A Fool Beats an Expert

The sky outside Luofu had completely darkened, and the card game among the group had come to an end.

At this moment, Qingque held her head in her hands, slumped in the chair, her eyes vacant, as if her soul had been drained.

Opposite her, Bai Luoming took off his black-rimmed glasses and was pressing his temples, his face ashen.

In stark contrast to the tragic situation of the two men was the situation on March 7th.

At that moment, the smile on her face was so radiant that it almost outshone the lights outside the window.

Xing, standing next to him, stared blankly at the table, looking as if her worldview had been severely shaken.

"This game is no fun at all!" Xing slammed her hand on the table, swallowed the pastry in her mouth, and complained loudly, "There's absolutely no gaming experience! I'd rather go to the streets of Luofu, open some treasure chests, and study the Trash Can Sociology here!"

"Indeed..." Qingque echoed weakly, her eyes filled with incomprehensible shock and existential doubt as she looked at March 7th.

Recalling the card game just now, Qingque felt as if her Dao Heart into pieces, beyond repair.

As a seasoned card player in the Imperial Jade, known as the "Little Mahjong Saint of Aurum Alley," she used to be invincible in card games, but today she encountered the darkest moment of her card-playing career.

No matter how she calculates the cards, sets up a trap, or uses her honed skills, she will always be outmaneuvered by March 7th in a completely unreasonable way.

The most outrageous thing was that several times, right after March 7th had finished arranging his tiles, he would just push them all over, blink his innocent big eyes, and ask with a blank look, "Hey? Look, did I win?"

That innocent and naive question, coupled with the near-perfect hand of cards before her, made Qingque deeply understand what it meant for "Heaven to be ruthless."

Skills are utterly worthless in the face of luck.

Even more devastated than Qingque was Bai Luoming.

He thought that with his mahjong skills honed before his transmigration, plus the "Marvelous Tools " produced by Herta, winning against the people in front of him would be no different than piloting a star destroyer to bomb a primitive tribe.

Reality, however, gave him a resounding slap in the face.

Even if he turned his glasses up to the maximum power and maximized his computing power, allowing him to clearly see everyone's hand and the distribution of the wall of cards, he still couldn't guard against the unpredictable luck of March 7th.

Ultimately, technology cannot defeat idealism.

Just now, in the last round, his glasses analysis showed that as long as he played this card, the next Qingque would definitely take it, and he could get a winning hand within three rounds and win a big hand, turning the game around.

This is the optimal solution derived through precise calculations, a solution that is absolutely infallible.

But as soon as he played his card, he saw March 7th across from him draw a card from the wall of cards, and then... then she pushed the cards over.

At this moment, Bai Luoming realized that in the face of absolute luck, all technology and science are meaningless, and a deep sense of loss overwhelmed him.

Looking at the cheerful March 7th, Bai Luoming thought to himself: This is too unreasonable! Is this what they call "a fool defeats a master"?

He watched with lingering fear as March 7th hummed a tune and happily packed up his chips, secretly relieved that today was just for fun.

If it were a game of Credits, he was afraid he would lose his entire fortune to March 7th, and might even lose her his life.

"Alright, alright, that's enough." March 7th's smile faded as she looked at the listless group across the table and comforted them, "Let's go, let's go find something good to eat, it's on me!"

"That's more like it." Xing's spirits immediately returned when she heard about food.

Qingque slowly got up from her chair. She had lost so badly today that she needed a big meal to soothe her wounded heart.

Just as the four of them finished packing up and were about to leave the teahouse, Qingque's Jade Abacus rang.

The person who contacted her was the last person she wanted to see at that moment.

Qingque looked at Jade Abacus Fu Xuan Zhaoli and trembled with fright. Her hands were unsteady, and the color drained from her face as she shakily answered the call.

"Qingque."

The voice emanating from Jade Abacus was incredibly cold, carrying an irresistible pressure. Just by calling out her name, Qingque broke out in a cold sweat.

"Fu, Master Diviner Fu..." she stammered in response to Fu Xuan.

"Did you skip work again?" Fu Xuan's icy voice continued to come from the Jade Abacus.

"No, no!" Qingque shook her head vigorously, hastily trying to explain, "I... I have my reasons! I wanted to immerse myself in the lives of ordinary people and experience a traditional multi-player competitive sport unique to the Xianzhou, so as to... to understand the local customs and broaden my horizons!"

Upon hearing this, Jade Abacus fell into a brief silence.

Qingque looked at Fu Xuan, who had fallen silent, and secretly rejoiced, wondering if Master Diviner Fu had been successfully fooled by her high-sounding rhetoric.

However, the next second, Fu Xuan's voice came from the Jade Abacus, ruthlessly exposing her disguise.

"So, you skipped work just to play cards, right?"

"... How can this be called playing cards?" Qingque froze, still trying to make a last-ditch effort, forcing a dry laugh to explain, "This is clearly a long-standing and universally appealing intangible cultural heritage of Xianzhou! I'm passing on the culture!"

"Shut up." Fu Xuan didn't buy her act at all, directly interrupting her excuses, his tone clearly unfriendly, "Who are you playing cards with?"

Qingque glanced guiltily at Bai Luoming and March 7th beside her, and said vaguely, "It's... it's just a few friends I used to hang out with all the time..."

At this moment, she dared not mention that she was playing cards with Bai Luoming and his group.

However, her vague answer seemed to have completely ignited Fu Xuan's powder keg.

"Enough!" Fu Xuan's voice suddenly rose, filled with barely suppressed anger; even through the Jade Abacus, one could feel his fury. "You don't need to say anything more! Now! Immediately! Come to the Divination Commission!"

The communication was abruptly cut off as soon as Fu Xuan finished speaking.

The busy signal sounded particularly jarring in the quiet teahouse.

Qingque held up the Jade Abacus, completely petrified, her face showing utter despair.

She let out a long sigh, looked at Bai Luoming and the others, and said with a wry smile, "I think... I've gotten myself into big trouble."

"Huh? Is Master Diviner Fu going to punish you?" Seeing her like this, March 7th asked with some concern, "Why don't we go with you to explain? I believe with our explanation, she shouldn't make things too difficult for you, right?"

Qingque felt a warmth in her heart upon hearing March 7th's words, but reason told her that this was absolutely impossible.

If you go on March 7th, it's most likely useless.

But if Bai Luoming were to go...

But for some reason, the moment the thought popped into Qingque's mind, her intuition began to scream in alarm, and the hairs on her body stood on end, as if she would be doomed to a terrible death if she brought Bai Luoming to Fu Xuan.

She couldn't explain why she felt this way. In her opinion, Fu Xuan hadn't been reborn, so even if Bai Luoming was taken there, she shouldn't be in much danger. But at this moment, she chose to trust her intuition.

"No need!" Qingque decisively rejected March 7th's offer. She waved her hand, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace. "This is my own business; I'll handle it myself."

After saying that, she took a deep breath, lowered her head, and walked heavily toward the direction of the Divination Commission.

Xing watched Qingque's desolate departing figure, then turned to look at Bai Luoming and March 7th beside her.

If Qingque were still here, she would be happy to stay with the two of them, but now that Qingque is gone, it would be somewhat disrespectful for her to stay any longer.

Thinking of this, Xing wisely cleared her throat and decisively said, "Ahem, well, I suddenly remembered that I still have a sociological research project on the distribution of trash cans in Luofu to finish, so I won't bother you any longer!"

After saying that, she made a quick getaway, claiming that "Luofu's trash cans need me."

Watching the two figures disappear around the street corner, March 7th let out a long sigh of relief.

She turned around to face Bai Luoming, the corners of her mouth curving upwards again into a bright smile.

She mimicked the mannerisms of a character in a play, gracefully extending one hand, her tone becoming both playful and refined. "Would I have the honor of taking a walk with this handsome gentleman?"

Bai Luoming was taken aback for a moment when he saw March 7th's unusually meticulous way of arguing with words, but then the smile in his eyes softened and he became gentle.

He naturally reached out and took March 7th's slightly cool hand in his, their fingers intertwined.

"With pleasure, beautiful lady."