All-in

I start dealing the cards.

With 52 playing cards, I have full control over which card to deal.

Even if you stare at me without blinking, even if I slow down my hand speed several times, you still can't figure it out.

But for me, it's all child's play, just basic skills of magic tricks.

Because I've lost quite a bit.

This time, Hou Jun and Chen Xiaoxue both stood up.

Both of them stared at the cards in my hand.

To ensure that they can see clearly every card I deal.

When dealing cards to others, I deal them normally.

But when dealing to myself, I cover the marked back with my fingers.

As soon as the card is on the table, I immediately cover it with a cigarette case.

No matter how they look, they won't be able to see any of my hole cards.

After dealing the cards, Hou Jun and Chen Xiaoxue became a bit excited.

To be precise, they were nervous.

Because his hand was strong, strong enough to make him afraid that others would fold and not follow.

I am the dealer, so I should bet first.

Before I could take the money, Hou Jun suddenly spoke to me:

"Chu Liu, do you dare to play blind with me again? I don't believe you can still win against me this time."

Chen Xiaoxue immediately echoed from the side:

"If you, Chu Liu, still consider yourself a man, then continue playing blind with my husband! If you win playing blind, tomorrow I'll find you a girl, a girl for us to have a bath together, you can pick anyone you want!"

They were singing in harmony.

One used bluffing tactics while the other tried to entice me with beautiful women.

"Alright, I'll play blind!"

Saying that, I bet ten dollars.

My neighbor is Lao Hei (Old Black).

Just like before, he didn't play blind, he chose to look at the cards.

His way of looking at the cards was the same as many inexperienced gamblers.

First, he vigorously shuffled the cards, then looked at them little by little.

As if by doing so, the cards could somehow become bigger.

When he saw the three cards in his hand clearly, Lao Hei's breathing noticeably became heavier.

His dark face now even had a tinge of purple.

Lao Hei's hand was strong.

Since we started playing "Exploding Golden Flowers," he had never had such a strong hand.

Of course, I knew what his cards were, and Hou Jun and Chen Xiaoxue knew too.

Three Jacks!

Three of a kind!

Old Black suppressed his excitement and quickly followed with twenty.

Hou Jun naturally didn't look at his cards and called with ten.

The others at the table looked at their cards and chose not to follow.

And so, the three of us continued to bet round after round.

No one was willing to fold.

Around the year 2000, when playing "Zhajinhua" (a Chinese card game), there was a tricky rule that the three players couldn't reveal their cards.

In other words, if someone wanted to compare cards, there could only be two players remaining.

This led to some people using a dirty trick called "Two Ghosts Crush One."

The two players involved didn't care about the value of their cards; as long as they had enough money, they kept betting.

And the side that was being crushed, even if they had a good hand, couldn't compare their cards.

In the end, when they ran out of money, they were naturally eliminated.

I once heard a story about a gambler who had a hand of three Aces, but he ran out of money to bet.

Depressed, he jumped off a building while holding his three Aces.

In the blink of an eye, over a thousand yuan was already on the table.

Because Old Black had looked at his cards in advance, he called with twenty each time.

As a result, he only had a little over a hundred yuan left on the table.

Looking at Hou Jun, Old Black advised him, saying:

"Da Jun, how about you don't follow, and I'll compare with this kid..."

While saying that, Old Black even winked at Hou Jun.

He meant well, trying to indicate that he had a strong hand.

However, he didn't expect Hou Jun to immediately refuse.

"Why shouldn't I follow? I'm determined to outlast him today! What's wrong? If you don't have money to follow, I can lend you some!"

That's the despicable part of Hou Jun.

He always claimed that Old Black was his best brother.

But he knew very well that his hand was better than Old Black's.

Yet, he still wanted to lend money to Old Black so he could keep playing.

This guy would deceive anyone.

Saying that, he handed eight hundred yuan to Old Black as a loan.

On his own table, he had just over a thousand yuan left.

Since I had won before, I still had around one thousand five hundred yuan on the table.

The three of us continued to bet.

After several rounds, Old Hei's 800 dollars had dwindled to just a few tens.

He held the cards in his hand and said to me and Hou Jun:

"How about we play with just this amount? Let's compare the three of us, whoever has the highest hand wins!"

I remained silent.

Because I knew Hou Jun would definitely disagree.

Sure enough, Hou Jun said firmly:

"No comparison. If you don't have money, borrow some. Otherwise, don't play!"

Hou Jun's tone was decisive, with no room for compromise.

Old Hei was furious, his face contorted.

With a snap, he slammed his cards on the table and shouted:

"I fucking have a triple! Can I not play?"

No one expected that hot-tempered Old Hei would reveal his hand.

Wow!

Everyone at the table couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.

A triple is the highest hand in the game of "exploding golden flowers."

Especially a triple J.

Only a triple QKA can beat it.

"Lend me the money, and I'll play against him!"

Old Hei showed his hand and tried to persuade Hou Jun.

But Hou Jun clearly disapproved of Old Hei's move to reveal his hand.

With a grim expression, he said impatiently:

"No borrowing. I only have this amount left. I want to play until the end with him!"

Old Hei was infuriated but helpless. He had run out of money and could only vent his frustration by saying:

"Fine, you guys play. Let me see whose hand can beat mine!"

Only I and Hou Jun remained in the game.

Hou Jun seemed afraid that I would look at my cards and fold again.

He directly said to me:

"Chu Liu, how about this? Let's not bet in increments of ten, too troublesome. Let's go all in, whoever has the highest hand takes it all. How about that?"

I sneered inwardly but showed no expression on my face.

I lit a cigarette and looked at the few hundred dollars in front of Hou Jun, saying:

"All in is fine, but how much money do you have left? Will you go all in with all you have?"

My indifferent tone seemed to provoke Hou Jun.

"Why the fuck are you asking me how much money I have? I have more money than you, that's all. You bet, I'll follow whatever you bet!"

"How much I bet, you'll follow?"

"Yes!"

I was waiting for him to say that.

I slowly reached into my pocket.

Inside, there was a stack of one hundred yuan bills.

It was the lucky money Mei gave me after playing mahjong in the afternoon.

"Ten thousand, I'm going all in!"

Ten thousand?

The people at the table looked astonished.

Everyone turned to look at me.

They were all curious how I had so much money.

You see, the highest salary here is for Hou Jun.

But it's only 1,500 yuan a month.

Ten thousand yuan, for us, the bottom rung of society, was like a huge fortune.

Hou Jun stared at the stack of ten thousand yuan bills on the table, bound with a money strap.

There was surprise in his eyes.

But more than that, it was greed.

He seemed to have already decided that all this money would be his.

"Boss, come here!"

Hou Jun shouted toward the door.

The boss pushed the door open and walked in, and Hou Jun said directly,

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

The boss's face twitched slightly, with a hint of helplessness.

"I already deposited most of the money this morning. I only have a little over eight hundred yuan left..."

Eight hundred, too little.

Hou Jun couldn't help but furrow his brow.

He asked the others at the table.

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

Unfortunately, the money these people had, when combined, didn't even reach two thousand.

No way, he turned back and asked Chen Xiaoxue.

"What about you? How much money do you have left?"

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

"I only have three hundred left. Didn't I give you the rest? I don't have any money left. If you want, just bet me!"

As she spoke, Chen Xiaoxue even gave Hou Jun a scornful look.

Helpless, Hou Jun could only look at me and propose,

"Chu Liu, how about you wait for me? I'll go borrow some money and come back later!"

I didn't refuse, but I added a condition.

"Okay, but the time starts now. If you don't come back within an hour, consider yourself folding and losing!"

Hou Jun hesitated.

His friends were also from the bottom rung of society.

It would be difficult to borrow ten thousand yuan within an hour.

As he looked at the bright red one hundred yuan bills on the table, he felt extremely unwilling.

Suddenly, his gaze turned to Chen Xiaoxue once again.

(End Of Chapter)