Beginning with the Ubume Bird
Chapter 689 - Chapter 689 Chapter 75 Opportunity

Chapter 689: Chapter 75: Opportunity Chapter 689: Chapter 75: Opportunity Zhao Jianzhong and Se Kong’s gambling game had come to the final round, and four people were shuffling the cards.

Se Kong’s eyeballs were darting around wildly. Ying Tianshou’s shuffling technique was very peculiar; the patterns on the back of the cards would flash eerily during shuffle, making it impossible for an ordinary person with good memory to keep track of the cards’ positions. Even though Se Kong had tried her best to memorize, she could only recall the location of a dozen or so cards, which often proved to be futile.

As the four players shuffled the cards, Se Kong quietly pressed down on four East Wind tiles in her palm. Who could have expected that the mahjong tiles would suddenly emit a burning heat, making Se Kong release her grip, and in an instant, the four tiles were scattered beyond trace.

“What’s wrong?”

Zhao Jianzhong asked.

Se Kong blew on her palm and muttered, “It’s nothing.”

“It seems my luck is quite good.”

Zhao Jianzhong tapped on the back of the cards, having won as the dealer for four consecutive hands in the final round. Although the scores for the winning hands were not high, there were not many hands left, making it difficult for Se Kong to turn the tables.

Even though Se Kong was the biggest loser, she had substantial capital, with over nine hundred thousand life chips, so she was still confident, “You only won over fifty thousand from me with one hand of Thirteen Orphans. I still have over nine hundred thousand here. How much can you win? Besides, there are still a few hands left, and we might not necessarily lose, right?”

With the last word, she puckered her lips at Wenle to signal him to back her up.

“Yes, yes, yes~”

Wenle casually agreed.

Se Kong saw that Wenle’s face was filled with distraction, which irritated her even more, not knowing where to direct her anger.

“This SOB claimed he knew how to play mahjong, but he’s been no help at all. Had I known, I might as well have brought Muni.”

As Se Kong fumed silently, she also feared the possibility of losing, cursing inwardly, “Damn old man, even if I lose this game, I’ll spout nonsense when you ask me anything, or I won’t speak at all. I won’t mention anything about Ben Wu, the Bitter Realm, or anything at all! What can he do to me?”

The young nun vowed quietly to herself.

“You have over nine hundred thousand left, which is indeed hard to lose all of.”

Zhao Jianzhong said, while turning over his own hand of tiles.

“Flower.”

He drew a plum flower tile.

“Flower.”

Zhao Jianzhong then drew a chrysanthemum tile. Then he drew again, and Se Kong’s expression turned sour.

“Kong.”

Zhao Jianzhong laid out four Fa (Green Dragon) tiles.

“…”

Se Kong crossed her arms.

“Flower.”

Zhao Jianzhong drew another flower, the Spring season tile, and reached to draw again.

“Another kong.”

Zhao Jianzhong showed the white board tiles he had in hand.

Unable to hold back, Se Kong slammed the mahjong table, “Are you cheating? How can anyone start a hand by drawing five flowers and two concealed kongs like that? It’s absurd!”

Zhao Jianzhong calmly replied, “All the rules of play in Ying Tianshou are certified by the will of Yan Fu. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have sat down to play with me. Whether I’m cheating or not, you know it in your heart.”

As he spoke, he discarded a seven of dots.

Yu Shiqie passed her turn, and finally, it was Se Kong’s turn. She had almost a complete set of pure dots in her hand, which was actually quite lucky.

“Hmm, three of dots.”

“Kong.”

Zhao Jianzhong’s voice suddenly rose slightly as he drew a Hongzhong tile from the bottom of the deck.

“Hu.”

Zhao Jianzhong spread out his hand.

Se Kong glanced at his tiles, and her pupils trembled uncontrollably.

“A big three dragons making seven fan, two concealed kongs worth four fan each, one open kong worth one fan, four flowers worth two fan, one seasonal flower worth one fan, winning on a kong worth one fan, making a total of sixteen fan. Three fan is worth three thousand two hundred, five fan worth six thousand four hundred… ten fan worth two hundred and four thousand eight hundred.”

Zhao Jianzhong spoke at a leisurely pace. The numbers on the life chips had already calculated the total before he finished speaking. With the kong upon winning, counted as Se Kong’s discard, the base points were two hundred, making sixteen fan in total amounting to one hundred thirty-one million seven thousand two hundred life chips!

The young nun suddenly stood up!

But thorny vines grew out of the mahjong table, wrapping around Se Kong’s wrists and ankles. Se Kong struggled, but she could not break free.

“Ying Tianshou didn’t have the power to force someone onto the mahjong table. As long as you don’t want to play, you won’t gamble away your whole life. But once you’re at the table, there’s no turning back. Even Five Directions Elder wouldn’t be able to do so.”

Zhao Jianzhong lifted his eyelids, a glint of sharpness shining through the haze in his eyes.

Se Kong’s forehead bulged with veins, and now in dire straits, he had no choice but to risk it all.

“Hold on.”

Wenle raised his hand. “My apologies, Elder, I really am sorry?”

Zhao Jianzhong turned to look at him. “What’s the matter?”

Wenle laid down his hand. A plain winning Pinfu hand–solely Hu San with the three-dot tile.

“Robbing the kong win. I did mention it before you drew the Hongzhong, just too softly. You just took that three-dot tile away.”

No sooner had his words fallen than the numbers on the stake chips staggered and began recalculating.

“One fan for Pinfu, one fan for robbing the kong. Hey, you owe me eight hundred.”

Wenle nudged Se Kong, then cheerfully said to Zhao Jianzhong, “Elder, you’ve got something to gain as well, a double concealed kong, right blossoms, plus four season flowers. That’s seven fans in total. The three of us owe you more than twenty thousand. You’re still winning.”

The stake chips from Nine Lamps Lotus finished recalculating, reflecting the same result as Wenle had stated, evidently agreeing with Wenle’s claim.

“…Hehehe~”

Zhao Jianzhong laughed and shook his head. “Alright,” he pushed the tiles forward. “Let’s continue playing.”

Wenle’s face held a smile, but his back was soaked in sweat.

“Hey.” Se Kong tugged at Wenle’s sleeve. “Two hundred a base, can you lose over ten million in one round?”

Wenle grinned. “Obviously. Wasn’t that just what happened?”

Se Kong crossed his arms and thought for a while before looking at Wenle’s stake chips. “You’ve won quite a bit, huh!”

Indeed, Wenle currently had over two hundred thousand in stake chips, just behind Zhao Jianzhong in terms of today’s winnings.

“Let’s play another round.”

…

“Three-dot!”

Se Kong called out crisply.

“Kong!”

“Five-dot!” Se Kong discarded a tile.

“Eat, self-drawing.”

Wenle spread out his hand. “All Pungs, all of one suit. Winning against all three.”

The stake chips whirled rapidly; apparently, Se Kong had finally smartened up and started to feed tiles to his next player Wenle.

“Self-draw, all honors.”

“Win–wow, Elder, you’re really unlucky, even a Nine Lamps Lotus is won by me. Hahaha~”

“Self-draw, mixed one suit.”

Se Kong sent a “nicely done” look towards Wenle, his dimples lifting into a smile once more.

Wenle kept winning for the next eight or nine rounds, with none of the hands being small. It wasn’t long before he surpassed Zhao Jianzhong to become the biggest winner at the table. However, Se Kong was clearly losing even more.

Finally, Yu Shiqie’s plain hand interrupted Wenle’s winning streak, indicating the final round had reached its end.

By now, Wenle’s stake chips had soared to a terrifying six hundred thousand, nearly six times what he had at the beginning of the game. Yu Shiqie had a modest win of over fifty thousand, while Zhao Jianzhong, targeted by Wenle and receiving help from the eager Se Kong, had actually slipped to third place, down by more than five thousand in stake chips.

Seeing it was the last round, Yu Shiqie couldn’t help but speak, “With the way you’re playing, losing so much yourself. In the end, isn’t it still a loss, what’s the point?”

“What’s it to you? I like it,” Se Kong glared at her.

Yu Shiqie pursed her lips.

“Hongzhong.”

Zhao Jianzhong played a tile, to which Yu Shiqie looked somewhat surprised. Zhao was feeding her tiles.

“What are you looking at me for, just play your game, It’s not every day that someone as prominent as Wu Yin Flourishing is so generous. Naturally, I’m willing to accompany her. This is your great opportunity, Zheng, Li Yan and the others could fight tooth and nail and still not win as much as you in this round.”