Chapter 54 Teaching Tribal Girls to Jump Rope (3)

Hou took the recording pen Xu Que had given her and went to the group of cavemen who were waiting for her to teach them how to jump rope.

"Sister Hua, I'll teach you how to dance that Zhou Bapi dance now!" Hou stretched out one leg and pressed down the rubber bands that the other tribe members had tied around their waists, hooking them around his ankles. Then he pressed the play button on the recorder: "Willow tree bends, willow tree bends, the willow tree bends to the riverbank, the fish in the river, the shrimp in the river, the frogs in the river croak croak. After reciting it once, loop it again and again!"

"Huh? Something's not right. When Xu Que pressed this button, it played Zhou Bapi! Why did it change when I pressed it?" Hou muttered to himself.

The members of Huahe Tribe who were preparing to learn the Zhou Bapi dance didn't care much about what was being read from the recorder in Hou's hand. Instead, they were amazed that something the size of a twig could hide a person inside!

"Is there someone living inside? When you press this button, it will press down on the person inside, and the person inside will start reciting the jump rope rhyme after feeling the pressure?" Hua walked up to Hou and poked her as she fiddled with the recorder.

Hou shook his head, pointed to Xu Que not far away, and said to Hua, "At first, I also thought there was a person living inside this recording pen, but if you listen carefully, the voice is Xu Que! Look, Xu Que is clearly over there! It's impossible for Xu Que to have crawled inside! Brother Xu Que told me that this can only record human voices or other sounds, just like how we use a twig to record things on a thin stone!"

"Oh! Is that so? That's amazing!" With Hua's exclamation, the tribe members who had learned to jump rope from Hou all gathered around to look at the recording pen in Hou's hand.

I pressed the recorder button several times in a row, and each time it played a different sound, but it just wouldn't play the Zhou Bapi jump rope rhyme.

"Oh dear! I really don't know what to do! Please wait a moment, I'll go ask Brother Xu Que and ask him to help me figure out what's going on!" Hou said, taking the recording pen and coming to Xu Que.

"Help me find Zhou Bapi's mnemonic! I've been looking for it for ages but I can't find it, I don't know why!" Hou handed the recorder to Xu Que.

Xu Que, holding the recorder, pulled Hou to his side and explained, "Look, this double arrow is for turning up the page, and this double arrow is for turning down the page! There's a narrow display screen here that shows the first few sentences of the content! For example, Zhou Bapi, you see the three characters 'Zhou Bapi'! After selecting the song using the up and down buttons, press the middle confirmation play button, and you'll hear Zhou Bapi start reciting! The main problem was that you didn't select the content you wanted to play!"

"Besides, you don't recognize these simplified characters at all! You don't know who Zhou Bapi is, so you can't find it at all! That's normal! If I were like you and didn't recognize these simplified characters, I wouldn't be able to find which one is playing Zhou Bapi either!" Xu Que spread his hands and shouted.

Hou watched as Xu Que manipulated the voice recorder for a while and then found Zhou Bapi. But when he tried to recall it carefully, he couldn't remember which keys Xu Que had pressed!

"This song is by Zhou Bapi, I've already found it for you! Can you find it on your own now?"

"I can't find it! You pressed the buttons too fast! I didn't remember which one to press first, then which one, and finally which one to press last! Press them again and let me see, try to slow down!" Hou handed the recorder that Xu Que had given him back to Xu Que.

"Okay! I'll demonstrate it for you again! First, press the drill button, then press the return button to the last page, then press the up button three more times, and Zhou Bapi will appear! Got it? Now try it yourself!" Xu Que said, handing the recorder to Hou and letting her operate it on her own.

Hou took the recorder and demonstrated it to Xu Que right under his nose, successfully finding Zhou Bapi!

"Wow! I succeeded! I finally found it!" Hoo bounced back to the jump rope spot with the recorder, pressed the play button, and the Zhou Bapi jump rope rhyme began to play over and over again.

Hou and Hua, along with other women learning to jump rope, started jumping to the rhythm shouted out by the recording pen.

All the members of the Black Deer tribe put down their work and crowded around the group led by Hou to watch them learn to jump rope.

The tribe members chattered excitedly: "Wow! How can such a tiny thing hold a person? This thing is amazing! No wonder it's made by the gods—it's always a masterpiece!"

Hagang was so shocked when he saw the tribal girls learning to jump rope and using a recording pen to record the chants. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. He nudged Xu Que and pointed at the recording pen, saying, "Is there someone hiding in this little black tree branch? Doesn't he get tired of chanting like that? Or do they secretly switch people when we can't see him? Doesn't the person who keeps talking in this recording pen get a dry mouth? Doesn't his voice get hoarse?"

"No way! This is a voice recorder, a tool specifically used to record sound! It's like the armor you're wearing! It's just a tool! Used by you! They're inanimate, how could they get tired? You could let it play continuously for ten years and it wouldn't get tired!" Hou handed the voice recorder to Hua, who had already learned to jump rope, and explained to Ha Gang.

"Oh, I see! But I still don't understand! It's really amazing!"

"What's so amazing about that! I'll record something for you so you can hear it too! Let you listen carefully to your own voice!" Hou found Hua in the dance group that was resting, then took out a recorder and put it into Hagang's mouth: "Just say a few words, anything goes! Singing is fine too! You can even make a big fuss like a pig!"

Ha Gang rambled on for a few minutes, which was then caught by the voice recorder that was recording. Hou turned on the recorder, pressed the play button, and Ha Gang's bull-like roar came out from the recorder's player.

The other members of the tribe couldn't help but laugh when they heard Hagang's funny voice.

"Your voice sounds like an old ox glaring at a knife! It sounds like you've been through a lot and get beaten up every day! Are you alright?" Pingyao walked up to Hagang, first mocking him, then pretending to be concerned, "If you have any grievances on your mind, you can just come to me and confide in me! Don't always keep them to yourself! Share your pain and make everyone happy!"

Upon hearing Pingyao's words, Ha Gang was furious. He clenched his fist, which was as big as a ladle, and chased after the fleeing Pingyao.