"Oh? May I go in?"

Jing Zhe pretended to be stupid.

"sure!"

The gatekeeper opened the gate a little wider, and Jing Zhe could see several burly men sitting in the courtyard through the crack. They had gloomy expressions on their faces. When Jing Zhe looked over, they gave him a sizing look, but when they saw that Jing Zhe didn't seem to be a threat, they looked away.

Judging from their appearance, these people are all thugs; they'll take action at the slightest sign of trouble outside.

"Then... can my friend come in with me?"

Jing Zhe gestured towards the wall with his lip.

"friend…"

The gatekeeper was inside and hadn't come out, so he could only see Jing Zhe. Hearing that Jing Zhe had friends, he took a step outside to check on them.

In an instant, the constable standing by made a lightning-fast move, grabbing the guard before he could react and pinning him to the ground.

The burly men inside the gate were all skilled fighters. Hearing the commotion, they all stood up and made to walk over. Before they even reached the gate, a large group of constables rushed in.

"..."

"That old bastard has brought the authorities here!"

"I knew he was no good, I should have killed him just now!"

"Run! The constables are coming!"

The two men ran away cursing, not caring about the people inside. They escaped through the other two doors, knowing that the gambling inside was too big and that if they were caught by the authorities, they would be imprisoned and never see the light of day again!

But their plan backfired. When they rushed out the door, they found the constables waiting for them with their knives raised, the blades sharp and gleaming.

Although they were all skilled fighters, they were ultimately outnumbered and charging in would only lead to their own destruction!

They had no choice but to surrender.

Subsequently, the other constables surrounded the main building of the casino, kicked down the door and entered. All the gamblers and bookmakers inside were captured. Because Li Haoyun was well prepared—the prefect of Jingzhou was much larger than other prefects, and with Li Haoyun bringing out all his forces, the bookmakers didn't even have the will to resist.

The three Du brothers were notorious ruthless figures in Jingzhou's underworld. They had committed murder and arson and had been wanted by the police, but they later went into hiding and opened a casino here.

Despite all their calculations, they never expected to be arrested because of an old man—when they were being escorted out by the constables, they happened to see Zhang Xuehou standing behind a group of constables. Although his eyes were somewhat vacant, he was in much better condition than them.

A young man next to him patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: "Manager Zhang, don't be afraid! You've done a great service this time. If it weren't for you leading the way, Prefect Li really wouldn't have been able to find such a godforsaken place!"

Upon hearing this, the three Du brothers were enraged!

"Shameless old man, if you dared to gamble, you should accept the consequences!"

"You've been gambling for so many years, old man, and you don't play by the rules!"

"You think reporting us will get you out of this? Your gambling amount exceeds two thousand taels. We'll go to jail, and you won't get away with it either!"

"..."

The three Du brothers cursed, one after another, while Zhang Xuehou muttered blankly to himself, "No...it wasn't me...I didn't...I didn't!"

Although I'm furious that the three of them cheated, it's still much better than being locked up in jail, right?

However, even if he said it, no one would believe him.

"Stop talking nonsense! Get out of here!"

Criminals have no human rights in front of court officials. When the three men talked too much, the constables didn't care how fierce they were. Once they were in prison, even the most ruthless character could be made to kneel down and call him grandpa.

After the constables escorted the gamblers and the bookmaker away, Li Haoyun also came out of the house, accompanied by two accountants he had brought from the prefect's residence, each carrying an account book.

This is standard procedure for government agencies to shut down casinos. Some people are responsible for arresting suspects, while others are responsible for counting the gambling money. By the time they came out, the counting had obviously been completed.

Seeing Li Haoyun's radiant face, Jing Zhe laughed and said, "Prefect Li, you look so pleased with yourself. It won't be long before you get promoted again!"

Serving as the prefect of Jingzhou meant frequent exposure, which could lead to promotions or dismissals. Just like Wu Yong, both his merits and mistakes were magnified many times over.

Li Haoyun smiled and said, "I owe a great deal to President Jing's care! If it weren't for President Jing, how could I have shut down the largest casino in Anguo?"

"The largest casino in Anguo?"

Jing Zhe was taken aback: "That amazing?"

Li Haoyun nodded with a smile, "Actually, I didn't expect that such an inconspicuous little place would have gambling funds exceeding ten thousand taels! It seems that this casino has been open for quite some time, and that the three Du brothers have cheated a lot of people out of their money during this period."

He gestured towards Zhang Xuehou and said, "Take him for example. Let him have a taste of success at the beginning, then gradually increase the stakes until he loses everything. So, it's understandable that he lost 10,000 taels of silver!"

"Then we must congratulate Prefect Li in advance! The largest casino in Anguo has fallen into Prefect Li's hands. If our newspaper reports on it and gives Prefect Li a few more appearances, it will be hard for him not to become famous!"

Li Haoyun chuckled to himself, then glanced at Zhang Xuehou behind Jing Zhe and asked, "President Jing, what about him?"

"Do business as it is."

"..."

Zhang Xuehou was stunned. The gentle tone Jing Zhe had used when speaking to him had even given him the illusion that Jing Zhe was going to protect him…

The response was simply, "It's business as usual..."

He wasn't stupid; he knew how unfriendly Anguo's laws were to gamblers, especially those betting large sums of money…

Without a doubt, his betting funds would rank among the top even if all the gamblers in Anguo were included!

Eager to recoup his losses, he immediately started playing a series of games after winning a single round of the "Big Cup" game, only to lose all two thousand taels of silver that Jing Zhe had given him. It was a truly disastrous outcome.

What's worse is that the two thousand taels of silver all belonged to Su Xinping, the heir apparent of the Prince of Jin. Even a commission would only be given to him after Su Xinping's consent...

Even worse, he was arrested.

With his enormous gambling debts, he knew what awaited him after being thrown in jail…

So he quickly pleaded, "President Jing, didn't you just tell me that it was thanks to me that we were able to catch them?"

Jing Zhe glanced at him and said indifferently, "Yes."

"..."

"Then why... do it strictly as a business?"

Jing Zhe laughed: "How about I let you go?"

"Okay, okay!"

Zhang Xuehou was just waiting for these words. Moreover, he was desperate and grasping at straws. He thought that since Jing Zhe had designs on his niece, he wouldn't dare to treat him too badly, right?

Then he said casually, "Young Master Jing, if you marry Xiaoyu in the future, then we'll still be family! Look at our relationship, and I've helped you so much. Your two thousand taels were swindled away by these three people. Why don't you ask Prefect Li to return the money?"

"..."

————