124 The Lad Loved Fortune, but Got It Immorally (2/2)
After a while, the casino had changed all of Ning Que's stake to notes. He, with his stern eyes, immediately stopped Sangsang's shining eyes from her prepared movements of counting the notes. However, his glance at the number 1,000 on the pile of notes also automatically made him feel that his lips were a little dry.
The manager smiled and said, ”You are welcome to play here anytime.”
”That's nice of you.”
Ning Que clearly knew what the manager actually meant, though the manager did not directly say it: They would not gamble since they were friends, so ”welcome anytime” meant the opposite, which suggested that they would not be welcomed at Yin'gou Casino.
When Ning Que was ready to leave Yin'gou Casino with Sangsang, the manager seemed to just think of one thing. He said smiling, ”If you still want to enjoy gambling today, I have a good suggestion. A new casino, which was transformed from a pawnshop of Lord Junjie, was opened in Western City recently. That'll be a great destination.”
The hidden meaning behind the words was very obscure. The manager presumed that the lad must have a strong background and could figure out what he meant. However, he failed to realize that Ning Que, who actually did not have any strong background, instantly understood his meaning when the name ”Junjie” reminded him of Chao Xiaoshu's introduction at the Spring Breeze Pavilion that night.
At present, the Fish-dragon Gang has dominated the gang world of Chang'an. Lord Junjie is finished, and his pawnshop was transformed into a casino. Like the current Yin'gou Casino, there isn't a strong backer behind it. Since you, Ning Que, dare win so much silver at Yin'gou Casino, why don't you get another victory in Western City?
Standing by the window, the manager was looking at the young master and handmaiden walking toward the direction of Western City, gradually disappearing into the night's darkness. He could not help frowning and shaking his head, full of unwillingness and anger in his heart.
The middle-aged dealer opened the door and came in with that big heavy dicebox. Looking at the back of the manager, he sighed after a short silence. ”That lad was, indeed, a cultivator.”
The middle-aged dealer was an excellent gambling master from the Great River Kingdom hired by Lord Meng before. He was mainly responsible for controlling the whole operation and seldom showed his strength. Today, he was forced to play in person, but still totally lost. Usually, the banker in the gambling game held a big advantage in playing dice. He believed that no one in the world could beat him if he was the banker, and no tricks would escape his eyes. Therefore, it was clear how the lad succeeded in beating him.
His facial expression became paler and more terrible as he recalled that he, though he made a Leopard in the last game, did not dare to uncover the dicebox for the sake of the casino's reputation. Then he shook his head and said, ”Even if he's a cultivator, we're too generous to him.”
”Lord Meng is dead. The reason why our casino could reopen was that Mr. Chen from the palace pitied the orphans and widow left by Lord Meng as well as other fellows living. Now we have to live with a low profile, so how could we dare to create a disturbance? What's more, what else can we do when, as you know, the lad is a cultivator?”
After reprimanding the dealer in a deep and low voice, he suddenly grabbed the black dicebox on the table and then directly smashed it to pieces. In the broken dicebox, a golden interlayer, on which some pattern was vaguely carved, could be seen.
”There's a golden interlayer with Fu characters engraved in the dicebox,” the manager sullenly said. ”Since the lad can see through the dicebox, he, at least, is a cultivator in a real state. Do we have a better solution besides offering him the taels of silver?”
The middle-aged dealer was stunned. He operated the casino all year round and had made many friends. Though he was a common person, he also knew the hierarchy of cultivators. He could not help thinking, was it possible that the so-young lad had entered into the No Doubts State?
”Why does such a figure come to a casino?” he said angrily. ”Now I really wonder whether he dares to be so unbridled or not in Western City. Though Lord Junjie is dead, yet some ordinary cultivators still haven't enough guts to provoke the backer of the new casino.”
The manager did not reply to the dealer's words. He was just staring the dicebox pieces on the table, the golden interlayer, and the Fu characters. The sight of these things gradually made him more and more indignant, and then he murmured, ”I've seldom heard that a cultivator made money by cheating a casino since the Tang dynasty has been built, because it's really a shame for a cultivator.
”As a cultivator in a real state, instead of meditating in his sect, communicating with his fellows, traveling around grand mountains and great waters, and sensing the Breath of Nature, he, unbelievably, goes gambling at the casino! What does he want to do?”
The manager whispered as he raised his head and looked at the night's darkness through the window. ”He's just bullying others.”
...
...
Before entering Yin'gou Casino, there was only a paper star folded by a note of 200 taels of silver in Sangsang's old waistband. But now, it had become a thick pile of notes. Though her waist looked ugly with the notes bulging, she did not care at all, even innocently uttering some laughter every now and then.
”Young master, are we really going to the casino in Western City now?”
”Of course. This method of making money can only be used once, so we just make enough fortune one time.”
Usually, a person like Ning Que, who had experienced many life-or-death situations before, was supposed to know when to stop. However, he had been poor for a long time. Thus, when he found such a good method to make money today, he could not help continuing to use it—just like those poor villagers, who were too impecunious to eat mutton though they had been herding sheep in the west of Yuelun Kingdom their whole lives and then suddenly found a treasure vase from which sheep could keep jumping out one after another.
Even though in the prosperous Chang'an, 10,000 taels of silver was, without doubt, a huge fund, but on the grassland, this amount of money was great enough to make the Horse Gang around Shubi Lake kill themselves without Ning Que attacking. And if in the City of Wei, the property would prompt those middle-aged women who wanted Sangsang to be their daughter-in-law to ignore Ning Que's mood and directly swarm into Ning Que's house to grab Sangsang.
That thick pile of notes directly dizzied Ning Que's mind. Even Sangsang, whose chest was thin and flat, was full of passion and enthusiasm now and could not wait to sweep away all the casinos in Chang'an.
As expected, there was a new casino in Western City, whose brand and decorations were obviously newer and bigger than Yin'gou Casino's. Knowing that this casino was transformed from Lord Junjie's pawnshop, Ning Que, without any fear, directly went into it with Sangsang.
Unsurprisingly, Ning Que kept the tendency of winning. Further, with more experience and stake, he resolutely won at a faster speed. Soon, the facial expressions of the dealers in the new casino quickly turned red. After a discussion, the casino invited Ning Que in a polite but a little threatening way to play a new game in the inner chamber.
Anytime, anywhere, if the casino did not cheat, Ning Que would keep winning all the time.
When he almost squeezed the new casino into a weak one, the backer of the casino, finally, was unable to bear it.
A strong man in a turquoise robe, turquoise boots, and turquoise hat coldly looked at Ning Que beside the table and then said in a deep voice, ”My friend, Mr. Qi appreciates you and would like to invite you to have some tea.”