After Zheng Yinxiong finished shuffling the cards, everyone followed Earth-Monkey’s guidance and took out one “Dao” chip to place on the table.

Zheng Yinxiong also drew a community card and placed it in the center of the table.

“Lixia” (Beginning of Summer).

In Qi Xia’s eyes, this card immediately transformed into the numbers “four” and “six”—this year’s “Lixia” fell on the sixth day of the fourth month.

Next, Zheng Yinxiong picked up a card and was about to hand it to Earth-Monkey when Chen Junnan stopped him.

“Hold on, kid.” Chen Junnan revealed a sly smile. “Don’t give it to Brother Monkey. When he dealt the cards, he gave the first one to himself, so you should give it to yourself too.”

“Huh? Can I do that?” Zheng Yinxiong froze.

“Hell yes, you can.” Chen Junnan nodded.

Zheng Yinxiong held the card he was about to deal and examined it for a long time, then very anxiously placed it in front of himself. His nose twitched as he looked at Qi Xia.

Qi Xia also met his gaze at that moment.

He always felt there was something strange about Zheng Yinxiong’s state. Although the two hadn’t communicated, it seemed as if he and Zheng Yinxiong were connected by some invisible thread.

Zheng Yinxiong seemed able to understand his intentions.

This was the first time Qi Xia had experienced such a feeling, as if he were cooperating with another version of himself. Unfortunately, he had no way to perceive Zheng Yinxiong’s thoughts—only Zheng Yinxiong could initiate the coordination from his side.

Thinking this, Qi Xia silently said to himself: “Zheng Yinxiong, if you can hear me, nod.”

After speaking, he looked in Zheng Yinxiong’s direction, but Zheng Yinxiong showed no reaction and continued fiddling with the cards in his hand.

Zheng Yinxiong revealed his “face-up card”—it showed “Dongzhi” (Winter Solstice).

“One, one, two, three…” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and muttered inwardly.

Next was Tiantian, who received a “Shangsi” card. Xiao Cheng got “Xiazhi” (Summer Solstice), Chen Junnan received “Lidong” (Beginning of Winter), and Qiao Jiajin drew “Yuanxiao” (Lantern Festival).

Zheng Yinxiong picked up the cards, climbed onto the table, and dealt one card each to Qi Xia and Earth-Monkey.

Qi Xia revealed his “face-up card,” which read “Qingming” (Pure Brightness). He looked up to see Earth-Monkey’s card showing “Chuxi” (New Year’s Eve).

This opening wasn’t looking good. From the very beginning, Qi Xia’s card face was “third month, sixth day”—meaning he only had the numbers “three” and “six.” Earth-Monkey had “twelfth month, thirtieth day.” If “zero” counted as a number, Earth-Monkey had obtained four numbers in the first round: “one, two, three, zero.”

Not only did he have more numbers, but he also had a better chance of forming a straight.

Was there anyone in this round whose card face could beat Earth-Monkey’s?

“Wait a moment…”

At this moment, Qi Xia instantly noticed the “Dongzhi” card in front of Zheng Yinxiong. This year’s Winter Solstice fell on the twenty-third day of the eleventh month in the lunar calendar.

“One, one, two, three…” Qi Xia’s brow furrowed slightly. “This card face is even more advantageous than Earth-Monkey’s.”

If what Qiao Jiajin said was true—that this deck used “Texas Hold’em” rules—then “zero” most likely didn’t count as a number. Because among all the solar terms and festivals in a year, only “New Year’s Eve” involved the number “zero,” so this number couldn’t form any “pair.” If it formed a “straight,” a straight beginning with “zero” would be the smallest of all straights.

In summary, the number “zero” probably didn’t exist in this game.

In other words, Zheng Yinxiong’s card face was currently stronger than Earth-Monkey’s. He had four solid numbers, including one pair of “ones” and a straight of “one, two, three.”

Now it just depended on the first round of “betting” and everyone’s second “hole card.”

“I’m the highest.” Earth-Monkey said. “I have ‘New Year’s Eve.’ I’m raising.”

After speaking, he tossed another “Dao” chip onto the table and turned to look at Zheng Yinxiong.

Seeing his turn had come, Zheng Yinxiong sniffed with his nose, then suddenly seemed to think of something and spoke: “Uncle, I call.”

He placed his only remaining “Dao” chip on the table. Now his pockets were completely empty—he had bet everything he had.

Next was Tiantian. Tiantian wasn’t stupid. After watching the first confrontation between Qi Xia and Earth-Monkey, she felt she had grasped something.

The card in her hand was “Shangsi,” and the “Shangsi Festival” fell on the third day of the third month.

She felt her card might actually count as a strong hand in this game, since it had two identical numbers.

In the previous round, both Qi Xia and Earth-Monkey drew cards with two identical numbers—”Qixi” (Double Seventh Festival) and “Duanwu” (Dragon Boat Festival)—which made their card faces very strong in that round. So her own card face shouldn’t be too weak. She decisively chose to “call.”

Then it was Xiao Cheng’s turn. Xiao Cheng hadn’t clearly heard the earlier conversation between Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, and was currently pondering the possible rules of this game.

The card in his hand was “Xiazhi” (Summer Solstice).

“Summer Solstice is ‘fifth month, twenty-first day’…”

Xiao Cheng slowly raised his head to look at the card in the center of the table and at Earth-Monkey’s card. He felt he should probably fold in this round, but if he kept folding until the game ended, he would never be able to help this team. Better to take a gamble here and figure out the rules as soon as possible.

So he took out a “Dao” chip and placed it on the table.

After thinking for a moment, Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan on the side both turned over their cards one after another, choosing not to continue betting and exiting this round of the game.

When it came to Qi Xia’s turn, he also took out a “Dao” chip and placed it on the table, seemingly without much thought. At this point, the size of the card face was no longer important to him—what mattered was winning the entire “Shuowang Yue” game.

Next, the decision returned to Earth-Monkey. This was the second round of bidding, and if he wanted to, he could still raise the stakes. After thinking for a few seconds, Earth-Monkey raised his head to look at Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin. Seeing these two had withdrawn, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, these two were troublemakers, and having them not participate in this round made him feel much more at ease.

But his heart had barely settled for less than a second when Chen Junnan spoke up.

“Old Qiao, it’s so boring with just the two of us not playing. How about we do an idiom chain game?”

“Idiom chain…? Brilliant.” Qiao Jiajin also nodded.

The two completely disregarded the remaining players and began their idiom chain game on their own.

“I’ll start.” Qiao Jiajin said. “I’ll say one… ‘Lure the tiger away from the mountain’!”

“Mountain?” After hearing this, Chen Junnan gave a wicked smile and glanced toward Earth-Monkey from the corner of his eye. “I’ll continue for you… ‘When there’s no tiger in the mountains, even a damn monkey can call himself king.'”