Zhao Liangying and Xiao Feifei exchanged glances. Both pouted their lips. ‘This fella is despicable, and is not leaving us any chances. This round is a big loss, costing us six tortoises.’
“Go on and draw. It’s just six. I can afford to lose them, and I’ll win them back!”
Zhao Liangying huffed, then rolled up her sleeves with a resolved look in her eyes.
Ye Lingchen held onto Zhao Liangying’s fair wrist and started drawing. The tortoises were about the size of a square inch. Six of them almost covered her entire wrist.
“Eh?”
At first, Zhao Liangying was still a little annoyed. However, when she brought her wrist in for a look, she was mildly surprised. After checking them out for a while, she said, “Your tortoises are quite cute. They look so life-like.”
Ye Lingchen’s drawing was not complex at all, but he managed to portray the essence of a tortoise in a cartoonish fashion. Looking at that, Zhao Liangying felt her temper subsided.
After finishing his drawings on Zhao Liangying, Ye Lingchen moved on to draw on Xiao Feifei’s wrist.
Xiao Feifei was naturally willing. In fact, she stared at Ye Lingchen all the while with a sweet smile on her face.
“Again!”
Zhao Liangying shuffled the cards, still filled with fighting spirit.
Bravery was important in playing cards. That loss was due to her negligence. Winning and losing was commonplace in war. Victory would eventually be hers!
The last match was Ye Lingchen’s victory. This time he started drawing cards, and it was his turn to call for the Landlord.
Zhao Liangying’s opening hand was quite good again. A smile crept onto the corner of her lips. Following that, she looked at Xiao Feifei and saw her smiling back. It was obvious that her cards were good too. This round should be set as well.
“Young Master Ye, are you going to continue claiming the Landlord?” Zhao Liangying hoped to cooperate with her bestie and teach Ye Lingchen a lesson.
Her main target was Ye Lingchen. It would be best if she could fill his entire body with tortoises. ‘Let’s see if he dares to be such a braggart in the future. Hmph!’
“I call for Landlord!”
Zhao Liangying’s eyes were filled with anticipation. Ye Lingchen did not let her down by calling for Landlord.
That brought delight to Zhao Liangying’s heart as she let out a sigh of relief.
‘Jerk, your day has come!’
‘Just you wait for this beautiful young lady’s judgment. In the name of the moon, I will punish you!’
“Joker Bomb!”
Just as Zhao Liangying was dreaming about her wonderful future, Ye Lingchen’s first move blew her mind.
“You’re using Joker Bomb right at the start?!”
Zhao Liangying’s voice was trembling.
“Mhm.”
Ye Lingchen calmly nodded, then placed all the cards from his hands neatly arranged on the table.
“444, 555, 666, 777, 888, 999.”
He emptied all the cards cleanly from his hands. Another Spring.
“F*ck!”
Zhao Liangying could not help but curse. She almost stuck her face to the table, feeling dumbstruck.
Xiao Feifei was similarly gaping stupidly at the scene. Not only her, but even Lu Xiaobu, who was watching from the side, almost had his eyes popped out of their sockets. Chen Chichi, who was busy fanning the flames was stunned as well and almost lost his grip on the fan.
‘What’s going on?’
“Sob sob sob…”
Zhao Liangying cried as she looked at the cards in her hand. She had 2222! Xiao Feifei had KKKK as well, but all those cards had gone to waste in their hands.
She had played countless matches of cards, but such a weird outcome was her first.
“You… Are you cheating? How could there be such nicely arranged cards.”
Zhao Liangying frowned suspiciously at Ye Lingchen.
In a game of Fight the Landlord, it was normal to have the occasional Spring. However, two consecutive Springs were too suspicious. Furthermore, each time it happened with such coincidence.
Ye Lingchen shook his head, retorting, “You’re the one that shuffled the cards. How can I cheat without touching them? Furthemore, Lu Xiaobu was watching from the side the whole time.”
Lu Xiaobu immediately showed his loyalty, giving his firm support, “I can guarantee with my reputation that Young Master Ye did not cheat!”
Zhao Liangying twirled her hair angrily, at a loss for words.
‘Could it be luck? His luck is just too good.’
‘I don’t believe it. Again!’
Zhao Liangying shuffled the cards angrily. This time she was super focused on her shuffling, shuffling the cards for a good seven to eight times. She even wanted to cut each individual card.
Meanwhile, Xiao Feifei obediently stretched out her other hand and let Ye Lingchen draw the tortoises.
This round was not merely a Spring, but it was multiplied by the bomb, coming to a total of 12 tortoises. The drawing went from their wrist all the way up their arm.
She looked at the tortoise on her arm and was instead delighted. It was considered a slightly more intimate interaction with Ye Lingchen. Furthermore, these tortoises were cute. She must take a picture of them for memories when she gets back home.
The third match…
Ye Lingchen maintained the right to call for Landlord for this match as well. At first, he did not want to call for Landlord, but that led to Zhao Liangying mistaking the cards in his hand to be bad and taunted him to call for Landlord. Without any other choices, he could only claim it.
However, Ye Lingchen once again won the match. Although it was without bombs or Spring, it was still as effortless.
The fourth match…
Ye Lingchen drew the Red Joker and had a pair of 2 to back him up. It was too difficult to lose.
By then, both of Xiao Feifei and Zhao Liangying’s fair arms were taken over by tortoises. The result was a crushing defeat. If their fans saw that, they would probably laugh their butts off.
A girl’s arm was slender to start with. If they continued losing, then they would have to change a location.
Zhao Liangying was putting everything on the line as well. ‘If I don’t win today, I’m not a human!’
Nevertheless—
Fifth match, sixth match, seventh match, eighth match…
…
Time passed slowly. Zhao Liangying’s beautiful face was showing an ugly expression, glowing scarlet. She was almost doubting her life.
Even Xiao Feifei who thought fondly of this at first did not feel so good by then. She had a gloomy expression on her face.
Playing cards would only be interesting if there were victories and losses.
If one continuously won, it would be boring.
If one lost continuously…that would be even worse.
Not only did it feel meaningless, but it was also an emotional trauma.
“Impossible. How can you constantly win? You’re definitely cheating. Otherwise, how can you win so much?!”
After losing the 15th match, Zhao Liangying finally lost it. She threw the cards from the hand and screamed at Ye Lingchen.
Nobody could tolerate that. It was just too monstrous. If not cheating, then the heavens must be cheating for you.
Right then, both Zhao Liangying and Xiao Feifei had tortoises all the way up to their faces. However, Ye Lingchen still had some conscience. His drawings were symmetrical. One on the forehead and one on each cheek, adding a touch of mischief and cuteness to their faces.
However, cuteness aside, they were losing so badly that their mother might not recognize them anymore. If that went on, they would go nuts.
In the 15 matches, Ye Lingchen had six rounds of Spring. Other times, it was bomb after bomb. It was merciless, causing Zhao Liangying to be stunned and shout uncontrollably a few times…
[1] 春天 (Chun Tian) – Spring. This is referring to the winning condition where the opponents failed to play a single card, which allows the winner to double his/her points.