Chapter 1 Two Dandies
Summer 2018, Jinling City, the famous Qinhuai River.
On Chaoku Street, located on the bank of Qinhuai River, a young man in his 30s was wandering alone, looking around. He walked to a private riverside building and stood in front of it. Seeing the plaque of "Meixianglou" on the building, the young man smiled.
At this moment, his phone rang. The young man answered the call and heard another young man's voice:
"Xiang Ping, have you arrived yet?"
"Here we are, I've seen the plaque of Meixiang Tower. Hey, Daokai, are you kidding me? Is this shabby place the famous Ten Miles of Qinhuai? Where are the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai?"
There was a laugh on the phone: "Haha, the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai? They were all in DG in the past few years, but in recent years they have become young models and internet celebrities. So, are you planning to visit the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai when you come to Jinling this time? Are you going to take the path of nostalgia for the past instead?"
"Nostalgia? Haha, you put it well..." The young man laughed:
"...Isn't there a saying that goes, 'If you haven't been to Qinhuai, you're not a straight man', so this time, I'm going to spend Jinling's virginity in Qinhuai Old Courtyard, Daokai, what do you think? It's a rare opportunity for me to come to your place, have you thought about how to entertain me?..."
While the young man named "Xiang Ping" was talking nonsense, the person on the other end of the phone became impatient:
"Alright, alright, you lost your virginity more than ten years ago, and you told me you left it at Qinhuai Old Courtyard. Stop talking nonsense, where are you now? I can come pick you up."
The young man looked around and then reported his exact location to the phone. After hanging up the phone, the young man stood there silently, waiting for his friend to pick him up.
The young man's name is Li Xiangping and he is already thirty-one years old.
Well, if we follow the Chinese standard, he is already over thirty. However, to be honest, although this guy looks good and his parents gave him a pretty good appearance, he is not even close to being thirty. He has no career, no family, and has achieved nothing until now.
But fortunately, although you don't have much ability, your reincarnation skills are pretty good. He was born in a fairly wealthy family. The old man, Li Yuanhu, is the CEO of a listed company. Therefore, although Li Xiangping is a bit of a dandy, he is qualified to live a life of idleness and wait for death.
The reason he came to Jinling this time was that his old man saw that he was already old and it was not a good thing for him to be idle all day long, so he wanted to find something useful for him to do.
But what should he do? The old man thought about it for a while.
Since Li Yuanhu was a contractor, the business of the listed company he founded was basically related to construction and real estate. Therefore, after much deliberation, the old man remembered that he also had an antique construction company on hand. The scale of this subsidiary was not large, so it was most appropriate to give it to his son to practice. It was for this reason that Li Xiangping came to Jinling this time.
Because Li Yuan told him that even though the subsidiary was small, it was not easy to manage it. Since it was an "antique" model, it was necessary to have a certain understanding of ancient Chinese architecture. So, in recent times, Li Xiangping has been running around in cities with many ancient buildings, such as Gusu, Beijing, Chang'an, and Jinling, inspecting ancient buildings in accordance with the old man's wishes. Jinling was his last stop.
"Xiang Ping, here."
After a while, the man on the phone appeared in front of Li Xiangping. This guy's name was Zhao Daokai. Like Li Xiangping, he was also a playboy. Since the Zhao and Li families were old friends, they had a deep friendship since their grandfathers' generation. The two grew up together and were considered the legendary childhood friends and best friends.
After the two met, Zhao Daokai smiled and punched Li Xiangping:
"I heard from Uncle Li that you were coming to Jinling a long time ago. Why are you here only now?"
Li Xiangping glanced at his friend and said, "You know that Jinling is also a sad place for me, so I don't want to come to this broken place unless it is absolutely necessary."
Zhao Daokai was stunned when he heard Li Xiangping say this:
"As far as I can remember, you've never been to Jinling. How come it's such a sad place? Oh, right..."
Zhao Daokai pretended to be suddenly enlightened, then showed a lewd smile that everyone could understand: "Could it be that you have been dumped by a girl from Jinling before? Tell me quickly, when did that happen?"
"Get lost, what are you thinking? I've always been the one dumping others, when will it be someone else's turn to dump me?"
Li Xiangping had a dandy look on his face. He continued to say to Zhao Daokai:
"Why haven't I been to Jinling before? Have you forgotten, eighteen years ago..."
The two are only in their early 30s now. 18 years ago was exactly the year 2000, when they were only 13 or 14 years old. Therefore, it feels awkward to hear Li Xiangping say "18 years ago".
However, the two of them were very familiar with each other, so Zhao Daokai immediately understood what Li Xiangping said:
"Oh. Now I remember. So you were talking about your last dan tournament. I think you played that tournament in Jinling. Why?"
Zhao Daokai stared at Li Xiangping and smiled, "Regarding that competition, or the fact that you didn't become a professional chess player in the end, you still haven't gotten over it, otherwise why are you still sad?"
Li Xiangping did not comment on Zhao Daokai's words, neither admitting nor refuting them.
Zhao Daokai was right. Li Xiangping was indeed a young man who was trying to get promoted to a dan. This can actually be seen from his name: Xiang is Shi Xiangxia, Ping is Fan Xiping. These two are both famous chess masters in medieval chess. Since he has such a name, he must be related to Go.
Of course, if a person has such a name, it usually does not mean that he likes Go very much , but only means that his parents may love Go very much. For example, Li Xiangping is like this. His old man Li Yuanhu, although he was born as a contractor, is not a vulgar person. He has a very elegant hobby, that is, Li Yuanhu likes Go.
It's true that Li Yuanhu's love for Go is not just a pretense. He is a real super fan of Go and his level is quite good. Not only is his level good, he is also an avid fan of Fan and Shi. It is for this reason that he gave his son such a name.
When Li Xiangping was born, it happened to be the time when the previous China-Japan Go Tournament was in full swing. In other words, it happened to be the time when the first wave of Go fever hit China. Therefore, when Li Xiangping was young, Li Yuanhu really wanted him to go the professional Go path. He sent Li Xiangping to formally learn Go for a long time and also let him participate in the ranking tournament for several years, but he was not successful in the end.
Looking back now, Li Xiangping is not really sad about the fact that he didn't become a professional chess player. He just feels it's a pity, or he feels a little bit dissatisfied in his heart.
Especially the last time, which was when Li Xiangping participated in Jinling when he was 13 years old. The experience of that competition has made him unable to let go until now.
That competition consisted of 13 rounds in total. In the first 9 rounds, Li Xiangping won 9 consecutive games. According to the competition rules of that year, as long as he won the 10th round, he would be qualified for the professional stage in advance.
It’s just a pity that he lost the 10th round.
It wouldn't have been a big deal to lose just one game. Based on the situation that year, if he could win one game in the last three rounds, he could also become a professional beginner.
It’s a pity that he didn’t win any of the last three games.
Therefore, Li Xiangping failed to qualify as a professional chess player with a record of 9 wins and 4 losses. This was also his last chance to become a professional chess player.
The Go ranking tournament has been held in China for decades, and the format of each year's competition is basically the same. In Li Xiangping's impression, he seemed to be the only one in decades who failed to successfully qualify after winning nine consecutive games in the first nine rounds. It was for this reason that Li Xiangping regarded this competition as the greatest shame in his life.
At this time, Zhao Daokai spoke again:
"I'm just confused. Although you have a weak mental state, based on your level back then, if you continue to participate next year, you might be able to become a professional chess player. But why didn't Uncle Li allow you to continue?"
Hearing Zhao Daokai say this, Li Xiangping curled his lips:
"You know my old man is a stubborn old man, and he was deeply influenced by Japanese Go. I remember there was a saying in the Japanese Go community that the best age for a person to become a professional Go player is before the age of 13. If you are older than that, even if you can become a professional Go player, you won't have much success in the end. So, my Go journey ended just like that."
"Oh? So that's how it is, hahaha..."
Seeing that Li Xiangping looked a little unhappy, Zhao Daokai quickly stopped:
"Okay, okay, I think you shouldn't blame Uncle Li. If you ask me, it's a good thing that you didn't become a professional chess player. Otherwise, look at it now, ever since the emergence of AlphaGo, I feel that being a professional chess player is actually meaningless."
Li Xiangping stopped talking, thinking that Go is now dominated by "dogs". Humans have no power to resist all kinds of dogs, big and small, foreign and local dogs. Li Xiangping thought about it and felt bored.
Thinking of this, Li Xiangping calmed down and stopped dwelling on what happened 18 years ago. He smiled at Zhao Daokai and said:
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this. By the way, Daokai, I said hello to you long before I came here. So, now that I'm in your territory, have you thought about how to entertain me?"
Zhao Daokai chuckled: "Of course, since it is a treat for you, Mr. Li, how dare I neglect it? I have already prepared it. Come with me."
"Where are you going?"
"I specially booked a pleasure boat to entertain you."
"Painted boat?" Li Xiangping asked in surprise:
"Is Jinling's entertainment industry still keeping up with the times? You even built a pleasure boat?"
"Of course !" Zhao Daokai laughed:
"Originally, there wasn't one, but since you're the one coming, I'll have to get you one anyway. You just talked about the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai. Aren't you just trying to reminisce about the past? Fine, I'll fulfill your wish and give you a chance to reminisce about the past."
Hearing what Zhao Daokai said, Li Xiangping, who was used to hanging out with young models and internet celebrities, became interested:
"Okay, I really want to see it today."
The two walked forward while chatting and laughing. Zhao Daokai led Li Xiangping to a dock. Li Xiangping saw an antique-style painted boat appear in front of him. At the same time, a beautiful woman in ancient costume walked out of the painted boat and greeted him:
"Hello, both of you. Welcome."
