Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 481 Poor card skills, even worse card character
May 1987, 5, Japan Shogi Association, Tokyo, Japan.

In a small Japanese-style room, several men in kimonos were looking at the young man in front of them with serious faces.

Without exception, this group of people are the backbone of the Japanese chess world today. Among them are Kataoka Satoshi, who participated in the first and second tournaments, and Takemiya Masaki, who only participated in the second tournament.

But there are more players who are about to participate in the third challenge tournament, such as Goro Miyazawa, Norio Kudo, Shuzo Ohira, Hiroshi Yamashiro and Masao Kato.

Kazuhiro Fukuda was inevitably nervous as he was being watched by several top Japanese chess players, but he forced himself to calm down.

On the wall behind him, there was a blackboard with several photos on it. The most obvious one was a man's figure marked out in red handwriting.

"This is Lin Chaoyang, a famous Chinese novelist and the author of The Chess Master."

Obviously, the red handwriting was marked by Kazuhiro Fukuda. He had studied abroad at Yan University and naturally knew Lin Chaoyang, who was already famous at that time.

"Fukuda, you said that Mr. Lin is a very good chess player. How good is he?" asked the man sitting to the right of the entrance.

Fukuda Kazuhiro hesitated for a few seconds, "Mr. Takemiya, I'm really sorry. I haven't played against him before, so I can't give you an accurate answer."

"But when I was studying abroad in Yanjing, I also had a ring match and created a record of 13 consecutive wins. Later, I was defeated by a Chinese student. I heard that the student was instructed by Mr. Lin."

Takemiya Masaki frowned and looked at Fukuda Kazuhiro, "You are just an amateur. It's not surprising that someone defeated you under his guidance."

When Fukuda Kazuhiro heard this, he did not feel the slightest bit of anger at being looked down upon. Instead, he looked terrified, bowed his head and said, "I'm so sorry!"

Kato Masao, who was sitting at the head of the group, said, "Okay, let's stop talking about these useless things. What I want to know is, is there any evidence to prove that this person is the strategist behind the Chinese team?"

Hearing this, Fukuda Kazuhiro looked embarrassed and said hesitantly: "Mr. Kato, I just heard a rumor before, but I don't know if it is true or not."

Upon hearing this, Kato Masao's eyes hardened, his face looked dignified without anger, "What rumor?"

"It is rumored that when Lin Sang was at Yan University, Nie Xuanfeng would visit him from time to time to ask for advice on chess."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present suddenly looked solemn.

Kato Masao pondered for a while, then exhaled, "It seems that this Mr. Lin is indeed the 'Mr. Kong Ming' behind the Chinese team. No wonder he can be seen at every crucial match of the tournament."

In the past two days, the Japanese Go team has been studying strategies against the Chinese team. Yesterday, they learned about the existence of "The Go Saint" and made targeted arrangements.

But just yesterday evening, Kataoka Satoshi, who had participated in two consecutive tournaments, suddenly said that there was a stranger among the Chinese team who always appeared in every crucial match.

And he was very sure that the man was not a chess player, coach or accompanying official of the Chinese team.

The situation he reported immediately attracted the attention of the Japanese team. They immediately found the man's photo for identification and discovered that many people had seen him, but no one knew his identity.

This immediately made the Japanese team nervous, and they called over Kazuhiro Fukuda, who had studied in China and had previously taught them about "The Go Master".

This is how the scene just now happened.

It is very strange that a novelist appeared in the highest-level Go competition between two countries.

Now that we have analyzed all the situations, we finally understand that this person must be the strategist behind the Chinese team.

Everyone felt the pressure and remained silent. Kato Masao frowned and sighed, "We have to face not only the increasingly powerful Chinese team, but also Mr. Kong Ming behind them!"

Kataoka Satoshi said: "We lost the previous two games because we were not prepared. Now that we know about the existence of Mr. Kong Ming, it will be easier to deal with it."

Takemiya Masaki questioned, "It's easy? What should we do? Can our chess skills improve by leaps and bounds?"

His words left Kataoka speechless. After a moment, Kataoka said, "We can refuse to issue him a visa, so he won't be able to attend the game."

"Baka!" The superior Kato Masao shouted angrily and looked at Kataoka Satoshi with contempt.

"You are kidding yourself. If he is not at the competition site, is there no way for him to give advice to the Chinese team?"

Kataoka Satoshi said dissatisfiedly: "What else can we do?"

No one answered his question, and everyone in the room fell silent.

Kato Masao also frowned and pondered for a long time. Finally, he said, "In addition to reading "Meijin", I think we should also make "The Go Master" a must-read for the Go team. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle."

Everyone understood that Kato Masao's proposal was more of a helpless move.

"How do we read a Chinese novel?" asked Masaki Takemiya.

Someone turned his gaze towards Kazuhiro Fukuda who was standing there.

Fukuda Kazuhiro said weakly, "I'm really sorry, my Chinese level is not good enough to translate Lin San's works. But I know that Kawade Shobo has introduced Lin San's works in the past two years.

I think I can contact their translator to help you. ”

His words were recognized by Kato Masao, who looked at everyone present and saw that no one spoke.

He then said, "Since everyone has no objection, I will send someone to contact Kawade Shobo and ask them to provide us with a Japanese version of The Chess Master as soon as possible."

At this point, we can only treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor.

Everyone bowed their heads and said in unison: "Hay!"

Kato Masao said to Miyazawa Goro in a serious tone, "Miyazawa-kun, tomorrow is the day you will play against the Chinese team. You must study the "Masters" carefully and cheer up. We Japanese Go cannot afford to fail!"

Miyazawa Goro immediately felt an invisible pressure on his shoulders and bowed solemnly.

"In order to win, I must study Celebrity carefully!"

Kato Masao nodded with satisfaction.

The next day, the second game of the 3rd China-Japan Go Challenge Tournament was held as scheduled in the Japan Go Institute. After this game, the challenge tournament will be moved to China, but that will have to wait for a month.

The second game was between Yang Hui of the Chinese team and Goro Miyazawa of the Japanese team.

When they met before the game, Yang Hui saw that Goro Miyazawa's eyes were red, obviously he didn't get enough rest last night, but his spirit gave people a feeling of excitement.

The match between the two lasted until the 227th move, and Goro Miyazawa won in the middle game.

Although she lost the game, Yang Hui remained calm, because women's Go players have historically been weaker than men's Go players. It was normal for her to lose, and it would be strange if she didn't lose.

What puzzled her was that after winning, Goro Miyazawa and the Japanese team seemed to be happier than in the final match even though it was only the second game of the tournament.

Yang Hui looked in the direction of the Japanese team and asked several teammates with a strange look on his face, "What are they celebrating?"

Nie Weiping also looked towards the Japanese team and replied, "I don't know. Maybe it's because they just suffered a crushing defeat a few days ago, so they are happier to have won today."

Then he said to Lin Chaoyang: "Chaoyang, I found that they seem to be staring at you all the time today."

"Really? I didn't notice." Lin Chaoyang didn't care and asked, "Should we return home the day after tomorrow?"

Lin Chaoyang came to Japan at the invitation of the Chinese Go team, so naturally he had to return to China with them.

After today's game, the Japanese side also arranged a sightseeing itinerary for the Chinese team. They will stay in Japan for one day and the main force will return home the day after tomorrow.

"Yeah, I heard that the celebration banquet in China has been prepared. Old Nie is going to be in the limelight again this time!" Yang Hui teased with a smile on his face.

"You talk as if you don't want to stand out. The victory belongs to everyone!" Nie Weiping replied with a smile.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang traveled with the Chinese team in Tokyo for a day and then boarded the plane back home.

After arriving at Yanjing Airport, the Chinese Go team was immediately surrounded by enthusiastic reporters, who welcomed them like heroes. The Capital Airport was filled with flowers and applause.

Holding a bouquet of flowers presented by the staff of the Sports Bureau, Nie Weiping first accepted interviews from numerous media on behalf of the Chinese team. Then a reporter spotted Lin Chaoyang among the crowd.

Lin Chaoyang rarely appears in the media, and the public is not familiar with his appearance, but reporters covering cultural and sports news are familiar with his face.

"Hello, Comrade Chaoyang. I am Yang Lang, a reporter from China Youth Daily. Can I interview you?"

A middle-aged reporter caught Lin Chaoyang.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and waved his hand, "Just interview the athletes, I don't have anything to interview."

Yang Lang asked without giving up, "It seems that you also went to Japan for this competition?"

Lin Chaoyang waved his hand and kept silent. The more he did so, the more curious Yang Lang became.

Yang Lang was very dissatisfied because he knew that Lin Chaoyang was the organizer of Xunweizhai Cultural Salon.

This reminded him of the past two years when he went to Xiaoliubukou Hutong to dig up some news about the salon, but was turned away every time.

You really don’t treat journalists as cadres!
No matter how much he complained, Yang Lang could only helplessly watch Lin Chaoyang leave the Capital Airport on a bus with the Chinese team.

That evening, the news that the Chinese Go team returned triumphantly from Japan was featured on the "News Broadcast", and Lin Chaoyang's figure flashed across the screen.

On the second day after arriving in Beijing, the Chinese Go team held a press conference.

On May 5, Lin Chaoyang was invited to attend a celebration banquet held at the People's Hall.

There was still some time before the celebration banquet started, and Nie Weiping was asked to play bridge, and Lin Chaoyang was also invited to play.

Nie Weiping started playing bridge with his leaders in 84. After many times, he became familiar with his leaders and was therefore qualified to bring Lin Chaoyang into the chess and card room.

As soon as the leader saw Lin Chaoyang, he recognized him.

"Isn't this our writer Xiao Lin?"

"Hello, leader!" Lin Chaoyang greeted politely.

"You came just in time, let's play cards together. I heard from Xiao Nie that he is now suffering from 'Lin Chaoyang addiction', and he can't play without you."

The leader asked them to sit down and started joking.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "When I was not there, the Go team still won the game. Obviously, it had nothing to do with me. It was my honor to be there and witness them winning glory for the country."

The leader laughed out loud, "As expected of a writer, you know how to talk. We have a new card player today. Come on, deal the cards."

Lin Chaoyang can play bridge, but his level is very poor. He was assigned to a group with the leader. After playing a few rounds, he lost badly, which caused the leader to complain.

There were nearly twenty tables at today's celebration banquet, and the vast majority of the guests were officials and figures from the domestic cultural and sports circles.

When some people saw Lin Chaoyang walking with the leader, they couldn't help but show surprise on their faces and couldn't help whispering.

There was nothing special about the celebration banquet. The cooking skills of the chefs at the sea were indeed a little better than those in other restaurants, but that was all.

When the banquet was over and they were about to leave Haili, Shi Fangyu from the Film Bureau ran over to say hello to Lin Chaoyang. During the chat, he mentioned that the Film Bureau had just arranged a re-screening of "The Chess Master" a few days ago.

"The movie 'The Chess Master' has almost become the treasure of China Film. It has to be shown after the annual competition. It is very popular. Comrade Chaoyang has made great contributions!"

"How can I have any credit? It's all the work of my fellow Go team members. I just benefited from it."

The two chatted and laughed for a while, then left.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang returned to Hong Kong and was informed by Tao Yumo as soon as she landed that Hede Shufang had contacted her and wanted the publishing rights of "The Chess Master" in Japan.

Lin Chaoyang was filled with questions when he heard this. "Why do they want the publishing rights to "The Chess Master"? To publish it in Japan?"

"It seems so. They said it was quite urgent. They didn't know that you were also in Tokyo a few days ago, otherwise it would have been so convenient for you to go and sign the contract. That's why this happened." Tao Yumo said.

Lin Chaoyang was full of doubts. There was not much content about anti-Japanese war in "Crossing the Guandong", and it only appeared in the later period.

But "The Chess Master" is different. The theme of this novel from beginning to end is anti-Japanese war.

The Japanese are taking the wrong medicine, they actually want to introduce "The Go Saint"?
He was puzzled and asked about the conditions offered by Hechu Study. Tao Yumo said it was the same as before, so he nodded, thinking that he had to make money.

"Then you can contact them and go over to sign the contract."

"it is good."

In the next few days, Lin Chaoyang stayed at home and concentrated on writing. He first sorted out the outline of the script of "Parasite" and then made an appointment to meet with Ann Hui.

Since filming "The Truman Show" last year, Ann Hui has become a hot commodity in the Hong Kong film industry, and many film companies have extended olive branches to her.

But she didn't take any of them. Perhaps inspired by "The Truman Show", Ann Hui has been working on a semi-autobiographical drama about her own experience this year, titled "Autumn Regret on a Journey".

Xu Guanwen had contacted her before, and when she heard that Lin Chaoyang was going to be filming a new movie, Ann Hui naturally wanted the opportunity.

Nowadays, Lin Chaoyang's reputation as a "master screenwriter" has spread throughout Hong Kong, and his achievements are well documented. She has benefited a lot from it, so she would naturally be more than happy to have the opportunity to work with him again.

She immediately stopped reading "Autumn Regret on the Journey" and waited for Lin Chaoyang's call at any time. As a result, she waited for almost a month, and during this time she almost tore the novel "Parasite" to pieces.

After chatting with Lin Chaoyang for most of the day, Ann Hui was full of excitement.

"Mr. Lin, how long will it take for the script to be ready?"

"Maybe in July."

Ann Hui is determined to enter the three major European film festivals with "Parasite" again, and Lam Films will not miss this opportunity, but Lin Chaoyang is not in a hurry.

Next year's three major European film festivals will be the highlight moments for Chinese-language films to shine in the world, with "A City of Sadness" in Venice and "Red Sorghum" in West Berlin. In order to avoid internal friction, it would be safest to let "Parasite" participate in the Cannes Film Festival.

With the previous success of "The Truman Show", the original cast will be competing in Cannes, which gives them a great advantage.

There is still a whole year until next year's Cannes Film Festival, so there is plenty of time.

In the following days, Lin Chaoyang spent half a day every day writing the script for "Parasite", and the remaining half day running to the Exchange Square located on the waterfront of Connaught Road and Harbour View Street in Central.

Exchange Square is a tower-shaped building composed of square and semicircular geometric bodies. It is the venue built by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Most of the floors of the Exchange Square are commercial office buildings, and another small part is the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The trading hall is where Lin Chaoyang spends the longest time every day.

The trading hall, which covers an area of ​​more than 2300 square meters, has 800 counters. Each member seat can occupy a counter and accommodate two market representatives.

These counters are arranged in a square with an open space in the middle to facilitate the traditional open outcry buying and selling method when necessary, which will disappear from the history of the exchange in a few years.

Each counter is equipped with a computer, a printer, an external telephone for contacting the securities brokerage firm under the member, and an internal telephone for communication between market representatives.

In terms of the level of modernization of the exchange, the level of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange far exceeds the current industry level in Hong Kong, and is not inferior even to the well-known Western stock exchanges of the same period.

In addition to the modernization of counter transactions, the trading hall also has a huge display screen that shows the market's current 20 most recent transaction information for reference by all market representatives.

It can also be transmitted via the Internet to the display screen in the sales hall of the member's securities brokerage firm for investors' reference.

In order to write his novel, Lin Chaoyang went to the trading hall to collect inspiration.

This place is not accessible to ordinary citizens, not even stock investors. Fortunately, Lin Chaoyang is now quite famous in Hong Kong.

He contacted the current CEO of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Xin Hanquan, and learned that Lin Chaoyang wanted to write a novel about the Hong Kong stock market. Xin Hanquan was very cooperative and even invited Lin Chaoyang to dinner.

During the dinner, he also asked Lin Chaoyang about the specific content of the novel, and expressed his hope that Lin Chaoyang's novel would play a positive publicity role for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Lin Chaoyang said: "Mr. Xin thinks too highly of me. A novel cannot promote the Stock Exchange."

Xin Hanquan said, "Mr. Lin is too modest. Your talent has spread all over Hong Kong and you have many readers. If you write about the story that happened here at the Stock Exchange and let all citizens and even foreigners read it, it will definitely become a good story!"

Faced with Xin Hanquan's compliment, Lin Chaoyang had to be humble again and explained to him that although the content of the novel was about stock speculation, its main theme was still the interweaving of human nature and fame and fortune.

Xin Hanquan became interested and couldn't help asking Lin Chaoyang more about the content of the novel. Lin Chaoyang had no choice but to tell him the general plot of the novel.

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's story, Xin Hanquan frowned and thought.

What Lin Chaoyang wanted to write was certainly different from his ideal of praising the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong stock market, but the story was indeed moving and fascinating.

If the effect is good, it can be regarded as a promotion for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

As for the negative description of the stock market and trading market in the novel, Xin Hanquan doesn't care.

The Hong Kong stock market in the 1960s and 1970s was even more chaotic and dark than it is now. Weren't there countless citizens rushing in waving their cash?

Don’t these citizens know that the stock market is shady?
Of course they knew it, but who could resist the opportunity to get rich overnight?
As long as Lin Chaoyang's novels can increase the fame of the Stock Exchange, that's enough.

In this way, Lin Chaoyang successfully obtained the opportunity to visit the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and he became a permanent resident.

He spent more than half a month in the trading hall, learning a lot of stock market knowledge. As early as when he first entered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, he opened a special account.

He did not do it for stock speculation, but simply for collecting materials.

The amount of money invested was not much, only 2 million Hong Kong dollars, all of which was saved from royalties.

Now Lin's Pictures no longer needs his blood transfusion. The numbers in his account are increasing and he can't spend them all.

Lan Fong Garden in the afternoon.

This tea restaurant has been open in Central for more than 30 years. Its facade is still simple, but that does not stop it from being packed with diners and extremely popular.

As soon as Lin Chaoyang sat down, the young master Ah Ye came over and greeted him warmly: "Mr. Lin is here, what would you like to eat?"

"One French toast and one cup of milk tea."

Lin Chaoyang asked for something and then sat there quietly listening to the conversations of the people around him.

Apart from morning tea time, the afternoon is the busiest time of the day at Lan Fong Yuen.

There are office workers who come out to "recharge", old men reading horse racing books, and bigwigs holding mobile phones and talking about multi-million dollar business...

The topics that these people talk about the most are always just three: real estate speculation, stocks, and horse racing.

Although the topic is very focused, it is easy to feel the fireworks and human life of Hong Kong society after listening for a long time. This is also one of the important places for Lin Chaoyang to collect materials in the past year.

"If I want to buy, I'd definitely buy Cheung Kong Holdings. I heard that Boss Li is going to make a big move this year, and the stock price will definitely go up!"

"Come on, I listened to you and sold Cathay Real Estate at the beginning of the year, and I lost at least 3 yuan. You're here again this time?"

"The last time was just an accident. No one expected the Luo family to acquire Cathay Pacific. This time the news was leaked by my son's classmate. He is a manager at Hutchison Whampoa, so there must be no problem."

The two old men closest to Lin Chaoyang were talking about stocks. In the past year, the Hang Seng Index has nearly doubled and is about to break through 3500 points.

As a result, many citizens who originally knew nothing about stocks rushed into the stock market in an attempt to make a fortune.

The Cathay Land mentioned by the two old men was acquired by Century City, one of the wealthy families in Hong Kong, the Law family, in March, and was just renamed Cathay City this month.

Then the stock price soared all the way from 1.2 yuan to 2.6 yuan.

Cathay Pacific's name change happened to be noticed by Lin Chaoyang during that period. He felt it was an opportunity and went all in. He was reckless and now his initial capital of 200 million has turned into more than 400 million.

Of course, these are just floating profits.

But Lin Chaoyang also had to sigh at the speed at which the stock market creates wealth. How can ordinary working people resist such temptation?

After taking a sip of the hot milk tea, Lin Chaoyang heard two office workers on the other side talking about house prices.

Since last year, Hong Kong has weathered the chilling effect of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Coupled with the Hong Kong British government's desperate efforts to stimulate land prices, housing prices have soared, and the increase has exceeded 50% to date.

Such housing prices have long been beyond the affordability of the general working class, which naturally causes complaints from ordinary citizens.

Lin Chaoyang listened to the joys and sorrows of these ordinary citizens and silently memorized the impressive details in his mind. These are all materials for future novel writing.

After spending half an afternoon at LAN Fong Yuen, Lin Chaoyang checked out and prepared to go home.

"Goodbye, Mr. Lin!"

The young master Aye greeted Lin Chaoyang again. This kind of service attitude no longer existed in Hong Kong thirty years later.

When Lin Chaoyang returned home, he saw a suitcase at the door. It was Tao Yumo who had returned from Japan.

More than half a month ago, news came from Hechu Study that they wanted to introduce "The Chess Master", and Lin Chaoyang handed the matter over to Tao Yumo.

Because of visa issues, Tao Yumo only went to Japan this week.

"Has the contract been signed?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"It's signed." Tao Yumo replied.

Then he asked Lin Chaoyang mysteriously, "Brother-in-law, guess why Hechu Bookstore wants to introduce The Chess Master?"

"No guessing."

Tao Yumo snorted and muttered, "You are so boring."

She continued to talk to herself, "I talked to Ms. Kitamura and found out that it was the Japanese Go team that contacted them. They knew they were working with you and wanted a translated version of The Go Master."

"The Japanese Go team? Why do they want a translation of The Go Master?"

“I don’t know, and Ms. Kitamura doesn’t know either, but the Go team contacted their publishing house anyway.

They think that since the Go team values ​​your novel, your novel may become popular in the Go community in the future. Go has always been popular in Japan, so it may have a chance to sell well. "

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Did Beicun tell you this? Or did you guess it?"

"Half and half, they can't have introduced your novel just to get scolded, right?"

Lin Chaoyang chuckled and praised: "Not bad, the analysis makes sense."

"That's it!" Tao Yumo raised his neck proudly.

While the two were talking, Tao Yushu returned home and told Lin Chaoyang the bad news with a serious face.

(End of this chapter)