Chapter 44: Practicing Card Memorization: Little Li Composes Three Hundred Poems for Memorizing Cards

Underworld Card Games: From Fight the Landlord to Six-Flushing
Volume 3, Chapter 44: Practicing Card Memorization: Little Li Writes "Three Hundred Poems of Card Memorization"

Before the deck of cards was even properly tidied up, Little Li squatted on a nearby stone pier, a yellow-paper notebook spread across his thighs, writing furiously with his brush. In front of him piled up three thick notebooks covered in writing, their corners stained with sweet soup—splashes from when Meng Po had knocked her bowl earlier.
"Master Ma, I've composed up to the thirtieth poem! The Six-Flush Card Memorization Poems, guaranteed to teach and guaranteed to master!" he called out, his voice tinged with pride, tapping his brush against the paper like clappers.

Wang Erma had just finished laying out the soaked cards to dry on the stone table. Hearing this, he leaned over to take a look. On the paper, it read: "There are six Red Hearts Aces, the Spades Kings split left and right, the Diamonds Queens must be remembered well, don't lose the Clubs Jacks!" He recited a couple of lines, scratched his head, and asked, "Little Li, what does 'split left and right' mean in your poem? When we played mahjong in our neighborhood, we just remembered 'who ponged what'; why would we need to split left and right?"

"That's because you don't understand!" Little Li straightened his back, pointing at the Spades King in the deck. "There are six Spades Kings across six decks. I separate them into 'left-side plays' and 'right-side plays' based on the order they come out. That makes them easier to remember!"

As he spoke, he began to recite the next line. But when he reached "There are six Red Hearts Aces, the Spades Kings split left and right," he suddenly choked, staring wide-eyed at the paper before stammering, "Uh, six decks, so there are six Aces... right?"

"What do you mean by 'right'?" The Judge walked over, holding his *Detailed Rules of Six-Flush*, pushing his three-layered reading glasses close to the paper. "Card memorization poems must be accurate! With six decks, there are exactly six Aces of each suit; you can't just say 'right'! It's written clearly in my rulebook. If your poem is wrong and the trainees get confused, whose fault is it?"

Little Li turned red with anxiety and hurriedly picked up his brush to revise: "I'll change it right now! I'll change it to: 'There are six Red Hearts Aces, the Spades Kings split left and right, absolutely no mistake, get your melon seeds peeled if you make a mistake!'"

Old Zhou happened to be squatting nearby, picking up empty melon seed shells, and immediately chimed in, "Peeling melon seed shells works for me! I've saved a bunch of shells, I'm super fast at peeling kernels!"

Wang Erma gave Old Zhou a slap. "Stop messing around! Little Li is writing poetry!" He turned back to Little Li with a smile. "Actually, you don't need to split left and right. Just write: 'There are six Red Hearts Aces, cross off one for every one you see.' Just like the grandpas in our neighborhood keeping accounts, simple!"

Little Li's eyes lit up, and he quickly revised it again. "Master Ma is right! I'll change it to: 'There are six Red Hearts Aces, cross off one for every one you see, no need to think once all six are crossed, guaranteed to memorize cards without being lost!'" After modifying it, he recited it with cadence and rhythm, sounding like a folk ditty.

Black Impermanence and White Impermanence had finished moving the card chests, and having nothing better to do, wandered over to listen. As Black Impermanence listened, he suddenly said, "I think we should add a line: 'Don't hide cards inside your hat.' Last time I hid the big Joker and White Impermanence caught me precisely because I didn't recite the poem!"

White Impermanence immediately jumped up. "You have the nerve to bring that up! Last time you hid cards and Lord Yama punished us by making us wash cards for three days, wasn't that because I helped you wash them?"

The two immortals started bickering again. Seizing the opportunity, Little Li wove their words into the verse: "Little Black, don't hide your cards, hide them and you're sure to be caught; Little White helps remember cards, victory or defeat is all his fault!"

When he finished reciting, he handed the notebook right in front of their faces. Black Impermanence's face darkened, while White Impermanence smiled so broadly his two little fangs showed. "Well written! Next time you hide cards, I'm going to recite this poem!"

Meng Po walked over carrying a bowl of freshly brewed sweet soup. Seeing Little Li writing so enthusiastically, she placed the soup bowl on the stone table. "Little Li, drink a bowl of sweet soup before you keep writing, don't wear yourself out!"

Unexpectedly, her hand slipped, and the bowl went *thud* against the table, spilling half the soup. It splashed right onto Little Li's manuscript, turning the "A" in "Red Hearts A" into an "O," making it look like a little circle.

"My manuscript!" Little Li scrambled to grab it, but in his fluster, he knocked over all three thick notebooks of poetry. The pages fluttered everywhere, and several sheets landed right in the middle of the card piles, mixing with the cards so that it was impossible to tell which was poetry and which was a playing card.

"Don't panic, don't panic, I'll help you pick them up!" Meng Po hurriedly squatted down to gather them. As she picked them up, she treated a piece of manuscript like a card and tried to shove it back into the deck, muttering, "This 'Red Hearts O' is quite unusual, I've never seen it before..."

Wang Erma took one look and laughed so hard he couldn't straighten up. "Sister Meng Po, that's Little Li's manuscript! The soup turned the letter into an 'O', it's not a card!"

Old Zhou also hurried over to help clean up. Every time he picked up a sheet, he stuffed it straight into his blue cloth bag, muttering, "This manuscript paper is sturdy, it'll work great as a chip pad, much better than melon seed shells!"

With quick eyes and nimble hands, Wang Erma snatched two sheets right out of his bag. "This is poetry, not chips! If you stuff any more in there, the Judge is going to make you copy the rulebook again!"

True to his word, the Judge glared at Old Zhou. "Old Zhou, don't harbor any designs on the manuscript! Little Li's card memorization poems are for the 'Master Ma Team' to practice with. If a single sheet goes missing and someone gets confused, you're responsible for washing all six decks of cards for three days!"

Frightened, Old Zhou quickly handed back the manuscript he was holding and clutched his blue cloth bag tightly to his chest. "I'm not stuffing anything in! I'm just looking!"

Little Li retrieved his manuscript and spread it out on the stone table to dry. The pages were wrinkled and stained with sweet soup, but he didn't mind. He picked up his brush and continued writing. "I'm going to write a 'Sequence Poem' next. A sequence in Six-Flush has to start from five cards. I'll write: 'Sequences start at five cards minimum, 3 to 7 is stir-fried greens, 8 to Queen is braised pork belly, Jack to Ace is stewed pork ribs'—I learned this from Ah Xiang. Using dish names makes it easy to remember!"

Wang Erma roared with laughter when he heard this. "This is brilliant! Ah Xiang is definitely going to love it. Next time she comes to check on our practice, if you recite this poem, she's guaranteed to stir-fry you a real bowl of greens!"

Just as he spoke, Ah Xiang's voice echoed from the distance, "Master Ma! I've brought you your 'card game meal'! Underworld napa cabbage stir-fried with melon seed kernels, super fragrant!"

Everyone turned around to see Ah Xiang carrying a bamboo basket. Inside were bowls of stir-fried cabbage sprinkled with melon seed kernels. She came bouncing along, shouting, "Stir-frying a 3-to-7 sequence!"

Little Li hurriedly handed over the "Sequence Poem" he had just written. "Ah Xiang, I wrote a 'Dish Name Sequence Poem,' listen to this!"

Ah Xiang put down the bamboo basket, listened to Little Li finish reciting, and her eyes lit up. She picked up a stalk of stir-fried cabbage and shoved it right into Little Li's hand. "Well written! This cabbage is your reward! Next time you write poetry, include more dish names, and I'll stir-fry you a 'braised pork belly sequence'!"

Little Li accepted the cabbage, grinning from ear to ear, and quickly tucked away his manuscript, terrified it might get splashed by soup again.

Wang Erma looked at the lively scene before him: Little Li holding his manuscript and cabbage, Old Zhou squatting nearby counting melon seed shells, the Judge holding the rulebook and debating poetry with Little Li, Meng Po helping to dry the manuscript pages, and Black and White Impermanence fighting over whether they were mentioned in the verses. He pondered to himself: memorizing six decks of cards is indeed difficult, but with Little Li's "poetic memorization method" and so many interesting people around, it didn't seem quite so hard anymore.

Sunlight filtered through the lattice windows of the City God Temple, shining brightly on the soup-stained manuscript pages. Little Li picked up his brush once more to continue writing his *Three Hundred Poems of Card Memorization*. The tapping of his brush made a *shua-shua* sound, blending with Ah Xiang's distant shout about "stir-frying a sequence." It felt warm and cozy, just like a lively card game in a mortal neighborhood—no matter how many cards there were, as long as people were gathered together making a fuss, it was the happiest thing in the world.