Term Description

Heavenly Hand A rare and highly valuable hand where the dealer wins immediately after drawing their initial tiles without needing to make any additional moves. The odds of this happening are extremely low, often considered a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

Seven Pairs A hand consisting of seven pairs of identical tiles. This is a specific hand type that requires skill and strategy to complete.

Pure Suit A hand composed entirely of tiles from one suit (Bamboo, Dots, or Characters), making it more difficult and valuable.

No Terminals A hand that contains no terminal tiles (1s or 9s) or honor tiles (winds and dragons). This adds additional points to the score.

Dealer The player who rolls the dice and draws the first set of tiles. The dealer has special privileges but also additional responsibilities during the game. Winning as a dealer often results in higher scores.

Moving Mountains and Shifting Peaks A cheating technique involving the precise and rapid manipulation of tile placements without detection. This requires exceptional skill and is commonly referenced in gambling-related stories.

Points Mahjong scoring uses a point (or "fan") system, with certain combinations of tiles or circumstances adding points to the total score. Points can vary greatly based on local or regional rules.

The game started, but I didn’t rush to cheat.

I played along with the usual patterns, acting as though I were an average player.

It seemed that Flower Jie and the man across the table had written me and Mei Jie off as easy targets.

Their signaling became increasingly frequent and blatant, to the point that after just a few rounds, Mei Jie had already lost over ten thousand yuan.

Occasionally, I won a hand or two, keeping my losses under one or two thousand.

As time passed and the night wore on, the game approached its final rounds.

In the last round, Mei Jie became the dealer.

Before she could roll the dice, Flower Jie spoke up:

“I have work soon, so this will be the final round. Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to win your money back. Go as big as you want—Flower Jie can afford to lose!”

She wore a smug expression, feigning generosity.

I knew it was time.

Time to make my move.

But my goal tonight wasn’t to win for myself—it was to make Mei Jie win.

I had a good impression of her. When I first started working at Tianxiang, I was in charge of the men’s bath reception.

Because I rarely smiled, a drunk customer once complained that I had a poor attitude.

According to the rules, I should have been fired.

But Mei Jie let it slide and transferred me to the back to handle supply distribution.

She gave me a chance to earn my living.

And now, it was my turn to repay that favor.

Mei Jie rolled a seven and reached for the tiles in front of me.

Before she could take them, I subtly nudged the stack toward her.

This was an ordinary action at the mahjong table, but it concealed something extraordinary.

In that brief moment, I executed a sleight of hand.

Using a move perfected over countless hours of practice, I swapped the original stack with a prearranged set of identical-suited pairs.

This maneuver, known in our world as "Moving Mountains and Shifting Peaks," ensured that the tiles Mei Jie drew were perfectly aligned to form her winning hand.

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Even if her dice roll had targeted another player's stack, I could still have manipulated the draw using the same technique.

This trick relies on speed and precision, and mine had been honed to perfection.

When all the tiles were drawn, it was Mei Jie’s turn to discard.

She stared at her hand in shock, her expression full of disbelief.

For a long moment, she didn’t make a move.

“Come on, play already! Don’t tell me you’ve lost so much you’ve forgotten how to play!”

Flower Jie lit a cigarette, her chest swaying provocatively as she complained.

The man across the table chimed in with a sneer:

“Hey, Su Mei, are you daydreaming about some guy? Hurry up!”

Mei Jie looked up briefly, her gaze flickering toward me before returning to Flower Jie.

Before she could speak, Flower Jie snapped impatiently:

“What are you looking at? Do I have mahjong tiles on my face? Play already!”

Still stunned, Mei Jie finally said, her voice tinged with disbelief:

“I… I won. A Heavenly Hand, all pairs, one suit, and no terminals.”

A Heavenly Hand occurs when the dealer wins immediately after drawing their tiles.

The odds of this happening are astronomically low—about one in 330,000.

Adding in the conditions of all pairs, a single suit, and no terminals made it even rarer.

“You’ve got to be kidding! A Heavenly Hand? More like a chamber pot!”

Neither Flower Jie nor the man believed her, thinking it was some sort of joke.

But Mei Jie slowly laid her tiles down, revealing a perfect set of seven pairs in a single suit, free of terminals.

“No way!”

Both Flower Jie and the man exclaimed in unison.

Disbelieving, they leaned in to inspect her tiles one by one, but no matter how closely they looked, the outcome remained unchanged.

A single-suit seven pairs hand is worth 32 points.

A Heavenly Hand here carried 168 points.

In other regions, the value might be 108 or 32 points, depending on local rules.

Adding the two points for no terminals brought the total to 202 points.

This meant each of them owed Mei Jie 20,200 yuan.

Not only did she recover her earlier losses, but she also gained nearly 20,000 yuan.

As for my 20,000 loss? That was on me.

Flower Jie and the man’s faces turned increasingly sour.

After all their efforts to cheat, they had worked an entire afternoon only to end up in debt.

Suddenly, Flower Jie turned her sharp gaze on me and shouted:

“Little virgin, are you in on this with Su Mei?”

My heart skipped a beat.

Did she realize something?

Where did I slip up?

Had I underestimated Flower Jie’s sharpness?

“Us? In on what?”

Mei Jie responded immediately, trying to deflect suspicion.

Flower Jie rolled her eyes and sneered:

“Hah! I think the two of you are up to something. Su Mei, did you sleep with this little virgin? Otherwise, why would your luck suddenly soar the moment he joined the table?”

Hearing this, I relaxed.

So she didn’t figure it out after all.

Mei Jie wasn’t fazed by Flower Jie’s teasing and continued to marvel at her hand.

“In all my years of playing, this is my first Heavenly Hand. And it’s a single-suit seven pairs, too. I still can’t believe it…”

Flower Jie scoffed but grudgingly paid her debt.

Mei Jie remained the dealer for the next round.

I ensured she didn’t win as big this time—just a standard Pong hand.

Over the next few rounds, Mei Jie kept winning steadily, pocketing another eight or nine thousand yuan in total.

The session ended with Flower Jie storming off in a huff, muttering curses under her breath.

Both she and the man left not only empty-handed but also significantly in the red.

After they were gone, only Mei Jie and I remained in the office.

I stood, placing the few thousand I had won on the table in front of her.

“Sorry, Mei Jie, I lost over 3,000 yuan for you—not counting that Heavenly Hand…”

Mei Jie didn’t even glance at the money.

Instead, she studied me with a curious, puzzled expression.

Finally, she broke the silence and asked:

“How long have you been at Tianxiang?”

“Half a year.”

“You never smile, do you?”

I didn’t answer.

After seeing my father’s limbs shattered and watching him die before my eyes; after living under others’ roofs and enduring their cruelty; after not even knowing where my own mother was—I couldn’t think of a single thing in this world worth smiling about.

When I stayed silent, Mei Jie asked again.

“What do you think of me?”

“You’re good to me,” I replied honestly.

“Then can I ask you something? And you’ll tell me the truth?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you cheat?”

I froze and looked up at her.

In the Northern underworld, “cheating” was a slang term, a phrase from the darker circles.

It referred to gambling tricks and sleight of hand.

I had assumed Mei Jie was just a bathhouse manager who happened to enjoy mahjong.

But her choice of words suggested otherwise.

Could she be part of the gambling underworld too?

She didn’t seem like it.

I shook my head.

“I don’t know what you mean, Mei Jie.”

She smiled.