Chapter 47: Six Clashes—Playing the “Underworld Special Effects” Card Stirs Up a Gale at the Bridge of Helplessness

Underworld Card Game: From Fighting the Landlord to Six-Deck Clash
Chapter 47 of Volume 3: The Six-Deck Clash "Underworld Special Effect": Playing a Card Summons the Wind of Reincarnation Bridge

As soon as the wooden card rack held the cards securely, Wang Er-Ma slapped the table and shouted, "Sit down, everyone! We're practicing the six-deck clash to test our hands! Old Zhou, stop squatting over there counting melon seeds; Xiao Li, put away your poetry drafts so you don't forget your lines when it's your turn to play!" With that, he spread the cards in his hand across the table. The six decks of cards were colorful and bright, looking like a large patterned cloth laid out.

Old Zhou hurriedly tucked his blue cloth bag into his chest, moved over to the card table, and as soon as he sat down, sorted the cards into two small piles by red and black, muttering, "Sorted properly so the wind can't blow them away!" Lady Meng carried over a freshly brewed sweet soup, set the bowl on the corner of the table, picked up the cards from her rack, and counted them. "I've got 58 cards here. Two red sixes are missing. Did Little Black hide them in his hat again?"

Little Black immediately jumped up. "I didn't hide them! Last time I hid the big joker and Whitey caught me, my hat got ripped to shreds, so I didn't dare hide them this time!" Little White leaned over and peered into Little Black's hat. "Who knows if you hid them in the brim? Last time you hid cards in the brim and it took me ages to find them!" The two impermanences started arguing again, and Wang Er-Ma hurriedly slapped the table. "Stop fighting! Time to play!"

It was Wang Er-Ma's turn to play. He eyed the cards in his hand, picked out a sequence from 5 to 10, tossed them onto the table, and shouted, "Playing a 'String of Candied Haws'! Five to ten, a six-card sequence, let's see who can beat that!"—this was the new name he had given to the six-deck sequences, which rolled off the tongue much smoother than "stir-fried greens" or "braised ribs."

The moment the cards hit the table, a gust of wind suddenly blew from outside the City God Temple. The wind, wrapped in the nether chill from beside the Reincarnation Bridge, slammed into the temple with a whoosh, instantly blowing the cards on the table into a chaotic flutter. The ace of hearts drifted up to the rafter, the king of spades wrapped around Xiao Li's poetry draft and flew like a kite, and Old Zhou's neatly sorted piles of red and black cards were blown together like scattered confetti.

"My cards!" Old Zhou jumped up in a panic, reaching out to grab the drifting five of spades, but he grabbed empty air and ended up flinging his blue cloth bag, sending melon seed shells scattering all over the floor. "My melon seeds!" He squatted down to pick up the seeds, and no sooner had he picked up two than a queen of diamonds slapped right onto his forehead with a smack.

Wang Er-Ma hopped on one foot, scrambling for the cards. He leaped up and grabbed a six of hearts, and just as he tried to jam it into his card rack, another gust blew the card away, right into Judge Cui's "Detailed Explanation of Six-Deck Clash Rules." The pages rustled loudly, sliding the judge's three pairs of reading glasses down to the tip of his nose. He flailed wildly, pressing down on the manual and shouting, "Stop grabbing cards! Pick up the manual first! I just finished copying this manual, don't let it get torn!"

Xiao Li chased after his poetry draft as it circled a pillar in the wind. Running and reciting, he called out, "The six of hearts flies to the rafter, the king of spades follows to saunter, the Reincarnation Bridge wind is truly playful, blowing cards everywhere, making them joyful!" Mid-recitation, he tripped over the threshold and landed flat on his bottom, while the poetry draft seized the chance to drift into Lady Meng's sweet soup bowl, sinking to the bottom with a glug.

"My poetry draft!" Xiao Li anxiously reached in to fish it out, only to knock the bowl over, splashing sweet soup all over Lady Meng's skirt. Lady Meng jumped up and shouted, "My soup! The freshly brewed sweet soup, and I hadn't even added sugar yet!" With that, she chased after the drifting soup bowl, the bottom of which still had half a poetry draft stuck to it, floating away like a little lantern.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Little Black snatched a big joker and stuffed it into his hat. Just as he was about to look smug, the wind blew his hat right off his head, and the big joker floated out, landing squarely in Little White's hands. "You're hiding cards again!" Little White shouted, holding up the big joker. "Caught you this time! Let's see if Lady Yama doesn't punish you by making you wash all six decks of cards for three days!"

Little Black's face turned red as he reached to snatch it back. "The wind blew it in! I didn't hide it!" The two impermanences fought over the big joker, pulling and tugging until they tore the card in half. One half drifted up to the rafter, while the other landed in Old Zhou's pile of melon seed shells. Old Zhou quickly picked up the half-card and stuffed it into his blue cloth bag. "This card can be used as a foundation chip; it's much sturdier than melon seed shells!"

Wang Er-Ma jumped until he was tired, put his hands on his hips, and shouted, "Stop chasing them! Just play whatever you manage to grab! Even the old folks at my apartment complex scrambling for the last mahjong tile aren't this lively!" With that, he leaped up to grab a passing club jack, tossed it onto the table, and announced, "Playing this one! Club jack, can you beat it? If not, I'm moving on!"

Judge Cui finally managed to pin down the manual, leaned over to take a look, and said, "That card belongs to Little Black, you can't play it! Rule manual page fifty-six says 'you cannot play another person's cards'!" No sooner had he finished speaking than a gust of wind blew the manual away again, sending pages fluttering all over the floor. Several pages even landed in the card pile, mixing with the cards so that it was impossible to tell which was the manual and which was a card.

The wind gradually subsided, and everyone panted as they picked up the cards: Wang Er-Ma was clutching three club jacks in his hand, Old Zhou's blue cloth bag was stuffed with half a big joker and five aces of hearts, Xiao Li had fished out the poetry draft from the bottom of the bowl and was wringing the sweet soup out of it, Lady Meng was wiping the soup stains off her skirt, and Little Black and Little White were still fighting over the half big joker stuck on the rafter.

"These underworld special effects for the six-deck clash are way more thrilling than the four-deck card table flying around!" Wang Er-Ma tossed the cards in his hand onto the table and laughed. "It's just that the cards are hard to catch, even more of a hassle than old man Zhang at my complex grabbing the last mahjong tile!" Old Zhou shuffled over, pulled the cards out of his blue cloth bag, and asked, "Lord Ma, I picked up five aces of hearts. Can they count as a bomb? A bomb from six decks has got to be bigger than a four-deck one!"

Xiao Li wrung out his poetry draft and recited a newly composed verse: "The Reincarnation Bridge wind blows and blows, the cards fly and fly, Lord Ma jumps high to grab the cards, Old Zhou hides cards and laughs till he's bent awry!" After finishing, he placed the poetry draft right back into the card pile. "This draft soaked in soup can count as a 'sweet soup card,' it'll taste sweet when we play!"

Lady Meng carried the empty soup bowl, put her hands on her hips, and declared, "Next time we practice, I'm putting a lid on the soup barrel and tying the card racks to the table, or else one gust of wind and everything's gone!" Judge Cui squatted on the ground picking up his manual, muttering to himself, "I'm going to get this manual bound with thread and tie a rope around my neck to hang it from, let's see if the wind can blow that away!"

Little Black and Little White finally managed to poke that half big joker down from the rafter. The two impermanences huddled together to paste the card back together, and Little Black whispered, "Once it's glued, let's hide it together so Whitey doesn't find out!" Little White glared at him instantly. "You're still hiding cards! Hide them again and I'll tell Lady Yama to punish you by making you shell a basket of melon seeds!"

Wang Er-Ma looked at the lively scene before him—the cards scattered on the floor, the loose manual pages, the water-logged poetry draft, the impermanences pasting cards together, along with Old Zhou guarding his cloth bag and Lady Meng wiping her skirt—and suddenly laughed. "Wind or no wind, easy or hard to catch, as long as we can play cards together, that's better than anything else!"

Sunlight streamed through the lattice windows of the City God Temple, shining on the cards and manual scattered across the floor. The wind occasionally lifted the corner of a card, as if greeting them. Everyone picked up the cards, laughing and joking; even Judge Cui forgot to fuss over his torn manual—after all, no matter how chaotic the six-deck clash got, having so many interesting card buddies to mess around with made it the happiest time of all.