C19 Raising the Stakes

This time, all the color drained from Xia Chuchu’s pretty face.

“Fine!” Liu Dong clutched the bills he had in his pocket and agreed to the bet. It wasn’t just Xia Chuchu who was worried about her image, boys in general put great value on their reputations. Besides, Liu Dong didn’t want Xia Chuchu to see him as someone beneath her. Thankfully, he had exactly 200 yuan with him. That should be enough to get him through a game.

But after three rounds, Liu Dong lost all the money he had.

Not only had he lost every round, but Zhao Yang was able to score 80 points in one stroke, too. Liu Dong’s defeat was pretty straightforward.

He couldn’t bow out of the challenge, yet he had no more to bet. In a bid to save face, Liu Dong turned to Sheng Kai and said, “Why don’t you take over for a couple of games?”

It was Sheng Kai’s turn to clutch the money in his pocket—all of 180 yuan, and forced himself to bite the bullet and agree.

After exactly two rounds, Sheng Kai only had 30 yuan left. He didn’t dare to go or another round. If he lost again and took out a measly 30 yuan, he would die of embarrassment.

“What is it? You don’t have any money left, do you?” Zhao Yang taunted as he counted the bills in his hands, amounting to more than 300 yuan. “Then you should go home and get more money. I’ll give you a chance to win back your capital, at least. If you quit now, you might as well have burned your money, and that would make you even more stupid than a pig.”

This was followed by a round of laughter from Zhao Yang and his friends. He was provoking them on purpose. It was clear to everyone that Liu Dong and Sheng Kai had nothing more to give. But if they backed out now, these bullies would likely call them pigs for the rest of their lives.

On the other hand, jumping back into the fire knowing that they would only lose would truly make them more stupid than the smartest pig.

Liu Dong seethed with rage. He refused to do as Zhao Yang had said. What was the use of fetching more money if he was simply going to hand it over, anyway?

Zhang Muye watched everything from the sidelines. He didn’t want to get involved in the messy competition, but he knew he had to do something to help his friends. “Let me do it. I have some money to bet.”

“You?” Zhao Yang turned to Zhang Muye and raised an eyebrow, looking surprised.

As for Liu Dong and Sheng Kai, they were delighted. They knew very well that Zhang Muye was a far better player than either of them. At the very least, he should be on par with Zhao Yang. The only issue was the fact that Zhang Muye was dirt-poor. How did he even have money to bet? It would be so much more humiliating if he had nothing to show later on.

Xia Chuchu was also frowning. She had no idea what Zhang Muye was thinking, inviting insult and misfortune like this.

“Chuchu, is he a good player?” a girl with a high ponytail sidled up to her and asked in an excited voice. “He looks so handsome!”

“I’m not really sure,” Xia Chuchu said tightly. “He seems average.”

The other girl scoffed. “I suppose that’s fine, as long as he’s handsome!”

“Well, I don’t need to repeat the rules, do I?” Zhao Yang said to Zhang Muye. He peered at the latter, his eyes filled with disdain. Zhang Muye’s clothes didn’t even look like they were worth 300 yuan in total. Why would he dare to play? Where would he get the money to pay once he lost?

“I was hoping we could change the rules.” Zhang Muye took a leather wallet out of his pocket and held it up. It was thick with bills wedged inside its flap. Even he wasn’t sure how much he had, but he knew he had enough to bet on a few rounds of Snooker. “Fifty yuan per round is too small. Why don’t we increase the stakes to 100 yuan? Also, instead of 80 points in one stroke, why don’t we double the money for 60 points?”

The crowd sucked in a breath. It was difficult enough to score 80 points in one stroke. Even renowned players struggled to score 60!

And with the skills Zhao Yang had just displayed, they were certain that Zhang Muye would only be handing over his money.

The girl with the ponytail nudged Xia Chuchu’s arm. “Is the handsome guy from a rich family?”

Xia Chuchu’s brows furrowed as she shook her head.

Even Liu Dong and Sheng Kai were stunned out of their wits. They didn’t know where Zhang Muye got all that money, but they did know about his family’s financial situation. What would happen if he lost?

Liu Dong pulled Zhang Muye back and warned him not to be reckless. He might be good, but he had never played against Zhao Yang before. They had no way of knowing which one would be the likely victor, and they couldn’t bear to watch Zhang Muye lose all his money and his reputation in one go.

However, Zhang Muye was unmoved.

As a matter of fact, he had a total of two thousand yuan in his wallet. It was given to him by Zhang Aiguo, as a reward for qualifying for a third-class university. The old man rarely gave out so much cash. But instead of spending it on his summer vacation, Zhang Muye elected to use it to buy some books on programming and finance, and a new and better guitar.

Although, it would have to serve as betting money for now.

Zhao Yang’s eyes lit up with avarice. Although he and his friends came from relatively well-off families, it wasn’t every day that they got to have a few thousand yuan all at once.

“I’m more than happy to accept these amendments. Are you sure about this, though? Isn’t it a little too much for you?” Zhang Yao pretended to be concerned, but in truth, his only worry was that Zhang Muye might change his mind at the last second.

Zhang Muye shook his head. “Going for anything lower would make the game boring, don’t you think?”

“Then we should stop talking and just get on with it!” Zhao Yang looked at his friends as they cheered him on. “When I finally win, I’ll treat you all to a big meal!”

The round finally commenced.

Zhao Yang went first. His skills were indeed very good. They should be, since he had received professional training since he was a little kid. At one point, he had even dreamed of becoming a professional Snooker player, but he eventually realized that his talents still fell short of the standard. Moreover, he had developed a passion for music, so he shifted his interests from sports to art.

With that said, he was still much better than an amateur player.

Zhao Yang missed his next hit, making it Zhang Muye’s turn.

Zhang Muye went into position. His expression was serious, his posture precise. He hit one ball after another, the clacking sound echoing as the crowd looked on in tense silence.

Before long, the girls found themselves secretly cheering for Zhang Muye instead of Zhao Yang.

In the end, Zhang Muye lost the first round, but only by a very small margin. He took out 100 yuan and handed it to Zhao Yang.

Liu Dong went up to him again and tugged at Zhang Muye’s shirt, whispering that they should just forget about the bet and leave. But Zhang Muye simply shook his head.

He was now familiar with Zhao Yang’s style, his strengths, and weaknesses. Zhang Muye used this to his advantage and didn’t hold back during the second round.

Needless to say, he won. Not only that, but he also scored the elusive 60 points in a single stroke. All in all, he won 200 yuan for the second round.

Zhang Muye also won the third round, with 80 points in one stroke, for a total of 400 yuan.

Zhang Muye won the fourth round as well, and made a total of 800 yuan.

He also won the fifth round, without even giving Zhao Yang a single turn. That earned him 160 yuan.

The crowd watched in awe and disbelief, amazed by Zhang Muye’s unexpected display of strength and cunning.