As time flowed, the Bridge game at Ren and the others' table was in full swing. In the beginning, everyone still had wins and losses, basically evenly divided. However, after a few rounds of the dealer, the situation on the gambling table began to change dramatically.
The money on Ren's table:
Fifty thousand Ryō became one hundred thousand Ryō.
One hundred thousand Ryō became two hundred thousand Ryō.
Two hundred thousand Ryō became four hundred thousand Ryō.
Four hundred thousand Ryō became eight hundred thousand Ryō.
Eight hundred thousand Ryō became 1.6 million Ryō!
In just half an hour, silver bills were already piled up on Ren's table! It was gambling against the heavens! The old man had said to Ren more than once, "Little brother, you are so lucky," and so on. Of course, when he said this, if the smile on his face wasn't uglier than crying, Ren might have thought the other party was genuinely congratulating him.
But was this really gambling? Of course not! Although the casino management was very strict, for real gamblers, cheating was an inevitable outcome. Ren felt no psychological pressure about cheating, because every person present had already used tricks. In other words, as long as they wanted to make a big bet, they would definitely cheat. Gambling! In fact, there was no real open and honest gambling, because gambling was a thousand skills! The peak duel of gambling masters was actually a duel of cheating skills. From this point of view, both sides had tricks, and the duel was also very fair!
Compared to them, Ren's methods were simply more sophisticated. So after a few rounds, Ren never lost again! After Ren won 1.6 million, several people at the scene suddenly couldn't sit still; their faces turned pale, and they began to give others subtle winks.
"Another big game!" Someone shouted at this time. Others were also waiting for such an opportunity to turn their luck around in one fell swoop, so they all agreed. Ren also had no objection to this, and then pushed all the money on his table forward. If Ren's card was particularly bad this time, he would lose everything.
Shuffle, deal!
The room fell into a brief silence, and everyone picked up their cards and started matching them.
"Yeah!" There was a sudden exclamation, and the old man sitting opposite Ren suddenly burst into laughter, his laughing beard trembling. With his well-matched cards, his eyes swept across the crowd. He laughed and proudly showed his card on the table, saying, "Hahahaha! Nine o'clock in the sky! The biggest card! Hahahaha, it seems that I am the biggest winner tonight!"
Others didn't care how many cards he got this round, because he wasn't the dealer in this round; Ren was! Everyone had to compare cards with the dealer. If the old man won, he would also win the dealer's money.
"Hahaha, little brother, hurry up and hand over the money!" The old man said with a very proud smile on his face.
"Cough, that..." Ren coughed lightly, and then casually flipped the cards in his hand onto the table. "I'm sorry, I'm also at nine o'clock in the sky, and the banker is at half past, so... everyone loses!"
There was an eerie silence in the casino. The old man's expression immediately stiffened, and the faces of the others suddenly became very ugly. Nine o'clock in the sky, and the banker! Once the dealer got this kind of card, there was no need to look at other people's cards. The dealer had a slight advantage, and it was impossible to lose within the rules.
After this round was finished, Ren's capital had doubled again, reaching as much as 3.2 million!
"No, don't play anymore, I've run out of money!"
"I'm sorry, I don't have any money anymore..."
...The gamblers at this table left with pale faces, because the money on their table had already entered Ren's pocket. And the person who lost the most in this game was the old man opposite Ren.
"You... you kid are cheating! You must be cheating!" The old man suddenly stood up emotionally, pointed at Ren and cursed loudly.
"You need to provide evidence when you speak. Which eye did you see me cheating?" Ren narrowed his eyes, revealing a very dangerous aura.
"That's right! Are you planning to resort to violence?" Tsunade also stood up and said in a timely manner.
"You..." The old man wanted to continue, but the person next to him stopped him in time. Although they didn't know Ren, Princess Tsunade standing beside Ren was not so easy to provoke. Usually, they won Tsunade's money, but this kid had won it all back today, so they could only accept their loss in silence.
The old man's face turned green. His expression was as ugly as if he'd swallowed a fly, but due to Tsunade's presence and the casino's rules, he didn't dare to say another word.
"Damn!" After Ren, Tsunade, and others left the casino, he finally couldn't help but let out a loud roar, then got up and kicked over the tea table next to him, a wicked light flashing in his eyes.
---
"Hahaha~~"
The sound of a woman laughing loudly resonated in the street, sounding very happy and unrestrained. Tsunade stretched out her hand and patted Ren's shoulder, almost bending over with laughter, tears welling up in her eyes.
Ren said quietly: "Is it really that amusing?"
"Of course!" Tsunade's face showed great excitement. "Did you not see that old man Shimura Egawa? The expression on his face was like eating shit, his whole body was green!! Hahahaha, I have known that old thing for so long; it's the first time I've seen him so utterly defeated!"
"Hey, are you familiar with him?" Ren asked casually.
"Yeah, I used to play poker together a lot, that old guy is really good at poker," Tsunade nodded and said, "His name is Shimura Egawa, he is the elder of the Shimura clan, and he was my second grandfather's subordinate when he was young."
Ren's head was full of black lines. 'Playing poker with you... is there anyone who isn't good? A person like you who is sure to lose every gamble can't be the standard for measuring other people's poker skills, right?' But to Ren's surprise, he hadn't expected that old man to be an elder of the Shimura clan. This level of identity was indeed a bit complicated! Ren's eyes flickered in the light, seemingly thinking about something.
And beside Ren, his younger sister, Tenten, had finally recovered from seeing her idol and calmed down. But what happened later made her whole experience even more surreal. Lady Tsunade, whom she admired the most since she was a child... was actually a gambler? And a gambler with terrible poker skills? This... This was completely different from the great Lady Tsunade she imagined!
'Is this the "collapsed house" my brother told him about before?'
'There are collapsed houses every year, and today, it's my home?'
For a time, the expression on Tenten's face also became complicated.
"Ren, why don't you wander the Ninja World with me? Don't stay in Konoha!" Suddenly, Tsunade said to Ren with shining eyes.
"No!" Before Ren could open his mouth to refuse, Tenten took the lead in rejecting Tsunade's idea. "My brother finally joined Anbu, how could he leave Konoha!"
Seeing the little girl speak, Tsunade "hmphed." "What's so good about Konoha? And he's only an Anbu Captain... Although he's about to be promoted to Anbu Department Captain... What's so rare?"
"Huh?"
"???"
Both Tenten and Ren were dumbfounded.
"Anbu Commander?" Ren asked cautiously.
"Oh, it hasn't been officially conveyed yet," Tsunade mumbled. "Didn't the last mission mention the S-rank difficulty for you?"
"After you left, I chatted with old Hiruzen Sarutobi for a while, and he decided to promote you."
"It should be some time before this order will be officially released."
Ren nodded. He said softly to Tsunade, "Thank you." He reckoned... he probably had Tsunade's influence behind his promotion this time.
Tsunade didn't hide it, and replied to Ren generously: "You're welcome!"
"If you really want to thank me... you follow me when I leave Konoha! With you, I won't be afraid to lose money in the casino!" Tsunade added with glowing eyes.
Ren's cheeks twitched slightly: "Forget it..."
Tenten was still sluggish on the side. "Anbu Commander..."
"S-rank mission..."
Suddenly, Tenten snapped back to her senses, and roared at Ren in disbelief: "Brother, why did you run to perform an S-rank mission?"
"Didn't you tell me before that it was a B-rank mission?!" Although Tenten was young and had not officially graduated from the ninja academy, she also knew what an S-rank mission meant!