Chapter 208: Despair Casino (5)
Yan Qiao's hands were strikingly beautiful—not powerful like Xing Ye's, not classically handsome like Jiang Ting's, nor elegant like Qin Yanshu's. They possessed a lean, youthful quality, the blue-purple veins on the back of his hands clearly visible, carrying a fragile yet extreme aesthetic.
The playing cards seemed to come alive in his hands, obediently overlapping one another in perfect order, falling into a blur of afterimages.
After shuffling five times, Yan Qiao held the deck out to Ji Ning, signaling her to cut.
Ji Ning randomly lifted a stack, swapping the two piles.
Then, Yan Qiao dealt two cards each to Ji Ning and Song Weiyang, all face up.
Ji Ning had a 7 and an Ace. Song Weiyang had a 9 and a 2.
He then dealt two for himself: one face-up card, an 8, and one face-down card, hidden from view.
Yan Qiao defaulted to the role of dealer and also acted as the host: "You can now choose whether to hit, stand, double down, or split. Splitting is only allowed when your two cards are of the same value."
The moment the game began, he reverted to that focused yet casual, innately regal aura he possessed when playing Werewolf.
His gaze was as sharp as a wolf lying in ambush before the kill.
Ji Ning couldn't help but grow more serious. She looked down at her 7 and Ace, thinking as she spoke: "With my current cards, I can treat the Ace as 1, making a total of 8 points. I can keep hitting, and could even take two more cards. Or I can treat the Ace as 11, making 18 points. As long as the next card is 4 or lower, the Ace can stay as 11, and I can stop hitting. Is that right?"
"Correct," Yan Qiao answered.
Ji Ning naturally chose to hit: "I'll take another."
Yan Qiao dealt her a face-down card. Ji Ning peeked at it herself—it was a 5.
That meant her Ace could only be counted as 1 now, bringing her total to 13 points.
It was Song Weiyang's turn. He had 11 points and merely grunted a short affirmation.
Yan Qiao gave him one card, then dealt one for himself as well.
It came back to Ji Ning, who chose to hit again, while both Song Weiyang and Yan Qiao stood for this round.
The fourth card Ji Ning received turned out to be the smallest possible value: a 2.
7 plus Ace plus 5 plus 2, a total of 15 points.
Song Weiyang and Yan Qiao had both reached their stop. Four eyes from two people stared intently at Ji Ning, creating an inexplicable sense of panic and breathlessness.
It was just asking for a card, yet she felt strangely embarrassed and stammered, "I… I'll take another…"
It was bad enough that Ji Ning's voice softened because she couldn't speak smoothly, but what was worse was that she actually blushed.
The atmosphere suddenly shifted in tone.
"Cough…" Song Weiyang cut off his train of thought, clearing his throat to prevent the other person from getting the wrong idea too. "What's the holdup? Deal her the card."
Yan Qiao's expression was odd as he drew a card and handed it to Ji Ning.
Another small card, another 5. The total became 20. She couldn't hit anymore now.
Ji Ning looked up, meeting two pairs of faintly expectant eyes. She froze, then said, bewildered, "That's enough, I stand."
"Mm." Yan Qiao blinked unnaturally. "After all players stand, we reveal and settle."
The three of them flipped their cards over in unison.
Yan Qiao had an 8, a 3, and a Jack—21 points total.
Song Weiyang had a 2, a 9, and a 7—18 points total.
Ji Ning had a 7, an Ace, a 2, and two 5s—20 points total.
"The dealer wins," Ji Ning concluded, calculating the points as she looked at the cards.
Song Weiyang reached out a finger and gently rubbed the back of her hand. "Baby, you won too. Five cards without busting—that's called a Five-Card Charlie. You get the same payout."
"Really!" Ji Ning's eyes curved into smiling crescents as she grabbed one of Song Weiyang's fingers and shook it.
Having held it in for most of the day, Song Weiyang could finally say it: "Now let's go to another table. I'll teach you the details, and we'll go win some money."
"Mm-hmm." Ji Ning stood up, led by his hand.
Yan Qiao also stood up.
Just as Song Weiyang thought he was going to haunt them like a lingering ghost, Yan Qiao picked up the case holding the chips, turned around, and walked away.
Livestream comments:
"What direction is this going?"
"You ignore me now, but later I'll be out of your league?"
"Yan Qiao looks like he's getting serious."
"So why exactly did he teach Ning-Ning how to play blackjack?"
"Let's watch a bit more."
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