Chapter 43

Shen Yue still remembered the steps for the perfect shuffle.

First, before shuffling, the cards should be neatly arranged. Hold the cards with the fingertips of the left hand. Bring the right hand from above, extending the index finger to rest on the short side farther from the body. Then use the right thumb, middle and ring fingers to pick up half the cards, and use the top half of the picked up cards to gently tap the bottom half's short side. Next, match the two corners of the two piles of cards closest to the body, while keeping both piles level with the right index finger. Finally, gently push the two card corners together and the cards will start interleaving. Gently moving them back and forth makes it easier.

This way, the order of the shuffled cards does not change at all.

Shen Yue stared at the stall owner's hands, and finally came to a conclusion.

This person does not have very good skills.

After picking up and glancing at the cards dealt to her, Shen Yue softly said, "Deal one more."

So the stall owner dealt her another card.

Shen Yue took a look at it. "Stop."

The stall owner could no longer hide the smile on his face. He flipped over his cards, which was 21 points.

While Shen Yue's cards were only 19 points.

"Looks like I got lucky this round, little sister."

Shen Yue glanced at the discarded cards, and softly hmm-ed before continuing to the next round.

【What's going on? Sister Yue is gambling? I heard Sister Yue had work to do today so I excitedly tuned into the livestream but what is this?】

【The situation is just like this. Sister Yue was just somehow lured into playing cards while walking around.】

【The dealer is definitely cheating! Just looking at his expression, he doesn't seem like a good person!】

【What is Brother Shen doing? Sister Yue is so young, how could he let her get involved in gambling? And the man across from her clearly isn't up to any good!】

【It's mainly because he couldn't stop her! Brother Shen tried his best to drag her away just now but failed, can you believe it?】 The barrage was chattering away, when after just a short while, Shen Yue had already lost three rounds, her chips diminishing one by one. 【What's going on with Sister Yue? She's being swindled right? Hasn't won a single time?】

【Shouldn't the program team have properly surveyed the surroundings? How could someone like him appear nearby?!】

But no matter whether it was the audience currently watching the livestream, Shen Shuangyi standing on the side, or the boss across from her immersed in fantasies about the huge haul he was about to earn, none of them noticed that whenever it was time to reveal the cards, Shen Yue's eyes would linger on the card faces for a moment.

After losing several more rounds, Shen Yue finally won once. Jiang Shiwen and Zou Xuerong happened to return then, and the first thing they saw was Shen Yue sitting at the table counting the chips in front of her.

With one glance, Jiang Shiwen understood what was happening. Someone in his family used to do this before, but later on when the government cracked down on underground societies, he washed his hands of it and went straight.

He quietly moved closer to Shen Shuangyi and asked in a low voice, "Brother Shen, Sister Yue knows how to do this?"

He wouldn't have asked normally, but Shen Shuangyi's expression looked even worse after he asked. "She doesn't know how. She's been losing the whole time."

Right after he finished speaking, Shen Yue lost another round and handed over another chip.

Shen Yue herself didn't seem to mind at all, as if she wasn't losing money but just toys.

But as Shen Shuangyi watched on the side, he was already mentally drafting the lecture he would give Shen Yue later.

He must wield his authority as an older brother and severely admonish this disobedient little sister, pulling her back from the edge of danger.

How did his older brother used to admonish him again? Maybe he should call his older brother now and ask for a script...

Shen Shuangyi took out his phone, only to remember it was the unusable phone that couldn't communicate with the outside world.

Oh well.

From the surrounding atmosphere, Zou Xuerong sensed that Shen Yue seemed to be doing something not very good. Hesitantly, she still went to stand by Shen Yue's side and whispered, "Go for it, Yueyue!"

Shen Yue turned back and smiled at her.

Seeing Zou Xuerong, the stall owner's eyes glinted as he took the initiative to chat her up as well. "Hello there little sister, your friend just lost quite a bit. Are you here to pay back her debt?"

Zou Xuerong didn't really understand, and was stunned for a moment. Then she suddenly grabbed Shen Yue's arm and asked worriedly, "How much is owed? Can we pay it back after we finish recording the show and go home? I only have 30 yuan on me now..."

The stall owner could no longer contain his smile. His judgement was truly spot on. They were a bunch of young masters and ladies coming to experience life. As long as he got a hold of one, he could earn big.

"Of course we can take the 30 first. The rest can be paid with other collateral."

He looked as if he had already won for sure.

Hearing something off about this, Jiang Shiwen spoke up to ask, "How much is one of your chips?"

The stall owner immediately quoted, "100 yuan each." Jiang Shiwen frowned. There was no way a small stall like this would have such highly valued chips. He was probably naming a sky high price to start negotiating.

But Jiang Shiwen didn't continue arguing. Brother Shen hadn't stopped this after all, so he probably had some idea in mind. And Sister Yue didn't seem like someone who could be taken advantage of either. She's got this!

However, after Jiang Shiwen observed carefully for a while longer, he was dumbfounded to see Shen Yue continuously losing round after round!!

Something was clearly off with the other side!

Twenty One was a game unusually favorable to players, because the dealer's hand must be 17 points or higher, making it very easy to bust.

But from what he had asked Brother Shen earlier, and from witnessing these few rounds himself, this stall owner hadn't busted even once.

Reaching this level of consistency purely by luck...was impossible at a gambling table.

This person had definitely tampered with the cards in some way, but no matter how long Jiang Shiwen watched, he couldn't figure out where the problem was. So he decided to bluff.

He suddenly shouted at the stall owner, "I saw you controlling the deal! Aren't you being too dishonest?"

As expected, the stall owner looked over, but his face showed no panic at all. He even smiled very gently. "Kid, don't speak nonsense. This is a game purely of luck. Win or lose is all determined by fortune. You can't just falsely accuse because your friend got unlucky and lost. Moreover, you're saying I controlled the deal, so go ahead and tell me how exactly I controlled it."

Of course Jiang Shiwen didn't know. His family had always emphatically warned him to stay away from gambling, so he was completely clueless about such techniques. If he did know, he would have directly exposed this scoundrel and given him a good scolding.

"Then I must have seen wrong. Sorry about that." Jiang Shiwen could only back down, feeling quite annoyed. So aggravating!

None of them noticed that during their argument, Shen Yue's eyes had once again swept over all the cards.

When they redirected their gaze back to the gaming table, they saw Shen Yue push forward all the chips in front of her.

Swift and decisive.

Shen Yue's actions gave Jiang Shiwen a fright, and he hurriedly tried to stop her. "Sister Yue, don't! Each of these is 100 yuan! If you lose it all you'll have nothing left!"

To the previous Jiang Shiwen, 100 was just a number. He could casually spend hundreds or thousands of 100 yuan and not even bat an eye. But after experiencing yesterday's lesson with Shen Shuangyi, he profoundly understood how hard it was to earn 100 yuan!

Right now they didn't have any money on them at all. If Shen Yue lost everything, they would have to use collateral to pay it off and be detained here.

But Shen Yue ignored Jiang Shiwen and pushed her chips forward once more.

"Sister Yue..."

"Let her play." Shen Shuangyi flatly spoke, showing no intention of stopping her at all.

Humans were creatures who, no matter how much someone warned them, would only believe a danger after personally experiencing it.

Shen Shuangyi felt indifferent about the grief Shen Yue was about to suffer. After all, he had his parenting script ready.