paddock

After the ginseng babies bloomed for the first time, they never grew in size again. After Yuan Ning passed the college entrance examination, they were still short and short, but their ginseng seeds grew well outside and lived freely. in the forest.

Yuan Ning sat in front of the stone table and looked at the chess game that had been placed for many years.Since he slept with Zhou Yulin for many years, his chess skills have improved a lot, and he has more or less ideas about this endgame.In the past few years, he has come here whenever he felt restless.The small willow tree by the pool has grown into a big willow tree, and the bright light leaks from the gaps in the willow leaves, casting mottled light and shadow on the chessboard.

Yuan Ning has played this endgame over and over again many times.Yuan Ning tried to fix it every time he came in, and restored it when he left.This process often takes a long time. Sometimes he is concentrating, and sometimes he is distracted.But no matter which one it is, it can calm down the churning thoughts well every time.Over time, Yuan Ning really liked sitting in front of the chess game and thinking.

Now Yuan Ning and Zhou Yulin can occasionally win a game or two in chess.The college entrance examination is over, and Yuan Ning is almost sixteen years old. He looked at the chess game that had accompanied him for many years, and calmed down to think about how to solve it.I don't know if it was an illusion, but when he fell on the chessboard for a while, he vaguely saw a figure on the opposite side, hazy, bright and fuzzy, and he couldn't see the shape clearly.The man also placed a piece on the chessboard after he made a piece, as if he was playing chess with Yuan Ning.

Yuan Ning was stunned for a moment, looked at the chessboard, and found that there were not more than half of the chess pieces on it.He blinked his eyes, took out a white piece from the opposite chess box, and placed it on the position he had just seen in a trance.

After a few moves like this, the surrounding wind blew up.The wind wasn't cold at all, on the contrary, it was a bit warm, making Yuan Ning feel warm all over, as if being wrapped in a large cloud of sunshine.Yuan Ning watched the earth-shaking changes on the chessboard, and suddenly realized that there was indeed someone playing chess with him!

He couldn't think of such a way.Yuan Ning asked, "Are you a senior who knew Yu'er and the others?"

The figure did not speak, and was vague and vague, not like a living person, but like a soft and warm cloud.Yuan Ning was not discouraged when he didn't get a response.Having communicated with Xiao Hei and the others a lot, he no longer made any fuss about this wonderful encounter, and settled down to continue playing chess with each other.

The two concentrated on playing chess, and time passed silently.

Untied!Yuan Ning's spirit lifted.This troubled me—the chess game that had accompanied him for many years was finally completed!Yuan Ning was happy when Xiao Hei rushed in.Yuan Ning saw a black shadow passing by, and there was a rattling noise from behind the house.

Yuan Ning didn't care whether the figure really existed, and hurried over, fearing that something would happen to Xiao Hei.When he ran to the back door, he saw that the round door had been pushed open by Xiao Hei, and a burst of light came in from outside.Yuan Ning came to the back door, but it seemed that the back door couldn't be pushed open, and the surrounding area was foggy, so he didn't come to check again.The back lights up!

Yuan Ning ran back after Xiao Hei in surprise, and found that there were patches of fertile fields behind, but it was nothing like the open space at the beginning, and it was a little red and black under the strange light around it. It seemed that it had experienced hundreds of years. Years are still as fertile as ever.

The little ginseng babies ran over and jumped up happily when they saw the large piece of land: "Tian! Tian! Tian!" They yelled many times, and they seemed really happy.Although there is an open space on the opposite side of the pond, but it is not so big and not so fertile, and the ginseng babies feel that it is not enough!In order to save land, they have to pull out the reeds and plant something else after picking the reeds to make brooms!

Yuan Ning said: "It's troublesome to irrigate such a large area. You can consider installing an irrigation system." He went to the study and drew a "construction drawing", and decided to divert water from the pond to build a road around the house and this fertile field. "Artificial River".As for the hands-on, of course, it was the baby ginseng and the wild boars.The wild boars are now very strong, they have strong limbs, and they can quickly dig the main body of the artificial river.As for finer work?Naturally, it is left to the ginseng babies to do it.

The baby ginseng and the wild boars liked their tasks very much, and started construction under Yuan Ning's command.Seeing that they were busy working quickly, Yuan Ning said to the fish: "When Xiaohe has dug the fish, you will have a bigger place to play!"

Yu'er wagged his tail towards Yuan Ning, looking very happy.

In the next few days, Yuan Ning was directing the construction of the ginseng babies.At the moment when the artificial river connected to the pond, the gurgling water poured into the river channel, engulfing the soft and wet river bed little by little.The surge of the spring seemed to speed up all of a sudden, and the spring water gushed out, filling the entire small river with water in an instant.The clear river water reflects the hazy sky and the well-growing green trees on the bank, filling the surrounding air with the moisture of water vapor and the fragrance of soil.

The ginseng babies happily ran to the river, saw their appearance reflected on the shining river, and excitedly said to Yuan Ning: "We! It's us! We are in the water!"

On both sides of the river, many huge rocks were "inlaid" by the wild boars, and the ginseng babies happily squatted on them and shouted, so that Yuan Ning hurried over to take a photo.

Yuan Ning couldn't resist their calls, so he could only walk over.He also looked at the water like the ginseng babies, and found that the water reflected the ginseng babies' short, white and fat bodies and the green tassels on their heads.After his eyes fell on his own reflection, Yuan Ning was slightly lost in thought.

The boy on the surface of the water has gradually lost his childishness, his Adam's apple has become obvious, and his figure has been raised, he is no longer the small child he was before.Yuan Ning smiled at the reflection on the water, and the reflection also smiled at him.He looked at the ginseng babies, compared their heights, and said, "You seem to have never grown taller."

The ginseng babies were not convinced: "President! President!" "We will grow!" "We will be taller than you!"

"That would be a bit scary." Yuan Ning imagined a baby ginseng that was taller than a human, and shook his head and said, "You are still as cute as you are now."

The ginseng babies were so angry that they ignored Yuan Ning.They are not cute!They must grow taller!

Seeing the angry appearance of the ginseng babies, Yuan Ning was amused, and suddenly remembered that Zhang Xiuyan liked to say that he was short when he was a child.His expression at that time was probably the same as that of Baby Ginseng now, right?No wonder the elder brother loves to tease him all the time!

Yuan Ning and the ginseng babies lay on the rock together, bathed in the bright light all around.In the past few years, he has maintained a close but not intimate relationship with all his brothers in the world, and the number of meetings and phone calls has been reduced.Everything is fine, the undercurrents lurking in the bottom of my heart gradually subside, leaving only a calm and light brotherhood.

It was just a child's cranky imagination!Yuan Ning blinked again, translated the sentence again and said it to himself, and recalled the past with peace of mind.Those days of getting up early, running, writing, reading and studying together every day, I always think of it as if it was still yesterday.

Yuan Ning turned over and started talking to the ginseng babies: "I'm going to the capital after school starts, and my eldest brother is still in the capital, can I live with my eldest brother?" Yuan Ning shook his head again, and said without waiting for the ginseng babies to respond, "It's better to live in the dormitory! The dormitory environment of Capital University is very good!"

The ginseng babies looked at each other without speaking.Every time that "big brother" is mentioned, something is wrong with Yuan Ning!

Yuan Ning didn't speak again, and continued to lie beside the small river, listening to the rushing water flowing quietly.The small river ran around the house and the endless fertile fields, and then returned to the pond. The breeze was blowing slowly, and the water surface was sparkling.

Yuan Ning woke up early the next morning and went to the Huating Chess Club to find Zhou Yulin.He is very familiar with the people in the Huating Chess Club. When Lao Zhou saw him coming, he didn't need to say hello. He told Yuan Ning that Zhou Yulin would continue to play chess with others upstairs, cursing as he played: "You stinky chess basket, you must be playing chess again." Steal chess while I'm not paying attention!" It turned out that an old friend of Lao Zhou came to him.

Yuan Ning went upstairs along the wooden stairs and saw Zhou Yulin standing on the balcony disinfesting the cacti.Zhou Yulin was three years older than Yuan Ning, tall and thin now, with a well-rounded appearance.Seeing Yuan Ning coming, Zhou Yulin stopped his movements: "Come here so early?"

"Didn't you say that Mr. Xiangchuan is coming over today?" Yuan Ning said, "I heard from Brother Luan that he seems to have lost his face, and he wants to bring someone over to recover the situation." Of course, Brother Luan was referring to Luan Jia. After getting older, Yuan Ning stopped calling him "Brother Luan Jia".

Zhou Yulin is not at all complacent about winning for six consecutive years.He frowned and asked, "Who are you bringing here?"

"Brother Luan said it might be Xi Chuan Jiang." Yuan Ning said, "It seems that you really let that Mr. Xiang Chuan lose hard."

Aikawa Shino, Lao Zhou's former adopted son.Most of Lao Zhou's family members died at the hands of the island country. After learning that Aikawa Shino was bleeding from the island country, Lao Zhou couldn't accept it and drove Aikawa Shino away.Since six years ago, Aikawa Shino has come back to the Huating Chess Club every year to play games—and lost to Zhou Yulin every year.This time, Shino Aikawa also brought in his assistant, Jiang Nishikawa who is now known as "No.1 in Asia"!

Xi Chuanjiang has never lost in these years, and this kind of undefeated situation is very rare.However, Xi Chuanjiang is a person who is really passionate about Go itself. His life seems to be connected with the chessboard, and every breath is related to Go.Aikawa Shino was able to invite Xi Chuanjiang to be a helper, probably because he told Xi Chuanjiang that there was a very good opponent here.

Zhou Yulin's heart skipped a beat for no reason when he heard Yuan Ning say the word "Xichuan River".This feeling is very wonderful.If it was six years ago, he would only think "Oh, a person who is very good at Go" when he heard this name.But after competing with Yuan Ning and Aikawa Shino for six years, Zhou Yulin has a deeper bond with Go.He did not take the initiative to participate in various competitions, nor did he apply to join the Huaguo Chess Association. He only occasionally watched game videos as a pastime.

Is Xi Chuanjiang coming?Zhou Yulin said, "It's pretty good."

Looking at Zhou Yulin's serious face, Yuan Ning had a premonition that this meeting might change his best friend's choice for the future.He said: "It's very good, you are so powerful, it's time to meet an opponent like Xi Chuanjiang!"

Zhou Yulin said, "I'm not that good."

Aikawa Shino really brought Nishikawa.After Aikawa Shino lost to Zhou Yulin again, Xi Chuanjiang politely proposed to Zhou Yulin that he should play the next game.Zhou Yulin looked at the polite Xi Chuanjiang, and the inexplicable feeling in his heart became more intense.He said: "Seniors invited me, but they were disrespectful."

Xi Chuanjiang smiled at Zhou Yulin, and the two sat down in a friendly manner.

As a result, Zhou Yulin lost, and the loss was very tragic.Like a helpless toddler, he was forced to the point of desperation one after another by Xi Chuanjiang.

It was disgraceful to lose.

Lao Zhou and his old friends stared blankly at the sidelines, but none of them had the courage to roll up their sleeves and sit down and say, "Let's play a game with me!" Facing this terrifying momentum is still unbearable.

Zhou Yulin looked very calm.He thanked Xi Chuanjiang very politely: "Thank you for your advice, senior."

Xi Chuanjiang said: "You are very good. If you have enough experience, you should be able to become my opponent." This means that Zhou Yulin is not yet his opponent.

After Shino Aikawa and Jiang Xichuan left, Zhou Yulin took care of the cactus, read and studied as usual.It was not until they boarded the train to the capital together that Zhou Yulin told Yuan Ning and the others of his decision: "I want to join the Chess Association."

Everyone agrees.Everyone can see Zhou Yulin's talent in Go, but Zhou Yulin has always shown that he has no interest in Go, so Yuan Ning and the others did not persuade him to go on this road.Yuan Ning could roughly guess the reason why Zhou Yulin chose to join the Chess Association - Zhou Yulin was still not reconciled to losing so badly in the game against Xi Chuanjiang.Yuan Ning said to Zhou Yulin: "Don't put too much pressure on yourself, after all Xi Chuanjiang is 'No.1 in Asia'."

Zhou Yulin nodded.He is not a competitive person, but gradually became interested in Go, and this interest became more and more intense after losing to Xi Chuanjiang-because it suddenly became not so simple.

Yuan Ning has already joined the Calligraphy Association and is relatively clear about the membership process.After finding the dormitory with Zhou Yulin and putting down their luggage, he accompanied Zhou Yulin to the Chess Association.

The Chess Association was not far from Capital University, and Yuan Ning and Zhou Yulin arrived there soon.Seeing that they were two and a half teenagers, the gatekeeper let them in without asking any further questions.Yuan Ning had already inquired about the location of the office of the person in charge of the association, and led Zhou Yulin straight over.

Zhou Yulin knocked on the door.

"Come in, the door is unlocked." A hoarse voice came from inside.

Yuan Ning and Zhou Yulin pushed open the door and saw a middle-aged man sitting there with a cigarette in his mouth reading a newspaper. This middle-aged man was neither fat nor thin, with a gentle face that didn't match his voice.His chin was unshaven and he looked unkempt.

The middle-aged man glanced at Yuan Ning and Zhou Yulin from the corner of his eye, put down the newspaper, and said, "Hey, you've got some faces. What's the matter with you?"

"I want to join the Chess Association." Zhou Yulin said.Chess Associations almost monopolize all competition opportunities. Only those who join local Chess Associations are eligible to participate in the selection of the General Association, and only those who join the General Association have the opportunity to participate in higher-level, international competitions.

If other children said this sentence, middle-aged people might laugh.But he looked at Zhou Yulin's face for a long time, and murmured, "You look familiar." He put out the cigarette in his hand, and played with his fingers that were yellowed by the smoke, "Come on, have sex with me." bureau."

Zhou Yulin didn't refuse, and sat down obediently.Yuan Ning also pulled up a chair and sat quietly watching chess.

The middle-aged man looks sloppy and unreliable, but his appearance is completely different when playing chess.He is not Xi Chuanjiang's fierce chess style, but a steady and steady type.But in the face of this kind of seemingly clumsy "playing steadily", Zhou Yulin was once again at a loss what to do.

Yuan Ning was also worried.

Seeing that Zhou Yulin was about to lose, the middle-aged man took another cigarette.Concerned about the presence of minors, he did not take out a match to light the fire, but bit it in his mouth to relieve his addiction.He stood up and took out two forms from the drawer: "Okay, you guys fill it out."

Both Zhou Yulin and Yuan Ning were stunned for a moment.Yuan Ning said, "I'm here with Zhou Yulin."

The middle-aged man was smoking, and his voice was vague: "Come with me? How old are you? Do you think you are a primary school student, and you need to call for a companion when you go to the bathroom? And it is usually done by little girls!"

After all, Zhou Yulin was still young, so he blushed because of being squeezed out.

The middle-aged man squinted at Yuan Ning: "You can't play chess?"

Yuan Ning was taken aback, and replied: "Yes."

"I've given you the application form," the middle-aged man knocked on the table, "Do you look down on the Chess Association?"

"But I didn't play well." Yuan Ning also blushed.

"Now there are a few people in China who play well." The middle-aged man smoked a cigarette, his face full of disapproval, "You look good, and when the time comes to take a photo as an advertisement, maybe it will attract some children to come and learn Go .It doesn’t matter if it’s played well or not? Anyway, few people can understand it.”

Zhou Yulin and Yuan Ning looked at each other, and both felt that the middle-aged man was a bit weird.At this time, the door was pushed open from the outside. Seeing the situation in the room, the person who came frowned and scolded: "Xiao Shengchang, what are you doing again?"

Yuan Ning was taken aback.Xiao Shengchang is an old veteran in the chess world. He once rushed to the first place in the Asian League, but somehow he never appeared again.So he is in the Chess Association?

Xiao Shengchang said boldly: "I dug up two good seedlings for you, take a look, do they look better than Xichuanjiang in the island country?"

"It's just nonsense." With a dark face, the visitor turned to Yuan Ning and Zhou Yulin and said, "You have to go through the selection process to enter the Chess Association. Generally, you can't join directly like this, unless someone recommends—"

"I recommend it!" Xiao Shengchang interjected, "Don't treat me as a wrong person, I am also a veteran of the Chess Association, and even Xiao Qiu respectfully called me 'senior' when he saw me. Why is my recommendation not counted? I Speaking of Lao He, do you want to be clear about public and private affairs? You can’t abuse your power to block my recommendation just because there is some grievance between us.”

Listening to Xiao Shengchang running the train with his mouth full, "Old He" gritted his teeth and said, "Can you call this a recommendation? What does good looks have to do with playing chess?"

"I played a game with him." Xiao Shengchang's face also became serious, pointing to Zhou Yulin and said, "He can play with me for 10 minutes, and the kid next to him can understand every move I make. I'm not talking about you Lao He, don't use your villainous heart to judge me, a gentleman's belly!"

When Xiao Shengchang said this sternly, Lao He was at a loss for words.He thought about it, waved his hand and said, "Okay, you can bring the person you recommend. If you agree, let them fill out the form!"

With a cigarette in his mouth, Xiao Shengchang waved to Yuan Ning and the others: "Okay, you guys fill out the form, I'll go smoke a cigarette, and I'll show you the familiar environment later."

This surprised Lao He a little.

Xiao Shengchang went outside, took out a match, rubbed it lightly, lit a cigarette with the bright flame, put it in his mouth and smoked.The taller and older child really looks like his father, and he knows that the child's surname is Zhou without asking his name.He suddenly went back to that early morning many years ago, when that handsome and shy boy came to the Chess Association to report with his luggage on his back, he looked so inconspicuous, but he killed him on the chessboard without leaving a single piece.

What's annoying is that he obviously killed all of him, and said shyly: "I didn't play well." It seems that he really thinks that way.The boy grew up and married, and he still played chess better than him, but he didn't like to show off, so it was he who became famous, not the shy man.He thought he had a chance to surpass, but he heard the news of the other party's death.

I don't know if his son will go further than them on this road?

After smoking a cigarette, Xiao Shengchang walked into the room, took the form that Yuan Ning and the other had filled out, and signed his name in the column of recommenders.Then he led Yuan Ning and Zhou Yulin out for a walk, and he finally introduced the Chess Association to them.He ordered Yuan Ning and the two to come here for training on weekends, and waved them away.

Yuan Ning was still in a daze when he walked out of the Chess Association.He really came here with Zhou Yulin!How could it be such a coincidence to meet the legendary Xiao Shengchang and be recommended by him to join the Chess Association?

Yuan Ning glanced at Zhou Yulin and said, "Mr. Xiao has been looking at you for a long time just now, does he know your father or your grandfather?"

Zhou Yulin shook his head: "I don't know, I'll call grandpa and ask."

The two went back to school and each called home.

Before Yuan Ning had time to tell Ms. Xue about today's wonderful experience, she received a task from Ms. Xue.