My Youth Began With Him

“Thank you for your invitation, but I’m not in a rush to play. You guys can go ahead,” smiling, Huo Mian courteously rejected Wei Liao’s invitation.

She then slowly walked around and saw that many people couldn’t hold their excitement and had already sat down to play.

Huo Mian wanted to try her luck. Seeing that one of the tables was missing a player, she sat down.

Sitting opposite from her was an aged lady in her fifties. She wore an abundant amount of makeup, was slightly chubby with an updo hairstyle and a cigarette in her mouth. By her looks alone, it was obvious that she wasn’t a kind opponent.

To her left was an average looking skinny man with glasses, who looked to be in his late thirties.

To her right was a fat bald man in his forties. On his wrist was a Rolex, reeking of the smell of money.

“Eh, we got ourselves a young lady. We can start now,” the bald man creepily laughed.

Before anyone else could speak, the dealer on the side immediately said, “The table is full and I can deal now. Before I do, please place your bets.”

The smoking woman immediately threw in a thousand dollars worth of chips, and the man in the glasses followed her lead.

Huo Mian bet at the same time as the bald man, which increased the pot to four thousand dollars. They weren’t going all in, so it wasn’t an exciting situation where victory or defeat was being decided.

“Good, now I shall deal.” After speaking, the dealer began to deal poker cards with his white-gloved hands.

Show hand poker was relatively simple with 28 cards in total: 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace.

The goal of the game was to compete with the total value of their hands. The procedure was that everyone would first take two cards that would only be seen by them and a third card that would be seen by all.

They would then compare the values of their cards, including poker hand combinations…

Huo Mian didn’t have good luck, the two cards she was dealt were eight and nine.

If both were eight, she could maybe get three eights and spice things up, but it was quite unfortunate that she got an eight and a nine.

Huo Mian noticed that the smoking woman smiled slightly after reading her cards and a triumphant look flashed across her face.

After, the dealer began to distribute the shown cards. The smoking woman got a king, the bald man and the man with glasses got jacks, and Huo Mian got a queen.

The woman was dealt the biggest card, so she raised the bet.

“Three thousand,” she said as she threw in three thousand dollars in chips.

The man wearing glasses hesitated, before finally saying, “I fold.”

He then turned his cards face down, signaling his forfeit.

Huo Mian threw in three thousand dollars and said, “Raise.”

The bald man also handed over three thousand dollars worth of chips. “Raise.”

In the second round of dealing, the woman got an ace, the bald man got a queen, and Huo Mian got a jack.

The woman had the biggest again, so she raised another five thousand. “Five thousand.”

Before Huo Mian could speak, the bald man turned his cards over, signaling forfeit. “I fold.”

The woman laughed triumphantly and looked at Huo Mian provokingly. If Huo Mian forfeited too, it meant that everyone’s chips belonged to the woman.

Huo Mian calmly held up her chip and was about to throw it when the bald man reminded her, “Girl, she has an ace and king, which adds up to 28 points. You have a queen and jack, which is 23 points. You’re five points behind. If you don’t have enough valuable cards, you’re going to lose for sure. It’s like throwing away money.”

“It’s not the final round yet, nothing is set in stone. Maybe I’ll get a big hand in the third round.” After speaking, Huo Mian threw five thousand dollars of chips in without any hesitation, creating a loud “pa” noise on the table.

The others shot her baffled looks; they didn’t think that a young girl like her would be so bold.

“Hurry up and deal.” The middle-aged woman seemed a bit impatient.

The dealer immediately dealt the third round of cards. He only dealt two as only Huo Mian and the woman were left playing.

In the last round, the middle-aged woman had the bigger hand, so she got dealt first. This time, she got a queen.

Huo Mian got an ace, so this time she had the right to speak first. The dealer reminded her, “You can raise now, miss.”