Uncle Chen took in a deep breath and said, "Well, let's just hope that he has only gotten lucky two times in a row"
"I hope so," Uncle Wang said heavily with his arms crossed. He nodded as he looked at Cheng Nuo.
Standing before the line, Cheng Nuo held the third bamboo ring in his hand. He peered at Uncle Chen and Uncle Wang as he smiled inconspicuously. He quietly calculated the data in his head.
"Distance: 311.35 cm, direction: 15.29 degrees NW… mass of bamboo ring: 22.45 g, Diameter: 10.20 cm, spring constant: 56.78 newtons per meter… Wind speed: 2.29 m/s, Direction: 68.21 degrees SW…"
"All right! Watch closely."
Cheng Nuo murmured as he finished his calculation.
"Starting height: 1.32 m, direction: 14.51 degrees to the left, inclination: 20.38 degrees downwards, force: 16.23 newtons."
Cheng Nuo shoved the ring out. It plunged quickly towards the floor.
Crash! Pang—!
The ring accurately fell around a doll. However, the next moment…
Cheng Nuo had used too much strength, thus the ring was moving very fast upon impact. At the moment it touched down, it immediately bounced off due to the elasticity.
The spectators sighed. That was a close one…
Uncle Wang and Uncle Chen looked at each other with cold smiles.
"Ha… he was just lucky…"
After all, the elasticity of the bamboo material would make the movement of the rings rather unpredictable.
Even before his thought had been completely formulated, Uncle Wang was dragged back to reality by the commotion from the crowd.
Uncle Wang looked back in confusion. His eyes were immediately fixed at what was happening. Then his mouth was wide open in disbelief.
The bamboo ring that had bounced off right before his eyes had landed nicely around a toy car!
"How is this possible!? It bounced off so fast…"
Suddenly, Uncle Wang had a frightening idea.
When the ring bounced off, the spectators were very certain that Cheng Nuo was not going to get anything this round.
But then the most incredible thing had happened right in front of them.
The ring didn't fly off in any random direction. It rose almost vertically off the ground. Under the influence of the wind and its own weight, it made a few flips and perfectly landed on the toy car. This time, the bamboo ring hardly bounced off at all.
It was perfect!
The spectators all cheered at Cheng Nuo's clever trick.
The impossible was made possible right in front of them. They all looked at Cheng Nuo as if he was a wizard.
"How's that possible? How did he do it?!"
"Unbelievable! You can do THAT?!"
"My goodness, I can't believe my eyes!"
"He's too good, that's all I can say!"
…
Among the cries of astonishment, Cheng Nuo looked confident, but Uncle Wang was full of embarrassment.
He looked at the young man in the mountaineering outfit. The young man appeared exceptionally energetic and assertive under the warm lighting. The scene forced out a sense of helplessness in Uncle Wang.
He sighed and said, "Chen, maybe we shouldn't have disturbed him in the first place."
Uncle Chen's mouth twitched. He replied, "Yeah, at this stage, you simply can't stop him from winning."
Uncle Wang paused for a while before asking in a hoarse voice, "What should we do now?"
Uncle Wang had lost his face.
He had cheated by using better rings than Cheng Nuo. But Cheng Nuo had still defeated him!
Uncle Chen scratched his chin and laughed. "Brother Wang, frankly speaking, you have little chance of winning now. Oh, actually, no chance at all!"
That rendered Uncle Wang speechless. "Why are you so happy when we are losing?"
Then Uncle Chen said, "But… even if you lose, we might not be losing money."
"Oh?" Uncle Wang was instantly excited. "Why is that?"
Uncle Chen pointed at the crowd that had grown around them as he chuckled. "You see, they are our potential customers!"
"Think about it. The more prizes he gets, the more people there will be watching. Seeing what's happening, they definitely will not be able to resist having a try at it. As long as even half of them try, we would not be losing any money."
"You are right!" Uncle Wang's eyes immediately lit up. He clapped and laughed out loud. But he suddenly realized that something was amiss. "Wait, but wouldn't it be you who is going to profit? I still have to buy snacks for him!"
Uncle Chen patted Uncle Wang's shoulder and said, "What are you talking about? You have always treated my son so well as if he's your own son. I really appreciate it. Don't worry, you'll get half of the profits!"
"All right, Brother!" Uncle Wang held on to Uncle Chen's shoulder.
Uncle Chen couldn't help reveal his yellow teeth in excitement as he saw more and more people stopping to watch. The mountain breeze gently flipped at his green straw hat. The green reflections glimmered on his face. It was a splendid scene.
"Hey, what are you chatting about?" A sudden voice woke the two of them up from their daydream.
A huge face appeared before them. It was Cheng Nuo.
"No-no-nothing…" Uncle Wang smiled awkwardly.
Uncle Chen was more natural. He put on a fake smile and asked, "Why did you stop? You still have more tries!"
"Oh! I just want to say something to Mr. Wang." Cheng Nuo nodded and pointed at Uncle Wang.
"Yes?" Uncle Chen replied on behalf of Uncle Wang.
"Mr. Wang, watch closely. Have you learned the trick now?" Cheng Nuo asked calmly.
Uncle Wang was speechless.
He almost blurted out vulgarities.
It was too humiliating.
"Young man, don't be too arrogant. You've only got three of them, it's still not the end yet!" Uncle Wang said as he clenched his teeth.
"I see…" Cheng Nuo looked at Uncle Wang from head to toe and nodded. "Seems like you haven't learned the trick. It's fine, I will demonstrate a few more times. Watch carefully!"
After the last word, Cheng Nuo immediately swung the ring out from where he was standing.
It again caught Uncle Wang by surprise.
Cheng Nuo was more than ten meters away from the toss line!