Aivmey raised his hand slightly, and twelve cards from the pile on the table slowly rose into the air. The rest of the cards fluttered about, dissolving into points of light and vanishing in an instant.
Then, the twelve cards flipped over, revealing their suits and ranks to everyone.
They were:
Diamonds: J, 2, 5.
Spades: A, 9, 2.
Clubs: K, 9, 6, 5.
Hearts: J, 6.
Xu Xiaoyou observed the cards, still unsure what they corresponded to or why these specific ranks were chosen.
Aivmey’s voice drifted over slowly.
"The rules of the game are simple. For the next ten seconds, you have time to memorize these cards. After ten seconds, I will draw one of them. I will tell the rank of this card to Miss Tang and the suit to my little assistant, and then I will ask them questions."
Sure enough, he was from the Dawn Agency. It seemed the naming conventions of the Dawn Agency weren't all just suits and ranks. Xu Xiaoyou’s eyes flickered with understanding.
Aivmey leaned against the table, facing Xu Xiaoyou. "And what you have to do is also very simple. Based on the questions I ask them, you must guess the rank and suit of this card."
Ten seconds? That was more than enough time for her.
Xu Xiaoyou simply swept her gaze across the cards and memorized all the ranks. Before the ten seconds were even up,
she spoke. "Let's just start."
"Quite confident, aren't we?" Aivmey’s tone rose. "But let’s give these two beautiful ladies a moment as well. In this game, they also need to memorize these cards."
Hearing this, Tang Xin and the little assistant quickly began recording the cards in their minds.
Tang Xin’s memory was fairly decent, a result of frequently memorizing textbook knowledge back at the orphanage. Long-winded origins of aesthetics, historical concepts and theories of the Star of Art, and the detailed nuances of local characteristic arts—she enjoyed the process of committing things to memory. It gave her a reassuring sense of fulfillment.
Tang Xin soon recorded all the ranks and nodded toward Xu Xiaoyou and Aivmey. Beside her, the little assistant was still biting her thumb, seemingly finding it difficult to memorize all the card information in such a short time.
"Ladies, time is up. Have you memorized them?" As the tenth second passed, Aivmey spoke up at the right moment. "Of course, we must have patience for beautiful ladies. I can give you both a little more time, provided the respondents do not peek."
"I’m ready," Tang Xin said.
The little assistant gave Tang Xin an uncertain look, then glanced at everyone in the room. She cleared her throat twice
and said with forced confidence, "Something this simple? Of course I’ve got it. Start whenever, boss!"
"Then, the game begins."
Aivmey’s hand brushed over the twelve cards. Eleven of them vanished, leaving only one card with an exquisitely patterned back in his hand.
After picking up the card, he glanced at the rank and placed it face-down on the table. He then walked over to Tang Xin and, partially covering his mouth, whispered something in the girl’s ear.
Tang Xin nodded thoughtfully; she had heard the rank Aivmey mentioned.
Then, Aivmey leisurely circled the room and came to the little assistant's side. Looking at the girl standing with her hands on her hips, looking at him with a straight face, he couldn't help but chuckle.
After telling the little assistant the suit, Aivmey didn't rush to ask a question. Instead, he discreetly observed Xu Xiaoyou, who was standing quietly under the light. The latter met his gaze and said, "Can we start?"
"Of course. I will begin the questioning now," Aivmey said.
"Miss Tang Xin, do you know exactly which card this is?"
Tang Xin thought carefully, comparing the rank to the twelve cards in her head, and then shook her head. "I don't know."
Hearing this, a thought flashed through Xu Xiaoyou’s mind.
Then, Aivmey went to the little assistant’s side. The latter revealed her little canines as she looked at him. "I don't know what this card is either!"
Aivmey shook his head. "But that isn't the question I want to ask you."
"What I want to ask is: can you know for certain that Miss Tang did not know which card it was?"
The little assistant froze, completely bewildered. She had no idea what the point of Aivmey's question was.
"Uh, this... well..." With everyone's eyes on her, the little assistant couldn't afford to lose face. She kept her hands on her hips and said with unearned bravado:
"Me? Of course I knew that! Hahaha!"
"Yes, you did," Aivmey said.
Xu Xiaoyou crossed her arms, adopting a thoughtful expression.
"Alright then, Miss Tang, I have a second question for you." Aivmey turned back to Tang Xin and gestured slightly.
"Do you know exactly what that card is now?"
Tang Xin closed her eyes and thought hard. The twelve cards flashed through her mind as she arranged the logical statements. It reminded her of the time she used to do mathematical logic reasoning problems while preparing for exams, though back then she had a pen and a notebook.
A moment later, Tang Xin nodded. "I know now."
The little assistant’s eyes widened as she looked at Tang Xin.
She knew? How did she know? What did she know?
A string of three questions made her head spin, but she maintained a calm facade on the outside.
"Give it up, assistant. You didn't even memorize the cards. Stop pretending," Aivmey exposed her leisurely.
The little assistant, who already lacked confidence, deflated like a punctured balloon. "Fine, I admit I have zero sense of participation in this annoying game."
"Can we play something else? Like arcade racing or King of Fighters? I'm an expert at those."
"But that doesn't affect the progression of the game," Aivmey said, ignoring the assistant's words. "The second question I want to ask the little assistant is: now that you know Miss Tang knows the card, do you know what the card is?"
The little assistant broke out in a cold sweat. She hesitated, stammering for a long time without being able to answer.
"I'll answer for you. Theoretically, you could know the card by now."
"Alright, four questions are over. It’s time for the player to answer."
The card on the table slowly floated up and reappeared in Aivmey’s hand.
He walked toward Xu Xiaoyou step by step, a subtle curve appearing at the corner of his mouth. He held the card by the edge with the back facing the girl and took off his rose-red glasses. "Miss Xu."
"Do you know what the card is now?"
Xu Xiaoyou snapped her fingers. The card vanished from Aivmey’s hand and reappeared at her fingertips. The pattern on the back obscured her view, while the suit and rank on the front faced the people in the room.
"Six of Hearts," she said.
Under the dark-gold jewel lamp, the heart pattern and the blood-red color of the card gradually became clear, revealing its true face.
—Six of Hearts.
"Can we end this game now?"
As Xu Xiaoyou spoke, the card spun at her fingertips and fluttered back onto the table.
She met Aivmey's completely unsurprised gaze and said unhurriedly:
"Mr. Six of Hearts?"
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