After lunch in the Ji family, Ji Hyotani sat alone in the courtyard. He didn't let his concubine accompany him. He drank his tea alone and flipped through a nameless account book. A steward wearing a headscarf rushed in and whispered in his ear, "Master, something has happened in Bao Ren Casino. Someone came to cause trouble. From the first six rounds, he won thirty-one rounds. In total, he didn't miss a single round. Many traders heard the news and rushed over to gamble. This morning, we earned three hundred taels of silver from the trading area alone. It was all taken by a few customers. We didn't earn a single cent. "
Ji Hyotani knocked the teacup lid in his hand and a corner fell off. He was shocked. The Baoren Casino wasn't like other places. Every day, the questions were set by dozens of traders from his clan. To avoid repeating questions, they would change the format every three days. How could someone win twenty-five rounds in a row? Where did this person come from?
"Since you noticed the signs, why didn't you 'invite' him away? Instead, you allowed him to make trouble?"
The steward complained, "Master, you don't know this. The person who came to cause trouble is a Taoist master. He even has a sword with him. I don't dare to 'invite' him away."
"It's a Taoist master?" Ji Hyotani was in a difficult position. If a Taoist master came to cause trouble in his territory, he wouldn't be polite. However, a Taoist master who could win twenty-five rounds in a row in a row must have an extraordinary master. If he really did win twenty-five rounds in a row, he wouldn't be able to afford to offend him.
"That's right, Master. Now, all the families have sent people to our gambling house to watch the show. The first and second floors are packed. If he continues to win, our Bao Ren's reputation will be ruined. Now that there are more and more customers, the bets for each round are getting bigger. If he really gambles for another twenty or thirty rounds, we will lose four or five hundred taels of silver!"
Hearing this figure, Ji Hyotani also felt his heart ache. Although he had a large business, his third branch had so many people, and their annual expenses were only slightly more than a thousand taels of silver. Now, someone had borrowed his territory and was sitting on it to earn money. Not only was this destroying his reputation, but it was also plucking his hair.
Ji Hyotani couldn't sit still any longer. He stood up and walked out without even changing his clothes. At the same time, he instructed his attendants, "Go to Jing Shang Hall and look for Mr Zhou. Mr Zheng is here. Prepare the carriage."
When he reached the door, he ran into a young man who was walking in.
The master and the servant bumped into each other. The door covered their figures, and only a corner of the silk skirt with the ruffles could be seen. A string of crystal clear milky white jade rings pressed against the hem of the skirt.
"Third Uncle." Ji Hyotani raised his head and smiled. "How did Xingxuan find the time to visit Third Uncle today?"
"I'm here to thank Third Uncle for sending a pair of white-headed birds to my yard yesterday. I like them very much. Are you going out?"
"Yes, I'm going out."
"Hmm … Third Uncle, I see that your eyelids are slightly protruding and the back of your ears are pale. You look like you're going to lose money. It's best if you don't go out today."
Hearing this, Ji Hyotani looked at the person outside the door and had an idea. He said, "Xingxuan, didn't you say last time that you wanted to know how to gamble? Third Uncle is going to the gambling house on Wan Xiang Street. Do you want to go out with me to see what's going on and help Third Uncle come up with some ideas?"
"Eh? But … if Father knows, he won't be happy. "
"Hehe, if you don't say it, and I don't say it, how will your father know? Didn't you say that Third Uncle will lose money today? You can come and help Third Uncle to get rid of the bad luck."
"Then, I'll go with Third Uncle to have a look."
The worry on Ji Hyotani's face disappeared. He smiled and led the way. "Let's go."
His precious fourth niece was good at mathematics. Everyone in Yiyang City knew that the fourth daughter of the Ji family had passed the Dayan Examination and entered the Imperial Historian's Library to learn Yi. But they didn't know that she had passed two subjects at once. One was physiognomy, and the other was arithmetic. She was in the top 100 in arithmetic.
The Ji family had a 16-year-old great arithmetic master. Even the Kong and Liu families didn't know about this.
"The 36th round — one hit — card number 79!"
On the high counter, the waiter rang the bell. Hearing that someone was in the crowd, almost at the same time, everyone shifted their gazes to the front of the counter and the beggar. Seeing the little beggar's action of flipping over the sign, another round of whispers rang out. Their gazes towards Jing Chen became more and more curious and respectful.
Yu Shu turned over the black card in her hand and handed it to the stiff-faced waiter. She grabbed a handful of silver in his hand, counted it, and stuffed it into the cloth bag hanging in front of her. The bag was half full. There were silver and banknotes, about two hundred taels.
Jing Chen was beside Yu Shu. When he looked down, he could see the red marks on Yu Shu's neck under the brim of her hat. Her collar was soaked with sweat. She leaned on the counter with one hand and changed her foot to support her upper body.
They had stood here for a whole morning, a full six hours. Even he felt slightly uncomfortable, let alone her. Compared to the dozens of games she had won, what surprised him more was her physical strength, or endurance.
Because no matter how he looked at her, she didn't look like a patient person.
Yu Shu's throat was itchy and uncomfortable. Taking advantage of the time when the waiter took off the cards and changed the questions, she took a breath and took the bamboo tube hanging on her belt. She opened the stopper and took a small sip. Looking at the small half of the water left in it, she regretted not bringing an extra tube. She turned her head and saw Jing Chen looking at her, so she handed the bamboo tube to him. "Drink some water."
Jing Chen could not eat or drink for three days. Of course, he wouldn't care about this one or two mouthfuls of water. He shook his head, reached out, and held her left wrist, which was a little hot, and put his palm on her pulse.
Yu Shu was shocked by Jing Chen's sudden action, and then the cool feeling from her wrist made her shiver comfortably. She was sweating all over, as if she had swallowed a mouthful of ice into her stomach. It was cold to the heart. For a moment, she didn't think that men and women shouldn't kiss when holding hands. She stared at Jing Chen with amazement and asked in a low voice, "Why is your hand so cold?"
Jing Chen shook his head and signaled her to look at the wall with his eyes. "The question is out." Yu Shu turned her head and saw that the new question on the wall had been changed. The bell rang and the start was announced. It was an arithmetic problem to solve the multiplication of multi-digit numbers. The paper was full of numbers, and it was obviously more complicated than the previous questions. The casino couldn't bear it.
One of her hands was held by Jing Chen, and the other hand was moving the abacus. She silently counted the numbers in her heart. When she was calculating attentively, the coldness on her left wrist disappeared. She didn't think and turned her hand to catch up with the retreating coolness. She closed her five fingers and held it firmly.
"Don't move."
Jing Chen looked down at his hand that was held by Yu Shu, and then looked at her dirty side profile. His eyes swept over her sweaty and shining eyebrows, but he didn't move.
Somewhere on the second floor, Ji Hyotani stood by the window and looked at the crowded Yi District. He pointed at the conspicuous white figure. "Is it them?"
Someone beside him answered respectfully. "It's the Taoist priest in the white robe and bamboo hat."
Ji Hyotani held the purple clay teapot and took a sip. He squinted his eyes and said. "What does the little beggar beside him do? Holding an abacus? "
"He's an assistant."
One couldn't blame the person upstairs for being blind. Although Yu Shu was the one who did the calculations, Jing Chen was the one who wrote down the answer and placed the bet. Think about it, when a Daoist master and a beggar stood together, how many people would think that the beggar was the one in charge?
Ji Hyotani's eyes were sharp. He stared at the bottom of the stairs for two rounds and noticed the subtle difference. He snorted. "How is he an assistant? He's obviously a troublemaker. "
Sitting beside Ji Hyotani, there was a young lady with a veil over her face. She looked at the scene below curiously. She was quiet and did not interrupt.
Ji Hyotani turned to the round table behind him. He said to the two Yi teachers that he brought with him, "Please come up with the questions. We must make it difficult for them and stop them from showing off."
The two teachers looked at each other and nodded. Soon, someone handed them a piece of paper and a pen that was specially used to come up with the questions. The two teachers held their hands together and discussed while writing down the difficult questions. They also attached a piece of paper with the solution to the question at the back.
Every time they finished writing a paper, someone would send it downstairs.
Half an hour later.
There was a commotion downstairs. Nobody knew how many times the number was announced.
"The 46th round — One hit — Number eighty-nine!" Ji Hyotani stared at the two figures downstairs with an ugly expression. Behind him, the two Yi teachers were sweating profusely. They looked ashamed and their hands were trembling.
The eight questions that had just been given were all solved by someone else without a single mistake!
"Third Uncle, those two people are not simple. Just now, Mr. Zhou and Mr. Zheng's questions were already difficult, but they still managed to get a good one. Moreover, they solved each question in half a cup of tea's time. I can only say that they are really capable. We can't blame the two teachers."
The two Yi teachers who came up with the questions looked at their Fourth Miss gratefully. Only then did they regain some face.
Ji Hyotani smiled bitterly. "Xingxuan, do you know that these two people are earning money from me? If I allow them to continue winning, I'm afraid that my gambling house will have to close down tomorrow."
"Is it that serious?"
"You might not know this, but the reason why our gambling house can become the biggest gambling house on Vientiane Street is all because of the questions. Other people sell their cards for ten taels of silver, but we sell our cards for twenty taels of silver. Traders don't lack taels of silver. What do they want? They want to show off their skills, win money, and gain face. But today, they messed up the whole situation. Who cares if our questions are high or not? People will only think that our Baoren Casino's signboard has been smashed and our reputation is ruined. Who will come and play again?"
After Ji Xiaogu explained, he sighed and said, "Although there are profits and losses in business, if the Daoist priest downstairs had been more courteous and knew when to stop, Third Uncle would have accepted it and given them a free gift of one or two hundred taels to spend. But from the looks of it, they won't let this matter rest so easily. If we can't destroy their prestige, tomorrow, we'll have to withdraw from the trading area of this building. Earning less money is a small matter, but those who know the inside story will know that this is our Ji family's territory.
Hearing Ji Hyotani's sigh, the young miss who was sitting by the window looked downstairs at the two figures in the gambling house. Her eyes lit up with interest. After thinking for a while, she turned her head and said, "Third Uncle, let me help you with a few questions."
Ji Xiaogu was waiting for her to take the initiative to speak. If it was any other ordinary member of the younger generation in the family, he would have just given the order. But this was his fourth niece. Even he had to be careful around her. If he forced her to help him in this murky place today, and his second brother and mother found out, they would definitely give him a hard time.
"That would be great. Third Uncle wants to see what new skills you have learned in Taishi Library. Servants, prepare new paper and ink."
Ji Hyotani's cloudy face turned sunny. He was calculating in his heart as he called the servants in. The two traders at the table sensibly stood up and moved away. Ji Hyotani stood up and followed them. He waved his hand to call the supervisor who was waiting at the side. He whispered a few words in his ear and his eyes shone.
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