Supre Private Room. Pushing the door open, the room was filled with smoke, and the sll of cigarettes lingered. An MV was playing on the big screen, and seated on the sofa were Long Wu and another tall, strikingly handso man.
Long Wu set down his wine glass, stood up, and walked over. With a smile in his eyes, he said, "Leng Er, Sisi! Oh my, Xiao Ning is here too?"
"Yeah! What, you didn’t want to co? Humph, I rember what happened last ti!" Leng Ning snorted coldly. She had known Long Wu would be here; in fact, she hadn’t wanted to co. Thinking about that incident still made her angry.
"Don’t be like that, sis! Let’s say it was my fault last ti, okay? Let’s have a few drinks later, and I’ll treat it as an apology." Though his mouth was explaining, his gaze had already shifted toward Li Si.
"Tch!" Leng Ning rolled her eyes at him. Drink with him? What was there to drink about? If anything, she’d want to drink with her senior. Too bad he had gone abroad to spend ti with his family. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have co here out of boredom.
Long Wu moved next to Li Si, hesitated for a mont, then asked, "ng ng, she..."
"She went with Auntie to Grandmother’s house for the New Year. She’ll be back in a few days."
Long Wu visibly deflated, nodding absentmindedly before forcing himself to perk up. "Leng Er, speaking of which, let introduce soone—Xu Er, just returned from abroad. We used to hang out back then! Xiao Ning, do you rember Brother Xu?"
Leng Ning took a closer look but shook her head—perhaps she had been too young to rember.
The man called Xu Er stood up and pointed skeptically at Leng Mochen, saying, "Wu, is he really Leng Er? And Xiao Ning has grown into such a beauty. Ti truly flies!"
His little sister’s essence hadn’t changed. But this Leng Er in front of him was so different from the Leng Er in his mory. If Long Wu weren’t the kind of person who, while unreliable, wouldn’t cross the line by teasing him during New Year’s, he would’ve thought this Leng Er was a fraud.
Long Wu, impatient, smacked him on the shoulder. "Get out of here! What kind of flowery talk is that? You think I’d pull one over on you?"
"Fine, if you say so, then it must be true! Leng Er, you heartless guy, how co you don’t rember ? Back in the day, we had a great ti together!"
"Really? I must’ve lost my mory." Leng Mochen responded indifferently, pulling Li Si to sit beside him.
"Wu ntioned earlier... hey, I guess you really are one of those ’survivors of disaster blessed with good fortune.’ You’ve struck gold! And who’s this beside you?" Xu Er’s accent was still a bit stiff, making Li Si want to laugh—it had that vibe of a foreigner speaking Chinese.
"My girlfriend, Li Si."
Li Si and Xu Er exchanged greetings, officially making their acquaintance.
Looking at them together, Xu Er sighed again. "Years apart, and the flowers have blood on the other bank. Wu, my heart aches! Look at Leng Er, already settled with soone. How are we lonely singletons supposed to cope?"
That drew hearty laughter from everyone. Li Si laughed so hard she was on the verge of tears. Was this guy really just back from abroad? Why did he seem possessed by Song Xiaobao? Too hilarious!
Long Wu couldn’t take it and smacked him again. "You idiot, what on earth did you learn abroad? Did research fry your brain? If I’d known you turned out like this, I wouldn’t have brought you out—so embarrassing!"
"Alright, alright! I’m just entertaining you during New Year’s, and look at this—I get rejected! So, what are we playing? We’re all together now; we can’t just chat, right? That’d be so boring!"
Xu Er smugly scanned the crowd; he’d already picked up that Long Wu was dealing with sothing heavy, so he was deliberately trying to lighten the mood.
He added, "Speaking of which, I don’t have a penny in my pocket right now. I’m hoping to win a bit from you folks this New Year!"
Leng Mochen found him amusing. "Sure. What do you know how to play? Cards?"
"Anything works!" Xu Er squinted and replied, intentionally glancing at Long Wu afterward.
Long Wu, annoyed, shoved Xu Er aside. Glaring, he said, "You idiot—are you crazy? Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? You dare challenge and Leng Er at cards?"
Thinking about it, Long Wu figured Xu Er, having been abroad for so many years, wouldn’t even know the rules of card-playing here. Yet he dared to boast about beating the veterans of this poker circle? He might as well be handing money over voluntarily.
Xu Er scooted back, looking at Long Wu’s violence with accusing eyes. "How about we play Texas Hold’em?"
Long Wu couldn’t help but rub his forehead, exasperated at Xu Er’s insistence on self-destruction. Fine, fine, if soone wants to hand over money on New Year’s, who are they to say no? Only a fool would refuse!
Li Si and Leng Ning watched the drama unfold from the side, whispering back and forth about how Xu Er seed like he’d just stepped out of a ti machine. He was too much fun to watch.
"Alright!" Leng Mochen replied calmly. He hadn’t touched cards in ages, and now he was itching to give it a go. Seeing Li Si’s alabaster face lighting up with excitent, he suddenly felt the urge to kiss it hard.
The ga began, with Xu Er winning initially, Long Wu winning occasionally, and Leng Mochen only taking two rounds.
Li Si and Leng Ning sat off to the side, sipping their drinks, watching as Leng Mochen played steadily but saw his pile of money shrinking. They couldn’t help but grow anxious.
Looking at Leng Mochen’s diminishing stack, Long Wu smugly suggested, "Xu Er, it’s getting late. Why don’t we go all-in for one final round? Winner take all from Leng Er!"
Xu Er agreed enthusiastically. "Sounds good!" He thought to himself that his skills were unbeatable; staring at the growing mound of money, he grinned from ear to ear.
Leng Mochen shook his head and glanced at them. "You’re really serious about deciding everything with one final hand?" Receiving their affirmative responses, he straightened up, becoming suddenly serious—as if the person who had been playing casually earlier wasn’t him at all.
This ti, Long Wu proposed, "Sisi, why don’t you shuffle and deal? Give Leng Er a shot!"
Li Si found it amusing and took the cards to shuffle them. Then, she dealt each player one hole card and one public card. Long Wu had the largest initial hand—a King of Hearts. Leng Mochen had the Queen of Spades, and Xu Er had the Nine of Diamonds.
Long Wu pushed all his chips to the middle. "All-in!"
"Call!" Leng Mochen responded without hesitation.
"Call!" Xu Er nonchalantly followed suit. Right now, he seed to be leading overall; with luck this strong, maybe he could even land a flush!
The next set of public cards ca down. At this point, Leng Mochen’s face-up cards totalled Queen of Spades, Nine, 10, and Eight. Long Wu’s were King, Eight, King, Eight. Xu Er had Four, Nine, Four, Four.
Long Wu raised the stakes. "All-in, and I’ll add my lot in Nanyuan to the gamble!" He bet that Leng Er didn’t have the Jack of Spades and Xu Er didn’t have another Four. If his assumptions were correct, he’d win everything.
"Sure, I’m in. What about you?" Leng Mochen’s eyes flashed with determined confidence.
Watching Leng Mochen’s fortress-like composure, Li Si found her breath hitching; she was getting nervous.
Leng Ning’s worried gaze reflected similar thoughts. Years back, her brother was decent at card gas—but now? Could he beat Long Wu’s gang?
Xu Er smugly placed a car key onto the table—a brand-new Ferrari F430. "How about that?" He simply didn’t believe Long Wu’s hole card would still be a King or an Eight, nor that Leng Er’s would be the Jack of Spades. If so, any other card ant they’d lose.
"Alright!" Leng Mochen whispered softly into Li Si’s ear, "Watch how I crush them!" Li Si gave him a light shove in protest. "Pride cos before a fall; is this really okay?" Her words countered by his deep, low laughter.
"Hold it! Stop with the sweet nothings—you’re making us sick! Leng Er, you haven’t said what you’re betting. That new plot of land you acquired—is that your wager?" (To be continued. If you like this story, visit Qidian [qidian] to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile readers, please visit m.qidian.)
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