With one watching and five folding, the stakes on the table grew at a visible pace.
During this betting process, Cao Jie, who had initially doubted the impotent man, suddenly faltered halfway through his bet.
What followed was: look at the cards… then fold.
Yes. Cao Jie folded.
In the final hand of the six-player game, the first to be eliminated was Cao Jie, usually the most daring and prone to reckless betting!
Witnessing this, I could only sigh at the unpredictability of life and the inscrutability of the human heart!
Only at the moment when the cards are revealed can gamblers on the table truly show their most authentic selves!
Without a doubt, Cao Jie's true character was just as I had seen it three days prior.
Strong on the outside, weak on the inside, bullying the weak and fearing the strong!
Cao Jie, with his buzz cut and intimidating appearance, was the first to retreat when it truly came down to a knife fight at the gambling table.
While somewhat unexpected, it was also within reason.
Not long after Cao Jie folded, the muscular man also folded.
There was no way around it; before the game began, everyone had agreed to the middle-aged man's proposal to change the rule from a limit of three bets after seeing the cards to no limit on the number of bets.
Therefore, after seeing the cards, if your hand was in the mediocre range, say above an Ace, but below a pair of Tens, whether to bet or not… became a crucial question!
Betting didn't guarantee a win, and there was a high probability of being dragged down until you ran out of resources.
Not betting, but if it turned out you had the best hand in the end, you would miss out on a minimum of thirty thousand yuan!
In 2008, thirty thousand yuan in an 18th-tier small county town was essentially a year's salary for many working-class people who didn't eat or drink.
Before the game started, Cao Jie certainly wouldn't have imagined that he would be the first to be affected by the rule change.
So, folding early was just reaping what he had sown.
After two players folded, only four remained.
Besides the impotent man who had bet with his cards showing, I, Shi Jianguo, and the middle-aged man, the three of us still hadn't looked at our cards.
In this last hand, without the ability to draw cards or employ any cheating techniques, my strategy was simple: one word.
That word was: stall!
And it was clear that the middle-aged man's strategy… was the same as mine!
Thus, the three of us, with unspoken understanding and great tacit agreement, kept our cards hidden, round after round…
Until the stakes on the table reached thirty thousand, and it was the impotent man's turn to speak again.
Seeing that the hundred-yuan bills in front of him were almost gone, the impotent man finally realized that he had gotten cocky too soon!
Whether he could win the final hand was not only related to his cards but also to his capital.
With that thought, the impotent man quickly looked at Shi Jianguo and said with a fawning smile, "Brother Shi, the total is already thirty thousand, can we decide the winner now?"
"Want to decide the winner? Fine!"
Shi Jianguo smiled coldly, pointed at the table with his finger, and said in a deep voice, "Just keep betting!"
Hearing this, the impotent man immediately got agitated, "Isn't this cheating! I don't..."
Before the impotent man could finish, Shi Jianguo interrupted him, staring at me and saying, "Let me be clear, Yang Wei. I only asked you to come today to make up the numbers."
"The reason I'm playing this last hand is because I have some personal grievances to settle."
"So… you'd better fold directly and don't get involved!"
"You, and Cao Jie and the others who have already folded, don't leave later. After I win, I'll return all the money you bet on this hand to you!"
"Consider it a favor to me, Shi Jianguo. Alright?"
As soon as Shi Jianguo finished speaking, the impotent man Yang Wei, along with Cao Jie and the muscular man, showed varying degrees of reluctance on their faces.
Especially the impotent man Yang Wei, who had finally gotten a bit of momentum, only to be dragged to the brink of running out of money to bet. How could he give up so easily with just a few casual words from Shi Jianguo?
Seeing this, Shi Jianguo sneered, "Yang Wei, don't keep thinking about those unnecessary things with unwillingness."
"If I hadn't agreed to play this last hand earlier, and everyone just dispersed, wouldn't you have ended up in the same situation?"
"One must know when to advance and when to retreat, and understand how to choose! Sometimes, suffering a loss… is truly a blessing."
I knew that Shi Jianguo's later words were actually directed at me.
From the looks of it, the middle-aged man might have told him something beforehand, which is why he was so confident.
But I had been watching these two all along, and I hadn't seen them communicate at all?
Could it be that the peerlessly beautiful young woman, "Qiu Shuzhen," was really problematic?
Or perhaps, Shi Jianguo had already guessed that I was a cheater, and "Qiu Shuzhen" was his real trump card against me?
If that were the case, then I would likely be finished this round!
Just then, I saw Cao Jie and the others, as well as the impotent man Yang Wei, all nod their heads, agreeing to Shi Jianguo's words, accepting the refund, and not participating in the final gamble.
Thus, after the impotent man Yang Wei unexpectedly chose to fold, only I, Shi Jianguo, and the middle-aged man remained for the ultimate showdown.
And now, the moment when the cards are revealed… had finally arrived!
With a cruel smile on his lips, Shi Jianguo looked at me with a mocking tone and said, "Kid, I don't know where you came from, but if you think you can make money in the Baole Chess and Card Room, I'm the first one to object!"
"Now, I'll give you two choices!"
"One, hand over all the money you have on you, and then fold and admit defeat! I can pretend that nothing happened before."
"Two, without seeing your cards or being able to draw any, play out this last hand with us!"
"If you win, you take all the money on the table! But if you lose, I want the money! And I want one of your hands as well!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Shi Jianguo pulled out a sharp dagger from behind him.
Waving the dagger that glinted with cold light, Shi Jianguo directly plunged it into the card table.
The sudden turn of events made the other few people gasp in shock.
And the middle-aged man sitting next to Shi Jianguo's face instantly turned grim and malicious.
Seeing this, I finally realized: there was no so-called game within a game! Long before this card game began, Shi Jianguo had already suspected me of being a cheater!
Therefore, to catch me red-handed, he deliberately created a diversion and tested me with a series of actions.
However, what Shi Jianguo didn't expect was that not only was I more difficult to deal with than he imagined, but during the testing process, the first person to reveal themselves was not me, but Cao Jie!
Indeed, in the face of money, human nature cannot withstand any test.
In the end, he had no choice but to resort to this not-so-ideal method to force me to cheat and catch me in the act.
Unfortunately, not only did I not fall for the trap, but I managed to stall them until the very end.
Not only that, but another person emerged to disrupt this final hand.
Therefore, Shi Jianguo chose to lay his cards on the table.