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

Chapter 241 Promotional Materials
"Hello, Lei Qi Jiudan! It looks like you haven't fully recovered today!

"Since the Chess Saint Tournament, your record doesn't seem to be very ideal...Except for the first round of the National Master Tournament where you beat Ni Jue 9th Dan, you haven't won a single game since then. Now your real-time rating has probably dropped to sixth.

"And... we have heard some rumors about you recently. Are these rumors true? Have you been affected by them?"

"I don't pay much attention to things outside the game, but since they are all rumors, I think they must be just groundless, right?"

"Uh...but you haven't been in a good condition recently..."

"It's normal for a chess player to have ups and downs in a short period of time, and I actually think my condition is pretty good... I played this game better than I thought."

"Ah? But... overall, it seems that your condition is quite different from the first half of the year."

"Really? Maybe... I just happened to be in particularly good shape in the past year!"

"Have you been in good condition for almost a year?"

"Ah."

"This……"

"Well, don't worry about it!

“I’ve only just turned 18, so I should be able to continue to improve!

"As long as you don't hold me to the standard of 'a genius that only appears once in decades', I think that with my current level... I shouldn't be doing too badly. I may be able to reach the level of my previous good form again in the future."

"Ah... OK. Well, thank you, Lei Qi Jiudan, for accepting our interview."

……

September 9th, 4: am, Chinese Go Association.

After watching the interview video on the computer screen, Shang Chaotian lowered his eyes slightly, and then asked Lu Wenjie beside him:
"Is Xiao Lei's interview quite normal?

"I also watched his game yesterday. It was indeed worse than the previous games in the Chess Saint Tournament. But without the 'flow', his level would be roughly around this level... Why did he attract criticism?"

Lu Wenjie squeezed his lips and sighed:

"Brother Tian, ​​you have to know that we haven't won the Nongshim Cup for three consecutive years, and we also gave Liu Shixian the second-best cross-border victory and three consecutive defeats in history! Many chess fans in China are already a little dissatisfied, and even..."

Having said this, Lu Wenjie paused, and finally finished the sentence in a low voice:
"...Even some big bosses are asking us when we can win the championship again! You know that!"

"But we can't win, Master Liu, we just can't win... We have tried our best, what can we do?"

Shang Chaotian shrugged helplessly.

“So, that’s the problem!”

Lu Wenjie said without temper:
“We can’t win now, but at most we can say we tried our best and no one can say anything.

"But Xiao Lei is different! Chess fans all regard him as the hope to defeat Liu Shixian!
"Especially since Lin Ruixin is not participating this time, everyone's expectations can be said to be pinned on him.

"In the end, he lost to Ji Qiujuan but still said that he was in good shape. He just regarded himself as an ordinary ninth dan and asked everyone to lower their expectations of him. How can he not be called heartless?"

Shang Chaotian took a deep breath:

"Hey, leave them alone! They're not the ones playing chess, so it's easier to talk without any pain in your back!"

After hesitating for a while, Lu Wenjie said:
"Brother Tian, ​​if it's inconvenient for you to come forward, I'll talk to Xiao Lei and ask him to speak more positively!"

"Don't!"

Shang Chaotian stopped him and said:

"He can't use 'Flow' now, so it's good enough that he can play like this with Ji Qiujuan! Don't add pressure to him, or his state, which he has adjusted with great difficulty, will fluctuate again.

"Just like he said, he is only eighteen years old and there is still room for improvement. Even if compared with Xiong Siyi, his strength improvement speed is not slow at all..."

Speaking of this, Shang Chaotian seemed to have thought of something, paused and said:
"It just so happens that the Pinghu Rapid Chess Tournament is coming up soon. Xiao Lei won his first national championship in this tournament.

"Let's just assume that... Xiao Lei has started over again after a year!"

However, what Shang Chaotian did not expect was that his deputy said with a slightly embarrassed tone:
"Brother Ketian... I'm really worried that he won't perform well in this competition..."

Shang Chaotian was puzzled: "Huh? Why?"

"Uh...you can check out the official website of the tournament."

...

...

"Yes, Mom! I plan to go back to Dongjiang on the 6th, and then leave for Dangchao City on the 7th to participate in the Pinghu Fast Chess Tournament... Yes, the competition will start on the 8th."

At the same time, at a blood donation site in Dajing City.

Lei Qi, who was resting in the house, was talking to his mother on the phone, explaining his itinerary.

At this time, Lei Qi had already obtained his own blood donation certificate, but when he saw the date printed on it, he still felt a little regretful.

After all, it was ten days late.

But... there's nothing to worry about now!

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and felt that he was in pretty good condition.

The game of chess the day before yesterday, although seen by outsiders as "another defeat for the young genius, he is still in a depressed state."

But only Lei Qi himself knew: without the "flow" state, he was basically not much stronger than Cai Shuang. It was already quite good that he could compete with Ji Qiujuan who was in good form recently.

Just ...

It was a shame that he didn't win! The boy felt a little annoyed, but he also knew that he couldn't be impatient.

What he has to do now is to start again step by step in a solid and down-to-earth manner.

After all, considering my age of eighteen, my progress is still quite fast.

Lei Qi sorted out his thoughts and then began to think about the follow-up arrangements.

In front of him is the Pinghu Rapid Chess Tournament where he won his first domestic championship last year.

This year's Pinghu Rapid Chess Tournament will still be held in Dangchao City, Zhejiang Province, next to Dongjiang City.

The competition will be preceded by three rounds of preliminaries on the 5th and 6th, one round each half a day, to select 32 players.

These 32 selected players will participate in the 32-person main competition together with the 64 exempt players.

As the defending champion, Lei Qi was naturally one of the 32 people who were exempt from selection, and he did not need to participate in the previous preliminaries.

And as the boy had promised his parents, he would go home as much as possible.

Therefore, Lei Qi planned to stay at home during the Pinghu Rapid Chess Tournament held in Dangchao City, and he called his mother as soon as possible.

But after receiving the call from her son, Qin Xiaoxue felt a little strange:
"The 8th? But I saw that the publicity said it would start on the 5th. Son, don't get the time wrong!"

"Ah? Number 5?"

Lei Qi was stunned when he heard this, then reacted:
"Mom, the qualifying round will be held on the 5th, and the main tournament will start on the 8th! I've read the schedule many times, so I won't remember it wrong."

"Qualifying round?"

Qin Xiaoxue muttered for a moment.

"But... don't professional competitions start with the main tournament when they are advertised? Why write about the qualifiers? No one watches the qualifiers...

"Oh! That's right! So it's... um."

As she was speaking, Qin Xiaoxue seemed to realize something and suddenly let out a small cry of surprise.

But after speaking, he quickly controlled his voice, as if he realized something was wrong.

Lei Qi couldn't help but ask:
"Hmm? Mom, what's wrong?
"Do you know the reason?"

"Ah, this...nothing!"

After a moment of hesitation, Qin Xiaoxue on the other end of the phone laughed awkwardly:

"Um... I mean, there was a competition written like this before! Haha...

"Okay, son, come back early! Mom will make you something delicious!"

Hearing his mother's reaction, Lei Qi felt very strange for a moment.

My mother has always been decisive and efficient in her words and deeds. Why did she suddenly become hesitant when talking about the game schedule today, and even tried to change the subject in the end...

This is...what's going on?
After finishing his phone call with Qin Xiaoxue, Lei Qi always felt that something was wrong, so he used his mobile phone to access the official website of the event in confusion, trying to verify something.

As a top domestic chess player and the previous champion, Lei Qi naturally learned about the tournament information from a dedicated person from the Go Association. He did not need to go to the official website or various Go platforms to obtain relevant information like ordinary chess fans.

So he has never looked at this official promotional website.

It’s just…it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t look at it, but once he looked at it, the young man was stunned.

As the official website of the event, the front page of the website was filled with promotional materials for the competition with a very old-fashioned design, including a photo of Lei Qi himself.

As the previous champion and a popular young player in the chess world, Lei Qi was not surprised at all that his photo appeared here.

All professional chess players sign an agreement with the Chess Association when registering with the association, allowing the association to use their own portraits when promoting events.

——This is a prescribed action, you can only agree to it.

As for putting his own portrait in promotional materials, this had happened in other competitions before, so Lei Qi was not surprised.

But what really surprised Lei Qi was that he was not the only contestant who appeared in the promotional materials.

Besides him, there was another person.

It was this other person who made Lei Qi suddenly understand why the tournament was advertised to start with the qualifying rounds...

...

...

At the same time, in a private car heading from Dongjiang City to Dangchao City, Zhejiang Province.

The beautiful girl who was doing the hand-sudoku puzzle suddenly shuddered for no apparent reason:
“Eh… weird.

"The air conditioner isn't even cold enough..."

Rui Zhao asked a question with a little doubt, then continued to work on the questions with his head down.

Free for a limited time only.

Good news: Collections are increasing rapidly!

Bad news: There are more and more people criticizing this failure in the book circle... I clicked on it and found that they were all criticizing it.

Well... okay, anyway, I've basically been lying down and letting people make fun of me recently, so I'm not afraid of it anymore.

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(End of this chapter)