Old Wu simply didn’t believe it.

That I could so swiftly determine the number of sunflower seeds under the dish.

In such a short span of time.

“Kid, tell me, where did you learn The Swindler techniques? Who is your Master?”

After a long pause,

Old Wu finally opened his mouth to ask.

“Does this have anything to do with today’s gambling round?”

I said indifferently.

It wasn’t that I was trying to show off.

But rather, I was deliberately provoking him.

Old Wu, despite his age,

Still had the heart of a playful and mischievous child.

The less I said, the more curious he would become.

Driven by curiosity,

I could lead him by the nose.

Hearing my response, Old Wu disdainfully curled his lip and said defiantly:

“You little rascal, are you trying to play The Swindler with me? Come on, another round! Let’s see how I’ll deal with you…”

As he spoke, he opened the Poker deck.

He casually shuffled twice.

While shuffling, he said:

“You’re The Swindler, I’m not. So this round, I shuffle, you cut. You can only cut once, and with a single finger. Then we draw a card each, highest wins, how about it?”

“Fine! What’s the highest?”

I asked.

I asked because I was afraid Old Wu would cheat.

In case I drew an Ace, and then he’d claim Aces were the lowest.

“Nonsense, of course the Ace is the highest. If the points are the same, we compare by Spades, Hearts, Clubs…”

“Is Cheating allowed?”

I asked on purpose.

“Use whatever skills you have, just don’t get caught by me!”

I nodded slightly.

Old Wu shuffled the deck twice more.

Then, he placed the cards on the stone table for me to Cut the cards.

With a single finger, I gently slid across.

Immediately, Old Wu spread all the cards out on the stone table.

His hands began to shuffle them chaotically.

Just like shuffling Mahjong tiles.

In fact, Old Wu was breaking the rules.

Normally, after I cut the cards,

He wasn’t supposed to shuffle again.

But I didn’t say anything.

I kept observing Old Wu’s shuffling.

I could be sure that he didn’t use any sleight of hand while shuffling.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t Cheating.

It’s just that his method of Cheating was very crude.

Completely different from the high-level experts of The Swindler Sect I had imagined.

It was more like the petty cheating among friends.

When he shuffled just now, he deliberately placed the Ace of Spades at the bottom.

While shuffling on the table,

He pressed the Ace of Spades under his left hand.

No matter how chaotically his hands moved,

That Ace of Spades always stayed under his hand, never moving.

After a chaotic shuffle,

Old Wu immediately said:

“I’m older, so I’ll draw first!”

With that, he took the Ace of Spades that was just under his left hand and proudly placed it in front of himself.

Looking up at me, he smiled maliciously:

“Little Swindler, your turn! Use all the tricks your Master taught you. I want to see how you’re going to win this round…”

Old Wu still had that same irritatingly cheerful demeanor.

I looked at the messy Poker cards on the table.

My finger slowly slid over them one by one.

Seeing that I was taking my time, Old Wu impatiently urged me:

“Stop dawdling, can you hurry up? What, can you feel what card it is from the back?”

Of course, I didn’t have that ability.

I had never heard of anyone with such a skill.

But that was how I slowly moved.

Old Wu was getting impatient.

After urging me several times,

I finally drew a card and placed it in front of me.

Old Wu immediately said again:

“Come on, Reveal cards…”

So, I flipped the card over.

At the moment of the Reveal,

Old Wu burst into laughter.

Pointing at the card in front of me, he danced with joy:

“Little Swindler, oh, Little Swindler. I thought you had some great skill, but you’re just a pretty pillow, all looks and no substance. Come on, next round. I won this one…”

“Why do you think you’ve won?”

I asked, taking a drag on my cigarette, nonchalantly.

As soon as I spoke,

Old Wu’s eyes bulged.

“Hey, why? Your card is the Two of Clubs, do you even need to see mine? I tell you, if I Reveal my card, it’ll scare you to death!”

“Then you should Reveal your card too!”

“Fine, I’ll Reveal. Let you see how big my card is!”

Saying this,

Old Wu reached out, picked up the card from the stone table.

He turned the card towards me and revealed it directly.

I looked at his card, silent, just smoking quietly.

Old Wu laughed heartily.

“What’s wrong? Scared silly? Didn’t expect that your Old Wu’s skills were so clever?”

Old Wu danced with triumph.

But I simply said one sentence.

“You lost!”

“Bullshit! Old Wu has the Ace of Spades, the biggest card. How could I possibly lose?”

Saying this,

He flipped the Poker card over to take a look for himself.

At that glance, his mouth hung wide open.

His eyes also immediately glazed over in shock.

“Impossible! I clearly had the Ace of Spades, how did it turn into the Two of Diamonds!”

Saying this, he immediately started rummaging through the cards on the stone table.

He wanted to find the Ace of Spades that was originally under his hand.

But after searching for a long time, the Ace of Spades had vanished, not in the Pile of tiles at all.

“Where’s the Ace of Spades?”

Old Wu loudly questioned me.

I slowly picked up the Two of Clubs in front of me.

With a twist of two fingers,

The Ace of Spades was hidden behind the Two of Clubs.

Then, with a flick,

The Ace of Spades flew out in front of Old Wu.

“For you!”

Old Wu, furious, clawed at the air.

Picking up the Ace of Spades, he yelled at me:

“You little rascal, you’re Cheating…”

“You already called me The Swindler, have you ever seen a Swindler who doesn’t cheat?”

I didn’t deny it.

Indeed, I had cheated.

While I was touching the cards,

I deliberately dawdled,

Drawing all of Old Wu’s attention to my card touching.

As he grew impatient urging me,

I used a “switching” sleight of hand.

With the Two of Diamonds, I swapped out his Ace of Spades.

The deal was two out of three rounds.

But before the third round, Old Wu had already lost.

I saw him holding the Ace of Spades, standing up in a huff,

Muttering non-stop.

“Damn it, Little Swindler. You’ve won against me again…”

Saying this,

He flung the Two of Diamonds away.

I casually glanced in the direction he threw.

It was all trees there.

Then I heard a “thud”.

The Two of Diamonds was stuck firmly in a tree.

To be precise, the entire card was almost fully embedded,

Leaving only a white edge visible.

Over the years, traveling with Master Liu,

I’ve seen many card-throwing experts.

Some could use a thrown card to slice a cucumber, cut a tomato.

Others could nail a playing card into a wooden board.

The most impressive one,

Could use a thrown card to pierce through metal.

But compared to Old Wu,

Whether in terms of force or speed, they were worlds apart.

The shock in my heart,

Was no less than Old Wu’s when he saw me cheat.

Old Wu knew a bit about The Swindler techniques, but seemed not very skilled in using them.

However, this card-throwing stunt,

Left me utterly astounded.

Seeing me staring at him, Old Wu stood up straight and said to me:

“What are you looking at? Never seen it before?”

I nodded.

“Never seen it!”

“You little rascal, you’re easily amazed!”

Saying that,

Old Wu picked up another card.

With a fierce flick,

There was a “whoosh”.

The card spun rapidly, heading towards the big tree, and flew out again.

This ordinary playing card,

Drew a beautiful arc in the air.

Then, it firmly embedded itself into the tree.

And it was almost touching the Ace of Spades that was thrown before.

The precision, the force, the speed.

Left me in complete awe.