Chapter 56 Inner Heaven and Earth

  Yue Fei led his brothers out of the teahouse and into the gambling den.

  The nearest gambling den to Tea Lodge is a fan-tan house.

  A pile of shiny new "Xuanhe Tongbao" copper coins was placed on the table.

  The monk was a middle-aged man, hunched over and stooping, with a slightly puffy face, a pair of large goldfish eyes that were very frightening, and long hands that were somewhat disproportionate to his body height.

  The monk held a bamboo strip about the length of a ruler in his hand, divided the pile of copper coins into two piles, and covered one of them with a small bronze ladle. He pushed it to the middle of the gambling table. Then he placed four wooden trays with "One", "Two", "Three" and "Zero" written on them in front of the table, and slowly said: "Guess who will buy one, guess who will buy two, guess who will buy three, guess who will buy four, each at their own discretion. The more you buy, the more you lose; the less you buy, the less you lose; even if you don't place a bet, you have to be careful and see how others make a fortune..."

  It seems that the boss's words have been said so many times that they are now familiar, with a strong sense of rhythm and cadence, which is quite attractive.

  Around the gambling table, there were originally over ten people: some cautious and vigilant old gamblers; young men with small beards, pretending to be bold and daring; drunk ghosts who had already become dizzy and disoriented; rotten gamblers who had lost so much that their eyes were dull and expressionless; and so on. As soon as they saw Yue Fei's group of burly men approaching, they immediately gave up the best position in the middle.

  Yue Fei, Tang He, Wang Gui and Zhang Xian each placed a bet of one tael of silver, the others also followed suit, only Niu Gao remained unmoved. Yue Fei was surprised, so he quietly asked Old Niu why he didn't place a bet.

  Niu Gao smiled foolishly and said: "My mother doesn't let me gamble, this money can buy a lot of things."

  At this time, a child's voice rang out: "Can't tell if you're a big black man or a filial son."

  The brothers took a look and found it was Zhang Xiaobao who followed them out.

  Wang Gui asked: "Didn't you just say you were waiting for us at the tea house? Why did you follow us over here?"

  Zhang Xiaobao pouted and said: "Fat Daddy told me to follow you guys and teach me not to be lazy."

  Tang Huaiqi quickly said: "Isn't that old fatty still in the inn? How can he know about our situation here?"

  Zhang Xiaobao replied: "Fat Dad's information is indeed very thorough, there's nothing in Bianliang City that he doesn't know about."

  As they spoke, the landlord's slow and drawling voice came over: "The bidding is about to stop, the pot is going to be opened." Everyone's eyes were fixed on the gambling table.

  The shopkeeper opened the short-handled copper tray, revealing the covered "Xuanhe Tongbao" copper coins. One by one, two by two... The shopkeeper spoke slowly, but his hands were quick and skilled. A pile of copper coins, a dozen or so moves, and soon he counted out a remainder of "two".

  Those who win are overjoyed, while those who don't can only curse their bad luck.

  The monk took away the three wooden trays marked "zero", "one" and "three", then compensated a few strings of coins for the tray with the word "two". Among them, only Wang Gui bought it in the middle, and Wang Gui took out two strings of coins from the tray, and his heart was just one word - "cool".

  Three rounds in a row, the gamblers all bet fairly evenly, but the banker lost more and won less, and he spoke with an air of complacency.

  Yue Fei saw such a situation, fourth plate, let all brothers push "one".

  The result is "zero".

  Yue Fei and his brothers pressed the "one" five times in a row. As a result, the remaining number seemed to be hiding, all other numbers were exposed, but only the word "one" was missing.

  Yue Fei then had his brothers stop for a while and observe what was happening.

  Unfortunately, this dish turned out to have a remainder of "one".

  The brothers' faces were filled with that gloom. Yue Fei glanced at the shopkeeper, who was beaming with pride, his puffy eyes narrowed into a straight line, and provocatively said to Yue Fei: "This guest is a pity, if he can hold on for another round, wouldn't he have won?"

  Yue Fei understood in his heart and ignored the shopkeeper, lowering his head to take a glance at Zhang Xiaobao.

  Zhang Xiaobao smiled and took out a note from his pocket, handing it to Yue Fei.

  Yue Fei unfolded the paper and took a look, it was Jiang Zhen's handwriting, which read: "The 36th strategy, the 7th trick: Create something out of nothing - Deception or not deception, but actually deceiving; Minor Yin, Major Yin, Major Yang. The 29th strategy: Blossoms on the tree - Borrowing power to create momentum, small force with great momentum; Swan goose landing on land, its feathers can be used as a ritual object."

  Yue Fei thought for a moment, didn't quite understand, and looked at Xiaobao, shaking his head.

  Zhang Xiaobao saw this, pulled at Yue Fei's clothes, and together with several brothers returned to the tea house. The boss of the tea house still spoke in a mysterious and ambiguous tone: "Goodbye, gentlemen, come back later for revenge."

  Niú Gāo was about to turn around and leave in a huff, but Yue Fei grabbed him with one hand and dragged him back to the tea house.

  This teahouse was specially set up by the casino for gamblers to rest and is free of charge, now it's already full.

  The anger had not dissipated, and he walked to a slightly secluded seat, staring widely at the people present.

  The several people present suddenly saw a few burly men approaching, the leader of whom looked like a fierce god, and were so frightened that they hastily gave up their seats and retreated to one side.

  The brothers sat down. Zhang Xiaobao didn't wait for Yue Fei to speak, and from his pocket he took out that pile of copper coins again, placing them on the table surface, using chopsticks to spread the money around.

  One pile, two piles, three piles, Xiaobao deliberately slowed down... The copper coins were almost gone, everyone saw that this should be a whole number, with no remainder. Unexpectedly, the last pile actually yielded a remainder of "one".

  Niu Gao and others were still marveling, while Yue Fei had already seen clearly: at the second-to-last stall, a copper coin flew out from Xiao Bao's forearm, extremely covertly.

  Yue Fei suddenly enlightened, turned to Xiaobao and said: "Is this creating something out of nothing?"

  Xiao Bao nodded in agreement.

  Yue Fei asked again: "And what about the flowers on the tree?"

  Xiao Bao lightly flicked the copper coin with his chopsticks, and to his surprise, it split into two "Xuanhe Tongbao" coins.

  Yue Fei picked up one of the "Xuanhe Tongbao" coins and examined it closely. The shape looked no different, but the coin body was thinner, and it was difficult to distinguish when spreading the money.

  Yue Fei sighed and said, "So there's a world inside after all. It's indeed true that nine out of ten times it's deceitful." Then he asked Xiaobao, "Your sleeves are rolled up, where did you hide the copper coins?"

  Xiao Bao didn't respond, stretched out his right hand, and placed the shiny forearm in front of his brothers. With his left hand, he picked up a copper coin and stuck it to his right forearm. With a burst of strength, his right forearm was like a magnet, sucking the copper coin onto it.

  Xiaobao stuck three copper coins on his right forearm.

  Zhang Xiaobao flipped his forearm downwards and waved it a few times, but the copper coins didn't fall off. Others wouldn't know, nor was it possible for them to know that there were copper coins stuck on Xiaobao's arm.

  Zhang Xiaobao used his right hand to spread the money twice. The same pile of copper coins, one time with a remainder of "two", and another time with a remainder of "three". Except for Yue Fei, none of the other brothers could see how the copper coins in Xiaobao's hand fell into the pile of copper coins.

  Yue Fei also stretched out his right arm, rolled up his sleeve, and with his left hand picked up a copper coin. Following Xiaobao's method, he pressed the coin onto his forearm. After a while, his left hand loosened, and the coin was also sucked onto his arm.

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  Thank zhuxyhh01, ve2003, hans2006 and beautiful girl 007 for their rewards. Everyone continues to support on Sunday, Chen Dou has no words to express his gratitude.