Yang Yi slept the entire day. After having dinner, he headed toward the Wufang Board Game Cafe.
In the past, Yang Yi could win a bit of pocket money almost every day at the cafe; even Little Lin had remarked that Yang Yi truly had a knack for cards. Although he lost occasionally, generally speaking, if he kept winning at this rate, his monthly profit could basically match his meager salary. Today, Yang Yi had only a few hundred bucks left in his pocket; if he didn't win some more tonight, he feared he wouldn't be able to hold on.
There were actual roads inside Tongheyuan, the residential community where Yang Yi lived, complete with traffic lights at the intersections. On the main road outside, three subway stations were linked together. This was Tongheyuan in the Tianbei District, spanning four sections—East, West, South, and North. It was known as the city's largest gathering place for floating populations. With cheap rent and low cost of living, it attracted a massive crowd of migrant workers living alongside the old-generation locals.
The crowd was large and mixed, and public security hadn't been very peaceful in the early years. However, this had one advantage: if you wanted to organize any activity, a single call in the community's forum group would get a hundred responses.
Wufang Board Game Cafe was located in a commercial space at the base of an old building on the east side. The first floor was a foot massage parlor; only after going up to the second floor would you find the games. This was an old-fashioned six-story walk-up, typical of the East District.
His hand gripping the worn-out railing, Yang Yi walked up the tiled, unlit stairs. The entrance was a glass door decorated with colorful little trinkets. Inside, the main hall had rows of sofas for casual players, while a large private room held a long table for sixteen or seventeen people—the designated spot for Mafia.
The game was great for training observation and linguistic skills, triggering a deep competitive desire. If one could discover logical loopholes in others' speech and organize a verbal counterattack, it was something truly worth bragging about. Thus, a well-known rule existed: with nine people, they'd go inside for Mafia; otherwise, they'd stay out front for Sanguosha (Legends of the Three Kingdoms) or Gold Miner.
The prerequisite for these "free" games was a minimum spend of one pot of lemon tea. However, the boss had overestimated them. Folks like Yang Yi would truly only order one pot and get free refills until the next morning. Yang Yi had only once spent more than the minimum, on his very first day at Wufang.
He had walked in with a girl on a weekend afternoon. The waiter, Ah Shui, recognized her immediately as the receptionist from the foot massage parlor downstairs. They had met by chance; she mistook him for a customer, swapped numbers, and eventually invited him to "sit for a while."
Ah Shui could tell they looked like a first-time meet-up; couples on a real date usually sat side-by-side. Yang Yi, already bored with the standard Sanguosha from his college days, began teaching her the "Dual-General" variant. It was an exhilarating way to play, like a battle between gods—Guo Jia and Hua Tuo against Sima Yi and Zhen Ji.
Not long after they started, Little Lin walked out from the inner room in his signature flip-flops and flashy Hawaiian shirt. He had been "knifed" in the first round of Mafia and was bored out of his mind.
"Hey, count me in," he said with that local "hospitality."
"But three people can't really play Sanguosha," Yang Yi said.
"We can. You two are a team, and I'll play for two people by myself." Little Lin meant he would handle two hands of cards. "If I lose, I'll buy you two a fruit platter."
Little Lin was quick; he picked up the Dual-General rules instantly. Soon, he laid out a "Zhuge Crossbow" and a stack of "Slash" cards. He had lost the "fruit platter match."
Yang Yi called for the platter. Little Lin, watermelon in his mouth, was briskly shuffling for the second round. "If you win this one, I'll pay you back for the fruit platter."
But before he could finish, Mazi emerged from the back—he was the first one "voted out" after Little Lin. In the dim corridor light, Yang Yi finally saw him clearly: forties, thinning hair, a receding hairline that made his head look like a giant lightbulb, and a face covered in brown freckles.
"Perfect timing. Come play. Loser buys the fruit platter," Little Lin called out.
Mazi sat down, his faded shirt full of tiny holes from too many rounds in a washing machine. "There's already a fruit platter here. Why buy another?" Mazi took a piece of watermelon. "Let's count the cards instead—50 cents per card held by the loser."
Yang Yi didn't want to spoil the mood, failing to notice the girl beside him already wanted to leave. He ended up winning a few bucks that day but didn't take it. They swapped numbers, and that was that.
Later, this "50 cents per card" stakes started to flourish, eventually drawing in more people. Once, Mazi looked at the seven grown men sitting before him and split the deck into two piles. He mimicked a movie-style shuffle, his thumbs creating a sharp "swish" as the cards blurred.
His expressive eyes shimmered as he looked at everyone and said:
"Show Hand. You ever heard of it? Some people call it Five-Card Stud."
Interest was instantly piqued. Yang Yi glanced at Mazi, then at the cards in his hands.