Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Wang An glanced at his watch, stood up, and said:

"Let's go then."

Only then did Mu Hua say with considerable worry:
“Xiao An, if this matter is difficult to handle, and we can’t beat them, I suggest we just give up and find another opportunity to get revenge later.”

Wang An grinned, glanced at his nervous mother-in-law and Li Xiuhong, then at Mu Xueli, before saying with a nonchalant expression:
"It's just cleaning up a few rags, it's a small matter. Dad, you guys stay here, we're leaving now."

Only after Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Huang Zhong left did Liu Ruxin speak to Mu Hua:

"My son-in-law is very capable; I think everything will be fine."

Mu Hua sighed and said with a hateful look in her eyes:

"It's just 10,000 yuan. Just consider it lost. Damn it, that bastard Su Guangjun, I'll kill him sooner or later."

After Wang An and the other two left the house, Mu Xueli briefly explained the other party's situation to Wang An.

Wang An only remembered that the kid's surname was Ma and his given name was Ma Ben. He didn't remember anything else. In Wang An's opinion, it didn't matter whether he remembered or not.

Su Guangjun's house was just west of Mu Xueli's house, separated by only two households.

So the three of them didn't drive, and just swaggered into Su Guangjun's yard.

At this time, several people were already playing cards at Su Guangjun's house. After Wang An and his two companions entered the house, everyone inside turned their attention to them.

One of the young men, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, saw Mu Xueli enter the room and immediately his eyes lit up as if he had seen a beautiful woman with a naked bottom.

He greeted us with a broad smile and spoke very warmly:
"Oh my, Xue Li's here! Come on in, come on in! We've saved a seat for you, just waiting for you to come, hahaha."

It's obvious that this person sees Mu Xueli as his money-giving boy.

Mu Xueli's face immediately darkened, but as the saying goes, "one doesn't hit a smiling face," and besides, Mu Xueli had lost more than 5 yuan because she was "skilled" and not as good as her opponent, so she still forced a smile and said:

"Come on, Brother Ma, I've already lost all my money playing with you. I even brought my brother-in-law here today just to keep you company. Let me tell you, my brother-in-law has money. Let him play with you guys, hehehe."

It has to be said that Mu Xueli's way of admitting defeat is truly impeccable.

Before the other person could speak, Wang An raised his right hand, which was holding the money, and said with a harmless smile:

"I brought 10,000 yuan with me today, and I'm going to lose it all. I'll just go with it once I've lost it all, haha. Let me tell you, I love playing Texas Hold'em the most. I get so restless if I don't lose some money every year."

After Wang An finished speaking, the young man named Ma Ben across from him became even more excited when he saw the money in Wang An's hand. He looked like he wanted to come over and snatch it from him.

You should know that Wang An was holding 10,000 yuan in his hand, 10,000 yuan still in its bundle, a full ten stacks of ten-yuan notes.

In those days, a bundle of "Great Unity" coins still had a rather strong visual impact.

After Wang An finished speaking, Ma Ben stared intently at the large banknote in Wang An's hand, his mouth practically stretched to his ears with a wide grin. Without even asking Wang An's name, he said with a beaming smile:

"Brother, you're really generous, bringing so much money out to play, hehehe. Come on, brother, take a seat, come on, hahahaha."

Upon seeing the young man's demeanor and expression, Wang An instantly calmed down.

The main problem is that this kid named Ma Ben is too shallow; he's the kind of person who can't be taken seriously.

Ma Ben was probably only focused on the large sum of money in Wang An's hand, so he didn't notice the way the people in the room were looking at him.

In fact, many people in Sujiatun recognized Wang An when he entered the house.

After all, everyone in Sujiatun and other villages nearby had heard about the incident three years ago when Wang An crippled the two leper brothers to avenge Mu Xueli.

Many people still vividly remember the shouts Wang An made in front of the people of Sujiatun to support his father-in-law's family.

There was no way around it; back then, Wang An was a notorious outlaw in the county, practically a bandit. His methods were incredibly ruthless, not only ruthless but also extremely cruel. What's most absurd is that Wang An continued to live a carefree life afterward, while the two leprosy brothers became a laughingstock.

In addition, after Wang An intervened in the Li Xiuyu family incident a couple of years ago, he led his men to wipe out the entire gang of loan sharks with swift and decisive action, making those who knew the inside story even more wary of Wang An.

So it would be strange if people didn't remember him.

Therefore, after recognizing Wang An, many people unconsciously turned their curious gazes toward Ma Ben and Su Guangjun.

Su Guangjun was naturally aware of Wang An's fearsome reputation, and coupled with the way everyone was looking at him, Su Guangjun's expression became unnatural.

But Ma Ben didn't know Wang An's name. The key point was that at this moment, all he could see was the large sum of money in Wang An's hand, and he automatically ignored everyone else.

Wang An merely glanced at the crowd out of the corner of his eye before walking over to the table with a smile and casually placing 1 yuan on it.

And just like that, Wang An directly entered the game.

After sitting down, Wang An asked:

"How big of a gamble are we playing?"

There are six people playing Texas Hold'em now, including Wang An. Ma Ben said:

"We play small here, with a base bet of one cent and a maximum bet of one dollar. The bet is doubled when the cards are dealt, and if it's a tie, whoever deals first loses."

In those days, a game of Texas Hold'em with a base bet of 1 cent and a maximum bet of 1 yuan was considered quite a large sum, because in terms of wages, it was equivalent to a game of Texas Hold'em with a base bet of 20 yuan and a maximum bet of 200 yuan in later years.

In later times, a single hand could involve winning or losing several thousand dollars. If you happen to get a big hand like a triple flush or a straight flush, it's not impossible to win tens of thousands in one hand.

However, Wang An seemed quite disappointed and said:

"Just a penny's worth?"

However, Wang An then looked at the bundle of ten-yuan bills and said:
"How about we round it out for one dollar? I don't have any change."

Apart from Ma Ben, the other four people were also eager to win back Wang An's 10,000 yuan as soon as possible.

So after Wang An finished speaking, another person looked at Ma Ben, then, while taking out money, pretended to be generous and said:
"There's no point in setting a base price of 1 yuan. We're not short of money anyway. Why don't we just set a base price of 1 yuan and cap it at 10 yuan?"

After saying that, the man pulled out several stacks of ten-yuan notes, which totaled more than 6 yuan.

After this person finished speaking, another person, while taking out money, also said with a smile:

"Yeah, one dollar is fine, the bigger the better, the sooner we can finish, hahaha."

Immediately afterwards, others also took out their money to echo this sentiment.

The reason why people have to pay money is called "showing their bottom line" in Northeast China. The purpose is to tell the people at the gambling table that they have the ability to play big.

Otherwise, if you just make empty promises about playing big games, who can believe you?

Only one of them pulled out a stack of ten-yuan notes, but this person was also self-aware and said somewhat awkwardly:

"I only have a little over 1 yuan. I'll just play a few rounds and see if I lose it all. Hehehe."

Wang An glanced at the man but said nothing.

Ma Ben turned to Su Guangjun and said:

"Uncle, get me a new deck of cards." (End of Chapter)