Chapter 637: Setting the Rules

Di Hou’s face instantly clouded over. “What is this? Are you using this as your stake with me?”

Chen Jun Nan’s expression was serious as he asked, “Why not? Di Hou, I’m being completely sincere with you, but you’re not taking this seriously? Plenty of people wanted these socks, but I didn’t give them to anyone.”

“I don’t want them either!” Di Hou exclaimed. “We’re betting with ‘Dao’ here. What’s the point of betting with a crummy pair of socks?!”

Chen Jun Nan countered without flinching, “Why not?! In Hong Kong movies, that’s how it’s always done. Besides the chips on the table, you can bet a hand, an eye, a leg, or even your life. I’m betting a pair of socks, so you can match with a pair of socks.”

“Me… match with a pair of socks?!”

Chen Jun Nan raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smug smile on his face. “Why not? Giving up?”

Before Di Hou could respond, Chen Jun Nan quickly signaled to Qiao Jia Jin on his left. “Lao Qiao, he’s giving up. Collect the money.”

“Alright!”

Qiao Jia Jin swiftly scooped up all the “Dao” on the table. The two of them worked so seamlessly it almost left Di Hou speechless.

“Hold on!”

But Di Hou was still Di Hou, and he quickly protected the chips on the table. He stared blankly at the pair for a few seconds before frowning and asking, “Are you two here to cause trouble?”

Chen Jun Nan smiled in a peculiar way. “What about it? Di Hou, why don’t you make it clear right now—can we bet things besides ‘Dao’ or not?”

Only then did Di Hou understand the intention behind this sly man’s sudden introduction of the two socks.

He wanted to establish the rules of the gambling table once and for all.

The timing of the socks’ appearance was perfect, putting Di Hou in a difficult position. If he ruled that nothing besides “Dao” could be bet, it would make things harder later when he wanted to make everyone suffer. But if he agreed to the bet now, this man would really get through the first round with just a pair of socks.

What could he do?

Chen Jun Nan kept pressing. “Giving up? If you can’t match, just say so openly. What, didn’t you wear socks today? Can’t you keep up?”

Di Hou clutched the chips on the table and pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

He had it.

“Young man… we can bet things besides ‘Dao’ in this game, but there’s a condition…” Di Hou said.

“Go ahead and state it. I’m not afraid of conditions.”

After a moment’s thought, Di Hou said, “If anyone puts up stakes other than ‘Dao’, everyone else must also put up the same stake or an item of higher value. If even one person doesn’t have something equivalent or more valuable, then the first person’s bet is invalid.”

“That’s not right.” Qi Xia covered his forehead and immediately objected. “Those with ‘Dao’ can bet ‘Dao’, and only those without should use items as collateral. It’s unreasonable to make everyone put up the same item even if they have ‘Dao’.”

Di Hou turned to look at Qi Xia, slowly raising the corners of his mouth as the wrinkles on his face relaxed slightly.

“I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not possible…” He pushed Chen Jun Nan aside and said to Qi Xia, “These are the rules of my casino. You can bet any items, but for fairness, everyone—including me—has to put up the same item. No exceptions. Since we didn’t state this in advance for this round, we won’t use the rule now. It starts from the next round.”

Qi Xia’s brow furrowed slowly.

Replacing “Dao” with items was indeed a problem they had to face, but requiring everyone to put up the same item practically eliminated many options.

If someone wanted to bet their “life”, then everyone else would have no choice but to bet their “life” too if they wanted to continue gambling.

“This is too dangerous…” Qi Xia frowned and shook his head, feeling that not only was the rule dangerous, but his own mind was also becoming clouded.

He needed to think quickly…

Closing his eyes, he carefully considered Di Hou’s proposal. If everyone had to bet the same thing, did that not affect him at all?

Even he himself had to match, so why was Di Hou so calm about it?

There was a significant downside to betting items: their goal here was different from ordinary gamblers. Winning material things meant little to them; what they needed was to gather sixty “Dao” to save their lives.

If Di Hou started betting items every round, they might not earn any “Dao” for eight rounds in a row.

“If you don’t accept, then we’ll all take back our items. Anyway, I have plenty of capital on hand.”

Qi Xia thought quickly for a few seconds, then said, “We can agree. We can add items starting from the next round.”

“Oh…?” Di Hou slowly narrowed his eyes. “You’ve got guts.”

After hearing this, Chen Jun Nan put his socks away, put them back on, and tossed a “Dao” onto the table. It didn’t matter which round it started; his goal was just to rattle them.

Di Hou saw Chen Jun Nan’s bet and couldn’t help but sneer. “You’re ‘Li Chun’. Do you really want to raise?”

Chen Jun Nan smirked back. “Can’t ‘Li Chun’ raise? Does the game say ‘Li Chun’ always loses?”

Di Hou nodded slightly, then turned to Qi Xia and said, “Your teammate isn’t bad.”

Qi Xia didn’t say anything. Qiao Jia Jin, holding his “Da Shu”, thought for a moment and decisively chose to raise as well.

Qi Xia looked at his own “Qi Xi”, the “Zhong Yuan” in the center of the table, and Di Hou’s “Xia Zhi”, and began to calculate the possibilities.

His mind raced for a while, but then it started to slow down. He clearly remembered reading about “Shuo Wang Yue” and the “Er Shi Si Jie Qi”, but those memories were buried deep in his brain, hidden behind layers of fog, and he couldn them no matter what.

“I’ll… I’ll raise too…” Qi Xia said, touching his forehead.

Di Hou nodded expressionlessly, watched as Qi Xia tossed a “Dao” onto the table, and then added one himself.

Next was Zheng Ying Xiong.

He held a “Shuang Jiang”.

Everyone couldn’t help but feel nervous for him. The kid was probably only in first or second grade, and it seemed he might not even recognize the word “Shuang Jiang”, let alone participate in gambling. Though no one said it out loud, Zheng Ying Xiong was basically the “pào huī” here—his role was just to give the group more chances to test things out.

“I’m ‘Shuang Jiang’,” Zheng Ying Xiong said seriously to Di Hou. “Uncle, I’ll match too.”