On the third day of the Lunar New Year.
It wasn't even 6 in the morning yet.
His parents were still in bed, and Old Wu and his daughter were still sleeping as well. Zhang Ye had already woken up and walked out of the villa to the beach. He laid down on a recliner and watched the sea from behind his sunglasses. Listening to the sound of the waves and enjoying the cool sea breeze, he felt particularly at peace.
Family.
Freedom.
This is what life is.
Zhang Ye was in a fantastic mood. This was one of the happiest days of his life in recent years. He didn't usually have any problems with falling asleep, but this time, he didn't manage to sleep much for the entire night. His mind was filled with the smiles of his family members, as well as that cute daughter of his. Although the little girl was still afraid of him and had not even called him "Daddy" yet, Zhang Ye was not bothered by it because he knew that he owed his family too much over the past few years. He knew that he had not fulfilled his responsibilities as a father yet, so he was looking to make up for everything that he had not done for his child since her birth.
Not far away.
Several teenagers were on their morning jog.
"Aiyo, I'm so tired."
"We have one lap to go."
"Qiqi, you can do it."
"How can Teacher Tian make us exercise so early in the morning!"
"We need to improve our mental and physical strength."
Hearing that, Zhang Ye looked over and broke into a smile. Laying down luxuriating, he waved at them, saying, "Hey."
The teenagers turned to look at him and were startled for a bit.
Chen Qiqi said in surprise, "Wow, it's Masterful Bro!"
Chen Niannian waved and said, "Master, why are you wearing sunglasses so early in the morning?"
Huo Yan stopped in his tracks. "We meet again."
Zhang Ye asked, "Are you guys doing morning exercises?"
Huo Yan sighed and said, "Yeah, it's included in the Qiyuan's training schedule. Actually, it's only the Go Association that has to do the training. But since Teacher Tian is the one leading the group, our Xiangqi Association's players were also rounded up and forced to follow their training schedule."
Chen Qiqi went over. "Master, we mentioned you to Teacher Tian and our aunt yesterday. My aunt is pretty curious as to which old friend you are and would like to meet with you. Why don't you go back with us later? It's only at the hotel at the east side of the resort, so it's not that far away."
Zhang Ye waved if off and said with a laugh, "Forget it. I'm not part of your Qiyuan, so I won't be going."
Chen Niannian said, "But you really do have the ability to play professionally. Even if you can't compare to Teacher Tian, you're pretty close to the level that we professional 4- or 5-dan players are at. If you train a little and learn some new ways of playing instead of sticking to that outdated Cosmic Flow strategy, you'll definitely become better at the game. Maybe you don't know this, but do you have an idea of who Changhe 9-dan is? Teacher Changhe has been working with us to innovate many new ways of playing Go over the past few years, and I think you should learn to play in those ways."
Changhe 9-dan?
How can I not know him? That's my father-in-law, alright!
Learn his style of playing?
Forget it! What sort of playstyles can he possibly create with that standard of his?
Chen Niannian asked, "What's your current job?"
Zhang Ye answered, "I'm temporarily unemployed."
Chen Qiqi said, "Eh, then why are you staying at such an expensive hotel?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "My wife is rich."
Chen Niannian criticized, "Uncle, you shouldn't be depending on your wife like that. A man has got to be independent. Come to our Qiyuan. It's pretty good money if you become a professional Go player."
Chen Qiqi took a stab at him and said, "It's just that you're a little old for it."
Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Is that so?"
Chen Qiqi said, "The acknowledged prime age in the Go world is around 20 or so. The older you are, the more likely your level of play will drop."
Zhang Ye smiled. "Alright then."
A female Go player said, "Hai, you have it pretty easy here. We still have to go and play against PeterGo later in the morning."
Chen Qiqi said pained, "Yeah, just thinking about it makes me so frustrated. Teacher Tian is making us take turns to play against PeterGo, then study the matches and write reports about them."
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Isn't that quite good? You can train yourselves that way."
Chen Niannian said sadly, "It's not good at all. Playing against PeterGo makes us feel so hopeless. It's hopelessness right from the start until the end, and that affects our confidence badly."
Zhang Ye said, "You're all young, so it's necessary to practice more."
Chen Qiqi harrumphed, "Would you enjoy it if you lost at Go every day?"
But Zhang Ye said, "I've never lost before."
When everyone heard that, they couldn't help but roll their eyes.
Never lost before?
How is that possible!
How can there be anyone in the world who has never lost a game before?
Can you not brag?
But unbeknownst to them, Zhang Ye had truly never lost before. He did lose some single games, but in the context of a match, be it two wins out of three, or three wins out of five, Zhang Ye had not ever lost once.
At this moment, a hotel employee came over. "Hello, sorry about this, but this beach is private property. We can't allow anyone who isn't staying here to come in."
Huo Yan said, "Alright, we'll leave right away."
Chen Niannian waved. "We'll carry on with our morning jog then, Masterful Bro."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "See ya around."
After they left, Zhang Ye had a look at his watch and got up to go back into the villa. Seeing that his parents and Old Wu were still not up yet, he started feeling a little sleepy again. So he laid down and returned to sleep.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
After some time, Zhang Ye's ears pricked up. He could feel that someone was by the bedside. He sneaked a peek through the slit in his eyes and saw something that made him very happy.
It turned out that it was his daughter standing by the bedside.
Sisi was holding a doll in her hands and looking curiously at Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye pretended to have just woken up. He yawned and opened his eyes. "Eh, daughter?"
Sisi jumped up in fright and ran out of the room.
Zhang Ye was very happy, and sweetness was drenching his heart. Then he got out of bed.
Outside, he could hear Old Wu's voice.
"What's the matter, Sisi?"
"N-Nothing."
"Did you go and see daddy?"
"No."
"Why did you run out of the room then?"
Sisi was mumbling.
Zhang Ye came out. "Daughter, can Daddy pick you up?"
Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "Can Daddy pick you up?"
Sisi shook her head and hid behind her mother.
Wu Zeqing smiled. "Then why don't you get Daddy to teach you how to play Go?"
Sisi was undecided for a long time before finally nodding her little head.
Wu Zeqing looked at her husband. "Teach her with a game."
"Sure." Zhang Ye said excitedly, "Here, come with Daddy to play Go."
Soon after, his parents also got up. When the two of them came out of their room, they saw the father-daughter pair playing Go in the living room and looked at each other, all smiles.
Zhang Ye's mother smiled and said, "Sisi, you didn't allow your daddy to go into your room to sleep with you and Mommy yesterday, but you're playing Go with him today?"
Zhang Ye said proudly, "Don't you meddle in the matters between me and my daughter."
His mother harrumphed, "Alright, I won't get involved then. Will that do?"
Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "This little kid ran over to her father's room the moment she woke up this morning. She's paying quite a bit of attention to him."
His father said, "That's because blood is thicker than water."
Wu Zeqing nodded and said, "Let's leave them alone and let the two of them spend some time together. Our daughter is meeting her father for the first time, and Little Ye is experiencing what it's like to be a dad for the first time. There needs to be a process, but I believe that Little Ye can do well."
His mother gave them the side-eye and said, "I'm just afraid that this rascal will influence my granddaughter in the wrong way."
Wu Zeqing laughed. "That won't happen."