The Poor School Heartthrob Was Secretly a Financial Titan - Chapter 7

“Liu Jun, you’ve been working in this industry since you were a teenager, learning cheating techniques from everyone you know. You’re twenty-seven now,” he said casually. “What have you learned all these years?”

Liu Jun was taken aback.

Before he could react, Han Xuetao suddenly reached out and swiftly reached for his left sleeve.

Liu Jun tried to dodge, but the hand was already there. With a pinch of two fingers, it pulled a mahjong tile from its sleeve and slammed it onto the table.

Liu Jun’s expression changed, and he instinctively shrank back.

Han Xuetao’s other hand followed, heading straight for Liu Jun’s right sleeve. Liu Jun tried to pull his arm back but couldn’t. The hand precisely gripped his nerve, pulled out a set of dice from his sleeve, and threw them onto the table.

The dice rolled twice on the table and then stopped.

Han Xuetao withdrew his hand and picked up his teacup.

“You have a cardboard zipline in your left sleeve for slinging the cards out,” he blew on his tea. “These dice, are they filled with mercury?”

Liu Jun opened his mouth, unable to speak.

“And there’s that hidden pocket in your clothes, with a few playing cards hidden inside,” Han Xuetao glanced at him, “I won’t search outside.”

Liu Jun’s throat felt dry, and he swallowed.

“After ten years of study,” Han Xuetao put down his teacup, “is this all you’ve learned?”

Liu Jun remained silent.

“You’ll die here sooner or later.”

Liu Jun stared at the mahjong tiles and dice on the table, his lips moved, and finally he managed to squeeze out a question: “So… how did you cheat at the mahjong parlor?”

Han Xuetao smiled upon hearing this.

“Open and aboveboard,” he said. “I’ve been telling you that.”

Liu Jun was stunned.

“You live across the hall from me, we’ve been humming a song the whole time,” Han Xuetao said, looking at him. “Didn’t you notice?”

Liu Jun frowned as he recalled the events.

“Different songs have different rhythms,” Han Xuetao tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “Some are a quarter beat, some are a half beat. By combining the number of words sung, you can convey a signal—what cards you have and what you need. Understand?”

Liu Jun was dumbfounded.

“This… will work?”

Han Xuetao waved to the waiter.

“Bring me a deck of cards.”

The waiter quickly brought over an unopened deck of cards. Han Xuetao took it, tore open the packaging, pulled out the cards, and weighed them in his hand.

“Cheating is divided into cheating and physical cheating,” he said while shuffling the cards. “All the things you’ve done with props are physical cheating. If someone catches you in the act, you’ll be crippled if not dead.”

The cards flew through his hands, one on top of the other, making a crisp sound.

“Besides martial arts, there are also literary arts.”

He shuffled the cards several times and spread them out on the table.

“Newly opened decks of cards are arranged in a fixed order. They can be shuffled a number of times according to the factory layout, and the position of each card can be calculated.”

He gathered the cards and began dealing.

One, two, three…

Liu Jun stared at the cards on the table, his eyes widening.

Sent.

The cards in front of each of them represent a dragon.

Liu Jun has diamonds in front of him, ranging from Ace to King. Han Xuetao has spades in front of him, ranging from Ace to King.

Liu Jun looked up at him as if he were a ghost.

Han Xuetao put the cards away and pushed them in front of him.

“You wash it.”

Liu Jun took the cards, his hands trembling slightly. He shuffled them several times and put them back on the table.

Han Xuetao reached out and gently sliced ​​the tile block.

Just for a moment.

He turned the top card over—the Ace of Hearts.

“You switched the cards?” Liu Jun stared at the card, his pupils shrinking.

“This is called cheating,” Han Xuetao said. “Even if you know I’m cheating, can you catch me with evidence? When a casino encounters someone like me, they can only behave properly, give me a bribe, and send me away.”

Liu Jun opened his mouth, but couldn’t utter a single word.

Han Xuetao practiced this move for a long time.

In his previous life in South America, he spent three months learning this technique from a con artist before mastering it. He later made his fortune in the Chinese underworld, starting with casinos. Now, teaching Liu Jun with this skill would be more than enough.

He knew this long-faced young man all too well.

Liu Jun and Liu Jun met in prison in their previous life. When they first went in, they were bullied by the old people in the prison. The two of them stuck together and got through that period, forming a life-or-death friendship.

After he was released from prison, his parents had passed away. He had no skills and hung out with Liu Jun for a while. Until one day, Liu Jun was caught cheating and lost three fingers, after which he disappeared without a trace.

I saw him again more than ten years later.

Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At that time, Liu Jun had mastered gambling skills, but he was once tricked in a game and almost died in that city. It was Liu Jun who saved him.

Han Xuetao snapped out of his thoughts and looked across at the other side.

Liu Jun had already left his seat, took two steps to him, and knelt down with a thud.

“Master!”

Several waiters in the teahouse turned around with strange expressions—a middle-aged man with a long face was kneeling and kowtowing in front of a student in a school uniform?

Ignoring all that, Liu Jun pressed his forehead to the ground and said, “Master, please accept me as your disciple!”

Han Xuetao looked down at him, not in a hurry to speak.

“I want to become your apprentice,” he said, “but first, do me a favor.”

Liu Jun raised his head: “Please speak!”

Han Xuetao picked up his teacup. “Then, remember one thing I said—when cheating, don’t go too far.”

Liu Jun knelt on the ground and listened.

“Everyone who gets involved in gambling is destined for a calamity. But you shouldn’t be the one to tighten this knot.”

He looked at Liu Jun.

“For example, that fat sheep you keep killing, the vitiligo uncle sitting across from you. He has a wife and a sick daughter at home. The money I won from you just now, I’ve already had someone send it to his wife.”

Liu Jun was stunned.

“Don’t cheat for the last penny,” Han Xuetao said. “Being a con artist is also about being a decent human being, and you have to have certain principles of conduct.”

Liu Jun lowered his head and remained silent for a few seconds.

“I’ve got it,” he said.

Han Xuetao glanced at his sleeve.

“Don’t use those things you’re wearing anymore.”

Liu Jun nodded.

“Hands out.”

Liu Jun placed his hands on the table.

Han Xuetao picked up the teapot, tilted the spout, and poured hot water down, which landed directly on three fingers of Liu Jun’s left hand.

“hiss–“

Liu Jun gasped, his face turning pale. He instinctively wanted to pull his hand away, but he forced himself to.

Hot water dripped down my fingers, leaving a puddle on the table.

Han Xuetao put down the teapot.

“You only remember when it hurts,” he said. “It’s a good thing that you can feel pain. It means that these three fingers are still growing on your hand.”

Liu Jun looked down at his bright red fingers, baring his teeth, but didn’t utter a sound.

“Master…Master,” he gasped, “I understand. Please tell me your instructions.”

at the same time.

In the northern part of the city, in the residential compound for the municipal government staff.

Li Man is at home.

Her parents had both gone to work, and she was home alone. She thought she would take this opportunity to make dumplings for her parents.

She was standing in front of the kitchen counter, her hands tucked into a lump of dough, kneading it vigorously.

He rubbed it and muttered something under his breath.

“What nonsense…”

Knead it again.

“Who are you trying to impress with that sour face…?”

She kneaded the dough until it was flat and round, then round and flat again.

She remembered what happened yesterday.

I kindly delivered the letter to him and kindly reminded him to apologize, and what did I get in return? Two “too busy” replies.

No time!

From childhood to adulthood, no boy has ever dared to give her such a cold shoulder.

She then thought of Sun Ling and Luo Diandian, those two infatuated girls, saying things like, “Han Xuetao is quite handsome.”

handsome?

Li Man pinched a handful of dough hard.

“Handsome? What’s so handsome about him? He looks awful with that dark face!”

The dough has a concave area.

She remembered the rumor again—Han Xuetao confessed his feelings to Zhang Lu from Class 2.

His hands paused for a moment.

Zhang Lu from Class Two…

She bit her lip and tightened her grip even more.

“He has a sour face and is blind; he’s hopeless!”

She kneaded the dough until it was no longer shaped.

The phone rang.

Li Man carried the basin to the living room, glanced at her hands, and carefully picked up the microphone with two fingers.

“Hello?”

“Manman!”

That was Luo Diandian’s voice, sharp and fast, filled with excitement.

“My dad just told me he saw one of our classmates go to a mahjong parlor to play mahjong! Guess who it is?”

Li Man was stunned for a moment.

Mahjong parlor?

High school students going to mahjong parlors to play mahjong is not exactly unheard of these days, but it’s still quite outrageous.

Some schools with lax management, or vocational high schools, do have students who go there. But this is a top-tier high school, with strict discipline and tight management. I’ve never heard of anyone daring to go to such a place, even after the college entrance exam—that’s just too outrageous!

“Who is it?” she asked. “Is it someone from our class?”

“Han Xuetao!” Luo Diandian’s voice rose eight octaves. “And he went there wearing his school uniform! Wearing his school uniform! My dad said he recognized him at a glance!”

“Huh?” Li Man’s hand slipped.

The microphone slipped from my fingers and fell into the basin with a “thud”.