Chapter 318: The Lucky Gambler

「Ah, this...」

Looking at the two cards tossed onto the center of the table, Xia Yubing felt she had already understood the rules of this game.

Poker has many variations—some emphasize strategy, others rely purely on luck—but in this game, the ratio of luck to strategy was roughly seven to three: seven parts luck, three parts strategy.

Drawing one card from another player’s hand and discarding it together with a matching suit from one’s own hand was a highly distinctive move; Xia Yubing knew only one game like this.

「It’s called Draw the Ghost, or Draw the Turtle, Draw the Tortoise, Draw the Lion-Tiger... names vary by region, but the meaning is the same.」

Xia Yubing glanced again at her own cards, her gaze lingering on the 「Big King.」

The rules of Draw the Ghost were simple:

After dealing, players took turns in a set order to randomly draw one card from another player’s hand and compare it with their own. If they held a card with the same number and color, they could discard both onto the table.

If not, they added the drawn card to their hand, and play passed to the next player. This continued until all cards were discarded, allowing the player to safely exit.

Among the 54 playing cards, one was the 「Ghost Card」—in some parts of China called the Turtle or the Tortoise, in Japan known as the Lion-Tiger.

The player who drew the Ghost Card must shout 「Ghost!」 or 「Lion-Tiger!」 or 「Tortoise!」 to declare it was in their hand.

As the drawing progressed, players emptied their hands one by one and exited safely; the last player still holding the Ghost Card lost the game.

Based on the outcomes of previous gambling rounds, the loser’s fate would be—death.

Pah—!

The crisp sound of cards striking the glass table jolted Xia Yubing from her thoughts; she looked down to see two more cards thrown onto the center of the table.

Pair of 3s.

It was I Kesi , who hadn’t drawn from anyone else’s hand—he simply pulled two cards from his own and slammed them down decisively.

The two cards were: Heart 3, Diamond 3.

「This guy figured it out too.」 Xia Yubing murmured inwardly.

This was the rule of Draw the Ghost—to prevent odd-numbered cards from being unmatchable, before the drawing phase began, if a player held a matching pair, they could immediately discard it.

Alun, seated beside I Kesi , quickly reacted, checking his own hand. Xia Yubing saw a flicker of delight cross his face, then vanish instantly—she understood at once:

「Alun must have two cards with the same number but different colors, so he can’t discard them.」

Trapped in this bizarre event, she had to constantly observe her surroundings and others’ movements and expressions—something she’d learned from Ning Zhe, and it had proven unexpectedly useful.

Xia Yubing nudged the Persian girl beside her, who jolted awake and hurriedly checked her hand, discarding two cards: two red 6s.

Heart 6, Diamond 6.

The gambler, having just drawn, had returned to his seat; opposite him, the God of Wealth remained motionless—clearly, neither held a matching pair to discard.

Xia Yubing glanced at her own cards—no pairs there either.

So the next question was—who held the Ghost Card?

Xia Yubing’s gaze fixed on the Big King in her hand; a shadow of worry crossed her brow. Draw the Ghost was a simple game, played worldwide, with regional rule variations.

In some places, a card was randomly removed during shuffling, leaving one unmatched card as the Ghost Card. In others, the Small King and one 8 were removed from the full 54-card deck, and the Big King paired with the extra 8 became the 「King-Turtle」—the holder of the 「King-Turtle」 lost. This was why the game was called 「Draw the Turtle」 or 「Draw the Tortoise」 in China.

「The gambler didn’t remove any card during shuffling—he used the full 54-card deck, so this isn’t the Chinese Turtle rule, nor the common ‘unmatched card as Ghost’ rule.」

Xia Yubing held her fan-shaped cards in both hands, biting her lower lip: 「Neither rule applies... then which card is the Ghost?」

As she pondered, the next round of drawing began.

Alun, seated to the gambler’s left and just having been drawn from, turned to the player on his left—I Kesi —and drew one card:

Club 2.

Alun let out a barely audible hiss, adding the Club 2 to his hand.

He had no card to pair with it.

Next was I Kesi —he would draw from the God of Wealth.

The six players seated around the table, clockwise, were: the Gambler, Alun, I Kesi , the God of Wealth, Sally Sally, Xia Yubing.

「Following this order, I’ll draw from the Gambler next...」 Xia Yubing thought silently.

As she pondered, I Kesi reached out and drew a card from the face-down pile before the God of Wealth:

!

Diamond A

Xia Yubing looked down—she held the Heart A. That meant I Kesi had no card to pair with the Diamond A—the rule required both number and color to match. A red Heart A could not pair with a black Spade A or Club A.

As expected, I Kesi added the Diamond A to his hand.

「If I want to discard my Heart A, I must draw the Diamond A from I Kesi ...」 Xia Yubing silently noted: 「Diamond A is in I Kesi ’s hand.」

Draw the Ghost relied seven parts on luck, three on strategy. The strategy lay right here.

The game continued.

Next, the God of Wealth drew from Sally Sally—a Heart 5—and added it to his hand.

Then Sally Sally drew from Xia Yubing—a Club 8—and paired it with her own Spade 8, discarding both to the table’s center.

「Heart 5 is with the God of Wealth, and He has no Diamond 5...」 Xia Yubing strained to memorize every detail from the drawing phase, then reached toward the Gambler on her left.

It was her turn to draw.

Xia Yubing was lucky—she drew a Diamond J from the Gambler’s hand and paired it with her own Heart J, discarding both to the table.

But then she reconsidered—if her luck were truly this good, why had the Gambler pulled her into this game at all?

Meanwhile, the Gambler drew a Spade 5 from Alun’s hand and paired it with his own Club 5, discarding both.

Two successful pairs in a row?

Xia Yubing froze: 「The Gambler’s luck seems pretty good too...」

(End of Chapter)