Li Dafu, who was already in a foul mood from losing money, was in no position to recognize Xiong Ying’s well-intentioned advice. He even suspected Xiong Ying was trying to trick him. However, everyone else present could clearly see that Li Dafu’s expression was indeed very grim.
After being rebuffed by Li Dafu, Xiong Ying felt extremely awkward. His goodwill had been misunderstood, so he simply gave up talking.
After dealing the cards, Li Dafu immediately turned his gaze toward Shui Miao, waiting for him to reveal his hand.
Meeting Li Dafu’s gaze, Shui Miao felt a bit fearful inside and didn’t dare to delay. He quickly laid down his cards: three 9s, a 2, and an Ace—Niu Niu (a strong hand in the card game)!
“This hand is just too crazy!”
Baldy angrily threw his cards away. He had a Niu 9, which was exactly beaten by Shui Miao’s hand.
Zhao Kui shook his head and muttered a curse about bad luck before tossing his cards—he had a Niu 5.
“I’m done, I’m done. Today I lost like hell,” said Lao Liu casually, since he had been winning for the past few days. The money he lost today was just a portion of what he had previously won. Compared to Li Dafu, his losses were negligible.
Gangtou smirked, tossed his cards down, and smiled at Shui Miao.
Gangtou had lost over eight thousand yuan today and was already anticipating a scolding from his wife when he got home. So he thought, why not be more respectful to Shui Miao, flatter him a bit—maybe Shui Miao would be in a good mood and give him a little lucky money to soften the blow with his wife.
Everyone revealed their cards and, surprisingly, all had lost.
Only Li Dafu remained. He placed his hand on his cards, panting heavily, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but wonder: what was wrong with him today? In the past, even when he lost everything, he had never felt this bad. Today, he hadn’t even lost definitively yet, so why did he feel so dizzy and overwhelmed?
Li Dafu was actually a tough guy, known for being generous and fearless when gambling.
But just now, he suddenly felt his body grow heavy, even struggling to catch his breath.
After a pause, Li Dafu gritted his teeth and finally revealed his cards.
He too had a Niu Niu hand, but the highest card among his five was only an 8, so he lost again in this round.
“I’ll go get more money. One last game.”
Li Dafu slammed his fist on the table and staggered away. His unsteady gait resembled that of a drunk man.
Seeing this, Shui Miao grew deeply concerned and hurriedly rushed to support Li Dafu. “Uncle, are you okay? My grandfather wasn’t lying earlier—your complexion really doesn’t look good.” Shui Miao genuinely cared for Li Dafu. He didn’t want to win a little money only to cause Li Dafu such suffering. That would weigh heavily on his conscience.
However, Shui Miao helping Li Dafu was only superficial.
His real intention was to absorb the grayish aura surrounding Li Dafu. Whatever it was, it was definitely not a good thing. Since Shui Miao could transform such energy into the yin-yang five-element qi within his body, he wasn’t afraid. He immediately began channeling his energy, cleansing Li Dafu of the gray aura.
If Xiong Ying had witnessed this change in Li Dafu’s aura, he would have been shocked beyond words.
Unfortunately, seeing Shui Miao helping Li Dafu, Xiong Ying simply hurried to collect the money for Shui.
“I, I feel much better now. Thank you…”
Li Dafu touched his head, suddenly feeling a sense of relief throughout his body, and his heart no longer felt so heavy.
“You’re welcome…”
Shui Miao replied and let go. He slightly furrowed his brow and felt a wave of nausea rising within his body, as if a foul energy was violently surging inside him. He felt like vomiting, and the sensation grew stronger. Even his stomach began to gurgle, with a rising pressure from within.
Once the energy flow becomes chaotic, serious consequences can follow.
Shui Miao dared not take chances and immediately stopped channeling his energy. But the moment he did, the urge to vomit became uncontrollable. He quickly turned and bent over a trash can, vomiting violently. The sudden expulsion released a large amount of foul-smelling substance. Everyone who smelled it felt nauseated and rushed out, covering their noses. The odor was strange. Xiong Ying, still practicing his energy techniques, saw a large amount of grayish mist rising from the trash can where Shui Miao had vomited. The mist seemed alive, spreading outward the moment it emerged…
After a long, painful bout of vomiting, Shui Miao felt completely drained.
Soon, the foul atmosphere inside the room also dissipated.
“Go, go rinse your mouth with some water and then throw out the trash. I’ll guard the money here.” Xiong Ying, naturally unwilling to leave so much money unattended, quickly stuffed all the cash into the same snake-skin bag Li Dafu had used earlier.
Shui Miao took the trash can and walked out, disposed of the garbage outside, and went to the kitchen to rinse his mouth.
Li Dafu’s wife didn’t know her husband had lost money. Since she was unable to bear children, she had little status at home. She couldn’t stop Li Dafu from gambling, so she simply focused on cooking and cleaning. Upon hearing that Shui Miao had vomited, she hurriedly brought him clean water, asking anxiously if he was okay, and even prepared sweet tea for him—clearly showing deep concern.
Shui Miao was fine after a short while and quickly recovered.
However, Li Dafu’s wife’s kindness made Shui Miao feel a pang of guilt.
He thought to himself: he had won so much from her husband. If Li Dafu took out his frustration on her later, it would be bad. Maybe he should lose a round deliberately, letting Li Dafu win some back. After all, he had already mastered the yin-yang five-element technique and could absorb purple energy, so he wouldn’t have to worry about winning money in the future.
Returning to the room, everyone else had also come back.
Since all of them had lost everything, they stayed to see what would happen next—to see if Li Dafu could stage a comeback and win some money back.
Xiong Ying had stuffed all the money into the snake-skin bag, placed it on a chair, and was sitting on it while smoking and chatting with others.
As Shui Miao entered the room, everyone immediately fell silent, smiling at him. Some hoped Shui Miao would give them red envelopes, others wanted him to treat them to a good meal, and some even wanted to ask him for the secret to winning—everyone had their own intentions toward Shui Miao.
Just then, Li Dafu rushed back in.
He was holding a black plastic bag, and his complexion had returned to normal.
Entering the room, Li Dafu placed the bag on the table and took out the cash inside. “Here’s 240,000 yuan. I’ll get another 60,000 right away to make it 300,000 for one last round. Win or lose, this will be the final game.” Having lost four consecutive rounds, Li Dafu clearly lacked confidence. If he could just win one round back, he would be satisfied.
He placed the money on the table and went into the room to fetch the remaining 60,000 yuan.
Looking at the money, Shui Miao felt conflicted. He had originally intended to let Li Dafu win a round, but now Li Dafu had brought out 300,000 yuan. If he drew a Niu Niu hand and doubled the stakes, he would win 600,000 yuan from Shui Miao, leaving Shui with only his original stake. What about the several ten-thousand yuan his grandfather had lost?
If Li Dafu only won back 300,000 yuan, that would be ideal.
But making others draw exactly the cards you want—Shui Miao had no confidence in that.
Still, he had to try to know for sure.
As his mind raced, Shui Miao began silently chanting a spell and channeling his energy.
But when he opened his yin-yang eyes, he found that there was no trace of purple energy around him.
How could this be!?
Shui Miao looked at his hands, empty and devoid of any energy. His heart sank. Could that gray aura have dissipated the purple energy? That was the only explanation he could think of.
After shuffling the cards, Li Dafu handed them to Shui Miao and said cheerfully, “Come on, cut the deck. This is the final round—let’s finish it decisively.”
“Okay…”
Shui Miao instinctively reached out and cut the deck casually.
Compared to previous rounds, this time Shui Miao had no advantage at all. He could only leave it to fate.
If things went wrong, he might lose everything he had won.
But if luck was still on his side, losing only 300,000 yuan wouldn’t be too bad.
Shui Miao, being kind-hearted, wanted Li Dafu to win back 300,000 yuan, but he didn’t want him to win all 600,000 yuan.
However, the game was unpredictable—how could things go exactly as one wished?
“Haha, not bad—Niu Ba (a Niu Niu hand with a total of 8).” Li Dafu cheerfully revealed his cards and smiled at Shui Miao. “Little Shui, it’s your turn. I’m not nervous, so why are you?”
Before Shui Miao could react, Xiong Ying reached out and flipped over the cards…
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!!”
Xiong Ying slapped his own face loudly and grimaced, “What a stinky hand I have—what kind of crap did I pick up!”
Xiong Ying had intended to flip the cards and win the 300,000 yuan from Li Dafu, hoping he could then ask Shui Miao for it. But to his dismay, he had drawn a terrible hand again—no Niu at all.
Seeing the hand, Shui Miao suddenly wondered: if he focused his mind on winning again, would he get the same kind of hand once more?
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