214: Chapter 214 Mahjong

"Boss... what is this? A type of Eastern divination ritual?"

Helena looked at the jade tiles carved with circles and squares on the table and asked curiously.

"Divination? Something like that."

Lin Ye talked nonsense with a straight face.

"This is called the Great Xia Xuanmen's Ultimate Gaming Formation. It can deduce the secrets of heaven and calculate financial fortune. Come, I'll teach you."

Lin Ye pulled over a chair and had Helena sit next to him.

"Look closely. These with circles are called dots, these with lines are called bamboo, and these with Chinese characters are called characters. If you get three of the same or three in a sequence, you can win."

Lin Ye patiently explained the rules of mahjong to his foreign disciple.

During the explanation, he inevitably had to hold Helena's hand to move the tiles on the table.

Helena only felt a wave of heat on the back of her hand where Lin Ye held it.

The masculine scent of the man, with a faint hint of tobacco, kept drifting into her nose.

The few rules she had just learned were instantly thrown to the back of her mind, and her head was filled with thoughts of 'Boss's hands are so big and warm.'

"Ahem. Some people should just teach how to play cards, can you keep your hands to yourself?"

Ayugu, sitting opposite, couldn't stand it anymore. She tapped the mahjong tiles loudly on the table, looking at Lin Ye with a look of contempt.

Meanwhile, Leng Yue elegantly stacked her tiles while calmly adding a sharp remark.

"A barbarian woman has a foolish mind. Husband, if you find it too troublesome to teach her, you might as well have her brew tea."

"Lest she loses in a while and blames it on our Great Xia's rules being too complicated."

Leng Yue's sarcasm was always sharp to the bone.

Helena's competitive spirit was aroused.

She bit her red lips, a trace of stubbornness flashing in her icy blue eyes.

"First Madam, Helena is not stupid. I've already learned. Later, I will help Boss win all your money!"

"Oh, the foreign woman talks big! Come, come, come, we won't play for money today, let's play for something more exciting!"

Ayugu's eyes darted around as she made a suggestion.

"Whoever loses must have a turtle drawn on their face! No using spiritual energy to wipe it off; you must wear the turtle face until tomorrow morning!"

"Agreed!"

Frost Star was the first to raise her hand in agreement, always blindly confident in her own luck.

Leng Yue nodded slightly, indicating no objection.

Lin Ye looked at this group of high-spirited women, a confident smile playing on his lips.

"Sure. Let's agree beforehand: accept your losses, no flipping the table, and no using Daoist magic to peek at the tiles."

"Clack, clack, clack..."

The crisp sound of shuffling tiles echoed in the hall of the Funeral Shop.

The first round began.

Lin Ye drew his hand of tiles, took a look, and was instantly overjoyed.

This Heavenly Hand was practically a gift from heaven.

He turned to look at Helena beside him and generously pushed the tiles in front of her.

"Come, you play the first tile."

Helena was so nervous that her palms were sweating.

She carefully recalled the rules Lin Ye had just taught her, looked at her hand, and finally confidently picked out a 'Red Dragon' tile, slamming it onto the table.

"Red Dragon! Go!"

Helena even gave herself a chuunibyou-style line.

The air suddenly went silent for a second.

"Pung."

Leng Yue, opposite, elegantly revealed two Red Dragons, taking the tile Helena had played.

Then she calmly played a 'One Dot'.

Helena was stunned: "Boss... why can she take my tile?"

Lin Ye covered his face and sighed deeply.

"Because she has two of the same. Big sister, didn't I just tell you to save the honor tiles for last?"

"Ah? I... I forgot..." Helena's face flushed red.

The next half hour was practically a history of one-sided suffering for Helena.

Her pitiful Western logical thinking was utterly obliterated in front of Great Xia's mahjong, which demanded calculation and luck.

Either she discarded a tile that let Ayugu win.

Or she was completely shut down by Leng Yue's precise tile-blocking defensive play.

Even more ridiculously, in one round Helena drew a 'White Dragon' tile.

She stared at the blank frame on the tile for a long time, then suddenly slapped the table in excitement:

"I recognize this one! It has nothing on it, is it called an air tile? It must be safe to discard!"

Confidently, she threw the White Dragon into the discard pile and even raised an eyebrow at Leng Yue, as if she had finally made a perfect decision.

The next second, Leng Yue expressionlessly revealed three White Dragons.

"Kong."

The smile on Helena's face instantly froze. She looked pitifully at Lin Ye:

"Boss... why does she even want to steal air?"

As for Frost Star, this girl played completely off-script, discarding randomly, yet she managed to win two hands of 'Thirteen Orphans' thanks to her heaven-defying lucky-charm fortune as the Nether Empress.

In less than five rounds.

Lin Ye and Helena, this 'master-disciple duo,' suffered a crushing defeat.

"Hahaha! Boss, accept your defeat! Bring the pen!"

Ayugu jumped up in excitement, fished out a black marker from the counter, and waved it in front of Lin Ye and Helena.

Although Leng Yue maintained her dignified posture, the unmistakable hint of amusement in her eyes betrayed her joyful mood.

Lin Ye accepted his loss.

He sat boldly on the chair and tilted his face up.

"Draw it. It's just a turtle. Even with a turtle on my face, I'm still the most handsome turtle in all of Jiangzhou."

Ayugu was not polite at all, drawing a lifelike softshell turtle directly on Lin Ye's right cheek.

It was Helena's turn.

"Brother-in-law has it drawn on his face, so this foreign big sister must have it drawn too!" Frost Star jeered from the side.

Helena closed her eyes aggrievedly, preparing to accept the punishment.

Just as the tip of Ayugu's pen was about to touch Helena's face.

A large hand firmly grabbed Ayugu's wrist.

Lin Ye stood up, shielding Helena behind him with the half-drawn turtle pattern on his face.

"Forget it. She just learned; it's normal for her to lose."

Lin Ye took the marker from Ayugu's hand.

"She's my disciple. Her losses are mine. I'll draw this turtle for her."

With that, Lin Ye coolly added another turtle to his left cheek.

Left Azure Dragon, right White Tiger; now he was left turtle, right softshell turtle, perfectly symmetrical.

Paired with his nonchalant attitude, it was comical to the extreme.

"Pfft!"

Leng Yue finally couldn't help but laugh out loud, covering her red lips with her sleeve.

Ayugu and Frost Star laughed even harder, holding their stomachs and rolling on the sofa.

"Boss..."

Helena murmured softly, her voice filled with deep emotion.

"Stop, don't get emotional."

Lin Ye threw the marker aside and sat back down in his chair.

"Shuffle, shuffle! I just didn't show my real strength. Next, I'll let you see what a true God of Gamblers of Jiangzhou is!"

The battle on the mahjong table commenced once again...

At dusk.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled into the backyard courtyard.

Holding a cup of hot tea, Lin Ye walked out onto the second-floor balcony alone.

The women in the hall were still chattering over their mahjong wins and losses.

Lin Ye leaned against the wooden railing and looked into the distance.

In the perception of his Pure Yang Dao Body, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was becoming increasingly violent.

After the global supernatural outbreak, the great demons of Sakura Country, the pursuit of the Western Holy See, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Rules Stories.

These probes and dangers came one after another.

"Stealing half a day of leisure from a busy life."

Lin Ye took a sip of tea, the smile on his lips gradually fading.

"The Miaojiang Mother Gu inside Ayugu showed signs of waking up yesterday when facing the 'White City' meme."

"It seems I must find time to visit Ayugu's hometown. I didn't think of it during my two recent trips to the Ten Thousand Mountains."

"And that old man, what on earth is he doing?"