A legendary beauty in troubled times

  San Zhanggui asked: "Deputy General Liu, are we going to have a big mess or a small mess?" Liu Ziguang was puzzled and said: "What's the difference between big mess and small mess? Is it messy here? I'm not afraid of mess, even if it's as chaotic as 100,000 Qing soldiers rising up!" As he spoke, he patted the White Rainbow Sword at his waist.

  The iron factory behind Wei also followed with a loud shout: "Big chaos, we're going to make big chaos, the more chaotic the better! What scene haven't we seen before?"

  "The so-called 'big chaos' and 'small chaos' refer to the names of the Qinglou buildings on the Qinhuai River. The full name is 'Jiaren', which means 'beautiful people in a chaotic world'. The big chaos refers to the wine towers and Qinglou buildings that are built along the riverbank, where one can drink, listen to music, gamble, and talk with sisters. As long as you have money, there's no pleasure you can't indulge in, hence the name 'big chaos'. The small chaos is a large, luxurious boat owned by the same boss, which cruises on the Qinhuai River all night with its lights shining brightly. Because it has fewer customers than the big chaos, it's called the small chaos. However, its luxury surpasses that of the big chaos. The famous courtesan Dong Xiaowan sings on this small chaos, and it's not a place that ordinary people can visit. You need to have a VIP card, and even then, you're not allowed to bring your servants in. Just one night of drinking and listening to music costs as much silver as my annual salary."

  When it came to Dong Xiaowan, Liu Ziguang noticed that San Zhanggui's eyes were dazed for a moment. Dong Xiaowan was the beauty of Jiangnan who had infatuated Emperor Shunzhi, no wonder San Zhanggui was so infatuated, I must go and see her for myself.

  "San Zhanggui, you mentioned that Guibin brand, we have it at Lianfeng Number." Logically speaking, a large chain enterprise like Lianfeng Number should also have this kind of thing.

  Indeed, San Zhanggui pulled out a jade token from his pocket, with the words "Luanshijia" (Beautiful Woman in a Chaotic World) engraved on it, and a pink silk tassel hanging below. "Return to Deputy General, there is indeed a VIP card in the small room, but it took great effort to get it. Small chaos is not like big chaos, it's not something that can be entered with just money. Generally speaking, only high-ranking officials and nobles are received, ordinary merchants who try to enter with silver will be chased away. Moreover, this VIP card can only allow one person to enter, you see..."

  "Only one person can go in, Third Master you've been in the capital for years, you're definitely not eager to go again. As for my brothers, let them go to the big chaos, all expenses will be on me." Liu Ziguang had the guard bring out his wallet, took out a silver note, and handed a thousand taels to Deng Ken, telling him to take the guards to the big chaos to have fun. He himself followed Third Master to the small chaos to see the world.

  The man and horse parted ways, Duncan led a group of men into the chaos with great enthusiasm. San Zhanggui took Liu Ziguang to the dock at the entrance of the chaotic door. Xiao Luan was already slowly cruising on the Qinhuai River. Later guests could only take a special small boat to catch up and board the painting boat. After checking the VIP card at the dock, Liu Ziguang boarded the small boat. San Zhanggui specially instructed: "Deputy General Liu, please hand over your dagger to me for safekeeping. No weapons are allowed on Xiao Luan."

  Entertainment venues do not allow carrying controlled knives, normal. Liu Ziguang unsheathed the White Rainbow Sword and handed it to San Zhanggui "Take good care of it! This is a precious sword given by the Duke, can't afford any mistakes." San Zhanggui was an industry insider in the military equipment shop, he knew it was a fine treasure as soon as he took it, and hurriedly hugged it in his arms saying: "I'll send it back to the store for safekeeping right away, don't worry, General, enjoy yourself!" He casually pulled out a small silver ingot and tossed it to the boat boy.

  The young servant heard the words "National Duke's Mansion" and "General", knowing that the person getting on the boat was also a big shot, hastily nodded and bowed to greet him. After seeing the small boat row away, San Zhanggui finally turned around and left.

  The boat was moving very slowly, and soon caught up. From the gangway, Liu Ziguo got on board and looked around, and indeed it was extremely luxurious. The national duke's mansion seen during the day was already luxurious enough, but this one had surpassed it. In addition to being luxurious, there was also a kind of extravagant feeling, with the sound of silk and bamboo, women's wild laughter, bright lights, and carved beams and painted buildings. The servants and maids coming and going were all carefully selected, the men were all handsome young boys with red lips and white teeth, and the women were all charming and lovely little girls.

  "It's really a place of indulgence." Liu Ziguang sighed with emotion. On the painting boat, you basically don't need to spend money, and the VIP card itself is bought with a huge amount of silver, so drinking wine, listening to music, and even calling girls to accompany are all free.

  The painting boat is divided into three layers, the first layer is a casino, the second layer is a wine house, and the third layer is a guest room. The topmost is a platform, also a place to enjoy the view and listen to music. It's said that today's headliner Dong Xiaowan won't be performing, instead, someone named Liu Piaopiao will be performing on stage. Liu Ziguo suddenly lost interest and decided to visit the casino.

  Only at the gambling table is money needed. Chips can be exchanged in advance, divided into ten taels, fifty taels, one hundred taels, five hundred taels, one thousand taels, and six types of chips made of gold silk nanmu wood, with gold silk inlays indicating the amount. Liu Ziguang didn't like to gamble, so he didn't go to exchange chips. However, his servant still sent three ten-tael silver chips and a cup of fragrant tea on a golden lacquer tray. Ha ha, this casino's manager has a very Vegas-like style, understanding people's psychology, giving away free chips will make you want to gamble, winning makes you want to win more, losing makes you want to recoup your losses even more. However, this trick didn't work on Liu Ziguang, who had taken psychology as an elective in college and was planning to exchange the chips for real silver and pocket them, when he suddenly saw a familiar figure at the gambling table and immediately changed his mind, walking over.

  Drinking too much wine can be thirsty, Liu Ziguang first drank the fragrant tea, put the teacup aside, sat down at the gambling table, patted the shoulder of the person next to him: "Little brother, what a coincidence, we meet again."

  That person was the flying youth he had saved during the day, now dressed in silk and satin, looking even more like a young noble. He saw Liu Ziguang sit down beside him, without showing much surprise, only saying lightly: "Brother is also a romantic at heart, just arrived in the capital and already coming to Xiaoluan to have some fun."

  Liu Ziguang was about to speak when the young man grabbed him and whispered in his ear, "Follow me, I'll put everything on it." His confident tone left no room for doubt.

  Liu Ziguang smiled and followed the young man to place a bet on Small. This was a simple dice game where you could bet on either Big or Small, or even specific numbers to win more.

  The dice were opened, one two three small, and he won. Liu Ziguang happily took the winning chips, "Little brother, you have a set." The young man smiled silently, gesturing for Liu Ziguang to continue betting with him.

  Another winning streak of over a dozen rounds, the surrounding customers followed the young man's lead and placed their bets, the banker was busy handling the chips, watching as large sums of money were being paid out, starting to feel overwhelmed. He gave a signal to his partner on the side, and immediately someone went to report it.

  A middle-aged man emerged, with a round face and a tall stature, wearing a scholar's attire. Although he was slightly older, it could still be seen that he was very handsome in his youth. A toothpick was tucked into the corner of his mouth, giving off an air of steadiness mixed with a bit of playfulness. Isn't this the ancient version of Chow Yun-fat? Liu Ziguang thought to himself in amazement.

  The middle-aged man sat down at the table and said, "Little friend, you've won quite a bit, how about this: we play a big one. Each of us throws three dice, best two out of three wins, and the stake is all the chips in your hand. If you win, I'll give you double; if you lose, please leave the table, okay?"

  "No problem." The young man lazily picked up a dice cup, shook three dice in his hand and threw them into the cup. "Bet big or bet small?"

  "The first game is blocked by whose small point." Gu Tian Zhou Ruo Fa said.

  The two men started shaking the dice in their hands, staring at each other as they did so. The surrounding gamblers also focused on their every move, following suit and placing their bets. Some regular customers knew that the middle-aged man was a professional gambler hired by the casino, Zhou Wensheng, also known as Zhou Daguang, who had been called the "God of Gambling" in his heyday. As the saying goes, "old ginger is still spicy," so the crowd bet heavily on Zhou Wensheng's side. Only Liu Ziguo continued to place his winning chips on the young man's side.

  After shaking for half a day, it finally stopped. The young man opened the dice cup first, and all three ivory dice had one dot facing up, three ones, small to the extreme! A sigh of relief and murmurs of discussion erupted around them.

  Zhou Wenqiang smiled faintly. "Look closely, young friend." Slowly lifting the gambling cup, surprisingly three ivory dice were stacked together, with the top one pointing upwards, and all three dice showed a single dot, it was unbelievable, worthy of being called a god of gamblers. The young man lost the first round, and the surrounding gamblers became excited again.

  The second game was more intense, and just as the young man was about to pick up the dice cup, Liu Ziguang stopped him: "Are you planning to throw three sixes?" The young man didn't quite understand what Liu Ziguang meant. "Yes, what's wrong with that?"

  "Let me do it." Liu Ziguang said, having watched so many gambling movies before, now they finally come in handy. Although the three sixes are big, they definitely can't win, that Zhou Wenqiang must have worked hard on the dice.

  "Are they together?" Zhou Wenqiang asked. After confirmation, the gambling continued. Liu Ziguang also pretended to check the dice.

  This time Zhou Wenqiang's dizziness lasted a bit longer, while Liu Ziguang just casually shook his head a few times.

  When it was reopened, Zhou Wenqiang's dice were indeed shocking. Not only did he throw out three sixes, but one of the dice also broke in half, with another side facing up, which was a single point. In total, it was nineteen points, more than three sixes by a little bit. The surrounding gamblers couldn't stop praising him, and someone even said that the game could already be ended, having won two out of three rounds, and even if Liu Zigang threw out three sixes, he would still lose for sure.

  "You're all celebrating too early." Liu Ziguang said, slowly lifting the lid of the dice cup in front of him. The pieces were all broken into fragments, a total of six pieces, and they were all neatly broken. Counting the scattered dots, there were 22 points in total. Liu Ziguang had won. Just now, he had already tampered with the three dice, and one shake would make them break apart.

  The gamblers finally realized that today was a showdown between masters, and being able to see a master who could win over the god of gambling was definitely something worth bragging about. Everyone got excited. Even customers drinking and listening to music upstairs came down to watch.

  In the next room, the casino manager was reporting to the old madam: "These two people are obviously here to cause trouble, do you want to throw them into the Yangtze River to feed the fish?"

  The madam was a middle-aged woman dressed in gold and silver jewelry, who calmly waved her hand: "In the capital city, the water is murky. What's the origin of these two people? Have you figured it out?"

  "The older one was sent by San Zhuanggui of Lianfeng Number Three, a stranger, probably a guest from Liguo Iron Factory. The younger one holding the Guibin card is from the palace, but not the highest level."

  "One is a guest of the Refining Edge, and the other is a eunuch's nephew, yet they dare to make trouble on the Riverside Beauty's pleasure boat. Truly, they don't know how high the sky is or how thick the earth is! Have someone break their hands and feet and throw them into the river. If we don't teach these people a lesson, they'll really think we have no backing."

  "Get them." The casino staff immediately went out to gather thugs. Seven or eight burly men with scars on their faces surrounded them, staring at Liu Ziguang and the young man at the cabin door according to the staff's pointing. "See? Those two idiots, they actually came to our place to cause trouble, brothers take note, after the gambling session is over, I'll go call them over, you guys get ready with the sacks, first beat them until they can't take care of themselves."

  The casino is still in operation.