novellhall Chapter 11: A Terrible Chess Player
Chapter 11: A Terrible Chess Player
The happy time at home was short-lived. He had only been back for three days when his mother already found him extremely displeasing.
"What time is it? Why aren't you up yet?"
"Look at how lazy you are! How can you skip breakfast? You'll get sick from starving yourself!"
"Mom, it's only nine o'clock."
Gu Qing stretched her hand out of the warm blankets, glanced at the Nokia phone, and immediately felt a little depressed.
"Nine o'clock is still early! I've already finished my shift and am back!"
"My sister hasn't gotten up either, has she?"
"She's a student, she just got back yesterday, can you compare to her?"
There was nothing he could do; his mother was the most important person in the world, so he had no choice but to give in and get out of bed.
Winters in the south without heating are particularly unbearable. Sometimes, even after sleeping all night, his feet would still be freezing cold. It took a lot of willpower for him to finally get dressed.
After washing up and playing with the stray dog for a while, he finally prepared to eat lunch.
"Mom, you need to control my brother! He's been bothering me since first thing this morning!"
"Hit him all you want, don't hold back!"
"I can't beat them!"
"Then what did you say?"
At the dining table, Gu Cheng puffed out her cheeks and took a big bite of the steamed bun in her hand.
Gu Qing and Gu Cheng are quite different in age, so this younger sister's childhood was also very complete.
"Little sister, get ready in a bit, I'll take you to the city to play."
Seeing her younger sister's sullen expression, Gu Qing couldn't help but chuckle.
"Thank you, brother. I want to buy an MP3 player to listen to English tapes."
"Is it really for listening to English? Not Jay Chou or JJ Lin?"
As soon as Gu Qing finished speaking, Gu Cheng's happy expression turned cold.
"Okay, okay, I'll buy it. But if Mom finds out, don't say I bought it for you."
Gu Qing rubbed his sister's head, finding it amusing as well.
The grandparents didn't do well in school, so they restricted her studies and naturally wouldn't buy her toys like this.
Riding on his father's motorcycle, Gu Qing took his younger sister out for a stroll.
I'm staying home all day, I'm practically rusting.
There weren't many entertainment options at the time, so after skating for a while, he took his sister to see a movie.
There aren't many good movies in December, except for Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "Fearless".
If he's alone, then it's the former; if there are two people, then he can only watch the latter, if he doesn't want his legs to be broken.
Everyone says that Jet Li's movie is very violent, and after watching it today, it's pretty much true. You can feel the oppressive atmosphere even through the screen.
Furthermore, the other party claimed in their promotional materials that this was their last martial arts film, which attracted many people to watch it.
The early episodes are quite good and worth watching.
This ending is disgusting. Huo Yuanjia lost the martial arts competition because of poisoning, but the Japanese upheld the spirit of martial arts and did not take advantage of his misfortune. They stood on the stage and shouted that Huo Yuanjia had won.
In addition, the storyline was also sued by the descendants of the Huo family for some plot points, such as the scene where the whole family was murdered, but unfortunately the lawsuit was lost.
This also led to the fact that when Zhao Wenzhuo played Huo Yuanjia in the same role, Huo Yuanjia was smoking opium, but he was not prosecuted.
How about love!
"Dude, why didn't you take me to see 'Curse of the Golden Flower'? My classmates said it's really good."
"Did you secretly watch it before? I'm going to tell Mom."
Gu Cheng sipped her milk tea and mumbled something, while secretly glancing at her older brother.
Girls mature early, but don't assume they don't understand anything.
"This punch of mine, imbued with twenty years of internal energy, can you withstand it?"
Gu Qing raised his fist, speaking in a threatening tone.
"The Promise" is a tragedy caused by a steamed bun, but "Curse of the Golden Flower" is a tragedy caused by a group of steamed buns, which is too inappropriate for children.
"Let's go, let's buy everything and then hurry home."
The security situation isn't great these days, so he doesn't dare linger here for too long. With the Lunar New Year approaching, he's starting to have more ideas.
Although the family wasn't extremely wealthy, they weren't lacking in anything either. Plus, Gu Qing didn't have much spare money, so he bought a set of clothes for each of the two elders.
Father Gu Hua was very happy when he received it and immediately changed into a new set of clothes.
"Look at you, you don't even have money for yourself, yet you're buying clothes for us."
"Oh, it's just the child's good intentions, why are you saying this?"
Old Gu patted his clothes and said dismissively.
Madam Gu shook her head and said nothing more. She also changed into new clothes, but the smile on her face just wouldn't go away.
We certainly don't lack these two pieces of clothing at home, but they were a gift from my son, which also means that he has grown up and become sensible.
"Mom, my brother hasn't bought me any clothes yet!"
Gu Cheng, hands on her hips, said with extreme dissatisfaction.
"You child, you have so many clothes that your closet is overflowing, why are you buying more? Just take out your clothes from last year, wash them, and they'll count as new clothes."
"Mom, we should use the one from the year before last. If we use the one from last year, someone might recognize it."
Gu Qing burst into laughter, and the two elders couldn't help but chuckle as well, but after all, she was their daughter, so they wouldn't kick her when she was down.
"Alright, alright, I've bought them for both of you."
"Mom, you're still the best to me, unlike my brother, who just teases me."
Gu Cheng hugged her mother and pretended to be aggrieved. Then she tilted her head and stuck out her tongue at Gu Qing.
What makes Gu Qing happy is never how much money her family has, but the harmonious relationship among her relatives and good health.
Back home, Gu Qing would spend his time either playing with the dog or writing scripts and drawing storyboards. Occasionally, when he got bored, he would take a stroll in the village.
Everyone says that every village has a guardian, known as Mr. Tree, but he hasn't seen him since he came back.
In the south, the ice on ponds is too thin to support ice fishing, thus depriving people of this great pleasure.
There was nothing he could do but stay at the village entrance and play chess with the old men.
"The first shot hits, the horse gets eaten!"
"Holy crap! The general has pulled the chariot! Grandpa Zhang, you've lost!"
"Get out of here, you lousy chess player! Is this how you play chess?"
When his name was called, Old Zhang's face turned red. He stared at the mess in front of him, his eyes bloodshot, looking utterly incredulous.
With a powerful cannon at the start and a powerful knight in the endgame, Old Zhang's most prized possession in his life was this pair of linked knights, unmatched for miles around. Yet today, he was defeated by a mere kid.
"Haha, Lao Zhang, a loss is a loss, why won't you admit it?"
"Acknowledge what? What do you mean, acknowledge what? This kid is talking nonsense. Who starts by using a cannon to attack a horse? That's not how it works!"
Seeing the chess king acting like a scoundrel, everyone burst into laughter.
They were all defeated by Lao Zhang in the past, and now they might be able to learn from Gu Qing's opening move of using a cannon to attack the horse.
"Grandpa Zhang, I... I'll have to go now."
Gu Qing wanted to say something more, but when he caught a glimpse of his younger sister waving at him, he stopped lingering.
"Go away, go play somewhere else."
"Old Zhang, come on, let's fight three hundred rounds!"
As soon as Gu Qing left, her position was quickly filled by someone else.
Old Zhang is usually unbeatable at chess, but now he wants to challenge his opponent's position.
Back home, after washing his hands, Gu Qing looked at his younger sister with a questioning gaze.
"Your call said something about being shortlisted or something."
"Bro, what? You've been shortlisted? It sounds like something like a sow."
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask. I told you to study hard!"
Gu Qing raised his hand, tapped his sister's forehead with his index finger, and couldn't help but laugh and scold her.
That's not entirely wrong. If you make the cut, you're basically like a sow—you can fetch a good price.