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Chapter 7 - All in

I began to deal.

With 52 cards in the deck, I could deal whichever card I wanted. Even if you stared at me without blinking, even if I slowed my hands down several times, you still wouldn't be able to tell.

To me, this was child's play—just basic entry-level sleight-of-hand skills.

Because they'd lost quite a bit already, Hou Jun and Chen Xiaoxue were now both standing. Their eyes were locked on my hands, making sure they could clearly see each and every card I dealt.

When dealing to others, I dealt normally. But when it came to my own cards, I used my fingers to block the identifying marks on the backs. And as soon as the cards landed, I covered them with a cigarette pack. No matter how hard they tried to look, there was no way they could see my cards.

Once the cards were dealt, Hou Jun and Chen Xiaoxue were visibly excited—or to be more precise, nervous.

Because his hand was strong. So strong, in fact, that he was afraid others would fold before putting in real money.

I was the dealer, so I was supposed to bet first. Before I could even reach for my money, Hou Jun suddenly said to me:

"Chuliu, do you dare to blind bet with me again? I refuse to believe you'll beat me this round too!"

Chen Xiaoxue immediately chimed in:

"If you're still a man, you'll keep betting blind against my husband! And if you win, I'll find you a girl from the bathhouse tomorrow—any girl you want!"

The two of them were playing good cop, bad cop. One used provocation, the other used temptation.

"Fine, I'll bet blind," I said, throwing in ten yuan.

Next to act was Old Hei.

Just like before, he didn't bet blind—he looked at his cards.

He peeked at them slowly, like many amateur gamblers do: rubbing the cards with force and slowly revealing them, as if doing so could magically change their value.

When he saw his three cards clearly, his breathing grew heavier, and his dark face flushed with excitement.

He had a monster hand.

He'd never drawn anything this good in all his time playing.

Of course, I already knew what his cards were. So did Hou Jun and Chen Xiaoxue.

Three Jacks.

A set. A "Leopard" in Chinese poker slang.

Suppressing his excitement, Old Hei quickly followed up with twenty yuan.

Hou Jun, of course, didn't look at his cards—he blindly called the ten yuan.

The other players all looked at their hands and folded.

Just like that, it was down to the three of us.

No one was willing to fold.

In the version of Zha Jin Hua (three-card poker) common around the year 2000, there was a particularly nasty rule: when three players were still in, no one was allowed to "open" (compare) cards. You could only compare hands when two or fewer players remained.

This meant there was a dirty tactic known as "two ghosts crushing one." Two players would team up, keep raising regardless of hand strength, and squeeze out the third player. No matter how strong their hand was, if they didn't have enough money to stay in, they'd eventually be forced out. There's even a story of a gambler who drew three Aces, but had no more money to call. Depressed, he jumped off a building still clutching the cards.

Soon, the pot on the table had grown to over a thousand yuan.

Because Old Hei had looked at his cards early, every round he had to call twenty.

As a result, he was down to just over a hundred yuan.

Glancing at Hou Jun, Old Hei tried to reason with him:

"Jun, how about you fold and let me compare with this kid…"

He even winked, hoping to signal that he had a strong hand.

But Hou Jun flat-out refused.

"Why should I fold? I'm going all the way with him today! What, you're out of money? I'll lend you some!"

That's how dirty Hou Jun was. Always saying Old Hei was his best brother, yet knowing full well his own hand beat Old Hei's—and still offering to lend him money just to keep him in the game.

That bastard would scam anyone.

He pulled out eight hundred yuan and handed it to Old Hei.

But Hou Jun himself only had a bit over a thousand yuan left on the table.

Because I'd won earlier, I still had around fifteen hundred.

The three of us kept betting.

Several more rounds passed, and Old Hei's eight hundred was down to just a few dozen.

Holding his cards tightly, he said to us:

"How about this? Let's stop here and compare. Whoever's got the best hand wins!"

I didn't say anything.

I figured Hou Jun wouldn't agree.

Sure enough, Hou Jun said decisively:

"Nope. If you don't have the money, borrow it—or fold!"

His tone was absolute.

Old Hei was fuming. His face contorted with anger.

Then—SMACK!

He slammed his cards on the table and shouted:

"Three fucking Jacks! You think I'm not gonna follow through?"

No one expected him to show his hand.

"Whoa!"

Everyone around the table gasped.

Three of a kind—one of the strongest hands in the game.

And not just any set, but Jacks. Only Queens, Kings, or Aces could beat it.

"Lend me more! I'll take him on!"

Old Hei, with his cards revealed, still tried to get Hou Jun's help.

But Hou Jun was clearly pissed that Old Hei showed his hand. He scowled and said:

"Nope. That's all I've got. I still want to finish this with him!"

Old Hei was furious but helpless. With no money left, he could only huff and say:

"Fine! You two go at it! I wanna see if either of your hands are better than mine!"

Now it was just me and Hou Jun.

Hou Jun seemed worried that I might look at my cards and then fold.

So he said:

"Chuliu, how about this—let's stop the ten-at-a-time nonsense. Let's both go all-in, whoever wins takes everything. Deal?"

I sneered internally, but kept a straight face.

Lighting a cigarette, I looked at the money in front of him and said:

"All-in sounds fine, but you gotta go all-in with everything you've got, right?"

My cold tone seemed to provoke him.

"You seriously asking how much I have? I've got more than you, that's what! You bet first—I'll match you!"

"You'll match whatever I bet?"

"Yeah!"

That's what I was waiting for.

I slowly reached into my pocket.

Inside was a wad of hundred-yuan bills.

It was the wedding money Sister Mei gave me after our mahjong game this afternoon.

"Ten thousand. I'm all in!"

Ten thousand?!

The people around the table were stunned.

They all turned to look at me.

How could I possibly have that much cash?

Hou Jun had the highest salary among us, and he only made about 1,500 a month.

Ten thousand was a fortune to us—the working-class bottom of society.

Hou Jun stared at the crisp stack of hundreds, bound tightly with bank straps.

There was some surprise in his eyes.

But more than that—greed.

He was sure the money was already his.

"Boss! Come here a second!"

He called out toward the door.

The owner stepped in, and Hou Jun asked:

"How much money do you have? Lend me all of it—I'll pay you back after the game!"

The owner grimaced.

"I just stocked up this morning—I've only got eight hundred left…"

Too little.

Hou Jun frowned, then turned to ask the others at the table:

"How much do you guys have? Lend it to me!"

But all the others combined didn't even have two thousand.

He had no choice but to turn to Chen Xiaoxue.

"You? How much you got left?"

At the mention of money, Chen Xiaoxue was clearly annoyed.

"I've only got three hundred! Didn't I already give you everything? What, you want me to throw myself in the pot?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

Hou Jun was out of options. He looked back at me and said:

"Chuliu, give me a sec. Let me go borrow some money—I'll be right back."

I didn't refuse. But I added a condition:

"Fine. But the clock starts now. If you're not back in one hour, you forfeit. You lose."

Hou Jun hesitated.

His friends were all at the bottom of society.

Finding ten thousand in an hour? Near impossible.

But when he looked back at the bright red stack of hundreds, his eyes showed deep reluctance.

Then, suddenly, he looked again at Chen Xiaoxue…

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