DSYOM Chapter 33

The two newlyweds who were about to enter the marriage hall were in a deadlock. To get the marriage license, they needed to pay an application fee, and between them, their entire fortune consisted of the fifty cents Wen Di had scraped out from between bricks.

Wen Di didn’t know the exact fee, but it was surely more than fifty cents.

So, this was what they meant by ‘a single coin could stall a hero’. He finally understood.

They sat quietly on the park bench, looking at the billboards in the city center in the distance. The giant screens flickered with dynamic images, creating a surreal visual spectacle. Casinos lined the area around the advertisements, each with a distinct, creative design—an Egyptian pyramid, the New York City skyline, Venice’s canals, and the Eiffel Tower of Paris, all the wonders of the world gathered in one place.

The casinos.

Suddenly, a sound of rolling dice echoed from somewhere, and an idea popped into Wen Di’s mind.

He took out the pitiful fifty cents and said, “Want to gamble?”

The man obviously understood what he meant. The gambling city had its ways of turning small bets into big wins.

The suggestion came from Wen Di, but he quickly began to doubt himself: “What can we bet with fifty cents?”

“Let’s look around,” the man glanced toward the street, “maybe there’s a low-stakes slot machine.”

They entered one of the casinos, and near the entrance on the first floor, they found exactly that—a machine with an old-fashioned fruit design. The reels displayed cherries, lemons, and ‘BAR’ symbols, and it cost fifty cents to play. Tourists who didn’t want to spend too much on gambling and just wanted to experience the atmosphere of the casino often tried their luck on these machines.

Wen Di looked up at the payout table, which displayed different symbol combinations and their prizes. These cheap machines certainly didn’t offer jackpots; the prizes ranged from a few cents to a few dollars.

“Even if we hit three matching symbols, the payout is only forty-to-one,” Wen Di turned to the man, “twenty dollars.”

“That should be enough for the application fee.”

Wen Di frowned as he looked at the slot machine, hesitating several times to put in a coin but stopping himself. The man was puzzled by his hesitant attitude: “Go ahead, wasn’t this your suggestion?”

Wen Di sucked in a breath of cold air from between his teeth: “You don’t know, I have a bad luck constitution.”

“Is that a word you made up?”

“Really,” Wen Di said, “I’ve had bad luck ever since I was young—I didn’t perform well in the high school entrance exam, didn’t apply for the right major for my university, and my first love was a scumbag. As long as I buy financial products, no matter how good the trend was before, they will definitely plummet as soon as I buy them. I haven’t even won bubble gum in the mall lottery. With my luck, how can I win this 1% chance?” He stared at the worn coin in his hand, “This is my entire fortune.”

Even a fly’s leg is still meat.[footnote]苍蝇腿也是肉 (Even a fly’s leg is still meat) is an idiom meaning that even a small gain or benefit is still valuable.[/footnote] Fifty cents is still money. What if his last hope was crushed right here in his hand?

He turned around, “How about you…”

The man reached out, grabbed his fingers, and forcefully guided him to insert the coin and pull the handle.

Wen Di was startled, “What are you doing?” The man pointed at the machine, so he focused again and turned back to wait for the result.

The three reels began spinning at different speeds, and the machine’s drumbeat music suddenly grew louder, with the ‘dee-dee-doo-doo’ matching his heartbeat.

The first reel stopped. Cherry.

The second reel stopped. Cherry.

The heartbeats surpassed the bounds of science. No way, no way, is his luck finally turning?

Wen Di held his breath and suddenly grabbed the man’s arm. The man instinctively covered Wen Di’s hand with his own, the two of them pressed closely together.

The third reel stopped…lemon.

Wen Di sighed; as expected, heaven still didn’t favor him. He let go of the man’s hand, “So close.”

The man straightened up; this outcome was within the expected probability. But for some reason, he felt a slight tinge of disappointment.

Their entire fortune was gone, and just as the two were about to leave, the machine suddenly burst into a cheerful bell sound. The cherry and lemon symbols wobbled, and with a snap, something fell into the metal slot.

Wen Di opened his eyes wide.

Like the first drop of rain falling and then being followed by a storm, the coins clattered down, and the dense metal collisions were so crazy that it made people’s scalps numb.

The other tourists in the casino all turned their heads, staring at the machine in front of Wen Di, murmuring envious praises.

Wen Di slowly lifted his head, his eyes blank like a robot. “What’s going on?”

“Jackpot,” the man pointed to a line of explanation on the side of the machine, “you win all the coins previous players put in. The jackpot pattern is random; any combination can trigger it.”

Jackpot.

An even lower probability than three matching symbols.

“Didn’t you say it?” The man looked at him, “This is God’s will.”

Wen Di stared at the clattering machine, stunned by the shock of disbelief.

He had always thought that to obtain something, he had to work harder than most people, because luck was never on his side. It was like that with studying, and with love too. Winning a jackpot? That kind of dust-level probability luck probably required the entire universe’s help to achieve.

How could such a good thing happen to him?

But just now, the entire universe, unexpectedly, briefly, and maybe just this once, stood by his side.

A miracle happened.

Noticing that the people around were still staring at the slot machine that had just paid out the jackpot, Wen Di took a deep breath and immediately crouched down, trying to scoop the coins out of the metal slot. “How much money is in here?” The coins were of various denominations and in huge quantities; sorting and counting them would be a big task.

The man crouched beside him, glancing over: “You want to count them yourself, or ask someone else to help count for you?”

Wen Di blinked. “Who would help me?”

The man pointed to a counter at the back with a wooden sign that read ‘Cashier’ in English—the casino’s chip exchange place.

They took the coins to the cashier’s counter, and the staff quickly took them, placing them on a small scale, immediately stating the total amount. It looked like a large sum, but in reality, it was just over forty dollars.

Wen Di was about to happily take the money when the man beside him said, “Please exchange it for two-dollar chips.”

Wen Di stared at him in surprise. “What are you doing?”

The staff swiftly exchanged the coins for chips, placing them in a small plastic dish and handing them to the man. Wen Di reached out to snatch them, but the man, with his long arms and taller frame, got there first.

“The principal is mine; shouldn’t the winnings belong to me?” Wen Di stared at him in disbelief. They weren’t even married yet, and this man was already trying to claim his property!

The hateful man was unmoved and just said, “Not enough money.”

Trust him, my foot! During their long journey, they passed many small churches that were open 24 hours a day. There were signs at the door indicating the wedding prices. The cheapest wedding only cost $15.

“At this point, are we really going to have a lavish wedding? Let’s save money where we can!”

The man still hadn’t returned the money. “You want to walk back?”

Wen Di’s mind was filled with the numbers on the chips, and he barely heard what the man said.

“After getting the license and having the wedding, there’s not enough money for a cab,” the man said. “Since we have the principal, at least we should earn enough for the cab fare.”

“What do you want to do?”

The man said, “Gamble again.”

“What?” Wen Di stared at him, “I told you, that was pure luck! This isn’t something that happens all the time! Get a grip!”

They weren’t even married yet, and now his husband was taking his money to gamble? What kind of bitter, tear-filled suffering is this!

“It’s not luck, it’s probability,” the man said. “Gambling is about probability.”

Wen Di, filled with resentment, said, “So what?”

“Probability is a mathematical game,” the man turned to ask the staff, “Where’s the Texas Hold’em table?”

The staff told them the floor number and location, and the man walked toward the elevator with the chips. Wen Di avoided the tourists, his lips pressed tightly together, feeling anxious. Since he didn’t stand much chance in a physical confrontation, he could only try to soothe his anxiety by asking questions.

“You know how to play cards, right?” he asked the man.

The man nodded.

Wen Di let out a soft ‘oh’, but still felt anxious. “But, even those poker champions lose millions in one night…”

He remembered all the terrifying gambling stories his mother had told him—he hoped this person wouldn’t lose all his money and end up pawning him off.

“This is your money we’re gambling with; if I win, I’ll also compensate you for the stolen phone,” the man said.

Wen Di weighed the pros and cons in his mind and finally decided to generously provide the principal. After all, his mother had always said that the foundation of marriage is trust.

On the third floor, the two quickly found the small stakes poker table hidden among the crowd. Most of the chips on the table were one or two dollars each, but stacked up, a player’s bet could still reach thirty or forty dollars. The players at the table were a mix of characters: a glamorous old lady, a middle-aged man with a big belly, and a hippie in quirky clothes. The high-stakes players weren’t at this small table; these people all seemed like casual tourists looking for a spontaneous game.

The man chose one of the tables and sat down, and the dealer announced that the table was full and began dealing the cards.

After receiving his two hole cards, the man slightly lifted one corner to check them and placed a blind bet, neither too much nor too little. Wen Di caught a glimpse of his cards—7 and 9—and his chest churned. Thanks to his ex-boyfriend, he had a rough understanding of Texas Hold’em rules, and this wasn’t a good hand.

The dealer flipped the first of the three community cards—an 8. The man glanced at the opponent’s chip stack, calculating the value of both players’ chips, the pot, and the odds, then threw a stack of chips into the middle.

Nervous and exhausted from a night of running around, Wen Di felt dry and parched, as if his throat was about to catch fire. Just then, a casino server approached with a tray holding wine-filled goblets. He asked the price, and the server said the drinks were complimentary for the gambling guests. He immediately grabbed a glass and downed it in one go. The recently metabolized alcohol was quickly replenished, and it began to pulse through his veins.

By the river card, the other four players had already folded, leaving only the man and the big blind player at the table.

The man hesitated for a moment, then pushed all his chips forward. Wen Di’s hand, resting on his shoulder, nearly crushed his scapula.

The other party also went all-in.

A strange, tense atmosphere surrounded the poker table, as if red laser beams filled the air, and the slightest movement would shatter everything to pieces. The faint smell of tobacco and alcohol drifted into Wen Di’s nose. His brain felt like it was floating in midair, in trance, unable to settle.

The man revealed his hand. The people across the table opened their eyes wide at the same time, staring in disbelief at their own hole cards. With a curse, they threw them away.

It was AA.

“Shit,” Wen Di glanced at the cards, then looked at the man, feeling a wave of dizziness. “You actually won?”

You couldn’t judge a book by its cover—this man looked so polite and serious. Could he secretly be a gambling god?

The dealer swept the chips toward him, and the man reached out, slowly pulling them in front of himself, shattering Wen Di’s fleeting fantasy.

“Just gradually increasing probability, plus a bit of psychology,” the man turned to look at Wen Di. “More importantly, since we decided to get married, it seems like Lady Luck has been on our side.”

Wen Di nearly jumped up in excitement. The excitement and stimulation brought by the casino, the adrenaline rushing through him, made his heart pound like a drum. He cheered, cupped the man’s face in his hands, leaned down, and kissed him firmly.

 

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T/N: There will be update on Saturday and Sunday too since I just want to finish this university memories chapters by this week!

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