Chapter 319

What kind of concept is it to draw a card twice in a row that successfully pairs with the card in your hand?

A complete deck of cards has 54 cards; excluding the big and small jokers, there are 52 cards, divided into 2 colors and 4 suits. Among them, hearts and diamonds are red, while spades and clubs are black. The rules of the Old Maid game require that for two cards to be successfully paired, they must have the same number and also be the same color.

That is: a red Ace of Hearts can only be paired with a red Ace of Diamonds, and a black Ace of Spades can only be paired with a black Ace of Clubs.

There are only 4 Aces in a deck, two red and two black, which means that any single card in the entire game has only one unique card of the same color that can be paired with it; among all the cards held by all players present, only that one unique card exists.

And the Gambler drew cards that could successfully pair with its hand twice in a row; these two cards happened to be dealt to Alun during the dealing phase and happened to be drawn randomly by the Gambler. If this is attributed to luck, Xia Xia Yubing can only say that the Gambler's luck is truly excellent.

Xia Xia Yubing glanced sideways; the Gambler had 6 cards left in its hand.

Once all cards are cleared, a player can leave the table—leaving the table does not mean winning. The Old Maid game only has losers, no winners.

It was Alun's turn to draw a card.

Xia Xia Yubing watched Alun across the table, silently observing him slowly reach out toward Ikes, who was pale from blood loss in his thigh. If she remembered correctly, this guy called "Alun" seemed to be Ikes's attendant.

She had previously learned from Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe about some traditions of the Europa nobility; those who can enter the opera house with a Master and attend such a highly private "auction" are generally not ordinary servants.

This Alun should be a trusted aide raised and educated from childhood, with at least two generations of his ancestors being vassals to the Ikes family. He grew up with Ikes, and the relationship between the two is closer to friends, or even brothers, than master and servant.

Thinking of this, Xia Xia Yubing's thoughts couldn't help but wander. Two good brothers who grew up together, participating in the same game, sitting in adjacent seats—with the conditions laid out like this, who's to say they wouldn't cooperate to cheat or something?

Would the Gambler allow people to cheat in its gambling game?

Xia Xia Yubing let her thoughts run wild. At the same time, Alun drew a card from Ikes's hand:

4 of Spades

"Hmm?"

As this card was drawn, Xia Xia Yubing noticed that Alun's expression seemed a bit strange, a bit surprised, and a bit annoyed. Finally, he pursed his lips and added this 4 of Spades to his hand.

Alun did not have a card that could pair with the 4 of Spades.

In other words: "The 4 of Clubs is not in his hand," Xia Xia Yubing recited silently in her heart.

But if that's all, what was up with that complicated expression he had just now? Could it be that he also had a 4 in his hand? But because the colors didn't match, he couldn't pair them, which is why he showed that expression?

Xia Xia Yubing looked down at her own hand; one of the cards was clearly: 4 of Hearts.

"If Alun really had a 4 in his hand to begin with, then it must be the 4 of Diamonds."

Not two seconds after this thought occurred, Xia Xia Yubing noticed the Gambler, who had been sitting motionless to her left, seemingly looking at the cards in Alun's hand intentionally or unintentionally.

"Could it be..." An absurd thought appeared in Xia Xia Yubing's mind, making her unable to believe it: "No... that's impossible, right?"

If her conjecture was correct, then from the very beginning of this game, it would be impossible for anyone to win.

The card drawing continued.

Ikes drew a 6 of Spades from the God of Wealth, and the God of Wealth drew a 9 of Spades from Sha Li Sha Li. Neither of them had a card that could pair with them, so they each added the cards they drew into their own hands.

Immediately after, Sha Li Sha Li drew a 10 of Diamonds from Xia Xia Yubing's hand. Since she didn't have a card that could pair with it, Sha Li Sha Li had no choice but to add it to her hand.

In this round of drawing, except for the Gambler, everyone's luck didn't seem to be very good.

Xia Xia Yubing took a deep breath and turned her head; the Gambler had already raised the cards in its hand slightly.

It was her turn to draw. Without too much hesitation, she reached out and drew: 8 of Hearts.

"As expected..."

Xia Xia Yubing looked down; the 8 of Diamonds that could pair with the 8 of Hearts was not in her hand. Even though she had done as Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said, her good luck today didn't seem to manifest much, so she could only add this red 8 to her hand.

The second round of drawing ended, and the third round began.

It still started with the Gambler, and in clockwise order, it would draw a card from Alun's hand.

At this moment, the gazes of the 4 living people in the room all converged on the Gambler. Xia Xia Yubing couldn't help but tense her body, her eyes fixed on that gray-white palm covered with spots of corpse decay as it reached out in front of Alun and drew a card from the fan of cards he held.

【4 of Spades】

The moment she saw the suit of this card, Xia Xia Yubing's pupils shrank violently.

At the same time, the Gambler drew a card from its own hand; the suit on it was clearly: 【4 of Clubs】.

The suit pairing was successful, and the Gambler discarded both cards together into the pile in the center of the table.

!

Gambler's current card count: 4

"It really is like this!" Xia Xia Yubing was shocked.

The 4 of Clubs had been in the Gambler's hand the whole time, while the only card that could pair with it, the 4 of Spades, had its initial position in Ikes's hand, with Alun sitting between the two of them.

According to the clockwise drawing order, the Gambler shouldn't have been able to draw from Ikes's hand, but Alun drew this 4 of Spades from Ikes, and then the Gambler drew this 4 of Spades again, completed the pairing with the 4 of Clubs in its hand, and discarded them.

The third round of drawing had just begun, and the Gambler only had 4 cards left, clearly becoming the player with the fewest cards on the table.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Gambler should also be the first player to leave the table in this game.

But is there really such a coincidence?

The only 4 of Spades that could pair with the 4 of Clubs in the Gambler's hand was in Ikes's hand, was just happened to be drawn out by Alun, and once in Alun's hand, it was just happened to be drawn out by the Gambler. One must know that players have to shuffle the cards before every draw.

Is there really such a coincidence in the world?

"Either the Gambler cheated, or the Gambler's luck is truly good," Xia Xia Yubing thought: "Better than mine, even after I've prayed and made offerings to the crucifix of Jesus."

With 4 cards left, the Gambler is about to leave, but how should she judge now whether the Gambler is just lucky or if it cheated?

Different situations require different ways of handling them.

After thinking back and forth without a result, Xia Xia Yubing's head ached. She couldn't help but sneak a few glances at the Gambler, gritted her teeth, steeled her heart, and simply fished out a leather-bound notebook from her bosom, placed it on the table, and opened it; inside was a blue ballpoint pen.

Sha Li Sha Li, who was to the side, looked at the black and blue handwriting in the notebook and blinked with curiosity. She recognized Chinese characters, but Xia Xia Yubing didn't notice this at the moment; her attention was entirely on the Gambler.

She saw the Gambler glance over here briefly and not make any further moves.

"It seems that as long as I don't peek at other players' hands, I won't be judged by the Gambler as cheating."

Xia Xia Yubing felt relieved. While Alun and Ikes across the table were drawing cards, she hurriedly picked up the pen and wrote lines of slightly messy Chinese characters in the notebook.

(End of chapter)