Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 14: Playing chess

On Sunday afternoon, Feng Wen and Feng Hongbing met up, with Feng Wen bringing along a change of clothes and some pickles for Feng Hongbing.

It was still early when they arrived at school, before three o'clock. Feng Wen was sleeping in his dormitory, so Feng Yiping went to the classroom, where he could either preview or review the material, or write some outlines from memory. Even if he couldn't submit it for publication now, he could save it for a suitable time in the future.

When he arrived in the classroom, only a few people were scattered about. He greeted Huang Jingping, 'You're here early! Working so hard, memorising words?'

'Well, you're not late either,' Huang Jingping said with a smile.

She was wearing a sky-blue hair clip, a poplin shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers, looking very fresh. Feng Yiping couldn't help but stare at her a few more times, and this time Huang Jingping noticed and her face flushed slightly.

There is not much of a story to tell next. Feng Yiping took out his notebook and placed the dictionary next to it. After writing for a while, he would look up the dictionary. There was no way around it; he still knew a lot of words, but he couldn't write them. Moreover, without the help of intelligent pinyin, he had to look up each word by sound, which was very troublesome.

Huang Jingping also glanced at him a few times, not quite understanding what he was doing, but seeing how engrossed he was, she didn't bother him.

Student life is dull and monotonous, and the teachers are no better. It was a while's ride by bicycle to the seat of Liangjiahe Township, which had been merged with other townships. Liangjiahe Township was just one street long. Although the township government had been merged with other townships, some institutions had been retained, such as the industry and commerce bureau, tax bureau, forestry station, supply and marketing cooperative, and hospital. There was also a cinema, although there were usually no films showing.

As for television, cable TV had not yet become popular at this time, so there were only a few channels available on an outdoor antenna, and there were not many programmes to watch.

The school's sports and cultural facilities mainly consisted of two things: a solitary basketball hoop with a few broken pieces of the backboard, and an uneven playground with no lines, so it was rarely used; the remaining one was a cement table for table tennis, which was a place where the male and female teachers spent more time.

In addition, under the sycamore tree in front of the building, two or three low tables would be set up every day after lunch and dinner, mainly for the male teachers to play chess. Feng Yiping guessed that they probably wanted to play cards or mahjong, but obviously, due to the restrictions of being a teacher, those activities could only be played indoors.

That day, after Feng Yiping finished dinner and returned from washing the dishes, he saw the husband of the homeroom teacher Wang Yumin, Teacher Zhu, sitting at a small table in front of the building, with a cigarette in his mouth, his trouser legs rolled up to his knees, and he was alone, pondering over a game of endgame. It seemed that his chess friend was busy and he had to entertain himself.

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He quickened his pace, finished washing the dishes, and Feng Wen asked, 'Shall we go?' meaning to go to the usual place to take a bath. Feng Yiping said, 'You guys go ahead, I have something to do today,' and hurriedly left.

He sat directly across from Teacher Zhu, who looked up at him. What was going on?

'Teacher Zhu, my name is Feng Yiping, from Teacher Wang's class.'

'Oh, Feng Yiping, I heard you have good grades,' Teacher Zhu nodded.

'You're too kind, teacher. It's just so-so.'

'Good, modesty is good. Modesty leads to progress.'

'Teacher Zhu, the other teachers haven't finished eating yet, and you're just sitting around. Why don't I play a game with you?'

'You want to play with me?' Teacher Zhu laughed. "You're good at chess?'

'I wouldn't dare," Feng Yiping said with a serious bow, pretending to be serious, 'I've been playing for three years, please teach me!'

His actions made Teacher Zhu laugh out loud. 'Very well, as you say, I'm idle anyway, so I'll teach you!'

Teacher Zhu insisted on moving one side of the rook, horse, and cannon, reasoning that otherwise Feng Yiping would be too far ahead, and it would be no fun playing. Feng Yiping didn't argue.

Of course, Teacher Zhu chose the black side and Feng Yiping chose the red side, with Feng Yiping going first. He played the flying bishop first. Wow, someone so young wants to compete with him in strength, and Teacher Zhu found that a bit interesting.

Before the game was finished, Teacher Zhu said, 'You're not bad, it's worth my effort, let's start again.' He set up the chess pieces again without saying anything about giving up the move.

He still let Feng Yiping go first. Feng Yiping said, 'Teacher Zhu, it's only natural that you win, but if you were to concede, would there be a reward for your student if he were to win a game by chance?'

At this point, several teachers and third-year students had gathered around to watch the fun, while most first-year students kept their distance from their teachers at this time.

Hearing Feng Yiping say this, one of the teachers started a commotion, 'Yes, Lao Zhu, students who do well should be rewarded!'

With so many people egging him on, of course Teacher Zhu couldn't back down. He also probably knew Feng Yiping's level, so he said very readily, 'It's only right to reward someone who wins, but if they lose, they must definitely be punished.'

'Yes, if I lose, within my abilities, I will do whatever the teacher asks with all my strength.'

'That's fine,' Zhu teacher lowered his trouser legs to cover his shaggy thighs, "so what reward do you want?'

'Hey hey," Feng Yiping giggled, "I hope that you can find time to give me some private lessons, to teach me to draw and read music!'

'Why do you want to learn this?" Zhu teacher was a little surprised.

'Hobbies, just hobbies, is that okay, teacher?'

Mr Zhu teaches music and is a cheerful and humorous person who gets along well with his students. During class, he occasionally shows off his drawing skills on the blackboard, such as sketching. With just a few strokes, he can roughly sketch the outline of a designated student, which has won him many fans.

'You want to learn more things, and I'm prepared to help you. Whether you succeed or not depends on you.

'Okay, thank you, teacher!'

According to the rules, it's best of three games. In the first game, Feng Yiping went first again, and as usual, he played the flying elephant first, playing steadily. In the end, he was checkmated by Zhu's horse and cannon.

In the second game, Feng Yiping no longer hid his moves. The cannon made a surprise attack from the centre line, while the rook and horse broke through from the flanks. Zhu was a little careless, and Feng Yiping seized the opportunity to get rid of the rook, horse and cannon with one move, winning back a game.

At the beginning of the third game, Wang Yumin on the second floor called out, 'Lao Zhu!'

Teacher Zhu stood up and left at the sound of the voice. "Feng Yiping, right? Your teacher Wang wants to see me about something, so we'll leave this game for next time." He didn't wait for Feng Yiping to respond, and with long strides, he went upstairs in a few steps, and slammed the door behind him when he entered the room.

The students dared not laugh, but the teacher, who was surrounded, didn't care. 'Lao Zhu, is your bronchitis that bad? It's fine, just a few more minutes until the outcome is decided, and I'll go and speak to Teacher Wang on your behalf.'

Feng Yiping messed up the game and stood up, saying, "Then I won't take up any more of your teachers" time.'

The homeroom teacher of the second grade, who was also a mathematics teacher, said, 'Don't go, let's play a few rounds together. I can give you some extra tuition, too. If you don't understand anything in mathematics, you can ask me.'

Feng Yiping said, 'Teacher Chen, it's also my honour to play chess with you, but I really have some homework that I need to hand in during the study session later. Can you understand?'

Teacher Chen waved his hand and let him be. He was just joking. He watched the next two games and knew that even if he could win Feng Yiping, it would take some effort. If he wasn't careful, he might make the same mistake as Teacher Zhu and lose. It doesn't matter if the teacher wins or loses, but in front of all these people, it would be embarrassing to lose to a student.

Once Feng Yiping left, his classmates naturally followed suit. Someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind, and when he looked back, it was Feng Hongbing. 'Not bad, Yiping, how did you get so good?'

'Heh heh, it was just luck. During the summer holidays, I went to my grandparents' house and saw a chess game record and learned a few moves.'

'Oh, no wonder! I'm going back to the classroom too. If you need me, just let me know.'

Feng Yiping's rapid improvement in the game of chess came after he bought his first computer, which came with just a few small stand-alone games. He could win at everything else, except the chess game. He played for a week and only managed to win one game. Feeling ashamed, he made up his mind to practice harder. He bought a few chess manuals and practiced. Six months later, when he played against the computer again, he won more and lost less.

On the afternoon of Teachers' Day, Feng Yiping was carrying a bowl as he prepared to go to Class 2 to find Wang Changning. He saw Teacher Zhu also carrying a large enamel bowl, standing under the sycamore tree in front of the classroom building, and waved at him.

Seeing the pickled leeks in his bowl, Teacher Zhu unceremoniously picked up a chopstick and chewed noisily, 'Mmm, this is good,'

Feng Yiping looked at the fried eggs with loofah and the fried string beans with chilli in his bowl and really wanted to say, "Let's swap then," but the words that came out were, 'You eat then, I still have a jar.'

'No, just taste it. It's delicious,' Zhu teacher shovelled rice into her mouth, "Yiping, come to my house after dinner tomorrow. You know where it is, don't you?'

Feng Yiping was very happy, "Yes, I know.'

'Good, I'll go then.'

Feng Yiping understood that Zhu teacher had agreed to take him in.