Big Manga

On the weekend, in Tokyo, it was raining lightly.

Pedestrians on both sides of the street walked hurriedly under umbrellas, and outside a chess hall, several black cars stopped.

"Teacher He Xi, be careful of the stagnant water on the side of the road..."

As soon as the vehicle stopped, some people who had been waiting at the entrance of the chess hall helped to open the door, and then held up umbrellas for the guests who came out. These were generally elderly guests, but there was a rather young one in the middle. Figure - Meng Huo.

Around the street, a girl immediately recognized him, and she couldn't help but exclaimed, "It's Teacher He Xi!"

As soon as her voice sounded, other people also noticed the situation here one after another. Some people curiously asked who He Xi was, but more people cried out in surprise, and then there was a series of mobile phone camera sounds.

Meng Huo smiled at the girl who was leading the scream, but without saying anything, he turned around and walked into the chess hall with the others.

"Teacher He Xi, it's really Teacher He Xi! He smiled at me, this must be the luckiest day of my life!"

"It's unbelievable. It's the first time I saw Teacher He Xi himself. How could he come here!"

"The chess hall must be for the "Go" thing... Go in and have a look!"

Some young people were very excited. After seeing Meng Huo walking into the chess hall, they wanted to go in too, but they were stopped by others at the door. The people who stopped them were several staff members of the chess hall. They said apologetically : "Sorry, we don't accept new customers during Teacher He Xi's visit."

The chess hall is open normally today, but the power of 'He Xi' cannot be underestimated. During the time he was visiting the shop, the manager of the chess hall asked no one to enter.

Meng Huo was visiting the chess hall. This is the second thing he does after returning to Tokyo. After Ning Hai finished dealing with "ad", he turned around and came to Tokyo, but the animation of "Mobile Suit Gundam 00" went smoother than he expected, and Meng Huo didn't ask for overtime.

He was invited by the Go Association, and it happened that he also wanted to see what the chess hall in this world looked like on the spot. So I agreed.

But Meng Huo didn't expect such a big formation. He turned his head and saw the passers-by blocked outside the door, and frowned, "Is this okay? I want to see the usual chess hall, why stop the guests..."

He wanted the comics to be closer to reality, so he came to an ordinary chess hall this time, wanting to see the real Go atmosphere.

"It doesn't matter.

This is what the chess hall usually looks like. The store manager of the chess hall smiled and said, "Normally, not many people come to play in a day, and regular customers can recognize them. If they are regular customers, they will let them through the door." "

"Is this what your chess hall usually looks like?"

Meng Huo was very surprised, the size of the chess hall seemed to be quite large. About four to five hundred square meters, there are quite a few chess tables, but there are only a handful of people playing chess, and there are only twenty people at a glance, and they are all old men.

"Isn't it because it's raining today?" Meng Huo frowned. The number of people was too small.

"No, it doesn't affect us whether it rains or not." The store manager sighed, the chess halls in various parts of China are not much different from here. The guests are basically old people, and there are very few young guests, which also symbolizes the decline of Huaxia Go.

However, this does not mean that all young people who learn Go are gone. In fact, the number of young chess players is still within the acceptable range of the Go circle. However, these chess players often play in the chess academy where they learned chess, on the computer, or at other chess players' homes, and do not come to the chess hall.

The "chess hall" here refers to places like Internet cafes and coffee shops where ordinary people play chess. Such a bleak situation also means that Go is too far away from ordinary people, and no one comes to play at all.

"In this case, why build such a big chess hall?"

Meng Huo frowned slightly. He had investigated the chess hall when he was preparing "Soul of Chess". The average size of the chess hall is relatively large, but such a dismal performance. There is no point in maintaining such a large chess hall except to advance money.

"Teacher He Xi doesn't know something. There are historical reasons for this." The store manager didn't answer, and a professional chess player who accompanied Meng Huolai said, "In the past, the Go Association also carried out a thorough reform to develop leagues and related industries. The idea of ​​revitalizing the art of Go, chess halls only appeared at that time—and before that, there were no folk chess halls in China.”

The chess player explained the reason to Meng Huo. During the period of great change in the past, the Go Association was full of confidence and made requirements for the chess halls. Almost all the chess halls in various places were prepared according to professional standards. Later, due to some changes, their plan did not succeed, but the requirements for the chess hall were retained.

Although Huaxia's chess halls are open to the public, there are actually no ordinary people doing this business. All chess halls are owned by the Go Association, similar to official chain stores, and they have not been banned for poor performance.

"...You guys are really rich."

Meng Huo looked strange.

"It's...not that we have money..."

The expression of the professional chess player is also very complicated. He doesn't know much, but there is a big consortium behind the Huaxia Go industry, which is the consensus of many people. If it weren't for that consortium, the Go Association would have been unable to continue to operate long ago.

The failure of the previous big change was also due to an accident in that consortium. But despite this, their financial support for Go has not diminished-the Go Association's huge number of chess halls can be maintained because of their confidence.

But this is actually an immoral thing, and chess players naturally don't mention it too much. If the Go Association had no selfish intentions, they should have taken the initiative to change the requirements and lowered the size and standards of the chess hall.

At this moment, Meng Huo was a little disappointed. During this period of time, the media had been chasing "Soul of Chess", and the chess players also respected him. He thought that its role had already been revealed, but looking at it now, this comic still has a lot to offer. Long way to go.

The guests of the chess hall are the best evaluation yardstick. If the number of guests playing chess here does not increase, then "Soul of Chess" cannot be said to have shown its effect. The "Soul of Chess" in his previous life has promoted the Go industry in several countries, and Meng Huo feels very failed.

"Is there a fee to play chess here?" Meng Huo asked.

"Yes, but it's very cheap." The chess player nodded: "Ten yuan per hour."

Meng Huo was dumbfounded: "Ten yuan? Are you kidding me? It's cheap!"

He suddenly felt amused, the Go Association's shelf is too big, and the fee is ten yuan per hour. If Go is a popular activity, it is naturally worth the price. But now that Go is half dead, who is willing to pay ten yuan for it?

Especially for young people, ordinary Internet cafes only cost four or five yuan an hour, and you tell him that the go hall costs ten yuan an hour. Can the attractiveness of the two be compared? Besides, there are so many entertainment venues in this world, the pricing of the chess hall is simply courting death, no wonder it can't develop.

Although Meng Huo didn't go out often, he knew that in China's first- and second-tier cities, and even third- and fourth-tier cities, people could basically find suitable places for whatever they wanted to play. The social life in this world is much richer than his previous life, and this can be seen from the prosperity of the Internet.

Huaxia's Internet is not worse than in the previous life, but the degree of obsession of netizens is far different. The reason is also because the real society has abundant resources, and many entertainments are quite cheap, so people don't need to rely on the Internet to pass the time.

"Is there a chess hall now?" Meng Huo asked, "How much is the chess hall?"

"Chess hall?" The chess player frowned: "There are not many chess halls, but the price is a bit more expensive than ours, about 20 yuan an hour."

Meng Huo was dumbfounded. He forgot that chess is different from Go. In fact, he has also investigated chess. The popularity of chess is high. The objects of the chess hall are basically some relatively powerful chess masters, not very ordinary people—how can ordinary people play chess? To spend money, you can play everywhere in the streets and alleys.

"Forget it, don't talk about chess, what about other chess and cards?"

Meng Huo continued to ask.

"Teacher He Xi, our Go game is the cheapest." The player seemed to understand what he meant, and said with a frown, "The mahjong shop also costs 20 yuan."

"Okay, I understand..." Meng Huo was helpless, and it was useless to say that there are few chess and card games in China that have such things as "chess halls", and some of them are popular without exception. Only when it is popular can there be stores for ordinary people to play.

Go is an exception. There is no need to build a "chess hall" for ordinary people, because no one will come to play. But they still built it, and after it was built, they spent huge sums of money to maintain it, which really echoed the old saying-if you have money, you will be willful.

Meng Huo changed his mind about the Go Association a little bit. This association looks weak, but inside it is rich and powerful, which is very weird.

"Mr. He Xi, do you think the price is too high?" The store manager looked at Meng Huo's speech and asked cautiously, "Then what price do you think is better?"

"Three yuan, it can only be less than this, no more..." Meng Huo was a little disappointed, and said, "I don't believe that ten yuan will allow others to come in. If you really want to develop Go, this price is your biggest obstacle." , I can’t make money anyway, why don’t you let go of it?”

Meng Huo actually didn't care about the price of the Go hall, but since he painted "Go", he didn't want to see it and let it go on like this.

The price of the chess hall is too expensive, which is enough to affect the effect of "Soul of Chess". No wonder there are no new customers. Even if someone is interested in reading comics, if they come to the chess hall and ask for ten yuan an hour, those people should turn around and leave.

There are not many people who know how to go. The chess hall should serve as a place where ordinary people can learn Go. Its price should be lower than other activities, even lower than Internet cafes. Let alone ten yuan, even three Meng Huo felt that it was too much, and he even thought it would be best for free, but this seemed unrealistic.

However, Meng Huo didn't notice that the other chess players who accompanied him showed signs of approval. (to be continued)