“One, two, three, Boss You, you lost.” Yuan Ming grinned, speaking slowly.

“How could this…” You Zhuzha bent over, peering at the three dice, clearly engraved with the numbers “one”, “two”, “three”. He seemed to hardly believe it.

“Boss You actually lost?” The previously noisy scene suddenly fell silent, and the onlookers were taken aback.

Old Pipe, standing to the side, furrowed his brows, looking surprised.

“You little…” Anger flashed in You Zhuzha’s eyes as he looked at Yuan Ming.

As he spoke, he grabbed the dice cup, intending to slam it on the ground.

Yuan Ming extended two fingers and gently pressed on the dice cup. He exerted all his strength, only to find that he couldn’t move the dice cup at all.

“Boss You, the twelve silver coins I put up front were my sincerity. If you keep winning, it would be impolite.” Yuan Ming bent slightly, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Upon hearing this, You Zhuzha was stunned at first, then quickly realized he had met a master.

However, the others around them didn’t notice anything unusual, looking puzzled at the two men whispering to each other.

“Young man, see, I told you that you would definitely win this round! Haha, I am You Zhuzha, my words always count.” You Zhuzha released his grip on the dice cup, straightened up, and quickly put on a smiling face.

As he spoke, he picked up a silver coin and pushed it back along with the one Yuan Ming had bet.

Yuan Ming also straightened up, picked up the two silver coins, and looked at You Zhuzha.

“When Wu Sang left, he said he was going to a temple about twenty or thirty miles outside of Tiehu Town. I didn’t ask what he was going to do there, and I can’t guarantee whether he’s still there.” You Zhuzha quickly said.

“Boss You is a smart man, your memory should be good. Why don’t you think carefully, is there anything you’ve overlooked?” Yuan Ming showed a somewhat teasing smile, using his spiritual power to gaze at him.

You Zhuzha suddenly felt a chill down his spine, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and any wicked thoughts he had just had were instantly gone.

“Right, right, the temple is to the north of the town. Young man, I make a living by my skills, not by talking.” You Zhuzha forced himself to calm down and spoke.

“Thank you very much, I wish Boss You a prosperous business, and I’ll come to learn from you when I have time.”

Yuan Ming’s smile suddenly turned gentle, and You Zhuzha secretly breathed a sigh of relief, repeatedly saying “definitely, definitely”.

After speaking, Yuan Ming turned around and left the gambling house under the watchful eyes of the gamblers who were somewhat confused about the situation.

When did Boss You, who could easily bankrupt people and leave them in debt, become so easy to talk to?

Old Pipe was stunned for a moment, casting an inquiring look at You Zhuzha.

The latter, however, didn’t even glance at him. He stared blankly at Yuan Ming’s retreating figure until it completely disappeared from the doorway. Only then did he truly relax, only to find that his back was already covered in cold sweat.

Old Pipe rubbed his head with his pipe in frustration and followed Yuan Ming out with a little trot.

After catching up with Yuan Ming, he gave a thumbs up and praised, “Young man, in all this time, you’re the first one I’ve seen who has won against Zhuzha in dice. You’re really something.”

“Thank you for the compliment, I’m flattered.” Yuan Ming smiled and replied indifferently.

“In my opinion, you should take advantage of your good luck and play a few more rounds to win back all the money you lost earlier. Maybe you could even double it!” Old Pipe said with a regretful look on his face.

Yuan Ming turned to look at him, his face expressionless.

Old Pipe was startled by his action and felt a chill in his heart, not daring to continue speaking.

Yuan Ming knew clearly that as soon as he entered the Shanhe Gambling House, Old Pipe had disappeared. Considering the details of the events before and after, it was likely that he had gone to the back hall to discuss with You Zhuzha how to trap him at the gambling table so that the two of them could squeeze him dry together.

Seeing that he hadn’t lost all his money, Old Pipe still seemed to be unwilling to give up and was thinking about trapping him again.

As for this, Yuan Ming didn’t bother to argue. He also understood why Old Pipe’s inn was so deserted. This old man probably often brought business to the gambling house, so he was so familiar with the rules of the gambling house that he could even speak them more fluently than the croupiers.

The two of them walked back to the inn in silence, one in front and one behind.

“Feed my horse well tonight. I’ll leave Tiehu Town early tomorrow morning.” Yuan Ming said suddenly as he reached the entrance of the inn.

“You just arrived, why are you leaving so soon? Stay a little longer…” Before Old Pipe could finish his sentence, Yuan Ming had already walked through the lobby towards the backyard with his hands behind his back.

Seeing this, Tu Le came over and asked, “Dad, why are you back so early?”

Old Pipe thought for a while with his head down, then turned around and left the inn, heading towards the Shanhe Gambling House.

He left his son standing there, puzzled and dazed.

…

At night.

Yuan Ming sat in the room, holding a censer in his arms. Three ravens flew out from his forehead one after another, heading towards the courtyard.

He practiced the Death Moon method while controlling the three ravens.

Now, he could relatively freely control the vision of the three ravens, no longer feeling the sense of disconnection he had initially. The images from the three perspectives appeared in his sea of consciousness, as easy to watch as three scrolls of paintings.

Two of the ravens flew towards the two ends of Tiehu Town, one south and one north.

The last raven flapped its wings and flew out of his window towards the front yard of the inn.

In the courtyard, his horse was tied next to the manger, eating hay.

The dry, yellow-green hay was mixed with bean dregs, indeed using top-quality feed.

After the raven silently circled above the horse’s head, it flew towards the front yard. As soon as it flew over a row of houses, it saw Old Pipe sitting against the wall in the yard.

He was holding his pipe, the tobacco inside sparking, flickering on and off.

Across from him, the wooden young man was sitting on a small stool.

The raven glanced at them and was about to fly away.At this moment, a young man named Tule from below suddenly asked, “Father, why have you been so preoccupied since you came back from the Shanhe Gambling House this afternoon?”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming decided not to leave in a hurry. He controlled the raven to land on a branch next to the two.

Old Pipe didn’t answer immediately, but continued to smoke in silence.

“Father…” Tule couldn’t help but call out again.

“Son, we might be in trouble.” Old Pipe exhaled a puff of smoke, sighed deeply, and said.

“What’s wrong, Father? What happened?” Hearing this, Tule’s face changed instantly. He quickly pulled his stool closer to Old Pipe.

“Do you remember when you asked me how our family suddenly became rich?” Old Pipe asked.

“I remember, but you only said that we met a benefactor and never explained how it happened.” Tule nodded, answering honestly.

“Sigh, today I’ll tell you how it happened.” Old Pipe sighed again, tapped the bowl of his pipe on the brick ground to extinguish the tobacco.

Tule swallowed and listened attentively.

“At that time, I was just a corpse collector that no one looked up to. Life was hard until I found a body by the river…”

Old Pipe told the story clearly and logically.

Not only was Tule engrossed, but even Yuan Ming, through the raven, stopped his cultivation to listen.

However, as he listened, he couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation in his heart.

When Old Pipe finished telling how he used the treasures on the young man’s body to build their current wealth, a complex expression appeared on Tule’s simple face.

“Father, did you know he was still alive at the time?” Tule asked.

“Did it matter if I knew or not? If I hadn’t picked him up, he would have died for sure. Besides, fate has its own plans. Perhaps it was because I picked him up that he survived.” Old Pipe first nodded, then shook his head with a bitter smile.

After saying this, he added, “I did all this for you, for our family.”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming shook his head secretly. Wasn’t this just a way to soothe one’s conscience?

“I know.” Tule nodded repeatedly, showing his approval.

Although he felt a bit sorry for the unfortunate guy, he still didn’t think his father had done anything wrong.

“Not long after… that man came to town again, and I happened to run into him. I found out that the lord had issued a reward for him, so I reported it. Unfortunately, they didn’t find him, otherwise, I could have received a generous reward from the Jin delegation.” Old Pipe continued, looking quite regretful.

“So it was him…” Yuan Ming suddenly remembered the blurry missing person notice on the bulletin board at the city gate.

“Who is he, and why is the Jin delegation looking for him?” Tule asked in confusion.

“How would I know?” Old Pipe shook his head.

Upon hearing this, Tule felt that the man was really unlucky to have encountered his father, but he was also very puzzled.

“Father, what does all this have to do with you being preoccupied all afternoon?” Tule asked.

Old Pipe glanced at him, then turned his gaze towards the backyard.

Seeing this through the raven, Yuan Ming suddenly had a bad feeling, because he was the only one living in the backyard at the moment.

“The benefactor I mentioned is now living in the backyard.” Old Pipe said slowly.

“What?” Tule was shocked and fell to the ground.

“What are you yelling about?” Seeing this, Old Pipe raised his pipe to hit him on the head.

“Could he be here for revenge?” Tule picked up his stool and sat down, instinctively lowering his voice and pointing to the backyard.

“Probably not. I don’t know why, but he doesn’t seem to recognize me, and he seems to have forgotten that he’s been to Tiehu Town before.” Old Pipe said, his wrinkles deepening on his face. (For the related story of Old Pipe, see the prequel)

(End of Chapter)