Dad, Please Try a Little Harder

Chapter 33: The Newcomer Chinese Chess Tournament Officially Begins

When Qian Quan received the invitation from the Luminous Drama Society to play a role, he could hardly believe it.

He had no prior personal stage performance experience, and his experience as a firefighter in the kindergarten's middle class was the most prominent entry on his acting resume.

This time, he accidentally joined the Luminous Drama Society. On the one hand, he could enjoy a lifetime of free theater shows; on the other hand, he saw this as an opportunity to learn more about acting and acquire another skill.

The issue was he hadn't undergone any training yet. How could he act?

"Tongyu, are the plays you're staging this time very important? I won't hold you back, will I?" Qian Quan made his concerns clear.

"Every play we stage is important, don't worry. You'll have senior students guiding you. Besides, your role this time isn't extensive. It's mainly about getting familiar with the stage and finding your groove."

"Alright, count me in." It wasn't a lot of lines, so that was manageable.

Soon, Wang Tongyu sent over the script – The Love Story of the Snail and the Oriole．

It was a story about a girl named Huang Li who continues to search for true love after breaking up with her first love.

His character was the first boyfriend.

His role was indeed minimal, just two scenes. In the first scene, he breaks up with the female lead, and there are a few lines followed by a farewell hug.

In the second scene, the female lead reminisces about their sweet moments together.

It wasn't a big problem, especially when he attended the first rough rehearsal and saw the female lead, Tang Bingbing. He felt like he was cast in the right role.

Tang Bingbing, with her fair skin, beauty, and wearing black stockings, was experienced and patient.

When she was explaining the hugging scene, she even demonstrated it herself, guiding him on where his hands should be during the hug, where his gaze should rest, and how he should lightly smell her hair with his nose.

Tang Bingbing was truly professional. She didn't show any awkwardness or discomfort due to being hugged by this unfamiliar young man.

After the rehearsal, Tang Bingbing and Qian Quan exchanged contact information.

For Qian Quan, this rehearsal was a bountiful harvest.

Friday night.

The basketball club organized an internal practice scrimmage.

This time, Wang Teng specifically invited some teammates from his previous school's team to come and observe for guidance.

As members of the school team, watching this kind of match felt like witnessing skilled mortals. They were sitting on the sidelines, chatting and laughing.

Suppose it wasn't for the rumor that one of the new students had dominated the key player of the Fudan University's school team, gaining an almost mythical reputation. In that case, they might have been even less interested.

"For tonight's match, we'll mix up the new and old members and reform teams," Wang Teng announced the grouping rules.

After the teams were formed, Guo Hongyi realized he wasn't placed in the same team as Qian Quan. Immediately, he volunteered to go and mark Qian Quan.

Since Qian Quan had acquired professional-level basketball skills, he hadn't played a full game yet and was curious about his true abilities.

Therefore, tonight, he was planning to go all out, fully unleashing his skills.

As a result, the scene on the court turned even more intense than a half-court game.

Guo Hongyi was completely overshadowed, unable to keep up, let alone defend against Qian Quan.

Three-pointers, two-pointers, drives, layups, jump shots, blocks, steals, assists... He was a force of nature, doing as he pleased.

What was supposed to be a practice scrimmage had turned into a one-man showtime.

The players on the court, including those on Qian Quan's side, were stunned and left in confusion and uncertainty.

Several members of the school team on the sidelines stood up, looking at everything happening on the court with shock on their faces.

Less than five minutes into the game, the score was 20:2, and Qian Quan alone had scored 18 points.

"Stop... stop... stop..." Wang Teng signaled for a timeout and halted the game.

Everyone gathered around Qian Quan.

"Qian Quan, you didn't take any performance-enhancing drugs, did you?" Guo Hongyi, gasping for breath, asked in astonishment.

"For an internal practice game?" Qian Quan responded in disbelief.

"But, but you..." Guo Hongyi couldn't find the right words to express his feelings.

When they were just matched up (if you could call it that), he felt like he was facing a Qian Quan from another dimension.

"Hello, school team's Yu Liangce," a tall and fair-skinned boy extended his hand to Qian Quan.

"Li Shaoyang."

"Gu Jianhong."

The few school team members who were originally watching the game from the sidelines came over to greet Qian Quan.

"Hello," Qian Quan politely responded, "Shall you also join in?"

The three school team members hesitated for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

Teams were reshuffled, with the three observing school team members joining Wang Teng and Guo Hongyi's team.

Qian Quan was on a team with four other basketball club members.

This time, the strengths on both sides were more balanced.

They couldn't stop Qian Quan, but on Qian Quan's side, it was difficult to defend against all of them.

The only difference was that Qian Quan could score nearly every round, which the opposing team couldn't achieve.

Thus, Qian Quan's side continued to lead and expanded that lead by a certain margin.

By the time the game reached the 20-minute mark, the point difference had reached double digits.

"D*mn, if this gets out, how can we hold our heads high in the future? A freshman with a few basketball enthusiasts managed to completely outshine several of us from the school team?"

"Han Xun wasn't lying. He's truly a beast!" Wang Teng was about to lose it.

Half an hour later, the score was 50:31, and they had managed to maintain a point difference of less than 20.

"Hey, when are you coming to report to the school team?" Gu Jianhong's gaze at Qian Quan was a bit off.

"I've joined a few clubs, so if I join the school team, the practice times might not align," Qian Quan replied.

"You don't have to train with us every time. As long as you show up for important matches, I can make that happen," Gu Jianhong, a definite key player on the Seacoast Normal University's team, had a certain influence when he spoke.

"We can vouch for you. You don't need to go through trials. Just give a nod, and we'll put you directly on the roster, starting lineup!" Yu Liangce added.

"Alright, I'm in," Qian Quan decided. He had already figured out his capabilities thoroughly. It would be a waste to confine his basketball skills to school games alone. Participating in more professional competitions and fully unleashing his potential was necessary.

Guo Hongyi watched Qian Quan from the sidelines with envy. Not only had he not been directly selected for the school team, but seeing his friend being accepted out of the ordinary also left him feeling concerned.

"Does that mean we can arrange friendly matches with other university basketball clubs? As long as we can win a dozen or so games in a row, our basketball club can apply for recognition," Wang Teng realized the doubled joy.

Unexpectedly, Gu Jianhong immediately voiced his dissent, "Wang Teng, you're not planning to have our school team's key point guard play in those frequent friendly matches, are you?"

Yu Liangce added, "He'll play as a member of the basketball club for sure, but he must have regular rest periods."

Wang Teng was speechless and thought, "What are you guys doing? I'm the one who came in first."

...

While Wang Teng's idea for the basketball club's friendly matches was still just an idea, the newcomer Chinese chess tournament of the Minhua District universities had officially begun this Saturday.

Twenty-four freshman chess players from 8 universities gathered at Shanghai Jiao Tong University for a full-day competition.

The tournament was divided into morning and afternoon sessions, each comprising five rounds. It used a points-based ranking system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss.

Among them, only the top ten players in the morning session would advance to compete for the championship in the afternoon.

Once the champions, runners-up, and third-place winners were determined, there would also be a few friendly matches among the top three.

The morning competition began at 9:00 a.m.

The opponents for the first round were determined by drawing lots.

Qian Quan drew a female opponent named "Li Zhiyi" from Jiao Tong University.

The person in charge of drawing lots was also a member of the Jiao Tong University Chinese Chess Association.

When he saw the name of Qian Quan's opponent, he sympathetically chuckled and said to Qian Quan, "Good luck, boy!"