Over the years, aside from Master Liu,
I’ve never admired anyone else.
But this Old Wu before me has completely won me over.
Seeing that I was still staring at the cards, Old Wu ignored me.
With a suave flick of the bangs on his forehead, he said arrogantly:
“Alright, I’m done playing with a little swindler like you. I’ve got to go…”
Saying that, Old Wu grabbed his purple clay teapot and turned to leave.
“Wait a minute!”
I hurriedly called out.
“What now?”
“You just said, if you lost, you’d grant me a request!”
Old Wu’s eyes spun around, calculating.
“You say, what is it?”
I pointed at the playing cards in the tree and said:
“I want you to teach me how to throw cards and shoot dice!”
“In your dreams!”
Without a second thought, Old Wu immediately refused.
His expression was resolute.
It seemed there was no room for negotiation.
I knew.
It was time for me to change tactics.
Looking at Old Wu, I sneered.
“By rights, you’re past your prime, an elder who should be respected. You claim to have superior gambling skills, but don’t you understand the principle of honoring a bet?”
Old Wu’s mouth curled up in disdain as he said:
“I don’t! You little rascal, don’t try to provoke me with a bluffing strategy, it’s useless! Old Wu doesn’t eat dog meat and won’t be bullied by you!”
“Fine! Then from tomorrow on, I’ll hire a hundred people to follow you with a banner. It’ll read ‘Old Wu doesn’t honor his bets, refuses to admit defeat.’ Wherever you go, they’ll follow. Let’s see who will gamble with you then!”
Old Wu’s eyes widened as he threatened me loudly.
“You dare?”
“I dare!”
As soon as the words left my mouth, Old Wu deflated.
After hesitating for a while, he reluctantly said:
“Throwing cards and shooting dice are two different things. I can only agree to one!”
“Then throwing cards!”
“Fine, but I have two conditions!”
“Go ahead…”
“Tell me, who is your master?”
“Master Liu!”
“Nonsense, your name is Chu Liu, and his is Master Liu? Is he your grandfather?”
“No!”
“Then what’s his name?”
“Master Liu!”
Old Wu was left speechless.
“Forget it, I won’t waste words with you, you little rascal. The second thing, after you’ve learned, help me gamble with someone!”
“No problem!”
I agreed readily.
Inside, I was somewhat excited.
It had been a long time since I felt this kind of excitement.
Once I mastered throwing cards,
Not to mention anything else, at least in a gambling round,
I should be able to fend for myself.
Of course, I was greedy.
Besides throwing cards, I also had to find a way to make the old man teach me dice shooting.
These past few days, I’ve been hanging around with Old Wu.
Following him, learning to throw cards.
Because the technique of throwing cards shares similarities with the swindler techniques,
I was able to grasp the method quickly.
What needed research was only the speed, strength, and accuracy.
Old Wu didn’t hold back either.
He told me all sorts of ingenious methods, one by one.
Of course, after he finished, he ignored me and went off to play somewhere else, leaving me at home to practice slowly with cardboard.
Old Wu was quite an interesting person.
He lost almost every day.
Yet he clearly knew I was a swindler,
But he never mentioned anything about helping him break even.
That afternoon, after practicing throwing cards,
I prepared to go bathing.
Tomorrow was Su Mei’s birthday.
I had to return the two hundred thousand I owed her.
I called Su Mei, she had just woken up.
She said she would go to work later, and I told her to contact me later.
Then I left the house alone.
Just about to hail a taxi, my phone in my pocket suddenly rang.
I took it out to see.
The call was from Old Smoker Brother Zhu.
As soon as I picked up, before I could speak,
I heard a bout of coughing from Brother Zhu.
Then, he said:
“Chu Liu, got time? Let’s meet?”
“Sure!”
After I gave him the address, I stood on the street corner waiting for him.
Since the incident with Old Qian and Old Chef Zheng, we hadn’t been in touch.
I guessed he was contacting me about the last round.
Before long, I saw a military green 213 stop beside me.
The car was dirty.
Covered in mud spots and dust.
As soon as it stopped, I heard Old Smoker Brother Zhu’s voice from inside the car.
“Brother Chu, get in…”
I got into the car.
Even though the windows were down,
The smell of smoke inside was still strong.
Brother Zhu’s hand was, as always, holding a cigarette.
Sometimes I wonder,
If Brother Zhu isn’t sleeping, does he just keep smoking non-stop?
At this rate, he’ll smoke himself to death.
“Brother, I heard there’s a new gambling den that’s just opened up ahead. I have friends who’ve been there, they say it’s quite legit and fair. These past few days, a lot of people have won money there…”
Legit?
Fair?
I almost wanted to laugh.
I’ve never seen a fair casino in the world, whether it’s one with a gambling license issued by the local government or an underground black casino.
Take the so-called legit casinos in Macau, for example.
Even if the casino doesn’t cheat,
Just the house edge alone can drain you dry.
Not to mention other underhanded tricks.
Seeing that I didn’t speak, Brother Zhu added another sentence.
“I haven’t been there myself, just heard it from friends. It might be that the casino is newly opened and deliberately letting people win. If you’re free, shall we go take a look?”
“Sure!”
I nodded in agreement.
I had nothing else to do, might as well go for a stroll.
On the way, I chatted casually with Brother Zhu.
Suddenly, Brother Zhu asked me:
“I heard that at the Huilin Hotel the other day, Old Qian’s brother had his fingers chopped off…”
I nodded slightly.
I understood what he meant.
Although he wasn’t sure if I was involved in the incident,
He could guess that it had something to do with me, at least to some extent.
After all, I was the one who asked him to go there in disguise.
I didn’t pick up on his topic.
As far as Brother Zhu was concerned, we were just collaborators.
As for trust, it was not even on the table at this point.
I deliberately changed the subject and asked:
“How much farther?”
“Almost there, just ahead on Bama Road…”
Bama Road?
I was taken aback.
Bama Road was just one street away from Sky Like Bathing.
Opening a gambling den in this place,
Wasn’t that a direct competition with Zou Xiaoxian?
Daring to compete with the Zou Family’s young miss,
This boss must have quite the background.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at Bama Road.
“Here it is!”
Brother Zhu pointed to an eight-story building.
“Here?”
I asked back with some confusion.
The exterior of the building was still under renovation.
The three shiny gold plaques at the top of the building were covered with red silk.
They were waiting to be unveiled at the opening.
However, through the silk,
The name of the building could still be clearly seen.
“Riding Elephant Tower!”
Sky Like, Riding Elephant.
It was clear that this was targeting Zou Xiaoxian’s Sky Like.
Seeing that I didn’t move, Brother Zhu explained:
“The gambling den is on the eighth floor. I heard that downstairs there’s a nightclub, guest rooms, and a Chinese restaurant. It’s almost finished with the renovations. This boss has big ambitions; it’s a one-stop shop for all entertainment needs…”
“Do you know who the boss is?”
I asked again.