Reborn with Consumption System

Do people in Magic Capital like to gamble?

Actually, not particularly.

In all leisure activities, playing cards doesn't even rank in the top five, a fact determined by the city's characteristics.

The citizens of Magic Capital enjoy mahjong, the elite class generally plays more bridge, and in recent years, poker has become popular in the financial circles.

Gao Diaomao's first suggestion was, "How about we call Gao Shen and Little Qiu to play a few rounds of mahjong?"

Han Lie nodded, "Sure."

He was okay with playing anything. His fundamental aim was merely to prevent Gao Diaomao from hassling him about the proposal.

I don't want to hear your proposal, let alone express any opinion on it!

Building rapport and lowering the other party's guard was an added benefit.

His final, hidden intention was to use a game of cards to more accurately and profoundly grasp the personality traits, behavioral patterns, and thought processes of the Gao father and son. Ultimately, his goal was to know his adversaries as well as he knew himself, allowing him to hold them tightly in his grasp.

Does it sound particularly troublesome?

There's no help for it. In modern civilized society, it's all about intellectual contests—those who calculate more, win; those who scheme less, lose.

The thrill of overpowering others intellectually is a high-level pleasure that only a few can enjoy.

Gao Shen led them to the entertainment room on the first floor of his house. An automatic mahjong table stood against the wall, draped with a velvet cloth. It was clearly new and had hardly been used since its purchase.

Gao Diaomao casually asked, "The last time our family of four played mahjong here was ten years ago, right? Does the mahjong table still work?"

Gao Shen replied uncertainly, "It should be fine, right? It's a top brand, after all..."

Bai Yuqiu quickly stepped forward to tidy up, plug in the power, and test the machine.

For a psychological master like Han Lie, such details could yield a considerable amount of important information.

For instance, Gao Diaomao still exhibited very distinct petty bourgeois habits. This wasn't to say that everyone who enjoyed mahjong was petty bourgeois; that would be too broad a generalization. Rather, these details indicated that Gao Diaomao had considered mahjong an important form of entertainment throughout the first half of his life, to the point of needing to play a round even when visiting his son's house.

Evidently, Gao Shen wasn't fond of mahjong, nor did he appreciate outsiders in his home. Yet, he had a dedicated mahjong room, which could only have been prepared for his father. This indicated the elder Gao's strong addiction.

In other words, from the 1980s until before 2010, a period when bridge was immensely popular, Gao Diaomao hadn't regularly played it. Nor did he particularly enjoy this mentally demanding game that required significant cooperation and understanding.

So what were his high-level connections back then? How are they now? What's his actual status in the circle? What impact did his upbringing have on his personality formation?

Combining this with some confidential information, Han Lie saw the picture quite clearly.

From there, he inferred Gao Diaomao's deeper personality traits—

He liked to gamble, but not heavily.

He was deep-thinking and loved to analyze people, but he disliked overthinking during leisure activities.

Deep down, he resisted win-win cooperation and found it difficult to trust others completely.

He loved to win but could restrain this desire. His business mahjong skills were refined, and he was adept at flattery.

Within half a game, Han Lie had thoroughly figured out Gao Diaomao, almost to the point of knowing the color of his underwear.

He eventually sketched out Gao Diaomao's psychological portrait with ease.

When enticed by the prospect of greater benefits, Gao Diaomao had audacity. He was willing to offer advantages but would always attempt to achieve the maximum effect with minimal cost. If this approach failed, he could react quickly and raise the stakes.

Constant probing, incrementally raising the stakes, and striving to minimize costs were inherent to Gao Diaomao's way of thinking.

Therefore, dealing with him required adeptness at applying pressure.

Panzi was completely different in this regard. He lacked those shrewd, petty bourgeois habits and would always offer benefits up to the current maximum, demonstrating a much grander perspective.

Another of Gao Diaomao's traits was his tendency to magnify slights and minimize kindness. He'd remember a minor offense as a major one, but if someone did him a great favor, he'd barely acknowledge it.

Once a benefit was secured, he would invariably re-evaluate the pros and cons, devoid of any sentimentality.

So, in reality, Han Lie had already offended him.

Gao Diaomao showed no resentment, not even a hint of dissatisfaction with Han Lie in his micro-expressions, yet Han Lie firmly trusted his own judgment.

This Diaomao is merely biding his time.

And he truly could endure, would endure, and was willing to endure.

So, I have to finish him off decisively...

However, due to Gao Diaomao's caution and his tendency to gamble but never heavily, making him lose control would require Han Lie to either gain more of his trust or find a way to intensify his gambling instincts.

Coming up with a plan wasn't difficult...

Han Lie cast a covert glance at Bai Yuqiu, who was sitting opposite him, and an idea began to form.

During the game, the Frost and Snow sisters had little to do, diligently attending to the players.

Gao Shen, on the other hand, was very active.

"My apologies, Mr. Han, but I drew it myself! A pure suit! Haha!"

The young man had an unexpectedly good run of luck, and Han Lie, despite Gao Diaomao deliberately feeding him tiles, still hardly won any hands.

Gao Diaomao wore a smile, but his eyes, cold as knife edges, shot a sharp glance at his son.

Han Lie, however, was utterly unfazed and quietly continued to feed Gao Shen tiles.

In the end, Gao Shen won big, Han Lie lost a little, Gao Diaomao lost big, and Bai Yuqiu broke even.

By the end of the game, Gao Shen had also become essentially transparent to Han Lie.

—People reveal their true colors most easily when elated or dejected.

After the chips were counted, Han Lie took out thirty thousand yuan in cash from his bag and cheerfully tossed it onto the table.