Chapter Twenty-Nine: Cheating

Chen Da smiled as he gathered up the pot.

Wang Yiming, unwilling to accept his defeat, glanced at the cards in Chen Da’s hand.

“Damn it!”

Upon seeing the cards, Wang Yiming slammed them down on the table in frustration.

“Hahaha, alright, Old Chen, you even managed to fool Old Wang this round,” Xu Fei remarked, glancing at Chen Da’s hand.

He couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

A hand with the lowest possible cards—three, four, six.

Yet it was enough to deceive Wang Yiming.

“It’s all because of Xu Fei. If he hadn’t lent me money, I wouldn’t have dared to pull such a bold move against Wang Yiming,” Chen Da said.

“Alright, alright, Old Chen, let’s go again!” Wang Yiming shuffled the cards, dealt them, and this time threw ten yuan into the pot right away.

“Old Wang, do you really think we won’t call your bet?” Zhang Mingyang also tossed in a ten-yuan bill.

Chen Da was stunned.

“What’s going on?” Xu Fei glanced at Wang Yiming, who didn’t make any moves this time. From his eyes, it was clear he was being more cautious after the last round’s lesson.

“Brother Wang, your turn?” Xu Fei, sitting beside Wang Yiming, asked.

“I…” Wang Yiming took out another ten-yuan note and placed it on the table.

Chen Da laughed heartily. “What’s wrong, Old Wang? Scared from the last round?”

Wang Yiming shot him a look. “At least I called. What about you?”

Chen Da looked at Xu Fei.

“I’ll call, too,” Xu Fei said, putting in twenty yuan.

Chen Da was taken aback. “Why are you raising?”

Xu Fei smiled and nodded. “This hand looks good.”

Now both Zhang Mingyang and Wang Yiming looked at him in surprise.

Chen Da thought for a moment, then threw in twenty yuan as well.

Xu Fei knew this round would be interesting.

Aside from Wang Yiming, who might have a slightly weaker hand, Zhang Mingyang was so cautious that if he doubled the bet right away, he must have at least a straight flush, maybe even three of a kind. As for Chen Da, he didn’t have much money left, yet he still managed to put in twenty yuan—clearly, he wasn’t bluffing this time.

With that in mind, Xu Fei decided to make a move this round.

Zhang Mingyang glanced at Xu Fei, then at Chen Da’s dwindling pile of cash.

“Sorry, Old Chen, but I’m going big this time,” he announced, tossing fifty yuan into the pot.

“Damn!” Chen Da was dumbfounded.

He had barely forty yuan left.

Wang Yiming was also taken aback. “Mingyang, you’re really going all in?”

Zhang Mingyang merely smiled, saying nothing.

Wang Yiming steeled himself. “I’ll call!” He tossed another fifty into the growing pile.

Xu Fei was confident in his own hand, but to make it look convincing, he picked up his cards for another look.

“Fei, if you’re not sure, you better fold,” Chen Da advised, clearly holding a strong hand and hoping Xu Fei would fold so he could recoup his loan.

Xu Fei shook his head, smiling. “No, I’ve got a pretty good hand, too.” He put in fifty.

Now Chen Da was truly at a loss—he was out of money.

He looked at the others sheepishly.

“Chen, if you want to stay in, I can lend you some,” Xu Fei offered, surprising all three of them.

“You still have money?” In this game, each person usually brought only seventy or eighty yuan at most. But now, each had already thrown in nearly seventy, reaching the upper limit for the table.

Chen Da was the first to run out of funds.

Logically, Xu Fei should have been next, but now he was offering to lend Chen Da money, which made the others wonder in disbelief.

Xu Fei took a hundred-yuan note from his pocket and placed it in front of Chen Da.

“What’s this?”

“One hundred.”

Chen Da hesitated, then grinned and nodded. “Alright, Fei, if I win this hand, I won’t forget your kindness.”

Xu Fei waved it off. “No need.”

He wasn’t after Chen Da’s repayment—he wanted Chen Da to owe him a favor.

Chen Da threw in another fifty.

Now Zhang Mingyang hesitated.

He looked at the three faces around him.

“None of you are folding?”

The three of them just smiled.

“Old Wang, what about you? Not folding either?”

Wang Yiming nodded. “Mingyang, why would I fold? I’ve got a big hand.”

“So do I!” Chen Da chimed in.

Zhang Mingyang nodded. “Alright, you’re forcing me to play hardball, aren’t you?”

He reached into his jacket, pulled out a wad of cash, and without counting, tossed it onto the table.

“Match it if you dare!”

Wang Yiming was stunned. He picked up the wad, counted it, and looked at Chen Da in disbelief.

“How much?”

“Two hundred.”

“Damn, Mingyang, you—!”

Chen Da considered his options, then flipped his cards over and threw them into the pile.

Three kings.

Xu Fei shook his head. It seemed Chen Da might have had the best hand.

Chen Da looked at Wang Yiming. “Well? Still not folding?”

Wang Yiming licked his lips. Two hundred yuan was certainly tempting.

“Old Chen, I have to say, your hand was probably the highest.”

Chen Da knew it too, but he was out of money—what could he do?

He still owed Xu Fei fifty yuan, not to mention the previous loan.

His salary for the past two months was gone, and he had no idea how to explain it to his wife.

“Old Wang, are you really calling?” Zhang Mingyang caught his intent.

Wang Yiming smiled and reached to his waistband, pulling out his underwear and turning it inside out to reveal a pouch he had sewn himself.

He unzipped it and took out a stack of neatly pressed bills.

“This is my secret stash,” Wang Yiming announced, tossing the cash onto the pile.

Chen Da snorted. “You really have a strong scent of cash, don’t you?”

He picked it up, counted it with a look of disdain, and tossed it back.

“Two hundred.”

He finished counting and threw the money back.

“Your turn, Xu Fei.” Wang Yiming thought Xu Fei must be out of money by now, especially after just lending Chen Da a hundred. Even if he had fifty left, that only made a little over a hundred—not enough for this two-hundred bet.

But Xu Fei didn’t touch the money in front of him. Instead, he reached into his jacket again.

He threw another two hundred onto the table.

“You… you still have more?” The three of them were stunned.

Where did Xu Fei get all this money? Wasn’t he supposed to be in debt?

Xu Fei looked at Zhang Mingyang. “Zhang, your turn.”

“Huh?!” Zhang Mingyang froze.

Two hundred was all he had left.

“Damn it!” He cursed and threw his cards into the discard pile.

“Haha, so even you fold, Mingyang?”

“I have no choice—if I don’t fold, I’m out of money,” Zhang Mingyang replied, giving Wang Yiming a look of schadenfreude. “Well, what about you, Old Wang?”

Wang Yiming looked grim.

“Who would have thought, Xu Fei, you’ve been hiding deep.”

Zhang Mingyang nodded in agreement. “Fei, you’ve really surprised me tonight.”

Xu Fei waved a hand. “Come on, Old Wang, just give up already.”

Chen Da chimed in, but Wang Yiming’s lips curled in a sly smile.

“You guys are too naive. I’m not as simple as you think.”

“What?”

“You have more money?!”

Wang Yiming looked at Sun Qigong with a grin. “Old Sun, what are you staring at? Hand it over.”

Sun Qigong, chuckling, took a cloth pouch from his pocket.

He opened it, revealing a bundle of loose bills.

“There’s two hundred here,” he said, handing it to Wang Yiming.

“Damn!”

“Impressive, Old Wang, you and Old Sun had quite the backup plan.”

Wang Yiming took the money and looked at Xu Fei. “This doesn’t count as cheating, does it?”