Chapter 636: The Master of Hearts

When the six people returned to the round table with their respective chips, Di Hou noticed something off about Qi Xia.

"What's the matter, your constitution so weak now?" Di Hou asked, cigarette in his mouth, his eyelids drooping as if he were even less energetic than Qi Xia.

"'Now'...?" Qi Xia struggled to open his eyes and look at him. "Was I better off before?"

"Ha..." Di Hou shook his head. "I have to say... you've changed a lot, almost to the point where I didn't recognize you."

"Changed?" Qi Xia found the term intriguing.

He had met many people in the Zhong Yuan Zhi Di, but no one had ever talked about his "changes."

"Exactly where did I change?" Qi Xia asked.

"Hard to say." Di Hou scratched his face. "Is it your 'mindset'? Your 'attitude'? Your 'thoughts'?"

"One sounds more mysterious than the last." Qi Xia let out a light snort. "Let's get started."

Di Hou nodded, reached for the deck, and was about to deal when Qiao Jia Jin called out to him.

"Hold on."

Qiao Jia Jin grabbed Di Hou's wrist and said softly, "Di Hou, what's the rush?"

Di Hou slowly furrowed his brow. "Isn't it time to start?"

"You need to shuffle the deck first," Qiao Jia Jin said. "Who just picks up the deck and deals like that?"

"I already shuffled it." Di Hou shook off Qiao Jia Jin's hand. "But I don't mind doing it again."

He split the deck into two stacks, shuffled them deftly, cut the cards a few times, and then neatly placed the deck in front of everyone.

"Is that good enough?"

Qiao Jia Jin stared at the deck and slowly smiled. He had seen card-cutting techniques countless times, and the man's skills were decent at best, not expert level.

"We need to shuffle too."

"Oh?"

"Casino rules—everyone shuffles once," Qiao Jia Jin said. "Di Hou, you run the casino, so you should know this rule better than I do."

Only then did Di Hou realize that the man in front of him knew his way around casinos even more than he did.

After hearing this, Qi Xia understood Qiao Jia Jin's intent. He decisively picked up the deck from the table, quickly manipulated it in his hands, then split it face-up into two stacks and shuffled them together, taking the opportunity to glance at the cards. As he expected, the deck included the twenty-four solar terms and traditional holidays.

But what on earth did Shuo Wang Yue mean?

After everyone had taken their turn shuffling, when the deck was handed back to Di Hou, he just smirked slightly and placed it on the table.

"Now we can start," Qiao Jia Jin said.

"Next, each person please put down one Dao as the starting chip for this round."

Everyone placed their Dao on the table.

After all had put down their chips, Di Hou reached for a card and flipped it over on the table.

"Zhong Yuan."

"Zhong Yuan...?" Chen Jun Nan was stunned. "What the heck is Zhong Yuan?"

"Zhong Yuan Festival," Qi Xia said gravely. "The one people call the 'Ghost Festival.'"

"Oh... now that you say 'Ghost Festival,' I get it." Chen Jun Nan thought for a moment. "July 15th, right!"

"Mm."

Di Hou ignored the others and pointed to the Zhong Yuan card. "This is the 'public card' for this round."

Then Di Hou drew a card for himself and revealed it.

"Xia Zhi."

"Next, I'll deal cards clockwise. This is the 'open card' for this round," Di Hou said.

Following the clockwise order, to Di Hou's left was Zheng Ying Xiong. Di Hou drew a card and flipped it for him.

"Shuang Jiang."

Next was Tian Tian, who received a Da Xue.

Then Xiao Cheng got a Qing Ming.

Chen Jun Nan received Li Chun.

Qiao Jia Jin got Da Shu.

Finally, it was Qi Xia's turn.

Di Hou picked up Qi Xia's card and tossed it to him with a smile.

Qi Xia caught it and saw Qi Xi on the face.

Although everyone had smoothly received their cards, the situation was getting complicated. It seemed like betting would start soon, but how were these cards supposed to be ranked?

"The person with the latest date goes first." Di Hou tapped the table. "Da Xue."

Tian Tian looked at her Da Xue card, completely at a loss.

She couldn't remember the exact date of Da Xue, but she knew it was in deep winter, so its date number was definitely large. Compared to Di Hou's Xia Zhi, she wouldn't lose, so after thinking for a moment, she said:

"I bet one."

Xiao Cheng stared at his Qing Ming card and slowly frowned.

If he remembered correctly, Qing Ming was usually in March or April, which seemed too early in date terms.

Since Di Hou had said that each round started with the latest date, it implied that the game was all about comparing dates. In this round, no matter how he looked at it, betting wasn't a good idea.

"I'm out of this round. Not following," Xiao Cheng said, pushing his Qing Ming and the Dao in front of him back.

He straightened up and leaned back in his chair; the first round had nothing to do with him anymore.

Qi Xia glanced at Xiao Cheng and nodded.

With such an early date, bowing out after losing just one Dao was the smart move. The situation was unclear, and continuing would only lead to bigger losses.

Next was Chen Jun Nan's turn. He had been fiddling with something under the table the whole time.

"Jun Nan, you're up," Qiao Jia Jin reminded him.

"Coming, coming."

Chen Jun Nan looked at his card, and after a few seconds, he flashed an awkward smile.

"What the hell am I playing with this...?"

Everyone turned to look—his card was Li Chun.

"If I remember right... Li Chun is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, right? January or February at most?" He waved his card around wildly. "Di Hou, can you even deal cards? Are you trying to ruin the game for us?"

"It's gambling, after all," Di Hou nodded. "You win some, you lose some. Besides, you might not lose."

"Fine! Just because you said that!" Chen Jun Nan nodded. "Truth be told, Di Hou, I felt a connection with you the moment I saw you—like we've known each other from a past life."

"Oh? So are you Zhu Ba Jie?" Di Hou laughed.

"As long as I can be your sidekick, I'll be Zhu Ba Jie or Sha Wu Jing, no problem," Chen Jun Nan laughed too. "Since my Di Hou says I might not lose, I'll go all in on this round."

"What...?" Di Hou frowned. "You're going all in with a Li Chun?"

"I'm betting on you, Di Hou!" Chen Jun Nan said. "Here goes nothing—putting all my chips on the line!"

"You..."

Before Di Hou could respond, there was a loud "smack," and two dark objects landed on the table.

Everyone stared—it was two filthy socks.