I thought the world of rivers and lakes would be filled with dazzling sword fights and bloody battles.
But when I moved from a small town to the city, I realized that everything seemed no different from the small town.
It was just a little more hustle and bustle, with bright lights, tall buildings, and busy streets.
When I left, Lao Liu only gave me a hundred yuan for travel expenses.
Lao Liu was wealthy; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to afford so many women.
The reason he only gave me a hundred yuan was that he told me:
Money is abundant in the rivers and lakes, and women are everywhere.
If you want them, go find them yourself.
But I had no idea where to find them.
I lived in a border city in the north, where bathing culture prevailed.
To make a living, I had to find a job, so I became a service attendant at Tianxiang Bathhouse, responsible for distributing supplies to various bathing areas.
Of course, that didn't include the women's bathing area.
I worked there for half a year.
One afternoon, as usual, when I finished distributing the supplies and was about to leave work, the team leader, Hou Jun, called me and asked me to deliver a fruit platter to Manager Mei on the sixth floor.
Mei was the manager of our bathhouse, not too old, maybe around twenty-five or twenty-six.
I remember being somewhat stunned when I first saw her.
She was beautiful, even more beautiful than the secret prostitutes Lao Liu had found.
She was about 1.7 meters tall, with fair and smooth skin that seemed delicate to the touch.
Especially her pair of tender and slender legs, straight and radiant white.
Any man who saw them would be captivated.
Carrying the fruit platter, I knocked on the door and entered Mei's private room.
All the bathhouse staff knew that Mei loved to play mahjong.
Whenever she had free time, she would play a few rounds upstairs.
Many men would compete to accompany her just to get close to her.
"Mei, this is the fruit platter for you!"
I greeted her and was about to leave after placing the fruit platter down.
"Wait..."
Mei suddenly called out, pointing to the teapot next to her, saying:
"Change the tea, brew a fresh pot using the box of Mingqian Longjing under my desk!"
So I began to boil water and brew the tea.
While the water was boiling, I stood not far away, watching the group play mahjong.
They were playing Pushing Out Pairs, a common game here with a stake of a hundred yuan.
Don't underestimate that hundred yuan because the scoring system is different.
At the end of a mahjong game, there would often be tens of thousands won or lost.
From my position, I could see Mei's and her neighbor's tiles.
Mei's neighbor was also a woman, similar in age to Mei, but their personalities were completely different.
This woman was not bad-looking either, but she wore heavy makeup, with powdered white and blush applied generously.
She wore a low-cut black top, allowing most of her ample bosom to be freely displayed.
After watching for a while, I found it a bit strange.
I originally thought they were just friends playing a normal game of mahjong.
But I discovered that something was off between the woman in black and the man opposite her.
They were cooperating in their play and seemed to be cheating.
And their cheating method was not sophisticated.
It was the most common and ordinary way of cheating in mahjong, using hand signals and gestures to communicate.
The woman in black had a concealed hand of all one suit.
She had her left thumb curled back while her
right hand rested on the end of the tiles.
Her eyes were fixed on the tiles, not looking elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the man opposite her had a somewhat evasive gaze; he would occasionally glance at the woman's hand deliberately.
Halfway through the round, the man opposite played an eight of bamboo, and the woman in black immediately responded with a "Peng."
Seeing this, I couldn't help but wonder.
Could this be just a coincidence?
After the tiles were touched, the woman in black still had her left thumb tucked, while her right hand slightly closed.
In my mind, I speculated silently that if they were cheating, she would be aiming for a hand with five identical tiles.
Sure enough, after a couple of rounds, the man across played the five identical tiles.
The woman in black completed a set of melded tiles and quickly won by drawing the winning tile herself.
Her hand contained self-drawn, honor tiles, pure suit, and all melded sets, totaling 24 points.
Each player, including Mei Jie, received 2,400 yuan.
In fact, there are countless methods of cheating in mahjong, with various types and complexities.
Some cheats involve dialogue, like saying, "It's hot today," with one dot, indicating the desire for dots tiles.
Or saying, "You look beautiful today," with the character "bright," indicating the desire for characters tiles.
And cheats that involve gestures, referred to as the "Nine-section Whip" in the world of cheating.
It involves using the various joints of the fingers to transmit secret signals.
Although I was certain that they were cheating, I had no idea about their relationship with Mei Jie, let alone how to expose them.
After making the tea, I was about to leave when the man sitting opposite Mei Jie received a phone call.
The call was brief, and after hanging up, he said, "Sorry, I can't continue playing. My child fell ill, so I have to go. I also had bad luck today, lost over ten thousand..."
As soon as the man left, the enchanting woman in black started complaining.
"Su Mei, who did you bring? He left before we finished the game. Talking about his child being sick, I think he just can't handle losing and made an excuse to run away. I haven't had enough fun yet..."
Mei Jie casually played with the mahjong tiles in front of her and smiled lightly, saying, "My dear, we all lost money except for you. Aren't you satisfied? How much more do you want to win?"
The woman in black, referred to as Flower Sister, quickly counted the money in her hand, pouted, and said, "I've only won less than thirty thousand. Su Mei, why don't you find someone else to play a few rounds with me? I just want to play mahjong today..."
Mei Jie was cornered by her persistence and glanced at her phone contacts. At this time, she didn't know who to call.
After thinking for a moment, she turned to look at me, who was pouring tea, and asked, "Chu Liu, do you know how to play mahjong? Come and play a few rounds with us..."
I didn't expect Mei Jie to suddenly call me, but I immediately replied, "I know a little, but the stakes are too high for me to afford..."
In reality, even if I played without bringing money, I would still win. After all, I didn't learn cheating techniques for nothing.
However, I had to say that because it was something Six Ye had taught me.
A qualified cheat should know how to be modest and pretend to be weak. Only when the opponent completely underestimates you can you deliver a fatal blow.
"It's okay, if you lose, it's on me. If you win, it's yours. Come on..."
Mei Jie said as she took out a stack of ten thousand yuan bills from her bag and threw them to the vacant seat across from her.
"You can sit there and join us..."
I didn't hesitate any longer and sat down opposite Mei Jie.
In the year 2000, mahjong machines weren
't popular in our area yet. We still played with hand-shuffled tiles.
This kind of hand-shuffled tiles was especially suitable for cheats, both big and small.
Of course, even with mahjong machines, cheating was still possible.
When shuffling the tiles, the woman in black, Flower Sister, deliberately touched my hand and teased, "Oh, this young man is quite tender. Tell Flower Sister, do you have a girlfriend? Are you still a virgin?"
She finished speaking and laughed to herself.
Mei Jie and another man also laughed along.
Meanwhile, I remained expressionless, arranging the mahjong tiles.
During my practice of cheating in mahjong, the first step Six Ye demanded of me was to remember not only the tiles I arranged but also the tiles that others arranged.
This way, even without cheating, I could still maintain a high winning rate.
(End of this chapter)