As the chips were being dealt, Tang Baona suddenly remembered something and said, "Those two kids we rescued from human traffickers before, they're quite influential."
Yang Zhen'er nodded. "My dad said that the two children's grandfather is a big shot in the business world of a neighboring province. He went to the neighboring province on Friday at the invitation of the government, saying that there might be a cooperation agreement."
Tang Baona nodded and said, "My uncle also said that a new client from a neighboring province has contacted our company. They're negotiating a big order, and it's basically confirmed that it's related to those two kids' families."
Xia Libing said, "They called to apologize to me."
"Huh? An apology?" Tang Baona asked, puzzled.
Xiang Kun and Yang Zhen'er also looked at her with confusion.
Xia Libing said somewhat helplessly, "They seem to have misunderstood that I couldn't stay at the city hospital, so they used their connections to keep me at the hospital where I'm currently interning. Then they found out that I had used my connections to voluntarily transfer to Haixi Province... So now my trip to Haixi Province will have to be postponed."
Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Xiang Kun couldn't help but laugh. It's no wonder people misunderstood; which recent graduate doesn't want to stay in a big city or a big hospital?
"Looks like those two kids' families want to repay us? Nana, we're just benefiting from Xiang Kun and Lao Xia's help. We didn't actually do anything!" Yang Zhen'er laughed.
"Yes, didn't you call the police? And you were the one who rear-ended me... But you still need to change your habit of talking and looking around while driving. If you keep turning your head around like that next time, I'll slap you," Tang Baona said.
"Yes, yes, I'll definitely change it!" Yang Zhen'er nodded like a chick pecking at rice, then turned to Xiang Kun and asked, "By the way, did they contact you or your family? How did they thank you? Did they arrange a job for you? Hmm, I guess you'll refuse."
Xiang Kun touched his nose. "They gave me 200,000."
He had heard from Officer Chen that the families of the two children had already expressed their "gratitude" to Tang Baona and her colleagues, and he assumed that each of them had given 200,000 yuan. However, he did not expect that they had done so in different ways.
He didn't feel that the children's families giving him money meant they looked down on him; on the contrary, it proved that the family truly knew what each of the four children needed, and using money to "thank" him was perfectly appropriate.
None of the three women thought the amount was too large. Yang Zhen'er rubbed her hands together, eager to win, and began dealing the cards. "Now that you have money in your hands, we're going to beat you today! You'll have to treat us to three big meals!"
All poker games are essentially games of probability, and Texas Hold'em is no exception.
However, compared to calculations, Xiang Kun believes that Texas Hold'em is more about understanding the psychology of other players, and therefore requires more strategy.
As for the three "opponents" he was playing with, he had already tried them out when he played Dou Dizhu last time. Apart from Xia Libing, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er's psychology and behavior were relatively easy to guess.
Yang Zhen'er was impatient, while Tang Baona was more spontaneous. He already had a basic understanding of their personalities and playing styles.
You can judge the cards in their hands in real time by observing their heartbeat, breathing rhythm, changes in body odor, and facial expressions.
For example, if someone shows excitement and joy when they first see their hole cards but before the community cards are dealt, it indicates they have a strong hand or a pair. If their emotions fluctuate more after the community cards are dealt, it means the hole cards and community cards are a good match, making it easy to deduce the possible hole cards and decide on their own strategy.
He had been reading a lot of psychology books lately, so he could put them into practice and experiment with them.
Many books on micro-expressions, such as those on FACS (Facial Action Coding System), show that even if ordinary people learn these methods, it is actually very difficult to apply them. The success rate and accuracy are generally low, and they are not as magical as depicted in movies and TV shows.
But Xiang Kun is different; he has a strong dynamic visual ability and can clearly observe very subtle changes in the facial expressions of other people.
Moreover, his brain has an extremely strong memory and the ability to process various types of information. He can record and compare the target's expressions in various situations, summarize them, and form a basis for judgment.
For example, observe the subtle changes when you get a good hand versus a bad hand, and the subtle changes when you bluff and raise or are forced to fold. Find the differences and characteristics in these changes.
With the added aid of information such as heart rate, changes in smell, and breathing rhythm, his judgment ability is even stronger than that of AI paired with a high-speed camera.
However, once they actually started playing, Xiang Kun discovered that his theories were completely useless against Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er —because they were too easy to predict. He didn't even need to observe what choices they would make; their physical reactions to good or bad cards were too obvious. He could judge them without even looking at their expressions.
Therefore, his main attention was on Xia Libing.
This high-achieving student, who has earned two master's degrees, is much calmer than her cousin and Tang Baona.
Regardless of whether he gets a good hand or a bad hand, his heart rate and body odor change very little; his emotions remain stable, and his expression is basically the same: squinting eyes, a slight upturn of the corners of his mouth, a half-smile.
The game progressed much faster than Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er had anticipated, especially the two of them, who were almost always the first to lose their 200 chips and could only watch Xiang Kun and Xia Libing duel from the sidelines.
But the result was always the same: Xiang Kun always won.
Although compared to Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, Xia Libing is more difficult to observe in terms of emotional changes and to determine the extent of her inner workings.
However, as time went on, Xiang Kun, who now possesses extremely strong information memory and analytical abilities, gained more and more insight into her little habits, actions, expressions, and changes, and his judgments became more and more accurate.
When Xiang Kun judges that Xia Libing has a strong hand and a high probability of making a winning hand, Xiang Kun will fold as soon as possible; when he judges that Xia Libing is bluffing, he will play along and raise his bet; when he has a good hand, he will set traps to make her misjudge.
In addition, in the first few rounds after each restart, he always managed to win more chips from Tang and Yang, and always entered the 1V1 duel with a larger Xia Libing advantage. So, throughout the entire afternoon, he was always the one who won all the chips from the three girls in the end.
Fortunately, Xiang Kun didn't intend to make things difficult for them. He only made very simple and easy requests, such as imitating pig noises, flicking each other's foreheads, singing nursery rhymes while pinching their noses, and taking ten consecutive funny face photos...
At 5:30, the three girls, who hadn't won a single time, said goodbye and left on time. They had originally planned to at least beat Xiang Kun once and then pester him to treat them to a meal, but they didn't expect that they really couldn't win even once.
This time, not only Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, but also Xia Libing were somewhat dazed, feeling that it was all a bit unreal.
After Xiang Kun returned to his room. However, he stopped before entering because he overheard Shiling's Mother, who had happened to be riding the elevator down with the three women, mentioning him.
"You must be Mr. Xiang's friends?" Shiling's Mother asked with a smile, looking at the three beautiful girls, each with their own unique charm.
Tang Baona and the other two had just seen Xiang Kun greet the plump young woman and knew she was a neighbor living in 706, so they all nodded in agreement, saying they would come to play cards with Xiang Kun in the afternoon.
Shiling's Mother smiled and said, "Mr. Xiang such a good cook, he must be very lucky to be his friend." She could tell that Xiang Kun was still a bachelor, and it was rare to see girls coming over, especially such pretty ones. So she subconsciously felt that one of these girls might have a chance to develop a relationship with Xiang Kun. As a good neighbor, she naturally had to say a few good words for him.
"Xiang Kun is a good cook?" Yang Zhen'er asked, her eyes wide. After a pause, she added, "We haven't known him for very long, so we don't know him very well yet."
Shiling's Mother nodded vigorously. "Great! Absolutely great! He's brought us homemade dishes twice, and they were both fantastic, even better than what you get in restaurants. He's definitely a chef-level chef; he must cook often. My daughter and I both love them. He seems to be best at cooking rabbit meat; his spicy rabbit and braised rabbit are both delicious. I definitely want him to cook for you sometime!"
As they were talking, the elevator arrived at the first floor. Shiling's Mother greeted the three girls and then went out first.
Tang Baona, however, exchanged bewildered glances with Yang Zhen'er and Xia Libing: "Rabbit meat..."
They all thought of the three big, fat rabbits they had seen in Xiang Kun's kitchen.