Chapter 2089

After night fell, this sudden heavy snow still showed no signs of stopping. When the swirling snowflakes passed through the light of the gas street lamps, this scene really made people feel like they had arrived in winter.

At the entrance of the Parliament Club under the Belindell Big Ben, the motorcade hanging the family crest had already stopped. In the carriage, the countess, who had tied a white mink scarf because of the weather, handed the cards in her hand to Xia De:

"It is rumored that there are three very valuable Luo De cards in this city. I originally intended to find them for you, but unfortunately, I only heard clues. Let's use this tonight first, I wish you good luck in the game."

These words also made Xia De think of the matter of those three cards. The foreign merchant who owned three Luo De cards was killed by the Black Hand Gang. If he remembered correctly, there were also clues at Mrs. Frey's place at the Parsifal Club, but he didn't have time to investigate for the time being.

At this time, Little Mia had already been sent home by Xia De in advance. Besides Xia De and the witch, there were two maids in the carriage. There was a gas lamp on the top of the carriage, so it was not dim. As for what Miss Belindell handed over, it was naturally a special rule card. The card face was lightning falling from the sky, hitting a person who looked like they were dancing on the street.

Xia De raised an eyebrow:

"【Fool Story · Lightning Maniac】, suit flower 4, throw two 20-sided dice. If the sum of the two is less than 5 points, you can choose to set the points of this card to zero. It's really interesting, it's actually the 【Fool Story】 series."

The witch showed a smile:

"Why, are the cards in this series very special? I remember that the deck of this series was issued fifty years ago. Although there was no reprint, the degree of preciousness cannot compare to those truly ancient cards."

"The preciousness of cards is not determined solely by time and the number of reprints. Among the series of cards, those special series issued for commemoration have the highest degree of preciousness. If I remember correctly, the 【Fool Story】 series has a total of 54 special rule cards, recording the stories of maniacs and lunatics that exist in reality, lightning strikes, arson, hiding in the mountains, lunatic poetry collections... It is said that this is the only series of cards issued to commemorate the founding of the Diviner Society."

Xia De looked at the cards in his hand against the light above his head:

"Miss Belindell, do you know how important this card is to a true Luo De card player?"

In fact, looking at Xia De's expression at this moment, the witch knew how important this card was to the man playing cards. She was incomparably satisfied in her heart with this card she had bought from other places at a high price, but on the surface, she pretended not to care:

"I don't like playing cards, you just keep it. Remember, the most important thing tonight is not winning or losing, but getting that piece of lost memory from Herman Wood. You and your friends have already contacted Freeman Hawthorne and Georgia Black separately. In order not to attract too much attention, this is your last chance."

"I understand, I will definitely win. Ahem, I mean I will definitely get the memory. Thank you very much for your generosity, Miss Belindell."

Xia De expressed his gratitude sincerely, and the witch continued to pretend not to care and said:

"Then show me your ability. Speaking of which, how many special cards are in your own deck?"

"The deck used today only has this one of yours for the time being."

Xia De solemnly replaced 【Fool Story · Lightning Maniac】 into his spare deck, and then smiled at the witch:

"Although I don't have the ability to win 37 million pounds with 20 pounds, even if my deck only has half the cards left, no one here will be my opponent."

The lady with the lipid-red mark on her brow blinked. Although she didn't quite understand what the man in front of her said, he did look very good when he smiled.

Tonight's card game was actually a social activity for the Belindell, Eddington, and Wood families to discuss things. Although the card game was just an excuse, no one would take the initiative to admit defeat. As for the things to be discussed, it seemed to be the City Council applying to Willundale for tax exemptions on grain import and export, but Xia De didn't care much about that. What he cared about were his opponents.

The club manager brought servants to greet the countess at the door in advance. When the countess led the maid group into the small gathering hall prepared for this meeting on the third floor, Xia De found that it was completely in the appearance of a Luo De card casino.

The room was large but not divided into suites. A professional wooden gambling table with slots for decks and bets was placed in the center of the room, while the surroundings of the room were wine cabinets and sofa sets.

They were not the first to arrive. Baron Harry Wood and his party were already in the room. Baron Wood looked to be about forty years old, wearing glasses, with a shrewd and cautious appearance. Because Xia De remembered that his superior, Director Anluosi, had said that the Wood family had actually been in collusion with MI6 for a long time, he took a few extra looks at him.

Just as Miss Belindell introduced at the beginning, the one from the Wood family participating in the card game was the Baron's youngest son, Herman Wood. Xia De had seen his photo from Mr. Bernhardt, and the young man—about twenty-three or twenty-four years old—who didn't care much about what his father was saying, was organizing his deck at the table.

Hearing Miss Belindell introduce Xia De's identity, young Mr. Wood looked up at him. Xia De also nodded politely to the other party, very curious about what card the other party would take out as a bet.

Local nobles mostly knew that Countess Belindell seemed to like women and didn't socialize much with men, so Xia De's appearance made the strangers present feel slightly surprised. But what was even more surprising was the candidate for this card game brought by Count Martin Eddington who arrived later:

"Everyone is also no stranger to Viscount Bell Gra. I am very honored to be able to invite him to participate in tonight's card game."

"Good evening, Count Belindell."

The champion of the Dacheng Player 1850, a middle-aged man wearing a brown coat and having a big beard, extended his hand to the blonde countess with bright eyes. But this time, even without the maid blocking, Xia De, who had just been discussing the deck composition with Herman Wood, rushed over in one stride:

"You are the champion of the Dacheng Player 1850? Oh, I really didn't expect to be able to meet you here."

"May I ask who you are..."

The bewildered Viscount asked, so Miss Matisse introduced:

"This is the Count's distant cousin, who has recently been staying at Belindell Manor. It just so happens that there is a card game tonight, so the Count brought him out to see the world."

Count Martin Eddington, who was over 50 years old, also looked at Xia De with surprise, recalling in his heart where the Belindell family found a "cousin" who looked like a Delyrian.

The lighting in the room on the third floor of the club was very interesting. The chandelier above the round table in the center could illuminate the card table and the surroundings, but it could not illuminate the sofa sets by the wall. The big shots sat on the sofa, and the dim floor lamps provided lighting for them. And the three people playing cards sat down at the table, as if the important thing tonight was the card game here, not the tariff issue to be discussed in the dim place behind them.

The grain tariff was secretly discussed by the three families of Belindell, Eddington, and Wood. On one hand, because Belindell was most familiar with the nobles in the capital, the Eddington family had many pier businesses, and the Wood family controlled local farms and logging yards. On the other hand, it was also because the three families were originally allies that were relatively close in a certain sense.

Because the tariff issue involved a lot, Miss Belindell didn't pay too much attention to the situation at the card table at first, but focused on dealing with the things in front of her. By the time it was almost eight o'clock, the snowflakes swirling outside the window were still the same, but the two counts and one baron had all obtained answers that were temporarily satisfactory. Maid Matisse handed the summary of the conversation just now to the countess. She read it carefully, nodded to Eddington and Wood sitting opposite, and her mind finally focused on the man who was now facing away from her.

There were not a few people in the room. Besides the six people playing cards and discussing things, personal servants, club servants, and guards were all there, but most people were at the card table, so there was no need to worry about leaking the information of the nobles' secret talks. And when Bella Belindell noticed the card table, she realized that the atmosphere tonight was completely different from before.

In the past, when meeting with the excuse of playing cards, the conversation on the sofa side was very quiet, the sound of playing cards at the card table under the light was also not loud, and the servants and maids all had their own things to do. But this time, not only those maids and manservants, but even the guards standing by the windows and doors were concentrating their attention on the direction of the card table.

"What happened?"

Miss Belindell thought in her heart, waved her hand at Miss Matisse, so the blonde maid walked toward the card table and soon brought back the result:

"Miss, your cousin proposed that it was too boring to bet on special cards from the beginning, so why not bet on something else for a few rounds first. Three rounds per game, donate 3 Oer to the church in the city tomorrow for every game lost. Now..."

She glanced at her master's expression:

"Mr. Herman Wood has already lost 9 games, and Viscount Bell Gra has lost 3 games."

"And him?"

"Hasn't lost yet."

"I'm really sorry, young people always don't care about anything when they play cards."

The countess said to her old friends with a smile, while Count Eddington and Baron Wood both said it didn't matter. Since their business was temporarily finished, and only some minor details remained to be confirmed, the three stood up and came to the card table, standing behind their respective "players."

Xia De naturally noticed Miss Belindell standing behind him, but he didn't look back, but focused on his hand cards:

"Sun 9 and Flower 8."

The corners of his mouth curled up, and he looked up at the other two people at the card table. Herman Wood's forehead was already sweating. He wiped the sweat with a handkerchief in his chest pocket before placing the two hand cards face down next to the hole cards:

"Viscount, what do you think?"

Viscount Bell Gra was worthy of being a player of Dacheng Player 1850, his psychological quality was quite strong. He also placed his hand cards face down on the table with trembling hands, and then looked at Xia De with forced calmness.