“Huh?” Qiao Jiajin was startled. “Do inland haircuts also have particular customs?”
“Of course they do.” Chen Junnan patiently explained. “You can’t cut hair in the first lunar month—cutting hair brings death to your uncle. You must wait until the Dragon Raises…”
“Hey!” Earth-Monkey slapped the table with his hand. “Are you two finished or not? Deal the cards already.”
Chen Junnan’s words were interrupted, but he didn’t mind. He simply turned his head back quietly and chuckled: “Don’t be in such a hurry, Brother Monkey. How’s your uncle doing?”
Seeing that Earth-Monkey ignored him, Chen Junnan casually picked up a card and placed it in front of himself.
“Brother Monkey, I haven’t looked at this card yet, but I already know my chances of winning are very high. Want to chat about it?”
After hearing this, Earth-Monkey slowly raised his head and exchanged glances with Chen Junnan, finally shaking his head: “Stop making a fool of yourself. Your skill level isn’t there yet. You’d better look at your card first.”
“Oh?” Chen Junnan smiled. “If this card I flip over turns out to be enormously huge, how would you handle it?”
“Then wouldn’t you lose?” Earth-Monkey said with furrowed brows. “You’ve already figured out the rules yourselves. Exceeding ‘sixteen’ counts as ‘busting.’ If you drew an ‘enormously huge’ card, you could withdraw in the first round.”
After hearing this, Chen Junnan was stunned, discovering that what Earth-Monkey said indeed made some sense. Each person had the possibility of failing when drawing their first hand card.
But if this were the case, wouldn’t this game have a huge loophole…?
He slowly looked toward the community card “She Day” in the center of the table, feeling he had gained a bit of insight.
“Hey, are you going to reveal your card or not?” Earth-Monkey asked. “The card you drew is an ‘open card.’ What does it mean to keep it face down?”
Chen Junnan came back to his senses and glanced at Earth-Monkey. Earth-Monkey looked provocative, so naturally he was equally defiant.
“Damn it, I’ll reveal it, I’ll reveal it. This young master will scare you to death.”
Everyone fell into brief silence when they saw this card.
“Beginning of Spring.”
Another “Beginning of Spring.”
“Aiyoyo…” Chen Junnan felt his back twinge slightly. “How is it fucking ‘Beginning of Spring’ again?! Is your deck thirty-six ‘Beginning of Spring’ cards?!”
“Do you want to hear what you’re saying?” Earth-Monkey laughed dryly. “Not only did you see that deck, but you also reshuffled it once at the end. Who can you blame?”
“Damn it… ‘Beginning of Spring’ is ‘Beginning of Spring’ then…” Chen Junnan scratched his head. “At least it’s better than ‘busting.'”
Chen Junnan’s cards were now Beginning of Spring’s “First Month Sixth Day,” plus “Second Month Second Day.” The total of all the numbers instantly reached “eleven.”
“The total of the card numbers I draw next round can’t exceed ‘five’…”
Chen Junnan quickly calculated in his mind, but for a moment couldn’t think of any cards with a total not exceeding “five.” Apart from Spring Festival’s “First Month First Day,” the remaining one should be “She Day Festival’s” Second Month Second Day.
“This is bad…”
“Hey!!” Earth-Monkey could no longer tolerate it. “Deal the cards!”
“Okay, okay.” Chen Junnan hurriedly drew a card and pushed it in front of Qiao Jiajin. “Old Qiao, this round probably has to be left to you.”
Qiao Jiajin somewhat nervously took the card, then turned his hand to reveal its face.
“Shangsi”!
“Good job, Old Qiao!!” Chen Junnan was overjoyed. “You didn’t ‘bust’ directly!”
“Yeah!” Qiao Jiajin also seemed very happy. “The ‘Shangsi Festival’!!”
The two had been happy for less than three seconds when Qiao Jiajin dully asked: “So Brother Junnan… what month and day is the ‘Shangsi Festival’?”
“Hm…?” Chen Junnan’s smile remained on his face, then he blinked slightly. “How the fuck would I know?”
The two instantly fell silent. The atmosphere was a bit awkward.
“March third…” Qi Xia said listlessly from the side. “Fist, the card face is good.”
“Huh?” Hearing Qi Xia speak, Qiao Jiajin finally relaxed. “I knew it! March third! My card face definitely has no problem.”
After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin roughly calculated. His “March Third” and “She Day’s” “February Second”—all the numbers added together had already reached “ten.” The cards he drew next round couldn’t have a total exceeding “six.”
Next came Qi Xia’s card face.
Chen Junnan placed one card in front of him. Qi Xia slowly raised his right hand and flipped the card face.
His right hand’s little finger had already turned purple-black, and his entire hand was trembling, but he didn’t pay attention to it and revealed the card face.
“Lantern Festival.”
“First month fifteenth…” After seeing this card, Qi Xia’s face turned ashen.
Just one card was “one-one-five,” a total of “seven points.” Like Chen Junnan, his hand cards plus the “She Day” on the table already reached “eleven.”
Now the only path to victory was to see whether he or Chen Junnan could draw “Spring Festival.” As long as they could draw “Spring Festival,” perhaps there would still be a thread of hope for victory.
But luck was often just that cruel. When Chen Junnan dealt Earth-Monkey his hand card, Earth-Monkey turned his hand and slapped it down.
The ferocious two characters on that slip of paper were precisely “Spring Festival.”
“Ha… hahahaha!” Earth-Monkey couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “What unfortunate timing… you two, this card is actually in my hand.”
Chen Junnan was stunned for half a second, then grabbed Earth-Monkey’s card: “Sorry about that, the cards weren’t shuffled properly. Let me change one for you.”
Earth-Monkey was also startled and hurriedly reached out to grab Chen Junnan’s wrist: “Hey! What do you mean ‘the cards weren’t shuffled properly’?! Do you play like this?”
“Obviously they weren’t shuffled properly!” Chen Junnan said. “What kind of crappy shuffling did you just do?! I got consecutive ‘Beginning of Spring’ cards, and now ‘Spring Festival’ was shuffled to you. I feel this round doesn’t count—let’s start over directly.”
“Don’t go too far!” Earth-Monkey gripped Chen Junnan’s hand with slight force. “Weren’t you the last ones to shuffle? My patience is limited.”
Grabbed by Earth-Monkey, Chen Junnan appeared slightly subdued. He just turned back to look at Qi Xia.
Qi Xia only sighed helplessly without giving any instructions.
This round wasn’t completely without a path to victory, but the probability was extremely slim. The hopes of all three people rested on Qiao Jiajin alone.
After all, next round, his and Chen Junnan’s numbers would one hundred percent exceed “sixteen,” but Qiao Jiajin was different—he had a certain probability of “surviving.”
It was just unfortunate that Earth-Monkey got “First Month First Day.” His cards now added up to only six points, safer than anyone else present.
“It won’t be me with the highest hand, will it?” Qiao Jiajin held his “Shangsi” card in hand, looking at everyone somewhat incredulously. “My ‘Third Month Third Day’ can speak?”
Earth-Monkey shrugged, then reached out to make a “please” gesture.
“I’ll raise by one.” Qiao Jiajin said. “Fat monkey, the person I once respected most told me, ‘When you have a small hand but can speak, even his old man isn’t bigger than you.'”