Chapter Seventeen Dice

  The sun was blazing in the sky, hanging high above Guangzhou city, which was sweltering under its intense heat. Summer had arrived, and the air was stiflingly hot, like a giant steamer, making people gasp for breath.

  The General's bedroom in the mansion of the Governor-general, with windows at both ends, had high red silk curtains hanging from the eaves to prevent drafts.

  Ye Zha lay on a rattan chair in the style of Zhang Mei Hua, closed his eyes to rest, had just eaten lunch, and was too lazy to move.

  Ye Zhaung is now wearing a "T-shirt and shorts", of course, with the characteristics of the Qing Dynasty. The satin from Hangzhou Hengtai Zhai and the master from Guangzhou Dongcheng Yuzhen Xuan carefully tailored according to Ye Zhaung's sketch, although it is high-quality material, but if he goes out dressed like this, people might think he is a beggar rather than a madman.

  Ye Zhaohadn't forgotten Rong'er and the four maids when making summer clothes for herself, so she had Master Yu Zhēn of the Jade Needle Workshop tailor five sets of cheongsam in the style of later generations. Of course, they were long-sleeved, couldn't show off their jade-like arms, and the slits at the bottom were extremely small. Still, who would want to wear them?

  Against Ye Zhaos recliner, however, was the same plum blossom patterned wooden frame rattan chair, only slightly smaller. Rong'er was wearing a cute little cheongsam made by Ye Zhao and was sleeping soundly on it. The hem of the cheongsam revealed green satin underpants, and below that were a pair of high-heeled wooden clogs with blue flower embroidery, which looked beautiful when paired together, exuding a unique youthful charm.

  Rong'er was coaxed and deceived by Ye Zhao into wearing a new-style cheongsam, as for the four maidservants, they dared not disobey their master's "lustful might" even more, however this kind of attire was limited to within the inner courtyard.

  Wearing cheongsam is to highlight the beauty of women's curves, and the towering chest is extremely seductive. It would be better to wear a bra, but Ye Zhaowould not be so foolish as to buy bras for the girls from Hong Kong. He secretly told Rong'er to tell the girls to wear cheongsams with breast binding, but was instead lectured by Rong'er that her husband's health is poor and needs to be taken care of. She is worried that her husband is a lecher, but doesn't know what kind of absurd game he wants to play with the girls, and his illness can't be delayed any longer.

  Ye Zhaowas naturally unclear about it, with a head full of fog, but he didn't mind either.

  Gently fanning the little one with a folding fan, I pondered that this style of cheongsam would be slowly accepted in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other places where Chinese merchants lived. One day, I decided to write a letter to Shanghai, asking Huang Wenshu to promote the light blue cheongsam at the Women's Academy. As long as someone dared to wear it on the street, it would surely become popular in the concessions.

  The little guy slept extremely soundly, as if lying beside his husband, feeling very secure and comfortable, and fell asleep in no time.

  Ye Zhao looked at her and smiled lightly, truly hoping that she would grow up happily and carefreely, without worrying about anything.

  Shaking the folding fan, I couldn't help but think of the new army's rifles. To say that an army wants to have combat effectiveness, it must have faith, such as Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army's "loyalty to the emperor and respect for superiors", or the Taiping Army's "worshiping God". Su Hongniang's was even more extreme, with both the concept of the "Fairness Party" and the deification of the "Holy Mother" and the "Demon-destroying Emperor", which can indeed deceive all levels of society, a characteristic unique to the late Qing dynasty.

  Zhenwei, Zhenwu and Zhenhe three battalions of riflemen, what faith should be instilled in them? However, it's not the right time to instill any faith, but they can only ask them to respect their superiors, establish their own authority, and be loyal to the emperor.

  Everything is indeed difficult at the beginning! Ye Zhao shook his folding fan, feeling a thousand threads tangled together, and didn't know how many things he had to decide for himself. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Rui Si again, it had been over ten days since then, and he didn't know if the matter at Brother Ru's house had been resolved or not.

  ……

  Ye Zha didn't know that at this time Rui Si was surrounded by Tao Lao Er and a group of family slaves.

  The Dongmen Wanghai Building is magnificent, although the three-story building cannot see the sea at all. At this time, in Room Tianzi No. 1 on the third floor, Tao Lao Er was loudly scolding Rui Si's nose.

  There were over a dozen servants around Tao Lao Er, including several burly men who served as his bodyguards. Rui Si was caught red-handed by Tao Lao Er while drinking with a man and a woman in room number one, and they were so frightened that their faces turned white.

  Tao Lao Er was as round as a ball, and after walking a few steps, he would be panting heavily. But at this moment, his chubby face was glowing with excitement, as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He pointed at Rui Si and scolded loudly. Rui Si's skinny monkey-like appearance formed a stark contrast with Tao Lao Er, making him look particularly comical.

  I'm finally found someone who dares to provoke me, or I'll skin him alive. How can I still be called the young master of West Gate if I let this slide? The Wang family's oil mill was about to close a deal when it was suddenly snatched away by someone. After inquiring all around, they found out that it was that scoundrel from Taihe Number who bought it through an intermediary. Not even the old Wang family knew that he was the buyer. But no matter how many twists and turns you take, you can't escape my hawk-like eyes when it comes to matters within West Gate's territory.

  Tao Lao Er was so excited, he even looked for trouble when there wasn't any. Now that someone had provoked him, what more could be said? He immediately led his men to smash the Taihe Number into pieces and slapped Autumn Shopkeeper several times. The old man's nose bled profusely before he finally revealed the whereabouts of the consumptive devil. Tao Lao Er then brought his men to Wanghai Building at once.

  As soon as he entered the house, he overturned the table, and the bowls and dishes shattered all over the floor. The consumptive ghost was splattered with oil all over his body.

  "And you? Dare to play tricks on me, your grandfather? Want to secretly take advantage of me and get the better of me? If I don't beat you to death today, my surname isn't Tao!"

  Tao Lao Er was pointing at Rui Si's nose and scolding him, trying to provoke a fight, when his eyes suddenly lit up. He saw the girl with the consumptive devil, her eyebrows were like willows, her eyes were like apricots, her skin was white and delicate, she was very pretty, wearing a green jacket, her figure was enticing, and at first glance, it was clear that she was a respectable woman.

  Tao Lao Er's heart suddenly warmed up, he liked to taste the freshness of good family women, perhaps it was because he had been scared by his wife and fell ill, although he had long stopped in front of his wife, but for other women, he most liked to use force, every time he was very energetic.

  "Hey little girl, don't be afraid, come here, don't get into a fight!" Tao Lao Er beckoned to the lively maid with a lewd smile.

  Seeing that the girl was hiding behind Rui Si's body, Tao Lao Er's face sank, and he was about to use force to pull her over. However, he saw Shou Hou smiling apologetically and bowing repeatedly: "Second Master, Second Master, calm down, calm down, this is my sister, my sister."

  "What's wrong with your sister? I just like sleeping with other people's sisters, can't you treat me as a big brother?" Tao Lao Er rolled his eyes, and the servants behind him burst out laughing. He saw that the consumptive devil was not as arrogant as last time, and seemed to have softened up, which made him feel somewhat relieved.

  "Really, really, and Second Master is getting married, that's my honor." Rui Si said with a flattering face.

  "That's it, get your sister to sleep with me for a night and give me 200 taels of silver from the oil mill, and today's matter will be settled!" Tao Lao Er's words brought another round of sinister laughter from behind.

  Rui Si walked up to Tao Lao Er and smiled: "Second Master, I can give you the oil mill for free, but you don't know that I'm originally a runner. The oil mill was bought by our master, yes, the deed is with me now, but if I sell it to you for 200 taels of silver, won't our master break my legs?"

  "Get your master out here! I'll have a word with him!" Taolaoer said disdainfully.

  Rui Si'er smiled and said, "Second Master doesn't know, our master is on Hong Kong Island. He didn't buy this oil factory to oppose you, but actually as a bet. My master likes to gamble, fooling the foreigners, using the deeds of Western Guangzhou as collateral in Hong Kong Island, take this oil factory for example, it was bought for 600 taels of silver, but can be used as collateral for 1000 taels when gambling with foreigners. After some transactions, exchanging the deed, getting back 800 or 900 taels of silver is still a good deal."

  "Oh? There's still this matter?" Tao Lao Er's eyes lit up. Who in the whole of Xi Guan didn't know that Tao Lao Er loved to gamble?

  "Second Master, please calm down and don't make things difficult for me. I'll set up a table to apologize to you another day. This little mud loach didn't know about your mighty power before and offended you, please forgive me!" Rui Si said, kowtowing to the ground.

  Although the scoundrel had softened, Tao Lao'er was not willing to let him off, and with a turn of his eyes, he had an idea. He said loudly: "Since you've said that this contract is a bet, then so be it! Let's make it a bet! I won't bully you, I'll stake three hundred taels of silver."

  "What?"

  Seeing the hesitant look on his face, Tao Lao's expression turned cold. "If you don't gamble today, then don't think about leaving this place!"

  The sister of the consumptive ghost was frightened and lost her color, whispering a few words in the consumptive ghost's ear, presumably advising his brother not to cause trouble.

  "Alright, alright, but Second Master, let's make a deal, just one bet, okay?" Rui Si looked pitiful, like a hapless dog.

  "Alright!" Old Tao turned his head and scolded, "Damn it! Not one of you has long ears, go get the dice!" A servant hastily ran out.

  ……

  Before long, the dice were brought up, and Tao Lao'er had someone help him steady the table. He stood in front of it, holding the dice and pointing to the center of the table as he said to Rui Si, "Bring out the contract!"

  Rui Si reluctantly took out the contract that was about to turn yellow and placed it on the table.

  "Who goes first, you or me?" Tao Lao Er looked at him with disdain.

  "Second Master, where is your silver?" Rui Si asked cautiously.

  Tao Lao Er was disdainful in his heart, thinking to himself: "Could I still lose to you?" But once he sat down at the gambling table, he had to maintain a gambler's demeanor and couldn't openly bully others. Tao Lao Er immediately turned around and ordered: "Bring me paper and pen!"

  He brought over paper, ink, brush and inkstone. Tao Lao'er wrote "Three hundred taels owed" in a flourish, signed his name below it, stamped his seal, slapped the paper on the table and said: "Is this all right?"

  Rui Si stared blankly at the note, speechless.

  "Damn it, it's written in black and white on the contract, that's the silver, can you still deny it?" It wasn't that Tao Lao Er was being dishonest, but all financial power was in his wife's hands. Besides, who would carry hundreds of taels of silver with them unless it was something important?

  "Are you coming or not? If not, I won't be polite!" Tao Lao Er glared with his eyes.

  Rui Si had no choice but to walk up to the table and say, "I'll go first."

  Tao Lao Er sneered and pushed the sea bowl in front of Rui Si.

  "Six! Six! Six!" Rui shouted, shaking the dice cup and rolling them out. Two of the dice stopped on red sixes, while the third continued to spin wildly in the bowl.

  Tao Lao Er cursed in his heart, "What good luck his mother has."

  Suddenly a burst of laughter around, "Alas..." Rui Si let out a long sigh, the third dice finally turned over, one point.

  "Go against me, Grandpa? Heaven won't even help you! Just wait to become my elder brother-in-law!" As he spoke, he picked up three dice and tossed them into the bowl. He had intended to get a full house, but unexpectedly got two sixes and the third die rolled around in the bowl.

  "Six six six!" The Tao family's housekeeper shouted loudly, his voice overwhelming, and Rui Si's pitiful "One one one" was drowned out by the sound waves.

  "Ha!" The Tao family burst out laughing. In the end, although it wasn't a leopard, the dice showed five points, and they won against Rui Si.

  Tao Lao Er stretched out his hand and snatched the contract from the table, "Damn it! Not a single cent is needed, Grandpa should make some small fortune!" He glanced at the pale-faced sister of the pockmarked ghost and thought to himself: This little girl is really clever, I'll think of a way to get my hands on her someday and taste the fun, can't let such a treasure go to waste!

  "You, you can't go!" Rui Si, who had been as still as a wooden chicken, suddenly blocked the way in front of the door, blocking Tao Lao Er and his group's path.

  "Want to die?" Tao Lao Er glared with his eyes wide open.

  Rui Si begged bitterly, "Second Master, please spare me! Without this contract, my master will break my legs and send me to prison. Second Master, have mercy on me..."

  "Get out!" Old Tao kicked Rui Si with one foot and scolded fiercely: "What business do you have with Grandpa?"

  Just as Tao Lao Er and his group were about to leave, Rui Si suddenly jumped up like a madman, hugging Tao Lao Er's leg: "Second Master, Second Master, can we gamble again? Just once more, please? I beg of you!"

  Tao Lao Er kicked him away with one foot, sneering: "Alright, you have a thousand taels? He raised the contract in his hand: "You just said it yourself, this thing is worth a thousand taels on Hong Kong Island!"

  "This..." Rui Si was on the verge of tears, but as soon as she turned her head, she saw her sister, and her eyes lit up. She quickly scrambled to her feet and ran over to grab her sister's arm, shouting loudly: "Second Master, I'll use my sister as a bet! If you win, I, Fourth Brother, will jump off the building, and my sister and the oil mill will all be yours anyway - it's all just a matter of death!"

  "You, how can you be like this?" Rui Si's sister was so angry that her pretty face turned pale, and she pushed him away with force.

  "Big brother is like a father!" Rui Si shouted, straightening his waist.

  Tao Lao Er sneered and walked over, slapping the contract on the table, and also slapped the "three hundred taels" that he had just crumpled up to tear apart onto the table. He looked at Rui Si with a sly smile: "Sister, don't worry, brother won't reduce your worth, one thousand three hundred taels!"

  Rui Si could be considered a lifesaver, and he hastily rushed to the front of the desk, saying loudly: "Second Master, you're a man of your word, come on, you first!"

  However, this time Tao Lao Er was really unlucky and somehow threw a "1-2-4" while Rui Si got a "1-5-6", the points weren't many but he won.

  Rui Si was overjoyed, holding the contract tightly in his hand, and muttered excitedly: "Heaven has eyes, heaven has eyes." He also said to his sister: "Sister, you go back first!" Rui Si's sister hummed and ignored him.

  Lao Er was stunned for a moment, and the feeling of gaining and losing again was really unbearable. Seeing Rui Si's sister about to leave the house, he stretched out his hand, and the servant immediately blocked her way.

  "Second Master, you can't just ignore what I said!" Rui Si's face was filled with anxiety.

  "Of course, my words count," said Tao Lao Er in a cold voice. "We agreed to only gamble once, but I took pity on you and gambled with you again. You won, so you think you can just leave? That's not possible, let's do it again!" He pointed at the contract and then at the water-like beauty, saying: "The contract is worth 300 taels, and my sister is worth 1,300 taels." As he made a gesture, someone brought over paper and pen, and wrote down "Owes 1,600 taels in total". He signed his name and stamped his seal.

  "Second Master..." Rui Si wanted to speak, but Tao Lao Er glared at him with a fierce expression: "Are you going to gamble or not?"

  Rui Si didn't dare speak again and could only go back to the gambling table.

  Who knew Rui Si's luck had turned around, and he actually threw out a leopard, winning again.

  Tao Lao Er gritted his teeth, not saying another word, and wrote an IOU for 1,600 taels. But Rui Si took out two pieces of paper, one with "1,000" written on it and the other with "300", and carefully placed them on top of the contract, saying: "I'll use these 1,900 taels to gamble with Second Master, and consider the 1,600 taels for the contract and my sister settled!"

  Tao Lao Er flew into a rage, cursing: "Is Grandfather a deadbeat? No way! You want the silver and you want the person too!" As he spoke, he wrote another IOU for 1,900 taels.

  But then Old Liu lost a dozen or more hands in a row, writing IOUs for 3,000 taels one moment and 5,000 taels the next, until he was so angry that he wrote "10,000 taels" once.

  "Come on!" Tao Lao Er's eyes were red from losing.

  Rui Si waved his hand repeatedly, "No more, no more, Second Master. Today is just for fun, forget it. You can keep these IOUs, Second Master. Don't bother Rui Si again in the future, and Rui Si will be eternally grateful!" As he spoke, he made a bow and pushed all the IOUs over to him.

  Tao Lao Er saw that everyone around him was silent and didn't dare to speak, his lungs were about to burst from anger. If things went on like this, how could he still have any face left?

  "How much silver is there in total?" Tao Lao Er asked coldly with a stern face.

  "It doesn't matter anymore." Rui Si shook her head like a rattle drum.

  "Come and count!" Tao Lao Er shouted back, but no one moved. He kicked the little servant beside him with one foot and scolded: "You count clearly for me!"

  The little servant got up quietly, not daring to make a sound, walked over and counted the IOU three times, then ran back and whispered in Tao Lao Er's ear: "Master, 51,000 taels."

  Tao Lao Er slapped him back: "Louder!"

  "Yes! Fifty-one thousand taels!" The young servant covered his face, cursing in his heart, damn it, so unlucky, why didn't you lose to death!

  Tao Lao Er's face turned black as he wrote down the words "52,600 taels in full" and stamped his seal on it. He tossed it onto the table and coldly said: "I bet your sister, the oil mill, and all of Grandfather's IOUs!" As he spoke, he turned around and loudly shouted: "This pair of dice is not suitable for Grandfather, go exchange them for new ones!" But he winked at the servants below, who immediately understood that Second Master wanted a set of loaded dice to cheat with.

  "Second Master, let's just forget it?" Rui Si pleaded with a bitter face, but Tao Lao Er's expression was gloomy and he didn't say a word. Seeing his expression, Rui Si didn't dare to say more and obediently shut her mouth.

  At lunchtime, someone brought new dice, and Tao Lao Er weighed them in his hand and had a plan.

  "Second Master, I...I'll go first, this is the last one, okay?" Rui Si looked like he was about to cry.

  "Fine, die without regrets." Tao Lao Er sneered and pushed the bowl of medicine over.

  Rui Si clasped her hands together in front of her chest, closed her eyes and muttered to herself, it was unclear which god or Buddha she was praying to for protection. Tao Lao Er merely sneered coldly.

  At last, Rui Si grasped the dice in her hand, weighing them again and again, but couldn't bring herself to throw them.

  The pottery owner's servant looked impatient and scolded loudly: "Are you still breastfeeding? Hurry up!"

  Rui Si smiled and finally poured the dice into the sea bowl. The three dice rolled around, and Tao's family servants and guards stared at the dice together, shouting: "One two three! One two three!" They all had a plan in mind, secretly amused by this foolishness, not knowing how he would die.

  Suddenly, the shouting stopped abruptly. The faces of the Tao family's servants were strange and unbelievable as they stared at the three bright red sixes in the Hai bowl.

  Tao Lao Er also stood up and the two of them made a bet, with the first to throw being the winner. This meant that even if Tao Lao Er had thrown three sixes, he would still have lost.

  Rui Si smiled and handed over a stack of IOUs, counting them out one by one. "Tao Er Ye, the total is 103,600 taels of silver. I'll give you three days to come up with it. On the fourth day, I'll be coming to your estate to collect!" Although he still addressed him as 'Er Ye', his tone was completely different from before.

  "Get out!" Rui Si's triangular eyes rolled, and he glared at the Tao family, cursing: "Short of a few silver coins, I'll skin you all alive one by one!"

  At this moment, if Tao Lao Er still doesn't understand, then he's an idiot. It turns out that from the very beginning, this sickly ghost was framing himself, pretending to be a pig eating a tiger, while he himself is actually the real sheep being taken advantage of.

  "Damn it, beat me! Beat them to death, all three of them!" Tao Lao Er was so angry that his lungs were about to burst, and he didn't care about being gentle with the ladies anymore. He just wanted the lives of the three people and to get the IOU back.

  A loud crash, the guard at the front of the high-headed horse suddenly fell to the ground, covering his leg and screaming loudly on the ground, blood seeping from between his fingers.

  But then he saw that the young man who had been sitting silently in the corner slowly stood up, his hand holding a black muzzle with what seemed to be wisps of smoke still rising from it.

  The Tao family stood still, at a loss for what to do.

  "Boom!"

  "Ah!" This time it was Tao Lao Er who clutched his thigh and fell to the ground, letting out a blood-curdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.

  "Get out of here!" Rui cursed loudly.

  The Tao family suddenly came to their senses, carrying the injured Tao Lao Er and rushing out in a swarm, running extremely fast, as if they regretted that their parents had not given birth to two more legs.

  …………………………….

  Votes...