Chapter 66 - of Clubs: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (1)
Chapter 66 – 3 of Clubs: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (1)
The facial paralysis teenager opened the door and Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang entered the room in a black suit and mask.
They saw an almost 40 square metres spacious room. The centre contained a long table covered with velvet cloth and there were five chairs at the table. The seat in the middle had a black Clubs mark and should be the seat of the keeper. The other four chairs were marked in turn, with the numbers 1 and 3 in red and the numbers 2 and 4 in blue.
Shao Qingge had previously told them that the Clubs room was a 2v2 team match.
Xiao Lou looked up and saw there were indeed two challengers in the room in addition to him and Yu Hanjiang.
This man and woman should a couple. The two people were standing very close together and even the hairstyle was a ‘couple’ style. The girl had long, curly maroon hair while the boy had short, curly maroon hair. They were like two poodle dogs.
The girl held her boyfriend’s hand and they whispered in each other’s ears. Their relationship looked very good.
Judging by the hairstyle, he hadn’t seen them in previous secret rooms. Since they were matched in 3 of Clubs, this indicated that their progress was the same as Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang. They first cleared other secret rooms before coming to Clubs.
Since they didn’t meet in 3 of Spades, perhaps the couple had entered another parallel space.
The keeper spoke lightly, “Welcome to the 3 of Clubs secret room, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Don’t worry, this Clubs room won’t force the elimination of players but you might lose gold coins.”
“First, grab the number plate and take your seat.”
He gave each person a number plate.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang received 1 and 3 while the couple were 2 and 4.
A of Clubs opened the big screen and started to explain the rules of the game. “Once the game starts, you will be given the initial funds of 100,000 gold coins as chips for the red team and the blue team.”
“The jokers will be removed from the deck of cards. The remaining 52 cards are distributed among the four people. Every person will get 13 cards randomly. The goal of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand. As long as one person finishes their hand, they will be judged as the team that won.”
A of Clubs looked at Xiao Lou. “For example, in the first game, No. 1 finished his hand first. Then the red team with No. 1 and No. 3 will win. The blue team must compensate the red team according to the remaining number of cards in their hand. The price of one card is 5,000 gold coins.”
The young man’s fingers gently unfolded a deck of cards.
The 52 cards were quickly lined up in four rows according to colour and size.
The teenager continued, “In the playing cards, hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs represent spring, summer, autumn and winter respectively. That’s why the name of this game is Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The rules of the game are to start counterclockwise from No. 1. Please note that you only have three seconds to play the game. There will be a 3, 2, 1 countdown in front of you. If this time runs out and you don’t play any card, it is deemed as giving up the right to play.”
“Once all four people release a card, the round is over. Each round must play the same suit of card. If you have the suit, you must play it. If you don’t have the suit, you will be skipped. After each round, the person with the highest number card will get the right to play a card first and select the suit in the next round. The points size goes from A>K>Q>J>10>9>8>7>6>5>4>3>2.”
This was the most common order in card games. A was the largest while the rest were arranged from K to 2.
In a simple way, if a person played a Hearts card in the first round, the other people must also play a Hearts. If they didn’t have any cards, they ‘couldn’t afford it’ and would be skipped. The person with the highest points in that round would get the right to play first in the next round and decide the suit.
The goal of the game was to get rid of their hand. The teammates must cooperate with each other and guess what their teammate had in their hands. He could try and send his teammate more cards or if he had a hand with many large cards, he could use them to grab priority and quickly finish, bringing his teammate to victory.
If a teammate only had a Spades in his hand yet Xiao Lou played crazily, his teammate would be flustered.
It was no wonder why Shao Qingge said he nearly lost after encountering a pig teammate. This game was completely looking at the cooperation between the two people.
Observe the card game and note the cards that had already been played. Then speculate on the cards of the opponents and teammate. This was the key skill in the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter game.
The keeper said, “There is a total of four games. If you lose all the gold coins in your hands, one of your cards will be randomly selected by the opponent. In order to not lose a card, I hope you take this game seriously. There will be one minute for you to understand the rules.”
The rules of the game were relatively simple so the time given to everyone was very short.
It was a gamble involving gold coins. There might not be any elimination but the other side could extract a card. Xiao Lou didn’t want his S-grade cards like Tao Yuanming or Bai Juyi to be taken by the other side! It wasn’t easy to obtain a perfect clearance!
This couple should have a tacit understanding. He and Group Leader Yu must concentrate and absolutely couldn’t lose.
A minute soon passed and A of Clubs declared, “The game is starting. Please be ready.”
The moment he finished, an LCD screen suddenly rose in front of everyone’s seat, blocking their view. It was a practice to prevent players from cheating using a variety of small moves.
For example, Xiao Lou could secretly raise his little finger to indicate he had a Clubs in his hand. Yu Hanjiang could blink to show his hand was full of Hearts… the two people could use body language to talk and make the game considerably easier.
Shao Qingge’s explanation of 3 of Clubs didn’t mention the screen. The keeper must’ve temporarily added it.
Sure enough, 3 of Clubs stated, “You all came from 3 of Spades and might’ve received spoilers from people who already cleared 3 of Clubs. This screen is to prevent you from discussing countermeasures in advance. Later, once the game starts, you can only see the cards played by others on the screen. Don’t try to cheat by making eye contact with your teammates.”
Xiao Lou who had thought about making eye contact with Group Leader Yu, “……”
Well, the keeper was really prescient.
In this way, the teammate’s actions and expressions couldn’t be seen and they could only rely on their ‘tacit understanding.’
A of Clubs said, “The first game, we will start from No. 1 and go counterclockwise.”
The slender hands of the young man shuffled quickly and issued each person 13 cards.
Xiao Lou picked up his cards to see six Hearts cards, three Diamonds cards, three Clubs cards and one Spades.
There just happened to be an A of Hearts in his hand. Xiao Lou directly used A of Hearts to test the waters.
The girl went next with a 7 of Hearts, Yu Hanjiang played the 2 of Hearts and the curly-haired man played the K of Hearts.
Xiao Lou’s eyes brightened. It was likely that the curly-haired man had no more Hearts!
According to the size of the points, A was the largest, followed by K. In this round, Xiao Lou obviously had the highest amount of points. If the curly-haired man had any other Hearts cards in his hand then he would use it. Then in the next round of Hearts, his K would be the largest. There was absolutely no need for him to use K of Hearts against Xiao Lou’s A of Hearts. His use of K of Hearts at this time was equivalent to wasting a big card.
Xiao Lou’s card was the highest and he had the right to play first in the second round.
He smiled and used a 4 of Hearts. The female followed with 6 of Hearts, Yu Hanjiang calmly played J of Hearts and the curly-haired man indeed said, “Skip.”
Yu Hanjiang’s J was the largest and the priority to pick was in his hands.
Xiao Lou had some worry that Group Leader Yu would play another suit but Yu Hanjiang obviously understood Xiao Lou’s hint.
First using A of Hearts and then continuing with 4 of Hearts in the second round, did Professor Xiao have many Hearts in his hand?
Therefore, Yu Hanjiang cooperated in the third round and played 8 of Hearts.
The order was counterclockwise and the curly-haired man was next. He spoke in a depressed manner, “I can’t afford it!”
It was Xiao Lou’s turn. He played a Q of Hearts. Since the A of Hearts and K of Hearts had been played, his Q was the largest.
The curly-haired woman’s face was ugly as she played a 9 of Hearts.
The fourth round ended. Xiao Lou’s Q of Hearts was the largest and still got the priority rights. He quickly calculated the amount of cards remaining. Four rounds had passed and ten Hearts cards had been played. There were three left and they were all in his hand.
Xiao Lou’s mouth slightly curved as he played a card, 3 of Hearts.
The curly-haired girl stated, “I have none.”
Yu Hanjiang skipped.
The No. 4 man’s voice was clearly unpleasant. “Nothing.”
Xiao Lou continued to play the 5 of Hearts. The other three had no hearts in their hands and skipped. Xiao Lou once again played a 10 of Hearts.
The other three could only watch him perform alone!
All 13 Hearts cards were played. Thanks to Yu Hanjiang’s help, Xiao Lou played six cards in one breath. Out of the couple, the male had only played one card and the girl had played three.
It was a big win!
Xiao Lou looked at his hand. Of the remaining cards, his three Diamonds cards were relatively small. Out of his three Clubs cards, there was a large K of Clubs, a 10 of Clubs and a 6 of Clubs. Meanwhile, his lone Spades card was an 8 of Spades.
According to the probability, the curly-haired man only had one Hearts card and it was likely he had a large number of Spades. It might also have an even number of Diamonds, Clubs and Spades.
In any case, it was right to test the waters with a big card.
Xiao Lou thought about it and played the K of Clubs.
The girl played the 5 of Clubs, Yu Hanjiang played the 3 of Clubs and the curly-haired man played the 4 of Clubs.
Xiao Lou’s eyes brightened again.
Group Leader Yu absolutely had the A of Clubs!
This game was a 2v2 match. He played K of Clubs. If the couple had the larger A of Clubs, there was no reason they wouldn’t use it to suppress him and regain the right to choose. However, the couple didn’t play A of Clubs. It was clear that the A of Clubs was with Group Leader Yu.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were teammates. There was no need to use the A of Clubs to suppress Xiao Lou’s K of Clubs.
Xiao Lou smiled and played the 6 of Clubs.
The female played Q of Clubs but this was followed by Yu Hanjiang directly playing A of Clubs. He didn’t hesitate to suppress her card.
The curly-haired man had to play the 8 of Clubs in a depressed manner.
The right to choose was in Yu Hanjiang’s hand. He continued to play Clubs and let Xiao Lou get rid of his remaining Clubs card.
The big numbers of the Diamonds suit were in the female’s hand. Once Yu Hanjiang finished playing Clubs, he had to either play Spades or Diamonds. He first played Diamonds and the curly-haired woman took back the rights with the A of Diamonds.
She continued with DIamonds. Xiao Lou followed and got rid of all his Diamonds.
Unwittingly, he only had one card left in his hand.
The female perceived that No. 1 had one card left and was obviously nervous. She couldn’t see her boyfriend’s expression but she could guess that her boyfriend should have a pile of Spades in his hand. Only the Spades hadn’t come out…
The female gritted her teeth and played the 2 of Spades.
The curly-haired man really threw out the A of Spades but… Xiao Lou also smiled and played his last card, 8 of Spades.
The keeper’s cold voice rang out in the room. “No. 1 has finished his hand. The red team has won the game. Blue team, please count the remaining number of cards in your hand.”
The couple’s face became extremely ugly.
No. 1 had too many Hearts and the Spades didn’t come out. The right to play cards had just come to his hand when the other side won!
The female had three cards left while the curly-haired male had seven cards left…
The keeper stated, “The blue team has 10 cards remaining. Please pay the red team 50,000 gold.”
All the gold coins previously obtained from secret rooms were frozen. They only had the 100,000 gold coins that the Clubs keeper sent to every team. The result was that in the first game, the couple directly lost 50,000, which was half!
There were too many cards remaining in their hands.
The key was that the curly-haired man had many Spades in his hand. His girlfriend gained back the right to choose the suit with the A of Diamonds but kept playing Diamonds. She didn’t play Spades and he almost died from worry…
The man calmly pushed the 50,000 chips into the middle of the table.
In the second game, they would play first and he would be sure to win it back. The man thought confidently.