```
Initially, Jiang Liu took out Mahjong to play on New Year's Eve simply because he was idle and wanted to relive his past life. He crafted a crude set of Mahjong tiles and spent the whole night playing with his disciples to pass the time.
Then, he casually brought out poker cards to play Fight the Landlord as a change of pace and, of course, to prevent them from pestering him to play Mahjong during his cultivation practice.
To Jiang Liu, both Mahjong and poker were distractions, and given his Journey to the West, it was as if he was racing against life itself—how could he afford to idle away his time?
Most of the time, it was his disciples who played among themselves, while Jiang Liu seized every moment to cultivate.
However, tonight, after being disturbed by the Lost Soul of the King of the Black Chicken Country, Jiang Liu felt rather uneasy staying in his room alone.
So, he indulged himself and decided to join Sun Wukong and the others.