Thirsty Skin - Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – This Is Too Exciting!!

The place where they met Zeng Xubai was a private club on Huai’an Road, located in a quiet courtyard full of roses and bamboo. The rain stopped, and the air smelled of flowers and soil.

Zeng Xubai and Xu Pingchuan were waiting for them in the box. Lin Wan led Zhu Chizhou in and said, “Sorry for being late.”

Zeng Xubai asked them to sit down: “It’s okay, we just got here.”

Sitting next to Zeng Xubai was a tall, handsome stranger. He stood up and extended his hand to Lin Wan with a warm smile, “I’ve heard of Mr. Lin’s name for a long time, and today I finally got to meet him.”

“Hello, this is Mr. Xu, right? Xu Bai has also told me about you.” Lin Wan simply shook his hand back and said sideways, “This is my colleague Zhu Chizhou.”

Xu Pingchuan also shook hands with Zhu Chizhou, but his eyes were always on Lin Wan, with undisguised admiration in his eyes.

The dinner dishes were simple yet exquisite, and tasted much better than the restaurants he usually went to for social events.

Xu Pingchuan seemed very interested in Lin Wan. He kept finding topics to chat with him during the meal. After they talked about the macroeconomic situation for a while, he looked at Lin Wan again and said, “Boss Lin, I heard that the artificial intelligence company you invested in is going public. Are you ready to withdraw?”

“Well,” Lin Wan said, “We are planning to withdraw part of the shares at present, but considering the company’s growth potential and market prospects, we will still retain the majority of the shares.”

Xu Pingchuan said: “You are amazing. Your first project is a unicorn. How did you do it?”

Lin Wan held the tip of the chopsticks in his mouth and thought for a while, “It’s probably luck.”

Xu Pingchuan laughed: “Mr. Lin is too modest.”

“If you had asked me before, I would have probably analyzed many reasons for it, but looking back now, I can only say it was luck. It is difficult for me to replicate the success of this project based on my own experience.”

Xu Pingchuan nodded in agreement: “That’s right. It’s hard to grasp the right time, right place and right people.” Then he asked: “What do you think of the current artificial intelligence market? Are we too late to enter now?”

Zhu Chizhou pushed the soup bowl in front of Lin Wan and said, “Drink it while it’s hot. Fish soup will taste fishy if it gets cold.”

Lin Wan placed his chopsticks on the chopstick rest, picked up the soup spoon and prepared to drink the soup. “This track is indeed very competitive now, but I don’t think being late is a problem. The key is to find the right entry point.”

Xu Pingchuan pretended to be open-minded and asked, “How do I find the right entry point?”

“Alright, alright,” Zeng Xubai interrupted him directly because he had a good relationship with Xu Pingchuan. He didn’t need to worry about being rude. “If you keep asking, we won’t be able to finish the meal. Let’s eat quickly and play cards. If you want to talk about work, make an appointment with Lin Wan at another time.”

“That would be great,” Xu Pingchuan said with a graceful smile. “Our company has been deeply involved in the traditional machinery manufacturing industry over the years. We are now preparing to set up a new company to optimize operating procedures and reduce costs through AI technology. I was just thinking about having a good chat with Mr. Lin.”

Lin Wan was somewhat interested. “I don’t know much about mechanical manufacturing, but the integration of AI and traditional manufacturing is an inevitable trend. This project has good prospects.”

“That’s perfect!” Xu Pingchuan said happily, “I’m familiar with manufacturing, and Mr. Lin is familiar with artificial intelligence investment. We can combine our resources!”

When it comes to work, Lin Wan is always very concerned: “Let’s arrange a meeting someday when we have time to learn more about your business and plans in this area.”

Xu Pingchuan took out his phone and said, “Then I’ll add you on WeChat. I can send you some information first.”

Lin Wan said “hmm”, put down the spoon and prepared to pick up the phone. Zhu Chizhou handed over his phone from the side: “Mr. Xu, please add me. I’m Mr. Lin’s assistant. I can help you arrange a meeting time. Organizing the information is also my job.”

Lin Wan looked at Zhu Chizhou in surprise, 【Why are you so active today?】

Zhu Chizhou gave Lin Wan a dedicated smile. Lin Wan stared at his handsome face and thought, 【It’s rare that he works so hard, so let him be the one.】 So he took his hand back.

Xu Pingchuan choked up, thinking that this young assistant was ignorant, but he couldn’t find fault with his words, so he could only add Zhu Chizhou as his WeChat friend without any hesitation.

It was already dark after dinner. Zeng Xubai asked for a separate tea room, did not ask for a tea artist, and only ordered a pot of tea.

The tea room is decorated in a neo-Chinese style. There is an exquisite wood-carved screen with mountains and rivers at the entrance. Behind the screen, the space is spacious and bright.

The walls are a gentle beige tone, the lights are soft and warm yellow, and a mahogany square table is placed in the center of the tea room.

Xu Pingchuan sat down on the south seat first. Zeng Xubai wanted to sit on the east seat. Lin Wan held him back and said, “Xubai is with Mr. Xu, and I am with Chizhou. Chizhou doesn’t know how to play, so I’ll teach him.”

Last time at the swimming pool, Zeng Xubai felt that Zhu Chizhou was decent and graceful, and he liked this child very much. “It’s okay for Xiao Zhu to stay in my team. I will take care of him just the same.”

Zhu Chizhou raised his eyebrows in a dashing manner: “I talked to our Director Lin, and Director Lin said that today he would give me departmental business skills training.”

Zeng Xubai laughed and moved to the opposite side of Xu Pingchuan: “Okay! Then you and your Director Lin are a team!”

When it comes to card skills, Lin Wan and Zeng Xubai are equally matched. After playing so many games, it could be said that they are evenly matched. This time, Lin Wan brought a novice, so Zeng Xubai had the advantage.

After sitting down, Lin Wan shuffled the cards out of habit.

Under the soft light, his fingers were white and slender with distinct joints, his nails were neat and clean, and his shuffling movements were skillful and elegant. Although it was a very common way of shuffling cards, his hands made people hold their breath.

“Chizhou,” Lin Wan’s voice made Zhu Chizhou turn his eyes away from those hands, “I will teach you the rules first.”

They played in a competitive style. After a round, everyone had to take away the cards on the table and cannot check what had been played.

After explaining the rules and the size of the cards, four people tried to play a round. Zhu Chizhou asked questions while playing and quickly memorized the rules.

Now let’s get started.

Actually, this was Zhu Chizhou’s first time playing cards seriously. He preferred to be active and didn’t like to be quiet. He didn’t have the patience to do such activities that required him to sit all the time. He even rarely played board games, and he had basically never formed the idea of playing card games in his mind.

But he knew the rules and was afraid of hearing what cards Lin Wan had in his hand, so he resisted the urge to look at Lin Wan and focused only on the cards in his own hand.

After one round, Zhu Chizhou found that he seemed to be on a different channel from the other three. He was not familiar with the card patterns and could only arrange the cards in order. As for how to play, he had no idea at all, but the other three were already playing strategies.

After playing a few hands, Lin Wan and Zhu Chizhou fell behind slightly. There were several times when Zhu Chizhou played the wrong cards, but he did not notice it.

Xu Pingchuan laughed and said meaningfully: “It seems that Xiao Zhu is totally incapable of doing this. If this continues, you will cause your Director Lin to lose tonight.”

Playing mahjong required coordination and checks and balances. If one encounters a novice who doesn’t know how to play as a teammate, even an expert may not be able to save the situation.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s just entertainment.” Lin Wan was very relaxed and didn’t care too much about winning or losing. He was concentrating on the game of cards and didn’t notice Xu Pingchuan’s eyes sticking to him.

But Zhu Chizhou noticed it.

In the next round, Lin Wan was the banker. Zhu Chizhou raised his eyes slightly and saw Lin Wan’s slender fingers holding the poker.

Zhu Chizhou then discovered that Lin Wan had sorted the cards while drawing them, and had quickly worked out all possible combinations of cards in his mind.

【In this round, I played 7. I didn’t have a bomb. I had two jokers and two 7s. The cards were scattered. 3, 5, and 9 were single cards. There were no 6 and Q. Pay attention to who has these cards.】

Lin Wan was the first to play a card. Zhu Chizhou was thinking that Lin Wan would definitely play a 3, but then Lin Wan played a 9.

Zhu Chizhou didn’t know how to play cards at all. His newbie mindset was to play cards from small to large, so he was surprised why Lin Wan kept the two small cards 3 and 5 in his hand.

‘There is no straight, so how can I get away with these two cards?’

Everyone followed suit and played two rounds, and Zhu Chizhou looked at Lin Wan again.

【Chi Zhou’s Q is a bomb, Xu Bai and Xu Pingchuan may have a 6 bomb in their hands, and there is also a king in Xu Bai’s hand.】

Zhu Chizhou looked at the four Q cards in his hand and fell silent.

How did Lin Wan know that he had four Qs? Could he also have the ability to read minds?

Recalling the cards everyone had just played, Zhu Chizhou vaguely understood that Lin Wan’s purpose of playing 9 seemed to be to feel the pattern of the cards on the field.

‘What a great memory and calculation ability!’

After two more rounds of cards, Lin Wan had almost figured out the distribution of the cards.

After listening to this, Zhu Chizhou looked at Xu Pingchuan apologetically as if he had received the reference answers for an open-book test, and silently gave up.

In the second round, Lin Wan had pretty good cards, and he launched a fierce attack in the second half. In the end, he only had a pair of A’s left in his hand, and it was Lin Wan’s turn to play.

Lin Wan’s next player Xu Pingchuan still has six cards in his hand, but the previous player Zeng Xubai only has one left.

Zhu Chizhou thought that Lin Wan would definitely run away, so he looked over and heard Lin Wan thinking,

【Chi Zhou has one card left in his hand, which should be a small card. If I play my A, he won’t be able to escape. All the big cards on the field have been played. Zeng Xubai is obviously not as big as me, and Xu Pingchuan still has a bomb in his hand, which may be a four plus two card, but I think it is more likely that he has a small single card.】

Zhu Chizhou didn’t even understand the reference answer this time, and watched Lin Wan break the pair and play a single A.

As expected, Xu Pingchuan was blown away. At this time, Xu Pingchuan only had two cards left in his hand!

If there is only one pair left, they lose!

Zhu Chizhou’s heart rose to his throat, thinking, ‘Lin Wan, are you being too arrogant? I can die alone, but you still accompany me. Now neither of us can escape.’

But Lin Wan was calm and composed, and his heart was at peace.

The next second, Xu Pingchuan actually played a single K!

He didn’t have a pair in his hand, so Lin Wan made the right bet!

So Lin Wan played another A.

Xu Pingchuan never expected that Lin Wan would actually break up his pair of A’s. At this time, he only had a small single card left in his hand, so he naturally couldn’t beat Lin Wan.

Therefore, Lin Wan used the last A card to control the situation, and Zhu Chizhou got the second place.

Zhu Chizhou only had a 9 left in his hand, and he thought he would never be able to escape!

This is so exciting! So thrilling!

Xu Pingchuan lost the game and looked at Lin Wan with surprise and admiration: “Boss Lin’s move was so unexpected!”

Lin Wan smiled calmly, “I’m just lucky.”

【I wish Chizhou will be convinced. It’s your turn to act!】

After playing a few more games, Zhu Chizhou learned how Lin Wan remembered the cards and judged the situation when reading the guy’s mind. From then on, he could make his own judgments without having to listen to Lin Wan’s thoughts.

Gradually, he realized that it was not because of his good luck that he often ran away before Lin Wan, but because Lin Wan was sacrificing himself to send him away!

Sometimes, in order to give him gifts, Lin Wan even opened his own straights and bombs!

Zhu Chizhou became more and more adept at the game, and his use of the mind-reading plug-in allowed him to cooperate seamlessly with Lin Wan, completely disrupting the opponent’s rhythm.

The game ended with Zhu Chizhou and Lin Wan turning defeat into victory.

Zeng Xubai looked at Zhu Chizhou suspiciously: “Xiao Zhu, is this really your first time? Were you pretending at first so that we would let down our guard against you?”

Zhu Chizhou knew that he was using a mind-reading plug-in, so he was too embarrassed to answer the question and just smiled.

Lin Wan, who was sitting opposite Zhu Chizhou, said with a smile while shuffling the cards: “He isn’t pretending, our Chizhou is very smart. He just didn’t know how to play at first, but once he gets the hang of it, of course he’s better than you guys.”

There was a hint of pride in that smile, and those curved eyes seemed to be filled with stars.

It was the first time that Zhu Chizhou saw such a lively and bright expression on Lin Wan’s face when Lin Wan was awake.

The author has something to say:

The rules of mahjong are somewhat similar to running fast and competing for the top, that is, whoever finishes playing the cards first wins.

A brief explanation of the card types that appear in this chapter: a bomb is four identical cards; a straight is five consecutive single cards; a pair is two identical cards.

The four plus two hand pattern refers to a bomb and a pair.

The first player to play all his cards is the first person to play all his cards.

Reception means that when someone plays his last hand and everyone else gives up, his opponent will get the right to play cards in the next round.