“Huh?” Yu Lili was caught by surprise . She looked at Zhuang Yunhua and replied, “I…”
“You can take over . I don’t feel like playing anymore,” Jiao Ziqing said . “These women have such bad luck, but they keep insisting that I’m bullying them . Show them what it means to have good luck!”
She stood up, pulled Yu Lili over, and pushed her into the seat . She noticed Yu Lili’s stunned expression and asked, “What are you gaping at? Do you not know how to play mahjong?”
Yu Lili thought about it and replied, “I guess I do…”
“You either do, or you don’t . What does ‘I guess I do’ mean?” Jiao Ziqing asked .
Yu Lili thought about it again and asked, “Do I play to win or lose?”
Her voice was very soft . She turned to look at Jiao Ziqing .
Yu Lili’s eyes were a deep, dark brown . Jiao Ziqing looked at her and raised her beautiful brows as she declared loudly, “Decimate them completely!”
The other women were in an uproar when they heard Jiao Ziqing’s words . They all had a look of disdainful ridicule . One of them asked, “Are you sure that’s even possible? Stop talking big . Just because you were lucky doesn’t mean your daughter-in-law will be lucky, too . Your daughter-in-law is so young . I bet she doesn’t really know how to play it either . You’d better not accuse me of bullying her when I win all her money over later!”
Jiao Ziqing had been challenged, and her defenses were roused up . She nudged Yu Lili and instructed, “Did you hear that? Don’t embarrass me . You have to defeat them!”
“Alright . ” The pressure was on . Yu Lili’s senses were up . She looked at her tiles and threw out a supposedly useless three-circle tile .
“Kong*!” someone called out .
With that word, it seemed that all of Yu Lili’s luck had run out . Every time she threw a tile out, it was invariably met with either a “pong” ** or “kong . ” She lost that round so badly, the others couldn’t bear to watch .
“Do you want to let us win that badly? Hahaha! Ziqing, you overdid your trash-talking,” one of the friends said .
Jiao Ziqing rolled her eyes at them, completely unoffended . “The game has only just begun . Why are you in such a hurry?”
Yu Lili felt a little embarrassed and turned to Jiao Ziqing . “I think it’ll be better if you play . ”
“Continue,” Jiao Ziqing sat in Yu Lili’s old seat, totally unperturbed .
Yu Lili had no choice but to thicken her skin and continue with the game . She lost dreadfully three games in a row . The worst loss was in the third round . All the other three players won at the same time because of a tile she threw out .
The three other players were playing to their hearts’ delight . They didn’t neglect to rib Jiao Ziqing .
“Weren’t you talking big just now?” a friend teased . “It seems to me that your daughter-in-law really can’t play at all . Why don’t you come back into the game? Don’t let her lose too much!”
Jiao Ziqing took a sip of her coffee and smirked . “It’s only because your luck is good . ”
The three women burst out in laughter when they heard that .
“We’ll let you take the first pick this time, so that no one can accuse us elders of bullying a junior like you,” her friend said .
Yu Lili had lost so badly that she was feeling embarrassed . The loss of the money mattered a lot less than the loss of face .
She didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted the offer . With a nod of her head, she replied, “Thank you, Aunties . ”
The three ladies laughed even harder . Soon enough, they couldn’t bring themselves to laugh any longer . In the fourth game, Yu Lili had a heavenly hand . Everyone’s jaw dropped .
In disbelief, they exclaimed, “That’s impossible! What kind of good luck is that?”
It was Yu Lili’s first time drawing such a hand . Happiness blossomed within her . She was about to say a few modest words when she heard Jiao Ziqing behind her say, “It’s all thanks to you for letting her go first . Look how the tide has turned!”
That statement incurred the ire of everyone . With annoyance, they declared, “Another round!”
Mahjong terms:
*Kong: Four identical tiles of the same suit
**Pong: Three identical tiles of the same suit
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