Go: The live broadcast queen launched a gorgeous rebellion against the dog

Chapter 154: Mud Under the Flowers
"Oh, this little girl is really something!
"It's obviously a good thing, why are you crying like this!"

On the same day, at 8pm, Tongge Hotel.

Shang Chaotian, chairman of the Chinese Chess Association, who had just visited the new female champion of the qualifying tournament, looked helpless as he walked out of the room.

He had just landed here half an hour ago. After taking a quick look at the students who were preparing for the exam, he had intended to congratulate Rui Zhao, but he didn't expect that the girl hadn't completely calmed down yet and couldn't speak clearly.

In desperation, Shang Chaotian could only give a few simple instructions and then headed to his third destination of the night - the "Cuizhuxuan" teahouse located in a corner of the hotel.

According to the original itinerary, Shang Chaotian only needs to arrive at Tongge Mountain tomorrow.

After all, he doesn't have to leave the game, so he can be a little tired.

However, he had to bring forward tonight's gathering one day because it was invited by Cao Yuan, the deputy mayor of Gezhou City who is in charge of culture, sports and tourism.

As a nominally non-governmental organization, the chairman of the Chinese Go Association does not have any rank.

Apart from controlling a small amount of funds, the chairman of the chess association has no other real power.

Therefore, although Shang Chaotian had held face-to-face discussions with fairly high-level leaders, he did not dare to be negligent in the slightest when facing local powerful leaders.

Not to mention prefecture-level cities like Gezhou that are willing to elevate Go culture to the level of the city's cultural and tourism strategy. If things go wrong, there might be no such opportunity once it is missed, so more attention should be paid.

...

When I walked into the inner room of the teahouse, I saw Gezhou Vice Mayor Cao Yuan and his secretary already there, and the Vice Chairman of the Chess Association Kong Zhiyong was also there.

"I'm sorry, Vice Mayor Cao! I'm late!"

Shang Chaotian immediately went up to him and greeted him warmly.

Deputy Mayor Cao and Kong Zhiyong also stood up immediately and exchanged pleasantries with Shang Chaotian.

After a round of polite talk, several people sat down again.

Deputy Mayor Cao started with the upcoming fifth game of the Chess Master Tournament:

"Chairman Shang, first of all, I would like to express my gratitude!

"The Chess Association is willing to hold the fifth game of the Chess Saint Tournament in Tongge Mountain, Gezhou. Our city is very grateful..."

……ah?

Although he kept a straight face, Shang Chaotian was confused for a while, thinking that the other party was just being polite.

He knew that although Lu Wenjie tried every way to save money, and even held a special meeting to get the association's top leaders to agree to spend part of the publicity funds on this chess saint competition, the first four games were held in some of China's most high-end venues, with extremely high standards. After the four games, the chess association's funds had already reached the bottom, and there was no money left for the fifth game.

Under such circumstances, the city of Gezhou was willing to host the fifth chess saint tournament completely free of charge, which was a great help.

He was looking for an opportunity to express his gratitude, but the other party thanked him first?
Just when Shang Chaotian was confused, Deputy Mayor Cao explained the reason very naturally.

"…We are a family and we don't have to say two things. Although the scenery of Tongge Mountain in our city is quite beautiful, it is ultimately just a man-made scenic spot, and its style has never been improved.

"Look at the positions you chose in the first four games of the Chess Saint Tournament. The style was so high that I don't know where it was! But in the end, you were willing to give us a chance in the most important fifth game!
"It can be compared with the four top Chinese scenic spots mentioned above, and it is also the birthplace of China's new generation of [chess masters]... This will make our future cultural and tourism promotion easier!"

“Oh…Ah!

"This... this is what we should do. We would also like to thank the leaders of Zhejiang and Hangzhou provinces and Gezhou city at all levels..."

Shang Chaotian finally reacted and quickly responded by returning the gift and expressing his gratitude.

At the same time, I nodded secretly in my heart, and agreed more with Lu Wenjie's idea that "if you want others to take you seriously, you must take you seriously first."

After another round of polite talk, Vice Mayor Cao gradually got to the point.

"Chairman Shang, it has been three years since our two companies started cooperating. But to be honest, I didn't know how to play Go at first.

"At that time, the secretary said he wanted to develop Go culture and tourism. I supported it, but I thought it was just a man-made gimmick to gild the company's reputation.

"But now it seems that the leaders are still in a high position! The tourism in Tongge Mountain is beginning to take shape, and you have been creating space for us to further promote it.

"Take Rui Zhao, who just got promoted today, for example. She is really a treasure! She is beautiful, has strong chess skills, and can create gimmicks!
"You don't know that after hearing the news that she might win all the games today and be promoted to the professional dan in advance, the Zhejiang-Hangzhou Daily and the provincial TV station sent reporters here! I even heard that quite a few central media are on their way and will arrive tomorrow, just waiting to report on Rui Zhao's promotion!

"Let me help the media come up with a headline... [18-year-old celebrity-level beauty anchor wins the Go "college entrance examination" with a perfect record], once this is posted on the portal website, I don't know who will be able to resist clicking in! And the efforts we have made in Gezhou over the years can also be promoted through Go!"

"Yes, yes!" Shang Chaotian, who was not good at speaking, responded quickly.

Deputy Mayor Cao continued:

"Just before you arrived, Vice Chairman Kong and I were chatting, saying that the Go Association has so many ideas. Vice Chairman Kong replied, "That's natural. How can Go players not be smart?"
"I thought, hey, that's right! It makes me look stupid!"

"No, no, no, Vice Mayor Cao, I don't mean that!" Kong Zhi on the side joked in a tactful way.

"Hey! What's the point of not telling the truth? Go players are all smart, everyone knows that!"

Deputy Mayor Cao continued to joke at first, and then his tone became a little more serious.

"So, the city held a meeting this morning, and the team has formed a preliminary opinion. They plan to hold the first Tongge Cup World Go Open in June next year! And it will be held every year thereafter!" "Every year?!"

Hearing this, Shang Chaotian couldn't help but be greatly surprised.

Although he had long known that Gezhou City would sooner or later hold its own world championship to expand its influence, he never imagined that Gezhou City actually planned to hold it once a year!
You should know that there are a total of six world championships that are still being held regularly around the world: the [Mengli Lily Cup], [Spring Orchid Cup], [Miao Family Bailing Cup] in mainland China, the [Yingyi Cup] in the Taiwan Strait Province of China, and the [Sanshuang Cup] and [LIG Cup] in South Korea.

Don’t ask why the Japanese, who have so many clever ideas, don’t do it - I’ve already said that their level has dropped and they have become more isolated!
Although China seems to have more World Championship matches, there is a key problem:

[San Shuang Cup] and [LIG Cup] are held every year, but all the competitions in China cannot do this!

The [Dream Lily Cup] and [Spring Orchid Cup] are both held in odd-numbered years, while the [Miao Family Lily Cup] is held in even-numbered years.

The [Ying Yi Cup] is even more outrageous. Despite the high prize money, it is only held every four years, directly turning it into the "Olympic Games of Go".

The frequency of competitions has a direct impact on the influence of the events, so the three existing competitions in mainland China are all lacking in this aspect.

However, organizing a competition is time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly. Domestic companies willing to sponsor Go competitions are far fewer than giants like South Korea's Samsoon and LIG. It is good enough that the financial sponsor is willing to sponsor, and the Go Association naturally cannot force anything more.

As for the World Championship event that Gezhou is preparing to host, the chess association originally thought that it would be held every two years - after all, ordinary prefecture-level city governments do not have much spare money.

But today, Shang Chaotian never expected that Gezhou City would actually decide to hold it every year! How could he not be overjoyed!

Deputy Mayor Cao heard the surprise in Shang Chaotian's tone and said with a smile:
"Don't be surprised, Chairman Shang!

"The Chess Association has created so many opportunities for us, so we naturally have to return the favor!

"I have to tell you something from the bottom of my heart. The 'Bai Yinhua incident' that you guys created in May actually made us quite nervous.

"We received news that many media outside the industry were paying attention to the development of the incident, and we would take decisive action if there was enough news value.

"After a few years of cooperation, our city's cultural tourism strategy has been highly integrated with Go. If you make big news, our cultural tourism strategy will probably be affected, including whether we should rush to launch the world championship. We may have to discuss it again!"

Shang Chaotian was startled and immediately prepared to stand up and apologize:

"Ah, Deputy Mayor Cao, this is because we didn't do well enough..."

Deputy Mayor Cao smiled and held Shang Chaotian back, saying:
"Hey, hey, hey! Chairman Shang, what are you doing? What we were worried about didn't happen in the end!
"Because of the extremely appropriate way the Go Association and the Go community handled the matter, this incident was even turned into an opportunity. It greatly promoted the overall image of unity and progress in the Go community, and also gave us a reassurance to continue to develop Go culture and tourism!
"Plus, seeing that the Go world is about to produce a star player like Rui Zhao who can attract a lot of traffic, our city must seize the opportunity to place a big bet!"

“Shame on me, shame on me…”

Hearing this, Shang Chaotian said repeatedly.

Although it sounded like just an ordinary courtesy, he was really a little embarrassed.

Deputy Mayor Cao said he was talking about the entire Go community, but how could Shang Chaotian not know that 90% of the credit went to Rui Zhao himself!
When it came to Bai Yinhua's matter, he was prepared to just play the victim if things didn't work out.

The lovely girl really practiced chess very hard, which moved Ni Jue and made him teach her everything he knew. In the end, she defeated Bai Yinhua in one fell swoop, which helped Chinese Go a lot.

As for the current ability to attract traffic, beauty is natural, and chess skills are acquired through practice. Even the fans in the early days of live broadcasting were accumulated slowly by practicing chess desperately, and then they were gradually built up. How much does it have to do with the chess association?

He said that he was the chairman of the Chess Association, a chess king of his generation, and the holder of seven world championships.

But if we really talk about the recent contribution to Chinese Go, how can he compare to Rui Zhao!
...

The two sides then discussed some details of the subsequent competition. At nine o'clock, seeing that they had talked about almost everything, Deputy Mayor Cao took the opportunity to say goodbye, and Shang and Kong saw him off warmly.

When the car had already driven away and Shang Chaotian was about to go back to his room to rest, Kong Zhiyong, who was standing beside him, took the initiative to talk to him:
"Chairman Shang...I really admire you. Where did you find such a girl?"

Shang Chaotian has always had a bad impression of Kong Zhiyong, and subconsciously frowned:

"What? Vice Chairman Kong, do you have any advice?"

Seeing Shang Chaotian's reaction, Kong Zhiyong laughed:
“Chairman Shang, I think you shouldn’t be so prejudiced against me.

"I have always been in charge of the affairs of Gezhou. Even if I have no credit this time, I still deserve credit for my hard work, right?"

Shang Chaotian was silent for two seconds, then bowed his head slightly: "Old Kong, you have worked hard."

Kong Zhiyong didn't say anything polite, just accepted it. He continued to talk:
"I know that you and Lu Wenjie have always had some thoughts about me, a bureaucrat who doesn't know much about Go.

"But our goal is actually the same - to play Go well."

"……Yeah?"

Kong Zhiyong said confidently: "Isn't it? What good will it do me if I mess up Go?"

Shang Chaotian narrowed his eyes: "So, what do you want to talk about today?"

Kong Zhiyong directly stated: "It's very simple. I was opposed to many of your practices. I felt that it was definitely a waste of effort and a thankless task.

"But... on the issue of creating a celebrity who can attract traffic, I think we can agree to disagree."

Alas, there is a problem when you spread yourself too thin… I always feel like there are too many things to explain, and as I write, each chapter becomes longer…

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(End of this chapter)