“Chen, give me and this young man ten bamboo rings each.” The peddler did not shy away from directly calling out the name of the stall owner.

“Wang?” Uncle Chen looked up in surprise. “What are you up to?”

Wang – oh, that was what the peddler was called – walked up to Uncle Chen, the owner of the ring toss stall, and talked to him in a low voice about the bet between him and Cheng Nuo.

“Chen, you’re my neighbor. You must help me!” Uncle Wang said in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

Uncle Chen smiled sheepishly, revealing two large, yellow teeth. “Certainly, certainly. Don’t worry, since you’re my neighbor, how can I not help you? You shall just wait and see how I put up a show later!”

Uncle Chen stood up straight, adjusted his straw hat properly, and said to Cheng Nuo smilingly, “Are you the ones who want to have a game with Brother Wang?”

Once again, Xiaoxiao was the first to speak. She placed one hand on her hip and the other waving back and said, “Yes, it’s us. Hurry up and bring us the bamboo rings! We’re in a hurry, so let’s play this fast! ”

“Wow, what a tone this little girl has!” Uncle Chen smiled and silently glanced at Uncle Wang. He then shouted back to Cheng Nuo’s group, “Good! In that case, I’ll fully sponsor the bet this time. I’ll not charge a penny for these 20 rings, and you can take away all the items you successfully hoop!”

As they talked, many people had gathered in front of the stall.

Curious tourists had gradually crowded over when they heard that there were two groups of people betting against each other. Uncle Chen’s eyes lit up as he instantly thought of a good idea. He simply gave them the 20 rings used in the gambling game for free–this way, not only could he earn a good reputation, but he could also advertise his stall.

As for the losses … Anyway, Uncle Wang would return all the items that he won after the bet. And as for those students, haha, Uncle Chen never believed that they could get any items.

Under his own “secret” control, it would be fiendishly difficult for Cheng Nuo’s group to earn any prizes.

Uncle Chen and Uncle Wang were neighbors, and they actually had a very good relationship. Uncle Chen’s wife often visited Uncle Wang’s house, while Uncle Wang also treated Uncle Chen’s son as one of his own. It made sense that Uncle Chen would help his neighbor with this!

Uncle Wang and Cheng Nuo nodded at Uncle Chen’s “generous contribution”, showing that they had no objections.

“Well, I’ll get ten bamboo rings for you two each right away.” Uncle Chen and Uncle Wang silently glanced at each other again. The corners of Uncle Wang’s mouth slightly curled up, and an evil smile also flashed across Uncle Chen’s face.

Bending down and cocking his big ass, Uncle Chen “rummaged” through his trunk for a long time before he finally stood up with ten bamboo rings in each of his hands. At this time, there were more than 20 people before Uncle Chen’s booth. All of them, including the previous couple, had come to watch the fun.

“I’m sorry. Some of the bamboo rings were misplaced. It took me quite a while to find them,” Uncle Chen said as he handed the bamboo rings to Uncle Wang and Cheng Nuo smilingly, winking at Uncle Wang a few times.

Uncle Wang speedily took the ten bamboo rings from Uncle Chen’s left hand. Uncle Wang weighed the rings in his hands, then looked back at Uncle Chen satisfactorily.

Cheng Nuo coolly took the remaining ten bamboo rings from Uncle Chen’s right hand, seeming to not have noticed the small movements between the duo.

Uncle Wang glanced at Cheng No and said confidently, “Boy, let’s get started!”

With these ten bamboo rings in hand, it would be so easy to beat this lad.

Cheng Nuo nodded and said coldly, “Okay.”

Uncle Wang turned back and asked smilingly, “So, who’s going first?”

“You may go first. I shall have a look at how you play. I’m playing this for the first time–not that familiar with it.”

“Haha, good.” Knowing that it would be the first time that Cheng Nuo had played the game, Uncle Wang became more confident. “Thanks, then.”

Uncle Wang walked to the toss line confidently and proudly.

The ring toss contest had officially begun!

Cheng Nuo would leave with his stall if Uncle Wang won, but if he lost, Uncle Wang had to buy the rest of Cheng Nuo’s snacks for 200 Yuan.

All the onlookers were excited as they tiptoed to watch the game.

“What is everyone doing here?”

“I heard that two peddlers had a fight, and they are here to battle!”

“Battle?”

“Yeah. Each of them will throw ten rings, and whoever who gets more items wins.”

“Well, that sounds good. Come on, man, let me move forward.”

“…”

It was Uncle Wang’s first throw.

Uncle Wang clasped the bamboo ring tightly with his right hand. He did not throw it out directly. Instead, he first surveyed the distance with his feet. He then threw the ring out once he was sure.

Swoosh—

Uncle Wang carefully threw out the bamboo ring, which made a faint sound as it broke through the air. Uncle Wang’s bamboo ring was extremely steady in the air. It had no sign of any wobbling.

A constant breeze came from the mountains, blowing up people’s clothes. But Uncle Wang’s bamboo ring remained stable, and its downward trajectory did not receive any trace of impact.

Crash!

The bamboo ring landed accurately on the ground, hooping around a cosmetic box that was placed at the center. Unexpectedly, the bamboo ring did not bounce off from the ground either. It landed steadily on the ground and there was no rebounding at all.

“Something’s wrong!”

Cheng Nuo had noticed that there was something fishy as early as when Uncle Wang and Uncle Chen winked at each other. It seemed that it was indeed the case.

Cheng Nuo was now certain that the bamboo rings that the stall owner had given to him and Uncle Wang were different!

The usual bamboo rings were lightweight and very elastic. But from Uncle Wang’s casting of the bamboo ring, it seemed that his bamboo ring was a modified one.

The stall owners generally gave these kinds of bamboo rings to shills demonstrating the game. These bamboo rings were heavier, less elastic, and hence easier to hoop items than ordinary bamboo rings. Stall holders always used them to attract customers.

Cheng Nuo didn’t expect the stall owner to actually lend Uncle Wang these bamboo rings that could very likely expose this secret. It seemed like the relationship between the two wasn’t ordinary.

Uncle Wang’s confidence burst in him after scoring the first ring. After surveying the distance again, he threw out the second bamboo ring.

Before Uncle Wang had thrown it out, Cheng Nuo stored the information of the bamboo ring in his head.

“Mass: 50.47 g, diameter: 10.58 cm, speed: 3.24 m/s, equation of motion: y = -4.25x^2+2.14x+0.12, spring constant: 20.24 newtons per meter, Height: 1.65 m…”

He then studied the bamboo ring in his own hands.

“Mass: 20.35 g, diameter: 11.24 cm, spring constant: 50.34 newtons per meter…”

They were indeed different! His bamboo rings were much lighter and more elastic than Uncle Wang’s.

These two people, Uncle Wang and this stall owner, Uncle Chen, had simply colluded with each other! How could they adopt such an inglorious strategy in order to win? Cheng Nuo felt that if he could not win this game, he would simply be failing Xiaoxiao’s eager expectations.

Cheng Nuo stroked his chin. A faint smile emerged at the corners of his mouth.

No matter how one saw it, there was a hint of coldness in his smile.

…