Because he knew that without seeing the cards, if I wanted to win against two people, I would have to cheat!
Cheating meant chopped hands! Not cheating meant losing!
Understood! Everything was understood!
So, this was an unsolvable deadlock.
If Cao Jie and the muscular man hadn't been eliminated through early probing, by the end of this hand, it might have been me facing four opponents, one against four!
From a probability standpoint, if all five players kept their cards hidden until the end, the chance of any one player winning against four others would be 20%.
But this 20% belonged to me alone. The other 80% belonged to the same person.
Therefore, if it came to that, my only option to win would be to cheat.
And now, 20% had become 33.33%.
Cao Jie and the muscular man, those two pig teammates, had already been eliminated by Shi Jianguo.
While it seemed my winning odds had increased, without cheating, breaking through a two-person challenge was still very difficult!
...
After figuring it out, my face showed no sign of panic. I remained as calm as ever, as if nothing had happened.
But in reality, my heart was racing, and I felt very uneasy.
Glancing at the deck of cards covered by a pile of money on the table, my mind raced, and I began to consider every possibility of cheating...
But just then, as if they didn't intend to give me time to think, I saw Shi Jianguo and the middle-aged man... reveal their cards one after another.
Shi Jianguo's final hidden card was a pair of 10s.
And the middle-aged man also revealed his hand.
His cards were even more outrageous: a flush of Queen of Hearts.
To hide a pair of 10s until the end was already incredibly lucky, but to hide a flush of hearts... that was simply absurd!
Seeing this, I could almost confirm that if the middle-aged man hadn't cheated during the card reveal, then the dealer, "Qiu Shuzhen"... was definitely problematic!
Clearly, she was the true master! A master who, with her sleight of hand, had even deceived me!
After Shi Jianguo and the middle-aged man revealed their cards, I saw a faint, almost imperceptible smile reappear on "Qiu Shuzhen's" incredibly beautiful face.
It was her! She was indeed problematic!!!
But what I couldn't understand was how "Qiu Shuzhen," with such exquisite cheating skills, could be Shi Jianguo's companion?
Moreover, it seemed she had seen through me from the start, yet she hadn't warned Shi Jianguo.
What was even more unbelievable to me was that as Shi Jianguo's nominal companion, "Qiu Shuzhen" not only had no interaction with him throughout the game, but except for the clueless Yang Wei, everyone else seemed to treat her with great deference from beginning to end?
So much so that apart from Yang Wei, no one actively communicated with her, nor did anyone make a single joke at her expense!
Who was this woman!?
Before I could ponder further, the middle-aged man, having just revealed his cards, showed a mocking smile and looked at me, saying, "Kid, what do you say?"
"Are you going to concede directly, or are you prepared for a desperate fight?"
At this moment, I knew I had lost.
But I wasn't going to concede.
Just as I was steeling myself to make a move, I suddenly heard "Qiu Shuzhen" say, "Alright, A'Yao!"
"Losing to him is nothing to be ashamed of, there's no need to be so confrontational!"
As soon as "Qiu Shuzhen" finished speaking, I saw the middle-aged man named A'Yao immediately shut his mouth.
And his demeanor was exceptionally respectful.
However, I still caught a glimpse of unwillingness in the depths of his eyes.
It was clear that he was very unwilling to lose to me.
"Alright! You all can go down now."
"Qiu Shuzhen" said calmly.
Her words stunned me.
Because after "Qiu Shuzhen" said this, everyone except those in front of me, even Leng Meng behind me, left!
It was only then that I fully woke up and realized: I had been completely fooled by Leng Meng, that pickpocket!
All that talk about avenging her sister, and finding someone from the martial world to help when in need, was all fake!
From start to finish, she, Shi Jianguo, and everyone present were in cahoots!
Their goal was to cheat me!
A cheat being cheated, hah. I've seen it all!
...
After everyone had gone downstairs, "Qiu Shuzhen" opened a bottle of drink, her red lips parted slightly, and she tilted her snow-white neck, leaving a mark on the bottle's opening.
After finishing the drink, "Qiu Shuzhen" looked at me with excitement and a hint of flirtatiousness, winking and saying, "Da Jianming, is that right? You are indeed very skilled!"
Hearing that name, I knew Leng Meng must have leaked my information.
Although I had encountered a setback right after entering the martial world, fortunately, the ID card hidden discreetly in my crotch had finally served its purpose.
They didn't know my real name.
Seeing that I remained silent, "Qiu Shuzhen" first smiled charmingly, then continued on her own, "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Yu Shuang."
"The true proprietress of Baole Chess and Card Room. Besides that, I am also one of the shareholders of Anhai's well-known underground casino – Huadu Casino."
Upon hearing this, I still didn't speak, but quietly waited for Yu Shuang, the woman who resembled "Qiu Shuzhen," to continue.
As expected, as if anticipating that I wouldn't speak easily, Yu Shuang continued, "From the first day you came here, your actions of lingering on the street and looking around had already caught Leng Meng's attention."
Hearing this, I finally reacted.
Because I was truly, truly, truly eager to understand exactly when they had targeted me.
According to Yu Shuang, it seemed I had been targeted from the very beginning!
After lighting a Red Nanjing cigarette and taking a deep drag, I asked in a very cold tone, "I just want to know, why did you target me?"
"It's very simple!"
Shifting her long, slender legs into a different cross-legged position, Yu Shuang chuckled, "You know that people from the Rong Sect have always had sharp eyes, right?"
I nodded, not denying it.
"Initially, Leng Meng targeted you purely to make some money! Because your demeanor at the time clearly indicated you were looking for someone."
"But after Leng Meng made her move on you, your response immediately made her realize... you are a cheat!"
"As the saying goes: Cheating and stealing are closely related."
"When Leng Meng was caught by you, Shi Jianguo made all the moves you witnessed afterwards to extricate her."
"In fact, at this point, it should have been considered a private matter between you and Leng Meng."
"No matter how you bickered, it would never have involved me."
"But that evening, I returned to the Baole Chess and Card Room from Huadu Casino and casually mentioned to her that the casino was short-handed."
"So, this girl brought you up to me."
"Perhaps Leng Meng lied to you about some things, but the fact that her master is the 'Ghost Hand Divine Thief' Yan Ba is truer than true!"
"Being able to catch Leng Meng on the spot is enough to prove your considerable skill!"
"Therefore... that led to the subsequent series of events."