During the New Year, my husband lost 25,000 dollars playing cards in one night.

That was the hard-earned money we saved by living frugally while working outside for a year.

It was also my daughter’s tuition, my father’s surgery fees and our family’s living expenses for the coming year.

My husband knelt at the door of the room all night, begging for my forgiveness.

I cried all night.

Finally, I took out my daughter's 150 dollars New Year's gift money and handed it to my husband while saying in an angry tone, “You can continue to gamble tonight.”

——

“Honey, I was wrong. I was really wrong! Please forgive me this time. I will never gamble again!”

When I took out my daughter's New Year's money and asked my husband to continue gambling, he slapped himself madly and assured me.

Obviously, my husband not only knew that he was wrong, but he was also afraid.

But I grabbed my husband's wrist and told him seriously that we had to continue gambling tonight.

The husband excitedly went to the kitchen and picked up a kitchen knife, then stared at his swollen face and said, “Honey, I really do not want to gamble anymore, I'll prove it to you now!”

As he said this, he raised the kitchen knife and was about to chop off his hand.

I quickly snatched the kitchen knife from my husband's hand and threw it far away, then I put my hands on her shoulders and said, “I believe you and I forgive you.”

It was not that I was soft-hearted.

But my husband was called to a party by his so-called friends last night.

Among friends, playing cards for three or five pounds was just harmless fun—it was normal to win or lose a few quid.

But losing twenty-five thousand in a single night?

There was only one explanation, my husband had been set up!

When he heard me say I forgave him, a glimmer of light finally appeared in my husband's eyes. 

He wiped his tears and said, “Honey, I'm going to pack my bags now and go to work in the factory.”

Seeing that my husband's eyes were filled with remorse, I stopped him again and said, “After the New Year, our daughter has to pay tuition and our father also needs surgery. Even if we go to work overnight, it will not solve the problem at all.”

My husband's face suddenly turned pale and he regretted his decision even more. He opened his lips but did not know what to say to me.

I smiled and said, “So, listen to me, take the 150 dollars and go find the guy you played cards with last night. I'll go with you.”

When I brought my distraught husband to his friend, Isaac Gonzales, he was still playing Poker with a group of people.

Seeing my husband, Isaac immediately put on a proud smile, “Loren, you still want to play today? Come on, we are just short of one person.”

Isaac and my husband, Loren Franklin, were elementary school classmates. He dropped out of school in middle school and went to work outside. 

But he soon got tired and went home. He spent his days idling around in his hometown and could not get married.

Every New Year, Isaac would join forces with a few people who also had nothing to do in his hometown, shamelessly make connections everywhere and invite some people who returned home for the New Year to a party.

I had reminded my husband a long time ago to have less contact with Isaac.

But my husband was a simple and honest man and Isaac used his relationship as his elementary school classmate and childhood friend to drag him to the card table.

When my husband heard that Isaac wanted to invite him to play again, he trembled all over and looked at me timidly.

I pulled my husband behind me, gave him a reassuring look and then smiled and said to Isaac, “My husband is not playing today, can I come to the table and play with you guys?”

“Oh, this is rare. I did not expect that a good woman like you, Adela, would also be interested in playing cards. That's great. Make room for Adela.”

Isaac was a little surprised, but more delighted and immediately asked someone to make room for me.

I glanced at the card table and noticed that they were playing very small, with a minimum of one dollar and a maximum of 15 dollars.

This kind of situation, it was absolutely impossible to lose twenty-five thousand in one night!

After I sat at the table, Isaac impatiently asked the dealer to deal me three cards.

I did not even look at my cards and just bet 15 dollars.

Everyone at the card table was stunned. Emmett Nichols, who was dealing the cards, frowned unhappily, “Adela, do you know how to play? How can you bet the maximum right away?”

In this capped game, once someone places the capped bet, everyone could only choose to fold or follow and then the cards were opened directly.

It could be said that this way of playing was similar to the all-in-one gambling in the Gambler movie starring Stephen Chow. It was purely based on luck and had no fun at all. Many people hated it.

I smiled and said, “I am a woman and I do not know how to play. I can only gamble with you guys on my luck.”

Isaac rolled his eyes at Emmett and spoke up for me, “Adela did not break the rules. You can play however you want. Why are you yelling?”

Emmett immediately scratched his head and quickly changed the topic to smile at me, “Yes, I was a bit nosy, please do not mind it, Adela.”

I could see that Isaac was actually communicating with Emmett in secret.

But I did not mind at all and asked them with a smile if they wanted to follow.

There were six people at the table, including me. Two of them looked at their cards, muttered that they were bad and gave up.

“I'll go with 15 and just play with Adela.”

Isaac did not even look at the cards, he just smiled coquettishly at the smiling girl.

“Then I'll try my luck with Adela.”

Emmett carefully looked at his own cards, hesitated for a moment and chose to follow.

The other guy also chose to follow and bet 15 dollars.

After the three of them chose to follow, we all revealed our three-hole cards.

I was lucky, with a pair of 5s, Isaac's biggest card was a Q, Emmett's biggest card was an A and the other person's biggest card was a K.

I won.

Whoever won got to deal the cards. After I clumsily shuffled the cards, I immediately dealt the cards for the second round.

When it was my turn to speak, I still chose not to look at the cards and just bet ten dollars, capping it at the limit.

Still two people chose to fold and Isaac and the other three followed suit.

After the cards were drawn, I won again.

Maybe it was just luck, I won ten games in a row.

My husband invested 25,000 dollars and got back 600 dollars.

Emmett started to get upset, staring at me intently and said suspiciously, “This is weird. Adela, how come you always win? Is this really your first time playing cards?”

I spread my hands, smiled and said, “Don't people always say that you'll have better luck the first time you play cards? How does that saying go? Yes, the novice protection period.”

Isaac chuckled, “Since you are so lucky, Adela, do you want to try a different way of playing?”

That was what I was waiting for him to say.

“What kind of game do you want to change?” I asked calmly.

Isaac and Emmett looked at each other and said to me, “The base price of one dollar is too small. Let's change it to ten dollars and cancel the 15 dollar cap. How about no upper limit?”

As I was about to agree, my husband pulled me back, “Honey, stop playing!”

I saw fear in my husband's eyes. I knew without thinking that the reason why he lost 25,000 dollars in one night must be related to the lack of a cap.

“Hey, Loren, Adela is having a good time. You are ruining her mood.”

“Yes, when you were playing yesterday, Adela did not come to make trouble.”

“Adela, who’s the boss in your family? Loren seems to have such a soft personality—surely it suits you better to take the lead.”

Without waiting for me to say anything, Isaac and the others used sarcastic words to provoke me, as if they were afraid that I would stop playing.

I pretended to be angry and yelled at my husband, “Just stand by and watch me playing. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll divorce you!”

My husband immediately stopped saying anything, bit his lip and stepped aside with helplessness in his eyes.

I looked back at Isaac, “Let's play according to the new rules you mentioned. The minimum is ten dollars and there is no upper limit!”

“Adela is so open-minded!”

They all gave me a thumbs-up and complimented me on being generous and not being timid and petty like other girls.

I smiled broadly and before starting the new game, I carefully went over the rules of the game with them again.

When we started playing again, I could no longer be the banker, so I relied on a trick to become the banker in the first game with Emmett.

It seemed that I just won ten games in a row and they had become disloyal.

After all, no one could be lucky all the time.

But without evidence, they could not say anything.

What was more, even if women played cards, they basically played basic ones and almost no one knew how to play poker.

Soon, Emmett dealt me three cards.

This time, when it was my turn to speak, I did not remain silent. I took a look at the cards and found that it was a straight of 10JQ.

However, I simply discarded my cards, “I won’t follow.”

“No, Adela, what cards do you have? Why don't you follow?”

Seeing that I chose to fold, everyone at the table was stunned and Emmett was even more astonished.

I smiled and said, “Maybe my luck ran out. The cards are too small.”

Emmett frowned and did not say much. They followed a few rounds casually and then opened the cards. The biggest result was a pair of 9s.

If I did not discard the straight in my hand, I would have the biggest hand.

But I knew that if I continued, I would be the loser in the end.

In the next few rounds, the smallest cards I was dealt were all straight.

Anyway, there were no small cards, basically they were all the same, straight and even good ones.

But I always gave up after taking one look and refused to follow.

“Adela, what's your way of playing? You were excited in the beginning and now you give up every time. It's a bit boring.”

Isaac could not help but say.

I spread my hands and said, “I can't do anything if the cards are small.”

Emmett said in a dissatisfied tone, “If you continue like this, we won't play with you anymore. It's really boring. You should just go play with the girls and let Loren play.”

I quickly bowed with both hands and said, “No, no, no, if the cards are good next time, I will definitely follow.”

Emmett snorted and dealt another round of cards.

I picked up the cards and saw that the largest card was an A, the second was a 10 and the third was a 5.

But I could not help but smile and when it was my turn to speak, I just gave him ten dollars.

“Oh, Adela is playing a big card this time.”

Seeing me smile, Isaac smiled meaningfully and said, “Adela finally got to follow you once, so I'll play with her too.”

As he said that, he followed with ten dollars.

“Me too.”

“Then I'll follow.”

Emmett and the others also chose to follow.

But after two rounds, everyone opened their cards together.

In the end, I actually won.

I won over ten dollars again.

I happily took the money and became the banker to deal the cards.

“Adela, can you shuffle the cards more quickly?”

Seeing that I was clumsy in shuffling the cards and could not shuffle them properly for a long time, Emmett urged me on.

I smiled and said, “I'm sorry, I'm clumsy compared to you guys who are all grown men, please bear with me.”