Zhang Sinian was already flushed and his heart was pounding from the money on the table. He kept throwing thousands of yuan onto the table, and Wang Liang did the same. Zhang Sinian put down the last two thousand yuan and then asked to see the cards.
The result was that Wang Liang's hole card was three of a kind, the highest hand, which beat Zhang Sinian's three of a kind. In this hand, Wang Liang won about 20,000 yuan, winning almost 70% of the money of the gamblers in the game, while Zhang Sinian lost everything.
Zhang Sinian was stunned for a long time, seemingly not believing it, but Wang Liang wiped all the money off the table, and then smiled and threw a hundred yuan at Zhang Sinian, saying that he wanted to smoke and take a ride.
When the worker saw that Zhang Sinian's hand was three tens, he fell silent. Zhang Sinian's hand was indeed bigger than his. But the foreman, Wang Liang, was even more envious; he was the one who had the last laugh.
After listening to Zhang Sinian's fragmented account of the matter, Zhou Xuan asked again, "Did the contractor Wang Liang and Zhu Yonghong have any helpers? Like their supervisors, what kind of people were working for them?"
Zhang Sinian thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, there are two. One is named Wu Yong, and the other is named Wang Damao. Both of them are big and burly. I heard they are trained. They are thugs specially hired by Wang Liang and Zhu Yonghong to prevent any workers from causing trouble. These two also gamble with them at the table every day."
"
Zhou Xuan smiled and then said, "Zhang Sinian, let me tell you, you've been tricked. It was a trap set by Wang Liang and Zhu Yonghong. I used to play poker a lot, and I've even calculated it out. A deck of 54 cards, excluding the Jokers, leaves 22,100 possible combinations of three-of-a-kind. But to get two sets of three and a straight flush at the same time, theoretically, the probability is only a few ten-thousandths of a percent—like winning the lottery, it's incredibly rare. It was just because I wasn't there that I guessed it was a trap."
Zhou Xuan spoke as if he were an expert on this. He spoke with such conviction that Zhang Sinian was momentarily stunned, then asked, "I've thought about that too, but I haven't seen anything..."
"Hehe, if you can tell how they cheated you out of your money?" Zhou Xuan smiled faintly. "There are many tricks in playing Texas Hold'em. It's easier to cheat when there are many people involved. If he has accomplices, it's even easier to tell. The most common thing is that you pay attention to him, but you can't pay attention to his accomplices. I'll tell you a few easy tricks."
Zhang Sinian was taken aback, then quickly pricked up his ears to listen, unsure whether Zhou Xuan truly understood or was just pretending.
Zhou Xuan asked, "Do you have playing cards?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhang Sinian was a seasoned gambler, so of course he had a deck of cards. He immediately took one from the cabinet next to him and handed it to him.
Zhou Xuan picked out the two Jokers and put them aside, then said to Zhang Sinian, "Watch carefully, I'll give you and another person a deck of cards first."
He then placed three cards in front of both Zhang Sinian and Li Wei. The cards were face up; Zhang Sinian had "Burning" and Li Wei had "Steel." Both had random cards, but Zhang Sinian's card was the stronger one.
Zhou Xuan took three more cards and held them in his right palm. Zhang Sinian did not see this action. Then he said, "I am Li Wei's helper. I will take a look at his cards from the side."
"As he spoke, he picked up the 'Qing' card in front of Li Wei and held it in his hands to look at it, then put it back in its original place, but the card was covered up."
Zhou Xuan smiled and said to Zhang Sinian, "Do you know what kind of cards Li Wei has these three cards?"
Zhang Sinian nodded and said, "I know, it's steel. My hand is stronger than his, I won!"
Zhou Xuan pointed to the cards on the table and said, "Pick them up and take a look!"
Zhang Sinian reached out and turned the three cards over. He looked at them and was stunned!
These three cards had now turned into three of a kind. After a moment of surprise, Zhang Sinian stared at Zhou Xuan's hand and asked, "When did you change the cards? I didn't see it."
Zhou Xuan said calmly, "After I finished my hand, you only paid attention to the few decks that were played. You didn't even look at the remaining cards in my hand. I secretly took three cards. Then I held them in my right palm, and you only saw the back of my hand. Then I took the three steel cards that Li Wei had taken from me with my left hand and looked at them. Then I put the three cards back. You only paid attention to the cards in front of you, so I just put the cards back into the remaining cards. That way, I didn't have any cards on me, and you couldn't find any evidence."
Zhang Sinian was stunned for a moment, then Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Actually, there are many, many tricks. As the saying goes, nine out of ten gamblers are cheats. Those who frequently win money use tricks and deception, not luck or chance. You can't win money by relying on luck."
Zhang Sinian was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Even if they are cheating, there is no evidence now, so it's useless to go to them. Besides, they have money and connections, so reasoning with them won't work. This is gambling, and if they want to fight, they are no match for them. Their thugs are ruthless. I personally saw two workers beaten bloody last time. Wu Yong and Wang Damao will kill anything they catch; they are very ruthless!"
Li Wei chuckled. He understood Zhou Xuan's meaning perfectly. They came to Zhang Sinian's place because he wanted Zhang Sinian to take them to the contractor to gamble on poker. He really liked this kind of thing, and he was even more eager to try it after hearing that the contractor had thugs. It had been a long time since he had played this kind of game. Usually, he had to worry about his grandfather and father's strict discipline, but now he was following orders and could cause trouble no matter what he did with Zhou Xuan. And what he didn't expect was that Zhou Xuan also liked to do this kind of thing!
After laughing a few times, Li Wei whispered to Zhou Xuan, "Brother Xuan, I'll make a call and ask my dad to send two tough guys over. Let's go. It's best to be prepared. If they don't cause trouble, fine. But if they do, we'll make sure we don't suffer any losses."
Zhou Xuan smiled and nodded, thinking that it was good that he brought two people. If they were sent by Li Lei, their skills would be beyond question, and dealing with those thugs and hooligans would be a piece of cake. If the other party had some connections or something, it would be easier with Li Wei by his side. Unless those people didn't try to pull any strings, the more they dragged things out, the more they would suffer and the harder it would be for them to get out of trouble. It would also save him the trouble of finding someone else to pull strings.
Zhou Xuan then said to Zhang Sinian, "Take us to gamble, and I promise you, win or lose, I'll give you ten thousand yuan. As for the fight, you don't need to worry about it. We'll find two helpers. Unless they cause trouble, we won't suffer any losses. Let's go, take us to the nearby bank to withdraw one hundred thousand yuan in cash. Is that enough?"
Zhang Sinian was overjoyed and said repeatedly, "That's enough, that's enough. Those contractors don't usually carry this much cash with them. If you withdraw this much money, I'll tell them to withdraw more when we get there."
Zhang Sinian was itching to get his hands on something, so he quickly led the way downstairs.
Zhou Xuan was the last to leave. At the door, he secretly slipped another 20,000 yuan to the old woman, saying, "Grandma, hide this money well, don't let your son find it again. Use it for living expenses."
Without saying anything more to the old woman, he went straight downstairs. Fu Ying followed beside him and sighed, "Zhou Xuan, the old woman's money will eventually be gambled away by her son. Old habits die hard, and I don't think Zhang Sinian will change his ways!"
Zhou Xuan shook his head and said calmly, "Yes, I'm not a god. Human strength has its limits. I'm just doing my part to make myself feel better!" (A different experience!)
In 2018, Zhou Xuan took them to a trading company in Fuyi. Zhou Fu withdrew 100,000 yuan as a "temporary VIP card." The process was quick; about ten minutes later, Zhou Xuan withdrew the money and left the bank. At the door, the person Li Wei had contacted also arrived.
It was someone sent by his father, Li Lei. They drove a black GM car. As soon as they got out of the car, Zhou Xuan couldn't help but laugh. These two people were actually Zheng Bing and Jiang Jin!
Zhou Xuan chuckled and stepped forward to hug the two of them. Then he turned to Fu Ying and said, "Yingying, these are the company commander Zheng and platoon leader Jiang you met last time. They're both very capable!"
Fu Ying nodded and said politely, "Hello!"
Li Wei didn't recognize them yet, after all, his status was vastly different from Zheng Bing's, and the matter was also a coincidence. Li Lei had returned to Beijing on other business and arranged for the two of them to carry out the mission, but they weren't Li Lei's bodyguards, and it just so happened that Li Wei had gone back to fight. As soon as Li Lei heard that Zhou Xuan needed men, he quickly sent the two of them over, and even asked if they needed a few more. Li Wei thought that since it was a gambling trip, what would be the fun if there were too many people? They would beat the others to a pulp in a few moves, it wouldn't be interesting, so he told his father that it wasn't necessary, it was a small matter.
Li Wei called Zhang Sinian to get into Zheng Bing's General Motors car, and then Zi Gong drove the Jeep. Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying rode in his car, while Zheng Bing's car drove in front, and Zhang Sinian gave directions.
It was only a little past 2 PM when Zhang Sinian led them to a construction site in the old town of Chongwen. At the entrance, they said they were looking for Wang Liang. The security guard, seeing they were in a car, didn't ask any questions and let them through. Construction sites are usually frequented by workers, so the guards were mostly just for show; the main purpose was theft prevention.
There was a long row of sheds next to the square. In the third shed, Wang Liang and Zhu Yonghong were gambling, with six people at a table.
There was a big fat man smoking and guarding the entrance to the shed. Zhang Sinian said with a smile, "Brother Fatty, I have a few friends who want to come and have some fun. They're just rich and have nothing better to do."
The fat man looked at the six of them and then said, "You wait here, I'll go in and talk to Brother Wang."
Less than a minute later, the fat man came out again and opened the door. He said, "Come in!"
The shed was filled with smoke and fumes. Six people were playing poker around a makeshift table made of long wooden planks.
Zhang Sinian glanced at the group of people. He recognized most of them; the two workers had played together before, and the remaining four were Wang Liang, Zhu Yonghong, Wu Yong, and Wang Damao.
Wang Liang was in his thirties with a thin, long face, while Zhu Yonghong was a handsome man in his thirties. Wu Yong and Wang Damao, on the other hand, had fleshy faces and stout builds, and were around twenty-four or twenty-five years old.
Zhang Sinian introduced Zhou Xuan to Wang Liang and Zhu Yonghong.
Wang Liang glanced at Zhou Xuan. He didn't think much of him; Zhou Xuan was too ordinary and didn't seem like a wealthy person. However, Fu Ying, who was standing right next to him, made all of them stare in amazement!