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Chapter 6 - No gamble to win

It was Old Hei's turn. Despite his burly build and fierce appearance, his style at the card table was surprisingly cautious. He almost never blind bet.

This time was no different. He took one look at his hand—it was a busted hand—and folded right away.

That left just the three of us.

Hou Jun continued to blind bet, and the player before me and I both followed suit.

After a few rounds, Hou Jun started to get nervous. He gave Old Hei a push and said,

"Lean back a bit, I can't see Chu Liu at all…"

Old Hei leaned into his chair, and Hou Jun kept staring at my cards.

I knew he could only see the top card. He had no clue about the two beneath it.

I deliberately exposed just the corner of the second card and kept my finger on the mark that revealed the suit.

That way, Hou Jun could only tell that I had a Jack—he couldn't see it was a Jack of Clubs.

A Ten and a Jack.

Hou Jun figured my best hand was a straight.

Feeling more confident, he kept blind betting.

A few more rounds passed, and the player before me got nervous. He peeked at his cards—two sevens. After hesitating, he put in twenty.

A pair of sevens isn't much in a game of Golden Flower.

But he probably figured that since none of us had looked at our cards yet, if both Hou Jun and I only had busted hands or small pairs, his sevens might win.

Seeing him check his cards, I mimicked the move and looked at mine too.

After all, in a small game like this, you can't be too ruthless.

There were already three to four hundred yuan on the table, enough to walk away with a win.

After peeking, I deliberately hesitated, then bet twenty.

Hou Jun saw me hesitate, and he was more convinced than ever that I had at most a straight—maybe just a pair.

That made him bolder.

He bet ten and said loudly,

"Fortune favors the bold! F*** it, I'm not even looking—I'll blind bet to the end!"

The guy with the sevens saw me still in and Hou Jun not checking his hand, and folded.

Now it was just me and Hou Jun.

I bet twenty, he followed with ten.

Back and forth we went for over a dozen rounds before Hou Jun began to waver.

After all, he couldn't tell what suit my Jack was, let alone my third card.

He turned to Chen Xiaoxue and asked,

"Babe, should we look at our cards?"

Without missing a beat, Chen Xiaoxue shook her head.

"No. Keep blind betting."

At that moment, I realized she could read the cards too.

Hou Jun must have known his eyesight wasn't good enough, so he brought her along to help read others' hands.

Unfortunately for them, Chen Xiaoxue was sitting behind Hou Jun, and just like him, blocked by Old Hei—she couldn't see my cards either.

After a few more rounds, Hou Jun suddenly stopped.

I thought he was hesitating, debating whether to reveal my cards.

But unexpectedly, he leaned forward and reached out, trying to flip my cards himself.

I slapped his hand away and stared him down.

"What the hell are you doing? You trying to read my cards?"

I just wanted to give him a subtle warning to behave.

But Hou Jun took me for a fool, puffed up his chest, and shouted,

"Bullshit! If I could read cards, would I be losing this much? Screw it, I'm revealing blind!"

A blind reveal meant showing his cards without looking or doubling the bet—just straight comparing hands.

He flipped over his three cards.

Everyone gasped when they saw he had a King of Spades flush.

"Damn, Team Leader Hou is killing it—blind flush!"

"Yeah, big comeback with one hand. Classic Hou!"

A couple of our coworkers from the bathhouse started buttering him up.

Hou Jun glared at me.

"What are you waiting for? Show your hand!"

Everyone stared at me.

I calmly turned over my three cards.

Ace, Jack, Ten.

All Clubs.

"Whoa!"

A collective gasp.

Everyone had assumed Hou Jun's blind flush was unbeatable.

But he'd run straight into the one hand that could beat him.

He had a King flush—I had an Ace flush.

"Damn, Team Leader, you're down on your luck today. K flush loses to A flush…"

Hou Jun's face turned pale. His jaw clenched, fists shaking, he cursed,

"F*** this s***, what kind of luck is this? I must've walked under a damn ladder…"

Still fuming, he turned on Chen Xiaoxue.

"This is all your damn fault! I said to reveal earlier, but no—you made me keep betting. Lost over two hundred more!"

Chen Xiaoxue didn't like being blamed, but she didn't dare talk back.

She just shot me a venomous glare and muttered,

"Held those cards like he was lighting incense for his dead parents…"

I was collecting my winnings and shuffling the deck when I heard her insult me.

I looked up at her.

"What did you say?"

Chen Xiaoxue had always looked down on low-level workers like us.

When I confronted her, she raised her voice.

"I said you're burning paper for your dead parents!"

Ever since I watched my father die in front of me at age six, I swore I'd never let anyone insult my family.

Not unless they killed me first.

I stared at her, rage burning in my eyes.

"Say that again."

Chen Xiaoxue didn't expect a mere attendant to talk to her like that.

Before she could respond, Hou Jun jumped up and pointed at me, yelling,

"Say it again and what? You wanna fight, punk? Let me tell you something, you little piece of shit—either play or get the f*** out. Run your mouth one more time, and I swear I'll beat your ass!"

Hou Jun was used to throwing his weight around at the bathhouse, always acting superior.

He looked down on people like us and never held back.

After his outburst, even Old Hei frowned and scolded me:

"You playing or not? If not, get lost—don't waste our time."

I sneered inwardly.

Play?

You bet I'm playing.

Tonight, we're gonna play real nice.

I started shuffling the deck.

In the art of card cheating, shuffling is fundamental.

There are many techniques—false shuffle, hop shuffle, lift shuffle, perfect shuffle…

All of them serve one purpose: to deal yourself a better hand.

And dealing has its own bag of tricks.

Like second dealing—making it look like you're dealing the top card, when it's actually the second or third.

Or bottom dealing, center dealing…

Same idea—just different points of access.

When I first learned to deal, I asked Sixth Master,

"If I learn all this, does that mean I'll never lose?"

He shook his head.

Then I asked, "Then how can I guarantee a win?"

Sixth Master said,

"There's only one way to guarantee a win—don't gamble."

Don't gamble, and you win by default.

I understood the principle.

But I'm a cheat.

My world will always be on the gambling table.

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