Reborn in 1985: Starting from Contracting a Ranch

Chapter 19 Unveiling the Secret

Zhao Laosan squinted at Shan Yaowen across from him, "Let me add some more rules: the base is one mao, three mao for concealed play, double the points for looking at the cards, and there's no upper limit."

He knew that this might be his only chance to get Shan Yaowen to the poker table, so he planned to squeeze him dry before letting him go.

He's going to teach this lucky kid a lesson.

Playing cards is not the same as hunting. Don't assume that you'll have the same luck at the card table just because you're lucky at hunting.

Shan Yaowen, on the other hand, looked like he had only been playing cards for a short time.

He admitted that he had never gambled in his past life, but he had played cards quite a bit, often with a few friends.

But those aren't gambling; they're just for fun, and the wins and losses are very small.

As for why he dared to sit at the table now, he naturally knew Zhao Laosan's methods.

He might not know about other gambling methods, but he really knew about Zhao Laosan. In his previous life, the execution of Zhao Laosan and others caused a sensation in the village. After all, Zhao Laosan was a "millionaire" before the incident, and he was an idol of many people in the surrounding area.

After Zhao Laosan and others got into trouble, the higher authorities even sent people down to educate the public on basic literacy in order to resolve the aftermath left by Zhao Laosan and others. The higher authorities were also afraid that someone would continue to imitate them, or that someone would gamble without knowing the inside story.

Therefore, the article specifically reveals the tricks used by Zhao Laosan and others at the card table.

When Zhao Laosan and his gang started playing cards, in order to show that they hadn't cheated, they would specially switch to a new deck of cards and open it in front of everyone.

Then, when playing cards, he would use his fingernails to pinch the cards to make marks. Often, as the game progressed, Zhao Laosan would seem to have X-ray vision, able to tell what cards others had just by looking at them.

So, in the beginning of the game, Zhao Laosan might be cautious and even lose a lot, but later on he will dominate the game.

This method wasn't particularly sophisticated, but at that time, Zhao Laosan and his two companions were doing quite well thanks to it.

If his business hadn't grown so large that he had offended the wrong people and been completely wiped out, he probably could have continued to live a carefree life.

"Wait a minute, you've already played this deck of cards, so you probably all know what the characteristics of each card are. I want to change the deck." Seeing Zhao Laosan start shuffling the cards, Shan Yaowen reached out to stop him.

Zhao Laosan sneered, "Fine, so you won't say I'm bullying you, Flower Dog, change your cards."

Before Hua Gou could get it, Lai Zi handed over an unopened deck of cards.

Just as Zhao Laosan was about to open it, Shan Yaowen stopped him again, "Wait, I need to check the cards!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Laosan simply handed the whole thing over to Shan Yaowen, saying, "You come and get Kaifeng."

The way he looks at Shan Yaowen now is like he's a fool. No matter how careful you are, you'll still end up in my hands.

Shan Yaowen opened a deck of cards, pretended to inspect it, and then threw it onto the table.

"There's nothing wrong with the cards."

At the beginning of the game, Zhao Laosan and Shan Yaowen were evenly matched, one hadn't had time to mark all the cards, and the other hadn't mixed his mark onto Zhao Laosan's cards.

After a few rounds, Zhao Laosan noticed that his concealed cards were marked, while Shan Yaowen's cards were clean. He then made a decisive attack.

"Let's all stay together!"

"I followed."

"continue."

"I agree."

"Open the cards!"

Seeing the two men on the verge of exchanging blows, and with everyone else having folded, Zhao Laosan finally revealed his hand when nearly ten dollars had been thrown on the table.

As a result, the pair of Aces was completely wiped out by the opponent's straight.

Damn it!

Zhao Laosan slapped his thigh in frustration.

They were so focused on having a big hand that they didn't pay attention to the cards their opponents had.

When Zhao Laosan got another pair of marked cards, he first observed the cards in front of Shan Laoer. After confirming that his cards were a small pair, he made another decisive move.

"Five yuan, that's boring."

"Ten bucks, open yours."

As soon as the cards were revealed, Zhao Laosan's face turned pale. His hand was 369 of different suits, meaning he had the lowest hand in the game, with only a single 9, while Shan Yaowen had a pair of 3s that could win.

Zhao Laosan looked at the cards in his hand with disbelief. There were indeed marks, but why were they different from the ones he had made?

Where the hell did this mark come from?

Seeing Zhao Laosan's face darken, Shan Yaowen felt incredibly pleased. Serves you right for being so arrogant.

In the end, everyone at the table realized something was wrong. Shan Yaowen, the "newbie," had more and more money in front of him, while Zhao Laosan, the "veteran," only had a few scattered coins left.

So everyone tacitly left the table and handed the game over to the two of them.

"If you're not satisfied, I can let you borrow money from someone, but you don't need to worry about the clothes. I'm not interested in your tattered clothes. If you're willing to write an IOU and continue, I'll play along." Shan Yaowen looked at Zhao Laosan leisurely, returning all of Zhao Laosan's previous words.

While Shan Yaowen appeared indifferent, he was inwardly thrilled. No wonder he was addicted to gambling; making money this way was indeed much faster than painstakingly digging for licorice root on the mountain.

While Shan Yaowen was wreaking havoc, Lin Nian, who had gone back to fetch help, went to find her father.

She didn't know what to do about this, and the only thing she could think of was to ask her dad for help.

After briefly understanding the situation, Lin's father did not go directly to the gambling den, believing that Shan Yaowen could hold out for a short time.

He used to turn a blind eye to the gambling in the village, as long as people didn't provoke him, he wouldn't care.

But Xu Laizi, you colluded with outsiders to frame my son, so this matter cannot be left unresolved.

As for relatives?

When I take action, I'll at most leave myself alive, so that the elderly won't have to bury their children.

Lin Anbang grabbed his tools and went to the village office to tell the Party Secretary. He originally planned to report the case and arrest everyone, but when he thought about his son and Shan Yaowen being inside, he held back his intention to report the case.

Moreover, at that time, the authorities were essentially laissez-faire regarding gambling, and they simply couldn't manage it all; reporting it to the police might not even be of any use.

So Lin Anbang gathered some friends and a few party members from the village committee, and the group headed in a large group towards the secret gambling den of Hua Gou and his friends.

Some curious people on the road followed them.

When they arrived outside Hua Gou's house, the group, which had originally consisted of only about ten people, had grown to no less than thirty.

Some people were even inviting their friends and family to come and watch the show.

However, after they surrounded the area, what they saw inside was not a gambling scene, but a one-sided "massacre" by Shan Yaowen.

The gamblers in the room stared in disbelief at Shan Yaowen and the thick wad of money in front of him, while the other gamblers looked like wilted eggplants, utterly dejected.

"What's going on?" Party Secretary Li Baoguo was the first to step forward.

Shan Yaowen then slowly and methodically recounted the entire incident.

After Zhao Laosan's crushing defeat, the other gamblers didn't believe it and started betting against Shan Yaowen. After all, his novice aura and the stack of hundreds of yuan in front of him were very eye-catching.

The final result was, naturally, that Shan Yaowen won almost all the money from the gamblers in the room.

"Huh? Xiaowen, you won everything?"

The village party members, who had been called by Lin Anbang to provide support and take down this harmful gambling operation, looked at each other in bewilderment, unsure of what to say.

"Yes." Shan Yaowen waved his hand, then looked at the people around him, "Since everyone is here, I have something to tell you."

Shan Yaowen picked up the pile of money in front of him and looked at Zhao Laosan and the gamblers behind him:

"I'll tell you the secret to my invincible record, will you listen?"

As soon as Shan Yaowen said this, everyone around him, including the gamblers, looked at him with utter bewilderment.

Only Zhao Laosan suddenly looked up at Shan Laoer. From the moment he started losing, he knew that Shan Laoer had broken his game. He had originally thought that he should accept his loss and wait until the game was over before seeking revenge on Shan Laoer.

I never expected that Shan Lao Er would actually go public with this now?

Seeing the astonishment and hatred in Zhao Laosan's eyes, Shan Yaowen whistled, "Come and see the cards."

After Shan Yaowen finished speaking, everyone present fell silent. However, this silence was completely different from the silence they had experienced when they lost money. This silence was like the prelude to a volcanic eruption.

As for the target, it's Zhao Laosan, of course.

After all, most of these gamblers had lost a lot of money.

Since you, Zhao Laosan, are so unethical and resort to such underhanded tactics, then don't blame us.