Chapter 106: STRONG, JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT

Guiying nodded slowly, the look on his face of someone filing things into the correct places.

"So you’d rather I bust than try to beat you honestly.." he said.

The dealer laughed, genuine. "That’s one way to put it."

"Alright.." Guiying said, and pushed his chips forward. "Let’s go."

A server appeared at Liuxian’s elbow while the first hand was being dealt and Liuxian ordered without looking at the menu, the easy familiarity of someone who knew what he wanted.

He glanced at Guiying.

"Something light.." Guiying said, eyes on his cards. "Whatever."

"He’ll have the same.." Liuxian said.

The server left.

Guiying looked at his hand.

Two cards, fourteen total, the dealer showing a seven.

"Hit.." he said.

The dealer turned a four.

Eighteen.

"Stand.." he said.

The dealer flipped her hidden card.

Fifteen.

He drew again.

Twenty.

Guiying’s eighteen lost and he looked at his remaining chips with the equanimity of someone who had expected to pay for the education.

"Again.." he said.

The drinks arrived.

Guiying picked his up without looking at it, took a sip, and set it back down.

Something cool and citrus-forward with a clean finish.

Not bad.

He reached for it again between hands, more or less automatically, the way you did when your hands wanted something to do while your brain was occupied elsewhere.

He won the second hand.

Then lost the third.

Won the fourth and fifth back to back and sat back with the quiet satisfaction of someone who had identified the pattern and intended to use it.

"Well look at you go, you’re on fire." Liuxian said.

"I’m paying attention.." Guiying said. "Those are different things."

"Are they?"

Guiying reached for his drink.

It was almost empty.

He finished it and the server was already there with another, which he accepted without interruption because his attention was on the next hand and the dealer was already moving.

The evening settled into its own rhythm.

Chips going back and forth across the felt, the dealer’s hands moving with the practiced ease of someone who’d done this ten thousand times, the casino floor humming around them with its continuous indifferent energy.

Guiying asked questions when something he didn’t understand happened, the logic of splitting pairs, when doubling down made sense and the dealer answered them with the same patient thoroughness as the first explanation, and Liuxian sat beside him and drank his whiskey and watched.

"How is yours?" Guiying said at one point, nodding at Liuxian’s glass.

"Strong, that’s how I like it.." Liuxian said simply.

"What is it?"

"Whiskey. It’s aged. So the alcohol content is high."

Guiying looked at it. Then at his own glass. "Mine tastes like juice compared to that."

"Yours is meant to, you’re a light weight.." Liuxian said.

Guiying looked at him with the expression he got when he suspected he was being managed and was deciding how he felt about it.

He decided he wanted to try Liuxian’s.

"Let me have some.." he said.

Liuxian looked at him. "It’s strong, Guiying."

"I know what strong means," Guiying said. "I’m not a child. Let me try it."

A beat.

Then.

Liuxian handed the glass over.

Guiying took a measured sip.

The burn came in slow, rolling back through his chest in a wave that was considerably more serious than anything his citrus drink had suggested was possible.

He set the glass down with great composure.

"That’s good.." he said.

"Mm.." said Liuxian.

"I’ll have one of those," Guiying told the server.

Liuxian looked at him. "Guiying.."

"I’m fine," Guiying said pleasantly, and turned back to his cards.

He was not fine.

Not immediately, it crept up on him the way things did when the alcohol content was high enough and the evening was good enough that you stopped noticing the gap between how you felt and how you thought you felt.

The cards were sharper and then they were softer.

The casino floor, which had been loud, became something he was moving through rather than standing in.

He won a hand and the chips felt very satisfying to stack.

He lost the next one and found this extremely funny.

"Guiying.." Liuxian said.

"What? I’m playing," Guiying said. His voice came out perfectly reasonable, which he considered evidence that he was fine.

"How many have you had?"

Guiying thought about this with genuine effort. "Two of mine and..." He stopped. Counted. "Some of yours."

"Three of mine," Liuxian said.

Guiying looked at him. "That seems like a lot."

"It is a lot."

Guiying looked back at the table.

The dealer was watching him with the particular professional patience of someone who had seen this specific progression many times before.

His chips were still mostly in front of him, which he felt was the important thing. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"One more hand.." he said.

"Guiying."

"One more hand, Liuxian, I’m on a streak."

"You just lost."

"Before that I was on a streak." He pushed his chips forward with great confidence. "Hit me."

The dealer hit him.

He looked at the card for a long moment.

"That’s too many.." he said thoughtfully.

"That’s a bust.." the dealer confirmed, gently.

Guiying nodded, accepting this with the profound philosophical equanimity of someone three whiskies into a Wednesday evening in Las Vegas.

He looked at his remaining chips.

Then at Liuxian.

"I think," he said carefully, "that the alcohol content was higher than I anticipated."

Liuxian looked at him with the expression of a man who had watched this happen in real time and chosen not to intervene because some lessons needed to be arrived at independently.

"You think?" he said.

Guiying pointed at him. The point was slightly imprecise. "You should have warned me better."

"I said it was strong."

"Strong is relative," Guiying said, with great dignity. "You should have said the specific number. I’m a details person, Liuxian, you know this about me."

Liuxian was quiet for a moment.

Then he stood, collected Guiying’s remaining chips, thanked the dealer, and put his hand at the small of Guiying’s back.

"Up," he said.

"I can stand," Guiying said, and stood, which he did successfully and felt was worth noting. "See?"

"I see," Liuxian said.

"I’m not drunk," Guiying said. He was walking, which was also going fine.

"Of course not," Liuxian said.

"I’m just...oh the floor is very smooth."

"It is."

"Very smooth floors.." Guiying said thoughtfully, and let Liuxian steer him toward the elevator.