AUBTN -Chapter 145 Playing Pai Gow

There was a hint of casual indifference in his brows and eyes, yet seven parts of absolute confidence and arrogance—as if everything were already under his control.

Lu Yan stared fixedly at the cards in his hand. His sharp jawline was tightly set, as though what he held was not a deck of playing cards but a military map of the borderlands.

“Five to twelve!”

Lu Yan slammed the cards heavily onto the table with a smack, the sound ringing out like the crack of a judge’s gavel.

He turned to Yu Qing, his gaze sharp. “Your turn.”

Yu Qing looked at the miserable scraps of cards in her hand. Her face was so bitter it looked like someone could squeeze bitter melon juice from it.

Trembling, she pulled out a tiny worthless card. “I… I pass.”

【Heavens above! Earth below! What kind of human suffering is this?! Didn’t we agree I’d be the one carrying the game? Why do these ancient people learn so fast?! Lu Yan, you blockhead—playing something that big, how am I supposed to respond?! We’re the farmers! We’re on the same team!】

The hand holding Lu Yan’s teacup suddenly shook, and the scalding tea almost splashed out.

Yu Qing’s thunderous inner voice echoed clearly in his ears.

The corner of his mouth twitched. Suppressing the urge to rub his temples, he lowered his voice and said through clenched teeth, “If… if you can’t respond, you should signal me earlier.”

“Signal what?! You played so fast like you’re rushing to reincarnate—no, rushing to catch a thief!” Yu Qing said miserably, on the verge of tears.

Su Hewan, who sat nearby watching the match and keeping score, calmly lifted her teacup and took a sip.

Her expression remained tranquil, but inside her mind was firing off a storm of commentary:

【This is hilarious. Shen Jue clearly still has two Jokers and four twos in his hand. Lu Yan’s move was the classic ‘charging in alone,’ and now he’s about to get wrapped up like dumplings. The Eastern Depot chief’s card-counting ability is basically a human calculator. He even knows exactly how many single cards Lu Yan has left. This isn’t Landlord—it’s a one-sided IQ crush.】

Hearing this, Shen Jue’s long phoenix eyes curved almost imperceptibly.

His gaze drifted casually over Su Hewan’s gentle, delicate face.

With a slight turn of his fingers, two cards printed with comical jesters floated lightly onto the table.

“Joker bomb,” Shen Jue said softly, his voice low yet carrying a scalp-tingling sense of pressure.

“Lord Lu, my thanks. This round—your humble servant wins again.”

“You—!”

Lu Yan choked with anger and threw down the remaining cards in his hand.

“I’m done playing!”

Seeing the stack of banknotes in front of her getting thinner and thinner, Yu Qing’s mentality completely collapsed.

She swept the playing cards aside in one motion, grief written all over her face.

“This lousy game depends too much on luck! Let’s switch! We’ll play something simpler and more brutal—something that tests psychological strength!”

“Oh?” Shen Jue raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing at his lips. “What new trick does President Yu have this time?”

“Pai Gow!”

Like a magician performing a trick, Yu Qing pulled out an exquisite redwood box from the camphor chest behind her. Inside were thirty-two neatly arranged domino tiles.

“I paid a huge price to have the best bone-carving master in the capital craft these overnight!

This time we won’t split into teams—everyone for themselves! Pure psychological warfare and acting skills!”

As a performing arts major, Yu Qing had absolute confidence in her facial expression management.

The tiles were dealt.

Yu Qing carefully picked up the two dominoes in front of her and rubbed them open just enough to peek.

Her eyes suddenly lit up—then she quickly lowered her lashes, pressing down the corners of her mouth with all her might, putting on the appearance of someone on the verge of tears.

“Sigh, these tiles are impossible… they’re complete trash…” Her voice carried a sob, making her look exactly like a pitiful little victim being bullied.

【HAHAHAHA! Heaven is helping me! Supreme Treasure! I got the Supreme Treasure! Shen Jue, Lu Yan—you feudal relics—prepare to receive this palace’s judgment! I’m winning back every single coin I just lost!】

Lu Yan’s hand, which was about to place a bet, froze midair.

He looked at the teary-eyed woman in front of him—whose inner voice was laughing wildly—and the corner of his eye twitched violently.

This woman… if she didn’t join an opera troupe, it would truly be a waste of talent.

With a blank expression, Lu Yan pushed all the broken silver in front of him back.

“I fold.”

“Huh? Don’t fold!” Yu Qing panicked and turned to Shen Jue, frantically signaling him with her eyes.

“Lord Shen, you’re rich and powerful—place a bet!”

Shen Jue’s slender fingers toyed with a mutton-fat jade thumb ring as his deep gaze lingered on Yu Qing for two seconds before he suddenly chuckled.

“Miss Yu, your left eyelid twitched three times just now. Based on the Eastern Depot’s interrogation experience, when someone is extremely excited yet trying to conceal it, their facial muscles tend to lose control.”

His long finger lightly tapped the table.

“Although my tiles aren’t big, I’m not about to play the fool. I fold as well.”

Yu Qing’s smile froze on her face. She stared in disbelief at the only player still in the round—Su Hewan.

“Wanwan…”

Su Hewan analyzed calmly, “There are thirty-two tiles in total. When Lu Yan folded earlier, I caught a glimpse of the edge pattern—it was an Earth tile. Shen Jue didn’t reveal his tiles, but when he drew earlier, his movement paused briefly. Most likely a Man tile or a Harmony tile. Based on probability and permutations, the chance of you drawing the Heaven tile is extremely low. I guess you’re holding Ding-three paired with Two-four—Supreme Treasure, right?”

Clack!

The domino in Yu Qing’s hand fell onto the table.

It was exactly Ding-three paired with Two-four.

The room fell silent.

“You… are you all monsters?” Yu Qing collapsed, grabbing her hair in despair.

Completely disregarding her image, she sprawled across the table and wailed.

“How am I supposed to live like this?! My money! My five thousand taels!”

【Waaahhh I should never have provoked these high-IQ freaks. I basically came here just to donate money to the big bosses!】

Listening to Yu Qing’s dramatic howling beside him, while Shen Jue heard Su Hewan’s inner comment—【Serves you right. Your skills are bad but your gambling addiction is huge】—the two male leads exchanged a rare sympathetic glance.

“Fine, fine. Since we’re supposed to balance work and leisure, we should at least let Boss Yu enjoy herself,” Shen Jue said leisurely as he pushed the silver notes he had won back to the center of the table.

“If you have any hidden trump cards left, bring them all out.”

Yu Qing suddenly raised her head, blazing determination reigniting in her eyes—the stubborn obsession of a gambler unwilling to admit defeat.

“You forced me to do this.”

Grinding her teeth, she turned around and dragged out a huge box from under the bed.

Clatter—

Hundreds of square white jade tiles engraved with characters, bamboo, and circles spilled across the round table covered with thick velvet.

“Mahjong! The national treasure! Four-player chaos—this doesn’t just test intelligence, but also overall strategy, defense and counterattack, and social maneuvering!” Yu Qing sneered while teaching them the rules. “Tonight, none of you are going to sleep!”

Half an hour later—

Clack-clack-clack-clack—

The sound of mahjong tiles shuffling rang crisply through the quiet Wutong Courtyard.

At this moment, the card table had completely turned into a battlefield between the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot.

“Two of Dots.”

Lu Yan’s face was stern as he threw out a tile, his sharp gaze sweeping toward Shen Jue across the table.

“Lord Shen has been making rather large moves in court recently. Careful you don’t strain your back.”

“Pung.”

With elegant ease, Shen Jue pulled the Two of Dots into his hand, then casually discarded a Red Dragon.