Difficult tasks for others seemed easy to Lin Feng; by mid-morning, he had already taken care of most of the cleanup outside. After lunch, preparing to tidy up some remaining areas, he unexpectedly came across three ancient-styled small villas, one of which had an old man sitting in the courtyard studying a board with an unfinished chess game!
While Lin Feng was clearing the fallen leaves around, he happened to see the old man playing the chess game. He glanced a few times and noticed that the old man kept spinning around the same idea. Despite seemingly trying countless different methods, the results were all the same.
Seeing the old man consumed in thought, Lin Feng finished cleaning up the leaves and grass around the perimeter and passed by him just as he was stubbornly about to make another move.
"No matter how you change it here, it's the same. After three moves, there's no way out!"
"Hmm..." Ding Yi, deep in thought, slightly frowned when he heard Lin Feng speak. Disliking interruptions, he glanced at Lin Feng but ignored him completely, not taking him seriously. He thought to himself, what does a twenty-something kid know! Probably didn't even understand what's going on after one glance, and there he is talking. Young people these days...
After speaking, Lin Feng continued to enjoy his own work. He had learned a lot from the old man, but he still couldn't do his own simulations. The old man always said he needed to experience the world, so he'd take his time to immerse himself. After all, compared to the training he had received on the island under the old man's guidance, everything else was a joy.
"Three moves, strange, this kid actually guessed right..."
"Three moves, again three moves, how is it possible."
"It can't be, how come it fails again after just three moves."
"Three moves, still three moves, how can it be so eerie? Could it be..."
......
Finally, unable to help himself, Ding Yi looked in Lin Feng's direction, because what the young man had said was true.
Ding Yi wanted to speak, but he found it hard to swallow his pride. After all, he was a former university president who wouldn't easily lose when playing chess with professional players. Maybe the young man was just lucky. He decided to try a different approach.
Lin Feng quickly finished cleaning the area and was preparing to leave when he noticed the old man had changed his approach, but he was still stuck in the same rigid pattern of thinking.
"Five moves!" Lin Feng was packing up, ready to go, when he kindly reminded the old man, who was consumed by his thoughts.
Upon hearing Lin Feng speak again, Ding Yi felt extremely annoyed. Maybe you got it right by chance before, and now you're just blabbering here, disrupting my thought process in chess! He glared at Lin Feng's retreating figure without saying a word!!!
"Five moves, could he have gotten it right again?..."
"Five moves, why is it five moves again! Why is this happening!"
...
Ding Yi shockingly discovered that, after Lin Feng mentioned 'five moves', his own game really played out as Lin Feng had said, each attempt ending in a dead end after five moves, just like the previous 'three move' dead ends!
Now, Ding Yi had to take notice. If the initial 'three moves' could be attributed to luck, this subsequent 'five moves' could not be explained by luck! The only explanation was that this young man in front of him was a Go master, and his skill was not low! With this realization, Ding Yi, looking at the young man who was packing up his tools nearby, didn't find him so displeasing anymore. He asked eagerly, "Young man, care for a game of chess?"
Seeing his equipment already packed, and noticing that the old man was looking at him with anticipation, Lin Feng thought that playing a game of chess wouldn't be a problem!
Putting down his tools, he walked over to the old man and took a glance at the game: "Playing black or white this time?"
"White," replied Ding Yi.
"Oh!" Lin Feng didn't hesitate, picking up the white stones and making his move almost without thinking...
Gradually, Ding Yi disturbingly realized that his situation was dicey. With each move, he couldn't find a place to settle, as if every spot was both possible and impossible, contrary to the solutions in the chess manuals, and he became more and more passive. Soon he lost to Lin Feng by two points and surrendered.
Unconvinced, he set up the board again with a different strategy, and Lin Feng played in another way. Still, soon after, Ding Yi resigned, losing by two points again!
...After five games were played, each ended with Lin Feng winning by a margin of two points. After five consecutive matches, Ding Yi was completely speechless. Who was this young man with such skill at such a young age? It was truly uncanny!
But still not satisfied and not wanting to lose face to a twenty-something year-old, he casually set up a brand new game to try his luck with his own style against Lin Feng. He wanted to salvage some pride!
Lin Feng looked at the slightly childish old man and couldn't help but be reminded of his master on the island. Although their styles were different, he found it quite interesting. The two of them engaged in another round of battle on the black and white board, and as time passed, Lin Feng became more relaxed while Ding Yi grew increasingly tense...
Ding Yi could no longer sit still. From the initial surprise, he now felt somewhat flustered.
Because this young man's chess skill had reached an inconceivable level. Ding Yi himself, who had even matches with professional 8th-dan players and occasionally could win against professional 9th-dan masters, was encountering something utterly bizarre today. The entire game was being controlled by Lin Feng alone, who consistently maintained a half-point lead over Ding Yi, no more, no less!
No matter what Ding Yi tried, even sacrificing pieces just to change the half-point difference in the layout, he couldn't reverse the situation. Ding Yi had never seen such a scenario before. Half an hour later, with no other choice, Ding Yi had to concede defeat by abandoning his stones.
Ding Yi pondered the game. Such an ability to control the board couldn't just be cultivated, nor could it be easily explained by talent alone—at least none of the professional 9th-dan national players he knew could achieve this level!
Watching the game reveals one's nature. Ding Yi, who loved Go and had studied it extensively, saw through Lin Feng's playing style that he had an extremely strong desire to control, yet he was also very calm and not showing off. Using an old saying, it's called "the monarch's way, the way to govern others." There's also a common saying in Go, which is "a peerless national master"!
Thinking back on the entire game, Lin Feng had actually managed to play Go to such a state—without greedy attempts to pursue captures; he controlled the whole board, not confined to any single point. From the very beginning, all of Ding Yi's arrangements were subtly being controlled by Lin Feng. What kind of level was this? It was definitely monstrous!! Clearly, it was far above those so-called professional 9th-dan masters he had played against. And now, Lin Feng truly deserved the title of "a peerless national master"! Ding Yi even had the feeling that perhaps no one in the whole country could be a match for this young man!
Who in the world is this young man! What kind of master could teach such a student! And how could such a person appear in my university!
Moreover, how old is he!
A prodigy, a super prodigy. Such skill should be internationally renowned throughout the world, so how could he have no reputation at all?
Ding Yi felt his heart might not be able to take it. The shock was indeed a bit overwhelming, but he gradually calmed his spirits.
"How many years have you been playing chess to play this well?" he asked.
Lin Feng thought for a moment and asked curiously, "It seems to be less than 3 years, why? Do I play very well?"
Hearing how Lin Feng asked that, Ding Yi almost spat blood. Your chess is monstrous, and yet you ask if you play very well?
However, it really couldn't be blamed on Lin Feng, for before this, Lin Feng had only accompanied the old man in playing chess and didn't know how his chess skill compared to others.
With his heart racing, Ding Yi asked another question, "Which department's student are you?"
"Lin Feng, currently working odd jobs at the Logistics Department, not a student," Lin Feng replied simply to the elder.
Lin Feng? Lin Feng!!! Suddenly, Ding Yi realized everything, and it all became clear. So this young man was Lin Feng, no wonder he was so formidable. It wasn't surprising that such a person could be brought up by that old man! I knew it, those things my granddaughter Wan'er said felt unreliable! Unexpectedly, I'd run into him here today, ah, what a surprise!
Ding Yi stared at Lin Feng with a beaming smile, looking more and more pleased, like a mother-in-law inspecting her son-in-law. However, Lin Feng was a bit uncomfortable with that look and didn't understand why the elder's demeanor had changed so much upon hearing he was Lin Feng.
"I'm Ding Yi. Come over to my place when you're free, we can have tea and play chess!" Ding Yi was exceedingly happy today!
Lin Feng thought the invitation sounded nice, definitely better than the office environment.
"OK."
"Oh, right, give me your phone number, so it's not a hassle to find someone to play chess with when I feel like it!" Ding Yi suddenly remembered an issue—it wouldn't be convenient to always bother others if Lin Feng didn't have a phone.
"Oh, 138…" Lin Feng gave out a number, packed up his gear, greeted Ding Yi, and headed straight back to the office.
And there stood Ding Yi, taking a long time to come back to his senses, not expecting to run into him here when he had been thinking of visiting.
Considering Lin Feng's chess skill, and then thinking of the old man's magic, the smile on Ding Yi's face grew even brighter. His granddaughter Wan'er didn't even know yet what a treasure this was! But with young people, things like emotions had to develop slowly; if he pushed too hard, it might backfire.
Plus, seeing the young man's unhurried manner, how he dealt with these ordinary tasks with equanimity, his composure was something not any average person could match.
Days flew by, and Lin Feng, working in logistics, was leading a laid-back and comfortable life without any surprises, except for being pressured by his mother every evening to find a girlfriend, which left Lin Feng somewhat speechless. Other than that, everything was quite alright. He had only visited Ding Yi once more, because aside from his regular work at the school, he mostly spent his time at home with his parents.
These days, Lin Feng no longer went home for lunch, but straight to the school cafeteria instead.
One day when Lin Feng arrived at the school cafeteria for lunch, perhaps because he had come at an unconventional time, it was particularly crowded. After Lin Feng got his meal and looked around, there were no single tables left nearby—there were some in the distance, but Lin Feng didn't feel like walking that far. He approached the closest table and simply sat down.
The moment Lin Feng took his seat, he sensed that many eyes were on him. He didn't understand why. Was he not allowed to sit here?