Chapter 655: Subtlety
"Round four, begin."
Earth Monkey's resounding words fell.
Qi Xia paid no attention to Earth Monkey's expression and directly shifted his gaze to the wooden box in the center of the table.
Just as Qi Xia had predicted, the moment Earth Monkey finished speaking, the wooden box in the middle changed color once again.
Although the change was subtle this time, after three rounds, the overall color of the box had completely shifted, making it hard for anyone to ignore.
Qiao Jiajin patted Qi Xia at that moment. "Conman... you might be right. That box really is changing color!"
Qi Xia naturally knew the box was changing color, but the situation was still unclear. He had noticed this anomaly two rounds ago, yet he couldn't figure out the cause of the change.
Now the wooden box had taken on a golden hue, as if the light tube inside had reached its maximum brightness. Sitting in the center of the table, it seemed like a lamp illuminating the room.
Everyone noticed the change, but no one could immediately figure out the reason.
This round, it was Xiao Cheng's turn to deal. After shuffling the cards thoroughly, he placed one in the center of the table.
This was the "community card": "Spring Festival."
"First day of the first month..." Qi Xia immediately foresaw the direction this hand would take.
He needed to get more "ones"; otherwise, it would be hard to beat Earth Monkey.
The best outcome would be to draw a "November" card, giving him four "ones" in hand, making it easy to overpower Earth Monkey.
After revealing the community card, Xiao Cheng dealt himself a card and flipped it over.
"Minor Snow."
"Tenth month, twenty-third day..." Qi Xia murmured. "One zero two three."
This card was neither big nor small. Although it didn't give him many "ones," it was still moving toward a "straight." At this point, everyone's hand should be leaning toward "pairs." If Xiao Cheng could form a straight, he might sweep the table.
Next was Chen Junnan. He drew an "Beginning of Spring" from Xiao Cheng—the sixth day of the first month.
"Damn, 'Beginning of Spring' again?" Chen Junnan was startled. "I feel like this card came up before? Do I look that much like 'Beginning of Spring'?"
Qi Xia remembered that Chen Junnan had drawn "Beginning of Spring" in the first round, but the situation was different then. At that time, the community card was "Zhongyuan" (July fifteenth).
"Beginning of Spring" hadn't been useful that round, but this time the community card was "Spring Festival." When Chen Junnan got "Beginning of Spring," he already had three "ones." As long as his next "hidden card" also had a "one," he would form "four ones," giving him a huge advantage.
Besides, all the solar terms in the first half of the year had "twenty-one," and in the second half, there were November and December. These cards contained plenty of "ones," so Chen Junnan's chances of getting a "one" were very high.
Qiao Jiajin drew "Zhongyuan."
Qi Xia himself got "White Dew." He frowned and calculated: "White Dew" was the eighth day of the eighth month.
This card didn't connect closely with "Spring Festival," but it wasn't a small card either. Qi Xia's hand now equaled "two pairs": one pair of eights and one pair of ones.
Everyone's gaze shifted to Earth Monkey, their opponent and the target of their bets.
When Earth Monkey revealed his hand, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Qingming"—the sixth day of the third month.
This card was hard to match with "Spring Festival's" first month, first day. Whether for pairs or straights, they were far apart.
"Three-six and one-one...?" Qi Xia narrowed his eyes, sensing something was off.
If the previous round was any indication, Earth Monkey would surely fold.
It was already the fourth round. If Earth Monkey continued to fold, would the others still have a chance to turn things around?
Next, Zheng Yingxiong drew an "Beginning of Autumn"—the eighth day of the seventh month.
Tiantian got "Minor Cold"—the eighth day of the twelfth month.
Everyone's hands were decent, except Zheng Yingxiong's, which was the worst. His "seventh month, eighth day" was no different from Earth Monkey's "third month, sixth day"—neither could pair with "January first."
Tiantian scanned the table and found that her "Minor Cold" had the largest month number, so she started considering raising the bet.
After all, "Minor Cold" was from the twelfth month (Layue), which could form three "ones" with the community card "Spring Festival." Her hand was decent, and it would beat Earth Monkey's hand regardless, so she chose to add one chip.
Xiao Cheng glanced at his "Minor Snow" and had similar thoughts. "Minor Snow" came from the tenth month, and it could also form three "ones," so he placed his bet.
Then came Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin, both of whom had "ones" in their hands, so they followed suit.
After Qi Xia also placed his bet, he looked at Earth Monkey with some resignation.
If Earth Monkey chose to fold, everyone's raises would be futile.
But to Qi Xia's surprise, Earth Monkey kept his head down, staring at his hand, then pulled a "Tao" chip from under the table and pushed it forward.
"I call."
"Call...?" Qi Xia was stunned, then double-checked Earth Monkey's hand. It was indeed "Qingming."
The doubt in Qi Xia's mind lingered. He didn't know what Earth Monkey was waiting for.
Because Earth Monkey had stated the rules before the game: the goal was to compare the combined value of one's hand and the community card. Even if the rules changed, they couldn't change so drastically that a messy combination like "Qingming" and "Spring Festival" would beat the neat hands of the others.
Even if the rules were simply about comparing the numbers, "Qingming" and "Spring Festival" were among the smallest.
But Earth Monkey had clearly said "call."
Then it was Zheng Yingxiong's turn. He looked at his "Beginning of Autumn" (seventh month, eighth day) and announced he was folding this round.
Hearing that Zheng Yingxiong had folded, Earth Monkey slowly lifted his eyelids, glanced at his card, then lowered his head again without expression.
Qi Xia noticed that Earth Monkey's lips had been trembling slightly the whole time, as if he were calculating something.
Although this game did require some calculation, did Earth Monkey, a seasoned gambler, really need to keep his head down calculating the whole time?
After everyone had placed their bets, Xiao Cheng started the second round of dealing. Except for Zheng Yingxiong, each person received a face-down "hidden card."
Qi Xia pressed his hidden card down and looked up at Earth Monkey. Unexpectedly, the latter also had his hidden card tucked under his hand, staring back at Qi Xia.
"Earth Monkey, how about you bet without looking at your card? Do you dare?" Qi Xia asked.