Zhao Yiming couldn't stop Tian An from looking at the river through the telescope, so he racked his brains to think of a way to divert Tian An's attention.
Looking at Xiao Chen, who was leisurely enjoying the scenery with Gu Jinyan, he suddenly said, "Cousin Chen, which dragon boat do you think will win this round?"
Xiao Chen was stunned and said without thinking: "How should I know this?"
Seeing that he had taken the bait, Zhao Yiming continued, "It doesn't seem very interesting at first glance. Why don't we make a bet?"
Xiao Chen was also a playful person, so he agreed immediately and said, "This is a good idea. How do we bet?" As he spoke, he did not forget to call An Yichen and the others and asked them to place bets together.
Sure enough, as soon as they heard that they were going to bet on the gambling ship, everyone's attention was focused on them, and Tian An was no exception.
Seeing that Tian An was finally willing to put down the telescope, Zhao Yiming curled the corners of his lips in satisfaction.
Then he said, "We're not gamblers, we're just having fun. Let's keep it simple. Each of us will choose a dragon boat we like and place a bet of 500 taels! The winner of the chosen dragon boat will receive the money everyone else has bet on."
"Okay, no problem. It just so happens that my palace is almost finished being decorated, so I would like to thank you all in advance for your generous donations." Xiao Chen said shamelessly and was the first to raise his hand in agreement.
"In that case, I, the Duke, would like to thank you all for your help in building my new house."
Five hundred taels per person adds up to several thousand taels, which can be used to build a more exquisite wedding house for himself and Tian An.
Seeing how rampant the two men were, the other people were immediately inspired and took out their banknotes to respond.
They came out today just to please their loved ones, so naturally they brought plenty of banknotes.
It was Zhao Yiming who suggested this. He said generously, "You guys choose first! The rest is mine."
Seeing this, Tian An couldn't understand him. It was clearly him who took the lead in wanting to gamble on the boat, and he acted like he was determined to win, but now he was taking the initiative to be humble and let others choose first.
You have to know that in this kind of situation, the one who chooses first will definitely have the advantage and the one who chooses later will suffer a disadvantage.
Five hundred taels of silver! Even if you throw it into the moat and it still makes a sound, what a spendthrift man!
Compared to Tian An, Xiao Chen and others were happy. When they heard Zhao Yiming let them choose first, they immediately lost all the virtue of humility. After carefully observing the dragon boats below, they rushed to say which team they favored.
He was so quick in speaking that he was afraid that if he was too slow, the team he liked would be snatched away by others.
Among them, Xiao Chen chose the team wearing blue clothes, temporarily referred to as the Blue Team.
After discussing with Zuo Yunshu, An Yichen chose the white team.
Wu Hongkun wore a dark-colored brocade suit today. He said that black suited him well, so he chose the black team.
An Yiji and Wu Hongyi each paid 250 taels of silver to choose the Orange Team, and agreed in advance that they would split the silver equally if they won.
The last remaining red team naturally belonged to Zhao Yiming.
Even though the Red Team was the last one to be picked, he showed no disdain and said, "Red is a festive color. Today's champion will definitely be mine."
Everyone scoffed, saying he was just trying to comfort himself, but he didn't get angry. He just said, "Let's just wait and see."
Seeing his confident look, An Yijie was a little shaken. He looked at Wu Hongyi and whispered, "How about we switch again?"
"Change? Change to the Red Team?" Wu Hongyi carefully observed the several teams on the river again.
I saw that other teams were either cheering each other on or discussing tactics, but the members of the red team were all looking down, chatting and laughing, and some of them were even sleeping.
He decisively refused. With a team like that, it was a wonder they could win. "Don't let Duke Zhao lead you astray. He's definitely trying to trick us into switching teams."
Seeing the two of them mumbling, Zhao Yiming even asked, "Have you all made your choice? Are you sure you don't want to change?"
Several people said that they would trust their first intuition.
Then, a majestic drum sound was heard, and everyone's eyes immediately fell on the river.
The game is about to start.
Hearing the drumbeats, each team immediately made final preparations and was ready to go, and the few people in the red team who were sleeping slowly woke up.
The leader, Jing Yu, stretched himself before saying, "Start preparing."
The teams next to them immediately rolled their eyes. Such a lazy, third-rate team dared to compete with them in dragon boat racing. They must be here to make people laugh!
When Tian An was holding the telescope just now, he felt that the Red Team looked disorganized and undisciplined. He didn't observe them too much and just skipped over them.
At this time, the telescope was taken away by Yaoyao and the others, and it was impossible to see clearly from a distance. So she didn't know that the unselected Red Team was actually composed of Zhao Yiming's secret guards.
Soon, three deafening drum beats were heard, and except for the Red Team, the other teams rushed out like sharp arrows.
Xiao Chen, who was far away on the platform, saw this and laughed out loud, "Are the Red Team here to make fun of us? Why aren't they moving? They're waiting for lunch."
Zhao Yiming looked at the Red Team in the river, his face also furious. Damn Jingyu, if he dared to lose, I would definitely break his legs.
Fortunately, Jingyu saw that the teams next to him had left, and then he remembered that the drum sound just now was the signal for the start of the game.
He immediately gave orders and rowed the dragon boat out with his brothers.
Fortunately, they had a good understanding of each other on a daily basis, and they quickly adjusted their state and cooperated well to catch up.
Seeing this, An Yichen shook his head regretfully, "The cooperation was good, but it's a pity that we lost the initiative. It will be extremely difficult to catch up."
The other people who had placed bets all looked at Zhao Yiming with sympathy, and then thanked him for his generosity with a gloating look.
Especially Xiao Chen, who laughed the loudest. The blue team he chose has always been in the lead and ranked first.
Just when he thought the blue team could successfully reach the finish line and win the first place, he suddenly heard An Yikun and several other children shouting excitedly.
"The Red Team is so fast!"
"Look, they've surpassed the Orange Team."
"Huh?" Xiao Chen quickly stretched his head to look, and sure enough, he saw that the red team had surpassed the orange team in front of him, and was steadily chasing the white team.
The orange team chosen by An Yijie and Wu Hongyi was left behind by several other teams not long after they drove out. The two knew that they had no chance, so they didn't feel much about being overtaken at this time, because they couldn't win anyway.
However, An Yichen and Wu Hongkun, who chose the black team and the white team, suddenly became nervous.
Especially An Yichen, the white team he chose was about to be overtaken! Especially since he had just said that the red team had lost the lead and it would be difficult to catch up.
I didn't expect that it would be so short a time before I was slapped in the face.
The white team also saw the red team about to overtake them, and immediately paddled as hard as they could. In the competition, neither team overtook the other, and they were actually about to catch up with the black team ahead.
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