Chapter 5 - 2#

This was simply insane. You have to know that Li Meng was two and a half years old back then, having just learned to count from one to ninety-nine. Our poor little crown prince was pressed against the Go board to learn to eat since he was little. Milk paste dripped all over the board, and if he wasn’t careful, his little palms would be hit by Jiang Qin using a newspaper.

Just like that, from age two to six, Li Meng started school, and Jiang Qin was finally liberated. He happily carried his computer to work, but when he came home, he found Li Meng wearing a little bib and smock, sitting upright in front of the Go board saying: “Mom, let’s play Go.”

Jiang Qin: “…”

So Jiang Qin went in for the kill, beating six-year-old Li Xiaomeng so badly he wailed like ghosts and wolves.

That period was the golden age for men’s careers. The unreliable parents were busy with their own things, and Li Xiaomeng felt doubly lonely and isolated. Every day after school, he would go to the Go club run by his deskmate’s family to kill time. As a result, by the time he graduated from elementary school, Li Xiaomeng had defeated everyone in the Go club and became a locally famous little prodigy. One day, Jin Yan came to pick up his son from school. Passing by the Go club, he saw Li Xiaomeng pointing his chubby little hand at the club’s entrance and saying: “Dad, that’s my turf!”

Jin Yan never expected his son to learn how to claim territory without a teacher, just like he did back in the day. He instantly felt a mix of bitterness and relief, feeling as if his legacy would continue for generations.

Li Meng skipped two grades in elementary school and another in junior high. Jin Yan slipped some money to get him into a private high school at age twelve. Probably because he was too young and his foundation wasn’t solid, Li Meng’s grades in high school were average; the only thing he excelled at was Go.

At age fifteen, he completely defeated Jiang Qin, winning the right of “minors don’t do chores or take out trash”. Subsequently, his win rate against Jiang Qin exceeded 80%, and eventually, when playing Black, he usually gave Jiang Qin a komi of eight and a half points.

Jiang Qin was actually a bit depressed, because he had stopped playing Go a long time ago; he was now obsessed with mystery novels.

Jin Yan felt a lot of pressure. Having a super-intelligent wife already made it hard to assert his husbandly authority, and then, damn it, a genetic mutation produced a prodigy son! He had absolutely no status at home!

So Li Xiaomeng was severely suppressed. At home, he was only allowed to do homework, not play Go. Jin Yan also had the heart of a loving father, thinking that these days people only get into university through the Gaokao. He hadn’t heard of anyone playing Go their way into university. How could he not study hard? Although the family had money to bribe his way in, he still had to take the exam himself for top-tier schools.

Back then, Jin Yan only managed to get into a third-rate university because Jiang Qin studied desperately with him, but he dropped out halfway after just two years. Jiang Qin scolded him plenty for that. His wife’s nagging established a deep-rooted idea in Jin Yan: children must go to college! If you don’t go to college, you won’t be able to find a wife in the future, damn it! If you don’t go to college, I’ll beat you to death with a belt, damn it!

Little classmate Li Xiaomeng never got another chance to happily slay dragons on the chessboard since then.

Just like Jiang Qin’s love for mystery novels, Li Xiaomeng’s love for Go was sincere and passionate. He didn’t dare play freely when Jin Yan was watching, but now that he had run away from home, he surely could.

Besides, Li Xiaomeng had been immersed in this for a long time and knew well that some Go clubs allowed small bets of ten or eight yuan. He was penniless now. With money, he could eat crayfish; with money, he could buy ice cream; with money, he could take a taxi home and continue wagging his tail at Jiang Qin.

Li Xiaomeng made a prompt decision and sneaked into the Go club. Sure enough, there were three or five Go tables inside. In the middle, there was a screen filming every game from various angles. Two staff members were staring at the screen, with several small bamboo discs at hand, painted in red, yellow, blue, and green colors.

Li Meng knew what was up; they were gambling on chess.

He walked over with a swagger. Just then, someone resigned and stood up. Li Meng immediately sat down and asked, “—How much is the bet?”

Everyone around looked at him with incredulous gazes.

What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen such a handsome minor before? Little classmate Li Xiaomeng flipped his hair narcissistically and said, “You guys are so annoying. If you want to play, hurry up. I’m in a rush.”

Go club owner: “…”

Everyone around: “…”

At this very moment, on the street five hundred meters away from the Go club, the couple fighting their divorce war both felt like they were going crazy.

Usually, when things get to this point, the normal procedure is for the wife to start crying and making a scene, the husband to start scolding, followed by a husband-and-wife war, fighting right on the street.

Jin Yan felt that at this moment, he would rather be beaten up by Jiang Qin.

However, Jiang Qin didn’t hit him. Jiang Qin’s face was pale, his lips pursed tight. His fingers trembled slightly when he took out a cigarette to light it.

He stood on the street as night fell, leaning his side against the car door. Jin Yan knew it was because he couldn’t quite stand steady. If Jiang Qin was Jin Yan’s lifeblood, then Li Meng was the apple of Jiang Qin’s eye. This child had shown extraordinary intelligence since childhood. Jiang Qin had put immense effort into raising him, even quitting his job to stay home back then. Later, as Li Meng grew up looking more and more like Jiang Qin, he treated the child even more like his own flesh and blood.

Jin Yan always felt this was a natural destiny.

When they went for the surrogacy procedure back then, Jiang Qin took it to heart that he didn’t succeed while Jin Yan did. Because of this, when Li Meng was first born, he amused himself by flicking his little cheeks. But when Li Meng grew to be seven or eight, both husbands suspected the hospital had made a mistake. Jin Yan clearly couldn’t produce a son with such IQ.

Later, they went to the hospital for a DNA test. The probability of parentage between Li Meng and Jin Yan was close to 99%. Only then did Jiang Qin let it go, feeling it must be fate compensating him for his failed IVF attempt back then.

Jin Yan looked at Jiang Qin’s profile as he leaned against the car door smoking, feeling a tightness in his chest.

This man had given up his family and his future for him, suffered all kinds of hardships to be with him, and now, approaching middle age, he had lost the child he had poured his heart and soul into raising.

Jiang Qin’s life was a high-stakes gamble. He placed all his bets on Jin Yan, who had nothing and was surrounded by enemies back then, but Jin Yan had caused him to lose everything.

Too cruel, Jin Yan thought.

Even he himself felt it was too cruel.

“Let’s go home and check,” Jiang Qin finished his cigarette and sat back in the car, saying wearily. “Maybe he went home by himself and just doesn’t want to answer the phone.”

Jin Yan reached out to pat his back and said, “In the future, I…”

Thousands of words seemed stuck in his throat, but Jiang Qin closed his eyes, clearly not wanting to hear him say anything more.