Chapter 111: Desire for profit is hard to control
“Shan Ren, where is the theater house you mentioned?”
“Brother Taoist, please follow me.”
The Wuwei Mountain people walked in front, Zuo Chen and his group followed behind.
I walked for a while on the main road, and then detoured through several small alleys. I walked forward for a while, and after walking along the street intersection, I felt a sudden clarity in front of my eyes.
Suddenly it became lively.
This is a street along the river. The river is relatively gentle everywhere and even expands to form a small lake.
There are several flower boats on the small lake, some private and some with spring buildings.
Close to the center of the lake is a private flower boat. You can vaguely see people on the boat drinking and singing, and there are beautiful women playing pipa and dancing for company, which is very comfortable.
Close to the shore are the girls from Hualou, wearing a little thin clothes, leaning against the boat with small handkerchiefs and waving, making secret glances at the rich boys and scholars walking on the street.
There are also many vendors selling miscellaneous food on both sides of the river, ranging from candied haws, to Hu cakes, to dried fruits, it’s really lively.
Caiyi finally came to her senses at this moment, pointing at the beautiful girls on the river, saying that this body shape was not good, that the taste was not good, and that the rouge and gouache were not right.
"You quite understand." Zuo Chen teased her.
“After the old man ran away, I relied on the help of my sisters in the alley to get through that period of time.” Caiyi blinked: “It’s a pity that the old madam is always unkind and wants to sell me out. , I ran away later.”
Without continuing to chat, Wuwei Shanren pointed the direction to Zuo Chen, and following the position of his finger, he could see a high-rise building at the end of the street.
I leaned over to take a look, and found red paper hanging on the left and right sides, with upper and lower couplets written in ink on it:
The God of Wealth gives you a smooth journey,
Leave gold and silver to live in trouble.
There is a big sign hanging on it:
“Let’s Bet”
"The preface doesn't match the afterword, what the heck." The people of Wuwei Mountain have deep resentment towards these places.
Seeing that they had arrived at the place, Cai Yi asked Zuo Chen:
"Taoist Master, how do you want to deal with them? Have you brought down a thunder to chop them into pieces?"
< br>"Of course not. This is a serious business. It would be bad if I just killed them all in the city." Weiwei shook his head: "I didn't come to Youzhou to make enemies."
"That way Plans for a long life? ”
Caiyi didn't think Zuo Chen would rush in and reason with them.
Zuo Chen chuckled.
As soon as Caiyi saw his smile, she knew that Zuo Chen might be up to something bad.
"Bo Xi Fang, what are you doing here? Of course you are here to gamble. As long as we destroy them according to Bo Xi Fang's methods, even if the officials in the city come, they won't be able to say anything."
After saying this, Zuo Chen walked directly into the theater.
After entering the Bo Theater, the excitement level instantly increased by a notch.
“Bet big! Bet big!”
“How do you play cards? Do you know how to play? Don’t lose all my money!”
“This is My Baoji, an inferior broiler like you, can be his opponent?”
Looking up, there were people playing games in all directions.
This is a three-story pavilion. The first floor is the largest, with many tables set up around it. In the middle, there is a large open space surrounded by a wooden fence, where cockfights are held.
The second floor seems to be full of wealthy young men playing. Compared with the excitement on the first floor, it is more "funny and elegant".
As for the third floor, there are private rooms one after another, blocked by thick curtains. I could only hear occasional bursts of laughter like silver bells, presumably from some people who couldn't show their faces. The location of noble people.
The most lively place in the entire gaming house is the cockfighting area in the middle.
A large group of people surrounded the large open space. There were young masters in rich clothes and scholars who looked a little poor. They all raised their arms and shouted, calling for the roosters they supported. In this casino, a wonderful state of equality has been achieved.
In the cockfighting ring, the ground is covered with chicken blood and feathers, and occasionally you can see some broken chicken. At this moment, two fierce roosters attack each other with their claws and beaks in the cockfighting ring, impressing the onlookers with their victory. Go to feverish joy.
“Hey, how many Taoists are there in our shop?”
While looking at the situation in the shop, a swinger suddenly walked over not far away. He was dressed in animal hair, wearing ragged linen clothes underneath, and half of his chest was exposed in a carefree manner.
Looking Zuo Chen and others up and down, his eyes finally fell on Wuwei Shanren. The expression was a little strange:
"I have always heard that Taoist priests are noble and don't like these mundane things. I didn't expect you, Shanren, to bring you here again today. What? You plan to make a big fuss in my store. , and then be arrested and put in jail for a few days?”
After listening to his words, several gamblers who were betting next to them also raised their heads and looked at Zuo Chen and the others with smiles.
"Isn't that inaction? Are you here to scold me again?"
"Haha, you come to our gambling house and talk about gambling harming people, you are lacking in brains."
"After all, people are called Wuwei, who is doing nothing, so it suits him very well."
"On the other hand, that little Taoist man over there looks handsome, so he should be a lucky man, and he should rub shoulders with him, even if You can still get some luck if you lose.”
The few gamblers were chatting with each other with some ridicule, looking at Wuwei Shanren mostly as provocation, and looking at Zuo Chen as if they were looking at prey.
Wuwei Shanren wanted to have a fit, but he glanced at Zuo Chen twice, and finally huddled behind Zuo Chen without saying a word.
Zuo Chen was not annoyed and said cheerfully:
“I have traveled all over the world and have never been exposed to these things before. Now I come to take a look and want to try a few. , I don’t know who is lucky enough to compete with me.”
Hearing what he said, the gamblers around him laughed even more happily:
"Listen, you have good taste. How interesting it is to travel around the world and go to a gambling house!"
"I'll do it! Little Taoist Master, I'll do it! I'm not lucky today. How much will I lose to you?" The two pieces of silver are just for luck."
The swinger also looked at Zuo Chen up and down and said with a smile:
"Master Tao, it's not impossible to gamble in our restaurant. At least you have to give us some money. Gambling without money is boring."
"That makes sense." Zuo Chen took out a large ingot from his sleeve. silver.
It weighs a pound!
This was taken from the River God Water Mansion before. It has not been cut with small scissors. It is very complete.
After seeing this silver ingot, the surroundings were quiet for a moment.
Zuo Chen could clearly feel the greedy eyes emerging from the eyes of this group of people.
Took the bait.
"I didn't expect Master Dao to be quite rich." The swinger came back to his senses and looked at Zuo Chen with a strange look: "I will prepare a good table right now. Please take a seat."
After beckoning, the employees in the gaming house actually brought a table directly and placed it in a conspicuous place. Many gamblers around stopped even playing and came here to watch the fun.
Putting the silver ingots on the gambling table, Zuo Chen lifted up his Taoist robe and sat on a chair. Caiyi stood on the left side of Zuo Chen, Wuwei Shanren stood on the right side of Zuo Chen, and Wu Hui just stared blankly. These people gambling around have no idea what they are doing.
Seeing such a large ingot of silver, many people around were eager to try it, and it seemed that many people wanted to get on the table.
"Master Dao, we are all good players here. Who do you want to bet with?" The prodigal asked Zuo Chen. "Before I came here, I heard from the mountain people that there is a man named Zhao Laosan here who is very good at gambling. I wonder if he is willing to compete with me."
Sure enough!
The swinger laughed secretly in his heart.
No one would believe that the other party came over so aggressively and said he was just having fun.
This is obviously here to cause trouble!
But the swingers knew their casinos couldn't back down.
The Taoist priests are neither coming to fight at the door, nor are they making trouble at the door. They are following the rules of the casino. If they don't accept the other party's challenge, the reputation of their gambling house will be ruined!
Where will the gamblers come then?
He lowered his body and muttered a few words to the men around him. The men immediately nodded and left. Not long after, a young man squeezed out from the crowd.
He has a simple appearance, a relatively strong build, and dark skin. He is dressed like a charioteer. He looks like an honest man, but he has a huge black mole on the left side of his lip, and there is even a mole on it. A few hairs were lost, ruining the overall image.
After seeing this person come out, Wuwei Shanren immediately clenched his fists tightly, his eyes almost bursting with fire, and stared at him fiercely.
The young man didn't care. He sat in front of Zuo Chen and straddled his left leg on the chair, looking like a bandit.
"I didn't expect that the little Taoist would come to play with me. Of course there is no problem! You are much better than the guy behind you. He came to our place not to play at all, but just wanted to beat me. This How can it be done?"
Zhao Laosan looked provocative, but Wuwei Shanren just snorted and suppressed his words.
Seeing that the stranger did not refute, Zhao Laosan felt even more at ease, and then introduced the things in the casino to Zuo Chen:
"Little Taoist Master, what do you want to play? We have everything here. The easiest one is playing dice, and the more difficult one is playing with leaves. If it's cockfighting, I'm afraid it's a little more difficult now. Do you want to play with a chicken? . ”
“We’re just here, let’s not play anything too complicated,” Zuo Chen said.
After saying that, someone immediately brought up two dice cups.
The three dice in each cup are all six-sided and look delicate and compact.
Zuo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and realized that it was filled with mercury. As long as he used special skills, he could control the dice surface.
They are all tricks used for cheating.
The smile became even happier.
"I didn't bring any scissors today, so I just pressed all the silver ingots." Zuo Chen pushed forward directly, "I wonder if you can make a bet with me, sir?"
Zhao Laosan, who was about to ask Zuo Chen how much money he wanted to bet this time, was obviously stunned. He thought that this whole ingot of silver was Zuo Chen’s entire gambling capital, but he didn’t expect that they would push it all out in one go. , but Zhao Laosan couldn't be punished.
After regaining consciousness, he immediately said: "No problem! If you want to play this, I will play with you!"
Naturally, he didn't have such a large piece of official silver, so he searched his body for a long time, found a piece of silver that looked like honeycomb coal, and threw it aside.
Once the weight was not enough using a small scale, I asked someone to pinch some broken silver out, so that the weight was enough.
The gamblers nearby were all amazed. This level of gold and silver was almost non-existent on the first floor and rare on the second floor. Only the distinguished guests on the third floor commonly used it. Today was an eye-opener.
At the outermost edge of the crowd, a bearded man walked up next to the swinger and whispered:
"What do you say? Just let him play here?"
"What's wrong?" The swinger said nonchalantly: "It's obvious that he's here to cause trouble, so we can't be frightened. Let him win twice first, then drag him into a deep pit and destroy his life. Kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Don't let the people in the city think that anyone can come and mess with us." "You were tricked just now and your third life line was cut off." The bearded man said again. Said: "This Taoist priest is not weak, he is capable."
"So what." With a cold snort, the swinger's face turned a little sinister: "Being good at fighting does not mean that you are good at gambling. The whole gaming house is It’s our brother’s dharma altar! Can you still be afraid of him? Just get him!”
The bearded man just looked at the gambling table not far away with a little worry.
I just hope there won’t be any big problems.
......
"Comparing size?"
"Comparing size."
"Is bigger better, or smaller is better?"
"Then Naturally, the bigger the better.”
When the preparations are complete, both sides begin to roll the dice.
Zuo Chen just shook his wrist casually, while the other person, Zhao Laosan, swung his palms and moved his ears slightly, as if listening to a sound.
After a few breaths, both parties put their gambling cups on the table.
Zhao Laosan took the cup away first.
The three-sided dice are one, two and four respectively, and the total is only seven points.
This number is not high. If the ratio of the three dice is lower than nine, then half of the result is lost before the cup is opened.
Zhao Laosan was very satisfied with the numbers. He had a good ear and could hear that the dice in Zuo Chenli should be two, four, six, which totaled twelve points, which was a big number.
In this way, he will lose to Zuo Chen in the first round. When the time comes, he will have a few rounds with this Taoist priest like a wheel battle, and if he beats him by a big vote, they will make a bloody profit! This has been done in the past. This time is no exception.
As for Zuo Chen, will he win and run away?
That is definitely impossible!
People called him out by name just for revenge. Although a ingot of official silver was a lot, it was far from enough to hurt Zhao Laosan. If the opponent won, he would definitely pursue the victory, so how could he run away?
Zuo Chen also stretched out his hand and opened the gambling cup.
Zhao Laosan looked towards him and took a deep breath.
One two three.
Just a little smaller than his side!
What's going on?
Did my ears hear it wrong?
Zhao Laosan looked confused, but felt that he might have heard wrongly.
The total of the opposite sides of the dice was seven. He heard Zuo Chen’s side was two, four, six. Two was definitely correct. Four and six were turned over to one and three. Maybe he had a busy day today. My ears are a little out of whack.
Zuo Chen seemed to have a little regret on his face and pushed Guan Yin towards Zhao Laosan.
"It's a pity that I only got this big piece of silver not long ago."
Zhao Laosan took it with a blank look on his face, not knowing what to say next.
But before he could react, Zuo Chen dug into his pockets again.
This time he took out a gold ingot.
“It’s not a good thing, it’s not a good thing. We have to keep coming. Let’s bet on this this time!”
Zuo Chen said with a smile.
Zhao Laosan’s eyes widened.
Huh?
Why do you still have this thing?
Seeing the gold, Zhao Laosan only felt that his heart seemed to be grabbed by something, and he couldn't look away at all.
In his heart, greed slowly rose, uncontrollable, like a flame burning, unbearable.
Ten thousand words today!
The feeling of writing in the past two days is a bit wrong. I adjusted it, but the loss of the text is still a bit big
(End of this chapter)