Nathan and the Twelve-Year Gamble Chapter 6

I opened my eyes, the morning sun shone through the curtains and illuminated the room. I saw the fat man trying his best to squeeze his round upper body into a dark blue shirt. I asked in a daze: "Let's go?"

"Nonsense, who is as free as you?" The fat man threw his bag over his shoulder, but didn't leave. He smiled mysteriously: "Did you quarrel again yesterday? A full man doesn't know the hunger of a hungry man. Even if I want to quarrel with someone here, no one is willing to pay attention to me."

"Go to hell, get out of here."

"Okay, I'll call you after get off work."

"Hey, if Clara Jiang calls you, just say you don't know."

In fact, the fat man asked even though he knew the answer. He was there when Clara Jiang opened the door yesterday. The room was filled with smoke and eight men were playing mahjong around a table with stacks of banknotes and playing cards on it.

This is the chess and card room of the Oriental Hotel. Everyone in the card game knows each other. The first person to come was Fatty, his former colleague. Then everyone brought friends they knew. In the end, more and more people came, and there was no need to make an appointment. They often gathered together after dinner.

There are a total of four chess and card rooms that we booked almost every day. The men played Zhajinhua, Magali and Tuitongzi, while the women who came with us usually played Mahjong.

At the beginning, the stakes for playing Golden Flower were not big, with a base of ten dollars, a cap of one hundred, and a flat opening. But later on, the bets became bigger and bigger, and now the base is one hundred, the cap is three hundred, and the opening is doubled. Everyone carries tens of thousands of cash in their bags.

Yesterday the game started late. Fatty and I played two games of betting. It was almost eleven when we sat down at the table. I kept losing. I didn't make a bubble in the first half an hour. I spent nearly ten thousand just to continue the pot. Fatty was lucky. The banknotes in front of him were two inches thick. I knew he was worried about me. If it was just the two of us in the final battle, he would often let me take the money without even opening the cards.

When the fight was in full swing, I suddenly heard an excited shout from the next room: "Tira is all Haoqi!"

"Damn it!" The fat man shouted to the neighbor while shuffling the cards, "Gabriel, you are really good at playing cards. Who is the banker?"

"not mine!"

"The deposit is 2560, and you just need to collect 5120 in total." The fat man's job as an accountant is not for nothing, he never has to use his brain to do math.

"Oh my god, there are so many..." Mason Ouyang behind him muttered softly.

He had nothing to do today. He just came back from a visit to his classmate's sister in the evening and was turned down. He didn't want to go home, so he came to watch us play cards.

The fat man stood up and pushed Mason Ouyang to his seat: "Come on, help me play a few games, I'll go to the side to see, Hu is such a big card, I'll go ask what he touched before he came here."

Usually all activities will end before 2 am. After all, some people have to go to work the next day, and I also had to pick up Clara Jiang.

Around 1 o'clock, Clara Jiang called and said that there were not many customers today and that she had a headache, so she wanted me to pick her up right away. I glanced at the money in front of me and estimated that I had lost at least four or five thousand, so I tactfully asked her to wait a moment. She started nagging on and on, saying that I was unkind and only knew how to play cards and so on. I got annoyed and hung up the phone, but she called me again and again.

Finally I turned off my phone.

When Clara Jiang stood at the door with her teeth clenched, I just grabbed a handful of money, so her anger could not stop my joy of winning money. I just looked up at her and continued to throw money into the pot with an expressionless face. She stood there for a long time, and finally poked me a few times with her slender fingers viciously, and turned away.

A group of men were left staring at each other in bewilderment as they watched her tall and graceful figure disappear before their eyes.

I was holding a cigarette and busy collecting money. After I put a thick stack of RMB in front of me, I said to everyone: "Don't pay attention to her."

At 2:20, everyone got up and went their separate ways. I counted the money in front of me and found that I had won more than three thousand.

Gabriel and Fatty also had excellent records, and the three of us won and lost every time we bet on a ball, so we only took a cut from the dealer.

The fat guy drove away in the company's broken Jetta. In those days, Beijing's traffic regulations were not very strict. We often joked that the fat guy could always drive that broken car like a Ferrari, stepping on the accelerator to the bottom and shifting directly to fifth gear.

I sent Mason Ouyang home, and on the way he said: "Xuan'er, I feel dizzy watching you guys playing cards, how much money is that? A few wins from you can equal several months' salary for an average person, where do you and Fatty get so much money?"

"Well, you don't understand. I only have this much in my pocket. I carry it with me every day. It's all my belongings... Anyway, I've been living like this for the past two years. I'm not starving. I'm not in a hurry to get married and start a family. I'll just play for a few years. If you have nothing to do, come to us. It's just over there. There are people every day. If you want to play, Fatty and I can lend you some... Oh, by the way, why don't you play mahjong? With our skills in playing cards since we were young, we can win money even if we play with our eyes closed. I win every time I play."

"Oh... OK, then I'll come to see you guys whenever I'm free. If I win a little, I can buy Yanyan some nice things, treat her to a meal, etc., then there will probably be a chance."

"Your dream lover is Yanyan? Is she at work?"

"I'm a kindergarten teacher."

"Oh, it's a success, so gentle, I envy you."

"She can't compare to your Clara Jiang. Today is the first time I see her. She's really tall and pretty."

"It's not like he's eating anything, and his temper..."

"Don't be so cocky. I've been looking for such a beautiful wife for so long. Didn't you see the Marshal's eyes were wide open just now? You should give him some leeway."

"It's no use. I'm still saying this. I'll go back and you can watch. We must take action. Alas..."

"You're not going to do that, are you?"

"You don't know her temper. She came all the way to the East, with so many people watching, and didn't even give me face."

"Come on, she didn't say anything, did she? Go back and comfort her."

Comfort? How? If calling her "darling" and admitting her fault can calm her down, then isn't her nickname "Little Hot Pepper" undeserved?

As long as I still play cards every day, as long as she still smiles at me every day.

I am even glad that Clara Jiang gave me an excuse to play cards. Even though she no longer wears heavy makeup and a high-slit cheongsam to wander around the nightclubs full of lights and wine, I can no longer leave the card table.

This is a mental addiction that is difficult to quit.

And why have I ever thought about quitting?

That night, I didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt. I didn't ask her if her head still hurt or if she wanted to eat something. I just acknowledged that I was a "gambler" and slammed the door, leaving her alone at home, feeling sad.

Youth is so intoxicating, why should you and I worry about troubles?