Chapter 13: Exploring the House
When the spring breeze was in full swing in March, Ji Wenzhao entered the southern city gate of the capital in his carriage. As he looked out of the carriage window, the streets of the capital were wide and crowded, much livelier than any city he had ever lived in south of the river.
But he had a smile on his face, not taking this prosperity for granted: he was a man of fortune who had arrived at the right time, and here he would begin a game of chess, a great game of life that would encompass thousands of people in this world, and he was the player who would hold the reins of the world, and he would not lose a move.
Half a month later, after a well-deserved rest in the capital, Ji Wenzhao stepped through the doors of Guangyi Pavilion with his head held high.
As Shen Wen had done, he inquired about several teahouses and their proprietors that offered games, and found that the most generous and welcoming of them all was the official Bao of Guangye Pavilion. His teahouse has no affiliations, and anyone who claims to be a chess player, regardless of background or origin, can set up a chess board in the teahouse and invite people to play against each other, or even run their own tournament, for a small amount of money. Knowing that the name "national player" would bring him a lot of convenience, Ji Wenzhao prepared to meet with Official Bao and set up a "Wenzhao Terrace" for the next month, nominally as a sparring match, but actually as a challenge to players from the capital and nearby cities.
He wore a long shirt of leaden grey with a pale grey cloud pattern, and looked so poised and luxurious that he should have been immediately admired. He was in his twenties, with good looks, in his prime, and with a dashing, open-minded temperament, and he expected people to look up at him when he entered.
But no one looked up.
Upon entering there was a partitioned room, which should have been a spacious place for the fellows to come and accost the customers. But now it was full of tea tables, each with a chess board, and it seemed that there were many people playing chess and everyone was busy.
This kind of atmosphere was also good, and as he was about to ask the fellow approaching him inquiring which one was the proprietor, Official Bao, he heard someone say loudly, "This Ji Wenzhao is really deceiving people too much!"
Ji Wenzhao was stunned and turned his eyes to see a middle-aged man pushing his plate up and saying, "To come up with such a difficult and incomprehensible game of death and life, you want to belittle others and elevate yourself!"
A person in another table said, "You can't say the same thing, brother, you see, I have benefited greatly from the many speculations of all of you on this game over the past month or so, and I can say that this game of Ji Wen Zhao has set a precedent for a generation in that it draws people in from the hard places and makes them improve more than the usual game."
Another man said, "That's right. You and I usually play chess only to win or lose for a while. Has there ever been a situation where one could really survive from the dead? Ji Wenzhao plays for danger rather than stability, and to play such a deadly game shows how harsh he is. If you can solve it, you will be prepared for future games against him." ......
Hearing this, Ji Wenzhao was baffled and asked the waiter in front of him, "What is this 'Ji Wenzhao's Game' they are talking about?"
Taking a look at him, the waiter smiled and said, "The guest officer must have just entered the capital, the dead or alive game of the Ji national player has been hanging in our house for more than a month, and all the chess players in the capital have come to see it ......"
Ji Wenzhao was even more confused: "What?! Ji Wenzhao's chess game is hanging in your teahouse?! How come I didn't know?" I'm still Ji Wenzhao!
The waiter with a proud look: "Of course hanging in this teahouse! This is the outer teahouse, originally considered an aisle, Ji national chess player's game is hung on the main wall of the main teahouse inside, which has long been full of people, which is why tables have been placed outside ......"
Hearing this, Ji Wenzhao crossed over to the waiter and headed inside, who shouted behind him, " Guest officer, there are no more seats inside!"
Ji Wenzhao ignored it and entered the inner room, which was a hall, and on the front wall at the end, there was indeed a chess board hanging. The hall was full of people, but not noisy, most of them were playing quietly, even talking in a low voice. A waiter carefully smiled and whispered, "Sorry, guest officer, this place is full, why don't you go to the side room or outside? ......"
Ji Wenzhao shook his head, pointed inside and said, "I don't want to drink tea, I just want to see that game of chess."
That waiter immediately nodded and said, "Of course, of course, I'll take you there. You're not the only one who does this, We have people coming here every day to see the chess game, but they can't leave after watching it. They stand for half a day and finally ask for a table, they can play chess here while drinking tea, and they can meet many chess friends ......"
Ji Wenzhao didn't bother to pay attention to this nagging waiter, his eyes were fixed on the game of chess in the distance, and when he came closer to take a look, he was furious and blurted out, "What kind of lousy characters are these?
The long-winded waiter immediately argued, "How can you bother with such minor details? Ji Guo Shou is a great genius! He's so busy playing chess that he doesn't have time to practise his calligraphy. When I was a child, I was sick of practising calligraphy. I sat there all afternoon and couldn't write more than a few words. I especially understand him ......"
Ji Wenzhao said viciously, "You don't understand him!"
The waiter immediately raised his hand and said, "Of course, of course, people are national masters, who am I? I'm just a teahouse employee! Look at the games of chess he plays, even if he can't write well, doesn't he still stun everyone?"
Ji Wenzhao had already started to look at the game of chess, but still distracted himself by retorting, "Who said his handwriting was bad?!" His handwriting is very good, okay?
As if he was used to seeing people like Ji Wenzhao change their minds immediately, the waiter chimed in again, "Look at you, you're saying his writing is good again, this writing, honestly it can't really be said to be good ......"
Ji Wenzhao could no longer hear what the waiter was saying, he looked at the treacherous layout and began to wonder how white could possibly live if black was first, step by step, he played out the calculations in his head ...... no, this won't work, if so ...... I have to find a chess board ......
He looked up sharply, the hall was still full, and the nagging waiter saw him scanning the area from afar and trotted over: "guest officer, are you tired? You said you were 'looking', but you've been standing here for an hour. Several people have spoken to you and you have ignored them, including our proprietor, but our proprietor says that you are a true chess lover, and he asks if you can play a game of chess with him sometime?" He asked carefully, in case the other man left in anger.
Ji Wenzhao came back to his senses and asked, "Where is your proprietor?"
The waiter’s eyes lit up, "You've agreed to play chess with him? Great, you come with me! Our master is over there in the small side room ......"
He led Ji Wenzhao out of the hall to a side hall and said happily in front of the hidden door, "Master, I've found you someone who wants to play chess with you!"
"Really really?!" When the door opened, a chubby man greeted him with a smile and raised his hand and fist to Ji Wenzhao, "Come in, come in! My surname is Pao Xuan and my courtesy name is Le Ting, very honoured ......"
Ji Wenzhao didn't say anything and entered the room with a cold face. The official Pao didn't mind and took out a few copper coins from his sleeve and gave them to the man, who said "thank you" loudly and ran away.
When Ji Wenzhao saw a table in the middle of this side room with a half-played chess game on it, a few chairs next to it, and tea and snacks on a table by the wall, he immediately felt hungry. With a request in mind, his face eased up a bit.
The official Bao smiled and invited Ji Wenzhao to sit down, his hands were busy gathering the checkers on the chessboard, and his mouth said, "Thank this official for being able to play chess with me, I saw your concentration just now, I knew that this official must be someone who knows the game well, I wonder what your name is ......"
Ji Wenzhao said, "My surname is Ji, my name is Wenzhao, and my courtsy character is Xiuming."
T/N Note: In the Tang dynasty, the term official began to appear as a noun, and at that time the term official was used to refer to a person who was an office-holder.
By the Song dynasty, titles such as " government official " and " official man " became popular, and among the people, young and elegant looking men were always called officials.(guan ren)
The Song dynasty valued literature over martial arts and treated the scholarly community well, so the imperial examinations were also very popular in the Song dynasty, and the only way to get ahead was to study! This was absolutely true at the time, and almost all men wanted to enter the imperial examinations to become officials.
Since it was such a popular trend, people would of course do the same in reality, and calling a young man an official represented a blessing, especially for wives to call their husbands that.
