Volume 1.

Chapter 1 of the Night: Sonata.

...

2022, autumn.

The drizzle fell from the gray sky and drizzled lightly on the city streets.

It is autumn, and you can see pedestrians without umbrellas from time to time, blocking their heads with their hands.

In the narrow military and civil alley, there was a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old sitting opposite an old man under the canopy next to the supermarket convenience store.

The whole world outside the canopy was dark, and the ground was lightly black by the rain. Only the ground under the canopy was still left with a dry area, just like the whole world was left with this pure land.

In front of them was a shabby wooden chessboard, with a red sign on the top of their heads.

"General," said the young man Qingchen, and stood up, leaving the old man with sparse hair sitting there.

The young man Qingchen glanced at the other party and said calmly: "Don't struggle."

"I can..." the old man said unwillingly: "I have only reached thirteen steps..."

As he spoke, the old man felt a little embarrassed about the situation where he threw away his armor after thirteen steps.

Qingchen didn't explain anything. The murderous intention was revealed on the chessboard, which was the last moment when the picture was revealed.

The boy had a clean face and clear eyes, but he sat there in a simple school uniform, as if he had purified and transparent the world around him.

The old man threw the chess piece he raised in his hand onto the chessboard and abandoned the pie.

Qingchen walked into the counter of the supermarket next to him as if no one was around, took 20 yuan from the change basket under the counter and put it in his pocket.

The old man looked at Qingchen cursingly: "I have to lose 20 yuan to you every day! I just won 20 yuan from Lao Li and Zhang in the morning, and I have lost all to you now!"

Qingchen took the money, then sat back to the chessboard and started to review: "If they weren't willing to play chess with me anymore, I wouldn't have to win money through you. You need face, I need money, it's fair and reasonable."

"You'll be sure to eat me, right?" the old man muttered: "The fortune teller said that I could live to be 78 years old. I'm only fifty now. If I lose 20 yuan a day, how much money would I have to pay?"

"But I will also teach you to play chess to win back your face," Qingchen replied calmly: "You won't lose if you count it like this."

The old man muttered, "But what you have taught these two days are useless things."

Qingchen glanced at him: "Don't say that to yourself."

Old man: "????"

The old man angrily put the chessboard back on again, and then anxiously said: "Okay, okay, let's review it."

At this moment, Qingchen suddenly lowered his head.

The time that had just passed was like a replay from his mind.

The cannons that came to the head, the fierce soldiers on the Chu River and Han Realm echoed in their minds one by one.

More than that.

There is also an uncle who passed by them while playing chess, holding the four freshly bought pancakes in his hand. The newly-baked pancakes fainted some water vapor and dyed a layer of white mist in the transparent plastic bag.

The little girl in a white skirt walked by with an umbrella, and there were two beautiful butterflies on the upper of her leather shoes.

Above the sky, the swaying rain fell in the alley, crystal clear.

At the end of the alley, bus No. 103 flashed past the narrow alley entrance, and a woman in a beige windbreaker held her umbrella and ran towards the bus stop.

The sound of footsteps and the sound of running water when rainwater flows into the manhole cover beside the road, these noisy sounds make the world particularly quiet.

Qingchen never forgot all this, although it is difficult to recall it.

But difficulties do not mean they cannot be.

This strange memory is Qingchen's innate talent, just like he casually extracted a save from the long river of time and then read the picture in the save magnetic strip.

Qingchen resisted the dizziness in his brain and pinched the chess pieces on the chessboard.

The old man stopped talking and stared at the chessboard with all his eyes focused on him. The review after each game was also the terms of the bet agreement.

Qingchen is responsible for teaching chess, and the old man learns chess after losing money.

This scene is a bit weird. Qingchen does not have the modesty and shyness that a young man should have when facing the elders, but instead looks like a teacher.

The other party didn't think it was anything.

"The red cannon is two to five, the black cannon is eight to five, the red horse is two to three, the black horse is eight to seven, the red car is one to one, the black car is nine to eight..." Qing Chen moved the chess piece step by step.

The old man didn't blink for a moment, and there was a normal start in front of him, but he couldn't figure out why he had arrived at the sixth step. He obviously ate the other party's horse, but suddenly fell into a downward trend.

"The essence of the Thirteen Ways of Abandoning Horse is the sixth step of getting into the car and abandoning the horse. This is the killer move to tear apart the defense," Qing Chen said quietly: "I saw the chess you played with the old man in Wangcheng Park the day before yesterday. He likes to start the game smoothly. There is no problem if you use the Thirteen Ways of Abandoning Horse to beat him."

The old man opposite fell into deep thought, and then asked in a low voice: "Can you really beat him?"

"If you learn the thirteen tricks I've taught you in a week, you can get your face back," Qingchen said: "After all... he didn't do well."

The old man showed a hint of joy on his face.

But he suddenly asked, "Learn for a week you can beat him, so how long will it take for me to learn chess to beat you?"

Under the canopy, Qingchen thought seriously: "The fortune teller said that you can live to be 78 years old... It's too late."

The old man's face was stunned: "If you say less, I might be able to live to seventy-nine... Hey, you should be in evening self-study now. Why did you get so early after school today?"

He knew that Qingchen was a sophomore student in high school. Today is Tuesday, so Thirteen Middle School, two streets away, should be studying at night.

Qingchen thought for a while and replied, "I'm waiting for someone."

"Wait for someone?" The old man was stunned for a moment.

Qingchen stood up and looked at the drizzle outside the canopy, his eyes swaying in the rain curtain.

The old man said, "Qingchen, you are so good at playing chess, why don't you participate in chess competitions? Didn't you say you lack money? You have money to win the championship."

Young man Qingchen shook his head: "I just remembered many chess scores in my mind. It's not that I am so good at playing chess. Memory does not represent analytical ability. It's okay to play with you. If you really meet a master, you will show your timidity. My path is not here, and playing chess is only temporary."

"I remember everything in my mind..." The old man sighed: "I used to think that I never forget that such things are made up by others."

The rain slowly stopped.

At this moment, the old man suddenly noticed that Qingchen was stunned for a moment. He followed the boy's gaze and looked at the end of the military and civil alley. He happened to see a couple walking towards him with a little boy.

The middle-aged woman was wearing a delicate windbreaker and carrying a cake box in her hand, with purple and beautiful ribbons tied to it.

The gray world could not stop the joyful expressions of the three of them. Qingchen turned around and left, leaving the old man sitting under the canopy at the entrance of Fulai Supermarket and sighing softly.

The middle-aged woman saw Qingchen's back and called Qingchen's name, but Qingchen's head disappeared at the other end of the alley without looking back.

The walls on both sides of the alley are very old. After the white walls fall off, they leave behind mottled red bricks.
Chapter completed!