On the second day of the competition, because there was a game of Ming chess in the morning, there was no time to set for playing chess, so after the Ming book competition, the eunuchs went to Hanlin Yuan to inform the candidates who participated in the Ming chess on the second day, and the Ming chess competition began on the first day.

At the second quarter of the next day, when the sky was just hazy, the eunuchs began to prepare for this morning's Ming chess competition, and Zhao Ziyi, who was in Hanlin Yuan at this moment, also got up and packed up his clothes, and carefully studied his chess skills in the house, preparing for today's Ming chess. In the past month, he no longer felt nervous with the help of Nangong Xue, but felt that he had achieved the mentality of traveling lightly, and at this moment he focused more on studying chess skills, and the victory in the first two games inspired him more, he seriously studied the chess games in his hands, and practiced chess skills one move at a time. I practiced like this until the third quarter of Maozheng.

At the third o'clock, the eunuch knocked on the door and reported: "In another moment, the Ming chess competition will begin, please prepare the candidates." Zhao Ziyi responded in the house: "I know, thank you eunuch." "I finished my clothes and prepared to take the exam. At the same time, Nangong Xue and Zhao Linxue had also come to Hanbo Building, and the two of them found two suitable seats to watch the competition and sat down, Zhao Linxue asked a little uneasily: "Xiaoxue, you said that today's competition should be fine, right?" In the past month, we have all been strengthening ourselves, but we don't know each other's situation, everything else is easy to do, this chess game is not easy to say, and I don't know what the strength of our No. 1 God of Wealth opponent is. After speaking, Nangong Xue looked at Zhao Linxue with a smile, and said with relief: "Don't think too much, you have to believe in our God of Wealth, of course, I also understand the truth that knowing yourself and knowing that the other side can win all battles, this is just one of the factors that can win, you have to have confidence in the God of Wealth, I believe that at this moment our God of Wealth must be full of confidence, this competition I think as long as you complete every game of chess seriously, there should be no accident to win the Ming chess competition." ”

After hearing these words, Zhao Linxue didn't ask any more questions, what she could do at this moment was to cheer Zhao Ziyi up with Nangong Xue. She also believes in Zhao Ziyi's strength, how to say that he is also a winning general in the chess world. After listening to the conversation between the two girls, Teacher Ling Huyi, who was standing not far from them, also smiled slightly, this Zhao Ziyi is a little chess king in his eyes, and he is a good seedling in the chess world. Although this kid has never participated in such a competition, he has also learned chess skills with others in ordinary times, and his chess skills have also been practiced superbly, Zhao Ziyi can be said to be the most prominent and intelligent one in chess skills among the students he has brought so many students. So overall, it is more reassuring for him to try Ming chess.

……

Just after the hour, the preparatory bell before the competition rang in the Hanbo Building. As the bell rang, the judges, the test takers, and the crowd watching the competition sat down in an orderly manner. Tao Haihui stood on the test table and announced: "This morning's test subject is Ming Qi, let me introduce the candidates of Ming Qi, the first is Zhao Ziyi of Beixuan Academy, and the second is Du Yuehao of Dongxuan Academy. Tao Haihui introduced the two test takers here, and the two people walked to the front of the stage and bowed deeply to everyone. Tao Haihui saw that the two of them saluted everyone, and continued, "Please sit down with the two test takers, first of all, I want to explain that the Ming chess competition can only be decided due to the situation of the competition because the time cannot be determined. ”

After speaking, Tao Haihui paused, and said: "The above is an additional statement of the judges on Ming chess, and then I will talk about the rules and detailed content of the Ming chess competition, Ming chess is divided into five pieces of chess, black and white chess, chess three ways to compete, but no matter which one is a game to determine the winner or loser, please take the test seriously, the rules of the competition are as follows, first of all, five pieces of chess: black and white in turn, from black to first, either side first on the chessboard to form a horizontal, vertical, oblique continuous five of the same color (including more than five) One of the pieces wins; The second is Othello, black and white players fall in turn, from black to first, after the piece on a certain point is raised, if you add a piece that can take away the opponent again, you can't immediately play at this point, at least wait for a round. The pawns cannot be extracted in two cases: if there are pieces of the same color at the points immediately adjacent to each other in a straight line, they are connected to each other to form an inseparable whole. In this whole, there are more than two eyes, which are true eyes. Won't be eaten by the other party. Two pieces of the same color are connected by two eyes as a whole, and if the player does not fill in any of the eyes, the two pieces cannot be captured by the opponent. The game is played until both sides unanimously confirm that the move is complete, and it is the final game. Fight for the consent of both parties and start counting. In the game, one side concedes defeat halfway, and it is the final game. Finally, in chess, when one of the following situations occurs, even if one side loses, the opponent wins: one is trapped (the side that moves the chess, there is no child to go, even if it is "trapped") and the other declares that he admits defeat. 3. Refusal to comply with these rules or serious violation of discipline in the game. No matter what kind of chess game, both sides are not allowed to regret the chess after the move, if there is a regret chess is regarded as admitting defeat, please take the test taker with caution when playing chess. Do both test takers understand the above rules? ”

The two test takers nodded and replied, "The student clearly understands." ”

"Then I announce the official start of the Ming chess competition, and invite the two test takers to sit down and start the competition. Roll the dice to win the first hand. Tao Haihui announced. After speaking, the two test takers entered the table and rolled the dice respectively, and the result was that Du Yuehao won the first game, Tao Haihui announced: "In the first game, Du Yuehao took the sunspot first. With that, the two test takers began to get down. Tao Haihui stood aside as a witness, in order to facilitate the judge to make a fair ruling for Mingqi accurately, so the position he sat in was also closer to them. Since playing chess is different from others, in order to be more intuitive and convenient for people to see chess, a large chessboard was set up in the center of the test field, and whenever the two sides landed, the eunuch would place the chess pieces on the big chessboard to facilitate people to watch the chess.

Three kinds of chess games are easier to solve quickly, two people don't look at the next quickly, but they are very cautious moves, once the mistake is irreversible, and there is no regret of the chess otherwise directly admit defeat. After about two teas, the result of the five-piece chess was ready. After carefully looking at the chess game, the nine judges confirmed that there was no misjudgment, and handed the result to Tao Haihui, who took the results of the first game of five-piece chess and announced: "Du Yue won the first game of five-piece chess. The two test takers had no objection to the result, and the waiting eunuch began to pack up the chessboard and prepare for the second game of Othello. After hearing this result, Zhao Linxue was a little surprised, her little eyes widened, they were about to fall out, she couldn't believe her ears, she carefully looked at the big chessboard in the center of the field that had not been cleaned up, when seeing was believing, Zhao Linxue reluctantly accepted the result, but her mouth kept reading: "How come, this is impossible, he is our winning general, how can he lose in five-piece chess?" It can't be a water release, right? Or it's just going down too fast, I didn't see it clearly, hey, Zhao Ziyi, Zhao Ziyi, can't you go down steadily? Are you going to make a fuss like that? Nangong Xue didn't say much when she saw the situation, no matter what the reason, the outcome has been decided, and there are still two more rounds, and all the hopes of winning are pinned on the next two games.

"In the second game of Othello, ask the two test takers to roll the dice to win the first move." Tao Haihui said. After speaking, the two of them each rolled the dice once, and this time it was Du Yuehao who took the lead, and at this time Du Yuehao couldn't help but smile proudly. Zhao Ziyi didn't take it to heart, and only smiled back to him faintly. Tao Haihui, who was standing between them, couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he looked at the two of them, and thought, "It's quite overwhelming for these two students to smile like this." Then he announced: "The second game of Othello begins, and Du Yuehao takes the black first." After saying that, the two began the second game.

At the beginning of the second game of Othello, the two of them tensed their nerves, step by step cautiously, Othello tested the player's ability to control the chess game, and the victory or defeat of this game determined whether Zhao Ziyi would be eliminated in advance, so Zhao Linxue and Nangong Xue, who were watching the chess on the field, were particularly nervous, and couldn't help but sweat for Zhao Ziyi. Teacher Ling Huyi, who was standing behind the court and watching the chess game, also observed Zhao Ziyi's chess routines very carefully, and he also hoped that his students could win this crucial game beautifully, so that the match point of the competition would be pushed to the third game of chess.

The game of Othello was a little slow, and it was still impossible to decide the outcome of the game until the second quarter of the first century, and the two test takers had no idea how tense the atmosphere was now, and this tense atmosphere made the people around them almost out of breath. At this moment, Ling Huyi carefully observed the chess game, and the dragon tail of the white chess piece was tightly bitten by the black chess piece, but despite this, the white chess piece was still very calm and found another opportunity to shake off the black chess. As long as the white chess finds the right time to let the big dragon live, then the victory or defeat will be clear at a glance, if the white big dragon does not find the right time or misses the opportunity, then the white big dragon will definitely die. Looking at such a situation, Ling Huyi couldn't help but clench his fists tightly, and his palms were full of sweat. Not only Ling Huyi, but even the judges sitting on the judge's seat watched nervously, and no one dared to breathe, for fear of affecting the two of them. Everyone held their breath and stared at the movement of the chess game.

At this time, the black chess that was tightly biting the white chess was a little proud, and he couldn't help but mutter: "Look at how you still live, this game will stop you." Zhao Ziyi didn't pay attention to it at all, he held the white chess in his hand, looked at the situation carefully, and suddenly the corners of his mouth rose slightly, smiled at lightning speed, and swung the white chess in his hand towards the chessboard, and the chessboard responded to him with a crisp sound. The smile he had just now flashed quickly, and even Du Yuehao, who was closest to him, didn't notice it, but was caught by Nangong Xue in the audience. Nangong Xue couldn't help but muttered quietly when she saw his smile: "It seems that the victory or defeat is going to appear." Zhao Linxue next to her was a little unclear because she was staring at the chess game tightly, and then asked, "Xiaoxue, what did you just say?" I didn't hear you. Nangong Xue shook her head and replied, "It's nothing, watch chess, watch chess." Despite this, Zhao Linxue was still a little curious.

When Zhao Ziyi fell to Baizi, Nangong Feng's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had seen something surprising, and exclaimed in a low voice: "It's alive, the big dragon of white chess is alive." After hearing his words, Ye Zheyu, who was sitting on the side, also took a closer look at the chess game, and then praised it: "Wonderful! It seems that the winner will soon be decided. Black is in danger. Sure enough, when Zhao Ziyi's move fell, Du Yuehao held the black chess for a long time, he looked at the chess game in a daze, and at this time, the big dragon of the white chess on the chessboard seemed to be alive, and flew up and rushed directly to him, which made him play a big spirit. When he came back to his senses, he took a deep breath, put down the black chess piece in his hand, and said admiringly: "I lost." After speaking, Tao Haihui walked up to him and asked, "Are you sure you want to count the two test takers?" The two of them nodded and replied, "It's okay." ”

"Several judges were invited to judge the game, and the eunuchs were asked to come up to the stage to count the pieces, and during this time, the two test takers were asked to stop playing chess." Tao Haihui announced.

After speaking, the nine judges took over the final chess game diagram and discussed it with each other, while the eunuchs also counted the pieces on the stage. After about a cup of tea, the eunuch handed the results to the judge, as a reference for the judgment of this bureau, several judges looked at the results handed over by the eunuch, and then discussed with each other for a while, then wrote down the final judgment of the bureau and handed it to Tao Haihui.

"According to the judges' discussions, the results of Othello were reached, and now I declare Zhao Ziyi the winner of Othello." Tao Haihui announced, "Please ask the eunuch to prepare for a chess game." ”

After speaking, four eunuchs came up, and they cleaned up neatly. Because it is the third quarter of the year, the Ming chess competition will continue. Soon the eunuch had the chessboard and chess pieces in place. Tao Haihui examined it, and after confirming that there were no problems, he announced: "The third game of the Ming chess competition starts now. ”

After the announcement, the two of them nervously played chess. The first two games were tied, and this game of chess became the final decisive match of the Ming chess competition. So the two of them are extra serious and cautious. The judges and the onlookers were also particularly concerned about this game, and everyone sweated for these two people. The summer days before the ambush always make people a little irritable, coupled with this nervous competition, which makes people feel even more suffocated, and the two people who sit on the stage to compete from time to time have a drop of sweat on the top of their heads, ticking on the chessboard, and the eunuchs who are waiting on the side are also carefully wiping the sweat for the two. There was no sound in the whole competition field except for the sound of chess pieces hitting the chessboard and a few known shouts, and the silence made people a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, compared to Othello, the time used in chess is not so much, the two people will be decided after the first two minutes of the afternoon, Tao Haihui and several judges to do the final discussion, after a while Tao Haihui will be the final judgment of the Ming chess in his hand announced: "From the hour to the noon, the Ming chess competition that lasted three hours is finally over, now I will first announce the results of the chess game, Zhao Ziyi won, according to the results of the three chess games, after nine judges have been voting, Zhao Ziyi won the Ming chess competition. ”

After hearing this result, Zhao Linxue couldn't close her mouth with joy, took Nangong Xue's hand and said excitedly: "Finally, it's finally over, it's really up to expectations Zhao Ziyi won, now we have won three of the eight test subjects." It's so exciting. It's not easy. The loss of the game made me very worried about the rest of the game. Unexpectedly, Zhao Ziyi came from behind to win the final Ming chess victory, which is really happy. After speaking, Nangong Xue also nodded with relief, this morning's competition was really one after another, and it was really exciting, Nangong Xue had never realized that it was so cool to watch people play chess. Such a wonderful chess game opened Nangong Xue's eyes at once. Nangong Xue replied: "Yes, you are right, today's Ming chess competition is infinitely exciting. ”

"This morning's competition is over, please go back to Hanlin Garden to rest, the afternoon is a famous painting competition, scheduled to start at two o'clock." Tao Haihui preached. After speaking, the onlookers dispersed, Zhao Ziyi and Du Yuehao walked side by side, Du Yuehao said with admiration: "Today's Ming chess competition, you opened my eyes, I can't see that you are younger than me but your chess skills are so good, I am really impressed, I will definitely come to you again if he has the opportunity to teach again." ”

"I can't talk about teaching, let's learn from each other, I still have a lot to learn in this chess game, you play well, it's worth learning." Zhao Ziyi replied.

"Play chess with each other in the future. I'll come to you often, and I hope you won't bother me then. Du Yuehao smiled.

"No, no, don't worry, it's not easy to find a like-minded person. In the words of our eldest sister, it is difficult to find a confidant in a lifetime. You're one of my confidants. Zhao Ziyi smiled.

"Brother Ling and eldest sister?" Du Yuehao was puzzled, "Aren't you the son of the Treasury Officer of the Household Department?" Haven't you heard you have a sister? ”

"It's not my own sister, it's the eldest sister elected by our Beixuan Academy, and her wisdom is much more profound than mine. She is Nangong Xue, the daughter of Nangong Mansion. Zhao Ziyi explained, "I will definitely introduce you to her when I have the chance, now let's go to dinner first, it's not early, I will compete when I get up early in the morning, and I am almost starving to death by now." ”

"Well, okay, you must introduce me when the time comes, then let's go to dinner, don't you say that I didn't realize that it's all over the place, I have to comfort our five internal organs temple." After the Ming chess competition, you can rest for a while, let's go to watch the famous painting competition in the afternoon, right? Du Yuehao said.

"yes, okay." Zhao Ziyi responded. After speaking, the two of them walked towards Hanlin Garden.

……

……

The painting competition has officially begun. Tao Haihui stood in the center of the competition platform and announced: "The first candidate to participate in the Ming Painting Competition is Fang Zhengyu from Dongxuan Academy, the second is Yu Qisheng from Nanxuan Academy, the third is An Zhibo from Xixuan Academy, and the fourth is Wang Yuze from Beixuan Academy. These four test takers are invited to their seats. As they spoke, the four people walked up to the stage in an orderly manner, bowed to the judges and everyone in the audience one by one, and then entered the table in an orderly manner to wait for the competition.

Tao Haihui saw that the four candidates were ready, so he continued: "The topic of this Ming painting competition is hot summer. The rules of the competition are as follows: 1. Draw according to the specified time, and 20 points will be deducted for exceeding the time; 2. Draw according to the topic, if there is a digression, 20 points will be deducted; The winner with the highest score of 100 points will win. Do you have any questions? If there is no doubt, start the competition. The four shook their heads and won: "I understand, there is no doubt." After speaking, Tao Haihui announced: "The Ming painting competition starts now, and the time is limited to two pillars of incense." After saying that, the eunuch lit the incense. Tao Haihui stood on the judge's seat and waited.

As soon as the competition began, the four students began to grind the paint. Wang Yuze while grinding while thinking about how to paint in order to perfectly interpret the theme of this time, just at this time the audience was silent, the sound of knowing was very clear into his ears, he raised his head to look at the surrounding trees, and then looked at the blue sky, he smiled slightly, and suddenly came to inspiration, so he picked up the pen and dipped the paint that had just been researched and began to paint. It can be said that he was the first to pick up the pen to paint, and the other three were still thinking about it, but after a while, the other three also picked up the pen and began to paint.

Nangong Xue and Zhao Linxue, who were standing in the audience, looked at Wang Yuze on the stage with serious expressions, although Zhao Linxue said that Wang Yuze's painting had won the champion, and painting had a sense of meaning and could make the painting come alive, but it was the first time for Wang Yuze to participate in such a grand national competition, and these two people couldn't help but be a little worried. Although each of them has graduated perfectly after special training in the past month, as the saying goes, if you are not afraid of 10,000, you are afraid of what if, and you dare not say whether you play well on the spot or not. Nangong Xue still unconditionally supports Wang Yuze, and I believe that he will go all out.

Just when the second pillar of incense burned halfway, except for Wang Yuze, the other three stopped the pen one after another, and then examined their works to ensure that there were no mistakes, then they put down the pen in their hands one after another, and stood in front of the painting ready to wait for the judge, at this time the second pillar of incense had burned two-thirds, Wang Yuze still had no sign of stopping, which made Zhao Linxue in the audience extremely nervous, and her little heart was about to jump out. The second pillar of incense continued to burn, and at the moment when it was extinguished, Wang Yuze stopped painting and put down the pen in his hand. This scared Zhao Linxue into a cold sweat, and her mouth was broken: "Fortunately, I stopped writing before the incense burned out, otherwise I would have lost directly." The stinky boy scared the hell out of me. Nangong Xue stood next to her and looked at the stage a little calmly, without saying a word.

"The time has come. Ask the four test takers to stop writing. Tao Haihui announced, "I invite all the judges to come to the stage to make a judgment." After speaking, the judges walked up to the competition stage to appreciate and judge the works of the four students one by one. Because Wang Yuze is the fourth to appear, his work is the last to be appreciated. He didn't mind that. He is very confident in his work. Even if you can't take the first pair, there is still no problem at all to take the second.

For the first three works of the judges are very satisfied, when it is the turn to appreciate Wang Yuze's works, the eyes of several suddenly froze, Wang Yuze will be the summer natural scenery in the painting, there are trees, there is a clear blue sky, there is a scorching sun, there are passers-by...... He painted the scorching summer scenery vividly, and several judges were brought into it by this lively painting, allowing them to experience not only the unique scenery of the hot summer from the painting, but also the heat of summer. When several judges came to their senses, they gave the painting a thumbs up.

"It's not simple, it seems that I haven't seen Beixuan Academy for a year, and it turns out to be a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger." Yang Chenxin said, "Nangong Feng, this year's competition is now halfway through, and you, the dean of the General Academy, have really worked hard to cultivate talents, and you have really worked hard." ”

"What did my brother say, I just tried my best to do what I had to do, and as for the student union, they usually worked harder, and I only knew about this year's competition like you. I was also surprised. I didn't expect it to be so exciting. Nangong Feng explained.

"I feel the same way." Ye Zheyu said, "Although I work with Nangong Feng, we really don't know how hard the student union will go. I didn't find out until the competition. So I think all the teachers in our school were surprised. ”

"Anyway, it doesn't seem like it's easy now. It seems that many talents will emerge in this year's competition and selection. It's a blessing. Yang Qihan said.

After all the appreciation, the judges sit together to make the final judgment and score on the Ming painting competition. After about a cup of tea, the judges were unanimous, and they handed the final result to Tao Haihui for him to announce the result. Tao Haihui looked at the results and announced: "The results of the Ming painting competition are as follows: Fang Zhengyu scored ninety-seven points, Yu Qisheng scored ninety-six points, An Zhibo scored ninety-eight points, and Wang Yuze scored one hundred points. Next, I read out the judge's annotations, for the four students can perform well in the process of this Ming painting competition, it is not easy to paint in such a short period of time, several of the depictions of the theme are in place, so the score given to you is almost the same, about Wang Yuze's full score is because the student has a deep sense of artistic conception in painting, and the painting is vivid. It feels like a moving painting. So after discussion, Wang Yuze was given full marks. In addition, I hope that all students will work harder in the future. Hope to see your new work again. ”

After the announcement, Tao Haihui asked, "Four students, do you still have any questions about this result?" ”

Several students responded, "No." In fact, they admired each other's works when the judges were judging, so they didn't have any objections to the final results given by the judges. So Tao Haihui announced: "Ming painting is better than Wang Yu Ze. ”

Just after the announcement, Zhao Linxue's little heart that mentioned her throat and eyes finally fell back, and a relieved smile appeared on her face. "We've won four of the eight competitions, four more and two days to go." Nangong Xue whispered.