Not only Xiao Kesong, but even Ye Chen’s expression had become a little tense.
“You scared him,” Ye Chen said. “Too fast.”
Xiao Kesong didn’t understand. “What do you mean, ‘too fast’?”
Lu and Ye ignored his question. They simply looked at each other and exchanged some silent, unknown message.
Xiao Kesong was left completely confused.
Chen Zemian walked over and handed the key back to Lu Zhuonian. “Mr. Lu, don’t mess with me. This car is way too expensive. I couldn’t afford it even if I sold everything after crashing it.”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t respond, but when he took the key, he smiled faintly — as if something amusing had crossed his mind.
Chen Zemian felt puzzled.
Xiao Kesong thought Lu Zhuonian was acting a bit unstable and began to suspect he might’ve skipped his meds lately.
Ye Chen, on the other hand, was sure Lu Zhuonian had taken them — just that they weren’t working.
Ever since being “triggered” by Chen Zhe, Lu Zhuonian hadn’t just failed to avoid his “allergen.” He had deliberately gotten closer to it. His intentions were so obvious, it was impossible to ignore.
Unfortunately, of the four people present, Xiao Kesong was oblivious, and Chen Zemian had no idea of the danger.
Only Ye Chen saw what was happening — and he chose to stay silent.
The four of them had dinner together. The chef had prepared it in advance. It was all simple home-cooked fare, but the ingredients were fresh, which made up for it.
After dinner, Xiao Kesong suggested they play cards.
“That night, we never got to finish,” he said, recalling his birthday. He couldn’t help but remember those thrilling three minutes. “Chen Zhe, you were amazing! Just one grab and bam — a 200-pound guy went flying. And those two you kicked went even farther!”
At that, Lu Zhuonian glanced at Chen Zemian.
Chen Zemian felt a chill run down his spine. He quietly tried to explain, “That guy wasn’t really 200 pounds… and he didn’t actually fly.”
Lu Zhuonian’s eyes lowered, landing on Chen Zemian’s wrist with its prominent joints. “So the ones who got kicked did fly?”
Chen Zemian swallowed. He realized he was always being interrogated by Lu Zhuonian — and that most of the time, he had no good answers. It made him instinctively guilty around him.
Especially whenever he heard a question.
Lu Zhuonian asked too many questions. Xiao Kesong, on the other hand, never asked any.
Distracted, Chen Zemian lost repeatedly. His partner, Lu Zhuonian, was left to carry the team alone and was having a rough time.
Ye Chen, meanwhile, was annoyed that Xiao Kesong was such a weak teammate, so he suggested they switch to Texas Hold’em.
The four agreed. They took turns as dealer and played individually.
The cards were dealt. By position, Chen Zemian should draw first.
Unfamiliar with the group’s usual rhythm, Chen Zemian waited for someone else to move.
Lu Zhuonian tapped the table with the back of his hand, snapping him out of his daze. “Focus. Take your cards.”
Still distracted, Chen Zemian reached for the nearest pile without looking — only to touch someone else’s hand.
Lu Zhuonian was pressing down on the two cards and said calmly, “Those are mine.”
Chen Zemian looked up, confused. “Then where are mine?”
Without missing a beat, Lu Zhuonian took his hand, gently redirected it to another pile, and said, “These are yours.”
Chen Zemian, who had never been sensitive to physical contact, didn’t find anything strange in the gesture. He casually picked up the cards and said, “Thanks.”
Watching this unfold, Xiao Kesong’s eyes widened — as if he’d just witnessed a rare phenomenon.
He silently gasped and pinched Ye Chen’s thigh under the table.
Ye Chen is “…”
Not wanting to wait any longer, Xiao Kesong winked at Ye Chen, threw down his hand, and stood up. “These cards suck. I’m going out for a smoke.”
Ye Chen didn’t want to go — his cards were good — but with Xiao Kesong pinching the life out of him, he had no choice. He threw down his cards and followed him out to the third-floor terrace.
Once outside, Xiao Kesong locked the door behind them and practically shouted, “Did you see that?! Did you see that?! Zhuonian actually touched Chen Zhe’s hand on his own!!!”
Ye Chen immediately covered his mouth. “Lower your voice.”
Xiao Kesong calmed down a little. “He didn’t flinch at all. Isn’t he supposed to have touch aversion? Is he cured?”
Ye Chen didn’t answer. He just stared out at the Pagani Huayra parked downstairs. “Liu Yuebo just gave Chen Zhe a Maserati, and Zhuonian drove his Huayra out today. What do you think that means?”
Xiao Kesong thought about it. “It means… Zhuonian is really competitive?”
Ye Chen gave him a look. “With that IQ of yours, maybe you should stop trying to analyze anyone.”
“Hey,” Xiao Kesong said, unconvinced, “Zhuonian’s been our buddy for years. Why wouldn’t I care?”
Ye Chen’s face was unreadable. “Then go ask your ‘buddy’ yourself.”
Xiao Kesong fell silent.
“You’re a really boring person, you know?” he said, leaning against the wall. He took out Ye Chen’s cigarette pack, pulled one out, and stuck it between his lips. “You don’t care about your friend’s health at all.”
“Zhuonian knows his limits. There’s nothing for me to worry about,” Ye Chen replied. He plucked the cigarette out of his mouth. “But I am worried about your health — slow reaction time, poor judgment. And don’t smoke. The more you smoke, the dumber you get.”
Xiao Kesong huffed. “Who says I’m slow? And I’m not blind — my vision is 5.3!”
Ye Chen stubbed out the cigarette. “What good is 5.3 vision if you still can’t see anything?”
“I can see everything,” Xiao Kesong said confidently.
Ye Chen gave him a long look. “Can you see that your little friend Chen Zhe could probably strangle all three of us without even trying?”
Xiao Kesong faltered. “I mean… if we all rushed him at once, maybe…”
Ye Chen cut him off. “You mean if me and Zhuonian rushed in while you ran away.”
Recalling Chen Zhe’s speed and agility, Xiao Kesong didn’t hold much hope of escaping.
Still, he said firmly, “Chen Zhe wouldn’t hurt us. He’s not that kind of person.”
Ye Chen: “…”
Faced with the choice of trusting in Lu and Ye’s combat skills or his own ability to escape, Xiao Kesong chose to believe in Chen Zhe’s character.
ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞
*****
Chen Zhe’s character is beyond doubt.
Chen Zemian’s integrity, however, was wavering.
In this round, Xiao Kesong and Ye Chen had stepped out to smoke, leaving only Lu Zhuonian and Chen Zemian at the table.
In-game, it was down to just the two of them as well.
Lu Zhuonian raised the bet and looked at Chen Zemian. “Call or fold?”
The flop showed three spades: K, J, 10.
In Chen Zemian’s hand? The queen and ace of spades.
He had a royal flush — a once-in-a-hundred-hands kind of miracle. The best possible hand in Texas Hold’em.
No matter what cards Lu Zhuonian held, Chen Zemian was guaranteed to win.
But the real question was — would he?
They were just playing to pass time. The chips were fake, worth nothing. The prize? Just the right to choose the midnight snack.
There was only one prize, and one winner.
In the end, the one with the most chips wins, and the other three lose — and must take turns delivering midnight snacks to the winner.
Chen Zemian had already lost a lot and was destined to finish last. Xiao Kesong considered himself a “seeded player,” but in reality, he was solidly second-to-last. Now, the real competition was between Lu Zhuonian and Ye Chen for the championship.
If Ye Chen and Xiao Kesong hadn’t folded in this round, then after several rounds of raising, Chen Zemian could have gained more chips. From a competitive standpoint, having both Lu Zhuonian and Ye Chen lose chips simultaneously wouldn’t have affected the standings much.
This round’s public cards were all suited, and since Lu Zhuonian followed the raise, it indicated that his hand was decent — likely a straight or a flush.
That’s a strong hand in Texas Hold’em.
But with only four players, the probability landscape changes. Fewer players mean fewer dealt cards, and compared to a full table, high-value combinations are rarer. In this scenario, the public cards didn’t allow for a four-of-a-kind or full house, so a straight or flush was effectively the best hand possible.
But fate enjoys irony.
Lu Zhuonian was likely holding a seemingly unbeatable hand — only for Chen Zemian to receive a royal flush.
Why couldn’t fate have saved this luck for a trip to Las Vegas?
Getting a royal flush now served no purpose except to create unnecessary tension with the protagonist, Lu Zhuonian, who always seemed invincible. And there were no witnesses to appreciate the brilliance of such a hand.
Worse, winning would just earn him resentment from the male lead.
So, Chen Zemian quietly turned over his hole cards and slid them back toward the deck. “I fold.”
Lu Zhuonian raised an eyebrow. “You hesitated for a long time.”
Chen Zemian casually mixed all the cards together and gathered them in front of himself. “Really? Didn’t feel that long.”
Lu Zhuonian replied with quiet precision. “Thirty-nine seconds.”
Chen Zemian had just thrown away an opportunity to showcase extraordinary luck. Of course he felt a little regret. But he kept a calm demeanor, leaning on his elbow and shuffling the cards one-handed. “Half a minute isn’t long.”
It was a beautiful hand.
The cards danced fluidly between his long, pale fingers. His joints were pronounced, every motion elegant and precise. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, exposing smooth forearms and prominent wrist bones. Under the light, his translucent skin highlighted the delicate blue veins beneath, like something carved from ivory — fragile, sculptural.
Chen Zemian’s shuffling was fluid, practiced, and skillful.
Lu Zhuonian watched — not just the cards, but his hands.
As a textbook straight man, Chen Zemian was completely unaware of Lu Zhuonian’s lingering gaze, still caught up in the heartbreak of discarding a royal flush.
That once-in-a-lifetime hand would have been legendary.
How good was it?
So good that, if this were a web novel, readers would accuse the author of writing unrealistic nonsense.
And yet, just to avoid offending Lu Zhuonian, he tossed it away.
With that level of restraint, surely he was destined for greatness.
After mentally patting himself on the back, Chen Zemian looked up — only to meet Lu Zhuonian’s deep, unreadable gaze.
Lu Zhuonian’s voice was lower than usual, resonant with insight. “If you can’t let it go, you shouldn’t have folded.”
Chen Zemian blinked, feigning ignorance. “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t bother outlining the logic — he went straight to the conclusion. “You had a good hand.”
Admitting it now would be worse than winning outright. And the cards had already been shuffled, so there was no evidence. Without hesitation, Chen Zemian denied it.
“My cards were awful,” he lied smoothly. “Couldn’t even pull a 3 or 5. Of course I folded.”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t argue. He just said, “I know what your cards were.”
Chen Zemian instinctively curled his fingers around the newly shuffled deck. “Don’t try to bluff me.”
Lu Zhuonian leaned back in his chair, relaxed. “You don’t believe me?”
“Of course not.”
Lu Zhuonian’s confidence was unshakable. “What if I can prove it?”
Chen Zemian shuffled the cards again, handed them over, and said lightly, “Then you’re incredible.”
This wasn’t a formal bet.
But Lu Zhuonian accepted the challenge.
Instead of taking the cards directly, he tapped the table with his fingers. “Put them here.”
Chen Zemian raised an eyebrow. “Your mysophobia is that bad? What happens if you touch the cards from my hand?”
“Nothing,” Lu Zhuonian answered calmly. “These cards have been shuffled dozens of times and handled repeatedly.”
“Your words, not mine. Schrödinger’s mysophobia?”
Lu Zhuonian said matter-of-factly, “I don’t mind dirt. What I hate is physical contact. That’s why I tell people I have severe mysophobia — it sounds more socially acceptable.”
Chen Zemian hadn’t expected him to reveal something so personal. Besides being surprised, he also felt a bit moved.
That was clearly a gesture of trust.
Lu Zhuonian was a very guarded person, while Chen Zemian was practically a walking contradiction. He had aroused Lu Zhuonian’s suspicions many times.
“What’s wrong with disliking physical contact?” Chen Zemian placed the cards beside Lu Zhuonian and teased, “It’s not like I’ll suddenly pounce on you.”
Lu Zhuonian spread the cards across the table, all face down. The backs showed uniform black-and-white patterns. “You already touched me when you reached for the cards earlier.”
“That’s because you reached for the wrong cards,” Chen Zemian said defensively. “It wasn’t on purpose.”
“I know.” Lu Zhuonian selected two cards and slid them toward him. “These were your hole cards, right?”
Chen Zemian was shocked. He hadn’t expected Lu Zhuonian to pick the right ones without even flipping them over. Curious and skeptical, he reached out to take them — and his fingers brushed against Lu Zhuonian’s.
Wait, what just happened?! Damn hand! Couldn’t you have looked first?!
Was Lu Zhuonian’s hand magnetic or what? How did they end up touching again?
Chen Zemian jerked his hand back and blurted, “I swear, that was an accident!”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t say a word. Calmly, he lifted the corners of the cards and flipped them over one by one.
Queen of Spades.
Ace of Spades.
Lu Zhuonian looked up, locking eyes with Chen Zemian.
“I did it on purpose.”
Chen Zemian: “???”
*****
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Author: LazyHermitGal
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