Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...
Years of Heartflutter · Page 447 of 501
Recalling how that mysterious man earlier had found him from the casino's upper management, and how Yang Ce had come in together with President Zhang, it was no longer strange. These people probably all knew President Zhang. And now Zheng Shaopeng had already decided to betray his boss—the gu had been swallowed into his belly—so whether Yang Ce appeared here or not no longer had much to do with him.
"What game?" Zheng Shaopeng asked gravely once he was seated properly.
"Since I'm the challenger, and I proposed the stakes, then naturally it should be you who decides the game," Yu Deyi said. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair."
Zheng Shaopeng nodded, some confidence in victory returning to his heart. After all, if the choice was his, he could pick the game he was best at. This was no time for modesty; Zheng Shaopeng would not yield either. He thought for a moment and said, "In that case, let's play stud poker."
Stud poker was a game of both luck and skill. And there was one more thing: at the critical moment, Zheng Shaopeng wondered whether he could use his advantage in hand speed to swap cards.
"Fine. But let's be clear first: this is a fair contest. That is to say, no cheating." Yu Deyi seemed to have known Zheng Shaopeng's thoughts all along, and with a single sentence he blocked off the card-swapping route.
"Of course I won't cheat." A touch of anger colored Zheng Shaopeng's face.
"Mm, of course I trust your character. But to be safe, some precautions are still necessary." As he spoke, Yu Deyi took from the small leather case he had brought a video camera and set it on the gambling table. "This is the latest high-definition 1080p camera. It can record every detail with great precision. No matter who cheats, no matter how fast they cheat, it will all be recorded."
"Fine. I'm all for it," Zheng Shaopeng said bitterly. With this, all his advantages were gone. But since it had come to this, what could he say?
"Very well, then. Since there are no objections, let's begin," Yu Deyi said with a nod.
The dealer began to deal the cards, and the contest officially began.
"Damn, boss, you can't be serious—there's this much to it?" Zhang Bin stared wide-eyed at Yu Deyi's showy performance. "I always thought those God of Gamblers types won by sleight of hand and swapping cards."
"That's in TV dramas and movies," Yang Ce said with a shake of his head and a laugh. "High tech is so advanced these days—how could little tricks like that slip past the cameras?"
"Fair point. So then it's all down to a man's luck and skill?" Zhang Bin said with a sigh.
"What did you think?" Yang Ce countered. "So gambling isn't what you imagined, and there's no such thing as a God of Gamblers who commands the winds and clouds. It all comes down to luck and real ability."
Zhang Bin grimaced and went back to watching the match.
At the start, the two men won and lost in turn, their chips staying roughly even. At their level and caliber, they naturally conducted themselves with the utmost caution, not daring the slightest negligence.
But gradually, the gap began to widen. No matter what you said, Zheng Shaopeng was a notch inferior in technique, and Yu Deyi's chips now exceeded Zheng Shaopeng's by a full million.
Don't underestimate that million—in a duel between two masters, opening up a million-chip lead is already quite something. Both men were old foxes: when your cards were good, I wouldn't call; when mine were good, you wouldn't call. Only when both felt their hands were about even would they take a gamble. So pulling ahead was unbelievably hard.
But Zheng Shaopeng, after all, had only begun studying gambling technique in recent years, and was somewhat inferior to Yu Deyi. No matter how prudent Zheng Shaopeng was, the gap between them slowly widened.