One chose the black chess pieces, and the other chose the red ones.
The rules of Gomoku were also simple: a player won by getting five of their pieces in a row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
When all the pieces were placed and there were no more moves, players could then move their pieces one by one until they achieved five in a row.
Yun Duo'er had some skill in Gomoku. She had loved playing it since she was young and found it much more interesting than chess.
As expected, she won at Gomoku, being the first to get five in a row.
However, Song Yicheng started crying because he lost, claiming Yun Duo'er was bullying him.
Yun Duo'er hadn't expected Song Yicheng to be such a sore loser. When he won, he called her trash.
When he lost, he claimed she bullied him. It was utterly unreasonable.
Hearing her son cry, Song Mama hurried over from the kitchen. "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Upon seeing Song Mama, Song Yicheng immediately pointed at Yun Duo'er and said, "Mom, she bullied me."
Yun Duo'er quickly explained, "Song Mama, I didn't bully him. I just won at Gomoku."
To her surprise, Song Mama, without discerning right from wrong, chided Yun Duo'er. "Duo'er, how could you win against Yicheng?
He's still so young, can't you let him win?
If you win against him like this, it will crush his confidence. If he loses interest in this later, can you take responsibility for that?"
Yun Duo'er's eyes widened at Song Mama's shocking words, finding it hard to believe she could say such a thing.
It was no wonder Song Yicheng, at such a young age, blamed her for problems instead of looking for reasons within himself.
It turned out that the apple didn't fall far from the tree; he had learned it all from his mother.
She could no longer film this video and no longer wanted to be Song Yicheng's special guest.
She even felt that being a guest to a child around three years old would be better than being a guest to Song Yicheng.
She feared that if the program continued to be filmed, she would die of a heart attack.
With this thought, she stood up and prepared to leave. Whoever wanted to film could film; she didn't want to endure this anger anymore.
Seeing her about to leave, the director quickly called out to her.
He then acted as a peacemaker. "Song Mama, I know you're upset because your son is crying.
However, it's not really Duo'er's fault.
Since it's a competition, there will naturally be winners and losers.
Moreover, Duo'er is much older than Yicheng, so she naturally has more experience playing Gomoku.
Therefore, it's normal for her to win.
Similarly, Yicheng is still young, and losing is only temporary. As the saying goes, failure is the mother of success; only through setbacks do people grow.
No one's life is smooth sailing. Even if Duo'er let him win today.
What about when he enters society later? Who will let him win then?
In fact, Yicheng losing today is a good thing. He will have time to correct his Gomoku skills."
Listening to the director's heartfelt speech, Song Mama realized her words had been a bit harsh. She immediately apologized. "Duo'er, I'm truly sorry. I was just worried and flustered.
Actually, it's not your fault at all. It's my son's competitive spirit. Please don't take it to heart.
You are still teammates. When filming the program in the future, you'll inevitably need to look out for each other and complement each other. You absolutely cannot leave!"
Seeing how sincere Song Mama was, even though Yun Duo'er still felt a knot of anger in her heart, she couldn't say much more. She immediately sat down, her unspoken meaning clear.
Song Mama then said to her son, "Yicheng, you are a man. You must show a man's spirit when you lose, and you can't cry.
You must believe in your own abilities, and you will surely win against Aunt Duo'er in the future."
Song Yicheng sniffled and nodded, no longer speaking ill of Duo'er.
"Do you still want to play Gomoku? Mom will allow you one hour of free activity this noon. You won't have this opportunity again in the future," Song Mama asked.
However, Song Yicheng, who couldn't win against Yun Duo'er, refused to play anymore, saying he wanted to watch television.
"Is that okay?" Song Mama glanced at the director, wanting to ask for his opinion.
The director immediately replied, "Of course, it's fine. Whatever Yicheng wants to do is his freedom."
So Song Mama turned on the television. The program was a documentary about ancient artifacts, their origins, their evolution, and the differences from modern society.
Song Yicheng watched intently, while Yun Duo'er found herself wanting to doze off.
Children with high intelligence indeed had different ways of thinking than ordinary people, and even their interests differed greatly.
Seeing his interest, the director asked several questions about the origins of ancient stories.
However, these questions were child's play for Song Yicheng; he answered correctly without hesitation.
The director then asked several obscure trivia questions, and Song Yicheng answered them all correctly.
It was evident that Song Yicheng was exceptionally brilliant in terms of knowledge and cognition.
He knew these things because of his work; he was familiar with many things he encountered in his daily life.
Some things he understood naturally over time, starting from not knowing anything.
But Song Yicheng was different; he answered every question fluently. His learning ability and memory were truly astonishing.
He believed that this boy would definitely shine on the competition stage.
It was just that in daily life, he was too naive.
If this side of him were shown to the general audience, he certainly wouldn't be popular.
Therefore, he had to find ways to film videos that the audience wanted to see and were interested in.
This could earn points at critical moments.
Their program would also have a live audience vote based on their affection for the contestants.
Whoever had the highest popularity, even if they didn't reach the finals, would receive a considerable bonus.
As a filming crew, they would also receive rewards.
This was why he had persevered until now.
Otherwise, he would have just filmed a few videos and left, reporting back.
However, up to this point, he hadn't filmed any satisfactory videos, which worried him greatly.
"Song Mama, can I take Yicheng out to film videos tomorrow? This is crucial for the competition!"
Song Mama seemed troubled. "But it will greatly disrupt his studies. Can't we film at home?
I think filming videos of him studying is quite good. It can show more viewers my son's self-discipline, and they can also use it to discipline their children, encouraging them to focus on their studies."
At this moment, the audience thought: "Listen to me, thank you..."
She thought her parenting style was worthy of promotion, to be learned and applied by more parents.
Little did she know that no one agreed with her educational philosophy.
Time quietly passed until 2:30 PM. Liu Yifeng had slept very comfortably.
He planned to prepare the materials now, then register the company and get the business license.
However, he was worried about leaving Tongtong at home alone, and it would be inconvenient to take her out.
After much thought, he decided to send her to her grandfather's place. It would be good for Tongtong to play and pick fruits with him when she was bored.