Chapter 120: Team Change Card p3
Ji Junxin, sensing something, went to the restroom.
In this village, filled with cameras and followed by cameramen, the only place without cameras was the restroom. Inside, she found a piece of paper on the stool by the sink.
It felt like… rice paper. She unfolded it. The small, uneven characters were difficult to read, but as Ji Junxin read the note, her expression shifted from calmness to surprise and excitement, a hint of anxiety mixed in, but definitely more lively than before.
[Only rice paper and ink here, I used a twig to write this, hope you can read it. I saw a ‘Team Change Card’ on the Props Board this morning, 100 coins. Since we don’t have any money, I was going to tell you about it tonight… but now that the Lu/Yu CP has also been split up, they might also want it. Do you want it? If you do, we have to act quickly.] Ji Junxin reread the note several times, then tore it up and flushed it down the toilet.
Leaving the restroom, she said, “I’m going for a walk,” and quickly went to the village entrance.
From afar, she saw Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao by the bulletin boards. Ji Junxin hesitated, then waited nearby until they left before approaching the boards herself.
Indeed, there was a “Team Change Card” on the Props Board, its description simple: “Unique item, allows switching teams with anyone, 100 game coins.” And she remembered that Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao had also been there earlier, studying the boards. They couldn’t have missed it!
When she returned, Jiang Lingling was removing nails. With the new tool kit, she didn’t have to do it by hand, and her speed had increased. So even with superhuman strength, tools were still useful.
“Yes, I want it,” Ji Junxin whispered, approaching Jiang Lingling. “But I don’t have any coins.”
Jiang Lingling smiled, put down the pliers, and took out two golden five-coin pieces from her pocket.
Ji Junxin paused. “Is this… all you have left?”
Jiang Lingling nodded.
“But why…” Ji Junxin was surprised. “Did you tell her when you split the assets?”
Jiang Lingling nodded again.
So… Mi Hongdou knew about the card and gave all her coins to Jiang Lingling… to be on my team… Ji Junxin’s heart raced, and she had to distract herself to prevent her face from turning red.
“Okay, since we’re switching teams, let’s go find some tasks. We still need… ninety coins.” Having confirmed the team change, Jiang Lingling no longer hid her intentions. There was no point hiding it with the cameras rolling. “They probably still have sixteen. Let’s check if we can feed the chickens again after the reshuffle.”
“Thank you…” Ji Junxin whispered.
Jiang Lingling smiled. “I want to eat Mi Hongdou’s five-spice beef, beef brisket curry, tomato beef noodles, black pepper beef tenderloin, steak, beef and vermicelli soup, and deep-fried beef salad…”
Ji Junxin: “…”
The online viewers were going crazy. Two teams wanted to switch, only one card, how could they possibly keep up! Time to buy more computers!
The Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao fan group also had a name: “LuYu.”
Even before the two teams started their task hunt, the “Sweet Red Bean Soup” and the “LuYu” fans were already battling online. With only one team change allowed, even casual viewers had to choose a side.
As the director had said, there were many tasks available in the village, but they weren’t all easy.
Jiang Lingling and Ji Junxin started with the chicken-feeding task. Fortunately, although the old woman wasn’t very happy, after they explained the team change, she gave them the task. Jiang Lingling, having grown up in a village, was skilled at handling chickens. What had taken Ji Junxin and Bao Yueqiao over ten minutes – chopping vegetables and mixing them with rice – Jiang Lingling finished in two minutes, earning them one coin.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t repeat the task, only twice a day… At this rate, earning 100 coins would take a long time.
They were prepared for a long grind, but the second task location offered a pleasant surprise.
It was another small courtyard, and when they asked if they could help with anything, they were given two tasks. One, chopping wood: split each log into four relatively even pieces, ten logs for one coin. Two, washing clothes: wash and dry four pieces of clothing for one coin.
Two tasks, both based on quantity, perfect.
They accepted the tasks and entered the courtyard, only to find someone already chopping wood.
Lu Changhuai had already split four logs and was working on the fifth. Seeing Jiang Lingling and Ji Junxin, he nodded politely. Yu Naihao was also chopping wood, but he had only managed one qualified piece so far. Seeing them, he assumed they were there for the laundry task, so he just smiled, greeted them, and continued chopping.
To their surprise, only Ji Junxin went to the laundry area, while Jiang Lingling picked up a log, placed it on the chopping block, hefted the axe, and prepared to swing.
Although Jiang Lingling’s feat of pulling nails with her bare hands had already spread through the crew, Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao hadn’t witnessed it firsthand. Now, seeing her with the axe, Yu Naihao couldn’t help but say, “Be careful… if you don’t split it evenly, it doesn’t count, you have to split it into four pieces.” He actually wanted to say, can you even do it, don’t throw the axe, but he tried to be polite.
“Okay.” Jiang Lingling swung the axe, splitting the log cleanly in half. She placed one half on the block, swung again, another clean split…
Yu Naihao watched, dumbfounded, as Jiang Lingling, in less than ten seconds, with just three swings, split the log into four perfect pieces…
They had been struggling, Lu Changhuai barely managing four out of ten, and Yu Naihao even less… and it took them at least three swings just to split one log.
As two men who regularly worked out, they wondered… what planet was she from?!
Jiang Lingling, however, didn’t stop.
She felt that these quantity-based tasks, especially the wood chopping, were a loophole. Including the time it took to pick up the logs, she could split one in about ten seconds, which meant one coin every hundred seconds. Theoretically, she could earn ninety coins in 9,000 seconds, or 150 minutes. Compared to the chicken-feeding task, which earned them one coin per feeding, twice a day, this was a loophole! She had to take advantage of it before the show realized.
Thinking this, Jiang Lingling entered a state of flow, quickly grabbing logs, chopping, chopping, chopping, then grabbing more, chopping, chopping, chopping. The crew members were counting, and Jiang Lingling just wanted to earn as many coins as possible before the loophole was closed!
Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao stopped chopping and stared at Jiang Lingling, who was like a tireless worker, no, a superhuman, demolishing piles of logs. They felt something was off, there was no need to work this hard just for food, right?
They looked at Ji Junxin, who had wrapped her hair in a cloth and was diligently washing clothes like a… housewife. No, more accurately, she was scrubbing one basin, soaking another, and rinsing a third simultaneously.
This pace… are they trying to break the game?
“Are they… also after that card?” Lu Changhuai asked, finally realizing.
Yu Naihao was shocked. “No way, working together like that, how can we compete? You can’t be faster than two people combined.”
“Let’s ask and find out.” Lu Changhuai glanced at the blur of motion that was Jiang Lingling chopping wood, then walked over to Ji Junxin and squatted down beside her. “Are you also after the card?”
Ji Junxin stopped scrubbing and nodded seriously.
Lu Changhuai’s face fell. Even if he switched to washing clothes and was faster than Ji Junxin, he couldn’t compete with two people. And his teammate, Zhang Zijing… heh…
“You have a good teammate,” he said to Ji Junxin, glancing at Jiang Lingling.
Ji Junxin scrubbed harder and nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, the online viewers, who had been planning to casually watch the live stream, were stunned. Why, after a relaxing, post-lunch break, were they witnessing such intense action! They felt like they had to count along, or they would be left behind!
On Jiang Lingling’s live stream, countless viewers filled the comments section with “22, 23, 24, 25…”
They thought this counting would soon end, stopping at a lucky number like 66 or 88, or perhaps at a more impressive 100?
But… it passed 100, then 200, then 300… they started to think it would stop at 666, or 888, or 1000… such insane numbers.
Two hours later, Jiang Lingling had split 772 logs, and Ji Junxin had washed twelve basins of clothes. The show finally called a halt.
“It’s 9 PM. Daily tasks are over, time to rest,” the director announced.
Jiang Lingling and Ji Junxin checked with the staff and calculated their earnings. Jiang Lingling had earned seventy-seven coins, Ji Junxin twelve, plus their initial ten, they were one coin away from the 100 needed for the card.
Although they could earn that one coin tomorrow… it still felt frustrating.
Night had fallen. Jiang Lingling, under the dim light of the courtyard, looked at Ji Junxin’s red eyes and chapped hands, her heart aching.
“I split 772 logs, you can’t just not count the last two because time ran out. Let me split eight more to make it a whole number, that wouldn’t be against the rules, right?” she argued.
“Technically… it’s acceptable. But Jiang Lingling, do you realize you’ve split all the logs we prepared for the twelve-day wood-chopping task?!” Who would have thought someone could chop wood so efficiently, for two hours straight, demolishing their entire woodpile! The director was exasperated.
Jiang Lingling pointed at the remaining logs on the ground. “There’s still some left.”
“Only five…” the director said weakly.
“…” Jiang Lingling, unwilling to give up, went to Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao’s courtyard and found another unsplit log.
“Six…” The director looked at Jiang Lingling, his heart aching.
Jiang Lingling glanced at Lu Changhuai and Yu Naihao, who were still there.
The Team Change Card they wanted was about to be taken, why did Jiang Lingling’s gaze make them feel guilty! They hadn’t meant to use up so much wood!
Yu Naihao, seeing Ji Junxin secretly wiping her eyes, ran to the woodpile, searching, and found a few unevenly split pieces from their earlier attempts.
“Here, you said four even pieces count as one, splitting different-sized pieces into four equal parts is more difficult, right? It should count as one, or even two.” He placed the pieces by Jiang Lingling’s feet.
Jiang Lingling picked one up, placed it on the chopping block, hefted the axe, and looked at the director.
A murderous aura, both on and off screen.
The online viewers, shivering, commented, “The rich lady is so cool!” Director Pan felt the full force of that aura.
“Fine… we’ll count them…” he conceded.
The result was predictable. With Jiang Lingling’s superhuman skills, they finally earned that last coin.
When Jiang Lingling and Ji Junxin acquired the Team Change Card, the “Sweet Red Bean Soup” and the “LuYu” fans online reconciled. After all, one CP’s reunion was thanks to another CP’s sacrifice.
As for Jiang Lingling… her Weibo must be crashing from the influx of new followers.
During the team reshuffle earlier, Jiang Lingling had told Mi Hongdou about the Team Change Card and they had agreed that Jiang Lingling would earn the coins, and Mi Hongdou would earn enough for their living expenses.
So, when Ji Junxin went to find Mi Hongdou with the card, Mi Hongdou had just returned from completing another task with Bao Yueqiao.
“I need to talk to you,” Ji Junxin said, holding the card, her tone serious.
Bao Yueqiao, not realizing that it was a dismissal, didn’t move and was then led away by Jiang Lingling, who complained about having to take care of Qiong Yu’s girl, besides earning coins, she needed a raise!
“What’s wrong?” Mi Hongdou, seeing Ji Junxin’s serious expression, asked with concern. “Did your task not go well?”
This idiot, she almost couldn’t be on the same team as me!
Ji Junxin sniffled, and tears welled up.
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