Chapter 636: The Heart-Taker
When the six people returned to the round table with their respective chips, Earth Monkey noticed something off about Qi Xia.
"What's this? Your constitution's this bad now?" Earth Monkey asked, a cigarette dangling from his lips. His eyelids drooped, making him look even more listless than Qi Xia.
"'Now'...?" Qi Xia struggled to open his eyes and look at him. "Was I in better shape before?"
"Ha..." Earth Monkey shook his head. "I gotta say... you've changed quite a bit. Almost didn't recognize you."
"Changed?" Qi Xia found the phrasing interesting.
He had met many people in the "Land of the End," but no one had ever talked about his "changes."
"What exactly has changed?" Qi Xia asked.
"Hard to say." Earth Monkey reached up and scratched his face. "Is it 'state of mind'? 'Attitude'? 'Thoughts'?"
"Each one's more abstract than the last." Qi Xia gave a light snort. "Let's begin."
Earth Monkey nodded, reached for the deck, and was about to deal when Qiao Jiajin stopped him.
"Hold on."
Qiao Jiajin grabbed Earth Monkey's wrist and said softly, "Fat monkey, what's the rush?"
Earth Monkey slowly furrowed his brow. "What? Weren't we starting?"
"Shuffle the cards," Qiao Jiajin said. "Who just picks up the deck and starts dealing?"
"I already shuffled." Earth Monkey shook off Qiao Jiajin's hand. "But I don't mind doing it again."
He split the deck into two piles, nimbly interleaved them, then cut them a few times before finally setting the cards neatly in front of everyone.
"Satisfied now?"
Qiao Jiajin stared at the cards and slowly broke into a smile. He'd seen cutting techniques countless times; the man in front of him was no expert—just passable.
"We need to shuffle too."
"Oh?"
"House rules. Everyone shuffles once." Qiao Jiajin said. "Fat monkey, you run a gambling den. You should know the rules better than me."
It was only then that Earth Monkey felt there was something to this man. He seemed to know more about gambling dens than Earth Monkey did.
Qi Xia understood Qiao Jiajin's intent. He decisively picked up the deck, quickly shuffled it a few times in his hands, then split it into two piles face-up. As he interleaved them, he took the opportunity to glance at the cards. The deck was just as he'd expected—containing both the twenty-four solar terms and traditional festivals.
But what the hell did "lunar month" mean?
After everyone took turns shuffling, the deck was handed back to Earth Monkey. He just gave a slight shrug and placed the cards on the table.
"We can start now," Qiao Jiajin said.
"Now, everyone will put forward one 'Tao' as the bet for this round."
One by one, they placed a Tao on the table.
After all the chips were down, Earth Monkey picked up a card and revealed it on the table.
"Zhong Yuan."
"Zhong Yuan...?" Chen Junnan was taken aback. "The hell is Zhong Yuan?"
"The Zhongyuan Festival," Qi Xia said in a low voice. "What people commonly call 'Ghost Festival.'"
"Oh... you say 'Ghost Festival' and I get it." Chen Junnan thought for a moment. "July fifteenth!"
"Mm."
Earth Monkey ignored the others, just pointed at the "Zhong Yuan" card and said, "This is the 'community card' for this round."
Then he drew a card, placed it in front of himself, and revealed its face.
"Summer Solstice."
"Now I'll deal clockwise. This is the 'open card' for this round," Earth Monkey added.
Going clockwise, the person to Earth Monkey's left was Zheng Yingxiong. Earth Monkey drew a card, flipped it, and handed it to him.
"Frost's Descent."
Next was Tiantian. She received "Major Snow" from Earth Monkey's hand.
Then came Xiao Cheng. Earth Monkey gave him "Clear and Bright."
Chen Junnan got "Beginning of Spring."
Qiao Jiajin got "Great Heat."
Finally, it was Qi Xia's turn.
Earth Monkey picked up Qi Xia's card, smiled, and tossed it to him.
Qi Xia caught it and saw the card read "Double Seventh Festival."
Everyone had their cards, but the situation was getting complicated. Betting was about to start, but how were they supposed to determine which cards were bigger or smaller?
"The player with the latest date speaks first." Earth Monkey tapped the table. "Major Snow."
Tiantian looked at her "Major Snow" card, completely at a loss.
Though she couldn't recall the exact date of "Major Snow," she knew it fell deep in winter, so its numeric date was certainly large. Compared to Earth Monkey's "Summer Solstice," it couldn't lose. She thought for a moment and said, "Bet one."
Xiao Cheng stared at his "Clear and Bright" and slowly frowned.
If he remembered correctly, "Clear and Bright" usually fell in March or April. If they were comparing dates, that was way too small.
Since Earth Monkey had said each round would start with the latest date, it almost implied the game's "comparison" definitely involved dates. In this round, no matter how he looked at it, betting wasn't the right move.
"I fold this round," Xiao Cheng said. "I'm out."
He pushed back his "Clear and Bright" and the one Tao in front of him, then sat upright, leaning back in his chair. He was done with the first round.
Qi Xia glanced at Xiao Cheng and nodded.
Since the date was very small, losing just one Tao to fold was a good thing. The situation was unclear, and continuing to bet would only result in bigger losses.
Next came Chen Junnan's turn. He'd been busy under the table the whole time, doing who-knows-what.
"Junnan, your turn," Qiao Jiajin reminded.
"Coming, coming."
Chen Junnan looked at his card. After a few seconds, he showed an extremely awkward grin.
"What the hell am I supposed to play with this...?"
The others turned to look. His card was "Beginning of Spring."
"If I'm not mistaken... 'Beginning of Spring' is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, right? That's either January or February!" He waved the card wildly, shouting, "Brother Monkey, can you even deal? Don't you want us to have any fun in the game?"
"It's gambling after all." Earth Monkey nodded. "You win some, you lose some. Besides, you might not lose."
"Alright! Just for that!" Chen Junnan nodded. "Honestly, Brother Monkey, the moment I looked at you, I felt a connection. Like we knew each other in a past life."
"Oh? So you're Zhu Bajie?" Earth Monkey laughed.
"If I can be your little brother, I'll be either Zhu Bajie or Sha Wujing." Chen Junnan laughed along. "Since my brother Monkey says I might not lose, then I'm going all in this round."
"What...?" Earth Monkey frowned. "You're going all in with 'Beginning of Spring'?"
"I'm trusting my brother Monkey!" Chen Junnan said. "Here I go, putting all my chips on the table!"
"You—"
Before Earth Monkey could answer, there was a *slap* as two black, grimy objects hit the table.
Everyone stared. They were two dirty socks.
(Brothers, family, friends—Tomato Novel's second "Gift King" event is underway, with only five days left. Can I ask everyone for a small free gift? ?(????ω????)?)）