How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

Just as Li Haibin was about to continue placing bets, he realized that the more than two thousand yuan in front of him had all gone missing. Seeing Li Haibin's awkward situation, the man who had earlier reminded him to check his cards laughed and said, "If you're out of money, look at your hand; if it's good, then bet again, but if it's no good, just toss it.

By not looking, you've made it so that neither Second Brother nor I can compare our hands. We've both already thrown in six or seven thousand."

Hearing this, Li Haibin's face suddenly turned a little unsightly...

He had already followed with nearly three thousand yuan, how could he be willing to look at his cards now?

Just as he was about to ask the mahjong parlor owner to lend him a few thousand yuan, a red banknote flew directly into the middle of the table.

"I'll help him place the bet, you all keep playing."

Hearing this familiar voice, Li Haibin immediately turned his head and locked eyes with Gu Heng.

"Fuck, Hengzi, you're back?"

"Got back yesterday."

The situation wasn't right for catching up on old times, so Li Haibin just clapped Gu Heng on the chest, then his gaze returned to the stack of money in Gu Heng's hand...

After hesitating for a moment, he somewhat embarrassingly said, "Hengzi, how much money do you have there? Could you lend me some first? As soon as I finish this game, I'll give it right back to you."

Gu Heng didn't agree but simply smiled and said, "You just call out from the sidelines, I'll place the bets for you. You tell me to bet, I bet; you say stop, I'll stop."

Seeing this, Li Haibin could only helplessly nod his head.

It wasn't that Gu Heng was reluctant to lend him the money.

But as buddies for over a decade, he knew all too well that Li Haibin was in too deep; at this point, even if he lent him a million yuan, Li Haibin would bet it all away.

Only if he placed the bets for him, making him a bit more wary, would he be somewhat rational.

Sure enough...

After Gu Heng lost several rounds in a row, Li Haibin began to hesitate as well...

If the person betting for him were Li Feng or Xiaohua, he might be a bit more reckless, maybe betting another couple thousand yuan...

But this was Gu Heng.

In his memory, Gu Heng's family circumstances had never been too good, and he had never played cards before.

If he lost a few thousand yuan he'd just get scolded at home, but if he dragged Gu Heng down with him, he'd be slapping himself hard in the middle of the night.

Thinking of this, Li Haibin pressed down on Gu Heng's hand that was about to bet and said, "Let's just stop here, the table already has twenty thousand on it; it's not worth throwing in more. I'll take a look at one hand of cards first..."

As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together and carefully picked up the poker cards that had been sitting untouched on the table...

His trembling hands slowly rubbed the cards, and all the onlookers' heads leaned in further...

At this moment, no one was going to rush him; for a game involving over twenty thousand yuan, taking his time to reveal the cards was understandable.

When all three cards were revealed, Li Haibin's face, originally flushed red, turned white...

A mismatched 236...

It was probably the smallest hand in the game of Poker...

Even drawing a 235 would be better than 236, at least according to their rules, a 235 could beat a trio...

Moreover, with over twenty thousand yuan already on the table, there was no chance of sneaking a win; if Li Haibin dared to call, someone would dare to reveal his hand...

Having already thrown in several thousand yuan, who would care about two hundred yuan to reveal the cards?

Resigned, Li Haibin threw his cards on the table and said with a bitter smile, "Forget it, I'm out. Fucking 236, drawing such shitty cards is like grabbing shit; if I keep playing, I'll lose the house."

Having said that, he stood up and gave Gu Heng an apologetic smile, "Hengzi, I'll transfer that thousand yuan to you later!"

Gu Heng waved his hand, not dwelling on the matter, but instead asked, "You're not playing anymore?"

"Play what? Including your thousand, I've lost seven thousand already.

Slaving away at the factory screwing in bolts for a month, and it's all gone in minutes. If my old man finds out, he'd probably come at me with a club."

"Can I take your seat then?"

Hearing this, Li Haibin was stunned...

"You want to play?"

He remembered very clearly that Gu Heng never touched this stuff, not even mahjong.

Gu Heng smiled casually, sat down in his seat, and said indifferently, "It's just for fun during the New Year."

After finishing, he turned towards the other five at the table and asked, "Taking over Haibin's spot shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Ha, what's the problem? We're all locals here. Are we going to be scared of you playing tricks?"

"But dude, I see you've only got a thousand or so bucks left. We're playing with a base bet of 20, capping the bet without seeing the cards at 100, and capping the bet with cards at 200. That little money you've got won't even cover a round of betting..."

He didn't say this to belittle Gu Heng; rather, it was a roundabout way of reminding him that he didn't have enough money...

After all, they didn't know Gu Heng. If he lost and couldn't pay up, where would they go to settle the complaint? The police wouldn't care about this kind of money dispute.

There was no shortage of card table scammers looking to make a buck without paying in the countryside.

Hearing this, Gu Heng hadn't even responded when Li Haibin, who was standing beside him, got angry. Pointing at the person who had spoken, Li Haibin said, "Fuck off, Li Xianzhi. Do you think my buddy is going to play you like that? This thousand bucks is enough to decimate you all!

Besides, even if he really loses and has to borrow money at the table, aren't I still here? Can he run away, can I?"

This was clearly Li Haibin vouching for Gu Heng. The young man called Li Xianzhi stopped speaking after hearing this. Since Li Haibin had said that if Gu Heng lost and couldn't pay, they could find him for the money, he wasn't worried anymore.

Listening to their conversation, Gu Heng smiled and said, "Sorry, I haven't played cards much before and don't know the rules. A thousand bucks indeed isn't quite enough."

After saying that, Gu Heng called out, "Boss!"

A middle-aged man came out from the crowd, all smiles, and said, "Young man, do you want to exchange some cash?"

The most important thing for a mahjong parlor owner is to have a cache of cash because, whether it's playing cards or playing mahjong, transferring money through WeChat just doesn't cut it. It's the feeling of throwing out real cash that feels exhilarating.

Gu Heng nodded and said, "Yes, change some cash."

"Okay, how much do you want to exchange?"

Gu Heng thought for a moment, then looked at the money on the table, which he estimated to be around fifty or sixty thousand, and then slowly said, "Let's start with 100,000. If that's not enough, I'll exchange more later."

As soon as Gu Heng's words dropped, the already noisy card table suddenly quieted down...

Even the boss was stunned and repeated, "A hundred thousand, young man? A hundred thousand?"

Hearing the figure that escaped Gu Heng's mouth, Li Haibin quickly grabbed Gu Heng's arm and exclaimed, "Are you fucking crazy? You think this is Ao Island? Spouting out 100,000 just like that!"

Originally intending to continue, Li Haibin was stopped by Li Feng standing behind him, who shook his head at him signaling not to say anymore.

Although he didn't know what was going on, Li Haibin trusted that Li Feng wouldn't lead Gu Heng astray, so he closed his mouth.

The boss then said with a wry smile, "Young man, it's possible for all the cash players here to have 100,000 combined, but you want to exchange that much at once. Where am I going to get that kind of cash for you?"

Gu Heng also realized that it made sense; after all, it was his vision that was too big...

It was indeed a bit outrageous to ask a small local mahjong parlor to exchange 100,000 in cash all at once. Then he said apologetically with a smile, "Then, boss, how much cash do you have?"

After a moment of pondering, the boss slowly said, "I definitely don't have 100,000, but I can come up with 50,000. However, I need to be clear upfront that this is all on a cash-for-cash basis. No IOUs."

Gu Heng didn't say much more and took out his phone.

"Send me the code."

Gu Heng's demeanor made everyone realize that he was truly wealthy and not just faking it...

"WeChat payment received, 50,000 yuan."

With the phone's notification sound, whether it was those playing at the table or those watching from the side, the look in their eyes changed when they saw Gu Heng...

Whether Gu Heng was pretending to be rich or actually was, exchanging 50,000 in cash at the card table made him look awesome in their eyes!

A few minutes later, the boss carefully laid down five stacks of hundred-yuan bills in front of Gu Heng: "This cash is freshly withdrawn from the bank yesterday. They're all new bills in sequential order, check if there's any problem."

However, Gu Heng just smiled kindly at the boss and then turned to the other five card players and continued with a smile, "Now you shouldn't be worried about me not having money to pay up if I lose, right?"

"Awesome!"

"Young man, you've come to wipe out the table today, haven't you?"

Listening to the flattering around him, Gu Heng's expression remained calm without much change.

Only in the countryside could 50,000 be flaunted so grandly; in a big city's bar or nightclub, 50,000 would just make a small splash...