As the new round of gambling began, I noticed the beautiful young woman, who bore a striking resemblance to Chingmy Yau, give me a playful smile.
Taking in the scene, I maintained a calm exterior, though a storm of emotions raged within me.
What the hell was going on?
After finally regaining the initiative, I prayed this wasn't another dramatic reversal!
Without time to ponder, I had to push aside my distracting thoughts and focus on the duel at the card table...
After the card exchange, it was likely only myself and the middle-aged man who could clearly keep track of the cards and recognize them.
As for the others, no matter what subtle moves they made, I didn't need to pay attention, nor did I have the time.
Because, in the face of absolute skill, all flashy tricks were superfluous!
Therefore, I only needed to concentrate all my energy on the middle-aged man.
His ability to fake shuffle and to "touch two cards" (触二张) in a deal was enough to prove his considerable skill. If he had used the "push two cards" (推二张) technique earlier, I would have had to be even more vigilant!
...
After a short period of normal play, I managed to secure a winning streak with a flush of 3, 6, 9, marking my first victory after the card exchange.
It was at this moment that I decided... to test the middle-aged man's depth!
Using the same perfect shuffling technique with ordinary methods, as I finished shuffling and handed the cards to the center, awaiting the cut, I saw the middle-aged man's eyelid twitch almost imperceptibly!
Seeing this, my heart raced!
I wasn't nervous, but rather excited.
Because at this moment, I could be absolutely certain that the other party was a skilled cheat.
As for how skilled, that would depend on whether he could recognize this move, my perfect shuffle executed with ordinary methods! To exaggerate, I had practiced the perfect shuffle using ordinary methods for over a year!
Back at the factory, I was like someone possessed. Whenever I had free time, I would pull out a deck of cards and practice relentlessly.
Going to work, getting off work, drinking water, eating, using the restroom, sleeping...
This was why, later on, no one wanted to play cards with me anymore!
While everyone else was busy finding partners and "making love" during their free time, I was the only one frantically shuffling!
A minute on stage requires ten years of practice off stage!
Therefore, even if the middle-aged man reacted while I was shuffling, I was fully confident that he couldn't figure it out.
...
As expected, the middle-aged man said nothing in the end, and this hand, shuffled with the perfect shuffle, allowed me to win over a thousand.
While a thousand dollars might seem like a lot, it was by no means a significant amount.
This was because, besides myself, I had only dealt relatively good hands to two people: the muscular man and the impotent man.
As for Cao Jie, Shi Jianguo, and the middle-aged man, they all received mixed hands.
Therefore, this win of over a thousand was flawless.
After winning, I didn't continue using the perfect shuffle; instead, I reverted to the most ordinary shuffling method.
I did this because I wanted to lull the middle-aged man into a false sense of security, making him believe that what he saw earlier was just his eyes playing tricks on him.
Deception and reality, truth and falsehood.
Looking at flowers in the mist, gazing at the moon in the water.
This hand, dealt without any techniques, saw the middle-aged man emerge as the winner.
With a small straight of 3, 4, 5, he also pocketed nearly a thousand dollars.
After collecting the money, the middle-aged man began to shuffle and deal, still using his fake shuffling technique.
After shuffling, the middle-aged man handed the cards to the center, waiting for the cut. No one cut.
When it was my turn...
I lit a cigarette and, as the rising smoke billowed, I cut the cards with my left hand, swiftly returning the three cards from my sleeve "as they were."
Cheating in cards wasn't just limited to when one shuffled and dealt.
As long as there was an opportunity to cut the cards, one could cheat at any time!