The Poor School Heartthrob Was Secretly a Financial Titan - Chapter 16

“Then how do you know her?”

“I’ve heard of her,” Li Man replied casually, biting her straw. “She’s the most beautiful girl in Class Two. She’s quite pretty, but…”

She paused.

“But what?”

“It’s nothing,” Li Man waved her hand. “I just heard that she gets along quite well with boys from outside the school. I don’t know the specifics, I just heard it from others.”

Han Xuetao said “Oh” and didn’t reply.

Li Man waited two seconds, and seeing that he didn’t say anything, she became anxious: “I asked you! What do you mean by just saying ‘oh’?”

Han Xuetao glanced at her: “Why should I tell you?”

Li Man was furious.

“You…you asked me if I know Zhang Lu, and I’ve already told you!”

Han Xuetao put down his milk tea cup and said in a nonchalant tone, “I didn’t like the look of her, so I slapped her. It’s that simple.”

After saying that, he leaned back in his chair and stopped talking.

Li Man stared at him, not believing him at all.

Don’t like the look of her? Just slap her?

You’re insane!

“You’re not honest at all!”

Li Man stood up, glared at him, snorted, and ran away.

Han Xuetao watched her retreating figure, picked up his milk tea cup, finished the last sip, and casually tossed it into the nearby trash can.

…

In room 508, the card game had become incredibly intense.

Six people sat around a square table piled high with banknotes and chips.

Smoke billowed, curses rang out, and playing cards flew about.

They were playing Texas Hold’em—a simple and straightforward game. Each person was dealt three cards and the hands were compared. Players could choose to play blind, watch, call, or fold. A round could last anywhere from a few dozen seconds to three to five minutes.

Starting around 2 PM, in just two hours, Zhou Cheng, Wei Tao, and Huang Xiaolong, along with Liu Zhiyuan who joined later, had won back most of the money they had lost playing mahjong in the previous days.

The reason they were able to win money was all thanks to a treasure Liu Zhiyuan brought—a type of chemically treated playing card. Liu Zhiyuan’s father was the deputy director of the Industry and Commerce Bureau, and during a joint enforcement operation with the police before the Lunar New Year, they seized a batch of gambling paraphernalia, including this item. The back of the playing cards was coated with a special chemical solution, and by wearing matching contact lenses, one could see the cards.

Of course, when the cards are stacked together, only the top card can be seen.

That’s how Liu Jun is.

For some reason, after the cards were dealt, all three cards were pressed tightly together on the table, impossible to flip over. Through their contact lens glasses, they could only see the top card; the bottom two were completely invisible.

This increases uncertainty.

Of course, in this type of poker, seeing just one card gives you a huge advantage. Add to that the teamwork of three players, and you can win money incredibly quickly.

As for that Bao Da, he’s a complete idiot.

His way of handling the cards was completely opposite to Liu Jun’s—he spread the three cards out as if they were falling apart, flipping them over and over, as if he wanted to show them to everyone. Through the magic mirror, his cards were crystal clear.

Of course, they would deliberately let Bao Da win a few rounds to avoid arousing his suspicion. But overall, Bao Da lost more than he won.

However, Bao Da did not receive cash.

He pulled a stack of brightly colored chips from his bag and slammed them on the table. Three colors: red for 100 yuan, blue for 200 yuan, and yellow for 500 yuan. In his words, cash was too low-class and unbecoming of his status.

The group was initially reluctant, but Bao Da pulled out a bank check and slammed it on the table.

“One million!” he said, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “Don’t worry, whoever has the chips in the end, I’ll cover it all! Not a penny less!”

When Zhou Cheng and the others saw the check, their eyes widened in disbelief.

These days, having 10,000 yuan is still a rarity, so what does one million yuan even mean?

The group immediately tacitly agreed to use chips instead of cash.

Another round begins.

Deal the cards.

Liu Jun received three cards, and as usual, pressed them tightly together on the table.

Through the magic mirror, Zhou Cheng saw the top card on his deck—the King of Spades.

Zhou Cheng looked down at his cards. Q, K, A, a straight, not the highest, but not low either.

He gave Wei Tao a wink. Wei Tao nodded slightly—his hand was pretty good too, three 8s, a triple.

Huang Xiaolong’s hand was a bit weak, but he could still play with pairs.

Liu Zhiyuan had the worst hand, so he folded.

Bao Da didn’t look at his cards, slammed them on the table, and made an indifferent expression.

“Boo!” He threw in a stack of chips. “I refuse to believe in bad luck today!”

Zhou Cheng cursed inwardly.

This idiot, what are you yelling about with such a bad hand?

But the hand was already closed, so he had no choice but to call.

One round, two rounds, three rounds.

The chips piled up higher and higher.

Bao Da was still putting on an act, muttering to himself, “Stealing chickens? I never steal chickens! I’m a big shot!”

Zhou Cheng gritted his teeth, thinking to himself, “You didn’t even look at your cards, what kind of cheating is this?”

If I bet, I’m afraid Liu Jun might have some big names. If I don’t bet, it’s a waste to throw away my straight.

He looked at Liu Jun.

Liu Jun remained expressionless, his three cards still firmly held down, revealing no clue whatsoever on his face.

Zhou Chengxin gritted his teeth and threw in another stack of chips.

The cards are revealed.

Bao Da flipped over his cards—the highest card was a Jack, and he had no other cards.

Zhou Cheng smiled coldly and was about to reveal his straight when Liu Jun suddenly turned over three cards.

Three Kings.

leopard.

The entire room fell silent for a second.

“Damn it!” Huang Xiaolong slammed his hand on the table.

Wei Tao’s face turned green: “I lost even with three 8s?”

Zhou Cheng didn’t speak, his face was extremely ugly.

Liu Jun chuckled and pulled the chips on the table toward himself.

“Luck, luck,” he said. “I’ve been losing all the time, and I’ve only just started to win back a little. There’s still plenty of time, keep going, keep going!”

Zhou Cheng stared at him for two seconds, then threw the cards onto the table.

Shuffle the cards!

Liu Jun shuffled the cards with his head down, his movements clumsy and clearly unskilled.

No one noticed that as he shuffled the cards, his thumb lightly brushed against the edge of a few cards.

That’s e-liquid.

Han Xuetao taught him a method—using cigarette tar to mark the edges of the cards. Each card’s suit and rank corresponded to a different position. After marking them, even if the cards were stacked together, he could tell at a glance who had what cards.

By now, most of the dozens of cards on the table have already passed through his hands.

He knew exactly what cards everyone had.

He had already noticed the liquid-filled goggles worn by the people opposite him.

He stopped using those simple cheating techniques a long time ago—they were too limiting and too risky. He had personally witnessed a young man use such methods at an underground casino, only to be beaten half to death and thrown out after being caught.

The method taught by Master is still the best.

But once a person starts losing, it happens very quickly.

Zhou Cheng and his companions didn’t know from which hand the situation began to turn around; their money and borrowed chips flowed away like the receding tide.

“Follow!” Zhou Cheng’s forehead was sweating.

The cards were revealed, and Liu Jun won again.

“Hold!”

Huang Xiaolong slammed his hand on the table, making the ashtray jump. His table was empty; the cash was gone, and the chips were gone too.

Liu Zhiyuan pushed up his glasses, his hands trembling slightly. His former air of a refined scoundrel was long gone; his shirt collar was unbuttoned, and his eyes were fixed on the cards on the table.

Zhou Cheng gritted his teeth, his cheeks taut, and the mole on the corner of his mouth twitched.

The tens of thousands of yuan in cash they brought with them are all gone.

“Brother Bao,” Zhou Cheng turned his head, his voice dry, “lend me some more chips.”

Bao Da, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, squinted at him but didn’t move.

“borrow?”

“I’ll borrow it,” Zhou Cheng said. “I’ll pay you back later.”

Bao Da slowly took out a stack of chips from his bag, counted them, and pushed them over.

“The last ten thousand,” he said, “is to be saved.”

An hour later.

“Brother Bao,” Huang Xiaolong’s voice was hoarse, “lend me some more.”

Bao Da pushed another stack over.

Another half hour passed.

“Brother Bao…”

Bao Da threw the empty bag onto the table.

“That’s it,” he said, spreading his hands. “You’ve borrowed all the chips. A million, not a single one left.”

Upon hearing this, the room fell silent.

Zhou Cheng stood there, stunned. Wei Tao’s mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time. Huang Xiaolong’s face was deathly pale, sweat pouring down his forehead. Liu Zhiyuan took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if that would make the numbers in front of him disappear.

One million.

Subtracting the amount Bao Da himself contributed, the total amount of chips the three of them borrowed from Bao Da amounted to 830,000.

The group looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Finally, Zhou Cheng spoke first, his voice dry: “Brother Bao, what you lent us… was chips, not cash.”

Bao Da was fanning himself with the bank check when he heard this, so he stopped and tilted his head to look at him.

“Aren’t chips money?”

Bao Da slammed the check on the table.

“Okay, then let me ask you—if I lose, will you just let these chips go?”

No one answered.

“Could it be?” Bao Da stared at them.

Still, no one spoke.

Bao Da stood up and put the check in his pocket.

“That’s it. What I’m lending you are chips, but chips are money. In other words, if I lose, you want my money. If you lose, the chips become worthless?”

He gave a cold laugh.

“Gentlemen, this is not how business is done.”

Zhou Cheng opened his mouth, but couldn’t say a word.