Chapter 369 Before the Finals
The National Team Championship has finally come to an end, and the internet has been abuzz with discussion. Since the end of the National Team Championship, discussions about the National Team Challenge have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.
Because after the national team competition is over, they will go to Beijing to shoot a promotional video. Therefore, Yu Shao does not plan to return to Jiangling. He plans to fly directly from Donghai to Beijing and call his parents to inform them.
"Okay, then be safe. Call me if you have any questions. The weather in Beijing isn't that hot. Do you want me to send you some spring clothes?"
On the other end of the video, Cai Xiaomei was nagging: "Really? You've been in Donghai for so long, and the chess academy didn't even give you time to rest and go home."
Yu Shao listened quietly without interrupting, and felt quite warm in his heart.
This time he has been away from home for quite a long time. He has been in Donghai for the entire competition and has been there for almost two months. Now he has to go to Beijing to participate in the finals. It will probably take another month for him to go home.
"I got it, Mom. I'll be back right after the competition." Yu Shao said.
"Okay, don't feel pressured during the challenge, just play at your best level. When the game is over and you get home, mom will make you something delicious..."
Cai Xiaomei seemed to have a lot to say. Even though Yu Shao didn't reply, he continued talking to himself for a long time. Finally, when he saw a customer coming to the store, he hurriedly hung up the phone.
In this way, Yu Shao rested in the hotel for three days. Three days later, he finally left Donghai and took a plane to Beijing.
After sitting on the plane for several hours, Yu Shao finally got off the plane.
There is a constant stream of people coming and going in the airport. As the capital, Beijing has a fast pace of life. Everyone is walking in a hurry, as if they are racing against time.
There were also some people who were obviously traveling to Beijing from other places. There was a hint of joy hidden in the fatigue on their faces, and they looked around this prosperous and unfamiliar Beijing airport with curiosity.
After leaving the airport, Yu Shao quickly took a taxi and headed to the hotel arranged for him by the chess academy. After about forty minutes in the car, he finally arrived.
"You're staying in this hotel?"
The taxi driver had been holding it in all the way, and when he saw Yu Shao was about to get off the car, he finally couldn't help but ask.
"right."
Yu Shao nodded, took out his mobile phone, prepared to scan the code to pay the fare, and answered casually.
“Tsk tsk.”
The driver couldn't help smacking his lips when he heard that. He said, "This is the best hotel in Beijing. Even the most ordinary rooms cost thousands of dollars a night. What do you do, young man? You don't look like a student, but you don't look very old either."
"Me?"
Yu Shao smiled and said, "Playing chess."
Although Go is popular in the world, not everyone pays attention to Go. So Yu Shao was not surprised that the driver didn't recognize him.
"Play chess?"
The driver couldn't help but be a little surprised. He smiled and shook his head and said, "A Go player, right? I don't really understand. I know Yasuhiro Shi and Sho Misao. I always feel that playing Go can be a profession. It's a bit magical."
Hearing what the driver said, Yu Shao just smiled and didn't say anything.
"By the way, little brother, what's your name? You're so young, and you can stay in a hotel like this, you must be famous, right?"
The driver asked curiously, "Of course, I'm just asking casually. If you don't want to tell me, forget it."
"My name is Yu Shao."
Yu Shao smiled, finally paid the fare, put away his phone, and prepared to get off the bus.
"Yu Shao?"
The driver was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He scratched his head and said, "I've never heard of him... I know there is a chess player named Zhu Huaian, who seems to be quite young. I thought you were him."
Yu Shao smiled and said, "Maybe I'm not very famous yet."
"You are still so young, you will eventually become famous." The driver said with a smile.
"Thank you for your good words."
Yu Shao smiled, finally opened the car door and got out.
Seeing Yu Shao get out of the car, the driver stepped on the accelerator and drove away quickly. After driving for a while, he suddenly thought of something and called a friend.
"Hello, is this Lao Li?"
He turned on the hands-free mode and chatted with his friend while driving: "Don't you like playing Go very much? I invited a customer today. Guess who I invited?"
The person on the other end of the phone was obviously stunned for a moment, and then asked doubtfully: "Zhuang Weisheng?"
"Uh... that's not it."
The driver laughed awkwardly twice, then quickly added: "But he should be very powerful. Do you know where he lives? He lives in the Jinghua Hotel!"
"Who is it? What's your name?"
The friend on the other end of the phone was obviously interested and couldn't help but ask further questions.
The driver thought for a moment and asked, "Yu Shao, did you say that?"
"Yu——"
The person on the other end of the phone was stunned for a moment, and then the voice suddenly became louder: "What? Yu Shao?!"
"Oh my god, why are you yelling so loudly?"
The driver was startled by the sudden increase in the volume of his friend's voice. His hands on the steering wheel couldn't help shaking. He braked suddenly to stop the car. He felt his eardrums hurt from his friend's yelling.
"Yu Shao! Is this true? Did you pull Yu Shao? Where did you pull him? Didn't you ask for a photo or autograph?"
The friend on the other end of the phone sounded a little excited and asked several questions in a row.
"Why do you want this? He doesn't even look 20 years old. How old am I? If I ask for an autograph and a photo with someone so much younger than me, won't it be embarrassing if it gets out?"
The driver asked curiously, "Why, is he famous?"
"famous?"
The friend on the other end of the phone was so angry that he laughed: "You really don't pay any attention to Go?"
"I don't care. I'm just a rough guy. I don't know how to play the piano, chess, calligraphy or painting. You know that."
The driver looked puzzled. He turned the steering wheel and said, "Although I don't know much about Go, I have heard of some Go players over the years. I don't know this Yu Shao."
"Those chess players you know have been competing in the professional chess world for more than five or six years, but he only became a professional chess player last year," said the friend on the other end of the phone.
"You only became a professional chess player last year?"
The driver smiled and said, "He's just a new chess player. You're so excited. Are you sick?"
“…”
The friend on the other end of the phone was speechless for a moment, and then he said, "He only became a professional chess player last year, but..."
"If I'm not mistaken, he came to Beijing this time to participate in this year's National Championship Challenge."
Click——
The driver, who had just started the car, suddenly braked again and asked in disbelief, "What did you say? The National Team Challenge?"
"Yes, he has already qualified for the National Master Challenge Tournament. If he beats Jiang Changdong in the final match, he will be the next holder of the National Master title, at the age of only 17!"
The friend took a deep breath and continued like a chain of cannonballs: "You know Zhuang Weisheng, he just beat Zhuang Weisheng not long ago!"
"More importantly, many people now believe that because of him, Go has entered its third era. The new era of Go will be led by Yu Shao!"
"Nowadays, who can play Go and doesn't know the name Yu Shao?"
"Every time I watch him play chess, my blood boils. He is my idol! You have cultivated merits for so many years that you can drive a car to pick up Yu Shao!"
After hearing these words, the driver's head was buzzing.
Is that so exaggerated? I didn't ask for a photo and autograph?
…
…
After Yu Shao got out of the car, he quickly walked into the lobby of Jinghua Hotel.
As the most luxurious five-star hotel in Beijing, the decoration and furnishings of Beijing Royal Hotel are indeed magnificent. Every design reveals a sense of luxury, and the crystal chandelier on the ceiling of the lobby sparkles with the light of money.
"It is worthy of being the most luxurious five-star hotel in Beijing."
Yu Shao couldn't help but be shocked when he saw this.
However, as far as Yu Shao knew, the chess academy did not actually pay a penny for his living here.
At first, after listening to Ma Zhengyu, he thought that all the expenses would be borne by the chess academy since he came to participate in the competition. However, when he was playing online chess with Wu Zhixuan that night, Wu Zhixuan said that the expenses were actually sponsored by the hotel.
He had participated in many competitions in his previous life. If the competition was sponsored by the chess academy, aspects such as venue, food and accommodation would be fully covered by the chess academy. However, in his previous life, the chess academy had to pay for the venue rental out of its own pocket.
Of course, if there is sponsorship, that’s another matter. In this case, the organizer pays for it.
The chess academy here held its own competitions, not only did they not pay, they even had to collect money, and he didn't get a penny of this money, it all went into the pockets of the chess academy, and when asked, they found out that the landlord had no surplus food! Yu Shao was a little speechless when he remembered the boastful tone when Ma Zhengyu told him about this.
I didn't expect that this old guy Ma Zhengyu also had bad intentions. He wanted to make money by selling people and asked them to help him count the money, treating him as a Japanese.
Other professional chess players are well aware of the way the chess academy makes extra money, so they just bully newcomers like him who have been professional chess players for only a short time.
Yu Shao quickly came to the front desk, told the receptionist his name, received the room card, and then with the help of the housekeeper, he took the elevator to his room with his luggage.
It would take a few more days to shoot the promotional video, so for the next few days, Yu Shao stayed in the hotel to review the chess games, and at most he just walked around the area around the hotel.
Fortunately, Ma Zhengyu was right about one thing. The three meals arranged for him by the hotel in the past few days were all specialties of Beijing, such as roast duck, which were specially prepared by the hotel chef and were very delicious.
Just like that, three days later, Yu Shao finally received a notice from the chess academy to shoot a promotional video. He got up from bed early in the morning, got dressed, and took a taxi to the Northern Chess Academy.
Although he was already a seasoned professional Go player in his previous life, this was his first time shooting a Go promotional video, and it was also a novel experience for him.
Not long after, Yu Shao arrived at the gate of the Northern Chess Academy, got off the car and walked into the Northern Chess Academy.
As soon as he walked into the hall of the chess academy, Yu Shao saw a familiar figure.
“You’re here.”
Seeing Yu Shao, Qin Lang took out two cans of Coke from the vending machine's delivery port, threw one of them at Yu Shao, and then pulled the ring of his own can.
"Thanks. Long time no see."
Yu Shao took the Coke and thanked him with a smile.
"I knew you were coming to the Northern Chess Academy, so I was waiting in the lobby. The academy knew I knew you, so they asked me to receive you."
Qin Lang glanced at Yu Shao and said, "You are a little late. Teacher Jiang Changdong has already arrived."
"Really? The chess academy informed me that someone would come to receive me, but I didn't expect it to be you."
Yu Shao smiled and said, "Didn't you say that we just need to arrive before nine o'clock?"
"Then you can't be stuck on time. It's already 8:50."
Qin Lang was a little speechless and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to the hand-talk room."
"In the chat room?"
Yu Shao was a little curious and said, "I was wondering why we had to come to the chess academy to shoot a promotional video."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be filmed at the chess academy. It depends on the director's idea. Director Li wanted to film it in the chess academy's hand-talking room, so it was decided to be filmed at the chess academy."
Qin Lang relaxed his shoulders and said as he led the way: "I'm actually curious about how to shoot it."
The two chatted as they walked towards the chat room.
Many professional chess players on the road noticed the two of them and cast their eyes on them, but their eyes were basically focused on Yu Shao, and they whispered to each other.
"That's Yu Shao, right?"
“Although I have played his chess games countless times, this is the first time I have met him in person.”
"He hasn't been to the Northern Chess Academy yet, has he? Fortunately, he is not a chess player from our Northern Chess Academy, otherwise, with him around, the pressure would be too great."
"It's hard to imagine that I can go from the qualifying tournament to the title challenge tournament in just one year..."
"Thanks to him, I feel like I learned Go for 20 years in vain."
There was curiosity, awe, longing, fear, and jealousy in everyone's eyes...
Almost everyone has heard of the name Yu Shao. Even Yu Shao's chess records have been studied over and over again countless times. For most chess players in the Northern Chess Academy, this is the first time they have seen Yu Shao.
Not long after, Yu Shao followed Qin Lang and finally arrived at the door of the talk show room where the promotional video was shot.
"We're here. This is it."
Qin Lang turned around and said something to Yu Shao, then pushed open the door and walked in first.
Yu Shao also followed Qin Lang into the chat room.
As soon as the two walked into the chat room, they immediately attracted everyone's attention.
At this time, several professional movie-grade cameras had been set up in the chat room, and more than a dozen people were crowded in the small chat room.
At this time, Jiang Changdong was sitting beside the chess table in the middle of the chess talk room. When he saw Yu Shao coming, he immediately looked up at Yu Shao. Coincidentally, Yu Shao was also looking at Jiang Changdong at this time.
The two people's eyes met briefly in mid-air.
"Yu Shao, third stage, good morning."
Jiang Changdong spoke first and greeted everyone, with no emotion visible on his face.
Hearing this, Yu Shao also retracted his gaze and returned the greeting to Jiang Changdong: "Morning, Teacher Jiang Changdong."
At this moment, another familiar voice sounded——
"Long time no see, Yu Shao Sandan."
Yu Shao was startled, turned his head to look at the source of the sound, and was immediately surprised.
Under the calligraphy piece "Sitting and Discussing Taoism" hanging high in the chat room, a burly man with a stubbled face and a rough appearance was looking at him with complicated eyes.
"Teacher Kong Zi."
Yu Shao also immediately greeted Kong Zi.
"The last time we met was in the Xinhuo War. In a year, you have reached the title challenge match now."
Kong Zi looked at Yu Shao, was silent for a moment, and said: "It's really... quite amazing."
"So, let me see with my own eyes what kind of moves you can make in the title match final."
…………
ps: Brothers, please give me your monthly votes!
(End of this chapter)
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