Fu Ying secretly noticed that when Wu Yong was shuffling the cards, he intentionally rearranged some of them. This technique was very skillful and fast, and it was not noticeable unless you paid attention.
Fu Ying gently pressed her finger on Zhou Xuan's back. Zhou Xuan naturally knew this, as he had been using his icy aura to monitor the movements of everyone at the table. Wu Yong's little tricks had been completely recorded in his mind, seen through by the icy aura like a camera. According to the order Wu Yong had set in the shuffling, Zhou Xuan detected that he had set up three good hands, not just good hands, but extremely high-ranking hands—three of a kind, three of a kind, three of a kind. Because Wu Yong was worried about being discovered, he didn't use more hands, only setting up three hands. Then, he created a dividing line at the top of the deck, with only about ten cards above the dividing line.
While others didn't notice anything, Zhou Xuan had observed it carefully but remained silent.
Then it was Wang Liang's turn to shuffle the cards. Wang Liang was quick, picking up the cards and shuffling them rapidly. Zhou Xuan noticed that although it looked like he was shuffling very fast, he was actually only moving the bottom ten or so cards. After shuffling twice like this, Wang Liang spread the cards out on his left hand and let Wu Yong, the player before him, cut the deck.
Wu Yong casually cut off the dividing line he had already set up. Wang Liang only shuffled the bottom part of the deck, leaving the top part, which Wu Yong had left untouched.
Wu Yong took the ten or so bills and threw them into the middle of the table, where there were also seventy pot bottoms for seven people.
Wang Liang then began dealing the cards, with Zhou Xuan being the first. Zhou Xuan used his ice energy to probe, and when he received a card, he made a mental estimate. It seemed Wu Yong intended for him to get the three of a kind. He wondered if Li Wei or Zhang Sinian would get it, but it was definitely one of the four of them. He guessed that Wang Liang was the most likely candidate, since he was the leader.
The second one is Li Wei. Wang Liang played a seven of clubs, and Zhou Xuan knew that the three of a kind must have been played on Zhang Sinian, since he had just lent him 100,000 yuan. With money, naturally, he'd want to take advantage of the situation.
Sure enough, the third card sent to Zhang Sinian was indeed the one Zhou Xuan had been probing. It didn't reach Zhu Yonghong, nor Wang Damao, and Wu Yong didn't get it either. Finally, it was the card he received himself.
Until Wang Liang finished dealing his cards, Zhou Xuan clearly understood that he had three of a kind, Li Wei had a bad hand, Zhang Sinian had three of a kind, Zhu Yonghong, Wu Yong, and Wang Damao all had bad hands, and Wang Liang had a three of a kind.
When Wu Yong was rigging the cards, Wang Damao and Zhu Yonghong both knew about it. This had happened many times before. Judging from the cards, this hand was going to be a fight to the death, a fight to the death.
They were certain to win, but Zhou Xuan's initial calmness and sharp eyesight made Wang Liang and the others a little wary, afraid that Zhou Xuan would see through their trickery. However, after Wu Yong dealt them a good hand, Zhou Xuan remained silent and then smoothly had Wang Liang deal the cards. Their hearts were at ease, and they thought that this round would be the decisive one.
Zhou Xuan naturally knew, but remained expressionless.
Then it was Zhou Xuan's turn to speak. After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xuan still didn't look at his cards, but counted out one thousand and put it in the middle of the table. He then pushed the bet to the highest point, a blind bet of one thousand.
Li Wei sensed something was off, but he had complete confidence in Zhou Xuan. He had seen Zhou Xuan perform magic tricks a couple of days ago; if he used them in this gambling game, it would be a piece of cake! No matter how good the opponent's cards were, Zhou Xuan could make them disappear!
Li Wei didn't understand Zhou Xuan's meaning. He looked at the cards in the bottom of the deck and saw that it was a set of scattered cards. "It's not suitable for me to play cards today," he said, and threw the cards away.
Although winning or losing doesn't matter, no one can be happy if they keep losing.
When it was Zhang Sinian's turn, he suddenly had 100,000 yuan in his hand. Of course, he was not nervous at all. He generously counted out 1,000 yuan and put it into the gambling pool, placing a blind bet.
Zhu Yonghong, Wu Yong, and Wang Damao also looked at their cards. They knew Wang Liang had the best hand and that the game was already decided. Even if they happened to get good cards, they would still lose, so there was no need to waste their money. They wanted to save their money to help Wang Liang make up the difference.
All three players discarded their cards after looking at them, but Wang Liang, knowing the score, immediately counted out 1,000 and put it in.
Only Wang Liang, Zhou Xuan, and Zhang Sinian remained on the scene.
Zhou Xuan remained silent, simply placing the money, then Zhang Sinian. Despite it being borrowed money, Zhang Sinian gambled without hesitation, the three of them going back and forth. They tossed the money, one thousand at a time, more than twenty times. Each person had placed approximately twenty-five thousand.
After betting 25,000, Zhang Sinian had almost lost a quarter of his money. His heart skipped a beat, and he dared not bet any more secretly. Taking a breath, he picked up his hole cards and held his breath as he slowly examined them.
The first card was a spade, then I moved the card slightly to the side. A sliver of red was revealed, and my heart sank. I thought, "Flush is over. I can only hope for a straight, and even a straight would give me a huge chance of winning."
Move it a tiny bit further, and there's a small red dot on the edge of the semi-circular circle. My heart skips a beat—another one! Hearts! I can't get a straight. But having a pair is still okay; it's a big pair. And the other two, Wang Liang and Zhou Xuan, both have their cards face down, so they probably don't have any good cards either.
Zhang Sinian thought to himself. He casually revealed his last card, which turned out to be a diamond—yet another one!
Zhang Sinian was stunned for a moment, then realized that the cards in his hand were three of a kind, a heavenly hand!
He thought it was a pair, but three came instead. God is going to make him rich tonight!
Zhang Sinian's face flushed instantly, turning a deep purple, like a pig's liver. He couldn't breathe properly and almost suffocated, only managing to stabilize himself with great difficulty.
Wu Yong, Wang Damao, Zhu Yonghong, and Wang Liang all knew, and even if they didn't, Zhang Sinian's expression clearly showed he was putting on a show of authority. How could she possibly hide it from anyone?
Zhou Xuan remained calm. Li Wei sneered. "Look at him, getting so excited over a good hand, how can he possibly win any money?"
Zhang Sinian finally calmed down and then put down four thousand yuan with trembling hands.
Wang Liang reminded him, "Zhang Sinian, you bet too much, it's two thousand. Even if you wanted to see our cards now, you couldn't, we're betting blind." Zhang Sinian twisted his neck and said gruffly, "Who said I wanted to see the cards? Two thousand more is two thousand more, I'll call again next time it's my turn!"
Wang Liang's face darkened, and he slammed his hand on the table. Feigning anger, he said, "Zhang Sinian, you want to cheat? Fine, I'll play along. If you cheat, I'll bet secretly. Let's see who can withstand it!"
As he spoke, Wang Liang put in a thousand yuan.
Wang Liang's move was a deliberate attempt to provoke Zhang Sinian, making him even more determined to follow him in.
Actually, even without Wang Liang's provocation, Zhang Sinian was already so excited after seeing the cards that he wanted to throw himself on the table and bet everything.
Zhou Xuan smiled faintly, still counting out a thousand bets, remaining calm and composed.
Zhou Xuan's expression frightened Wang Liang. If Wu Yong hadn't set this up, Wang Liang would have been quite uneasy, but now he felt very at ease. He had the biggest trump card; after setting the trap, Wu Yong had secretly given him a thumbs-up gesture, indicating that he had the biggest card.
Five more hands were played, with Zhou Xuan and Wang Liang each receiving 5,000, while Zhang Sinian received 10,000. However, he was not flustered. He would play even if it cost more, because he had a strong hand and was not afraid.
Wang Liang thought for a moment and said with a smile, "I don't think it's fun to keep going like this, and I'm too lazy to count the money. Anyway, nobody wants to play cards, so how about this? Boss Zhou and I will each bet 25,000, and Zhang Sinian will bet 50,000, what do you think?"
Because he and Zhou Xuan were playing with their cards hidden, if Zhang Sinian wanted to follow suit, he would have to double his bet, which would be a positive number. It was just a matter of accumulating the bets that had been placed gradually into one go.
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "I don't mind. Twenty-five thousand it is!" He then counted out twenty-five thousand, and Wang Liang also counted out twenty-five thousand.
Zhang Sinian was already incredibly excited looking at the huge pile of money; it would all be his money anyway, so of course the more the better, and he naturally didn't object. He immediately nodded in agreement and counted out 50,000 yuan to put in.
After depositing this money, Zhang Sinian still had about 15,000 yuan in his hands.
Then Zhou Xuan looked at his cards, but it was just a superficial gesture. After seeing that he had three of a kind, Zhou Xuan remained expressionless, put down his cards, counted out two thousand more, and continued playing without saying a word or throwing away any more cards.
Seeing Zhou Xuan's behavior, Zhang Sinian felt that he was forcing himself to follow, because there were nearly 160,000 in the pool, and no matter what the hand was, he had to grit his teeth and keep going.
Zhang Sinian naturally wouldn't look at Zhou Xuan's hand first, and then placed another two thousand bets.
Wang Liang still didn't look at his cards and continued to place bets blindly.
Zhou Xuan smiled, counted out another two thousand and put them in, still remaining silent.