The meaning is clear: if you don't believe it, that's your problem. Then sit down and play a few rounds yourself and see how it goes.
"Okay," Draco agreed.
Since we've been provoked, there's no reason for us to back down.
After giving a brief reply, Draco calmly sat down in the spot where the woman had just been sitting.
The woman sat down right next to him.
This time, she no longer felt that Draco was bad luck.
Instead, they stared intently at the machine screen, seemingly eager to know the outcome of the experiment.
Draco raised his hand, inserted a coin, pressed the button, and pulled the lever—all in one fluid motion, conveying a sense of certainty.
But the slot machine seemed to be deliberately working against him; after the reel spun rapidly, the pattern it displayed was always just a little off.
Two cherries and a lemon, two bars and a 7 – these are combinations that make you both laugh and cry.
I played five rounds in a row, losing coins one by one, and ended up losing all five, not even winning a small prize.
At this moment, Draco's face turned completely black.
His brows were furrowed, and a deep sense of frustration lingered in his eyes.
This result made him feel even more embarrassed than when he saw the woman lose repeatedly, especially in front of her.
At first, the woman observed intently, but when she saw that Draco still hadn't scored on his third and fourth attempts, she couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hand and laugh.
By the fifth round, the result was still dismal. Watching his increasingly stiff movements and his darkening face, the woman finally burst out laughing.
Draco, his face sullen, looked up from the machine, glanced at her, and said with a hint of frustration and resentment, "... Looks like my luck really wasn't great today."
He cursed this damn, bizarre bad luck!
"It's not your fault, really..." Seeing his dejected expression, the woman suppressed her smile and softly comforted him.
"Maybe this machine is just in a bad mood today... so it's not giving anyone the time of day."
She tried to blame the bad luck on the machine itself.
After a pause, seeing that Draco was still depressed, she hesitated for a moment, then gently tugged at his suit sleeve.
She suggested in a low voice:
"Let's stop playing..."
"What do you mean? You think I'm not good enough?" Draco was feeling annoyed when he heard this, and he glanced at her defiantly.
"No, no..." the woman hurriedly explained, "I mean, if I keep playing, it'll hurt so much if I lose again..."
"Know when to quit while you're ahead. It's not easy to have anything left over, so it's better to keep it safe," she continued to advise.
As soon as he finished speaking, Draco stared at the slot machine in front of him, his displeasure seemingly reaching its peak.
His face clearly showed his displeasure.
The next second, Draco, somewhat venting his frustration, raised his foot and kicked the metal base of the slot machine!
The machine made a dull thud and shook.
The woman was startled.
Then he slapped the flashing colored lights on the slot machine's panel, as if disciplining a disobedient child.
"This damn machine!"
The tone was full of strong disdain.
His childish behavior, paired with his handsome face, created an endearing contrast that made people chuckle.
Upon hearing his childish complaint, the surprise in the woman's eyes quickly turned into a smile.
She burst into laughter.
This man, who was initially a bit enigmatic, turns out he has such a... adorable side?
If you lose badly, you kick the machine?
He's just like a big boy who didn't win any candy.
"Haha..." She laughed so hard she almost fell over. "Your luck is just too bad!" She gently comforted her, "Looks like this slot machine really isn't on your side today. Don't be upset, don't be upset."
Draco, who had been looking dejected, felt a lot of his frustration dissipate as he watched her laughing heartily.
"This casino is really shady, you lose every time you bet... they don't even give me a single win." He sighed, both amused and exasperated.
"It's not like we came away empty-handed, at least..." The woman paused, her joking expression fading, and said in a lighthearted tone, "Seeing you so down is kind of funny..."
"Indeed." Draco smiled at her as well.
"At least it made you a little happier."
The woman felt a little embarrassed by Draco, but a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips. "Um... I guess so."
The air was silent for two seconds, and the awkward atmosphere between the two completely dissipated, replaced by a sense of relaxed ease.
"We've been through thick and thin together. I'm Collard."
Draco broke the silence, abandoning his childish demeanor and extending his hand to introduce himself.
The woman paused for a moment, but quickly recovered from that brief moment of surprise, a slightly shy smile appearing on her face as she reached out and clasped his hand.
"Hello, Collard, I'm Diana."
They gently clasped hands, then politely separated, and the slightly shy smile on Diana's face faded.
"You don't seem like an addicted gambler," Draco said. "When you won those four hands, I saw you resist raising the stakes, taking it one bet at a time, and your eyes showed more... anticipation than greed."
"How did you even think of... coming to a place like this to gamble?"
This question opened the tightly closed door to Diana's heart.
She sighed deeply, bitterness and weariness returning to her eyes, and then helplessly recounted her difficulties:
"After we get married, we'll leave our parents and truly build a family of our own," Diana said slowly, her gaze vacant as she stared at the slot machine in front of her.
"We rented a very small room together. Although life was tough, we had hope and felt that as long as we worked hard, everything would get better."
"Later, we gritted our teeth, emptied all our savings, and took out a loan from the bank to start building our own house in the suburbs." As she spoke, a glimmer of hope and warmth flashed in her eyes, but that light vanished in an instant.
"We personally inspected and selected every brick and tile; we dream of moving in as soon as possible."
"But..." Diana's voice began to tremble uncontrollably, "The house was only half-built, just taking shape... and suddenly the industry we're in went into a slump."
"The company laid off employees, and my husband and I... we were both laid off. Overnight, we lost our source of income." She closed her eyes, as if unwilling to recall those dark days.
"Our bank loan is due soon, and we're getting call after call from debt collectors. If we can't pay it back... they'll seize and impound our house... It's not just bricks and tiles; it's all our hard work, all our hopes."
"I'm... completely desperate." Her voice trembled with tears. "My husband never used to touch these things."
"But this time, he said he had no other choice but to bring me here to try his luck. He said... he wanted to take one last gamble, to see if he could... save the house. Even if it's just a ridiculously slim hope, he wanted to try."