17: Promote playing cards

In the dormitory, Chen Chen and Grom were dejected.

"Only one person bought them all afternoon," Chen Chen said, scratching his head.

"I really don't get it. Playing cards are quite fun. Why is no one willing to listen to an introduction or try playing them themselves?"

"Yeah," Grom said, resting his chin on his hand. "Manager Chen even said they were fun last time."

"Why on earth is that?"

Ye Bai couldn't help but chuckle when he heard them. "Where were you selling them?"

Chen Chen replied, "In the square on the commercial street!"

"We thought there would be a lot of people on the commercial street, but they didn't seem interested in our cards at all."

"Everyone seems busy playing on their phones, or they'd rather take their kids to buy other toys than choose us."

"The young people all go to buy food and drinks, or just sit there resting; they aren't willing to listen to our pitch."

"It's not like the rules for Playing cards are complicated."

Ye Bai looked at them. "Try putting yourselves in their shoes. If you were pedestrians on the commercial street, why would you be there?"

Chen Chen said, "To buy things?"

Grom said, "To hang out with friends."

Pei Ji said, "To accompany my girlfriend?"

Ye Bai said, "So, now someone recommends a new game to you that seemingly requires listening to a long explanation, the rules seem a bit complicated, it's not like mobile games where you can just tap and play, and you need to find several people to play together."

"Would you choose to try it?"

Pei Ji shook his head. "I wouldn't. You're already exhausted from walking around the commercial street; you just want to rest."

Chen Chen suddenly realized. "So we chose the wrong location?"

Come to think of it, when he went to the commercial street, he only wanted to buy things he needed. Playing cards didn't seem to have much to attract people.

Plus, there was no way to know if the game would be fun after listening to the introduction.

Why would customers waste their time?

So no wonder they couldn't sell any!

"Then what should we do?" Grom asked, calming down. "You must have a way, right?"

Ye Bai rubbed his chin. "How about this: go to the park, or look for places where there are many elderly people."

"And then you just..."

The three of them suddenly understood. "We get it!"

"I'll go with you," Pei Ji said with a smile. "I don't have anything to do anyway."

Chen Chen was moved to tears. "Brother, once we sell them, I'll definitely treat you to a meal."

Pei Ji smiled. "Sure."

The three set off together; this time, they were determined to succeed.

Ye Bai remained in the dormitory to continue working on the animated version of romance of the three kingdoms.

It was already six in the evening, and the sky was hung with a gorgeous sunset glow.

It wasn't too hot or too dry now; it was the perfect time to come out and play.

The old buildings were full of the scent of daily life, and the small alleyways were paved with aged bluestone slabs.

This was a residential area for retired teachers, and there were always some old professors and parents of teachers who liked to come down to cool off in the evening.

An old man wearing a undershirt held a large fan in his right hand and carried a bottle of water in his left.

He walked downstairs, swaying gently.

"Old Duan, come here, come here. Look at how I wrote these characters?"

Just as he stepped out of the building door, Duan Yimin heard a familiar voice.

He turned his head and saw Zheng Feng, wearing reading glasses, holding a piece of calligraphy in his hand.

"Not bad, not bad," Duan Yimin said, leaning in to look. "I think this piece of calligraphy has improved quite a bit."

"Heh," Zheng Feng laughed. "I also think my calligraphy is getting better and better."

"Three with one!" A young voice chimed in, rather out of place.

Duan Yimin looked toward the source of the sound and saw three young people under the large locust tree where they usually hung out.

They were sitting around a small table, holding paper-like things in their hands.

"Three Aces with two threes!"

"Can't beat it, can't beat it."

"A four."

"Six."

"Ten!"

"What are they doing?" Duan Yimin's curiosity was piqued as he listened to them calling out numbers.

Zheng Feng shook his head. "They just got here."

Come to think of it, he also found it strange. Why would these three young people come here?

This retired teachers' residential area was usually just their group of old geezers, and everyone knew each other.

It was really rare to see strangers.

It was possible that a student might occasionally come by to visit.

The two exchanged a look and then quietly approached.

They wanted to see what these three young men were doing; it was really strange to hear them constantly reciting numbers.

When he got closer, Duan Yimin realized that the paper the three people were holding had patterns, numbers, and English letters on them.

This world also had English, a language passed down from the West Continent since ancient times, though not many people used it currently.

Most people were still more accustomed to using Chinese for communication.

Duan Yimin watched them play this thing quietly until one of them finished playing all the Playing cards in their hand.

Announcing the end of the game.

At this moment, Chen Chen and the others were very nervous internally; this was actually the idea Ye Bai had given them.

Go to a place with many elderly people, don't worry about anything, just have the three of them sit down and play.

"Again, again," Pei Ji had finally grasped some of the rules after playing one round.

The three shuffled the cards and played another round.

This round, Duan Yimin and Zheng Feng watched from beginning to end, squinting their eyes and pondering that it was actually quite interesting.

Before long, a few more old men and women came over.

The surroundings gradually became noisy.

"What are they looking at?"

"Don't know, it seems to be a puzzle game."

"Play this. The person opposite doesn't have any pairs left, at most a Joker," Duan Yimin muttered. "If you play this, you'll win."

He directed from behind Grom, reaching out to point at the pair of Tens in Grom's hand.

Grom didn't care if it was right or not; he figured he'd just take a gamble and played it as Duan Yimin suggested.

Unexpectedly, Chen Chen really didn't want it.

Then he played the three in his hand.

He won.

"I won, I won!" Grom shouted happily, then suddenly realized something. "Sir, how did you know he didn't have any pairs left?"

Duan Yimin waved his fan and smiled. "Calculated it."

The three didn't understand, but they thought it was awesome.

"What do you call this game you're playing?" Zheng Feng couldn't help but ask.

Seeing this, Chen Chen immediately said, "This is Playing cards, and the mode we just played is called Fight the Landlord."

Zheng Feng said, "Oh, can these cards be played in multiple modes?"

Chen Chen nodded. "Yes, there's also Fried Golden Flower, Texas Hold'em, Bridge, Lazy Fight the Landlord, Twenty-Four Points..."

This was all stuff Ye Bai had told him, though he didn't really know exactly how to play them.

"Interesting, interesting," an old man laughed. "Who knew you could play so many variations with just a few cards."

"Can you let us try a round? I feel like I've learned it after watching you play here for half a day."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chen immediately stood up. "Sure, sir, please take a seat."

The old man didn't stand on ceremony and sat in the seat Chen Chen had vacated. "I've been watching you play for half a day, and my heart has been itching. Now I can finally get my hands on this thing."

"Come on, shuffle the cards first!"