After several hours of playing, Xinlan didn’t feel tired at all, even taking bathroom breaks only after letting Rong Shaoze hold her spot, quickly taking care of business, and then returning to continue playing with great enthusiasm.
Xu Yao, seeing she was actually enjoying herself, kindly, very kindly, reminded her, "Aren’t you afraid of losing everything you have?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Xinlan was stunned and suddenly felt less confident.
"Quick, calculate how much money we’ve lost so far," she whispered urgently to Rong Shaoze.
Rong Shaoze glanced over, casually saying, "Not much."
"Not much is how much?" She had budgeted for it—the most she would lose was seven or eight million. Any more than that, and she would quit.
Even though it wasn’t her paying, Rong Shaoze’s money was her money too; losing too much would really hurt her.
Rong Shaoze hemmed and hawed, "Not much, around three or four million...
Xu Yao raised an eyebrow, his smile carrying a hint of a fox’s slyness, "Right, just three or four million. Not much, not much, carry on!"
If he wasn’t mistaken, Lin Xinlan had already lost twenty million to him.
Upon hearing it was just three or four million, Lin Xinlan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Several hours of playing, and only losing three or four million, meant she could play for several more hours.
So, she became even more carefree and played with even greater joy.
Xu Yao’s card shuffling and dealing skills were quite elegant. He neatly arranged the cards, drew one without even looking, and discarded another, while pretending to be kind-hearted, he said:
"Actually, it doesn’t matter how much money you lose. You’re just paying more tuition this time, so you can win it back later. Remember to call me whenever you play cards, I’ll lose all my winnings back to you."
Even if Lin Xinlan was naive, she could understand his meaning.
He was saying she played terribly, and playing cards with her made winning money so easy!
After all, aside from winning a few times, she hadn’t won on her own draw. Forget about winning on her own draw, she hadn’t won even a few times - her card skills were indeed terrible.
Lin Xinlan’s blood boiled, and she decided she had to regain face; she was determined to play so well they’d be left in complete disarray.
She turned to Rong Shaoze and said, "Continue to give me pointers, I can’t keep losing."
The man smiled faintly, "How about I take over and play a few rounds for you, win back the money first, then talk about it? You can watch on the side and learn quite a bit."
Lin Xinlan nodded in agreement, "Okay."
And so Rong Shaoze took over. Xu Yao immediately regretted his earlier words; if only he hadn’t spoken them.
He had won too much and got too carried away in his excitement, which led him to tease Lin Xinlan a few times, inadvertently drawing Rong Shaoze into the game.
Rong Shaoze shuffled the cards and with a casual smile said, "Everyone, go easy on me later, don’t let me lose too badly, otherwise, I will have to kneel on a washboard at home as punishment."
He grinned ambiguously at Lin Xinlan, who blushed - it was about who lost more, and who would punish whom with kneeling on a washboard!
The other three men: "..."
It was they who should be showing mercy, lest they were the ones losing too miserably, right?
Rong Shaoze’s luck wasn’t just good, his card skills were also formidable.
After a few rounds, he had won a significant sum of money, leaving the three men itching with frustration.
After being beaten by his several combos again, and his self-drawn wins, Xu Yao couldn’t help but say coolly, "Too much modesty is equivalent to arrogance."
Rong Shaoze smiled faintly, unperturbed, "Can’t help it, my skills are too good - I can’t help but be arrogant. Sorry, I just won again."
Was he scoffing at their lack of skills?