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

Dai Hongsheng's performance was quite obvious, so everyone at the card table and the group of "fools" all looked on with astonishment.

Unexpectedly, Dai Hongsheng, who was always full of confidence and even mortgaged his car to borrow money at high interest rates, throwing more than 8 yuan into the card table, lost so decisively when they were playing cards.

To be honest, Dai Hongsheng's death over those 8 yuan was just too damn tragic.

In stark contrast to Dai Hongsheng was Ma Ben.

His previous nervousness had vanished, and his hands had stopped trembling. Instead, a look of ecstatic joy appeared on his face.

Keep in mind that at this point on the card table, even without counting the previous 1,000-odd yuan, there was already a total of over 15,000 yuan. If he won, Ma Ben would be set for life.

That's right, it's like rising to the top in one step.

Keep in mind that this was 83 yuan in 1. How many households in the whole country had 5 yuan at that time?

Seeing that Dai Hongsheng was still in a daze, Ma Ben suppressed his inner joy and excitement and tried to speak in a calm tone:

"Hongsheng, give me my cards."

As he spoke, Ma Ben pulled back the three cards that were still in Dai Hongsheng's hand.

Ignoring the distraught Dai Hongsheng, Ma Ben turned to Wang An and said:

"Dude, it's your turn to speak."

At this point, Ma Ben had only about 2,500 yuan left, while Wang An had only a little over 6,000 yuan left.

This kind of high-stakes gamble, involving an enormous sum of money, is probably unprecedented in the entire Xing'an Township.

Wang An continued to feign nervousness, his lips twitching violently, his throat constantly swallowing saliva, and even the hand holding the cigarette trembling.

Wang An shakily pulled out four yuan and said in a very low voice:
"Four pieces, served hot."

It must be said that Ang Wang's acting skills are actually top-notch.

The actor perfectly portrayed the complex emotions of "panic," "nervousness," "anxiety," and "loss of control."

The general impression was that "Wang An was in a complete panic."

Wang An's continued strategy of playing cards without revealing his hand only made Ma Ben happier.

The main issue was that at this point, only Wang An and Ma Ben remained at the table. Ma Ben was betting based on the amount of money in his hand, while Wang An was betting blindly.

Ma Ben simply couldn't believe he would lose his A23 straight flush.

In the rules of Texas Hold'em, only the QKA straight flush and three of a kind can beat an A23 straight flush.

The probability of a straight flush with QKA is extremely low, and the probability of a three-of-a-kind is even lower.

Ma Ben really couldn't think of any reason for him to reveal his cards.
So, Ma Ben glanced at Wang An's current "bearish" appearance, twitched his lips to suppress a laugh, and took out 10 yuan, placing it in the pile of money, saying:
"Ten yuan."

At this moment, everyone's eyes in the room shifted from Dai Hongsheng to Wang An. As a loser, Dai Hongsheng was now worthless, mainly because he had neither money nor the emotional support he could offer, so he was no longer worth paying attention to.

But the game continued, and the tension and excitement that everyone wanted to see had not yet arrived.

Wang An's hands were still trembling like a leaf. He "very laboriously" took out 20 yuan and threw it on the card table. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Ma Ben with a slight smile on his lips, calmly saying:
"Hey buddy, if you're not planning to look at the cards, how about I put in another 2, you put in 8, and then I'll put in another 20 to cover the cards, how about that?"

Upon hearing this, Wang An was overjoyed.

This is like a pillow being delivered to your head just as you're about to doze off—can such a good thing really exist in the world?!
What does "a man's greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant" mean?
At this moment, Ma Ben is...

Although he had already looked at the cards, he was still so at ease betting 800 yuan on 2,000 yuan. To be precise, there were already more than 16,000 yuan, almost 17,000 yuan, on the table, but he didn't even want to let go of 800 yuan.

Wang An nodded with feigned difficulty, and when he tried to grab the money, he failed several times. Then, pretending to be extremely frustrated, he said to Huang Zhong:
"Xiao Zhong, count out 800 yuan."

Huang Zhong glanced at Wang An, then looked at Ma Ben with murderous intent before picking up a stack of money on the table, counting out 20 bills and placing them back in front of Wang An. He then put the remaining 80 bills into the large pile of money on the table.

It was clear that as soon as Wang An gave the order, Huang Zhong would not hesitate to draw his Type 54 pistol from his waist and kill the smug Ma Ben with a single shot.

I'm not exaggerating at all; Huang Zhong really could do it.

After Ma Ben put the 2 yuan into the pile of money, he looked at the half-stack of ten-yuan notes in front of him and suddenly said with ill intent:
“There’s 19746 yuan in the pile right now. I’ll take another 2, and you take another 80. Let’s make it 2 together. In the end, whoever wins, we’ll each take out the 26 yuan change to buy cigarettes for everyone. What do you say, buddy?”

The moment Ma Ben uttered those words, Wang An's gaze towards him immediately changed.

Because Wang An genuinely failed to observe that Ma Ben's memory was exceptionally good.

From the moment everyone left the table, the amount of money on the table kept changing. But Ma Ben, while observing everyone's expressions, actually managed to calculate the exact amount of money. That's just too damn amazing!

It's worth noting that even a relatively professional gambler like Wang An can only calculate the approximate amount of money on the table; being accurate to the hundreds is already quite impressive.

I have to admit, Ma Ben is definitely got something going for him!

After glancing at Ma Ben, Wang An said in a trembling voice:

"Okay, we'll do it your way."

Turning his head, Wang An instructed Huang Zhong again:
"Xiao Zhong, find out another 80 yuan."

After Huang Zhong and Ma Ben each threw their money into the pile, Wang An pretended several times to try to put the cards on the table, but his hands trembled so much that he couldn't even pick them up. Then, in a hoarse and trembling voice, he said to Ma Ben:

"Dude, you'd better show your cards."

At this moment, Wang An appeared to everyone as extremely nervous and flustered, to the point that he couldn't even pick up a deck of cards.

However, Wang An's performance was exactly what everyone thought, because no matter who was put in Wang An's position at that time, they might not have been able to do better than Wang An.

83 yuan in 2 was roughly equivalent to three or four million yuan in later years. Who could remain calm about that?
Ma Ben smiled slightly, then placed his A23 on the table, saying smugly:
“A23 Shunjin”.

Before Wang An could speak, Ma Ben casually placed Wang An's three cards on the table. (End of Chapter)