Chapter 20: A Narrow Victory

Young Master Liu asked Young Master Cao, but his eyes were fixed on Ruan Xing.

Young Master Cao rubbed his nose awkwardly, "I'll go first."

The tiles were flipped over: Red Maple Leaf, Red Plum Blossom, Red Plum Blossom.

A same-color Red Pair, a standard Earth Tile; it was a pity that because of the Red Maple Leaf, its value had risen quite a bit, barely rivaling a Heaven Tile.

If the public tiles hadn't been dealt so well, he wouldn't have dared to reveal his hand like this.

"That is indeed a good hand," Young Master Wang praised, having already discarded his hand; he was the smallest among the four, and he hadn't folded earlier only because he didn't want to spoil the mood in the first round.

Young Master Liu held a Heaven Tile, but winning or losing this game clearly had nothing to do with him, so he discarded his tiles with little interest, waiting for Ruan Xing to reveal her hand.

Ruan Xing pursed her lips and revealed a shy smile, saying somewhat modestly, "I'm not very familiar with the rules involving public tiles. Young Master Liu, do you think my hand is big or small?"

With a light flip of her small hand, the suits were revealed: Black Maple Leaf, Black Orchid, Black Orchid.

A same-color Black Pair, which also climbed into the ranks of Heaven Tiles due to the Black Maple Leaf, but it was a pity that black came before red.

"A narrow victory," Young Master Liu commented.

"Ah, just by a hair. Nothing to be done, black is just bigger than red," Young Master Wang shook his head in regret.

Young Master Cao wore a mournful face, "Fine, fine. But I have no money on me now; I'll make up what I owe you next month."

"What, going to sell your old man's calligraphy and paintings again?" Young Master Wang teased.

Young Master Cao shook his head repeatedly, "How could I dare? Sigh, let's not talk about it, let's not talk about it. Let someone else play; I can't sit still anymore."

He stood up, and the few young masters watching from the side immediately clamored; within a few words, a replacement was chosen to take the seat.

Ruan Xing took the thirty-three taels of Silver from the table, and Young Master Liu told the servant to reshuffle; soon, the tiles were ready.

As usual, they drew the public tiles first, followed by three hand tiles; Young Master Liu started with a three-tael bet, and after Ruan Xing followed for one round, she folded directly in the second round.

There was no help for it; the hands of the other player and Young Master Liu were both bigger than hers, and she had no hope of winning; even if she dragged it out to the fifth round, it would just be losing more Silver.

She didn't intend to cheat at this game of Pai Gow; firstly, leave a line for others so you can meet again in the future. If she didn't win too ruthlessly today, the other party wouldn't refuse her when she was short on Silver and wanted to play with Young Master Liu again later.

Secondly, Shi Shifu had never taught her how to cheat at Pai Gow; this did not fall under the category of introductory Gambling.

In short, she didn't know how.

But it didn't matter; after today ended, she had already accumulated a huge sum of thirty taels and six hundred and ninety wen, plus 101.3 points in the Simulator.

This was something she hadn't expected; she had originally planned to stop after winning two or three taels, just enough to have ten Simulations left after giving Hu San his share.

Plans couldn't keep up with changes; when luck comes, no one can stop it.

Ruan Xing stroked the heavy Silver in her hands, leaned back in her chair comfortably, and squinted her eyes while waiting for the game to end.

After three or four rounds, the other two people couldn't withstand the pressure and folded; except for Young Master Liu, who had a Heaven Tile, the other three all had Human Tiles—it would be a miracle to win with that.

Ruan Xing even felt a bit envious of Young Master Liu's luck.

Young Master Liu, who was being envied by Ruan Xing, yawned, "Alright, it's time to go back and sleep; let's play again tonight."

The others dispersed in response, leaving only Young Master Wang and Young Master Liu in the room. Young Master Wang leaned over to Ruan Xing and familiarly draped an arm over her shoulder, "Little girl, tell brother, how did you manage to be so good?"

Young Master Liu hummed in disdain but didn't stop him, because he wanted to know too.

Although he had relied on luck since he started playing these games, winning eight or nine times out of ten, Ruan Xing's way of playing definitely didn't rely on luck, and since he decided what to play, it shouldn't be cheating either.

He was quite curious as well.

Seeing Young Master Wang's posture of not letting her leave unless she spoke, Ruan Xing thought for a moment, took out three copper coins, and said solemnly, "Actually, I have studied divination." "Oh? So you calculated it all?" Young Master Wang couldn't believe it.

This answer felt even more absurd than a six-year-old cheating.

"Yes," Ruan Xing nodded as if it were true, "How about I calculate one for you?"

"How do you calculate it?"

"You put the three copper coins in your palm, shake them, and then throw them on the table."

Young Master Wang did as Ruan Xing said, half-believing. The copper coins rolled on the table twice, landing with two heads and one tail.

He looked blank, "That's it? What does it mean? What did you see?"

Ruan Xing stroked her chin and examined the copper coins on the table, shaking her head and sighing with a bitter expression, "Not good, not good."

"Why is it not good?" Young Master Wang was a bit anxious.

Ruan Xing didn't keep him in suspense, "An omen of great misfortune. The hexagram shows that you didn't return home last night, and your mother has sent people to catch you; they have already arrived downstairs at this moment."

Young Master Wang was dumbfounded; before he could ask Ruan Xing for details, a powerful roar already came from downstairs.

"Wang Dongxing!! Get down here right now!"

"Oh, my mother!" Young Master Wang was so scared he fell off his chair; not caring to rub his suffering backside, he jumped up and ran out in a panic.

"I'm going to hide at my maternal grandfather's house first; if my mother asks, just say you didn't see me!"

Seeing him thwarted, Ruan Xing laughed out loud. The text version of the Simulator wouldn't write so many details, but the memory she chose included this event that had already happened; Ruan Xing was just telling him a few seconds in advance.

Young Master Liu had a smile on his lips, his gaze probing as he looked at Ruan Xing, "Was it really divination?"

Ruan Xing blinked with feigned innocence, "Of course."

To avoid Young Master Liu wanting an impromptu reading, Ruan Xing added a patch for herself, "Divination is quite energy-consuming. I'm still young, so it's not suitable to divine too much in one day; I can't do any more today."

"Alright then," Young Master Liu didn't force her, "Today was quite interesting; I'll invite you to play again next time."

"Okay," Ruan Xing agreed immediately.

She would definitely come next time she was short on money.

Rising to bid farewell to Young Master Liu, Ruan Xing put the Silver into her small inner pocket until it was bulging, then went downstairs, preparing to return to the branch.

She hadn't walked two steps after leaving when she was called out; turning back, she saw it was Hu San.

"Have you been waiting for me here the whole time?" Ruan Xing was a bit surprised.

"Yeah, I was afraid something might happen," Hu San explained simply, "Let's go, I'll see you back."

Although Ruan Xing was young and had her own ideas, she was, after all, someone Qiye had taken a fancy to; since he had brought her out, he had to send her back safely.

"Perfect," Ruan Xing's black eyes turned, and she pulled Hu San to walk a few steps faster to a noodle shop, "I'll treat you to a meal, divide the Silver with you first, and I also have something to tell you."

"Boss, two bowls of shredded meat noodles!"

"Coming right up, customer!"

Ruan Xing took the Silver out of her cloth bag, "It's thirty-three taels in total, I'll give you sixteen taels..."

"I don't want it!" Before Ruan Xing could finish, Hu San frowned and interrupted, saying earnestly: "You agreed to help me, and I am helping you; it is a relationship of mutual assistance, how could I take your Silver."

(End of chapter)