What Dai Hongsheng's performance represented was blindingly obvious, and thus, everyone at the table and the crowd of onlookers all wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
No one could have expected that Dai Hongsheng—who had been brimming with confidence, not hesitating to mortgage his car and take out high-interest loans to throw a total of over 8,000 yuan onto the table—would lose so decisively and cleanly during the showdown.
Truth be told, the way Dai Hongsheng's 8,000-plus yuan died was just too damn pathetic.
In stark contrast to Dai Hongsheng was Ma Ben.
Not only had his previous nervous expression vanished, but his hands had stopped shaking. In its place was a look of wild ecstasy plastered across his face.
One had to realize that at this moment, even without counting the initial 1,000-plus yuan, there was a full 15,000-plus yuan on the table. If he won this, Ma Ben could be said to have ascended to heaven in a single bound.
Yes, a single bound.
One had to remember that this was 15,000 yuan in 1983. Back then, how many "ten-thousand-yuan households" were there in the entire country?
Seeing that Dai Hongsheng remained dazed for a long time, Ma Ben suppressed the wild joy and excitement in his heart and spoke in as calm a tone as possible
"Hongsheng, give me my cards."
As he spoke, Ma Ben snatched back the three cards still in Dai Hongsheng's hand.
Ignoring the devastated Dai Hongsheng, Ma Ben turned to Wang An and said
"Buddy, it's your turn to speak."
At this point, Ma Ben had only about 2,500 yuan left in front of him, and Wang An had only 6,000-plus yuan left.
A high-stakes gamble of this magnitude was likely unprecedented in the entirety of Xing'an Township.
Wang An continued to pretend to be nervous. Not only were his lips twitching violently and his throat constantly swallowing, but even the hand holding his cigarette was "trembling" incessantly.
Wang An "shakily" pulled out 4 yuan and said in a very low voice
"Blind bet, 4 yuan."
It had to be said that Wang An's acting was actually top-tier.
He perfectly portrayed a complex mix of emotions: "panic," "nervousness," "fear of loss," "helplessness," and so on and so forth.
The impression he gave everyone was that "Wang An is currently panicking like crazy."
However, Wang An's continued blind betting only made Ma Ben even happier.
Mainly because not only were only Wang An and Ma Ben left at the table, but Ma Ben was betting while knowing his cards, whereas Wang An was betting blind.
Ma Ben simply could not believe that his A-2-3 Straight Flush would lose.
In the rules of Zha Jin Hua, the only hands that could beat an A-2-3 Straight Flush were a Q-K-A Straight Flush or a Three-of-a-Kind (Leopard).
But the probability of a Q-K-A Straight Flush appearing was incredibly small, and the probability of a Three-of-a-Kind was even smaller.
Ma Ben truly couldn't find a single reason to be worried about showing his cards.
Thus, Ma Ben looked at Wang An's "cowardly appearance," twitched the corner of his mouth to stifle a laugh, pulled out 10 yuan, placed it in the pile, and said
"Call, 10 yuan."
At this moment, every eye in the room shifted from Dai Hongsheng to Wang An.
As the loser, Dai Hongsheng was now worthless. Primarily, he had no more money and could no longer provide emotional value to the crowd, so he was no longer worth paying attention to.
But the game was still going, and the tension and excitement the crowd wanted to see had not yet arrived.
Wang An's hand continued to shake like a sieve. He "struggled" to take out 20 yuan and throw them on the table. Just as he was about to speak, he saw a hint of a smile on Ma Ben's lips as he said very composedly
"I say, buddy, if you don't plan on looking at your cards, how about I put in another 2,000, you put in 800, and then I'll put in another 20 yuan to blind-open you?"
Hearing this, Wang An was instantly filled with wild joy.
The opponent had literally handed him a pillow just as he was getting sleepy. How could there be such a wonderful thing in this world!!
What does "insatiable greed" mean?
That was Ma Ben right now.
Even though he had already seen his cards, he felt perfectly justified in betting 2,000 to win 800. To be precise, there were already nearly 17,000 yuan on the table, yet he didn't want to let even 800 yuan slip away.
Wang An gave a "very difficult" nod. When grabbing the money, he "failed" to grasp it several times, then put on a "very exasperated" look and said to Huang Zhong
"Xiao Zhong, count out 800 yuan."
Huang Zhong looked at Wang An, then looked at Ma Ben with a gaze full of murderous intent, before picking up a stack of money from the table, counting out 20 bills for Wang An, and placing the remaining 80 bills into the large pile on the table.
It was clear that if Wang An gave the order right now, Huang Zhong would unhesitatingly pull out the Type 54 from his lower back and shoot the gloating Ma Ben dead.
No exaggeration—Huang Zhong really could do it.
After Ma Ben placed the 2,000 yuan into the pile, he looked at the half-stack of "Big Unity" bills in front of him and suddenly said mischievously
"There are currently 19,746 yuan in the pile. I'll put in another 200, you put in another 80, and we'll round it up to exactly 20,000. In the end, regardless of who wins, we'll take those 26 yuan in change and buy cigarettes for everyone. Buddy, what do you think?"
The moment Ma Ben said this, the look in Wang An's eyes changed.
Because Wang An truly hadn't realized that Ma Ben's memory was this good.
From the moment everyone started betting, the amount of money on the table had been constantly changing, yet Ma Ben—while reading the room—had actually calculated the exact amount. This was just too damn impressive.
Even a relatively professional gambler like Wang An could only calculate the approximate amount; being accurate to the hundreds place was already considered quite good.
He had to admit, Ma Ben's brain actually had some gear in it!
Glancing at Ma Ben, Wang An said in a "trembling voice"
"Fine, let's do it your way."
Turning his head, Wang An instructed Huang Zhong again
"Xiao Zhong, count out another 80 yuan."
After Huang Zhong and Ma Ben each threw their money into the pile, Wang An pretended to try and lay his cards on the table several times, but his hand shook so much he couldn't even pick them up. In a hoarse and trembling voice, he said to Ma Ben
"Buddy, you open the cards."
The impression Wang An gave everyone was that he was nervous and panicked to the extreme, unable to even hold a playing card.
However, Wang An's performance perfectly matched everyone's expectations, because no matter who was put in Wang An's position, they might not have done it any better.
20,000 yuan in 1983 was roughly equivalent to three or four million in later generations. Who could possibly remain calm?
Ma Ben smiled slightly and laid his A-2-3 on the table, saying triumphantly
"A-2-3 Straight Flush."
Without waiting for Wang An to speak, Ma Ben reached out and generously laid Wang An's three cards flat on the table.