Chapter 34: Basketball Superstar

After lunch, Xiao Siqi and his son strolled around the village for almost half an hour, essentially covering the entire area before returning to their lodgings to rest. By the time they got back, it was already past one o'clock, and they didn’t rest long. Seeing that it was nearly two, they headed together to gather in front of the village’s Confucian Temple.

All five families had arrived, and “Village Chief” Chen Lei appeared as usual to announce the task.

This time, the task was assigned solely to the children. The five kids were divided into two groups: two were to pick loquats in the village, while the other three were to gather ingredients. But it wasn’t simply about picking loquats or collecting any ingredients. The loquat pickers had to go to the exact location shown in a clue photo and harvest fruit from a specified tree. They were not allowed to knock the loquats down with bamboo poles but had to pick them by hand. Since the children couldn’t reach the loquats on the tree, they first had to find a tall person at another location shown in a second clue photo to help them pick the fruit by hand. Meanwhile, the other three children had to collect every ingredient pictured in a dozen or so photos provided by the production team before the task could be considered complete. Once finished, all the children were to meet back at the winery where Sun Zhihao was staying.

The task allocation wasn’t decided through competition or drawing lots but pre-assigned by the production team. Xiao Yao and Lin Qisan were assigned to pick loquats, while Zhao Rui, Zhou Zhihao, and Sun Tingting were tasked with gathering ingredients. As soon as Chen Lei announced this, the fathers started voicing their opinions.

“I think just Ba Yi alone is enough to pick the loquats. The other three have so many ingredients to collect—I doubt they can carry it all back. I suggest moving Qisan to join Shi Tou’s team so the four of them can finish the job together,” Zhou Lixing spoke first.

“Agreed,” Zhao Tao and Sun Zhihao quickly chimed in.

“I disagree,” not all the fathers agreed. Lin Shaohua objected, “The production team has already made the assignments. We should stick to them and not change things arbitrarily. Besides, you can’t just send Ba Yi all alone; that’s too pitiful for him.”

“Come on, if you think Ba Yi’s pitiful, then switch Haohao and Qisan. Let Qisan go with Shi Tou and Duo’er to gather ingredients, and Haohao team up with Ba Yi,” Zhou Lixing immediately countered.

“That won’t do. If anyone swaps, it should be Duo’er and Qisan. You want to make our girl do all that hard work collecting ingredients?” Sun Zhihao teased with a smile.

Zhao Tao remained silent, probably because his son was the oldest and he felt awkward suggesting his son team up with Xiao Yao.

Even so, Chen Lei was a little troubled. What was wrong with these people? Why did everyone want their child paired with Ba Yi? Though Ba Yi’s impressive performance during the last market shopping segment was still being edited and hadn’t aired yet, only some production team members had seen it. The children didn’t witness Ba Yi’s shopping, so the fathers shouldn’t know much—was it just because he brought back the most items?

But rules were rules. Chen Lei cut off the fathers’ discussion and announced, “The groups have been decided. Please follow the assignments on your task cards. Ba Yi and Qisan, here are your clue photos. Shi Tou, Haohao, Duo’er, here are the photos of the ingredients you need to collect.”

Xiao Yao took the two photos from Chen Lei and examined them. One showed a loquat tree, though it didn’t specify its exact location. However, the tree’s trunk was partially obscured by a wall, with only its upper branches extending beyond the wall. The wall’s upper section had a uniquely shaped openwork window, rare in the village. Finding that wall would lead to the tree. The other photo was of a building’s main entrance, likely where the tall person who could help pick the loquats was located. After lunch, Xiao Siqi had strolled around the village with Xiao Yao, whose memory far exceeded that of a normal adult. He had basically memorized the village’s layout, including the wall and the building, so the only challenge left was to find the so-called “tall person”—which posed no difficulty to him.

After receiving their photos, the five children split into two groups and set off. Seemingly to ease the fathers’ mood, Chen Lei unexpectedly announced that the fathers had no tasks during the children’s mission time. They were invited to Sun Zhihao’s temporary winery residence to drink and wait for the children’s return. This kind gesture left the fathers, accustomed to the production team’s usual harsh treatment, almost incredulous.

Xiao Yao took the photos and, accompanied by Lin Qisan, headed toward the village’s Juedetang—the building in the photo. During their post-lunch stroll, Xiao Siqi and Xiao Yao had passed by and even peeked inside. It was essentially the village’s community center, where villagers gathered to play chess, sing opera, chat, or even dance when they had free time.

When Xiao Yao first entered Juedetang, it was shortly after lunch and not very crowded—only a few elderly men who had eaten early were playing chess inside. The second time Xiao Yao and Lin Qisan stepped in, many elders had gathered, making the place lively.

There were groups playing chess, others playing the erhu or folk instruments, and many playing mahjong. Since everyone was seated, it was hard at a glance to spot who the “tall person” might be.

But since their task was to find someone to pick loquats by hand, height was the key. To identify who was the tallest, they just needed everyone to stand up so it would be obvious.

As two children with cameras behind them, it wouldn’t be difficult to get everyone to cooperate, but the lively environment—with opera singing, mahjong, chatting, and more—meant shouting might not reach many ears. Xiao Yao didn’t want to shout aimlessly either.

After scanning the room, Xiao Yao had an idea. Lin Qisan, following closely, whispered, “Are we looking for the tall person here? How do we find them?”

Xiao Yao put his arm around Lin Qisan’s neck and whispered in his ear, “Remember when I told you during the mud pond fall, I’d bring you to something fun?”

“Yeah, I remember!” Lin Qisan’s eyes lit up. “What’s fun here?”

“Maybe not fun, but interesting. I’ve got a special way to find the tall person,” Xiao Yao said.

“How?” Lin Qisan asked eagerly.

“Simple: get everyone to stand up to see who’s tallest. The tricky part is making everyone quiet first—there’s too much noise here. If we shout, hardly anyone will hear. We need to get everyone silent first.”

“How do we do that? By shouting?” Lin Qisan asked.

“Stupid. Shouting won’t help,” Xiao Yao smacked lightly on Lin Qisan’s head.

“Then what?”

“See that?” Xiao Yao pointed to a bronze gong and wooden mallet in the corner. “Use that! You take it, find an empty table to stand on, and bang it hard until everyone stops talking. Once they’re quiet, you shout for everyone to stand, and they’ll all hear you.”

“Okay!” Though beating the gong wasn’t quite the fun Xiao Yao had hinted at, standing on a table and banging a gong was something Lin Qisan had never done before. It sounded impressive, so he nodded and went to retrieve the gong and mallet.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing with that?” An elderly man nearby asked as Lin Qisan grabbed the gong and mallet, objects belonging to the village opera troupe and not meant for children’s play.

“Sir, we just want to borrow it for a bit. We’ll return it soon,” Xiao Yao quickly explained.

“Borrow? What for? Don’t mess around. This isn’t a toy,” the old man said.

“You’ll see soon enough. Don’t worry, we won’t take it away—just use it here,” Xiao Yao smiled and, helping Lin Qisan hold the items, climbed onto an empty table.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...”

The loud gong echoed through the bustling Juedetang, startling everyone—opera singers, card players, chess players, and others—who all stopped what they were doing and looked toward the sound with puzzled expressions.

There stood a boy about five or six years old on the eight-immortals-style table in the center of the room, holding the bronze gong in one hand and swinging the mallet with the other.

“That’s enough, start shouting!” Xiao Yao, standing by the table’s edge, saw that all eyes were now on them and tugged Lin Qisan’s pant leg.

“Oh!” Lin Qisan reluctantly stopped banging the gong and shouted loudly to the gathered elders, “Grandpas, grandmas, uncles, aunts, please help us with a task. We need to find the tallest person here to help us pick loquats from the tree. Please stand up so we can see who’s tallest!”

“Huh?” The crowd looked confused, but some, noticing the cameras behind the two kids, whispered to acquaintances nearby, guessing what was going on.

Seeing no one stand up, anxious Lin Qisan repeated his request loudly.

This time, someone responded. A man in his forties stood up first, waving his hands and encouraging others, “The kids asked us to stand, so let’s stand for a bit.”

With a leader, others began to rise in small groups. Seeing they weren’t tall enough, Xiao Yao climbed onto the table to stand beside Lin Qisan and scanned the crowd for the tallest person.

“Found him!” Xiao Yao felt a thrill upon spotting someone standing with his back to them who towered noticeably over the others. “Wow, that height must be over two meters.”

Just as Xiao Yao was about to jump down and approach the man, the tall figure turned around, taking long strides toward them.

“Why are you looking for the tallest person?” the man asked, looking at Xiao Yao and Lin Qisan.

Xiao Yao was too stunned to reply—not because of the man’s towering stature or his speaking fluent Mandarin instead of the local dialect, but because he recognized the man as a basketball superstar. In this world, there was no Yao Ming or “Crazy Lin,” but the American professional league still boasted a top Chinese center named Chen Yang. Holding the same status as Yao Ming in the previous world, Chen Yang now stood right before Xiao Yao.