As Shui Miao flipped over his cards, everyone was stunned—they were four Aces!
This was a bomb, plus a “five small oxen” super hand. Li Dafu nearly fainted; he had drawn an excellent “ox-ox” hand yet still lost. What rotten luck.
Losing twenty thousand wasn’t a big deal—Li Dafu wasn’t upset about the money, but the bad luck really got to him.
Shui Miao hadn’t expected the remaining four cards to be so strong either!
Xiong Ying’s eyes lit up with excitement. Inwardly, he pondered, how can this kid have such good luck? Last time at Sun’s house he won over forty thousand; now he’s off to a roaring start, sweeping the table with an incredible hand. How on earth did he manage that?
Xiong Ying began to suspect that luck must have its limits. Shui Miao’s fortune was downright uncanny.
Winning a round confirmed the omen of the purple aura, and Shui Miao’s confidence soared.
“Haha, great luck! Let’s go again! Now the pot is eighty thousand!”
Shui Miao was brimming with excitement, his manner exuding the air of a newly rich man, irritating others to no end.
“I’ll bet forty thousand this time,” Li Dafu said, placing the money on the table. “But this time, I’m going to shuffle the cards myself.”
Li Dafu suspected Shui Miao was pretending to be a novice, but was actually a seasoned player capable of manipulating the shuffle.
Shui Miao hesitated slightly, feeling uneasy. He wondered whether his luck would still hold if he didn’t shuffle himself. Would the good fortune shift to Li Dafu? His expression grew serious.
Everyone else at the table were seasoned gamblers. Seeing Shui Miao’s nervousness, they assumed he was cheating, but without evidence they couldn’t accuse him. Now that Li Dafu was shuffling, everyone felt more at ease and began placing heavy bets. In no time, another forty thousand had been wagered.
As the cards were handed over to Li Dafu, Shui Miao noticed a purple aura still connected him to the deck. Observing this, a thought struck him—he silently prayed, give me another bomb, any bomb, as long as it beats them!
With that thought, he eagerly anticipated another miracle.
This time, Li Dafu shuffled the cards five times.
As the cards were dealt, Shui Miao noticed that everyone’s hands were surrounded by a purple glow, though the one in front of him was the strongest.
After the cards were dealt, everyone picked up their hands.
Shui Miao didn’t rush to reveal his cards but instead watched others first.
Baldy revealed his hand first, excitedly announcing, “Ox-six!”
“Haha, me too, Ox-six!” Shanpao followed suit.
“Ox-nine!”
Lao Liu’s voice sounded much more confident.
Gangtou and Zhao Kui also revealed strong hands.
These players had placed large bets, at least five thousand each. Their strong hands put significant pressure on Shui Miao.
Others who had bet smaller amounts also had decent hands, mostly Ox-two or Ox-three.
Seeing everyone showing strong hands, Xiong Ying felt anxious, constantly glancing at Shui Miao’s cards. If it were him playing, he would’ve flipped them already to stop this unbearable tension.
Li Dafu glanced at Shui Miao’s expression and suddenly grinned, “I don’t believe you can have another bomb.”
Li Dafu laid his cards on the table—four Fours with a Six, a bomb hand!
Seeing this, everyone’s faces lit up with excitement. This was turning into a thrilling and suspenseful game.
“Alright, it’s my turn to reveal.”
Shui Miao casually rubbed his hands together and noticed the purple aura intensifying dramatically!
Hmm?
What was going on?
Shui Miao was startled—how could rubbing his hands cause this?
“Come on! You’re driving me crazy! What are you waiting for? Show your cards already!” Baldy, the first to reveal, was so anxious he could barely breathe.
Prompted by this, Shui Miao snapped back to reality and flipped over his five cards…
“Damn! What kind of hand is that?!”
Baldy angrily stood up.
Everyone else was stunned.
Li Dafu gritted his teeth and glared at Shui Miao, “You brat, I got four Fours, and you got five Fives! You’re specifically countering me!!”
“Uncle, it’s not me who drew those cards—it was you who dealt them to me.” Shui Miao innocently replied with a pure, guileless expression.
This seemingly ordinary remark nearly made Li Dafu explode with rage!
Indeed, Li Dafu had shuffled and dealt the cards himself. Who else could he blame for losing money?
Speechless, Li Dafu could only fume.
Shui Miao swept the table again, quickly collecting the money. Now there was a total of 160,000 on the table, a messy pile of notes that made everyone envious.
How much could someone earn after three years working away from home?
Looking at all this money, Shui Miao felt extremely excited, yet slightly anxious—could someone possibly rob him of it?
According to village rules, a player must win five consecutive rounds before they could stop being the banker.
Shui Miao had already won two rounds, meaning he needed to win three more before he could quit.
“Come on, place your bets!”
Seeing Shui Miao winning so much money, and feeling his own bad luck, Xiong Ying finally couldn’t resist speaking up.
For some reason, he felt Shui Miao would win again!
Shui Miao licked his lips, continuing to channel his energy. By now, Li Dafu had no money left on the table, and other players hesitated to bet aggressively. They were waiting for Li Dafu to place his bet first before following suit.
Human psychology is strange—people wanted Li Dafu to lose so they could feel better about themselves.
Li Dafu frowned, staring at the cards, deep in thought.
Suddenly, Xiong Ying spoke again, “Don’t worry, Shui Miao won’t back down like a coward. Everyone place your bets freely—no matter how much, Shui Miao can handle it.”
Xiong Ying’s words subtly mocked Li Dafu’s earlier remarks.
“I’ll bet eighty thousand—I’ll go get the money right now.”
Li Dafu furrowed his brow, suddenly stood up, and walked into his room.
He opened the door, quickly entered, and shut it behind him. Inside was a yellow square table with an odd clay statue placed on it—neither human nor tiger-like. Li Dafu first checked the offerings, finding no signs of rats, only that the incense had burned out. He quickly lit new sticks, inserted them into the incense burner, and prayed. After finishing his prayers, he went to a cabinet, opened a safe, and took out eighty thousand in cash. After a moment’s hesitation, he took out another 160,000.
Only 60,000 remained in the safe—this was all of Li Dafu’s savings.
About five minutes later, Li Dafu came out carrying a snake-skin bag, holding a brand-new deck of cards placed beside the incense burner on the table.
Seeing Li Dafu replacing the cards, Shui Miao’s heart sank.
“Shui Miao, since today is your first time here and we don’t know you well, I hope you don’t mind if I change the deck for fairness?” Li Dafu said, pushing the new deck toward Baldy for shuffling, while throwing the previously used cards into the trash bin.
Was there really a need to ask?
Shui Miao smiled slightly, “Of course I have no objection. After all, those cards weren’t mine. I don’t mind. But I have one condition—I want to inspect the cards.”
You don’t trust me, and I don’t trust you either. On the surface, Shui Miao’s words sounded reasonable.
In reality, he wanted to handle the cards briefly, allowing the purple aura to attach to them.
“No problem.”
Li Dafu was indifferent. He didn’t believe Shui Miao could pull off such a trick under everyone’s watchful eyes.
Baldy opened the new deck and handed the cards directly to Shui Miao.
Shui Miao casually flipped through the cards, quickly glancing at each one—nothing complicated, just a superficial check in everyone else’s eyes.
Li Dafu, however, watched Shui Miao closely the entire time.
After inspecting the cards, Shui Miao handed them back to Baldy, “No problem, we can start.”
“Alright!”
Baldy shouted enthusiastically and began shuffling and dealing.
Seeing nothing suspicious, Li Dafu lit a cigarette, puffing thoughtfully. He mused, “This kid looks ordinary, like a total novice. Maybe it’s just his luck? Earlier, he mentioned seeing a rat—could something have gone wrong with the deity?”
As he pondered, Li Dafu glanced at his cards. Suddenly, he was caught off guard—he had drawn an extremely weak hand!
This time, Baldy, now more cautious, gestured toward Shui Miao, “Little Shui, you always reveal last—why don’t you go first this time?”
Gamblers could be superstitious.
The purple aura around Shui Miao’s cards was strongest. He shrugged indifferently and flipped his cards over—two Kings, a Three, a Four, and a Two. No ox hand—just an ordinary hand.
Seeing this, Shui Miao’s heart sank—how could his cards be so bad?
Xiong Ying’s face turned serious immediately. If they lost, all the money on the table would be gone.
Seeing Shui Miao’s hand, no one felt excited. Instead, everyone’s expressions darkened, especially Li Dafu, whose face turned extremely grim. He casually tossed his cards aside, pushed the money toward Shui Miao, sat back down, rubbed his face hard with both hands, and impatiently urged everyone, “Hurry up, hurry up! I’ve already lost over 100,000, and you’re still dragging your feet!”
Losers often became irritable and prone to causing trouble.
Everyone revealed their hands, none of which beat Shui Miao’s. Once again, the table was swept!
Winning three consecutive rounds, Shui Miao’s confidence soared. He inwardly concluded that the purple aura was indeed a mystical force controlling his gambling luck.
“This time I’ll bet 160,000. You’ve won three rounds, so I have the right to double the stakes.”
Li Dafu placed his remaining 160,000 on the table. Now, Shui Miao had a total of 320,000 in front of him. If someone drew an ox-ox or better hand and beat Shui Miao, they could win double—640,000. This was an unwritten rule: if a banker had won three consecutive rounds, any player drawing an ox-ox or better on the fourth round could win double until the banker’s pot was emptied.
Unfamiliar with village rules, Shui Miao looked to Xiong Ying, who nodded and said, “No problem. He doesn’t know the rules, but I do.”
Other players had little money left. With Li Dafu’s encouragement, they pooled all their remaining funds to match the 160,000 bet, making a total of 320,000 on the table.
If Shui Miao won again, his total would reach 640,000.
If everyone else lost again, they’d be left with nothing.
So this round carried immense pressure—it was a life-or-death game for everyone.
Of course, Li Dafu had suffered the greatest loss.
Feeling the pressure, Baldy worried Li Dafu might blame him for bad luck, so he pushed his cards toward Li Dafu, “Dafu, why don’t you deal this time?”
Li Dafu frowned slightly but said nothing, beginning to shuffle and deal.
Shui Miao watched Li Dafu dealing the cards, when suddenly he noticed a grayish aura emanating from behind Li Dafu!
Of course, this gray aura was invisible to ordinary people.
“Dafu, you look terrible. Why don’t you take a break and rest for a while?” Xiong Ying, possessing the “yin-yang eyes,” also saw the gray aura.
“It’s your face that looks terrible! I’m fine!”
Li Dafu glared at Xiong Ying irritably.
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