A Valiant Life

When he had seen that his cards were three aces, Chen Li Hao had been extremely ecstatic. How could he not win with these cards? They were already the best possible cards.

He could finally be relieved after losing all those rounds.

But the excitement couldn’t last long as he got stunned by Lin Fan again.

The two cards were indeed lousy but they made him extremely fearful.

Wang Ming Yang was stunned. He didn’t know what to say at all. This whole game was too crazy. Especially since Lin Fan was still so calm and relaxed. Could it be that he was in control of everything?

In the crowd.

“My heart can’t take it anymore.”

“Yeah, it’s so exciting. There are so many plot twists. What could the last card be?”

“Who knows?”

“Li Hao doesn’t even dare to flip the card over now. I guess he’s not even confident in himself anymore.”

“Wow, he probably didn’t expect it to become like this. If he had known, he wouldn’t have gambled.”

“I feel that this is considered to be pretty good. With Li Hao’s personality, it’s better to lose here than to lose outside.”

…

The surrounding conversations were all heard by Chen Li Hao.

The last card was near him but he felt like his arm was miles away.

Lin Fan was calm and he was smiling. His smile made Chen Li Hao even more nervous. Everything was so unbelievable. He was the one who had shuffled and distributed the cards. It was impossible for Lin Fan to cheat but why was he still so confident?

The ‘thrill’ that he had always been talking about was turned into fear.

Chen Li Hao clenched his jaw and covered the card with his palm.

He believed his set of cards was the best but now, he was afraid. Just as he was hesitating, Lin Fan said, “Open it. Your thrill could very well turn into fear in a split second.”

Chen Li Hao looked at Lin Fan and his throat that was wiggling as he spoke. Then, he lowered his head. That was the card that would determine his fate.

But he found himself extremely fearful.

Hesitation!

Still, hesitation!

Suddenly, a voice could be heard. It was like a bolt of lightning that jolted him.

“Why are you hesitating? Aren’t you looking for the thrill?”

“Open it!”

The crowd was stunned. They all looked at Master Lin. The calm and collected Master Lin that they knew had suddenly become stern and fierce.

Chen Li Hao’s heart was beating faster and faster as he looked at Lin Fan. His hand started to tremble.

The droplets of sweat on his forehead slowly dripped onto the table.

His face turned pale and he was stuttering. His palm stuck to the table as if it was glued to it. The simple task of flipping a card over became an extremely difficult one. It was as if the card weighed a few thousand tons and nobody could flip it over.

The crowd quietened down and only Chen Li Hao’s heavy breathing could be heard.

He realized that everyone in the room was looking at the card beneath his palm.

Nervous.

Fearful.

Frightening.

Those emotions filled him. In the past, playing cards would bring him a lot of thrill but now, he only felt fear in his heart.

Lin Fan said, “Brother Li Hao, open it!”

Chen Li Hao looked at Lin Fan and the pupils of his eyes dilated. He felt even more fear than before.

He had three aces but was still fearful of this man before him.

If they hadn’t seen it for themselves, perhaps nobody would’ve believed it.

They couldn’t understand how much pressure Chen Li Hao was under.

“I’m not going to open it…”

Chen Li Hao spoke softly and fearfully. If they hadn’t listened closely to him, they wouldn’t have understood his words.

Lin Fan asked again, “What did you say?”

Chen Li Hao’s hand trembled and he suddenly went crazy. He suddenly exploded in rage from the fear that he was feeling. He shouted, “I’m not going to open it!”

Then, he turned around and stormed out of the room. His voice could still be heard from afar, “I’m not going to open it!”

Lin Fan heaved a sigh, “Quickly, go and chase after him to prevent any accidents from happening.”

Several people went after him. Although Li Hao was a compulsive gambler, he always treated them well. After all, everyone was friends with one another.

Lin Fan said, “I guess he must really be fearful of gambling from now on.”

Wang Ming Yang asked, “How do you know that?”

Lin Fan smiled. “Once bitten, twice shy. You must have heard of this before. After this, he will probably be too fearful of gambling. It has probably destroyed his confidence.”

Wang Ming Yang nodded. “If that’s the case, it’d be awesome.”

Zhu Zhu asked curiously, “What card was it?”

Then, everyone looked at the card on the table. When Zhu Zhu wanted to flip the card, Lin Fan smiled and stuffed the card back into the deck.

“Master Lin, why won’t you let us see it?” Zhu Zhu asked.

He Cheng Han and the rest also wanted to know what card it was.

Lin Fan smiled. “It doesn’t matter what card it was anymore. The main thing is that it did what it was supposed to do. As for the final outcome, it has nothing to do with it anymore.”

Zhu Zhu heaved a sigh and was rather disappointed. It was such a fantastic climax but nobody knew what was the final outcome.

But He Cheng Han and the others understood his purpose. They chuckled, “Master Lin is right. It doesn’t matter if it’s a three. To Li Hao, it will always be a three. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve never believed that a person with three aces would be fearful of the opponent’s cards.”

Lin Fan chuckled, “Nothing is impossible in this world. To be frightened even though one has three aces, I’ve also never seen that before. But one cannot claim that something doesn’t exist just because one has never seen it before.”

“Ming Yang, keep the money for that guy. When he’s recovered from this, return it to him,” Lin Fan said.

Wang Ming Yang nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it. I have to thank you for this. Li Hao isn’t a bad person after all. It’s just that he’s too addicted to gambling. If he didn’t learn his lesson here, he’d probably learn it somewhere else. When that happens, we probably can’t do anything to help him anymore.”

He Cheng Han smiled. “That’s for sure. Master Lin is indeed someone special. I have witnessed something extraordinary again today. I have to get to know Master Lin more in the future.”

Jin Yun Ming chuckled, “Master Lin’s card skills are indeed extraordinary. It was such an exciting game and it was more than just exciting.”

Everyone was praising him.

Wang Ming Yang was stunned. “How did you guys become so close to Master Lin?”

The crowd laughed.

Zhu Zhu said, “When you guys were gambling upstairs, we already got convinced by Master Lin.”

He Cheng Han chuckled, “Master Lin is too awesome. Ming Yang, I’ve known you for so long but this is the first time that you’ve introduced us to someone so powerful. Those that you’ve introduced us to before can’t match up to Master Lin at all.”

Lin Fan smiled and waved his hand. “You guys are too polite. I’m not worthy of that. It is eye-opening for me to have met all of you too.”

Jin Yun Ming said, “Haha, Master Lin, you’re too modest.”

…