Hey, first of all, thanks for reading my lousy Machine Translation. To be honest, I’d really like it if you guys corrected the mistakes I made. But please speak nicely and politely. My heart is not strong enough to read your too-harsh comments. Have a nice day. 🙂
Chp42. part1
The five-minute countdown for the first round began.
As soon as the countdown started, Ning Ge, like everyone else, tried shaking her pedometer.
The strategy of shaking for the same number didn’t feel reliable. Ning Ge still thought not shaking was the best approach.
Mainly, she worried that the pedometers might be designed to trick them.
Some pedometers are so sensitive that any slight movement makes the number jump, while others are so erratic that they might jump ten numbers with a single shake or refuse to budge even after ten shakes. Such devices make it impossible to control the numbers precisely, rendering the strategy of limiting each person to twenty shakes completely useless.
Yet this was not the case.
The pedometer was designed with such meticulous thoughtfulness, it was almost excessive.
Ning Ge moved it gently, but the display remained at zero. She shifted it again, and the number didn’t change.
When she truly shook her wrist, the zero on the display immediately jumped to one.
She shook it again, and the number changed from one to two.
Clutching the device, she raised her hand, but the pedometer showed no reaction to this movement.
She had plenty of time and tried various actions. She discovered the pedometer was sensitive, but not excessively so; it could accurately identify her deliberate shaking motion.
Looking up, she saw Pei Han and Owen also testing their pedometers, and it was clear theirs were working perfectly too.
The device faithfully and intelligently recorded every wrist flick, every shake, with no tricks up its sleeve.
This is too strange, Ning Ge thought.
It was like someone who had been trying to force-feed you Crane-top Red (Red-crowned Crane)1 suddenly served you a bowl of rock sugar bird’s nest2, saying with a tender smile, “Eat up, it’s good for your yin and beauty.” The gesture instinctively made one feel uneasy.
Ning Ge held the pedometer and carefully shook it, one shake at a time. When the number on the display reached twenty, she stopped, gripping the device firmly in her hand.
Pei Han and Owen also shook theirs exactly twenty times.
Ning Ge looked around.
Some had already finished, like her, holding their pedometers steady and cautiously, afraid of accidentally adding more steps, and were waiting for the others. Others were more cautious, shaking very slowly, one shake at a time, glancing at the screen after each movement.
Shaking twenty times in five minutes was easy.
Even the slowest among them finished within a minute. The carriage was filled with people who had stopped and were now waiting for the countdown to end.
As soon as the countdown ended, a ding sounded over the intercom, and the Masked Men began moving through the crowd to tally the counts.
After checking each person’s pedometer, a Masked Man would announce the device’s serial number and the step count, while another recorded it in a notebook.
When it was Ning Ge’s turn, she carefully handed the pedometer to a Masked Man.
The man didn’t care. He snatched it carelessly, his movements swift and rough, startling Ning Ge.
Ning Ge quickly leaned over to check the pedometer.
Good, the number 20 on the screen hadn’t changed.
Maybe the pedometer just stops reacting after five minutes. The rules are so thoughtful, they didn’t even think about tricking anyone.
The Masked Man went down the line, and every single one showed 20.
Indeed, everyone in the carriage had shaken their hand exactly twenty times. As expected, everyone received a Little Red Flower.
The flowers were cut from thin red paper, looking a bit like something from a kindergarten craft project—tiny and delicate.
With the Little Red Flowers in hand, everyone felt much more at ease.
Teacher Wu stepped forward again.
He stood in the center of the carriage, a wide smile on his face, and encouraged everyone: “You all did exceptionally well this round. Let’s keep it up! Next round, we’ll do the same: twenty more shakes each. Together, we’ll earn another Little Red Flower.”
Ning Ge heard someone in front ask: “Why didn’t the person on the broadcast tell us how to pass this round?”
Someone muttered: “He’s been silent all along, which is a little scary. Are these shakes even working?”
Another agreed: “Could there be a trick to this round?”
Teacher Wu reassured them: “The person on the broadcast didn’t need to say anything. The method to pass this stage is so simple, we could all figure it out ourselves.”
Owen chuckled. “It really was easy.”
Pei Han glanced at him. “Don’t speak too soon.”
Ning Ge nodded in agreement.
When the Masked Man finished registering and returned the pedometers, he had already pressed the reset button for everyone, setting the numbers on the screens back to zero.
The second round of the competition was about to begin.
This time, everyone was more relaxed. They shook the pedometers faster than before, and before long, they had all completed twenty shakes and put their hands down.
As soon as the countdown ended, the Masked Man began walking through the crowd, checking the step counts one by one.
After a series of “twenty” readings, he suddenly paused.
He raised the pedometer to his eyes and examined it closely.
“Twenty-one,” he announced.
Everyone froze.
The owner of the pedometer was a young man. Hearing the Masked Man’s words, he looked at the device in the man’s hand. When he saw the number, his face went blank. “I only shook it twenty times! I saw it reach twenty and stopped. I didn’t shake it twenty-one times!”
The carriage fell silent, every eye fixed on him.
Those standing close leaned in to look at the pedometer. The screen unequivocally displayed “21.”
The young man was on the verge of tears from panic.
“Maybe… it’s possible… I accidentally jostled it at some point? I’m sorry, everyone, I’m really sorry.”
Someone in the crowd snorted. “Accidentally? Really accidentally? Why didn’t anyone else ‘accidentally’ do it?”
Teacher Wu was also displeased, but he still reassured the group: “It’s fine. Just be careful next time. Everyone keep a close eye on your pedometers. If anyone accidentally shakes it one too many times, speak up immediately and let the others know. That way, everyone can make up the difference. But it’s not a big deal this time—everyone in the top three still gets a Little Red Flower.”
This minor slip-up was indeed insignificant.
If the boy had secured first place with 21 steps, and the others had tied for second with 20 steps, everyone would still have received a Little Red Flower.
In terms of the outcome, there was no difference.
The Masked Man continued his rounds, checking the serial numbers and numbers on the pedometers one by one and calling them out.
Suddenly, he announced, “Twenty-two.”
This time, it was an old man.
The entire carriage stared at him. Someone asked, “Was that an accident too?”
The old man’s face flushed with embarrassment, and he remained silent.
If anyone else rolled a 23, all the Little Red Flowers would be lost.
Everyone listened with bated breath as the Masked Man called out the counts.
Fortunately, the subsequent counts remained at 20.
After the full carriage had been tallied, only two people had rolled numbers greater than 20. They took first and second place respectively, while everyone else tied for third. Thus, every person in the carriage still received a Little Red Flower.
But the atmosphere in the carriage suddenly grew tense.
Everyone clutched their paper Little Red Flowers, and no one spoke.
In the strange silence, the third round of the competition began.
After completing her 20 shakes, Ning Ge looked around.
Some people were still shaking, their arm movements far too vigorous to be accidental.
Others had clearly shaken too many times.
When the countdown ended, the Masked Man checked the counters one by one, calling out a bizarre array of numbers.
“Twenty-three.”
“Thirty-one.”
“Twenty-six.”
“Forty-two.”
Footnote:
- A large, endangered wetland bird native to Northeast Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Russia), famous for its snow-white feathers, black neck, and a striking bare red crown on its head. In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean traditions, it is an auspicious symbol of longevity, peace, fidelity, and good fortune. ↩︎
- A classic Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and culinary delicacy made from the edible saliva nests built by swiftlets, soaked, double-boiled, and sweetened with rock sugar (sometimes enhanced with red dates, wolfberries, or American ginseng). Valued in wellness culture for supporting skin collagen, hydration, immune function, and general vitality. ↩︎
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