Chapter 19: Changing the Turtle

Seeing Ruan Xing was determined not to change her mind, Young Master Liu had no choice but to follow her wishes and say no more. In his heart, he had already prepared for this one and a half taels of Silver to be gone for good. He began to regret listening to Hu San and inviting this little girl to the Red Pavilion to play. He took a gulp of sullen wine, his bottle obscuring half his face, and planned to go home today to avoid the limelight and come out to play again in a few days, so as to avoid being laughed at.

The others began to sigh and disparage the Black-Faced War God, but Ruan Xing acted as if she hadn't heard them, waiting for the man with the bamboo cage to put all the turtles into the water.

To everyone's surprise, the Black-Faced War God did not stick to the partition board this time after entering the water; he began to slowly and leisurely paddle his limbs, swimming toward the land.

Although still very slow, it was at a low-to-middle level among the turtles.

"How strange, why is the Black-Faced War God being so cooperative this time?"

"Could it be that it knows someone bet on it and wants to show off for once?"

"If you say that, has the Black-Faced War God become a spirit? It actually understands human speech."

The young masters talked and discussed loudly, but it didn't affect the Black-Faced War God at all. He continued to swim forward as steadily as before, while some of the other turtles were already running into trouble halfway.

Either they were flailing about impatiently in the water, or they were swimming in the opposite direction, dizzy and disoriented.

At this moment, only two turtles remained ahead of the Black-Faced War God, one of which was the Red Lotus Profound Water, which had won two championships in a row today. It looked a bit listless, and its two front claws were not paddling as vigorously as before.

Young Master Wang stood beside Ruan Xing, arms crossed, and clicked his tongue twice: "Looks like this round will be the Red Lotus Profound Water taking its third championship in a row. The top turtle of the Red Pavilion's Guichi is about to change!"

"That's not necessarily true." Ruan Xing was full of confidence.

The Black-Faced War God, seemingly leisurely, had already overtaken another turtle, and the finish line was now right before its eyes.

Just at this moment, an accident suddenly occurred. Half of the Red Lotus Profound Water's body was submerged in the water, and it was slowly sinking! "No way, is the Red Lotus Profound Water's stamina that poor? It's actually drowning!" Young Master Wang was dumbfounded.

Yes, land turtles can drown. They cannot breathe underwater, which is why they are attracted to the artificially constructed land, struggling to survive from the moment they fall into the water, moving toward the land they perceive. If they cannot reach the shore, they will either drown or swim until they die of exhaustion.

The men and attendants of the gambling den also watched the Red Lotus Profound Water with heavy hearts. They could not interfere until the bet was over, and could only watch helplessly as the Red Lotus Profound Water was about to drown.

Cultivating a turtle capable of entering the Guichi consumes both money and energy; naturally, they did not want the Red Lotus Profound Water to drown in the Guichi on its very first day.

Fortunately, ten seconds later, the Black-Faced War God's two front claws touched the land.

The man who had been prepared for a long time immediately used tongs to rescue the Red Lotus Profound Water and put it into a bamboo cage to take it off the field to rest.

"Congratulations to this young lady for her initial success!" The attendant presented a tray.

Ruan Xing looked happily at the broken Silver in the tray. She had bet one tael and five hundred and twelve and a half wen of Silver. Except for her, no one had bet on the Black-Faced War God, so the odds were very high, one to six. Calculating it out, she would receive nine taels and seventy-five wen of Silver.

She bumped Young Master Liu's arm with her shoulder, "Here, returning your one and a half taels."

"No need to return it!" Young Master Liu's eyes were shining, "Just tell me how you saw that the Black-Faced War God could win."

How did she see it? Naturally, she saw it with her eyes! She could see the amplitude of every stroke the Black-Faced War God made in her memory clearly! However, she couldn't tell Young Master Liu this. Ruan Xing put her finger to her lips and shushed, smiling mysteriously: "That's a secret."

Young Master Liu rolled his eyes and said it was boring.

Soon, the third round was about to begin. Young Master Liu didn't want the one and a half taels back, and Ruan Xing was naturally happy to keep it. She kept one tael of Silver to top up her Simulator, preparing to use it when playing Pai Gow later, and bet all the remaining eight taels and seventy-five wen on the third round.

Next, replacing the Red Lotus Profound Water on the field was the Green-Haired General who had been taken down earlier. It had probably rested well and went back onto the field, full of vigor.

This time, Ruan Xing did not bet on the Black-Faced War God again, but bet on the Green-Haired General instead. Unfortunately, many people bet on the Green-Haired General, so the odds were too low. By the time it ended, Ruan Xing only received nine taels and six hundred and ninety wen.

"Let's go to the next room to play Pai Gow. I can't wait to see your skills," Young Master Liu said somewhat eagerly. "Brother Wang, you come too."

Young Master Wang was also somewhat interested in Ruan Xing and gladly accepted the invitation. They called over another acquaintance, Young Master Cao, making up a full table of four players. When the others learned they were going to play Pai Gow, they also wanted to come and watch the fun, and Young Master Liu naturally had no objections.

The group arrived in the room next door, where a square table was set up facing the stairs. Ruan Xing sat in the position facing west, Young Master Liu was to her left, Young Master Wang was to her right, and Young Master Cao, who hadn't spoken, was opposite her.

The seats were the same as in her memory, not changed in the slightest. As long as the suits of the public tiles and hand tiles matched, she wouldn't need to waste a Simulation.

After shuffling the tiles, everyone drew one public tile and placed it in the middle, then each drew three more as their own hand tiles. The remaining eight tiles were the hidden tiles, which were set aside and ignored.

Young Master Liu glanced at his hand tiles and put them back down, lazily placing three taels of Silver on the table.

This was the meaning of the three-tael opening bet for the first round; every subsequent raise could not be smaller than this amount.

No wonder Young Master Cao opposite her would call her after three rounds. He had already lost quite a bit at the Guichi earlier; he was likely short on cash and couldn't afford to raise, but was too embarrassed to fold.

But that was just as well. Ruan Xing only had nine-plus taels in her hand, so she could only follow for three rounds. She quietly glanced at her hand tiles, felt relieved, and also followed with three taels.

After the round of calling was over, Young Master Liu followed with another three taels and chose to reveal the public tiles. One could choose to reveal only one public tile, or all of them; Young Master Liu chose to reveal all.

Pairs of eyes converged on the public tiles. These tiles were very important; those who knew how to play could roughly calculate their winning chances based on these four tiles.

There were twenty-four tiles in total. Excluding the eight hidden tiles, the public tiles plus one's own hand tiles made seven. With the suits of these seven, someone who knew how to count tiles could calculate what tile combinations you couldn't possibly have, even if they couldn't calculate exactly what you did have.

The mystery was revealed: the suits of the public tiles were Black Maple Leaf, Red Maple Leaf, Blue Maple Leaf, and Blue Maple Leaf.

"Yo, these public tiles turned out well," Young Master Wang praised.

In the case where the four public tiles are of the same suit, a pair in the hand that matches the suit of the public tiles automatically upgrades to a Heaven Tile.

Young Master Liu laughed, "What, do you have one in your hand?"

"I can't tell you that; you'll have to guess whether I do or not!"

Young Master Wang smiled and spoke in riddles, but Ruan Xing knew he couldn't possibly have the Maple Leaf suit in his hand.

Because the Black Maple Leaf was in her hand, and the Red Maple Leaf was in the hands of Young Master Cao opposite her.

After another round of betting, the raises on the table had accumulated to twenty-four taels of Silver. If he could win this round, Young Master Cao would earn back everything he had just lost. His family background was not as good as Liu and Wang's; he was just an ordinary wealthy household, and twenty-plus taels a month was already high consumption.

Thus, in the third round of betting, when it was Young Master Cao's turn, there were already thirty-three taels on the table. He hesitated for a moment and said, "I want to call."

Young Master Wang was surprised: "That's not very good, Brother Cao. You want to call the little girl right away? Isn't that bullying?"

Young Master Cao gave a sheepish smile, "Didn't you say she has real skills? If she had calculated that her tiles were smaller than ours, wouldn't she have folded long ago?"

"But if you call and your hand isn't bigger than hers, you'll have to pay each of us an additional thirty-three taels of Silver," Young Master Liu frowned and reminded him. Folding now would only mean losing six taels, but calling would mean losing ninety-nine taels.

Young Master Cao gave a wry smile, "Call it. At worst, I'll go home and let my father beat me up, and I'll be bedridden for ten days or half a month."

Anyway, his pocket money for this month was already spent. Even if he only lost six taels, he would have to stay home honestly for the rest of the month and wouldn't be able to come out to play.

"Since you say so, then call. You first or her first?" Young Master Liu turned his gaze toward Ruan Xing.

There will be another chapter before 12:00 tonight.

(End of chapter)