Although I was very reluctant to be controlled by this ruthless woman, in order to figure out her true intentions, I ultimately chose to call.
After calling, under the witness of the notary, Gu Chunlai, Luo Qiyun and I revealed our cards one after another.
Before revealing the cards, I never looked at the first hole card.
This was something that had never happened before.
The reason for this was that I knew Luo Qiyun would not let me win no matter what.
Instead of wasting time looking at my cards, it was better to focus on Luo Qiyun.
However, it was a pity that, up to this point, I still hadn't figured out her strategy.
To be honest, Luo Qiyun's cunning and difficulty had far exceeded my imagination!
I was now beginning to suspect if this gambling match was a complete dead end.
...
Staring intently at each other, Luo Qiyun and I revealed our cards.
The hole card I hadn't looked at was an insignificant 3, which, combined with the four face-up cards, couldn't form any special hand.
Therefore, my final hand was a pair of 8s.
As for Luo Qiyun's cards, they were quite spectacular.
2, 9, 5, 2, 2.
The first hole card, the fourth face-up card, and the fifth hole card were all 2s.
Without a doubt, Luo Qiyun won this round.
But it was clear that her winning process was problematic.
As I mentioned earlier, in the game of showdown played in Zhejiang province, apart from the second face-up card that was dealt along with the first hole card.
From the third card onwards, each subsequent card was revealed by the gambler themselves.
In other words, including the first hole card, the gambler had four opportunities to peek at their cards.
And in these four opportunities, Luo Qiyun had peeked to form a hand of 2522.
If Luo Qiyun were a complete novice with no knowledge of cheating, then I would have to accept it.
But she was, in fact, a highly skilled cheat.
So, tell me, wasn't there something suspicious about her?
After staring at Luo Qiyun's cards for a while, I slowly said, "Impressive, you win!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Qiyun immediately looked at me provocatively and smiled, "Heh! Thank you, thank you."
As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up and began to gather the chips.
Seeing this, Xiang Tianhua, who was watching from not far behind Luo Qiyun, directly gave me the middle finger and coldly reprimanded, "Kid, this is just the beginning! Just you wait!"
"Your death day... is not far off!"
After saying that, Xiang Tianhua burst into laughter.
Facing the dual provocation from Luo Qiyun and Xiang Tianhua, I did not respond.
Because I knew this was a blatant scheme.
A provocation!
They wanted to stimulate me to lose my temper and force me to reveal my weaknesses, thereby accelerating the progress of this gambling match.
Therefore, not only could I not lose my temper easily, but I had to remain even calmer, striving to find irrefutable evidence of Luo Qiyun's cheating in the subsequent rounds!
Then I could expose her directly and force her to reveal her hand first!
Based on what happened last time, no matter how much confidence she had, Luo Qiyun would always have a backup plan.
Thus, I concluded that she must have a further move!
Only by revealing all of Luo Qiyun's cards could I find a flaw and strike at her weakest point, turning the tide of defeat into victory!
...
Although many other matters remained shrouded in mystery, one thing was certain and definite up to this point.
That is: Luo Qiyun had 100% cheated!
Because she had briefly peeked at those four cards, rather than revealing them directly like I did.
And there was another point that was very suspicious.
When revealing the cards earlier, Luo Qiyun's movements... were a full beat slower than mine!
By the time my cards were fully revealed, she had just made the motion to flip her cards.
Given her previously demonstrated skill in cheating, there was no reason for her to be a beat slower than me.
Unless, she was waiting to see my hole card!
If she was confident in her three 2s, there was no reason for her to do this.
So, based on all the above, Luo Qiyun was definitely suspicious.
However, I still hadn't figured out where the problem lay, nor what kind of sleight of hand she had used to conceal her cheating.
Even though the game was still ongoing, and I had pointed out the loophole in the folding rule, I knew that time was running out for me!
Once Luo Qiyun won the remaining million chips that touched the red line, then... I would be in a desperate and passive situation!
Although my initial thought was that as long as time hadn't run out, even if I lost down to the red line early, I would still have a way to recover, but...
It would be best to avoid reaching that point.
After all, this was her home ground.
It seemed I needed to change my strategy.
Otherwise, if this continued, the inevitable outcome would be: a slow death!
...
To prevent Luo Qiyun from gaining momentum and pressing her advantage, from then on, even when I received good face-up cards, I chose to fold.
Although doing so caused me to lose another hundred thousand chips to Luo Qiyun, it was better than letting her taste victory and then continue to cheat me.
As expected, after I disrupted her rhythm, even though she kept winning the ante, Luo Qiyun's expression remained terrifyingly gloomy.
I knew that what she wanted to win was not the ante, but those crucial million chips...
As another round began, after allowing Luo Qiyun and me to examine our cards, Gu Chunlai stepped forward to shuffle the deck.
After dealing the cards, because Luo Qiyun had the higher face-up cards, she called the bet first.
Taking a chip worth ten thousand and playing with it in her hand, Luo Qiyun looked at me with a cold expression and said, "Chen Xiang, are you playing or not?"
"It's been over half an hour, and you've only played one proper hand with me!"
"If I had known this, I might as well have bet ten thousand right from the start of every hand!"
Hearing this, I calmly replied, "Then go ahead and bet! Maybe if you bet ten thousand from the start, I'll call."
"Heh! Really?"
With a flash of intense disdain in her eyes, after placing the ten thousand chip down, Luo Qiyun did not hesitate and directly took out a chip worth one hundred thousand and threw it into the pot.
It seemed Luo Qiyun couldn't hold back and revealed her hand before me!
She wanted to use her actions to test me, to see if I dared to call.
If I didn't dare, according to the previously established rule that two cards could not be folded consecutively.
In addition to the ten thousand ante, if I wanted to fold later, I would have to add at least another hundred thousand chips to the pot each time.
Based on my current chips that had not yet reached the red line, the cost of folding would be very heavy!
At most eight more hands, and I would hit the red line!
Would it be a slow death, or an all-or-nothing gamble?
Call, or not call...