"They wouldn't let me go in to save Zidu."
Hu Li patted her shoulder and laughed, "They can do their thing, we can do ours. Those stinky men inside are all smoking and drinking, so it's best if the two of us don't go in right now."
"Even you are helping them."
She immediately pulled out her phone, found Xiang Zongnan's number, and as soon as the call connected, she said, "Dad—"
Hu Li shook his head, walked over and talked to his sisters-in-law and relatives, and everything was harmonious.
"Xiangyuan is bullying people."
"What's wrong?" Xiang Zongnan asked groggily. "I'm taking a nap."
"He invited Brother Chuan and Brother Bai, and dragged my son to play cards. He was definitely setting a trap for him."
"Oh, it's just playing cards." He yawned nonchalantly. "It's a family tradition, it's good to learn."
"He simply doesn't know how."
"Then study hard."
Xiang Lan realized that he and Xiang Yuan were in cahoots, and she was furious. "Dad, you're in cahoots with my older brother, so you don't care about me anymore?"
“Your brother is just trying to help you. Look at this young man’s magnanimity and vision. If he’s really capable, why are you in such a hurry? Calm down and stop making such a fuss.”
The call was disconnected. He had never treated her like that before. It was so hurtful.
Fang Zi was half-pushed and half-forced into a large private room, where several automatic mahjong tables had already been set up. Xiang Yuan pressed him to sit down, and Brother Bai naturally took the seat to his left, Brother Chuan sat opposite him, and Xiang Yuan sat to his right.
Brother Bai asked him, "Have you ever played it before?"
He shook his head. "I played games on online platforms, and once after returning to China, I played with Xiang Lan's classmates."
Shen Chuan patted the table, "Don't worry, I promise I'll teach you step by step today."
"OK."
Xiang Yuan reached out and pressed the dice. "How do we calculate the stakes?"
Brother Bai took out a cigarette and offered it to everyone. Fang Zidu and Xiang Yuan didn't smoke, but Shen Chuan took one, and the two of them lit up their cigarettes in unison. Brother Bai mumbled, "I'm broke lately, at least a thousand a bill."
Starting with a base of 1,000, the game becomes a series of intense battles, sometimes involving bets and even bloodshed. If you're unlucky, a single game can result in losses of tens of thousands.
"Is it okay?" Xiang Yuan asked, picking out each prescription.
Shen Chuan tapped the table. "Coming, coming, stop dawdling."
Fang Jun also encouraged from the side, "There's not much to win or lose, let's get started."
Fang Zidu said calmly, "Sure, but let's confirm, is there anything wrong with this mahjong table?"
“You brat—” Xiang Yuan reached out and patted him on the shoulder, “You still need to have basic morality.”
"That's fine then."
The three veterans played their cards at an astonishing speed, barely able to keep up with Fang Zidu's movements. His hands couldn't keep up, so he simply stopped organizing the cards, leaving them a mess and relying entirely on his memory to mentally reorganize them. Fang Jun looked at the cards in his hand and then at his lightning-fast card play, realizing he was likely to lose from the start.
Sure enough, Fang lost the first three rounds, and by a large margin. No one was in a hurry to pay cash; they just put the money in the books.
Seeing that he remained expressionless, Xiang Yuan asked, "How was it? Did you learn it?"
"It's alright, almost done."
"Don't push yourself too hard. We're all family, and we won't make things difficult for you for Lanlan's sake, right?"
Brother Bai noticed that the cards he had laid down were a mess. Although they didn't look neatly arranged, upon closer inspection, they were all in pairs and groups. This kid knew what he was doing. Brother Bai quietly slapped the table and said, "If you're going to play cards, then play seriously. Stop talking nonsense."
Fangzi gradually caught up with the pace, and he stopped losing as quickly and as much. Occasionally, he could even learn to hold other people's cards in his hand. He looked at Shen Chuan across from him. This person played cards the fastest, basically without thinking, intimidating people with his aura. Xiang Yuan drew cards without looking at them, and played cards at a moderate speed. Brother Bai was quite interesting. He also drew cards, but he knew the cards by touch. He had a row of face-down cards in front of him, and he could pick out which card to play with his eyes closed. He was the fastest thinker and the most unpredictable.
Having discerned the disparity in strength and gained a general understanding, he didn't confront Brother Bai directly. Instead, he quietly won two small rounds behind him, watching Shen Chuan lose alone. Xiang Yuan glanced at him, knowing he had caught up, and exchanged a look with Shen Chuan. The two then began to cooperate.
Both of them were good at basic card counting and had a general idea of what cards others needed and didn't need. As a result, Xiang Yuan took full advantage of being the player to his left in the game and kept feeding cards to Shen Chuan, causing him to lose the opportunity to play cards.
Shen Chuan was riding high for a moment. After winning the game, he stood up and stretched, saying to Fang Zidu, "Sorry, I won again."
Fang Zi smiled and said, "This is just the beginning, no rush."
Following Brother Bai's lead was a bit conservative; it could avoid losing money, but it wouldn't win. Especially after Xiang Yuan and Shen Chuan teamed up, he lost many opportunities to play cards, so it was time to change his strategy. Therefore, he took the initiative to attack.
Xiang Yuan began to realize that his hand was getting awkward. The cards Fang Zi played were either what Brother Bai or Shen Chuan wanted, and the cards those two played were exactly what Fang Zi wanted. After a few rounds of this, he was running out of cards to play. This little brat had his eye on him.
Fang Zidu finally won his first hand, securing a grand slam against three opponents. He smiled, raised his eyes, and his gaze was captivating, which ignited Shen Chuan's anger.
After winning a round, he finally found his rhythm and gradually won back the chips he had lost. Even with Shen Xiang joining forces, he was basically no match for him.
Shen Chuan was running out of chips. He glanced at Brother Bai, who smiled and thought the two grown men were childish, arguing with a kid. However, the kid's calculation skills were quite good; basically, both of them knew each other's cards perfectly. He found it interesting, so they decided to team up and play together.
Fang Zidu immediately realized the truth of his weakness on the field. After Brother Bai made his move, he basically lost all initiative.
Fang Jun stared at the cards for a while, amazed. For a novice to still have a turn under the combined attack of three card masters was truly remarkable. Although he harbored some ill intentions towards Xiang Lan, he had to admit that this young man had done a tough job.
Fang Jun was so engrossed in watching that he didn't notice the other older men had also gathered around to watch. The room was completely silent; everyone was focused on the card game.
The three of them teamed up to attack, and Fang Zi tried several different strategies. At first, whenever someone discarded a tile that allowed him to win, regardless of its value, he would immediately take the winning tile and leave, then watch the three of them play their own game. However, he found that this method resulted in small wins but large losses, making it meaningless. So he started targeting Shen Chuan, deliberately discarding tiles that allowed him to win, and once Shen Chuan couldn't resist taking the winning tile, he would target Xiang Yuan, building a strong hand and taking the winning tile whenever he had the chance. This way, he managed to win a small amount. The more troublesome player was Brother Bai, who was too shrewd and seemed to have a lot of luck, often building a full hand and waiting for someone to run into him.
As time passed, Fang Zidu actually managed to win back some of his chips, while Shen Chuan lost all his and was feeling quite embarrassed.
Shen Chuan began to provoke him, trying to unsettle him, "Xiao Fang, what are you studying?"
"biology."
"This is the first time I've ever seen a PhD student this young."
"Um."
Is that all?
"You're just going to stay in school and do academic work from now on, don't you think about doing something else after graduation?"
"Not considering it."
"What does that mean?"
“That’s interesting.” Fang Zidu played his card and said, “Look, you’re going to lose again. I’m going to win with the Wan suit, but you’re going to pass on the Wan suit. Be careful.”
Fang Jun couldn't help but laugh, but he was still worried for Shen Chuan. He went behind him to look at the cards, and sure enough, he saw them.
Xiang Yuan and Shen Chuan were old friends at the card table, using all sorts of legitimate and underhanded methods. With quick eyes and hands, they swapped two cards under the table. Fang Jun naturally saw what the two were doing, as did the onlookers, and Brother Bai was well aware of it, but none of them intended to say anything.
As a result, Xiang Yuan threw out a card, and Fang Zi tilted his head, looked at it in confusion, and said, "Wait a minute."
“These are the cards you don’t want,” Shen Chuan said.
"Yes, I know."
"Then what are you still watching?" Shen Chuan asked again.
"There's a problem."
"What's the problem?" Shen Chuan asked, feigning indifference.
Fang Zidu looked at him, then at Xiang Yuan, and said, "Let me think about it."
Brother Bai laughed, looked at Xiang Yuan opposite him, and mouthed, "He's been caught."
The three of them didn't rush him. They watched as he rubbed his temples and said after a while, "This card isn't in my brother's hand."
"What makes you think it's not in my hand?" Xiang Yuan said deliberately. "You didn't look at my cards, how would you know what cards I have?"
Fang Zi remained expressionless, muttered a string of words, and looked down at his cards, which indeed matched perfectly.
After reading Xiang Yuan's cards, he looked at Shen Chuan and asked, "Brother Chuan, do you want me to read your cards too?"
"Give it a try," Shen Chuan teased him, intentionally.
He finished reading it all in one go, and then he looked at Brother Bai.
Brother Bai said, "I know what cards you have, and you know what cards I have. I'm curious, how did you find out?"
This is an admission.
Fang Zi nodded, "I'll show you how."
He stood up and picked up the cards that no one had touched and set them aside. Immediately, his older brother, who was always eager to help, came to assist him. Now, only the cards that had been played and the cards in the hands of the four players remained on the table. He spread them all out, rearranged them, and placed thirteen cards in front of each person, saying, "When you first drew your cards, this is what your hands looked like, right?"
The three looked at each other and nodded. "Yes."
"Amazing," Fang Jun exclaimed.
"Brother Bai played the first hand, and this is the card he drew and the one he discarded." Fang Zi picked it up.
"right."
"The older brother wanted to take the card he played, and after taking it, he played this card." He then moved towards Xiang Yuan and started playing his cards.
Fang Zi meticulously analyzed each card played, and finally, picking up the cards exchanged between Xiang Yuan and Shen Chuan, he said, "So, this card is the last one. Brother Bai already played it on the tenth move. If someone plays it again now, then this card will be five cards—"
His expression remained obedient, but his eyes were firm, gleaming with a sharp light, and brooking no argument: "You cannot switch cards privately."
"Fuck—" Shen Chuan cursed, "You memorized every single step, and even revealed everyone's hand?"
Fang Zi smiled shyly, "Because there are less than ten cards left that haven't been drawn, we can deduce them."
"Then what's the point of playing? I've lost, I've lost—" Shen Chuan stood up, completely admitting defeat.
"Of course we'll play," he insisted. "Big Brother still has some chips on his side."
"You want to beat me?" Xiang Yuan asked.
Fang Zi nodded, glanced around at the men around him who were much older than him, and said slowly and deliberately, "I hope that if I win, Big Brother will apologize."
"On what grounds?"
"Didn't my older brother tell Xiang Lan before that he didn't want children?"
Xiang Yuan was taken aback. He hadn't mentioned this to Fang Zi, but he hadn't expected that Xiang Lan hadn't told him either, otherwise she wouldn't be asking him for confirmation now.
However, this kid held a grudge and said, "That's true."
The room erupted in commotion, with everyone looking at him with disapproval. He argued, "She's so young, and her pregnancy isn't making her feel well. As her older brother, of course I'm thinking of her. There's nothing to say about that."
“Because you are her older brother, this matter has caused her a lot of distress. She has thought about it seriously and formally brought it up with me. This decision has caused her great pain, and it took her a long time to recover. I hope that you, as her older brother, can sincerely apologize to her.”
Xiang Lan finally broke free from her sisters-in-law's restraints and came in to watch the battle. As soon as she entered the room, she heard Fang Zidu's clear voice say the above words, and then she heard him say, "One thousand for one trump card is too little. Let's finish this quickly and make it ten thousand for one trump card, how about that?"
"Xiang Yuan, I think it's a good idea." Brother Bai laughed heartily. "We're all family. If you lose a game, it's not shameful to apologize to your sister and brother-in-law."
"Come on!" Xiang Yuan slammed his hand on the table. "I don't believe your nonsense, you brat."