Chapter 522: Jiang Yixia and Lu Fan Take a Late-Night Walk and Confide in Each Other!

But in the following rounds, he started losing again.

He lost faster and harder than before. Like a man possessed, he bet hand after hand, losing hand after hand. By the time he came to his senses, the chips in front of him were completely gone.

“You’re down about thirty thousand yuan,” Liu Wei calculated for him, his tone as casual as if he were remarking on the nice weather.

With a loud BUZZ, Jiang Ming’s mind went completely blank. Thirty thousand yuan. That was over two months of his salary.

“I’m done playing.” He stood up, his legs turning to jelly.

“Come on, play a little longer. You might win it back,” Liu Wei said with a smile.

“Exactly. Thirty thousand is no small sum. Don’t you want to win it back?” Wang Leihai chimed in.

Jiang Ming looked at the faces of the three men. Liu Wei was chuckling, Chen Haopeng had his head down shuffling the cards with a faint smirk on his lips, and Wang Leihai’s chubby face was full of an expression that screamed, “I’m looking out for you.”

His heart suddenly sank. He remembered the first time he played mahjong and won over two hundred yuan. He remembered how, every time he lost after that, Liu Wei would say they could “win it back next time.” He remembered how he had won money at the start of today, and they had urged him to keep playing. He remembered how, even after he had lost so much, they still wouldn’t let him leave.

He thought of a term.

A pig-butchering scam.

“I need to use the restroom.” Jiang Ming forced a smile, turned, and walked out the door of the card room, heading toward the bathroom at the end of the hallway.

Once inside, he locked the door behind him. With trembling hands, he pulled out his phone, found Jiang Yixia’s number, and dialed.

The phone rang twice before it was answered.

“Xiaoming? What’s wrong?” Jiang Yixia’s voice came through the receiver.

“Sis, I’m in trouble.” Jiang Ming kept his voice low, trembling. “I got scammed. I lost a lot of money.”

“How much did you lose?” Jiang Yixia’s tone immediately grew tense.

“Over thirty thousand.”

Silence stretched over the line for two seconds.

“Where are you?” Jiang Yixia asked.

Jiang Ming gave her the address of the card room.

“Don’t come out. I’ll be right there.” With that, Jiang Yixia hung up.

Yangcheng. Inside the pastry shop opposite the flower shop.

Lu Fan stood in the kitchen wearing a white apron. Holding a spatula, he was frosting a cake. He had been working all morning. It had taken baking three separate sponge cakes and whipping two bowls of cream just to produce one decent-looking cake.

Chen He stood nearby, staring at the cake. His mouth twitched. He wanted to say something but swallowed his words.

“Boss, your cake… is quite creative,” Chen He said, choosing his words carefully.

Lu Fan examined his own creation. The frosting was uneven, and the character for “Xia” was scrawled crookedly in chocolate syrup on top. He chuckled, placed the cake into a box, and tied a ribbon around it.

“I’ll take this to Yixia to taste.” He untied his apron and wiped his hands.

Just as he spoke, the door to the pastry shop was pushed open. Jiang Yixia walked in. She looked pale and was clutching her phone tightly, her steps much faster than usual.

Lu Fan looked at her, slightly taken aback before smiling. “Why are you here? I just finished making a cake and was about to bring it over to you.” He pushed the cake box onto the counter and opened the lid, revealing the crooked “Xia.”

Jiang Yixia glanced at the cake but was in no mood to laugh. Her voice was urgent and strained. “Lu Fan, Jiang Ming is in trouble.”

Lu Fan’s smile faded slightly, though his tone remained steady. “What happened?”

“He got scammed. He lost money, and now he’s too scared to leave the card room.” Jiang Yixia recounted what Jiang Ming had told her over the phone.

Lu Fan listened, nodded, and said calmly, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.” He turned to Chen He, his tone flat. “Call a few guys and come with me.”

Chen He nodded, pulled out his phone, and dialed a few numbers.

Jiang Yixia looked at Lu Fan. She wanted to say something but held back.

Lu Fan closed the cake box, pushed it aside on the counter, and turned to look at her. His tone softened a bit. “We can eat the cake when we get back. Let’s take care of your brother’s business first.”

Jiang Yixia nodded.

The three of them left the pastry shop and got into a car. Chen He sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine, steering the car toward the card room.

Back in the card room, Jiang Ming emerged from the bathroom and returned to the card table.

Liu Wei smiled. “What took you so long? We thought you ran away.”

“My stomach is acting up.” Jiang Ming forced a smile and sat down.

“Are we still playing or what?” Wang Leihai asked.

“Let’s wait until my sister gets here,” Jiang Ming said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

Liu Wei paused. “You called your sister here?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Ming nodded.

Liu Wei exchanged a glance with Chen Haopeng and Wang Leihai. The atmosphere instantly shifted.

“Why’d you call your sister? We’re just a bunch of guys playing cards. It’s no fun bringing a woman into this,” Liu Wei said with a smile. His tone was still casual, but his eyes had changed.

Jiang Ming didn’t reply.

Less than twenty minutes later, the door to the card room was pushed open.

Lu Fan walked in first, wearing a light, dark gray jacket, his expression serene. Jiang Yixia followed closely beside him, looking rather anxious. However, seeing Jiang Ming sitting there with a relatively normal expression, she breathed a sigh of relief. Chen He trailed behind them, followed by four young men in black jackets. They were all quite tall, and standing by the door, they looked like solid brick walls.

The card room fell silent.

Liu Wei glanced at the people by the door. His smile stiffened for a second, but he quickly recovered.

“Sis.” Jiang Ming stood up and walked over to Jiang Yixia.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Yixia looked him up and down.

Jiang Ming shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Lu Fan walked up to the card table, glanced at the deck of cards and the loose change scattered across it, and then looked at Liu Wei and his two companions.