She was secretly calculating: as long as the old gentleman didn't gamble, with her methods, she could eventually get him to give her the necklace, which was much better than letting someone else win it.
The old gentleman pushed her away, saying impatiently, "What do you know? This is a rare opponent; how could I let him slip by?"
"I never expected this! The legendary ' Heart of the Ocean ' replica is actually in your hands. If this were to be auctioned, it would probably cause a sensation!" The young master exclaimed in amazement.
His female companion tugged at his sleeve and said, "Young Master, why don't you join in? You might just win!"
"Of course I'll participate!" The young master accepted the bet, and his female companion immediately beamed with joy, hoping he would definitely win the necklace.
But her young master had other plans in mind. A wicked smile crept onto his lips as he thought: Winning this necklace would be much more useful than having money. With such a precious blue diamond necklace, how could he not get a prettier girl? Especially the woman next to the black-haired man, who was now staring at the necklace with infatuation. Maybe he could use this necklace to win her over.
At this moment, Ginger was still staring intently at the necklace in the old gentleman's hand, her eyes filled with infatuation and longing, completely mesmerized. She glanced at Draco.
If he wins the necklace... what if...?
Thinking of this, Ginger's heart pounded wildly. She gripped Draco's clothes tightly, without even realizing it.
Draco's eyes flickered as he looked at the necklace. If he gave it to Hermione, wouldn't she reward him?
"Alright then," Draco said, sitting back down. "Since the old gentleman is in such high spirits and has come up with such an interesting wager, then I'll play along and see what happens."
"Alright!" The old gentleman's eyes flashed, and he placed the necklace in the center of the gambling table. "The rules will be the same as baccarat..."
"We take turns cutting and shuffling the cards. Then each person draws two cards from the deck by blindfold. The player whose cards are closest to a 9 wins. If there are a tie, it's a draw, but the loser is eliminated. The remaining players continue until a single winner is determined. How about it?"
"Agreed!" the young master and the lady said in unison.
This was exactly what they wanted. They refused to believe that Draco could possess any special skills in a game purely based on luck!
"No problem!" Draco nodded as well.
The betting game resumed, and the stakes were the Star of the Ocean blue diamond necklace that captivated all the women present!
The dealer replaced the deck with a brand new deck of cards, opened it, removed the two jokers, and left 52 cards for the game.
In clockwise order,
The old gentleman began cutting and shuffling the cards. After he finished, he pushed the cards to the center of the table, indicating that the four players would draw their cards in turn.
The tense and exciting card-drawing process begins!
Still clockwise, starting with the old gentleman, who calmly reached out from the top of the deck, casually drew two cards, and without even looking at them, placed them face down in front of him.
Then came the lady of the house. She took a deep breath, extended her slightly trembling hand, and carefully pulled out two bills.
Next was the young master, who casually grabbed two bills.
Finally, it was Draco. He didn't even look at the cards, simply picked two from the deck and placed them in front of him.
"Please check your points," the dealer said.
When the young master saw the score, he was already disappointed. It was only 1+2=3 points. He spread out his cards, his face full of frustration.
"Damn! It's only 3 o'clock! What's the point of playing at this hour?!"
Seeing the young master's score, the lady couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Oh dear, it seems your luck isn't so good today."
The young master, who was feeling down, retorted sarcastically, "How much are you? What are you so smug about? Maybe you're just as small!"
"Look closely, 7 points, much better than your 3 points!" The lady, with the air of a victor, slowly spread her two cards on the table: a 7 and a Q.
The lady's voice was full of pride. Seven points was a very high score in baccarat, with an extremely high chance of winning.
"7 o'clock?!" The young master's face darkened even more upon seeing this, and he almost blushed on the spot. He turned his head away in anger, not wanting to look anymore.
Now, only the old gentleman and Draco have not yet revealed their cards. Draco, on the other hand, remained calm throughout, not even glancing at his own cards, and casually tossed two cards onto the gambling table.
Everyone looked and saw that the two cards were a 2 and a point, which added up to exactly 9 points, the highest possible score in Baccarat!
"9 points!" Ginger was so excited he almost jumped up. He couldn't lose now, unless his opponent also had 9 points, he was guaranteed to win!
At this moment, the look in her eyes as she looked at Draco was full of admiration, and she thought to herself that her judgment was as good as ever.
Unlike the gentleman's companion, the moment Draco revealed the number 9, her face turned deathly pale. She bit her lip hard, her gaze towards the necklace filled with despair and resentment. It's over... she's going to lose... she's going to lose the necklace...
Seeing that Draco had beaten the lady's 7 points, the young master felt a sense of satisfaction. He glanced at the lady and sneered, "Is 7 points so great? She got 9! Tsk tsk, all that excitement for nothing? Go back and practice your luck some more!"
"Even if I lose, I'll still be more dignified than you!" the noblewoman retorted.
The young master was speechless after being rebuked, and his face flushed red. He could only kick the area under the gambling table hard, regretting his bad luck.
Just when everyone thought Draco had won for sure and the necklace was about to change hands, the old gentleman suddenly chuckled.
Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, the old gentleman slowly revealed the two cards that had been face down in front of him.
One diamond 4, one club 5.
"Wow!" The young master and the lady exclaimed simultaneously.
It's 9 o'clock again!
"Young friend, you are a chosen one. You drew a 9 out of 10 with a single draw. It's already a stroke of luck that I was able to tie with you," the old gentleman exclaimed.
"The old man is lucky too," Draco complimented.
This was not unexpected.
He would know the result after everyone had drawn their cards.
draw!
According to the rules, a tie occurs when the points are the same, but the loser is eliminated. Now, only the old gentleman and Draco remain at the table, and the prize—the dazzling Star of the Ocean blue diamond necklace—remains undecided.
The atmosphere inside the private box became even more tense and unpredictable once again because of this unexpected draw.
"According to the rules, I shuffled the cards last round, and this round, it's your turn," the old gentleman said to Draco.
Draco nodded.
His fingers began to fly across the deck, his movements so fast they almost left afterimages. Fancy shuffling, cross-cutting, and cascading were all executed flawlessly in his hands; the cards seemed to come alive.
Sometimes it coiled like a silver snake, sometimes it cascaded like a waterfall; every movement left no opportunity for the card counter to catch it.
He knew that the old gentleman's composure throughout was not simply due to luck, but most likely because he had honed his card-counting skills to perfection, remembering the position of every single card.