Shen Hao felt speechless inside. I may not have played before, but I'm still better than you, you iron head.
Since the others complained the stakes were too low, Shen Hao said, "Fourth brother, lend me a thousand. I'll play a few rounds and pay you back later."
Wang Xiaotao didn't say much, taking ten bills from his wallet and handing them to Shen Hao.
Seeing this, the others had no objections and were even more eager to beat this newbie.
"Come on, come on, let's start low."
As the cards were being shuffled, Shen Hao slipped two cards into his space, meaning this deck was missing two cards.
One was the 2 of clubs, and the other the King of Spades.
Soon, everyone was dealt three cards.
Perhaps because it was his first time cheating, Shen Hao was so nervous his feet were shaking.
After the dealer bet 10 in the dark, Shen Hao picked up his cards.
He looked at his hand and saw two 2's and a 3, the smallest possible pair.
"Bet 10 in the dark."
The person before him lost a round, and Shen Hao didn't hesitate to say, "20."
There was a 2 in his space, which he could use to complete a three-of-a-kind, so Shen Hao felt confident.
The betting continued with everyone raising five rounds. Shen Hao followed all five.
Some players, unsure and hesitant about Shen Hao's hand, took a quick glance at his cards, noticing they were all small single cards—no Jacks or higher—and immediately folded.
To Shen Hao's surprise, in just a short while, only he and one other person remained with cards.
The other person was the guy from Sichuan, the one who had complained about Shen Hao's low offer.
Wang Xiaotao, having already folded, wanted to see Shen Hao's hand. Seeing how confidently Shen Hao played, he figured his cards must be really strong.
But Shen Hao refused. He pressed his cards down and said, "Fourth brother, don't rush, wait until it's opened."
Wang Xiaotao, feeling a bit curious, nodded in agreement.
The Sichuan guy saw that Shen Hao still hadn't revealed his cards and didn't think much of it. He continued betting in the dark.
The two of them continued back and forth for more than ten rounds, each one stubbornly resisting the other.
However, Shen Hao's persistence made the Sichuan guy unsure of what was happening, so he took a quick peek at his cards.
He saw he had a single Ace, and with only two players left, there was 7-800 in the pot. He thought, "Why not take a risk and go for the win?"
So, without hesitation, he said, "20, I'll open. What do you have?"
Shen Hao calmly replied, "You're opening, you show first."
"I have an Ace, a 9, and a 2. What about you?"
Without wasting time, he flipped his cards over.
Seeing this, Shen Hao felt confident that his pair of 2's could beat the other player's hand, and there was no need to exchange cards.
So, he didn't say much and immediately revealed his hand. When the others saw his cards, their expressions varied.
"Damn, a pair of small 2's won? I just folded a pair of 4's earlier."
"Yeah, I thought he was so confident he must have a big hand. Didn't expect it to be such a small pair."
"Serves you right. Why'd you fold earlier?"
"Many of us folded in the dark. How could I dare to play?"
Seeing his brother win, Wang Xiaotao excitedly said, "Damn, Haozi, this round was amazing! A great start!"
In the first round, everyone already had a rough idea of Shen Hao's playstyle. This guy dared to play with a small pair of 2's, damn, he's definitely another ironhead (someone who's stubbornly confident).
Ironhead's good, ironhead's smart, they love playing this way in "Zha Jinhua" (a card game similar to poker).
Otherwise, when someone sees their big hand, they just bet, and if not, they fold. After one round, they don't win much money.
Only an ironhead can play properly.
In this way, Shen Hao won over 800 in the first round and was still very excited.
"Alright, stop messing around, the winner shuffles and deals."
Shen Hao nodded, took the money, and quickly organized the cards.
Looking at Shen Hao's awkward movements, everyone knew he was a beginner. Their eyes were full of both contempt and excitement.
A newbie and an ironhead, these two buffs stacked together—this is definitely the perfect card-playing partner.
They liked him.
After that, Shen Hao lost more than he won.
But every time he did win, it was a big pot, at least a thousand per round.
Before they knew it, three hours had passed. With the help of his space ring, Shen Hao had won quite a bit and knocked out several players.
Shen Hao had nearly 20,000 now, almost all of it won by him alone.
Previously, the two guys from Sichuan had lost the most—one more than 5,000, the other more than 3,000.
Around 12 AM, the game ended. The final result was that Shen Hao alone had won 17,500.
The others were all envious and jealous.
But no one suspected Shen Hao of cheating since his methods were truly clumsy.
Moreover, they had all been watching and could confirm he didn't cheat.
It could only be chalked up to good luck.
In card games, newbies always get some perks. It's an unwritten rule.
After everyone left, Wang Xiaotao excitedly said, "Damn, Haozi, you're awesome! I've never won at Zha Jinhua, but you won over 10,000 on your first try! You've got some serious luck!"
Shen Hao smiled and said, "It's just luck. Here's 2,500 for you—2,000 is for your hospital bills and gambling funds, and 500 is the interest. Don't think it's too little."
Wang Xiaotao shook his head, "Just give me the principal, you can keep the interest. You're in need of money right now."
Shen Hao shook his head, "No, it's got to be clear. Let's keep it that way."
Seeing Wang Xiaotao still trying to refuse, Shen Hao changed the subject, "They won't report to the police, will they?"
Wang Xiaotao patted his chest and said, "Don't worry about that. We play together all the time, we're all friends. We can vouch for each other's character. No one's gonna cause a fuss over this. They can afford to lose this little money."
Shen Hao breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "Alright, I'm glad to hear that. It's getting late, so I'll head off. Don't worry, I'll pay you back next month."
"Don't worry about the money. They're playing Zha Jinhua again tomorrow. Are you coming? Your luck's so good, you'll probably win again," Wang Xiaotao said expectantly.
Shen Hao replied, "Not playing anymore. This stuff is too unpredictable. I think I'll pass. Alright, I'm off now."
After leaving the community, Shen Hao went straight home.
As for Zha Jinhua, Shen Hao didn't plan to play much. One time was enough. Playing too much could lead to trouble, and it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.
Now that he had his first pot of gold, it was time to think about how to grow his wealth faster.
The next day, when Shen Hao went to the baozi (steamed bun) shop for breakfast, he overheard two middle-aged women chatting.
"The price of gold overseas has dropped so much, but there's barely any change here. The price of gold is still so high, it's really frustrating."
"Exactly. The gold price in Hong Kong is only 410 per gram, but here in the mainland, it's 480. That's a 70-yuan difference per gram."
"My son's getting married, and now he needs to buy gold. Who knew the price would rise so much? I really regret not buying when it was 460. I should've done that…"
"At the jewelry store, for one bracelet, you pay 56 yuan per gram in processing fees. When you calculate it, it comes to 536 yuan per gram. A bracelet is at least 30 grams. That's 1,600, and that's not even counting the necklace and ring."
"Yeah, who knows when the price of gold here will drop? Why isn't it aligned with the global price?"
Hearing this, Shen Hao was struck with an idea.
He had originally been thinking about how to make money using the space ring, but now an opportunity had presented itself.
Shen Hao hadn't paid much attention to gold prices before since he never had the money to buy any. But now that he had heard this news, he wasn't in the mood for breakfast anymore.
The price difference of 70 yuan per gram between the mainland and Hong Kong was quite profitable.
Of course, the best way to flip gold was by buying investment-grade gold bars, which didn't have processing fees. Shen Hao had checked and found that, without the processing fee, jewelry stores would buy gold back at 465 yuan per gram. The profit margin from the price difference would be 55 yuan per gram.
Shen Hao remembered how, back in 1998, many people in the county made a fortune by buying and reselling gold in the south.
Unfortunately, he had too little startup capital back then, just over 10,000 yuan.
Now that he had a goal, Shen Hao didn't hesitate and prepared to head to Hong Kong.
First, he went to get an HK travel permit.