Once all bets were placed, as the cards were about to be dealt, a subtle movement by Jiang He caught my eye, making my pupils constrict sharply.
As he combined the cut deck with the remaining cards, preparing to deal, Jiang He used the long nail of his left thumb to smoothly scrape across a corner of the complete deck.
The instant his nail left the deck, Jiang He's right hand moved with seamless precision, adopting the posture of dealing cards.
But in that brief pause, a second and a half before the deal, I saw his right hand's five fingers suddenly close together without warning.
His right hand's back also curved slightly.
Palm card! Cheating by concealing a card.
Jiang He was cheating! He had secretly stashed away a card before it was dealt.
This suggested that the number of cards he had hidden in his sleeve wasn't very large.
Having confirmed that his opponents at the table were all novices, Jiang He seemed to grow bolder.
Everything was proceeding smoothly and in order, just as I had anticipated…
After the cards were dealt, someone impatiently began to arrange their hand.
Although this person didn't appear very old, his head was already balding.
After arranging his cards, the bald man grumbled as he flipped them over, lamenting, "Damn it! If I had known these were the points, I wouldn't have been so stupid as to cut the deck!"
9, 4, 9, totaling two points.
The bald man's words perfectly exemplified the gambler's nature.
Whenever they lost money, they would invariably blame heaven, earth, and the air.
Little did they know that in a game with a cheater, any manual cutting of the cards by others would be futile.
After the bald man's complaint, another gambler frowned and said, "Su Jianwei, did you not wash your hands after going to the toilet?"
"Look at the terrible cards you cut. I only got one point."
With that, the man revealed his cards.
8, 8, 5, totaling one point.
The others behind him also began to complain, as the bald man named Su Jianwei seemed to be truly cursed.
As a result, he had cut almost everyone's cards into very low point values.
Only Zhang Chengxiang managed to get six points.
It was clear that for a player to get such low point values in San Gong, it was insufficient. If the dealer could get seven points or more, it would be another clean sweep.
It was just like in Bullfighting, where if everyone outside the game received cards below Bull Seven, and the person holding the dealer position got a Bull Eight or higher… the payout would be doubled for everyone!
As expected!
Jiang He won this round as well.
However, one aspect was slightly different from what I had imagined.
Although Jiang He had won by switching cards, he hadn't swapped for the crucial doubling card. Instead, he had switched for a low-point card, which, combined with the other two cards, resulted in seven points.
His win was neither too hot nor too cold.
It appeared to have a hint of luck involved.
Furthermore, during the next round of shuffling and arranging cards, he returned the card he had previously stolen back into the deck.
To be honest, Jiang He was very cautious, and… he seemed to be quite a good actor!
In the subsequent rounds, although he held the bank, he played with a mix of wins and losses, completely lacking the aggressive demeanor he had shown earlier.
If this continued, the fire I was hoping for wouldn't ignite.
Because this kind of stop-and-go winning method wouldn't result in winning much money in the long run.
Seeing this, I immediately guessed Jiang He's intention.
It was obvious that this scoundrel was playing the long game, intending to use Zhang Chengxiang and his group as his long-term meal ticket.
If the fire I wanted didn't fully ignite, even if I managed to catch Jiang He red-handed later, it would only make Zhang Chengxiang hate and detest cheaters even more!
This scoundrel's plan was truly brilliant!
He had the time to play the long game and wait for a big catch, but I didn't!
No, I had to find a way to break this situation as soon as possible!
In an instant, I entered brainstorming mode, searching for a solution to break the deadlock…
Before long, I had an idea.
Since Jiang He wasn't going to start the fire, I would do it for him!
For the first time! This was the first time in my life that I had to tarnish a fellow gambler's reputation to win over talent.
"Forgive me, Jiang He! It's just that you happened to be in the way!"
Having decided to trap Jiang He, I muttered a few words in my heart out of guilt.
…
About half an hour later.
Han Jinlun not only gave back all the money he had won but also lost the more than two thousand yuan he had brought to the table.
Just as Han Jinlun was getting agitated and preparing to put in more money, I stopped him.
"Brother Jinlun, let me have a turn!"
Before coming to find Zhang Chengxiang, I had made an agreement with Han Jinlun.
Whether we met at the card table or elsewhere, if I discovered anything unusual or a change in circumstances, I would immediately take over Han Jinlun's place.
As if recalling this agreement, Han Jinlun, whose eyes were red from the smoke, seemed to lose some of the fierceness in his gaze and appeared to sober up instantly.
After taking Han Jinlun's seat, to further provoke Jiang He, I took out a stack of bills from my inner jacket pocket and placed them on the table.
In a game like this, openly displaying ten thousand yuan on the table was quite provocative.
Whether Jiang He would be tempted, I wasn't sure, but one thing was certain…
He would definitely keep my ten thousand yuan firmly in his sight!
Next, it would depend on whether he chose a simple and crude method of cheating by switching cards for a big win, or if he continued with his previous "boiling frog" approach, relying half on skill and half on luck to wear people down.
I believed that time would soon give me the most accurate answer!
After sitting down, to further fuel Jiang He's ambition, I placed the maximum bet.
If he dared to deal himself three 3s, a hand that could pay ten times the bet, I would readily pay the two thousand yuan without batting an eye!
Because when I brought out ten thousand yuan, I had no intention of winning; I was simply using it as bait to hook Jiang He.
Unfortunately, Jiang He was as slippery as an eel and didn't take the bait at all!
On the first hand after I took Han Jinlun's place, he didn't use any tricks and simply handed the victory to someone else!
It seemed my earlier impression of him was too strong.
To gain the trust of Zhang Chengxiang and the others, Jiang He clearly didn't care about the win-loss ratio of a single round.
Occasionally making a bold move, then secretly backing down.
This was Jiang He's tactic and method.
After a while.
For several consecutive hands, Jiang He continued to play this tactic, easily refraining from making a move and relying purely on luck to gamble for wins and losses.
Seeing that my plan to lure Jiang He into cheating with money had failed, I had no choice but to resort to a second, rather more devious method to force him to cheat…