Feicui, who was sitting next to Madam Guo and helping her look at the cards, saw that Zhou Shaojin played Zhang Sanwen, and before Madam Guo could do anything, she hurriedly shouted "Eat it".
Mrs. Guo took a look at her cards, then smiled and threw out a pair of three-cent cards and played a two-cent card.
Nanny Lu glanced at Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin was staring at the cards in his hand, trying to make a straight one by one. He had no time to pay attention to the cards on the table, or what cards others had played.
Nanny Lu looked at him and smiled slightly. She took two coins, thought for a while, and played a four-string card.
Zhou Shaojin sat downstairs from Aunt Lu.
Cheng Chi shouted "eat card".
Zhou Shaojin has a two-sou, a three-sou, a four-sou, a five-sou, a six-sou, and a seven-sou in her hand. If she gets another two-sou, five-sou, or eight-sou, she can win the game. In other words, she has already stopped playing and is just waiting to win.
She glanced at Cheng Chi.
Cheng Chi had no expression on his face.
She hurriedly whispered, "Which one?"
Zhou Shaojin didn't dare to ask which one to eat, for she was afraid that the other three families would hear it.
Cheng Chi said: "Hit seven ropes."
If two, five, or eight ropes don’t work, can only five ropes work
Zhou Shaojin felt that the chances of success in playing cards like this were too small.
But Cheng Chi asked her to play seven rounds of beating in front of so many people, how could she lose face for Cheng Chi
Zhou Shaojin played seven ropes.
The next player, Biyu, looked at the cards on the table, then looked at the cards in her mind, pondered for a while, and then followed suit and played a seven-sou.
Mrs. Guo's expression was no longer as relaxed as before.
The old lady thought about it and then played a seven-string card very carefully.
Without thinking, Nanny Lu played another Four-Strong card.
Madam Guo frowned and asked, "Why are you breaking them up in pairs?"
Madam Lu said aggrievedly, "I'll show you the cards later! I couldn't play the cards I wanted to touch. Who knew that when I opened the cards, my second cousin would play them."
Mrs. Guo said nothing.
Zhou Shaojin touched a card.
It turned out to be Zhang Wusuo.
She was stunned and looked at Cheng Chi and then at Mrs. Guo.
Madam Guo asked sensitively, "What's wrong?"
"I, I drew it by myself!" Zhou Shaojin stammered and placed the cards on the table.
"You can even touch this!" Biyu took out the straight with five strings in her hand, "I saw Fourth Master telling Second Cousin to play seven strings and I felt something was wrong, so I opened a straight and followed suit, but I didn't expect Second Cousin to touch it."
Zhou Shaojin was even more confused.
According to everyone, she drew the only five-socket card.
How did Cheng Chi know that she would win after eating Lu Ma's card
She glanced at Cheng Chi.
Cheng Chi's face showed a lack of interest.
Zhou Shaojin bent down to shuffle the cards.
Biyu covered her mouth and smiled, reminding her: "Second cousin, she is the banker of Madam Lu."
Zhou Shaojin was embarrassed.
Aunt Lu laughed and teased her, "Miss Second Cousin, you can't do this! You've already lost four games in a row, and you still want to steal my banker position."
Mrs. Guo and others burst into laughter.
Zhou Shaojin blushed.
After starting over, Cheng Chi was still by her side, teaching her how to play cards.
She somehow managed to win six games in a row, and in the seventh game, she actually got a big hand of pairs.
Madam Guo couldn't help it and said angrily, "Silang, if you have nothing to do, why don't you play cards with us!"
Zhou Shaojin's face felt like it was on fire. He stood up quickly and said, "Uncle Chi, let me beat you!"
Biyu also stood up quickly and said, "Fourth Master, I didn't play cards well. The old lady has criticized me several times. If I didn't have a partner, the old lady would have kicked me off the table long ago. Please sit here with me! Otherwise, the old lady will dislike me for losing money slowly."
Everyone laughed again after hearing this.
Cheng Chi took out his pocket watch and took a look at it, then said, "I have something else to do later, so I'll just hang around here, so leave me alone."
After he said that, no one wanted to force him, so they sat down to play cards again.
But this time he didn't say anything, just sat there and watched leisurely.
Zhou Shaojin felt more nervous than ever before.
She was afraid that she would play the wrong card and make Cheng Chi feel stupid.
As a result, she couldn't help but become very hesitant when playing cards. She felt that playing this card was wrong, and playing that card also seemed wrong... In a panic, she lost twelve games in a row. Fortunately, Mrs. Guo and others didn't make any big wins. She just slowly lost the money she had won before. By the time of dinner, she had neither lost nor won.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
Cheng Chi whispered to her, "After dinner, come to my cabin."
Zhou Shaojin didn't know what was going on. He looked at the back of Mrs. Guo who was walking in front of them and didn't dare to say anything, just nodded slightly.
After dinner, she drank tea with Mrs. Guo and finally found an opportunity to leave earlier than usual.
Mrs. Guo was also tired, so she didn't keep her and told Biyu to see her out.
Zhou Shaojin turned a corner and went to Cheng Chi's cabin.
Cheng Chi was sitting behind the large desk in the cabin study, fiddling with something.
Qingfeng and Langyue were watching over the candles in the cabin, one while the other was kneeling on a bamboo mat beside them, watching over the boiling water on the small red clay stove, preparing to make tea.
Zhou Shaojin walked forward with brisk but steady steps and bowed to Cheng Chi respectfully.
Cheng Chi waved at her.
Zhou Shaojin walked closer and discovered that there was a deck of playing cards on the large desk.
She was very surprised.
Cheng Chi asked her, "Do you know how many cards there are in a deck of cards?"
Zhou Shaojin shook his head.
Cheng Chi said: "You can calculate it yourself."
Zhou Shaojin was silent for a moment, then said, "One hundred and eight."
"That's right." Cheng Chi smiled faintly and said, "Then do you know how many colors there are in total? How many cards of each color are there?"
"I know." Zhou Shaojin thought and answered, "There are four suits in total, Wen, Suo, Wan, and Tong. There are four cards in each suit from one to nine."
The answer is even more detailed than Cheng Chi’s.
Cheng Chi showed satisfaction, fiddling with the cards in his hand, and said, "Look, each type of card has a fixed number. If you have these cards in your hand, then you still have these cards left. If others have played these cards, then you still have these cards left. From this, you can infer roughly how many cards others have in their hands, how many cards are left, and which cards are more likely to be played when playing cards..." As he spoke, the corner of his eye inadvertently swept across Zhou Shaojin's exquisite and flawless face with a little confusion in his eyes. He couldn't help but paused, sighed softly, and said, "I think it's better to forget it. This is too complicated for you. As long as you remember which cards you have in your hand, how many cards you have played, and how many cards others have played, you can roughly know which suits of cards are more common outside, and you just need to listen to those cards. Do you understand what I said?"
Zhou Shaojin nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand. You need to count your own cards as well as other people's cards. This way you will know how to play and split the cards."
Cheng Chi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He was really afraid that she wouldn't understand and he would have to explain it to her from the beginning.
"Well, let's practice." Cheng Chi cleared the cards. His slender fingers were nimble and agile. The cards turned over and over between his fingers as if they were alive. "These two piles of cards are mine, and these two piles are yours... You play first."
Zhou Shaojin stared at the cards in his hand carefully for a long time, and played a Nine Suos which was nowhere to be found. Then he picked up another pile of cards, looked at them for a long time, and played a Six Suos.
Cheng Chi said, "Very good! Don't be anxious. Although playing cards is a game between four people, if you are too accommodating to others, you will easily get anxious, and when you are anxious, you will easily make the wrong cards." As he spoke, he played a six-sou card from each of the two piles of cards. "You should pay attention to what cards everyone has played. Then tell me, how many nine-sou cards are there in total? How many six-sou cards?"
Zhou Shaojin said without hesitation: "There is one more six ropes, and three nine ropes."
"So you have to think about it now. If you only have a six-suo, it will be difficult to make a straight of six, seven, or eight-suo. It will also be difficult to make a straight of four, five, or six. If you have a seven-suo and an eight-suo in your hand, and happen to have a four-wen and a five-wen, then you have to consider splitting the seven-suo and the eight-suo, because there is only one six-suo..." Cheng Chi practiced with her patiently and carefully.
Zhou Shaojin gradually became addicted to it.
Cheng Chi stopped talking and asked Lang Yue to bring a throne to Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin followed Cheng Chi's instructions and fiddled with the leaf cards himself.
The water was bubbling.
Cheng Chi knelt on the orchid mat on the ground and drank tea leisurely.
In the county town where I was moored overnight, the sound of the night watchman's bell, "Be careful with fire," could be faintly heard.
Cheng Chi put down the teacup and said with a smile: "Okay, that's all for today. If my mother invites you to play cards tomorrow, you can slowly figure it out according to what I told you. There is no set rule for this kind of thing, so you still have to figure it out through practice."
Zhou Shaojin then realized that it was already midnight. She stood up hurriedly: "Uncle Chi, I didn't expect it to be so late..."
When she came out, she just said goodbye to Chunwan, and she didn't know whether Chunwan was looking for her everywhere.
It would be troublesome if Madam Guo knew about this and suspected that Cheng Chi and I were in cahoots to set a trap for her.
"It's okay." Cheng Chi smiled warmly and said, "There's nothing to worry about on the boat anyway."
But Zhou Shaojin was still very grateful.
He bowed solemnly to Cheng Chi and then returned to his cabin.
The Chunwan guests were extremely anxious, and when they saw her, they all surrounded her as if they had found a life-saving piece of driftwood.
"Second Miss, why did you come back at this time?"
"Second Miss, you've got me so worried. We didn't dare to look for you, and we were afraid someone else would come looking for you... My heart is still beating like crazy!"
"Second Miss, are you okay? Why did the Fourth Master call you over? Did he not scold you?"
Various questions came one after another, and Zhou Shaojin didn't know who to answer for a moment, so he had to say: "I'm fine, the fourth master asked me to play a few games of chess, so I was a little late."
Everyone then calmed down as if relieved. Some went to fetch water for Zhou Shaojin and helped her wash up, some helped Zhou Shaojin get clean clothes, and some began to make the bed and burn incense... Even until Zhou Shaojin lay down on the bed, all kinds of leaf cards were still spinning in her mind.
※
Sorry, sisters, I confused the long cards and leaf cards. The previous mistake about Zhou Shaojin playing cards has been corrected. Sisters who are interested can take a look again.
Thank you all for the reminder!
PS: Today’s additional update may take until around 11 o’clock in the evening.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)