Literary Master 1978

May 3, 1987, Tokyo, Japan, Nippon Chess Academy.

In a small Japanese room, several men in kimono were looking at the young man in front of them with serious expressions.

Without exception, this group of people are the mainstays of today's Japanese chess world. Among them are Kataoka Satoshi, who participated in the first and second arena tournaments, and Takemiya Masaki, who only participated in the second arena tournament.

But more of them are players who are about to participate in the third tournament, such as Goro Miyazawa, Norio Kudo, Shuzo Ohira, Hiroshi Yamashiro and Masao Kato.

Kazuhiro Fukuda was inevitably nervous as he was watched by several top Japanese chess players, but he still forced himself to calm down.

On the wall behind him, there was a blackboard with several photos pasted on it. The most obvious one was that of a man marked in red writing.

"This is Lin Chaoyang, the famous Chinese novelist and the author of "The Master of Chess"."

Obviously, the red handwriting was marked by Fukuda Kazuhiro. He studied at Yanda University and naturally knew Lin Chaoyang, who was already famous at that time.

"Futian, do you think this Lin Sang is very good at chess? How good is he?" asked the man sitting on the right side of the door.

Fukuda Kazuhiro hesitated for a few seconds, "Mr. Takemiya, I'm really sorry. I have never played against him, so I can't give you an accurate answer."

"However, when I was studying abroad in Yanjing, I also participated in group competitions and achieved 13 consecutive victories. Later, I was defeated by a Chinese student. I heard that that person was under the guidance of Lin Sang."

Takemiya Masaki frowned and looked at Fukuda Kazuhiro, "You are just an amateur. It's not surprising that someone defeated you under his guidance."

When Fukuda Kazuhiro heard this, he didn't feel any anger at being looked down upon. Instead, he looked horrified, lowered his head and bowed: "I'm really sorry!"

Masao Kato, who was sitting at the top, said: "Okay, don't say these useless words. What I want to know is, is there any evidence to prove that this person is the strategist behind the Chinese team?"

Hearing this, Kazuhiro Fukuda looked embarrassed and said hesitantly: "Mr. Kato, I just heard a rumor before, but I don't know whether it is true or not."

When Kato Masao heard this, his eyes narrowed and his expression was calm and intimidating, "What rumors?"

"It is rumored that when Lin Sang was at Yan University, Nie Xuanfeng would visit him from time to time to ask for advice on chess skills."

As soon as these words came out, everyone present suddenly looked solemn.

Kato Masao pondered for a long time and exhaled: "It seems that Lin Sang is indeed the 'Mr. Kong Ming' behind the Chinese team. No wonder he can be seen on the scene in every crucial competition in the arena."

In the past two days, the Japanese Go team has been studying strategies against the Chinese team. Yesterday, they learned about the existence of "Go Master" and made targeted arrangements.

But just yesterday evening, Kataoka Satoshi, who had participated in two consecutive group competitions, suddenly said that there is a stranger in the Chinese team who always appears in every key game.

And he was very sure that the person was not a chess player, coach or accompanying official of the Chinese team.

The situation of his reaction immediately attracted the attention of the Japanese team. Everyone immediately found the man's photo to identify it, only to find that many people had seen that man, but no one knew the other person's identity.

This immediately made the Japanese team nervous, and they called over Fukuda Kazuhiro, who had previously taught them the popular science "Chess Master" and had a background of studying in China.

This leads to the scene just now.

It is a very strange situation for a novelist to appear at the highest level Go competition between the two countries.

Now after analyzing all the situations, everyone finally understands that this person must be the military advisor behind the Chinese team.

Everyone felt the pressure and remained silent. Kato Masao frowned and sighed: "What we have to face is not only the increasingly powerful Chinese team, but also Mr. Kong Ming behind them!"

Kataoka Satoshi said: "We lost the previous two games because we were unprepared. Now that we know the existence of Mr. Kong Ming, it will be easier to handle."

But Takemiya Masaki raised questions, "Easy to handle? What to do? Can our chess skills improve by leaps and bounds?"

His words left Satoshi Kataoka speechless. After a moment, Satoshi Kataoka said again: "You don't have to give him a visa, so he won't be able to go to the game site."

"Baga!" Masao Kato, the leader, yelled angrily, looking at Satoshi Kataoka with eyes filled with contempt.

"You are deceiving yourself. Doesn't it mean that he can't give advice to the Chinese team if he is not at the game?"

Kataoka Satoshi said dissatisfied: "What else can we do?"

No one answered his question, and everyone in the room fell silent.

Kato Masao also frowned and pondered for a long time. Finally, he said: "In addition to reading "Celebrity", I think we should also make "The Master of Chess" a must-read for the Go team. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be invincible in every battle."

Everyone understood that Kato Masao's proposal was more of a helpless move.

"How do we read a Chinese novel?" Takemiya Masaki asked.

Someone looked at Kazuhiro Fukuda who was standing there.

Kazuhiro Fukuda said weakly: "I'm really sorry, my Chinese level is not good enough to translate Lin Sang's works. But I know that Kawade Shobo has introduced Lin Sang's works in the past two years.

I think I can contact their translators to help you. "

His words were recognized by Kato Masao. Kato Masao asked everyone present with his eyes, but no one said anything.

He said, "Since you all have no objection, I will send someone to contact Kawade Shobo and ask them to provide us with a Japanese version of "The Go Master" as soon as possible."

At this point, they can only try their best.

Everyone bowed their heads and said in unison: "Hai!"

Kato Masao said to Miyazawa Goro in a serious tone: "Miyazawa-kun, tomorrow is the day you will play against the Chinese team. You must study "The Master" carefully and cheer up. We Japanese Go can no longer afford to fail!"

Miyazawa Goro immediately felt an invisible pressure on his shoulders and bowed solemnly.

"For victory, I will study "The Master" carefully!"

Kato Masao nodded with satisfaction.

The next day, the second game of the third China-Japan Go Challenge was held as scheduled in the Japanese Go Institute. After this game, the challenge will be transferred to China, but that will have to wait for a month.

The second game was between Yang Hui of the Chinese team and Miyazawa Goro of the Japanese team.

When they met before the game, Yang Hui saw that Miyazawa Goro's eyes were red, obviously because he didn't get enough rest last night, but his spirit gave people a sense of excitement.

The game between the two went to 227 moves, and Miyazawa Goro won in the middle game.

Yang Hui was very calm after losing the game, because women's Go has always been less powerful than men's Go, and it was normal for her to lose the game, and it would be strange if she didn't lose.

But what puzzled her was that after the victory, Miyazawa Goro and the Japanese team seemed to be happier and more joyful and celebrating than the final game, even though it was only the second game of the challenge match.

Yang Hui looked in the direction of the Japanese team and asked several teammates with a strange expression, "What are they celebrating?"

Nie Weiping also looked at the Japanese team and replied, "I don't know. Maybe it's because they just experienced a terrible defeat a few days ago, and they are more happy to win today."

Then he said to Lin Chaoyang, "Chaoyang, I found that they seem to be staring at you all the time today."

"Really? I didn't notice." Lin Chaoyang didn't care and asked, "Should we return home the day after tomorrow?"

Lin Chaoyang was invited to Japan by the Chinese Go team, so naturally he had to return home with them.

After today's game, the Japanese side also arranged a tour for the Chinese team. They had to stay in Japan for a day, and the main force would return home the day after tomorrow.

"Yes, I heard that the celebration banquet in China is ready, and Old Nie will be in the limelight again this time!" Yang Hui teased with a smile on his face.

"It's as if you don't want to be in the limelight. The victory belongs to everyone!" Nie Weiping replied with a smile.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang played in Tokyo with the Chinese team for a day, and then boarded the plane back home.

After arriving at Yanjing Airport, the Chinese Go team was immediately surrounded by enthusiastic reporters, welcoming heroes like a hero, and the Capital Airport was filled with flowers and applause.

Holding a bouquet of flowers presented by the staff of the Sports Bureau, Nie Weiping first accepted interviews from many media on behalf of the Chinese team, and then a reporter found Lin Chaoyang mixed in the crowd.

Lin Chaoyang rarely appears in the media, and the public is not familiar with his appearance, but reporters who run cultural and sports news are familiar with his face.

"Hello, Comrade Chaoyang, I am Yang Lang, a reporter from China Youth Daily. Can I interview you?"

A middle-aged reporter caught Lin Chaoyang.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and waved his hand, "It's enough to interview the athletes. I don't have anything to interview."

Yang Lang asked, "It seems that you also went to Japan for this competition?"

Lin Chaoyang waved his hand and kept silent. The more he did so, the more curious Yang Lang became.

Yang Lang was very dissatisfied in his heart. He knew that Lin Chaoyang was the organizer of the Xunweizhai Cultural Salon.

This reminded him of the past two years when he went to Xiaoliubukou Hutong to dig up some news about the salon, but was turned away every time.

You really don't treat journalists as cadres!

Despite his complaints, Yang Lang could only helplessly watch Lin Chaoyang leave the Capital Airport with the Chinese team on a bus.

That night, the news that the Chinese Go team returned from Japan with honors was on the "News Network", and Lin Chaoyang's figure flashed across the screen.

The day after arriving in Beijing, the Chinese Go team held a press conference.

On May 8, Lin Chaoyang was invited to attend the celebration banquet held in the People's Hall.

There was still some time before the celebration banquet began, and Nie Weiping was called to play bridge, and Lin Chaoyang was also dragged along.

Nie Weiping started playing bridge with the leader in 1984. He played it many times and became familiar with the leader, so he was qualified to take Lin Chaoyang into the chess and card room.

As soon as he saw Lin Chaoyang, the leader recognized him.

"Isn't this our writer Xiao Lin?"

"Hello, leader!" Lin Chaoyang greeted politely.

"You came just in time, let's play cards together. I heard from Xiao Nie that he is now suffering from 'Lin Chaoyang dependence', and he can't play without you."

The leader asked them to sit down and joked.

Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "When I was not there, the comrades in the Go team also won the game, which obviously had nothing to do with me. It is my honor to be here to witness them win glory for the country."

The leader laughed, his smile was hearty, "You are worthy of being a writer, you just know how to talk. Today we have a new card player, come on, deal the cards."

Lin Chaoyang can play bridge, but his level is very poor. He was assigned to a group with the leader. After playing a few games, he lost miserably, which caused the leader to complain.

Today's celebration banquet has nearly 20 tables, and most of the people who came are officials and figures in the domestic cultural and sports circles.

Some people saw Lin Chaoyang walking with the leader, and they couldn't help but show surprise on their faces and whispered.

There was nothing special about the celebration banquet. The cooking skills of the chefs in Haili were indeed better than those in restaurants outside, but that was all.

When the banquet was over and they were about to leave Haili, Shi Fangyu from the Film Bureau ran over to say hello to Lin Chaoyang, and casually mentioned that the Film Bureau had just arranged a re-screening of "The Chess Master" two days ago.

"The movie "The Chess Master" has almost become the treasure at the bottom of the box of China Film. Every year after the challenge competition is over, it has to be taken out and put on display. It is very popular, and Comrade Chaoyang has made great contributions!"

"How can I make any contributions? It's the comrades in the Go team who are working hard, and I just followed them."

The two chatted and laughed for a while, and then left.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang returned to Hong Kong, and Tao Yumo told her as soon as she landed. She said that He De Shufang contacted her and asked for the publishing rights of "The Chess Master" in Japan.

Lin Chaoyang was puzzled when he heard this, "Why do they want the publishing rights of "The Chess Master"? To publish it in Japan?"

"It seems so, they said it was quite urgent. They didn't know you were in Tokyo a few days ago, otherwise it would be so convenient for you to sign the contract, and this matter caused a commotion." Tao Yumo said.

Lin Chaoyang was full of doubts. There was not much anti-Japanese content in "Crossing Guandong", and it only appeared in the later period.

But "The Chess Master" was different. The theme of this novel from beginning to end was anti-Japanese.

Did the little Japanese take the wrong medicine and actually want to introduce "The Chess Master"?

He was puzzled and asked about the conditions given by Kawade Shobo. Tao Yumo said it was the same as before, so he nodded. He couldn't miss the money.

"Then you contact them and go to sign the contract."

"Okay."

In the next few days, Lin Chaoyang stayed at home and concentrated on writing. First, he sorted out the outline of the script of "Parasite" and made an appointment with Ann Hui.

After finishing "The Truman Show" last year, Ann Hui has become a hot commodity in the Hong Kong film industry, and many film companies have offered her olive branches.

But she didn't accept any of them. Perhaps stimulated by "The Truman Show", Ann Hui has been working on a semi-autobiographical drama about her own experience this year, called "The Passenger's Autumn Regret".

Xu Guanwen had approached her before, and when she heard that he was going to shoot Lin Chaoyang's new film, Ann Hui naturally wanted it.

Now Lin Chaoyang's reputation as a "scripting master" has spread throughout Hong Kong, and his achievements are available. She has benefited a lot from it, and she naturally wanted the opportunity to work with him again.

She immediately stopped "The Passenger's Autumn Regret" and waited for Lin Chaoyang's call at any time. As a result, she waited for almost a month, and during this period she almost read the novel "Parasite" to pieces.

After chatting with Lin Chaoyang for most of the day, Ann Hui was full of excitement.

"Mr. Lin, how long will it take for the script to come out?"

"Maybe in July."

Ann Hui is determined to enter the three major European film festivals with "Parasite", and Lin's Films will not miss this opportunity, but Lin Chaoyang is not in a hurry.

Next year's three major European film festivals will be the highlight of Chinese-language films shining in the world, "A City of Sadness" in Venice and "Red Sorghum" in West Berlin. In order to avoid internal friction, it is safest to let "Parasite" participate in the Cannes Film Festival.

With the success of "The Truman Show" before, the original team will go to Cannes, which is a great advantage.

Now there is still a whole year before next year's Cannes Film Festival, so there is plenty of time.

In the following days, Lin Chaoyang spent half a day every day writing the script of "Parasite", and the remaining half day ran to the Exchange Square located on the waterfront of Connaught Road and Harbour View Street in Central.

The Exchange Square is a tower-shaped building composed of square and semicircular geometric bodies. It is the venue built by the Hong Kong United Exchange.

Most of the floors of the trading square are commercial office buildings, and another small part is the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The place where Lin Chaoyang spends the most time every day is the trading hall.

The trading hall, which covers an area of ​​more than 2,300 square meters, has 800 counters. Each member seat can occupy a counter and accommodate two market representatives.

These counters are arranged in a square shape, with an open space in the middle, which is convenient for the traditional open outcry trading method when necessary. This trading method will disappear in the history of the exchange in a few years.

Each counter is equipped with a computer, a printer, an external telephone to contact the securities brokerage under the member, and an internal telephone for the market representatives to contact each other.

In terms of the modernization of the exchange, the level of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is far higher than the current industry level in Hong Kong, and it is not inferior to even the well-known Western stock exchanges of the same period.

In addition to the modernization of counter transactions, the trading hall also has a huge display screen that displays the current 20 most recent transaction information in the market for reference by all market representatives.

It can also be transmitted to the display screen in the sales hall of the securities brokerage firm under the member through the Internet for reference by investors.

In order to write a novel, Lin Chaoyang went to the trading hall to collect inspiration.

This place is not accessible to ordinary citizens, not even stockholders. Fortunately, Lin Chaoyang is now quite famous in Hong Kong.

He contacted the current CEO of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Xin Hanquan, and learned that Lin Chaoyang wanted to write a novel about the Hong Kong stock market. Xin Hanquan was very cooperative and even invited Lin Chaoyang to dinner.

During the meal, he also asked Lin Chaoyang about the specific content of the novel, and he said that he hoped that Lin Chaoyang's novel would play a positive role in promoting the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Lin Chaoyang said: "Mr. Xin thinks too highly of me. A novel cannot promote the Hong Kong Stock Exchange."

Xin Hanquan said: "Mr. Lin is too modest. Your talent has long been known throughout Hong Kong, and you have many readers. If you write about the story that happened here at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and let all citizens and even foreigners see it, it will definitely become a good story!"

Faced with Xin Hanquan's compliment, Lin Chaoyang had to be more modest and explained to him that although the content of the novel is about stock speculation, the main theme is still the interweaving of human nature and fame and fortune.

Xin Hanquan became interested and couldn't help asking Lin Chaoyang more about the content of the novel. Lin Chaoyang had to talk about the general plot of the novel.

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's story, Xin Hanquan frowned and thought.

Of course, the content that Lin Chaoyang wanted to write was different from his ideal of praising the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong stock market, but the story was indeed moving and fascinating.

If the effect is good, it may be a promotion for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

As for the negative description of the stock market and trading market in the novel, Xin Hanquan didn't care.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Hong Kong stock market was even more chaotic and dark than it is now. Weren't there countless citizens waving money to rush in?

Don't these citizens know that the stock market is dark?

Of course they know, but who can refuse the opportunity to get rich overnight?

As long as Lin Chaoyang's novel can increase the reputation of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, that's enough.

Lin Chaoyang successfully obtained the opportunity to visit the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's trading hall, and he was a permanent resident.

He spent more than half a month in the trading hall and learned a lot of stock market knowledge. As early as the beginning of entering the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, he opened a special account.

He didn't do it for stock speculation, but simply for collecting materials.

The funds were not much, only two million Hong Kong dollars, all of which were saved royalties.

Now Lin's Films no longer needs his blood transfusion. The numbers in his account are increasing and he can't spend them all.

Lan Fong Yuen in the afternoon.

This tea restaurant has been open in Central for more than 30 years. The facade is still simple, but it does not prevent the restaurant from being full of guests and popular.

As soon as Lin Chaoyang sat down, the young master Ah Ye came over and greeted him enthusiastically: "Mr. Lin is here, what would you like to eat?"

"One French toast and a cup of milk tea."

Lin Chaoyang ordered something and sat there quietly listening to the chats of people around him.

In addition to the morning tea time, the afternoon is the busiest time of the day in Lan Fong Yuen.

There are office workers who come out to "recharge", old men who read horse racing books, and big mouths who talk about millions of business with mobile phones...

And the topics that these people talk about the most are always only three topics, real estate speculation, stocks, and horse racing.

Although the topics are very concentrated, it is easy to feel the fireworks and human life of Hong Kong society after listening for a long time. This is also one of the important places for Lin Chaoyang to collect materials for more than a year.

"If you want to buy, of course you should buy Cheung Kong. I heard that Boss Li is going to make a big move again this year, and the stock price will definitely rise!"

"Come on, I sold Cathay Real Estate at the beginning of the year according to your advice, and I lost at least 30,000 yuan. You come again this time?"

"Last time was just an accident. No one expected that the Luo family would acquire Cathay. This time the news was revealed by my son's classmate. He is a manager at Hutchison Whampoa, so there must be no problem."

The two old men closest to Lin Chaoyang were talking about stocks. In the past year, the Hang Seng Index has risen by nearly double and is about to break through 3,500 points.

As a result, many citizens who knew nothing about stocks rushed into the stock market in an attempt to make a fortune.

The Cathay Real Estate mentioned by the two old men was acquired by Century City, one of the wealthy families in Hong Kong, the Luo family, in March, and was just renamed Cathay City this month.

Then the stock price soared all the way, from 1.2 yuan to 2.6 yuan.

Lin Chaoyang happened to notice the name change of Cathay Pacific at that time. He thought it was an opportunity, so he went all in. Now his initial capital of 2 million has become more than 4 million.

Of course, these are just floating profits.

But Lin Chaoyang also had to sigh at the speed of wealth creation in the stock market. How can ordinary workers resist such temptation?

After taking a sip of the hot milk tea that had just been served, Lin Chaoyang heard two office workers on the other side talking about housing prices.

Since last year, Hong Kong has experienced the chilling effect of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and coupled with the desperate efforts of the Hong Kong British government to stimulate land prices, housing prices have soared, and the increase has exceeded 50% so far.

Such housing prices have long exceeded the affordability of the general working class, which naturally makes these ordinary citizens complain.

Lin Chaoyang listened to the joys and sorrows of these ordinary citizens, and silently memorized the impressive details in his heart. These are all materials for future novel creation.

After spending half an afternoon in Lan Fong Yuen, Lin Chaoyang checked out and prepared to go home.

"Goodbye, Mr. Lin!"

Young Master Ah Ye greeted Lin Chaoyang again. Such service attitude no longer existed in Hong Kong thirty years later.

When Lin Chaoyang returned home, he saw a suitcase at the door. It was Tao Yumo who had returned from Japan.

More than half a month ago, Hechu Bookstore received news that it would introduce "The Chess Master", and Lin Chaoyang handed the matter over to Tao Yumo.

Because of the visa issue, Tao Yumo went to Japan this week.

"Has the contract been signed?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"It's signed." Tao Yumo replied.

Then he asked Lin Chaoyang mysteriously: "Brother-in-law, guess why Hechu Bookstore wants to introduce "The Chess Master"? "

"No guess."

Tao Yumo snorted and muttered: "You are really boring."

She continued to talk to herself: "I talked to Ms. Kitamura and found out that it was the Japanese Go team that contacted them. They knew they had a cooperation with you and wanted a translation of "The Go Master"."

"Japanese Go team? Why do they want a translation of "The Go Master"?"

"I don't know, and Ms. Kitamura doesn't know either. Anyway, the Go team contacted their publishing house.

They think that since the Go team values ​​your novel, your novel may spread in the Go world in the future. Go has always been popular in Japan, so there may be a chance of a big sale."

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Did Kitamura tell you this? Or did you guess it?"

"Half and half, they can't just introduce your novel just to get scolded, right?"

Lin Chaoyang chuckled and praised: "Not bad, the analysis makes sense."

"That's it!" Tao Yumo raised his neck proudly.

While the two were talking, Tao Yushu returned home and told Lin Chaoyang a bad news with a serious face.