410: Perfect, The Old Hag Showed Up

Perfect, The Old Hag Showed Up

Those dames were naturally very picky when it came to the venue for the game, and Mrs. Yue chose Yue Tingfeng's Jade Orchid Pavilion. The manager waited upon them with much care, since Mrs. Yue was the young master's mother!1

The manager reserved the best room and personally got busy to pour tea and water for them.

When all the ladies were present, Mrs. Yue called Yan Qingsi over and introduced her to them. "Don't be nervous, Qingsi. These women are my mahjong buddies. Mrs. Li, Mrs. Zhou, and Mrs. Yang…"

They had all heard about Yan Qingsi from Mrs. Helan and did not think too highly of her.

Yan Qingsi pretended not to see the despise in their eyes and said softly, "Hello dear ladies, I heard that Auntie Yue was going to play mahjong with you, and I wanted to join too. I begged Auntie Yue to bring me along. I don't know how to play though, so I hope you can all teach me."

Yan Qingsi feigned her demureness on purpose. That would cause them to pay less attention to her, thus making them loosen their guard when they were in the game.

Mrs. Yue looked at the time and remarked, "Well, since everyone's here, let's start…"

Mrs. Yang then said, "I'm so sorry, I need to go home soon. Something came up. But don't worry, I've already called on someone to take my place so you won't lack players."

As she spoke, Mrs. Helan pushed the door open and came in. Yan Qingsi exchanged glances with Mrs. Yue.

Yan Qingsi chuckled in her heart. 'Well, I'll be damned.[1] Perfect, the old hag showed up.'

Mrs. Helan smiled and said, "I'm so sorry I'm late."

Mrs. Yang held her hand and answered, "You're not late at all. We were just waiting for you. Mrs. Yue, will you be unhappy with me for asking Mrs. Helan to come over without your permission?"

"Of course not. We can start now, yes?"

Mrs. Yue allowed Yan Qingsi to take a seat, "I brought you here today so you can play. I'll watch you while you play and teach you…"

Everyone else could not help but mock her in their hearts. 'You? Teaching her? More like giving us free money."

The anxious Yan Qingsi said, "But I don't know how. What if I lose?"

Mrs. Yue said proudly, "It's no big deal. Our Yue family has no shortage of money anyway."

Mrs. Helan had her suspicions when she glanced at Yan Qingsi.

As soon as the game started, Yan Qingsi stated, "Dear ladies, I don't know how to play, so please don't make fun of me if I made a wrong move."

Barely moments after those modest remarks, Yan Qingsi had the six-dots tile[2]. She revealed her hand in embarrassment and said, "Looks like my hand is complete [3]from a self-draw[4]…"

The rest looked at each other in dismay. 'F*ck, that's fast. She must be damn lucky.'

At first, everyone thought that Yan Qingsi was just lucky, but her luck appeared to be shooting through the roof. Two hours later, she won round after round, and money soon began piling up in front of her. The only thing that Ji Mianmian saw was Grandpa Mao[5]'s head, and her saliva was on the verge of drooling out.

Mrs. Yue looked at Yan Qingsi with bling-bling eyes and heard her reveal her hand elegantly. "Kong from a self-draw [6], completed hand… Pay up then, you three ladies."

They looked at their wallets and noticed that whatever cash they had in hand was all gone, having lost all of them. Yan Qingsi's timidity had long disappeared, and one look at Yan Qingsi's high-flying expression was all it took for them to realize that Mrs. Yue came to assert her dominion.

Mrs. Helan said embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, something came up at home, I'll be…"

Yan Qingsi smiled. "I thought we agreed on pulling an all-nighter? How could you just leave? Surely the Helan family won't be a sore loser with this kind of money?"

Mrs. Helan gritted her teeth. "You… I didn't bring enough cash today..."

Yan Qingsi smiled. 'If I don't make you lose everything except your underwear, I can't possibly let you go off.'

"Don't worry, I came prepared with everything we need. I have a point-of-sale machine with me. You can use your card."

___

Mama Yue: "My son, my son, come home fast! My daughter-in-law is amazing!"

[1] 麻痹 – this word means 'numb', but in the context, the translator felt that the author might have erred when typing, as it is rather similar in romanization to the word 妈逼, which literally means 'F*ck' or a similar equivalent. Based on the circumstance, this is our view, and we hope that readers may understand that such errors in writing may sometimes occur. In this case, we have chosen to use the phrase, "Well I'll be damned."

[2] For those unfamiliar with Mahjong, the generic set of tiles has four suits (dots aka cylinders, sticks aka bamboo, and character suits) in nine values. Other tiles include honors tiles (4 wind, and 4 dragon tiles) and bonus tiles (4 flowers and 4 seasons tiles).

[3] 胡牌 – is a term that means 'completed hand' in Mahjong.

[4] 自摸 – translated as self-draw. It means the winning hand is completed by drawing a tile from the wall.

[5] 毛爷爷 – translated as Grandpa Mao. Mao Zedong's likeness is present on China's banknotes.

[6] 杠上开花 – literally means 'Flowering on A Kong', but here translated as 'Kong from a self-draw'. Kong is a set of 4 identical tiles, and to complete the Kong with a self-draw means that you have 3 identical tiles and got lucky by drawing the tile that completes your Kong. It is different from winning on a replacement tile, in which the party waiting for a winning hand draws a flower or season tile and is required to replace that tile by drawing a replacement tile.

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