The middle-aged man, initially excluded by my process of elimination from the six-person card game, turned out to be the genuine master of the Thousand Arts!
It seemed that, without knowing my true capabilities, Shi Jianguo had implemented a double layer of security for himself.
The muscular man who had been so eager from the start was merely a pawn, placed in the open by Shi Jianguo to draw my attention.
And this middle-aged man, who was shuffling the cards with a false shuffle, was Shi Jianguo's true hidden piece, meant to deal with me.
Double Ghosts Striking the Gate!
One half-ghost, half-human amateur, and one true ghost!
Besides the two ghosts, and counting Cao Jie, Shi Jianguo's helpers in today's six-person card game amounted to three!
Damn it all! This wasn't the Three Heroes fighting Lu Bu, but a pack of wolves ganging up on a fierce tiger!
If that's the case, then let's see whether this pack of wolves is fiercer, or if I, this fierce tiger... am even fiercer!
...
Getting back to the point.
After shuffling the cards with the false shuffle, the unremarkable middle-aged man began to deal.
He used the "Fa Er Zhang" (Dealing Two Cards) technique.
Fa Er Zhang is a highly deceptive card skill within the Thousand Arts.
For an accomplished cheat, the first person to deceive when dealing Fa Er Zhang is their own eyes.
Only by deceiving oneself can one perfectly deceive all the gamblers at the table.
Although the Fa Er Zhang technique is considered relatively easy to master in the Thousand Arts, truly achieving mastery and perfectly deceiving everyone still presents considerable difficulty.
Without practicing for at least half a year to a year, and then honing it thousands upon thousands of times, one can essentially not step onto the card table.
Furthermore, there are no shortcuts for manual dexterity; therefore, one can only practice diligently until the essence and key points are completely grasped.
Even learning ninety percent is not enough!
Once you step onto the card table, if you make a mistake, there is absolutely no chance to start over.
Because the price of a mistake is three fingers!
There are many variations of the Fa Er Zhang technique, but they are generally divided into two categories: "Chu Er Zhang" (Touching Two Cards) and "Tui Er Zhang" (Pushing Two Cards).
The former is less difficult than the latter.
And the technique the middle-aged man used was Chu Er Zhang.
The Chu Er Zhang technique involves slightly offsetting the top card and the second card by a small angle during the deal, and then using the thumb of the left or right hand to touch the two cards and quickly deal them.
At this point, many might think that the smaller the offset angle, the easier it is to succeed, but that's not the case.
Personally, I feel that the closer the Chu Er Zhang is to a normal deal, the easier it is to succeed!
The most deceptive dealing technique should be centered around deception. Therefore, as long as your hands are fast enough, whether the angle is small or large... no one can see clearly!
The bold will prosper, the timid will starve!
As long as you believe you have thoroughly mastered the essence and key points of Fa Er Zhang, then boldly step onto the table! Perform!
After the middle-aged man finished dealing the cards to all six people using the Chu Er Zhang technique from Fa Er Zhang, I knew that at this moment, he had transformed into a top predator, ready to begin hunting his prey!
In this hand, the middle-aged man dealt himself the biggest hand on the table: a flush of hearts with Q, J, 9.
He dealt Shi Jianguo a flush of spades with Q, 8, 7. It seemed he was preparing to continue the act.
He dealt me a mixed straight of 9, 10, J.
My upper hand was still Cao Jie, that professional loudmouth and fool who always raised and checked; he was dealt a pair of Aces.
My lower hand was that muscular man. The middle-aged man, seemingly looking down on someone like the muscular man, who wasn't even an entry-level cheat, directly dealt him a mixed hand of 2, 4, 6.
Just slightly better than a 2, 3, 5.
As for the muscular man's lower hand, the only neutral gambler in this six-person game, a sallow, weak man with dark circles under his eyes, indicating kidney deficiency.
The middle-aged man, perhaps knowing this fellow wasn't very interested in playing, as he had been staring at the beautiful young woman who resembled Chingmy Yau the entire time, dealt him a mixed straight of 4, 5, 6, as a little pick-me-up.
After the cards were dealt, Shi Jianguo, sitting to the middle-aged man's lower hand, immediately perked up and began to act.
"No fear of losing badly, only fear of no gambling! As long as there's gambling, no fear of poverty!"
After shouting the slogan, Shi Jianguo, as the dealer, directly threw in 25 yuan.
Since the first round required everyone to ante, we all followed suit and placed our bets.
Even though the muscular man knew his cards were very small, he reluctantly threw in 25 yuan.
However, after the first round ended, before Shi Jianguo could even speak, he impatiently looked at his cards and then immediately folded.
When Shi Jianguo captured this scene, he immediately showed some displeasure and said, "Damn it! I haven't said anything yet, what are you rushing to fold for?"
I had originally thought that Shi Jianguo's hired helpers would all be obedient to him and would never dare to talk back when scolded.
But to my surprise, with the beauty nearby, the muscular man's hormones and adrenaline were directly stimulated, and he immediately cursed back, "F*ck you! It didn't affect you in any way! I'll look if I want to look, and fold if I want to fold!"
"What business is it of yours!?"
Hearing these words, I was instantly stunned.
What was going on!?
Weren't these two supposed to be on the same side? They were signaling each other earlier, so why did they suddenly start arguing?
Just then, an unexpected voice... suddenly spoke!
"Stop arguing, stop arguing! We're all friends, harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Cao Jie, the owner of the voice, offered Shi Jianguo a cigarette and humbly lit it for him.
After Cao Jie finished lighting his cigarette, Shi Jianguo's expression improved slightly, and he said with a frown, "Monkey, it's only you who can make me show respect! If it were anyone else... you know."
"It's one thing to have poor eyesight, but to have such a foul temper!"
"From now on, don't bring just anyone here!"
Monkey was Cao Jie's nickname.
Using this nickname to refer to Cao Jie was both vivid and fitting.
After listening to Shi Jianguo's words, Cao Jie awkwardly scratched his head and smiled without speaking.
Then, as he offered a cigarette to the muscular man sitting to my lower hand, I unexpectedly noticed Cao Jie giving the muscular man a subtle glance!
Seeing this, the six words "A game within a game, a plot within a plot!" immediately surfaced in my mind.
On the surface, Cao Jie and the muscular man were helping Shi Jianguo, but secretly, these two were forming their own little faction.
As the old saying goes: Gold and silver move people's hearts!
It seemed that Cao Jie not only wanted to swallow my money but also harbored ulterior motives to swallow Shi Jianguo's money!
But it was understandable.
In a game of Golden Flower with stakes from ten to fifty, normal wins and losses started at ten thousand. In a situation like today, it would be at least two to three times that!
In a six-person game, with two people colluding, it wouldn't be difficult for each to win ten thousand.
I, who had been racking my brain on how to break the deadlock, suddenly had an idea after seeing this scene.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!
And after the oriole, there is an even greater hunter!