In the house.
The three of them were stunned by Zhang Ye"s Go skill!
You won?
How did you manage to win?
Nowadays, Wu Changhe was admittedly no longer that commandeering Changhe 9-dan from 20 years ago. His Go skill had regressed and he was already way off from the peak of his prowess. Go might seem like it was a game that many middle-aged people and the elderly played. But in fact, the top players in the world were all young people. At least, there weren"t many that were past the age of 40. However, if one used to be an elite player in the Go world, they would still be an elite player now. Even if their skills had regressed, it would still not be easy to beat them. They were still regarded to be at the professional level and definitely not just at the level of those who had recently turned professional. Even if Wu Changhe had underestimated his opponent by not being serious at the start, this should still not have happened! It still did not make any sense at all!
Giving a handicap of two stones?
And he still won?
For a professional Go player, this was as good as demolis.h.i.+ng your opponent!
Because for a professional Go player, there shouldn"t be talk about giving handicaps at all. Although there was a difference in each person"s skill, the difference would never call for giving a two stone handicap. What was the difference indicated by two stones? That would probably be the difference between a high level amateur and a low level one, or the difference between a professional Go player and a high level amateur Go player!
Li Qinqin said in astonishment, "Little Zhang. Y-Your Go skills are so advanced?"
Wu Changhe angrily banged on the table and stood up. "How devious! You rascal, you"re too devious! So you were only pretending this afternoon when we played each other? You were only trying to lower my defenses around you!"
Zhang Ye said, "In any case, I"ve won."
Wu Changhe said angrily, "What do you mean you won! If I had known you were at the level of a professional Go player, I would have played properly against you! I wasn"t being serious at all just now!"
Zhang Ye spread his hands. "It"s your problem that you were not serious. I still won anyhow."
"You despicable rascal!" Wu Changhe raged. "You did that on purpose! You must have done that on purpose! Moreover, do you know how many years it has been since I"ve dabbled in a handicap game? That was a sneak attack! A sneak attack!"
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes.
Wu Zeqing said with a laugh, "Dad, are you a sore loser now?"
Wu Changhe stared with eyes wide. "Me? A sore loser? Haha, what a joke! If I were to play him seriously, would I possibly lose? My daughter, you"re looking down a little too much on your father! At just the mention of my name in the Go community, who wouldn"t be afraid of me? If this rascal didn"t pull a fast one on me, he wouldn"t have won even if I gave him a handicap of five stones!"
Five stones?
Give me a handicap?
Hur hur!
Zhang Ye sneered!
Li Qinqin also rolled her eyes at her husband. "Alright, enough with your bragging."
"You think that I was bragging? Huh?" Wu Changhe said exasperatedly, "Look at this boyfriend that our daughter found. Haven"t you seen? He"s so devious! I will never approve of him! She can look for any other person, but she must never find a boyfriend like him! He has a questionable character. Let me say this again: His character is too questionable!"
Li Qinqin smacked her lips and said, "He played against you fair and square, and even gave you a handicap of two stones. What do you mean by he"s devious? The way I see it, it"s your skill that has dropped. You were not a match for him."
Wu Changhe was getting annoyed. "I wasn"t playing seriously! If I had, he would surely have been scared to death!"
Wu Zeqing smiled. "Alright, alright, you weren"t being serious just now." She pulled at Zhang Ye. "Let"s go. Dad, Mom, we"ll be leaving now."
Wu Changhe stopped them. He pointed at Zhang Ye and said, "What"s the matter? Running away after you"ve resorted to dirty tricks? Don"t run away if you are so good!"
Li Qinqin tugged at her husband. "That"s enough."
Zhang Ye had wanted to leave with Old Wu, but when he heard that, he stopped in his tracks and turned around. "I won"t leave then. If there"s anything you"re unhappy about with respect to the game, you can set the rules and I"ll accept them."
Wu Changhe laughed furiously. "Alright, kid! You"ve got b.a.l.l.s!"
Wu Zeqing pulled at him. "Little Ye."
Wu Changhe said, "Come on, let"s battle it out!"
Zhang Ye said, "Let"s do it!"
Wu Changhe said loudly, "Come on then!"
Zhang Ye said, "Alright!"
However, how could Li Qinqin and Wu Zeqing let them play against each other? These two were already on the verge of fighting. No matter who won, it would still cause a fallout. The two of them hurriedly tried to stop them!
Li Qinqin pulled her husband away and said, "You"re a good player, alright? You"re a really good player."
Wu Changhe fumed, "He couldn"t beat me in the first place!"
Zhang Ye was now unhappy. "But I already did."
"That"s because you resorted to dirty tricks!" Wu Changhe said angrily.
Wu Zeqing also held Zhang Ye back. She didn"t know how to react and said, "Why are you trying to argue with my dad? Let"s go already." She dragged Zhang Ye out to the courtyard.
In the end, the two of them continued to argue from either side of the door.
Wu Changhe shouted, "Get back here. Let"s play another match!"
Zhang Ye rushed back into the house. "Alright, I"m up for it!"
"I"ll give you a handicap of three stones this time!"
"No need! How "bout I give you a handicap of four stones!"
"I"ll give you a handicap of five stones!"
"I"ll give you a handicap of six stones!"
"I"ll give you a handicap of ten stones!"
"I"ll give you a handicap of twenty stones!"
Eventually, the handicap went up to 200 stones!
The two of them started talking big. In Go, each player would have at most 181 stones to play, so how could they possibly give a handicap of 200 stones! They were basically just bragging to the skies!
Li Qinqin was floored. "You two are really something!"
Finally, Wu Zeqing managed to pull Zhang Ye away.
Just before he stepped out of the courtyard house, he heard Wu Changhe shout, "If you"re that great, let"s battle again tomorrow! I"ll show you what Go is all about! Are you up for that?"
Zhang Ye turned around as he was being dragged off. "Sure, I"ll be back tomorrow!"
Wu Changhe said, "You"re a whelp if you don"t show up!"
Outside.
In the alley.
Wu Zeqing"s face was covered with sweat from pulling Zhang Ye away from the argument. She did not usually exercise much and did not have much strength either, so having to pull Zhang Ye out of the house took a big toll on her.
"Oh, you!" Wu Zeqing shook her head and smiled.
Zhang Ye harrumphed, "Old Wu, it"s not that I"m not giving you face today. But if your dad wants to accuse me of having a questionable character, I won"t take that lying down."
Wu Zeqing changed the topic. "Since when did you know how to play Go?"
Zhang Ye said, "I"ve always known how to."
"You can even beat my dad?" Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "Although, he really wasn"t being serious today either. He started that game very casually and allowed you to gain an advantage. It was only because of that that you managed to narrowly beat him."
Zhang Ye said, "Even if your dad got serious, I still won"t lose!"
Wu Zeqing said, "That would have to be under the condition of having no handicaps." She took his hand. "Let"s go. We didn"t even have a proper meal. When we get back, I"ll cook for you. After that, let"s play a round of Go as well."
"You can play too?"
"I"ve been playing ever since I was seven years old."
"How good are you?"
"So-so, I guess."
A short distance away in the house.
Li Qinqin started complaining to her husband, "Look at you. Why did you have to argue with the children?"
"It was him who started it first!" Wu Changhe sat down and took a sip of tea. He was still quite fired up from earlier. "How dare he pretend to be an amateur in front of me? He was too devious!"
Li Qinqin laughed and said, "I saw his skill just now too. Even if you had been serious and did not give him a handicap, you might not necessarily beat him. Zeqing"s boyfriend this time is really something. He"s just as legendary as they reported in the newspapers. He"s such an astonis.h.i.+ng person. I just wonder why his Go skill is so advanced. Logically, it"s not something that can be practiced with just one or two years of play. As a celebrity, where does he find time to practice Go? But I heard that the mathematical conjecture proof that he proposed has almost been verified. He should be the greatest mathematician in the country now, and also a globally recognized world-cla.s.s mathematician. With theinterlinked relations.h.i.+p between Go and math1, it"s still within reason that he can play so well. This Little Zhang is really such a marvel. It"s no wonder that our Zeqing, who usually sets her sights really high, would like him. I heard that he also got into singing a while ago? I think he even became the champion? And he"s already a superstar in the country? It seems like he"s really good at everything."
Wu Changhe stared at her. "Did you get duped by him too? He"s not good! Not even close!"
Li Qinqin said, "Alright, alright, he"s not good. You"re the best, hur hur."
This meeting today was truly too funny.
Thinking about it, Li Qinqin couldn"t help but find it funny. How could there be such a huge coincidence in the world?