Chapter 565 Rules Are Rules (2/2)
Not a trace of the din from the bar could be heard here.
Standing before the door, this woman who had had a haughty bearing about her all this time, took a deep breath. As though putting on a magic trick, her face suddenly took on a reverent and cautious expression. After that, she slowly reached out with her hand to push open the door.
Opening the door, she saw by a Chinese-styled four-panel divider.
The room beyond the dividers was large. On either side of the room was a Bogu shelf filled with various types of antiques. A double-edged Chinese sword hung from the wall in the middle of the room. A few guqin were placed on a table there.
Surprisingly, there were four people playing mah-jong before a square table in the middle of the room.
Several other men stood on two sides of the mah-jong table. On the left were some young men with punkish looks. They all sported arrogant looks on their faces and had guns hanging down their waists.
On the right were several fellows in suits. They exuded a cold and murderous atmosphere – likewise, they too had guns inside their suits.
At the mah-jong table, sitting with his back against the door was an old man in retro Tang suit. On the left was a punk man with thick smoky eye shadows and makeup. His feet tapped the floor as he used one hand to arrange the tiles. A handgun rested beside his hand.
On his opposite was a Caucasian man in a very flashy green coloured suit. He was immaculately clean and his moustache was well trimmed. He observed the mah-jong tiles laid out before him as he wiped his hands with a hand towel.
In the final, central position was…
A young woman.
The woman from the bar quickly made her way to the young woman’s back. Bowing, she then whispered to the young woman. “Boss, I am here.”
Phoenix looked up with what appeared to be a smile.
At this very moment, Chen Xiaolian would certainly be incapable realizing that this woman was the very same Phoenix who had fought alongside him before.
Phoenix wore a retro Tang attire with opened lapels, her long, straight and black hair flowed down. Her delicate fingers were casually arranging the tiles before her.
“About the matter I reported earlier…”
The woman had wanted to continue, but Phoenix interrupted her. Phoenix smiled and said, “Which one should I discard?”
“Eh?” The woman was taken aback.
Phoenix said coolly, “I asked you which one to discard.”
The woman adjusted her emotions and cast a serious look at Phoenix’s tiles. Then, she extended one hand to point – it was an East Wind tile. Judging by the tiles in Phoenix’s possession, that tile appeared to be the most useless one.
Phoenix smiled in response and said, “This is why I never ask you to play.”
Phoenix did not discard the tile that the woman had pointed out. Instead, she quickly discarded another tile. The man in suit pursed his lips to the side and casually discarded a tile. It was none other than an East Wind tile.
The moment he discarded the tile, the punk fellow opposite him laughed out. He began stacking his tiles and said, “It seems I won!”
The woman who was standing behind Phoenix immediately revealed a slightly twisted expression – just now, if boss had listened to me and discarded the East Wind, it would have ended with a ‘blast’.[1]
However, the expression on the man in suit was even worse. He grunted and wiped his hand with the hand towel again. Next, he quickly pushed out a tile. “Just one win.”
“If you are willing to make a bet, you must be willing to accept the loss.” The punk man sneered. “By dawn, the street in the west side will no longer be under the name Gail!”
“What did you say?!” Behind the man in the suit, a subordinate of his, also in a suit, shouted out with a flushed face.
Following his roar, the atmosphere on both sides grew tense and all of them pulled out their guns to point at each other.
The old man in retro Tang suit released a cough before nervously backing away. He observed the tense scene, his eyes blinking.
Phoenix seemingly ignored all of that. Casually, she continued to choose another tile, seemingly ignorant of the tense atmosphere before her. After picking up her fifth tile from the wall, she sighed. “Just a little bit more and it would have been self-picked victory.” [2]
Only then did she raise her head and seemingly took note of what was happening before her. Her beautiful features knitted up and she said coolly, “Although I had only taught you fellows mah-jong for a short time, I do not recall teaching anything about showing off guns while playing.”
The punk man clenched his teeth and said, “Miss Phoenix, this is because someone is trying to deny a loss.”
The man in suit snorted in response. “I did not try to deny it. Your men were simply too rude.”
The two of them stared at each other like fighting cocks and Phoenix sighed. “What a mood breaker.”
She calmly looked at everyone there and said, “Just now, who was the first to pull out their guns?”
The room fell silent as no one dared to answer.
Phoenix smiled. “So, there are people who dare to ignore my question?”
“… … it, it is, my men.” The punk man trembled. Behind him, one of his subordinates raised his hand, his face pale. He stuttered. “It, it, it is me, Miss Phoenix. Ss, sorry, I…”
“Rules are rules.” Phoenix’s face was one of extreme calmness.
Instantly, two robust looking men walked into the room. They turned their attention toward the fellow in question and said, “Please come with us for a moment.”
The young punk man turned to his boss pleadingly. However, all his boss could do was to grit his teeth; not a word came out from his mouth.
One minute later, another man walked in with a silver plate in hand.
On the silver plate was a freshly cut hand!
…
1 Mah-jong terminology. The tile you discarded is a tile someone else picked up to complete a hand. Do note that I am quite in the dark about mah-jong myself.
2 Another mah-jong terminology. Self-picked victory (zi mo) happens when you win in mah-jong using tiles you picked yourself and not tiles picked up from those that others discarded. Wall refers to the group of tiles laid in the middle of the mah-jong table.