Chapter Six: I Actually Crossed Over

  Liang Heng's face changed color with surprise, "Something has happened in Hebei? What could have happened? Even if something did happen, Xu Sheng is a military officer, why would he be discussing it with the local administrative officials? Haven't the Khitans already been finished off?"

  With a mind full of unanswered questions, Liang Heng finally put down the knife, but he still felt a loss of face. After thinking for a moment, he threw out a sentence: "Arrest Xu Jiu and bring him to justice!" As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and left without any hesitation.

  This has made things difficult for several of us, the county lieutenant has dumped this mess on us and run away with his tail between his legs. What kind of thing is this? Usually when it comes to eating and taking bribes, you're the one who gets all the benefits, but now that Xu Jiu has become a thorn in your side, you've run off faster than a rabbit, what a thing! Several people looked at each other, no one dared to go up and capture Xu Wei.

  "Hey, where's Xujin? Where's Xujin? Wasn't he just here a moment ago?" someone with a quick mind suddenly shouted.

  Another interface shouted: "Ah! No good! Run!"

  "Brothers, let's go!" A group of yamen runners brandished their knives and rushed out with a loud roar, fearing that they would be left behind. Yang Jin stared with his eyes wide open, what kind of world was this? Were the yamen attendants all of such quality?

  After leaving the Datong Casino, Xu Wei and others found a medical clinic to treat Ma Tai's injuries. The old doctor recognized Xu Wei, how dare he accept his money? However, Xu insisted on giving him some silver coins, and the old doctor held the silver, tears streaming down: "I can finally see the return of my investment..."

  Because of the sweltering weather, the four decided to return to Xujiacun. Some rascals from the county town followed behind, flattering them excessively.

  "This young master has done a great job! That grandeur, that momentum, that demeanor, is simply the reincarnation of Guan Yu from the Three Kingdoms!"

  "It's extremely fierce! The formation of Wen Wuhua and Xue Rengui is like a mighty storm!"

  "Brother Jiu, you're really good at hiding your true self. Why are you still keeping it from us brothers? Such a great skill, why didn't we see you use it before?"

  "Get out, get out! Who the hell is your brother? You don't even dare to take a piss and look at your own face, yet you think you can eat swan meat!" A string of curses sent the crowd scattering in all directions.

  The four of them had just left the city, and were already feeling hot and itchy all over, with sweat dripping from their bodies. Yang Yan estimated that he hadn't bathed in half a month, his body was itching unbearably, and his nose was throbbing with pain, so he cursed out loud: "Damn it, suffering like this..."

  There is a saying that the speaker has no intention, but the listener has a mind. Ma Tai kept his head down and didn't speak, just walking on the road. Suddenly, he knelt down with a "thud" and said loudly: "Brothers, this time it's all thanks to your help, otherwise I would have been defeated at Datong Casino! Ma Tai owes you one!" But the trouble he stirred up had to be cleaned up by Xu Wei. Just now when facing Yang Jin, he was hesitant and didn't dare to take action, feeling guilty in his heart.

  He knelt down on one knee, startling the other three people. Xu Wei asked: "What are you doing?"

  "Damn it! Did you take the wrong abortion medicine? Aren't we brothers like the Peach Garden Oath?"

  Zhang Qing reached out to help: "Get up, get up, what's the matter?" Ma Tai remained motionless, Yang Yan was anxious and rolled up his sleeves to use force.

  Xu Wei saw through his concerns and said with a smile: "Get up, no one blames you. Yang Yan is just a big mouth, but he shouldn't have any other intentions." Ma Tai heard this and looked at him gratefully before getting up. That Yang Yan still didn't understand what this had to do with him.

  "Hey, I always feel that after Ninth Brother got sick, he's become... uh, what's the word?!" Yang Yan was so anxious that he scratched his head, but couldn't think of the word to describe it.

  "Are you two completely different people?" Zhang Qing said.

  Yang Yan slapped his forehead: "Right! That's it! Although he's still so arrogant, I feel like something is off. And after all these years, I still don't know his gambling skills? How did he suddenly get lucky today?"

  Zhang Qingdeep nodded in agreement and said: "Indeed, after this illness, he seems to have changed beyond recognition, leaving people puzzled."

  Xu Wei, walking ahead, turned back with a wry smile and said, "You two, shouldn't whispers be spoken softly? And what happened earlier wasn't some gambling trick, that's called sleight of hand."

  "What tree?" Yang Yan asked in confusion.

  "Thousand arts, it's the technique of deception. Ten gambles, ten cheats, those dice are all filled with mercury and sand, shifting the center of gravity. As long as your hand movements are right, you can get whatever number you want. You might not have noticed that before Yang Jin threw the dice, he tapped his hand on the table, this is to let the mercury and sand sink to the bottom, so he can throw out the number he wants." Xu Wei said this with a very serious expression, without any hint of joking.

  "Are you saying that Yang Jin and his gang are counterfeiters?" Zhang Qing asked, her face full of suspicion.

  "If I wasn't 100% sure, why would I bet on Yang Yan's one die? As soon as I touched the dice, I knew it, so I dared to press down on Yang Jin, only a little more." Xu Wei explained.

  "Damn it! I said why I kept losing today, it turns out that the big casino is cheating people! Is there still a king's law?! Ah! Is this still the Song Dynasty?! Turned upside down! These scoundrels..." Yang Yan cursed alone, quite pleased with himself.

  "Alright, what a bird! Since Xu Jiu said that the Datong Casino is so despicable, I reckon other casinos are probably just as black-hearted." Zhang Qing coldly snorted.

  Xu Wei smiled and said: "Still, your brain turns fast."

  Yang Yan pouted, looking very unconvinced. Suddenly, he thought of something and exclaimed in surprise: "Ah! That's not right! If you knew they were faking it, why didn't you expose them on the spot? And when you left, you even returned the dice to Yang Jin... Oh, I get it! You must have had an ulterior motive, planning to blackmail him for some silver later. Am I right?"

  Xu Wei and Zhang Qing exchanged a glance, smiled helplessly. Even Ma Tai shook his head, casting a disdainful look. In this world, which family that opens a gambling den doesn't have some tricks up their sleeve? If Xu Wei had exposed Yang Jin's scheme on the spot today, he would have offended more than just one family.

  The four of them were chatting and laughing when Xu Wei suddenly stopped in his tracks: "Someone is chasing us from behind."

  Ever since he showed that trick at the Datong Casino, Yang Yan's admiration for him was even higher than the Iron Tower of Kaifeng. He clicked his tongue and said: "You know this too? Can you also see things behind your back?"

  Ma Tai sighed: "Brother, those things on both sides of your head are called ears, not toilet lids."

  The four of them turned around and looked back, and indeed saw several riders galloping towards them from the direction of Xiajin County, were they heading straight for them?

  "It must be those good-for-nothings who lost face and came to cause trouble for us halfway! Brothers, let's get ready!" Yang Yan said, bending down to pick up a stone on the ground, waiting to smash one person after another.

  The other horse was fast, and in an instant it had galloped up to the front. Zhang Qing saw clearly that the person at the very front was Xu, and he smiled, saying: "Big Brother Xu is back."

  Ma Tai's chubby face had taken quite a few old punches, and now it was swollen to the point where his eyes couldn't open. He muttered to himself: "Why do I see two Big Brother Xus?"

  Yang Yan threw a stone and shook his head, saying: "Poor poor, I didn't become the lone arm hero, but you want to become the lone-eyed dragon."

  In the hearts of this group of Xu family descendants, there are two towering figures. One is Xu Taigong, but after all, it's been a long time and can't be verified. The other one is this person, Xu Taigong's eldest son, Xu Wei's elder brother, Xu Sheng. He has already become the commander of the Imperial Guard, said to be at the same level as the County Magistrate of Liang, but that's the Emperor's personal guard, a fierce and powerful force, not like that bastard surnamed Liang who is holed up in Xiatian County as a local tyrant, what a joke!

  The knight reined in his horse in front of Xu Wei and others, and the first person dismounted. He wore a cyan gauze turban on his head, a cyan-blue cloud-patterned battle robe on his body, a tortoiseshell silver belt around his waist, and a pair of leather boots with iron soles on his feet. His eyes were like bright stars, with thick eyebrows and a high nose, exuding an air of heroism that made people dare not underestimate him.

  Xu Sheng dismounted his horse, and Zhang Qing, Yang Yan, and Ma Tai all stood up straight, bowing together: "Big Brother Xu."

  Xu Wei stood still and didn't move, Zhang Qing came to his senses and hastily reminded him: "This is your elder brother."

  Xu Sheng was tall and large, a good half a head taller than the four little ghosts. After nodding at Zhang Qing and the other two, he shifted his gaze to his younger brother, sizing him up from head to toe. Seeing that not even a single hair on his brother's body was injured, he finally felt relieved. He had returned to Xiajin due to official business and first went to the county government office, where he heard about the incident at the Datong gambling den. That was when he hastily rushed over. But seeing that his younger brother merely stared at him, neither speaking nor showing respect, it took a good while before he managed to squeeze out the words "Big Brother". His heart hung in suspense once again.

  Inside the Xu family's mansion, everyone in the household was overjoyed at the return of their esteemed master. Since Master Xu received his appointment and took up his post in the military, he had not been able to come home once a month. With Old Master Xu being advanced in age and Second Master Xu being a scoundrel, everything inside and outside the house relied on Mistress Zhang's management.

  Xu Wei sat in his room, looking at his own hands that had already developed calluses, and couldn't help but feel delighted. He muttered to himself: "I didn't think this Xu Wei still has some good kung fu skills."

  If someone else had witnessed this scene, they would have thought that Xu Wei had gone crazy after his illness. But the truth of the matter was known only to him. His previous identity had a somewhat mysterious color, and in more formal terms, he was called a "thousand-handed master", commonly referred to as an "old thousand", which refers to a gambler who wins by cheating at cards.

  Not long ago, he took a few brothers out of the border from Yunnan to Myanmar's Mai Ja Yang, a legendary gambling city. Someone offered a high price to invite his "team" to Mai Ja Yang to deal with several so-called former tycoons in mainland China. Things went exceptionally smoothly, but it was at the gaming table that he, the king of the mainland's underground casinos, was caught red-handed cheating. The consequences of being caught cheating in Myanmar are predictable...

  Just like in the movies, the mastermind behind the scenes finally appeared before his death. The other party was a big black boss who had lost more than 3 million yuan to him in Chongqing and had been harboring hatred, waiting for an opportunity to retaliate. However, he was too famous in the industry, and Chongqing was experiencing an anti-crime wave at that time, so it was not easy to take action rashly. Therefore, the big black boss went to great lengths to set up this trap in Myanmar's Maha Zaung casino, a place loved by Chinese people.

  Actually, he wasn't completely unaware. When the other party's representative quoted a high price for an invitation, he had suspicions. However, he was too confident in his own skills. Actually, this isn't wrong either, because Black Boss was able to catch him cheating not because his technique wasn't good enough, but because of the betrayal of a mole.

  In short, after a bullet of sin ended his sinful life, he knew nothing. When he opened his eyes again, he had become Xu Wei. In the past few days, after summarizing the messages from all sides, he learned that he was now in the Song Dynasty, in a place called Daming Prefecture Xiacheng County. Apart from this, he knew almost nothing.