Cultivation by Trial and Error

A few days ago, Hu Zhiyong found this abandoned house and when he left, he had already hung a large lock on the main gate.

The key had always been in his possession.

To say that someone had entered the house in the past few days and left this set of mahjong, that seemed impossible!

Frowning, Hu Zhiyong carefully recalled the various scenes he had seen that day when he came to the abandoned house.

The old table with most of its paint peeled off, he did remember seeing that, but whether mahjong was placed on the table, he really had no recollection!

"That day in the house, I just glanced around, maybe, I remembered it wrong?"

Hu Zhiyong said to himself silently.

After all, the facts were right in front of his eyes, and other than this reason, he couldn't find any other explanation.

"Lan, I've suddenly realized you're not that honest!"

"Willing to stay overnight here on Shuang State with Chen Hai, yet you refuse to admit that you're dating him!"

Li Ying, with her big mouth, pulled Lin Lan aside and began to tease her.

"Ying, don't talk nonsense, Chen Hai and I are really just ordinary classmates!"

"If it wasn't for him telling me that you and Sun Fang weren't going home tonight, I wouldn't want to stay here at all!"

Girls have thin skins, and although Lin Lan refused to admit it, when she defended herself, her little face was already bright red.

"See, I told you so, you're not being honest."

"It's obviously because of Chen Hai that you're staying, but you insist on using me and Sun Fang as excuses."

Li Ying said with a covered mouth and laughter.

"Lan, so our sisterhood means that much to you, huh? Alright then, one day when I have a date with Zhang Zhi, I'll call you along to light up the place for us!"

Sun Fang also chimed in at the right moment.

"Sun Fang, Li Ying, stop making fun of Lan!"

"We've graduated from high school and we're all over eighteen, we're not kids anymore. It's no big deal to date someone; there's nothing to hide!"

Another girl, named Yang Hua, also joined in with a loud voice.

The girls were joking and playfully bantering with each other.

Zhang Zhi and Zhang Yong, after moving the table and mahjong to the main room, began looking for chairs.

Stools with a missing leg, wooden chairs without backs, plus a couple of dark greasy long benches, they somehow managed to gather four.

As for Chen Hai, he always felt something was a bit off about this place.

He walked around with his hands behind his back, even making a trip to the kitchen on the right.

Unfortunately, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary around here, even if his "Soul Body" had temporarily left his flesh for a while.

"What the hell are we chatting about? Who knows how to play mahjong, sign up, let's play a few rounds first!"

Inside the main room, Zhang Zhi and Zhang Yong, having found chairs, started calling out directly.

"I'm in!"

"Are we playing the kind with 'two, five, eight' as the main tiles? The type where big wins can 'pong' but small wins must be a self-drawn 'mahjong'? I know that one!"

"Playing cards? How can we not have stakes? It's not suitable to play with money, what do you think we should wager?"

...

Indeed, when mahjong was mentioned, out of the eight people, six immediately signed up.

Of course, this situation was quite normal.

After all, spending the night in such an abandoned house like Shuang State was a novel life experience for them; at that time, everyone's spirits were still quite high.

With the long night ahead and unable to just sleep, they needed to find some activities to pass the time.

In a small county town like Liuyuan County, mahjong was almost a national pastime; every Chinese New Year when visiting relatives, they would normally end up playing a few rounds in whoever's home they visited!

Having heard and witnessed it from a young age, even a well-behaved girl like Lin Lan had a clear idea of how to play this thing!

After half a day's discussion, the final rule settled upon was one male to one female, with two people playing as a team.

As for the bet, it was pasting a sticker and drawing a turtle, or answering other people's tricky questions honestly.

Chen Hai and Lin Lan naturally ended up on the same team. Don't ask why, it's just an unwritten rule.

When having fun, time always flies, especially when playing mahjong—that's even more so!

Before they knew it, the night had deepened.

Chen Hai and the others were in high spirits, with barely any hint of sleepiness.

"One bird! I win, a pure suit..." Hu Zhiyong said with a smirk as he pushed the tiles he had laid out in front of him.

"Who played the one bird?"

"Not me!"

"Nor me!"

...

The three card players all felt a bit confused.

They remembered clearly what tiles they had just played.

But when Hu Zhiyong won, they indeed saw that someone had played a one bird.

However, the question was, who played that one bird? They couldn't remember clearly, feeling their memory was somewhat vague.

"It's not like we're playing for money; who played the one bird? At most, I'll just draw a turtle on her face, and yet you're all refusing to own up?"

"Let's forget this round, let's hurry to the next!"

"However, I must declare, if anyone cheats again and I catch them, the punishment will be doubled!"

Hu Zhiyong said with a smile as he glanced over the three people at the table.

Currently playing cards with him were Zhang Yong, Lin Lan, and Li Ying, and his gaze mostly shifted between Lin Lan and Li Ying.

Because in his opinion, the odds of these two female classmates cheating were obviously higher than Zhang Yong's.

"Chen Hai, it's your turn to play, I'm a bit tired from sitting, and I'd like to stand for a bit!"

Lin Lan stood up and offered her seat to Chen Hai, who had stepped back.

This girl claimed to have just a regular classmate relationship with Chen Hai, but the way she looked at Chen Hai, anyone could tell there was something off.

"Alright, I'll play a couple of rounds and then give the seat back to you!" Chen Hai said with a smile and a nod.

His body was already weak, and after standing for a while, he indeed felt a bit tired.

If it weren't for accompanying Lin Lan, he would probably have laid down to sleep a long time ago.

Hu Zhiyong was the dealer, shaking the dice.

"Green title!"

"West wind!"

"Nine Character!"

...

A new round began once more, and for some reason, as soon as he touched the mahjong tiles, Chen Hai always felt a bit confused.

His gaze inadvertently swept over the worn tabletop, suddenly discovering that there seemed to be something wrong with the number of played tiles.

Clearly, the round had just started, no one had called pon or chii, and each had only played two tiles.

However, right now, there were as many as ten tiles laid out on this table in front of him.

"Four people sitting at the table, how could there be five people playing cards?"

At that moment, a chilling feeling suddenly arose in Chen Hai's heart.