Thus, the three of us continued to follow suit for another seven or eight rounds.
During this time, no one proposed a showdown.
Brother Shi and the short-haired young man surely believed that in a two-on-one situation, their winning chances were higher if they just kept pushing forward.
As for me, it was even simpler!
I had three cards visible, and three hidden, including the winning Ace of Diamonds.
I had everything you desired.
You could die however you wished.
Originally, I felt a tiny bit guilty about the female pickpocket asking me to con Brother Shi.
After all, once a con artist strikes, the victim could lose all their wealth and fall into destitution, or worse, have their family scattered and their lives ruined.
But now, I felt no guilt.
You want to mess with me? I'll finish you first!
...
After a few more rounds, the short-haired young man, sensing something was amiss, suddenly stopped throwing money.
I knew he was hesitating.
Hesitation was the right move, because if he didn't hesitate, the play... would be too obvious.
Although life is like a play, relying on acting, for the last person to see the cards to hold a mixed straight of 4-5-6 and follow suit for nearly twenty rounds under the pressure of the two players ahead was a bit too unbelievable.
As expected, after hesitating for a long time and exchanging glances with Brother Shi, the short-haired young man finally decided to showdown.
Without even thinking, I knew he would challenge my hand and then signal Brother Shi after the showdown.
So, it was time to switch to that Ace of Diamonds!
However, to my surprise, just as I was about to use the "Shifting Shadows" con technique to switch to the Ace of Diamonds...
After throwing his money, the short-haired young man suddenly reached out towards me, intending to look at my cards himself.
If it were a game between acquaintances, and one party had lost a lot, such an action due to losing composure might be understandable.
But when directed at a stranger, it either indicated poor sportsmanship or ulterior motives!
In an instant, I reacted.
This guy was probably trying to signal Brother Shi in this manner! Because when revealing cards this way, there was a high chance of exposure.
In a flash, I grabbed his hand and said with a cold smile, "Brother, that's not how you showdown, is it?"
I thought my words would make the short-haired young man feel embarrassed or awkward.
But to my surprise, he directly cursed and shouted, "I lost money, and you won't even let me see your cards!?"
"Are you afraid to show me because you're guilty? Or are you bluffing!?"
I didn't bother to refute the short-haired young man's words, but instead gave a dismissive cold smile.
At this moment, Brother Shi also stared at me and said in a deep voice, "Kid, Cao Jie lost money, it's normal for him to want to see your cards."
"Exactly! He lost money, what's wrong with him taking a look at your cards?"
"Oh... I get it! No wonder you didn't want to showdown earlier, you were bluffing!" The bald man next to them chimed in opportunely.
I knew this sycophantic bald guy was getting back at me for not wanting to showdown earlier.
At this moment, the eyes of the three people at the table were all fixed on me.
At this very moment, the ugly face of humanity and the selfishness of people were vividly displayed!
Ignoring Brother Shi and the short-haired young man named Cao Jie, I turned my gaze to the bald man and replied coldly, "I've never met someone who clamors to showdown without putting any money in!"
As soon as I finished speaking, the bald man froze, then let out a heavy cold snort and turned his head away.
Then, turning my gaze back to Cao Jie, and removing his hand, I slowly picked up my three cards and revealed them to him at an angle that no one else could see.
"I can understand losing a lot. But I don't understand the behavior of rushing to flip someone's cards after losing a lot! Card etiquette is character, brother!"
"Alright, have you seen my cards clearly now?"
"Friendly reminder, you can look, but don't make a sound until this hand is over!"
Upon hearing my words, Cao Jie's face turned from green to white. He wanted to retort but couldn't find a suitable reason.
And when he saw my cards, his expression became even more dramatic.
I thought that my subtle remarks would enlighten Cao Jie and make him realize that I had already seen through him.
Normally, anyone with a shred of shame would have restrained themselves after hearing my words.
But I didn't expect that after a moment of silence, Cao Jie would grit his teeth and curse, "What the hell is this crap!?"
"Even a tractor can lose, this is f***ing ridiculous!"
"Tractor" meant a mixed straight in Golden Flower.
Cao Jie directly stating he had a tractor was signaling Brother Shi.
My cards... were bigger than a tractor!
Until today, I had only heard about the ugly faces of gamblers from Uncle Tuo. Things like signaling, cheating, using secret languages, and exchanging codes.
At the time, I thought Uncle Tuo was exaggerating.
How could a person be so shameless!
Only now did I realize I was wrong.
For money, some people could indeed do such shameless things!
As expected, after receiving Cao Jie's signal, Brother Shi didn't even bother to act. The moment I threw my money, he opened his cards!
The result was obvious.
Undoubtedly, he lost.
His J, 7, 3 of diamonds flush was crushed by my A, 8, 6 of diamonds flush.
Yes, I conned him.
Just before Cao Jie reached out to flip my cards, I had already used "Shifting Shadows" to switch out the 9 of Diamonds.
Since I had already switched the cards, stopping him from flipping them was not out of fear of being exposed, but a matter of principle.
The hand that could have driven Brother Shi mad was ruined by Cao Jie.
Truly, he was both the cause of success and the cause of failure!
From this moment on, I decided to go all out and thoroughly deal with these two scumbags with no card etiquette!
I aimed to make them lose everything they had!
After winning this hand, I started stacking and shuffling the cards. Since these two were so shameless, I didn't need to be polite.
From shuffling onwards, I would send them to heaven!
For a con artist, shuffling was also a reflection of skill and ability.
Of course, I wouldn't do something flashy like a long stack just to show off my skills.
I used a basic con technique – the perfect shuffle.
And I did it using normal shuffling hand movements.
It took me almost half a year to learn this one move!