Just then…
"Oh, damn! What's the situation, Xiao Yu? Coming out for a gathering, and you're dragging a suitcase? Are you going on a trip with our beautiful Sun?"
As soon as Zhou Xi saw Wang Yu enter with a suitcase, he immediately got up to greet him and said with a teasing tone.
Zhou Xi's smile, which was three parts playful and seven parts fawning, immediately made me understand: he… had most likely compromised with life.
Without exaggeration, during our three years of junior high, Wang Yu would beat up Zhou Xi almost every other week!
Therefore, being beaten, scolded, and robbed became the main theme of Zhou Xi's school life.
Such dual physical and psychological trauma was simply not something time could smooth over.
To be able to bow down to Wang Yu in this state, there was no other reason than bending the knee for a meager living.
Thus, I could confirm… Zhou Xi had changed.
And he asked me out, it must have been on Wang Yu's instructions!
After clarifying my doubts, I no longer dwelled on the previous matters and shifted my attention to Wang Yu and that woman…
Seeing Zhou Xi put away his suitcase for him, a look of smugness flashed in Wang Yu's eyes. He pulled the woman behind him and said as he walked, "Hey! Don't even mention it!"
"I lost some money playing cards and argued with my old man. He told me to get out! So, I just rolled out!"
"I don't know why, but ever since my dad became the town mayor, his temper has been getting worse by the day!"
If I were to tell you how snobbish my classmates are, you might not believe it.
Just a moment ago, a large crowd was sitting in the private room, waiting for Wang Yu alone. Except for me, who remained silent, almost everyone was complaining about Wang Yu, their faces sullen.
Even Zhou Xi had complained several times.
But now, as soon as this group saw Wang Yu arrive, they all changed their tune.
They got up to shake hands, inquire about his well-being, offered him cigarettes and lit them, all flocking around Wang Yu.
Honestly, if it weren't for the need to win over Wang Yu, I wouldn't have shown up to an occasion like this.
Was it worth it? These people are too mercenary!
Was this bowing to life, or bowing to power?
……
After sitting down, Wang Yu greeted me with a forced smile and, surrounded by his male classmates, eloquently recounted tales of "my mayor father."
Hearing Wang Yu say that he wasn't going on a trip but was symbolically running away from home and would hide out for a couple of days, my furrowed brow finally began to relax.
Thank goodness! As long as he wasn't going on a trip, it was fine.
As for the woman who accompanied Wang Yu, she was pulled aside by some female classmates and began to chat and gossip in hushed tones…
It was only when the woman was pulled aside by the female classmates to chat that I belatedly realized that this woman, who felt somewhat familiar, was actually my junior high classmate!!!
Sun Jingjing!
A girl who wasn't very noticeable in junior high, even a bit of a wallflower, had transformed into this!
I have to admit, girls change a lot as they grow!
And it's true… the more they grow, the more they change!
Thus, after Wang Yu and Sun Jingjing appeared, this class reunion, nominally held to strengthen bonds, directly turned into a solo speech and performance by the former!
Around 9:30 PM.
After singing and dining, as the gathering was nearing its end, Zhou Xi kept me and three other well-off male classmates behind.
The reason given was: a little gambling to liven things up and strengthen bonds.
For such nonsensical reasoning, which simply meant that he knew a few of us had some spare cash and wanted to satisfy Wang Yu's personal gambling desires, I offered a disdainful cold smile in my heart.
So, the ultimate purpose of this so-called class reunion was this?!
It all made sense now.
It seemed that after tasting the sweetness of "playing cards" with Yu Shuang last time, Wang Yu had now extended his reach to us classmates.
And this time, Wang Yu had also learned to adapt to the situation, not bringing his usual cronies, but directly bringing Zhou Xi!
Fine! Since this scoundrel is eager to give me money, I don't need to be polite anymore!
After agreeing, we several people headed straight to a nearby card room…
Ten PM, in a private room at the card room.
Besides the six of us boys, Wang Yu also brought Sun Jingjing.
Seeing everyone had arrived, Wang Yu asked Zhou Xi to entertain us, while he went out to find the owner for playing cards, preparing to start the game.
It was still Golden Flower, with stakes of 10-100.
A base bet of ten yuan, with a ceiling of one hundred yuan.
When Wang Yu came in with the cards and began to unpack them to shuffle, a faint, almost imperceptible curve appeared on the corner of my mouth.
Heh heh!
After playing a few games with me, Wang Yu had not only transformed from a gambler to a gambling addict but also to a cunning gambler!
Was this a case of "long illness makes a good doctor"?
He's even rigged the cards! It looks like this guy… has big plans for tonight!
The cards Wang Yu took out were not the same as the ones Cao Jie used last time, which required invisible lenses to see the marked ink. Instead, they were pure magic playing cards.
Magic playing cards are also called cheating playing cards. If you don't look closely, their appearance is no different from ordinary playing cards.
But if you look carefully, you'll find that on the back of each card, the engraved patterns have subtle differences compared to ordinary playing cards.
With these subtle differences, one can easily identify the suit and rank of the cards.
It's like twisting a Rubik's Cube; the different pattern differences in magic cards have special mnemonic rhymes.
This is also the real reason why those magicians can recognize the size and suit of a card just by looking at its back!
If you give a magician a real deck of cards and ask him to identify the face by looking at the back, I can guarantee… the magician will just stare blankly at you!
However, to be fair, this method, which is not outright cheating but rather a form of cheating, is the most suitable for playing cards with acquaintances.
It's much more reliable than marked ink and invisible lenses.
The reason I say this is that even if an ordinary person deliberately looks at the back of the cards, they won't be able to see anything.
If I weren't here tonight, these classmates would probably have been made fools of.
Unfortunately, he ran into me.
Trying to cheat me out of my money? He must be dreaming!
To avoid alerting him, I didn't speak up directly, nor did I use any tricks after the game started.
The one who wins first wins paper, the one who wins last wins money!
Fatting up the prey before killing it is the most skillful hunting method of top predators!
The all-night Golden Flower game… has begun!