Chapter 315 Oliver Protects His Wife
In the past, Natalie would likely have chosen to ignore someone like Barrett, but on this day, for reasons she could not quite understand, she felt compelled to teach this man a lesson.
‘Since you want to find fault with me, I’m going to torture you until you start questioning your life!’
Barrett had just finished critcizing Natalie inwardly and made his way to the poker table when Natalie called out to him.
The men laughed.
“Hey, you’re really lucky! Oliver is giving out money today!”
Barrett looked at Natalie's smiling face and could not shake off a nagging sense of unease.
‘I must be imagining things. She’s a complete rookie.’
The playing order was quickly decided, and everyone began the game.
Oliver brought a chair and sat next to Natalie, merely explaining the fundamental rules and mechanics of the game without delving into any strategies or providing her with hints during the game.
Natalie faced defeat in the first two rounds, each loss costing her an amount that reached into the six figures.
"Thank you, Natalie! You’re really generous!” Isaac, who had never won so many chips from Oliver before, was unable to hide his excitement.
"Thanks, Natalie!" another man said with a grin.
Barrett watched Natalie with a look of disdain.
‘How can she lose so terribly at a simple game like poker? I don’t understand what Oliver sees in such a stupid woman.’
Despite her losses, Natalie remained composed and turned to Oliver, asking, "Did I play terribly earlier?"
"In the first round, you made several decisions that were less than ideal," Oliver explained, pointing out Natalie's mistakes in the previous two games and advising her on better strategies.
His voice was deep and soothing.
Aside from Isaac and Wyatt, who were aware of the situation, everyone else was taken aback. Their expressions were ones of shock and disbelief.
‘Is this still the Oliver we know?’
‘When did he stop being so cold and speak so kindly?’
‘Is the patient man really Oliver?’
Everyone felt like the person in front of them was an imposter.
After learning her lesson in the first two games, Natalie managed to limit her losses to nine thousand dollars in the third round.
Oliver gently stroked her head. A hint of a smile crossed his face as he complimented her, "Not bad."
"Hahaha! Her performance isn’t just ‘not bad’! It’s extraordinary!” Isaac, collecting his chips once more, could not help but feel proud, reveling in the joy of winning money from Oliver.
Wyatt, observing from the sidelines, looked at Isaac with a mix of amusement and pity for Isaac’s naive satisfaction.
"What's that look for?" Isaac asked.
"I’m just laughing at your stupidity," Wyatt responded.
"Get lost! You’re just jealous that you didn’t get to play this round and lost the chance to win money!”
Wyatt merely shook his head, baffled at Isaac's lack of insight.
In the first three rounds, Natalie experienced a devastating defeat, losing all her money.
However, starting from the fourth round, Natalie began to alternate between winning and losing.
Subsequently, she started to win every round.
The others could only watch helplessly as their chips dwindled away. All the chips they had won from Oliver were now going to Natalie, and they even lost a significant number of their own chips.
Everyone was in shock.
For the next thirty minutes, Natalie's playing style grew more aggressive and lethal.
The chip stacks of the other players decreased significantly, and their faces showed disappointment.
"Did you actually know how to play poker from the beginning?” a woman next to Isaac asked as she handed more chips to Natalie.
Natalie looked at her cards and smiled, replying, “It’s not that difficult. Once you grasp the rules and engage in a bit of card counting and probability theory, it becomes easier."
The group of men, not known for their academic achievements, exchanged confused looks.
‘What on earth is probability theory?’
Isaac realized something important: Card counting required not just intelligence but also a good memory.
‘Forget it. The more we ask, the more disheartened we feel…’
"All of you can’t even keep the money we’re giving away,” Oliver said to the others with a rare hint of amusement as he looked at Natalie’s chips.
"Oliver, are you helping Natalie to bully us?” someone complained.
Oliver, resting his left hand on the back of Natalie's chair, played with the chips she had won as he replied, "If Natalie were to go easy on you, it would be an insult to you."
‘Why does he look so proud?’
Isaac, looking at the pile of chips next to Natalie, felt a sting of envy. He suddenly remembered the look Wyatt had given him earlier and asked, "Wyatt, why didn’t you warn me about her? How did you know she would win?"
Wyatt looked at Isaac as though he was looking at an idiot as he replied, “Haven’t you seen her resume? She has been at the top of her class every year, not to mention her minor. She has won national awards in math, business simulations, and Spanish speeches."
Barrett's eyes widened in surprise.
‘Is she so amazing?’
Natalie caught Barrett's shocked gaze. She smiled subtly and continued playing.
Gradually, everyone noticed that Barrett was losing terribly. Half of the chips Natalie had won from the other players came from Barrett. While Barrett's academic performance might have been lacking, his skills in poker were known to be quite good. Now, facing such a disastrous loss, it inevitably led others to suspect Natalie was targeting Barrett.
When Barrett lost again, he could not contain his frustration, exclaiming, "Are you targeting me specifically?"
However, before he could say anything else, he was silenced by a cold look from Oliver.
Everyone was puzzled by Barrett's uncharacteristic lack of emotional intelligence. His inability to restrain himself on this occasion raised eyebrows. Clearly, Natalie was singling him out, but considering she was Oliver’s wife, it was definitely not wise to confront her.
To the group's astonishment, Natalie directly admitted to targeting Barrett with a simple, "Yes."
Barrett's face turned red with anger as he glared at Natalie.
In contrast, Natalie was calm, and her gaze was commanding.
"Let's continue! I refuse to believe I can't win against you!" Barrett said, his voice trembling with a mix of anger and excitement.
Natalie simply shrugged. "Forget it, you've lost enough."
Despite not being as close to Oliver as Isaac and Wyatt, Barrett still had a closer relationship with Oliver than the other men present. With the hopefulness of a young man in his twenties, Barrett looked at Oliver, silently pleading for support against his wife.
Oliver merely clicked his tongue in disapproval and said to Barrett, "Leave the table, let someone else have a turn."
It was a clear indication of Oliver siding with Natalie. Regardless of whether Natalie's behavior was unreasonable or not, his actions suggested that he believed his wife had the right to be unreasonable.
Consequently, they proceeded to switch players at the poker table.
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