The ten-year trace of the soul of chess

Almost a sleepless night.

When the sky was getting brighter, I took my body temperature again. The heat of the light dropped by about seven or eight points, but it still remained high.

He fetched a basin of water and wiped Guang's body carefully.No matter how desperate he was, the work did not give Liang more time.After a brief wash, he still went out.

This time I am working in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, a little far from Tokyo.

Although it is not impossible to find someone to replace him, Liang still chooses to go in person—everyone yearns for physical and mental freedom, but often the farther you go, the more you find that as long as you still have a little concern, you will never be able to obtain real freedom.That being the case, it is better to settle for the next best thing, to work hard and plan to hold the only warmth like the sand between fingers.

At nearly 08:30, when Liang arrived at the venue, his partner, Ashihara Kudan, had been there for a while and was chatting casually with the staff in front of the stage.

Seeing Liang approaching, he hurriedly raised his hand to greet him.

Seeing that both of them had arrived, the staff gave them a general explanation of the day's activities.

The work content of the Go exchange meeting includes two parts. In the morning, two people will mainly explain the second round of the Chess Master Challenge hand match that just ended last week for the Go fans present at the scene. Specially invited members of parliament play guiding chess.

Although it was an exchange meeting, because the organizer was one of the sponsors of Nihon Ki Academy for many years, even in the Board of Directors of the Ki Academy, it had a lot of say, so before coming, the chairman repeatedly urged it.

After learning about the general schedule, Liang and Awara went to the waiting room first.

As soon as he entered the lounge, Lu Yuan started nagging: "I said Xiao Liang, what's the matter with you?"

Liang was asked inexplicably: "What's wrong with me?"

Lu Yuan sighed, and said in a low voice: "You are going to prepare for the Honinbo round-robin competition and the small chess holy war recently, right? You were asked to turn down today's work before, why are you still here?"

Liang knew what Lu Yuan wanted to say, so he couldn't help lowering his eyes and avoiding his gaze: "I remember you told me before, don't waste your talent. But if you can get what you want with your talent, spend more What does it matter if you have some energy?"

After hearing this, Lu Yuan was full of question marks: "'What do you want'? The title you want, hand of God, can those officials whose noses reach the sky give it to you?"

Liang's expression was a bit dignified at first, but after hearing what Lu Yuan said, he couldn't help laughing: "You're right. But why did Mr. Lu Yuan take this job?"

Lu Yuan was at a loss for words when asked, and after a while, he said with a slightly serious face: "I don't care, it's my job to play chess with anyone. But you are different..."

Speaking of this, Lu Yuan paused, and did not continue.

Calculating carefully, he has entered the chess world for ten years.In the past ten years, he has also entered the major title battles many times, but he has never been able to take the final step of challenging the hand.He can almost see his own life trajectory in the next few years, even ten years later.But my little junior brother is different.He has talents that he doesn't have.He really couldn't just watch Xiao Liang waste his energy and talent on unnecessary things...

Fortunately, he is in a good mood.In just a split second, there was a relaxed look on his face again.

On the other hand, the little junior brother who was standing aside hadn't been energetic since just now.

Lu Yuan couldn't help worrying again: "Xiao Liang, did something happen? I feel that your complexion is not very good."

Liang was taken aback for a moment, and the smile on his face obviously dimmed: "Maybe I didn't sleep well."

Lu Yuan looked at Liang worriedly, seeing that he didn't want to say more, so he had to stop.

After the whole morning's explanation was over, Lu Yuan was dragging Liang to have lunch. In the morning, the staff member came to find them and said that the organizer had reserved a place at the cooking kiosk near the venue and wanted to invite them to have lunch.

Lu Yuan was familiar with his younger brother's temper, and was about to refuse, but Ting Liang replied first: "Then it's too much trouble. Please lead the way."

Ashi Yuan almost thought that he had heard wrong, so he gave Liang a wink.

Liang smiled at him without changing his expression, and followed the staff.When Lu Yuan came to the side, he said in a voice that only he could hear: "The chairman of the board told me to be 'friendly to guests'. Besides, Mr. Lu Yuan is still here, isn't it?"

Hearing this, Lu Yuan paused.Looking at the junior brother who kept walking, he suddenly felt that his body seemed to be a little more smokey.

But, what is he thinking in his heart?

This question was brought all the way from the meeting place to the dinner table, and then from the dinner table to the meeting place, but when the work was over, Lu Yuan didn't figure it out.

At the entrance of the venue, a president Kishimoto who was very congenial with Liang at the dinner banquet wanted to invite him to have a chat in the evening on a whim, but he bowed slightly and politely declined: "Thank you for the invitation...but my family is sick, please forgive me .”

As soon as Liang talked about his family, everyone present thought of Taya Yukihiro at the same time, and their expressions became concerned: "Is it Teacher Taya? What's wrong with his health? Is it important?"

Even Ashihara, who had just met Toya Yukiyo a few days ago, was confused, and followed everyone to look at Xiaoliang.

"No. It's not my father." Although Liang dispelled everyone's worries, he didn't explain further, and turned to President Kishimoto and said, "If you don't mind, can we meet again at another time?"

Lu Yuan hadn't recovered from the topic just now, but at this moment, he heard the bright words that he wanted to "make an appointment with the president again", his eyes widened.

Liang took the business card from Kishimoto with a calm face, stood still, and watched the group leave with a bow.

On the return Shinkansen platform, Ryo finally had time to call Hikari.When I reached into the bag, I found two packs of digestive biscuits first.

When did you buy the light?When was it put in again?

Unwrapping the wrapping paper, biting the biscuits like tasting a delicacy, Liang felt that the longing that had been suppressed for a day was completely crushed at this moment, and he wished he could fly to his lover with wings.After stabilizing his emotions, he dialed Guang's phone.After a long series of dial tone, no one answered the phone.

Light……

Knowing that he was overthinking, all kinds of thoughts that appeared in his mind almost swallowed him.

Finally, after a long two-hour drive, Liang put down his bag as soon as he got home, and walked lightly to the bedroom.When he came to the door of the master bedroom, he seemed to remember something, turned around and went to the bathroom to wash his hands, and then opened the bedroom door.

Pushing open the door, the room is still the same as when he left.

The curtains were closed tightly, and the person who had occupied his mind all day was asleep on the bed.

Sensing someone coming, Hikaru moved his eyelids and opened his eyes.

Seeing that it was Taya, his eyes lit up obviously, and he moved to the side: "Taya, are you back?"

Liang sat down beside the bed, kissed his forehead, picked up the thermometer on the bedside table, disinfected it with alcohol cotton, and said softly, "Come on, take another temperature."

Guang obediently took the thermometer into the quilt.

One minute later, seeing the measured temperature, Liang's heart was still clenched, but there was still an extremely gentle smile on his face.He helped Guang sit up, poured him a glass of warm water to drink, got up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner for him.

It is said to be dinner, but it is just some light vegetables, plus a bowl of porridge.

After taking a few mouthfuls, he suddenly put down the spoon: "Taya, what have you eaten since last night?"

Liang was taken aback for a moment, then took the spoon, scooped up a mouthful of porridge and vegetables, blew lightly, and brought it to Guang's mouth: "I have eaten the rice, vegetables, and your biscuits."

Guang ate the porridge quickly, staring suspiciously into Liang's eyes, as if trying to tell if he was telling the truth.

After watching for a long time, I couldn't tell the truth from the lies, but I could see the obvious dark blue circle under Taya's eyes, and my heart ached.The more I thought about it, the more wrong it became, and I still asked persistently: "What about tonight? I'll have porridge, what do you eat?"

"I……"

"What about you? You haven't stopped since you came back. Do you want to say that you are not hungry, or do you want to say that you have eaten on the way back?"

Liang was tongue-tied, and finally consciously went to the kitchen to serve himself a bowl of porridge. Then, under Guang's strict supervision, he finished his second meal from last night until now.

In the evening, I took my clothes and prepared to take a shower.Liang wanted to hug him, but he resolutely refused: "It's not like I can't walk."

When he came out of the shower, he found that his lover was standing at the door like a door god.

When the four eyes met, Guang felt his nose sore—Taya took himself too seriously.

"I've finished washing, you can wash it." Guang looked away, trying to make his voice sound more energetic.

Just as he was about to leave, Liang grabbed him from behind and dragged him back into his arms.

"I'll take you back to your room."

Guang blushed and struggled: "I've said it all, I have hands and feet, I can take care of myself..."

"Just let me hug you, Light. I hug you just because I want to hug you."

You could feel Hikari's body trembling slightly, and Ryo couldn't help tightening his hands.

Guang settled in Liang's arms for a while, until his eyes were not so sore, he stood up straight and turned around.

"Taya, I haven't finished talking about the bet yesterday."

Letting go of the light, seeing him getting serious, Liang also restrained the smile on his face, and stroked his lover's face: "Well, what is it?"

Light took off Bright's hand and held it in his palm.The room was so warm, but his hands were still so cold, as if they would never be able to warm up.

He lightly kissed the protruding phalanx on the back of Liang's hand, then looked into his lover's eyes, and said word by word: "Taya, I have someone I like very much, I like it very much, but I And lost him."

Bright's breathing became somewhat rapid, and the hand held by Light was also trembling slightly.

Guang paused for a moment, then smiled, with the image of his beloved in his eyes: "When you see him, can you please help tell him? That chess player named Ta Yaliang. No matter what happens to him, please be sure. Think about yourself first and take care of yourself. It’s okay for that idiot Shinto Hikari to be left out for a few days now and then. He misses that stubborn, but indestructible person. He doesn’t want to make him have scruples because of himself. Can you promise me? "

The person who lost this bet needs to unconditionally agree to a request from the other party.

Liang had thought about thousands of possibilities, but he had never thought about this situation alone.

But it is such a request that he is almost impossible to fulfill, and there seems to be no other way but to compromise...

Taking a deep breath, he held his bare hand, buried his side face in his lover's palm, and finally said: "I promise you."