“The fourth round begins.”

Earth-Monkey’s resounding and forceful words landed.

Qi Xia didn’t pay attention to Earth-Monkey’s expression and directly moved his gaze to the wooden box in the center of the table.

Sure enough, just as Qi Xia expected, when Earth-Monkey finished speaking, the wooden box in the center of the table changed color again.

Although this change was also very slight, after three rounds of time, the overall color of the wooden box had completely changed, making it hard not to draw everyone’s attention.

Qiao Jiajin also patted Qi Xia at this moment. “Liar boy… you seem to be right. That box is really changing color!”

Qi Xia naturally knew the box was changing color, but the current situation was still unclear. He had noticed this anomaly two rounds ago, but had no way to guess the reason for the box’s change.

Now the color of this wooden box was already approaching golden yellow, as if the light tube inside had reached its brightest value. It sat in the center of the table like a bright lamp in the room.

Everyone noticed this change, but no one immediately figured out the reason.

The person whose turn it was to deal this round was Xiao Cheng. After he finished shuffling all the cards, he placed one in the center of the table.

This was the “community card”—”Spring Festival.”

“The first day of the first month.” Qi Xia directly foresaw the future direction of this round’s cards.

They needed to get more “ones,” otherwise it would be difficult to beat Earth-Monkey.

The best outcome would be to get a card from the “eleventh month.” That way, with four “ones” in hand, it would be easy to beat Earth-Monkey.

After Xiao Cheng flipped the “community card,” he gave himself another one, then also revealed his hand.

“The twenty-third of the tenth month…” Qi Xia’s lips moved. “One-zero-two-three.”

This card was neither big nor small. Although he didn’t get many “ones,” it was also moving toward a “straight.” Now everyone’s hands should be moving toward “pairs.” Once Xiao Cheng could form a “straight,” there was a possibility of sweeping the entire table.

Next was Chen Junnan. He received a “Beginning of Spring” from Xiao Cheng’s hand—the sixth day of the first month.

“Damn, why is it ‘Beginning of Spring’ again?” Chen Junnan froze. “I feel like this card appeared once before. Do I look that much like ‘Beginning of Spring’?”

Qi Xia remembered that Chen Junnan had gotten “Beginning of Spring” in the first round, but this time the situation was different from then. At that time, the “community card” was “Hungry Ghost Festival,” which was “seven-one-five.”

“Beginning of Spring” had no way to be useful in that round, but this round’s “community card” was “Spring Festival.” When Chen Junnan got “Beginning of Spring,” he had already gathered three of the number “one.” As long as the “hidden card” he drew in the next round still had a “one,” he would form “four of a kind ones,” and his chances of winning this game would become very high.

Moreover, all the solar terms in the first half of the year were on the “twenty-first,” and there were still the eleventh and twelfth months in the second half of the year. All these cards contained many of the number “one,” so Chen Junnan’s probability of getting a “one” was very high.

Qiao Jiajin got a “Hungry Ghost Festival” card.

Qi Xia himself got “White Dew.” He frowned and calculated. “White Dew” was “the eighth day of the eighth month.”

This card wasn’t closely connected to “the first day of the first month,” but it wasn’t a small card itself. Now Qi Xia’s hand was equivalent to “two pairs,” one pair of “eights” and one pair of “ones.”

At this moment, everyone’s eyes gathered on Earth-Monkey. After all, he was everyone’s opponent, the object of everyone’s “gambling.”

When Earth-Monkey revealed his hand, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Tomb Sweeping Day”—the sixth day of the third month.

This card was really difficult to match with the “Spring Festival’s” first day of the first month. Whether pairs or straights, they were very far apart.

“‘Three-six’ and ‘one-one’…?” Qi Xia slowly narrowed his eyes. He felt the situation was somewhat ominous.

If looking at it according to the previous round’s situation, Earth-Monkey would inevitably concede.

It was already the fourth round now. If Earth-Monkey continued to concede, would everyone still have a chance to turn things around?

Next, Zheng Yingxiong got a “Beginning of Autumn” card—the eighth day of the seventh month.

Tiantian got “Slight Cold”—the eighth day of the twelfth month.

Everyone’s hands were still pretty good. Only Zheng Yingxiong’s hand was the worst. His “eighth day of the seventh month” had no essential difference from Earth-Monkey’s “sixth day of the third month.” Both were unable to match with “the first day of the first month.”

At this moment, Tiantian scanned the circle and found that the “Slight Cold” in her hand should be from the latest month, so she began to consider the possibility of “raising.”

After all, “Slight Cold” was from the twelfth month, also commonly known as the “twelfth month.” It could form three “ones” with the “community card’s” Spring Festival. The hand was pretty good. No matter what, it would be bigger than Earth-Monkey’s hand, so she chose to raise by one.

Xiao Cheng looked at his “Light Snow” and had similar thoughts to Tiantian. After all, “Light Snow” was from a solar term in the tenth month, and could currently form three “ones,” so he placed his bet.

Then came Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin. Both of their hands contained “ones,” so they also both called.

After Qi Xia also finished calling, he looked at Earth-Monkey with slight helplessness.

If Earth-Monkey chose to withdraw, no matter how much everyone raised, it would be futile.

But what Qi Xia hadn’t expected was that Earth-Monkey kept his head lowered looking at his own hand, then pulled out a “Dao” from under the table and placed it down.

“I call.”

“Call…?” Qi Xia froze, then reconfirmed Earth-Monkey’s hand. It was indeed “Tomb Sweeping Day.”

The doubt in Qi Xia’s heart wouldn’t go away. He didn’t know what backup plan Earth-Monkey was waiting for.

Because Earth-Monkey had stated the rules before the game, the rules of this game were to compare size using the cards in hand plus the card in the center of the table. Logically speaking, even if the rules changed, they couldn’t change so drastically that they would make chaotic numbers like Tomb Sweeping Day and Spring Festival added together beat everyone’s neat and orderly cards.

Even if the rules changed to purely comparing numerical size, “Tomb Sweeping Day” and “Spring Festival” were among the smallest batches.

But Earth-Monkey had indeed clearly said “call.”

Then it was Zheng Yingxiong’s turn. He looked at his “Beginning of Autumn” card from “the eighth day of the seventh month” and announced his withdrawal from this round.

Hearing Zheng Yingxiong withdraw, Earth-Monkey slowly lifted his eyelids, looked at his cards, then lowered his head expressionlessly again.

Qi Xia noticed that Earth-Monkey’s lips had been trembling slightly from beginning to end, as if calculating something.

Although there was indeed content that needed calculating in this game, as a casino veteran like Earth-Monkey, did he need to keep his head lowered and calculating the whole time?

After everyone finished placing their bets, Xiao Cheng began the second round of dealing. Except for Zheng Yingxiong, everyone received a face-down “hidden card.”

Qi Xia held down his “hidden card,” raised his head to look at Earth-Monkey, and didn’t expect the other party to also keep his “hidden card” pressed down. At this moment, he was also staring at Qi Xia.

“Earth-Monkey, without looking at the cards, betting directly—do you dare?” Qi Xia asked.