Chang Yuan didn’t expect Yun Xiangxiang to be so upfront with her lack of money, so now she looked rude for asking that. “I have been inconsiderate,” she said. “Every time we play, it has always been ten thousand per round, but let’s make it a thousand this time.”


  “It’s fine. I might not have a lot of money, but you don’t have to make such a large compromise, or the games will be uninteresting. Make it five thousand per round.” Yun Xiangxiang looked at Chang Yuan. “You don’t have to worry if my luck is bad, Miss Chang Yuan. Someone will foot the bill, eventually.”


  Yun Xiangxiang was trying to see if Chang Yuan understood what she was saying, and she did. Without changing her smile, she nodded. “I have forgotten that you’re Lady Luck herself, Miss Yun. Even if your luck is down today, you still have Young Master Song as your sponsor.”


  Cheng Yuan didn’t have any ideas about Yun Xiangxiang, so if she thought lowly of Yun Xiangxiang, that was Chang Yuan’s own opinion.

  After Yun Xiangxiang was done testing the waters, she said nothing more. When they had decided on who would be the dealer, they started the first round.

  Sichuan mahjong’s win condition necessitated it to have one missing piece. After everyone had taken their tiles, they had to flip one of them, and the tile that was taken away must never be in the player’s hand for them to win.

  The dealer was Chang Yuan, who was sitting across from Yun Xiangxiang. The tile she flipped over was bamboo, which meant she couldn’t have this tile for her to win. On her right was Tang Suran.

  After Tang Suran drew the tiles, the tile she flipped over was bamboo too. When that happened, Yun Xiangxiang noticed Shi Youxuan’s face changing slightly. Her turn was after Yun Xiangxiang’s

  Yun Xiangxiang flipped a dot tile. When Shi Youxuan flipped her tile, it was a bamboo tile too, and Yun Xiangxiang surreptitiously looked at her tiles.

  She had three characters and a dot. All the remaining bamboo tiles had three pairs, so this was an easy pure hand.

  Under the condition that the other players had to play bamboo tiles, Yun Xiangxiang allowed Tang Suran to pung [1] twice to draw a tile, and she chose the second one. She already had a pure hand before the other players could exhaust the tiles they needed to, and she only needed a bamboo tile to win.

  Tang Suran went before Yun Xiangxiang, and she sent out a tile that could give Yun Xiangxiang the win. But, when it was Yun Xiangxiang’s turn, the tile she needed to make a kong [2] hadn’t been played yet, so her winnings wouldn’t be multiplied if she only won against one player.

  Yun Xiangxiang chose to draw a tile instead of taking Tang Suran’s, but she didn’t get the one she needed. Instead, the one she played gave Chang Yuan a kong, making her lose ten thousand to Chang Yuan just because of that.

  Tang Suran then played another tile that could give her a win, but Yun Xiangxiang still chose to draw a tile, though it was a useless one.

  A few rounds later, she only needed two more tiles to win, and after Chang Yuan played another tile she needed, she only needed another tile to win. Perhaps it lay within the final tile.

  They didn’t need to keep playing after they’d won. All they needed to do was to throw a tile after they’ve won, and the other players would keep playing until only one player didn’t have all the required tiles to win or the players who didn’t have only one tile left for winning would have to pay the players who did.

  Yun Xiangxiang betted without hesitation, for she wanted to see the tile she needed to win.

  “Two characters. Sorry. The only one left.” Tang Suran took the two characters. She had a pung of that, so everyone had to pay her five thousand if she made a kong, but Shi Youxuan needed that to win, so she took it from Tang Suran.

  Instead of getting the money from the kong, she lost ten thousand to Shi Youxuan. With that, Shi Youxuan played the last tile, and now, only Yun Xiangxiang, Tang Suran, and Chang Yuan were playing.

  Chang Yuan managed to get a lucky concealed kong, and she won ten thousand from Yun Xiangxiang and Tang Suran.

  Yun Xiangxiang could see everyone was close to winning, so it was now down to whoever was faster, and Chang Yuan was making frequent pungs now.

  Yun Xiangxiang had noticed it. She could have won several times, but she played all the tiles, for she was aiming for a big one.

  Soon, Chang Yuan was only left with one tile from the constant pungs. After that, she made two consecutive kongs, which gave her four kongs. In other words, she had four major pairs that would give her five rounds in scoring, and the winnings would be multiplied by sixteen. A self-draw would add one more round, which multiplied the winnings by thirty-two.

  If Chang Yuan were to self-draw [3], Yun Xiangxiang and Tang Suran would lose nearly two hundred thousand to her when the kong winnings were added.

  It wasn’t anything big for Tang Suran, but she didn’t want to lose to Chang Yuan, so her drawing stance changed to reflect her panic.

  When Tang Suran was done, Yun Xiangxiang finally took the bamboo tile she played. “I got a concealed kong.”


  Yun Xiangxiang had gotten a concealed kong with the bamboo tile, so Tang Suran and Chang Yuan gave her ten thousand yuan each, which offset the twenty thousand she had lost to Chang Yuan when she made two concealed kongs and one exposed kongs.

  There were four tiles left, and Yun Xiangxiang needed to draw if she needed a kong. Everyone knew she had a pure hand [4] now, so if she won with this draw, that meant she would have five rounds of scoring.

  When Yun Xiangxiang took the tile, she knew it was the last six bamboo tile even without looking. “Oops, I won.”


  Everyone would have to pay eighty thousand for the five rounds of scoring Yun Xiangxiang made, so she won a hundred and sixty thousand in one go.

  Only Tang Suran and Chang Yuan were left now. If Chang Yuan could win before Tang Suran got the tile she needed, Tang Suran would have lost all three of them.

  There were only three tiles left, and Chang Yuan drew it, but it wasn’t the one she needed to win.

  The remaining tiles must be the ones Chang Yuan and Tang Suran needed to win, so it all came down to whoever could draw it first.

  Lady Luck smiled on Tang Suran, for she drew the tile she needed to win.

  After the first game was done, Yun Xiangxiang won a hundred and fifty thousand. Shi Youxuan was the first to win, so she won ten thousand. At a hundred thousand, Tang Suran lost the most, while Chang Yuan lost sixty thousand.

  Chang Yuan had great technique, and she knew how to control, play, and give pungs to the last player before her. It was as if she had see-through eyes and could play all her tiles perfectly, but she didn’t care about winning on lower points.

  If she had three tiles that could make a kong, she wouldn’t want it even if it was a self draw since she thought thirty thousand was nothing.

  She wanted all the big wins, but Yun Xiangxiang didn’t have that kind of obsession. She would consider all her options based on reality.

  She would finish off her turn and take five thousand if she was out of choices, but every time she did this, Chang Yuan would smile.

  It was a sneer of contempt, but Yun Xiangxiang didn’t mind.

  After a few rounds, Yun Xiangxiang won a little more than a million, while the one who lost the most was the arrogant Chang Yuan, who refused to win small.

  But she was a young miss who had millions in allowance per month, so she wouldn’t even bat an eye if she lost hundreds of thousands.

  This round, Yun Xiangxiang’s hand was going to be a Heavenly Hand, and she declared it. When she declared that she needed a tile to make a Heavenly Hand, Chang Yuan looked at her in concern.

  Yun Xiangxiang didn’t understand what she was afraid of. It was a common sight where someone had a Heavenly Hand but needed a tile to complete it. On top of that, she wasn’t the dealer, but the player.

  After the other players were done and she declared she needed dots, the first tile she drew completed her hand.

  This was an Earthly Hand, which counted as six rounds of scoring and a multiplier of thirty-two, so each person gave her a hundred and sixty thousand.

  “Another round!” Chang Yuan’s attitude had changed, and she looked angry.

  She had only lost a little more than a million, and money wasn’t the problem here; pride was. Her family started off with the gambling business, and they were managing the biggest casino in Macau. She had never been so humiliated in a gamble before, as she found herself failing to win no matter what she did.

  She would embarrass the whole of the Chang family if this news were spread out.

  Chang Yuan did say skills played a part in gambling, but luck played a more important one. Even so, Yun Xiangxiang was the winner here, so she couldn’t quit just like that.