As soon as he approached me, Old Wu was panting heavily.

Pointing at me, it took him a while before he finally said:

“Little bastard, you dare to mess with me?”

“It was you who messed with me first…”

“What I said that day was the truth!”

“And what I’m saying today is also the truth…”

“I didn’t cheat!”

“I didn’t say you cheated. What I said was that you cheated that day…”

Old Wu was left speechless by my retort.

His eyes rolled, and he said to me:

“I don’t care, today I lost over six hundred to them. You’re paying for it!”

“No way!”

With that, I turned to leave.

Old Wu immediately ran in front of me.

He crossed his arms, blocking my path.

“No, you must pay!”

I looked at him indifferently, deliberately mocking him.

“What, not gambling anymore, resorting to robbery?”

Old Wu’s eyes spun around.

He flicked his silver-white fringe and quickly said:

“Let’s gamble a few hands. If I win, you give me the six hundred, plus the five hundred you won from me at the casino…”

“And if you lose?”

Old Wu seemed to think that he couldn’t lose.

After thinking for a while, he looked at me and said:

“I only have three hundred yuan left now. If I lose, I’ll do something for you, is that okay?”

“Fine! What are we gambling on?”

Old Wu didn’t answer; he ran straight to a nearby convenience store.

Probably to buy poker cards.

I was definitely going to gamble with him.

If I lost, it was just eleven hundred yuan.

But if I won, I was sure to have an unexpected gain.

That day in the casino office.

Old Wu flicked a dice.

It hit the security guard’s wrist directly.

Blood flowed immediately.

It was clear that the guard was seriously injured.

That trick, I still remember it.

Although I could achieve that accuracy and speed.

But the force he used.

I couldn’t even say I knew it.

Let alone having seen it before.

It wasn’t long before.

Old Wu came out with a deck of poker cards, a pencil, a bag of sunflower seeds, and a plate, hurrying back.

He waved at me and said:

“Come on, over here!”

He was referring to a small pavilion around the corner.

We sat down on the stone benches.

He placed everything he bought on the stone table.

While opening the bag of seeds, he said:

“Kid, I know you’re a little swindler. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have noticed me flicking the chips. But Old Wu isn’t afraid of you; I specialize in dealing with you little swindlers…”

I lit a cigarette and said nothing.

I am a swindler.

I felt that Old Wu must also be a swindler.

And moreover, an expert in swindler techniques.

Not to mention anything else.

Just the technique of flicking chips and dice.

It’s a common technique used by the Swindler Sect.

However, I didn’t know how good his swindler techniques really were.

Opening the bag of seeds.

Old Wu poured them all onto the table with a swoosh.

He pointed at the seeds and said:

“First round, Fan Tan! The next two rounds, poker! How about it?”

“Fine!”

Fan Tan, also known as “Beans.”

It originated as a folk game in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.

Later, it was learned by the Americans.

Modified a bit, and brought into the casinos.

The game is very simple.

It involves a pile of pieces, such as glass beads, on the table.

If those aren’t available, corn kernels, soybeans, sunflower seeds, peanuts, or similarly sized stones can also be used.

Like now.

Old Wu was planning to use sunflower seeds.

The gameplay is also straightforward.

Commonly, a bowl is used in folk settings, while casinos use a cover.

It’s placed directly over the pieces.

After the cover is lifted.

The dealer uses a special tool, a small wooden stick (called a “Fan Tan stick” in casinos).

They move four pieces at a time.

The remaining number of pieces is the final result.

To put it simply.

The number of pieces left in the bowl, divided by four.

The remainder represents the number that was bet on.

If exactly four are left, then that round is a 4.

You can bet on odd or even.

Or on the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4.

Of course, there are other ways to play.

Like “Shoot Three Reds,” “Double Head Fan,” and so on.

I won’t go into detail here.

This kind of game isn’t very common now.

Of course, some casinos still have it.

Old Wu said this.

He picked up the plate and covered a pile of sunflower seeds with it.

Then, with a sly look, he said to me:

“You go first…”

Old Wu bought a pound of sunflower seeds.

Normally, there would be around seventeen to eighteen hundred seeds.

With the plate covering them like this.

At least a few hundred seeds were under it.

This guessing game was indeed difficult.

Seeing that I didn’t speak.

Old Wu chuckled slyly and said:

“I’ll let you go first, I guess even. You guess odd, okay?”

“Odd?”

I looked at Old Wu with confusion.

“What’s wrong? You want to guess even too?”

“No, aren’t we guessing the remainder?”

Huh?

Now it was Old Wu’s turn to be stunned.

“Remainder? There are four numbers in total, the chance of guessing right is one in four. If we both keep guessing wrong for several rounds, then we’ll just be counting sunflower seeds here today…”

I was even more puzzled.

In my mind.

I had already determined.

Old Wu must be an expert of the Swindler Sect.

And Fan Tan tests one’s visual acuity.

For an expert of the Swindler Sect, visual acuity is a required skill.

When Master Liu taught me.

It started with dark black soybeans and deep brown red beans.

I started practicing when I was ten.

How could this Old Wu not understand?

Seeing that I didn’t speak.

Old Wu suddenly smirked and said:

“How about you guess the remainder, and I guess odd or even?”

This way, his success rate would be twice as high as mine.

But I still nodded and said:

“Fine, you guess even, then I guess it’s 3!”

“Alright!”

Old Wu triumphantly lifted the plate.

He started counting by fours with the pencil.

And my eyes were always fixed on his hand.

This old guy was definitely up to something.

I had to watch him to prevent him from cheating.

Old Wu counted for several minutes.

The sunflower seeds on the table were dwindling.

And Old Wu’s expression became more and more surprised.

Because he had already realized.

The remaining dozen or so sunflower seeds on the table, divided by four, was three.

“Impossible!”

Old Wu suddenly threw the pencil onto the table.

He looked up at me, his face full of astonishment.

“Did you guess, or did you see it just now?”

I was also puzzled in my heart.

Because from beginning to end, Old Wu didn’t cheat.

Or rather, there was no intention to cheat at all.

But my expression remained very calm, and I said indifferently:

“Whether it was a guess or seen. In any case, I won this round…”

Old Wu looked up at me, still in disbelief.

He muttered:

“No, you must have guessed. I’ve never seen such an expert in Harbin North…”

I still didn’t speak.

Old Wu immediately asked again:

“How many sunflower seeds were there in the plate just now?”

“415!”

“Good, I want to see if you really have such visual acuity?”

Old Wu was quite serious.

He actually started counting again.

And I lit a cigarette, quietly waiting for him.

After counting the pile of sunflower seeds.

He looked up at me again.

His eyes were wide open.

That shocked look, as if he had seen a ghost.