CH 63

Catenaccio.

Zhen Wu walked into Yue Gu Zai’s study room at ten in the evening.

‘Dad,’ Zhen Wu called.

Yue Gu Zai put the reports to the side, and focused his attention on Zhen Wu.

‘Son, are you having trouble sleeping because you’re competing again tomorrow morning?’ Yue Gu Zai asked.

‘No,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘Dad, I want to train at Ni Sheng’s secret headquarters in Africa.’

‘Is this what you want?’ Yue Gu Zai asked.

Yue Gu Zai didn’t play favoritism even with his own son. Ni Sheng’s secret headquarters in Africa was a dangerous place.

‘Yes,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘Um, I’ll ask your mum’s opinion,’ Yue Gu Zai said. ‘If your mum agrees then you have my permission.’

‘Mum said she’ll support my decision but she said I needed your permission,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘Um, go to sleep,’ Yue Gu Zai said. ‘I don’t expect you to win tomorrow. I’ll always be proud of you as long as you do your best.’

‘OK,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘Dad, one day I’ll take your place to protect Ni Sheng’s members.’

Yue Gu Zai was happy to hear Zhen Wu wanted to follow his footsteps, but he would only agree to hand over Ni Sheng to Zhen Wu if it was what Zhen Wu truly wanted.

The next day was a sunny day. At the competition venue, no one underestimated Zhen Wu again. They found out he was Yue Gu Zai’s genius son.

La Ba Te’s family background was different to Zhen Wu, he was poor and he felt pressured to win and succeed for his family.

Lucy waved her hands in the air to get Zhen Wu’s attention.

‘Zhen Wu,’ Lucy called.

Zhen Wu walked to Lucy and he greeted Dawson Brenda.

‘Zhen Wu, do you believe you’ll get first place today?’ Dawson Brenda asked.

Zhen Wu shook his head. He thought La Ba Te was a good programmer too.

‘It’s not important to win,’ Dawson Brenda said. ‘Whatever happens, I want you to take away a good experience from this competition.’

‘Yes grandpa Dawson,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘Do your best,’ Dawson Brenda said and rubbed Zhen Wu’s head.

‘Ladies and gentlemen please return to your assigned seats,’ the MC announced. ‘The final round of the competition is about to start. The finalists are the eighteen-year-old La Ba Te and the seven-year-old Zhen Wu. It’ll be a nail biting final round.’

The audience clapped to cheer on the finalists.

‘The winner will receive first place and a college scholarship from Dawson’s company,’ the MC said. ‘Finalists, your time starts now.’

Most of the audience speculated La Ba Te would win because Zhen Wu was young and inexperienced. Also, La Ba Te began strategizing before Zhen Wu.

Zhen Wu was taking his time to read the Catenaccio instructions of the final round. Since Ling Jia returned to the modern era, Zhen Wu often played Catenaccio with Ling Jia. But it wasn’t easy for him to code bolts quickly to prevent the opponent from scoring.

In the front row, Zhen Zhen was nervous watching Zhen Wu struggle.

‘Mum, how do you think Zhen Wu will fare today?’ Zhen Zhen asked.

‘Zhen Zhen, don’t worry,’ Ling Jia said. ‘When I was versing Zhen Wu, it was hard for me to erase his bolts to score. This Catenaccio program was designed by Dawson Brenda. Our programming skills are on par with each other. I believe Zhen Wu has a good chance of winning.’

Three hours later, neither Zhen Wu nor La Ba Te scored. Their twenty fingers typed continuously on their keyboards. Many people in the audience went to take a morning tea break, and when they came back, Zhen Wu and La Ba Te were still neck and neck.

The bell rang and signalled overtime. During overtime La Ba Te looked like he had the edge over Zhen Wu. In the last minute of overtime, Zhen Wu bypassed La Ba Te’s defences and Zhen Wu scored.

‘The winner is Zhen Wu,’ the MC announced.

The audience clapped, and Dawson Brenda presented Zhen Wu the winner’s trophy.

La Ba Te was disappointed he lost to Zhen Wu.

‘Congratulations,’ La Ba Te said.

La Ba Te didn’t expect Zhen Wu would give him Zhen Wu’s phone number.

‘Thank you,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘If you need anything, you can contact me.’

Zhen Wu took Yue Gu Zai’s advice. Zhen Wu thought La Ba Te was a skilful programmer. Yue Gu Zai advised Zhen Wu to surround himself with talented people who would be helpful to Zhen Wu in the future.

La Ba Te didn’t think Zhen Wu could help him with anything, but he accepted Zhen Wu’s phone number.

Zhen Wu walked off stage to his family.

John ran to La Ba Te.

‘La Ba Te, it unfair,’ John said. ‘You should have won. That little boy entered the competition through the back door, and his family has a connections with Dawson Brenda. The competition was rigged.’

‘John, we should be gracious losers,’ La Ba Te said. ‘We have another chance to win next year.’

La Ba Te was prepared to work hard to be accepted into Dawson’s company.

After the competition, Zhen Wu asked Yue Gu Zai to stop the media from reporting about the competition results because Zhen Wu didn’t want to be a famous genius prodigy.

Yue Gu Zai kept his promise, he booked a flight to Africa for Zhen Wu. Zhen Wu was sad he would miss the birth of his sibling, but he was determined to train hard and become stronger to protect the people he loved.

At the airport, Yue Gu Zai hugged the tearful Zhen Zhen. She regretted giving her permission to let Zhen Wu train in Africa.

‘Zhen Zhen, don’t worry,’ Yue Gu Zai said. ‘Zhen Wu is our son, we need to believe in him.’

At Dawson’s company, Lucy waited in Dawson Brenda’s office for the whole day.

‘Lucy, let’s go home,’ Dawson Brenda said.

‘Grandpa, I can’t go home yet,’ Lucy said and cried. ‘What if Zhen Wu comes here when I’m gone?’

‘Zhen Wu isn’t coming here,’ Dawson Brenda said.

Dawson Brenda knew Zhen Wu had left Italy straight after the competition ended.

‘Lucy, don’t cry anymore,’ Dawson Brenda said. ‘If Zhen Wu doesn’t like you then he wouldn’t have given you the gold pearl.’

‘Grandpa…’ Lucy said.

For many years, Lucy couldn’t forget Zhen Wu.

***

End of Chapter Sixty-Three