paddock

The cardboard that Yuan Ning was holding attracted the attention of many people, but when they saw Yuan Ning's earnest appearance, they put away their comments.

The train was not delayed, and tourists came out of the station one after another.Yuan Ning has watched the video of the ghost king's match, but at that time he only focused on watching the chess game. How can he carefully see what the ghost king looks like?Yuan Ning could only stand straight in a conspicuous place and wait for the ghost king to see the cardboard in his hand.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man with an ordinary face and ordinary clothes walked towards Yuan Ning.The middle-aged man is about 50 to [-] years old. He is clean-shaven, and there is a kind of peace and tranquility between the eyebrows and the corners of the eyes.He smiled at Yuan Ning, motioned Yuan Ning to put down the cardboard, and said, "Are you Yuan Ning?"

Yuan Ning was taken aback.It's hard to imagine that such a powerful ghost king in the rumors would be such a person!He has no outstanding appearance, no aggressive aura, just like a neighbor's elder, gentle and kind.Yuan Ning nodded, went up to greet him, and shouted respectfully: "Senior."

Seeing Yuan Ning's face full of surprise, the other party didn't know what Yuan Ning was thinking.He smiled slightly, with a little more embarrassment on his face, and explained: "Li people are always exaggerated, and they like to exaggerate the facts. My fame is all packaged by them," he paused, pointing to the cardboard "Ghost King" said, "I'm just an ordinary chess player. My surname is Sima, and my single name is Hong. The chess game is like the world, and the game is unpredictable. I'm still groping, and I can't afford to be a 'king'." The word."

Sima Hong spoke with a kind of elegance in his bones, and his voice was not hurried or slow, like a spring breeze blowing, which made people feel sincere joy.

Yuan Ning listened carefully to what Sima Hong said, and when Sima Hong finished speaking, he immediately changed his address: "Senior Sima." He led Sima Hong out of the station, and said this to Sima Hong.After asking, I found out that Sima Hong had been in China for two days. The day before yesterday, he went to the north to worship his ancestors, and then walked around his hometown. Today he decided to come to the capital.

Sima Hong said: "It's really troublesome little friend Yuan Ning."

Yuan Ning said: "Senior came from afar, we are not too happy yet." He struck while the iron was hot and brought up the matter that Zhou Yulin and Li Yanqiu wanted to play against him.

Sima Hong nodded: "I came back this time to play against different people." He sighed helplessly, "But I don't want to get in touch with too many people in the future. There will be people coming to challenge Li Guo every day. Wanting to play chess well has become a luxury.”

Yuan Ning understood Sima Hong's troubles very well. He was just famous for his calligraphy before, and many people came to him for "calligraphy".He didn't understand anything at the time, and many people came to him and asked him to write happily. Later, Zhang Xiuyan found out, and immediately came forward to help him keep all kinds of people away, turned around and gave him a lecture, and let him Don’t get flustered with some grades, write one for someone today, and another one for someone tomorrow, how can there be time to ponder and improve?

Yuan Ning said: "Senior, don't worry, I will never let too many people know about your coming." He smiled slightly, "Brother Cui also told me on the phone, I didn't mention it to the Chess Association."

Sima Hong had a good impression of Yuan Ning, no wonder Cui Junxian had been praising the kid for the past two years, and asked Yuan Ning to pick him up after knowing that he wanted the capital.This kid is much better at dealing with people than his apprentice Cui Junxian. Although it was only the first time they met, there was no barrier at all when they chatted, as close as old friends reunited.

Yuan Ning took Sima Hong to live in an ancient hotel, and invited Sima Hong to taste the special dishes there.The hotel's selling point is "antique", from dishes, cups and chopsticks to all kinds of seasonal dishes served with ancient charm.Sima Hong sat between the simple tables and chairs, feeling a little dazed all of a sudden."The decor of this place is really tasteful," he lamented.

Yuan Ning said with a smile: "This was opened by the family of a professor of history in our school. The professor did a lot of research to restore these tables, chairs and tableware. If you really want to get to the bottom of it, even every pair of chopsticks can tell a story. .” He could see that Sima Hong was a person with a lot of background, since he agreed to receive him, he naturally had to cater to his needs in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

When Sima Hong heard what Yuan Ning said, he immediately became curious, and asked Yuan Ning to talk while eating, the meal was very interesting.This is simply not eating, but eating culture!

After dinner, it was getting late, Yuan Ning said goodbye to Sima Hong, and made an appointment to bring Zhou Yulin and Li Yanqiu over the next day.Sima Hong watched Yuan Ning leave, and returned to the room with the key.He sat on the simple bed and carefully looked at the furnishings in the house. Whether it was the tables, chairs, cabinets or the things on the table, they were all very charming, which showed the designer's profound background and extraordinary aesthetic vision.

Sima Hong sat for a while, then lay down to rest.He looked up at the antique beams and roof, and it took a long time before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.Maybe because he lived in such a special place, his dreams suddenly returned to the distant past.He kept running in his dream, his ears filled with howling and mourning, but he had no intention of stopping at all.There seems to be someone in front.He chased after the opponent's back, unwilling to stop even one step.

Just follow that person and everything will be fine.

He thought firmly, and the steps he took became more determined.

everything will get better.

Gradually, there were fewer wailing and mourning sounds, and there were sounds of celebration and jubilation everywhere.What a joy that things are finally getting better.He looked forward happily, and the man finally stopped.The man turned around, reached out and rubbed his head gently, and said something with a smile, as if he was telling him something, or saying goodbye to him.He panicked, and stretched out his hand to grab the man firmly, but the man withdrew his hand, turned around and no longer looked at him or spoke to him.

He wanted to keep up, but his feet seemed to be firmly grasped by countless hands, and he couldn't move.

When the man was about to walk out of his sight, the slender figure paused slightly, and with a bang, first half-kneeled on the ground, and then slowly fell down.

After such a person fell down, he was like an ordinary person in the world, his eyes slowly closed, and his body gradually became cold.

He cried and shouted heart-piercingly, but he couldn't take half a step forward, and he didn't even allow the tiny request to look at that person one last time.

Sima Hong suddenly opened his eyes.

He raised his hand to touch his cheek and found that it was wet.

Sima Hong has had this dream since he was a child. He has been chasing the footsteps of a certain person, but that person collapsed before his eyes.

When he grew up a bit, Sima Hong got an incomplete chess record at home, and soon became obsessed with it again.Sima Hong feels that this chess record is quite related to the situation in his dream, so he has been working hard to find the complete copy.

One year when he was studying in the country of Li, he accidentally saw a broken game from an old chess player in the country of Li, and he accepted the request of the other party and settled in the country of Li.During this period, relatives and friends were incomprehensible, parents passed away, and the wave of the times also violently impacted the lives of each of them.Not long ago, Sima Hong finally solved the mess left by the old man, and found something he wanted to know from the ancient books sealed by the old man.

In the ancient books of the Li country left by the old man, there is a person who has no records in history.He was born in a poor family, and was highly respected by the children of the poor family, but he became a confidant with countless people from aristocratic families, and later became a brother of a different surname with the emperor.Many envoys and scholars from Li State left records about that person when they went to the ancient capital of Hua State. Eat, drink and have fun, there is the shadow of that person.

That person is so outstanding, so outstanding that he is not like anyone in the world.The strange thing is that after a few years, the wandering scholars from the country of Li who came here for the fame could no longer find any trace of that person, and most of them simply said, "If you ask the traveler this way, all the traveler's faces are dark, Keep your mouth shut."

When Sima Hong saw these records, he immediately thought of the dreams that accompanied him for half his life.He suddenly realized that maybe that dream was not just a dream, the person in the dream might have really existed, but was buried under the man-made historical tower.This time Sima Hong came back with a marked map of Huaguo in his hand.He wanted to revisit all the cities mentioned by the envoys of the country of Li and the scholars of the country of Li, and carefully search for the relics of that year.

This kind of persistence is unreasonable, but Sima Hong just wants to do it.For this reason, he also promised Li country that he would go to the island country to participate in the Asian league next year in exchange for the permission to borrow some ancient books from the island country.Since Li country can keep relevant records, the island country should also have them.When he finds more information, he will come back and continue searching.

Sima Hong tossed and turned, didn't fall asleep, sat up, spread out the map brought by the moonlight shining into the house, and traced the marks on it one by one.No matter how difficult it is, he still has to grasp every trace left by that person.People like that—

Sima Hong's face was warm, and tears flowed down silently.He raised his hand to wipe away his tears, and firmly looked at the map in front of him that he had rubbed many times.

People like that shouldn't be forgotten by everyone.

He should be remembered.

The man wouldn't mind being forgotten—

But he cares, and they care.The name of those who fish for fame will be left in history, and the name of those who are ungrateful will last forever. The person who has made countless achievements in the community, in education, and in the common people has been ruthlessly obliterated. Still can't let go.

Sima Hong clenched his fists.What he wants to do is very simple, to prove that such a person existed, to prove that the inheritance of thousands of years has had the efforts of such a person - even if that person doesn't care at all, he will spend his life to prove everything .

Early the next morning, Yuan Ning brought Zhou Yulin and Li Yanqiu over.All four of them are good at chess, and they don't exchange much greetings.There happened to be a good chess pavilion in the store, and after Yuan Ning greeted the store owner, he invited Sima Hong and the others to play chess in the pavilion.Yuan Ning spent too much time on other things, and spent less time pondering chess skills than Zhou Yulin and the others, so he didn't waste Sima Hong's time, and just sat on the sidelines secretly watching chess.

Needless to say, Li Yanqiu, Zhou Yulin has also made great progress.

In the past, he played steadily and steadily. After more than two years of teaching by Xiao Shengchang, he has become flexible and changeable, and he has persisted for a long time under Sima Hong's hands.After playing with Li Yanqiu and Zhou Yulin, Sima Hong immediately saw their mastery: "Are Senior Li and Xiaoyou okay?"

Li Yanqiu and Zhou Yulin looked at each other and nodded, still reminiscing about the chess game just now.As expected of a legendary ghost, his chess moves are indeed treacherous and changeable, making it difficult for people to deal with.Even though they have played against many chess masters in the past two years, and their chess skills have improved a lot, they still have little chance of winning against Sima Hong.

Li Yanqiu learned that Sima Hong would go to the island country to participate in the sub-league next year.He sighed slightly, looked at Yuan Ning who was watching the play, and said, "Ning Ning, have you played against Senior Sima?"

Yuan Ning didn't expect that the fire would burn himself, he was stunned for a moment, shook his head, and said, "My level is too bad!"

Sima Hong thought that his apprentice Cui Junxian was defeated by Yuan Ning, but he mostly praised Yuan Ning in his words, and he was quite curious about Yuan Ning's chess moves.He thought for a while, and said with a smile: "It's okay for me to be around, Yuan Xiaoyou can play a game with me."

Seeing Sima Hong's kind expression, Yuan Ning didn't refuse, and sat in Zhou Yulin's seat just now.Since it was a game, Yuan Ning naturally restrained his mind and focused on the small chessboard.

Sima Hong was slightly surprised.Today's social atmosphere is becoming more and more impetuous, and it is becoming more and more difficult for young people to calm down and learn a certain skill.After these two days of contact, he found that Yuan Ning is a very appropriate person. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is good at dancing with both sides. It can also be seen from the calmness of the talk that he has some friendship with the shop owner's brother, the professor who does the textual research for the shop.

Such a smooth young man who made everyone feel at ease, once sat at the chess table, he turned out to be serious and focused.

No wonder his apprentice Cui Junxian liked this opponent so much.Anyone who sees something he loves taken so seriously will feel a certain kind of kinship in his heart.Even if Cui Junxian chose another path, there is still nothing that can surpass his love for Go.

Although this game had just started, Sima Hong became more focused.

This boy is very alert!

After a few moves, Sima Hong was completely attracted by Yuan Ning's chess style.Even though it was the first match, Sima Hong felt an unusual sense of familiarity.But this sense of familiarity was hazy, like a layer of veil, making it impossible for him to see clearly.The more this happened, the sharper his moves became, forcing Yuan Ning to use all his strength to deal with it.

Yuan Ning had a kind of unwillingness to admit defeat, and he insisted on holding on until the end of the mountain before saying shyly: "I'm sorry, senior, I just dragged on for too long." A master among masters like Sima Hong, his stalker Hitting and sticking to the end is simply a waste of other people's time.But he didn't want to admit defeat until the end!

Sima Hong said: "Sometimes playing chess requires this kind of drill." He paused, and made a request to Yuan Ning, "Yesterday I heard Yuan Xiaoyou talk about all kinds of allusions on the display in the store, and I am very fond of Yuan Xiaoyou's teacher. Jing Yang, I wonder if Yuan Xiaoyou can connect me with that teacher, I have some questions and I want to ask him for advice."

Sima Hong had mentioned the matter of that person to others before, but others scoffed at it.Now that he has found a lot of ancient books that can be used as evidence, and has done rigorous textual research based on the time and place mentioned in the ancient books, maybe some people will believe what he said.

Yuan Ning nodded and said, "No problem, of course, but I have to make an appointment with the teacher first!"

Sima Hong knew that Yuan Ning brought the two friends here and hoped that he could guide them, so he took the initiative to invite Zhou Yulin and Zhou Yulin to continue the match when Yuan Ning was on the phone.