The beautiful woman certainly didn't need to rush me.
Because as long as she was the one to open the lid, the victory or defeat... would be firmly in her hands.
In such a crucial gamble, she would never give me the right to open the lid and decide the outcome for no reason.
So, even if I had truly spoken up, she could have found an excuse to brush it off and refuse me, as I had already spoken once before.
As for the beautiful woman's accomplice, the young man who had just jumped out pretending to be a thug, his eyes were like torches, converging into an extremely sharp beam of light, locking onto me.
Judging by the posture, the young man intended to control me the moment the gamble ended, and then hand me over to the beautiful woman for disposal.
Before the outcome was revealed, my mind began to race, continuously contemplating a way to break the deadlock.
Although my eyes were fixed on the cup in front of the beautiful woman, in reality...
I was looking at her!
The key to this gamble was her.
She was also the one who could control the decisive move.
To win, I could only find a way through her...
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck from the depths of my mind.
Afterward, I made up my mind.
"Know yourself before knowing your enemy; to break the deadlock, you must first enter the game."
Lighting a cigarette and taking two deep drags, I directly pointed at the word "even" and gritted my teeth, saying, "I choose even numbers!"
Seeing my less-than-pleasant expression, the beautiful woman cunningly retorted, "Are you sure? Have you thought it through?"
Upon hearing this, I first feigned hesitation for a while, then heavily nodded and replied, "I'm sure! But..."
"Can I be the one to open the lid again this round?"
Hearing my words, the beautiful woman immediately frowned, her face falling, and replied, "Impossible! You opened the lid last round."
"And this round, besides the ten thousand yuan on the table, we also bet on things off the table."
"As a young lady, if I lose, I have to go with you. It seems like you're getting the better deal, so I must open it myself this round!"
I knew the beautiful woman was acting, portraying herself as the weaker party.
However, was I not acting as well?
My goal was clear: to make the beautiful woman publicly refuse my request to open the lid.
Seeing that my objective had been achieved, I immediately stopped pretending and calmly said, "In that case, then you... open it!"
With that, I fixed my gaze towards the rim of the cup.
Although somewhat uncertain about my constantly changing attitude, the beautiful woman, holding the right to open the lid, naturally had no reason to fear me.
So, after taking a deep breath, the beautiful woman reached out her hand, her ring finger and pinky finger slightly curled inward, ready at any moment.
"Three, two, one..."
The moment the last number was uttered, the beautiful woman's hand, which was holding the cup, slowly lifted.
The lid was raised, revealing the universe within.
Since I was standing opposite the beautiful woman, at this moment, besides herself, only she knew the universe revealed from the cup.
What seemed like a one-second opening of the lid felt like an eternity.
The instant the cup's lid was fully lifted by the beautiful woman, I saw her suddenly grin.
And her smile was very bright.
It was clear that my choice and the final outcome... were completely opposite!
Her backup plan, prepared in her fingers, seemed to be rendered useless.
The moment the cup was moved, the beautiful woman immediately looked at me with a smiling face and said, "Sorry, handsome, you lost!"
"It's odd numbers!"
Upon hearing this, the eyes of the onlookers immediately shifted in unison towards the sunflower seeds on the table.
Some of the nosy people nearby even started counting aloud.
"One, two, three, four, five..."
"Ninety-one, damn it! It really is odd numbers!"
"Then the young man lost!"
Just as someone among the onlookers counted the number of sunflower seeds on the table and announced the result...
While the beautiful woman wasn't paying attention, I grabbed her right hand.
Then, I directly dug out the hidden sunflower seed from between her curled pinky finger and said coldly, "You cheated!"
"The actual result should be ninety-two!"
As soon as I finished speaking, I saw the expression on the beautiful woman's face change from elation and excitement to extreme disbelief.
Then, she froze on the spot.
At this moment, the surrounding crowd of onlookers stared wide-eyed at the sudden turn of events.
This method of breaking the deadlock was something I had painstakingly figured out after realizing the beautiful woman was a professional cheat...
The right to open the lid was actually a double-edged sword for the beautiful woman.
It could help her quickly accumulate gambling funds, but it could also instantly destroy her opponent.
In this final round, regardless of whether I guessed odd or even, I never thought of making a fuss in other aspects.
Because I had no idea how fast the beautiful woman's hands were, or how high her skill level was.
Therefore, I chose to look beyond the surface and see the essence, focusing intently on the beautiful woman.
Her thinking was that no matter what I chose, she would still have a winning sunflower seed hidden in her hand.
My thinking was that regardless of whether the beautiful woman made a move, as long as that sunflower seed remained hidden in her fingers, she... had actually already lost!
Although the beautiful woman didn't make a move, and I had secretly played a trick on her, this kind of approach could easily lead to a complete breakdown of relations, but...
The fact remained that she had a sunflower seed hidden in her hand, and what I said about cheating had already given her some face.
...
Seeing that the beautiful woman was still frozen on the spot and silent, I said, "Boss, what do you say? Are you willing to admit defeat, or are you planning to argue your way out of it again?"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the beautiful woman and the young man immediately turned grim.
Especially the latter, who glared at me with fierce eyes, as if he wanted to make a move.
Seeing this, the beautiful woman first took out ten thousand yuan from her bag and, along with the ten thousand I had placed on the table, handed it all to me.
Then, she turned to the young man and whispered something in his ear.
Judging by her lip movements, it seemed like she was saying: I'll go with him first, you follow with the others.
After receiving the beautiful woman's hint, the young man's cheeks immediately puffed out in anger, and he gnashed his teeth.
His eyes, filled with resentment and ferocity, stared intently at me, and his fists were clenched tightly.
Although I didn't know if this young man was the "fire general" in the beautiful woman's team, one thing I was certain of.
He liked her!
Just as the beautiful woman said she would admit defeat and prepare to pack up and follow me...
The young man moved!