
He has always been known for his calm mentality and few mistakes, but when he appeared in the arena as the last leader of China, he felt extremely heavy pressure - this kind of pressure could not be compared to any individual championship.
This also directly affected his performance, causing a generation of chess kings to have a dismal winning rate in the Three Kingdoms Arena. There were also many controversies in domestic reviews - even though at that time, he was already the number one in China in terms of the number of individual world championships.
However, as Lu Wenjie gradually grew up and officially pushed his big brother to the position of deputy general in the ninth arena competition, Shang Chaotian's performance returned to normal with support behind him.
In this arena competition, Shang Chaotian, who played as the deputy general, defeated powerful enemies and won five games in a row. He ended the game without Lu Wenjie, the main player of China, who had not yet appeared, and won the Nongshim Ramen Cup for China for the first time!
After the game, Shang Chaotian burst into tears during the interview and bluntly said that this is the most important championship in his life, much more important than any individual title or championship!
It is precisely because of his wonderful performance in the ninth arena that Shang Chaotian's career in the arena can be considered basically complete, even though the Chinese team failed to win the first two arena tournaments in which Shang Chaotian participated.
However, not everyone’s memory of the ring competition can have a happy ending - just like Lei Jingming.
At that time, Lei Jingming successfully qualified for the sixth and eighth domestic player selections. However, due to his long-term poor performance against Japanese and South Korean chess players, the Chess Association, which was in urgent need of a breakthrough in the group competition, privately approached Lei Jingming, hoping that he would put the overall situation first and voluntarily give up his qualifications for the Nongshim Cup.
But this is naturally hard to accept for Lei Jingming, who has always wanted to show off his skills and face in the ring.
Especially at the 8th session, Lei Jingming rushed directly into the office of the then chairman of the Chess Association to ask for an explanation!
However, in the end, Lei Jingming still listened to the persuasion of the leaders of the Chess Association and the General Administration, put the overall situation first, and voluntarily quit.
After all, winning the Nongshim Cup is the long-cherished wish of a generation of Chinese Go players. Although Lei Jingming was extremely unwilling, he still maintained an attitude of understanding and cooperation.
As for the 9th Nongshim Cup, at this time Lei Jingming, who knew that if his external record did not improve, he would have no chance to take the stage, he gave up participating in the preliminaries and worked hard to practice his internal skills and mentality. Unexpectedly, this practice allowed him to reap the rewards and win the only world championship in his life.
But just when Lei Jingming thought that his fortune was coming, and he was exempted from selection and entered the main stage to show off his talents, China failed twice in the 10th and 11th competition.
Although Lao Lei performed well in both 9th-dan games, it could not change the fact that he had never been able to win the Nongshim Cup on behalf of China in his life. Subsequently, Lei Jingming was not selected for the Nongshim Cup again, which has become a lifelong regret.
So, regarding the Nongshim Cup, it is not an exaggeration to say that Chinese Go owes him the Lei family.
But now that Lei Jingming is taking this matter to task, Shang Chaotian is suddenly bigger than the other two! He could only say vaguely:
“Uh, Lao Lei, should we wait until the chess holy war is over before we talk about this?
“Your son’s important game is not over yet! Why do you worry about students? ”
"I originally wanted to wait! But what if we have to go to the fifth set? It's mid-July now! Maybe you should try to excuse me by saying 'you've already chosen someone'!"
Uh... How can Lao Lei be so smart?
Shang Chaotian was dumbfounded.
... Could it be Lei Qi’s mother’s idea to do this? Otherwise, Lao Lei Zhao would be easy to fool...
In desperation, he had no choice but to delay:
"Don't worry! I promise you! I will select the 'Wuyue Cup' wild card candidates only after the chess holy war is over, and I will report it to you, a meritorious chess player, before selecting. Is that okay?"
< br>Shang Chaotian always keeps his word, and Lei Jingming still knows this.
Seeing him so swearing, Lao Lei Jiuduan breathed a sigh of relief:
"Then don't forget, my wife is also watching this matter! I will talk to you when the time comes. You call! "
Tsk... I knew it!
But why did Qin Xiaoxue get involved in this matter? Rui Zhao is Lao Lei's student, not hers...
Is it possible... Hmm...
Shang Chaotian seems to have noticed something is wrong, but he doesn't have much to say about family matters. He could only twist his eyebrows and said:
"Hey, don't call me. The last three games are in Dongjiang, Qiantang and Gezhou. It's hard to meet at the end of any game!"
"Okay, Then talk in person! Don’t fool me!”
After saying that, Lei Jingming hung up the phone. Shang Chaotian, who was caught off guard, couldn't help but let out a long sigh, but he didn't have any good clues at the moment.
However, speaking of Nongshim Cup... Twenty-five years have passed and it is almost July again.
You have to tell Cai Shuang not to help Lei Qi anymore.
Lei Qi can be exempted from the selection, but he still has to participate in the pre-selection...
Hey...wait a minute...
Lin Ruixin, he also wants to be pre-selected, right?
【Plot related】
I have to say that before the final stage of the competition, I just didn’t know how to climax. The plot in the early part of the second volume was originally relatively flat and struggling. After a long time, I decided to just write at my own pace and make up the settings as I go.
【Outside the Book】
Hey, Xiao Zhao still can’t do it...
Next, let’s see if the cupping king can win the permanent right to be free from spraying today.
(End of this chapter)