Chapter Fifty-Four: The Four Seas Casino

  Although Yue Fei has already fallen by more than half, on average, the brothers still have to share a big bowl of this Jiang Dabao's carefully crafted spicy and numbing noodles.

  It's indeed "endless bitter sea, rebirth in purgatory". This bowl of Huanglian spicy noodles has left my brothers on the verge of collapse, utterly defeated, and wishing they were dead. The intensity of their suffering is best described in this poem:

  Poor Ya Zuo and his brothers

  Like the bones on the banks of the Wu Ding River

  Drunk and sleeping on the battlefield, don't laugh at me

  How many people have returned from battles since ancient times?

  The brothers finally finished eating noodles with great difficulty and rushed downstairs in a hurry, scattering in all directions. Each of them thought of ways to get rid of the bitter taste in their mouths.

  ……………。。

  The next day at Chen time, Yue Fei and his brothers went up to the second floor of the elegant hall. Jiang Zhen was drinking tea, with an eleven or twelve year old boy beside him.

  Jiang Zhenzi invited his brothers to sit down and introduced, "This is my new adopted son, Zhang Xiaobao. He has been learning from me for half a year. He knows all the major and minor households in Bianliang City, various techniques and tricks, and various ways of cutting. Most importantly, he hasn't officially become a master yet, so the households don't know him. If he leads the way, you can see the real thing. If I were to lead the team, those rascals would put everything away and it wouldn't be good."

  Ladies and gentlemen, during the Song Dynasty, various dialects and slang were all referred to as "qie kou".

  Xiao Bao is a clever person. As soon as Jiang Zhenzi's words fell, he bowed to the crowd of brothers and said: "Everyone, please take care of me, if there's anything, just let me know."

  Yue Fei called Zhang Xiaobao over and rewarded him with a string of copper coins. Zhang Xiaobao knew that he was serving a generous master, so he stood by happily.

  "Let me teach you some tricks. In Bianliang City, there are two good places: one is the brothel; the other is the gambling den. The brothel is a place to deceive people's hearts, and it should be the best place to go, but the drawback is that it takes time to get to the wonderful part. The tricks in the gambling den focus on speed and short time, which suits your training this time. This time, Xiaobao will take you to Bianliang City's largest 'Four Seas Gambling House', each person can only bring ten copper coins in, and come back tonight to tell you again."

  The Four Seas Casino is very close to Wufu Street, just a few streets away. Zhang Xiaobao led his brothers there on foot.

  Just walking two streets, Yue Fei suddenly felt that most of the people on the street were young women, so he asked Xiaobao. Xiaobao explained that this was Women's Street, and most of the shops sold women's goods, such as rouge and powder, various embroidery and sundries, etc.

  As they walked, Xiaobao suddenly said to Yue Fei, "Aren't you going to learn some tricks? Otherwise, I'll demonstrate one for you."

  The brothers all cheered.

  Xiao Bao had Yue Fei and a few others stand under the eaves of a shop to watch, while he himself went out to search for targets everywhere.

  After a while, Xiaobao saw an ayi buying cosmetics at a street stall, coaxing a little boy of several years old behind her. The boy had a large silver necklace around his neck.

  Xiao Bao walked over, bent down and teased the child, saying: "Come on, call me brother."

  The nanny turned her head and saw that it was a handsome young man in his early teens, so she also patted the child's face and said: "Call brother, baby." Then she turned her head and continued to try out those cosmetics.

  The child twisted his body and didn't speak.

  Xiao Bao said: "Don't call me brother, but you have to take your collar." As he spoke, he playfully removed the collar from the child's head.

  Although Xiaobao is very harmonious and friendly, after all, they are strangers, so the child still doesn't want to talk.

  Xiao Bao said again: "If you don't call me, brother will take away baby's collar." Then he took a few steps back.

  The little kid just blinked his eyes a few times and still didn't say anything.

  Xiao Bao continued: "Baby is really naughty, brother has really taken it away."

  ...and then turned around and left.

  The nanny didn't even turn her head, and directly scolded the child, "You don't even call him elder brother, always provoking adults to get angry."

  "I've never seen this person." The boy said.

  The nanny thought for a moment, "Yo." She called out and hurriedly turned her head to look around, but the handsome young man had already disappeared into the crowd.

  ………。

  Zhang Xiaobao brought back the silver necklace, and Niu Gao, Wang Gui and others all praised Xiaobao for being fierce. Tang Huai asked: "How did you know who could be deceived?"

  Zhang Xiaobao blinked and said, "As Fat Daddy taught me, there are three types of people who are easiest to deceive: greedy people, lazy people, and foolish people. The nanny just now was a typical lazy person, so she fell for it right away."

  Yue Fei furrowed his brow and asked Xiaobao: "Is such deceitful behavior in harmony with heaven?"

  Zhang Xiaobao smiled and said to Yue Fei, "Brother Yue, don't worry. Our family has three principles: we don't cheat the lonely and widowed; we don't cheat those who are loyal, brave, and kind; and we don't cheat those who give us money to save our lives. As for the rich people in Bianjing City, aren't they all cruel and evil? Fat Dad said it right, cheating them is actually a good deed."

  Yue Fei heard Xiao Bao's words and thought they made sense, so he continued to follow Xiao Bao forward. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they saw the "Four Seas Casino".

  During the Song Dynasty, the gambling craze was intense. As the largest and most prominent "Four Seas Casino", it was renowned for a time. From afar, the exterior of the "Four Seas Casino" resembled a birdcage, with every gambler who entered seemingly becoming a caged bird. The roof of the casino had many sharp blades shaped like sickles, pointing in all directions, making gamblers even more like birds in a cage at the mercy of others. On top of the "Four Seas Casino", there were many small balls and large balls, with a white circular border below, resembling a white jade plate. From a distance, it seemed like "large pearls and small pearls falling onto a jade plate". The house always emerged as the biggest winner.

  The most sinister feng shui design of the Four Seas Casino is at its entrance. The main gate is built in the shape of a lion's mouth, while the back door resembles a tiger's mouth. When gamblers enter the casino through either door, it's as if they're falling into the mouths of lions and tigers, making it easy for them to be "devoured" by the lions and tigers. Because lions are the kings of all beasts, they have the effect of attracting wealth in feng shui; tigers are ferocious beasts that have the effect of guarding wealth and watching over houses. Therefore, no matter which door gamblers enter the casino through, it's like "leading sheep into the tiger's mouth".

  After listening to Zhang Xiaobao's introduction, the brothers felt surprised and asked Xiaobao: "Since the Feng Shui design of the Four Seas Casino is so unfavorable to gamblers, why are there still so many people going there to gamble?"

  "Because the Four Seas Casino has a great reputation. If there's cheating, and the customers find out, they immediately pay back five times the amount, no questions asked. Other casinos have less capital, so even if they're caught cheating, they don't lose much, and it's not worth their while. That's why business at the Four Seas Casino is getting better and better."

  "What is called 'out of tune'?"

  Xiao Bao replied: "Going out is just a thousand tricks to cheat people."

  Niu Gao asked: "Can we still get out of the casino?"

  Xiao Bao smiled and replied: "Of course. Not only the casino, but also the gamblers have their own tricks. It's just a matter of who is faster with their hands and whose technique is more clever."

  Zhang Xian also chimed in and said: "In that case, if my hands are fast enough, wouldn't I be able to win his casino as well?"

  ……

  As they spoke, they had already arrived at the entrance of the Four Seas Casino - the Lion's Mouth.