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Jiang Songyi pulled her chest into a men's shirt and padded her boots with inch-thick wooden heels. A veil covered her ear piercings, and in the bronze mirror, she looked like a handsome young man. As she entered the casino, clutching the banknotes, she ran into Jiang Baichuan, who had placed his last two ingots of silver.
The casino owner sat cross-legged on a rosewood chair, not even raising his eyelids: "Not for sale."
"The Shengfeng Merchants are here." Jiang Songyi slapped the black iron token on the banknote. The edge of the token knocked against the sandalwood table with a crisp clang.
The boss's dice cup suddenly tilted, and three aces rolled out. He hurriedly stood up and bowed, "Sir, please wait a moment." He clattered up the wooden stairs in his black boots to the second floor.
Jiang Songyi walked to the carved screen partition and, through the gauze, saw Jiang Bochuan pestering Jiang Yuyao for money. That idiot, after losing three rounds in a row, refused to give up and even offered the deed to the Treasure Pavilion as collateral. The dealers exchanged glances and deliberately shook the dice cups.
Suddenly, a cup of cold tea was poured down from the second floor, right beside the gambling table. Everyone looked up, only to see the bamboo curtain sway slightly, and a half-moon-white sleeve brushing against the window lattice. Jiang Songyi understood—it seemed the master of Shengfeng Trading Company was in charge today.
"Please come upstairs, distinguished guest." The boss came down with sweat on his forehead and led her around the noisy gambling tables. The fragrance of agarwood wafted through the private room on the second floor, and the tapping of cup lids could be heard from behind the ink-wash screen.
A man with long, untied hair emerged from behind the screen, his dark hair casually tied with a wolf-hair brush. His wide, moon-white sleeves were stained with a few spots of ink. He gently waved his folding fan, wafting the scent of pine smoke. His foxy eyes curved into crescents. "Miss, do you want to buy a casino?"
Jiang Songyi's heart pounded. She'd deliberately covered her ear piercings with powder, bound her chest so tightly it was choking her, and even her Adam's apple was taped with glue. And yet, to be told she was a woman, her fingers clutched at her sleeves beneath the curtains, she changed her tone to a coquettish one: "With the Shengfeng Commercial Order in hand, are you going to break your promise, young master?"
Sheng Fengmo lifted the edge of her veil with the bone of his fan and caught a glimpse of the false beard stuck to her porcelain-white chin. He chuckled, "Young lady, your disguise is even more interesting than our caravan's disguises as foreign merchants." He suddenly leaned forward, the scent of pine smoke filling his nose. "It's just that her earlobe is bleeding, and her makeup isn't covering it up properly."
Jiang Songyi took two quick steps back, her lower back bumping into Duobao Pavilion, causing the jade vase to sway. Sheng Fengmo steadied the vase with his backhand, the ink-bamboo pattern on his sleeve brushing against the back of her hand. "Buying a casino is easy, but what can you offer me in exchange?"
Suddenly, cheers erupted from downstairs. Jiang Baichuan slammed the shaking deed onto the gambling table, the gilded seal of the Treasure Pavilion deed wrinkling under the dice cup. Jiang Songyi sneered, "Master Shengfeng set him up to take over Treasure Pavilion. If I buy the casino, you won't be able to pull this off."
"Sharp eyes!" Sheng Fengmo clapped his hands three times, and a man wearing a gilded mask appeared from behind the screen. His dark, tight-fitting outfit framed his lean figure. He flicked a jade dice, landing squarely in Jiang Songyi's palm.
"Since you want a casino, I'll give you 30% of my shares in Zhenxiu Pavilion." The masked man's voice was hoarse like gravel grinding against each other. "The Shengfeng Commercial Order can be used to buy three things. This is the first one."
Jiang Songyi crushed the dice, and a wax-wrapped paper ball fell out—the very same copy of the land deed Jiang Baichuan had just pledged. She suddenly realized that Shengfeng Trading Company had already taken possession of the Treasure Pavilion.
"Twenty percent." She raised her foot and crushed the broken pieces of the jade dice. "Plus a favor from Eunuch Gu of the East Factory."
The masked man suddenly laughed muffledly, and the gilded mask flickered with gold fragments in the candlelight: "Did Gu Zheyuan steal or cheat to get the token? That eunuch is not easy to deal with." He brushed the silver bills on the table with his black gloves, and suddenly dark patterns appeared on the bills - it was the mark of the East Factory spy.
Jiang Songyi's back was covered in cold sweat. It turned out that Sheng Fengmo had already been controlling the situation from the moment she revealed the business order. Suddenly, a sound of shattering cups could be heard from downstairs. Jiang Baichuan slumped over amidst the shattered porcelain. The title deed had been stuffed into a gilded box by the dealer.
"30% of the shares, to be delivered tonight at midnight." Sheng Fengmo tapped her shoulder with his folding fan. "Or..." He suddenly pulled off her fake beard, "Your real face in exchange for 20%?"
The masked man suddenly threw a golden dart, which brushed past Jiang Songyi's ear and lodged itself into the window frame. Jiang Yuyao screamed downstairs, "The title deed is gone!"
Jiang Songyi pulled back the veil and turned to leave, but the hidden darts in her sleeves flew towards Sheng Fengmo's face. Her moon-white sleeves billowed like clouds, and when they unfolded again, two willow-leaf darts were lodged in the inky bamboo pattern.
"Young lady, you have great skills." Sheng Fengmo pulled out the hidden dart and licked the blood drop on the tip of the dart with the tip of his tongue. "Sheng Feng will remember this gift."
Sheng Fengmo waved his folding fan lightly, and the cinnabar mole at the corner of his eye shone seductively under the candlelight: "Miss, if you are willing to move to Zuihua Street, I am willing to add ten jars of Western wine as an apology." His voice was like a silk thread soaked in honey, which made people's ears soft.
Jiang Songyi threw the gilded business token up and caught it again: "I want this one." The black iron token hit the jade bracelet, splashing a crisp sound.
The sound of cups tapping could be heard from behind the screen. Sheng Fengmo's fox eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly leaned forward and said, "My dear sister, there are three hundred corpses buried under this casino, and I often hear ghosts crying in the middle of the night."
"That's exactly what I want." Jiang Songyi slammed the 100,000 taels of silver on the table, shaking the blue smoke of the Boshan furnace. "Shengfeng Chamber of Commerce is a golden signboard, so they won't default on their debt, right?"
Sheng Fengmo stared at the dark pattern of "Marquis Yongding's Mansion" on the banknote, and folding fan snapped shut: "Mr. Jiang lost all his family fortune just as his sister came to redeem him. The deep love between brother and sister is really touching." As his fingertips slid across the deed, he pressed heavily on the three words "Jiang Baichuan".
"My last name is Xu." Jiang Songyi pulled out the deed and brushed the parchment across his palm. "I'll vacate the shop within three days. Master Shengfeng won't be reluctant to part with these huanghuali tables and chairs, right?"
Suddenly, the sound of shattering porcelain echoed from behind the screen. Gu Zheyuan stepped out, stepping on the shattered porcelain. His python-patterned hair swept across the blood-red jade curtain. "My tea isn't even cold yet, and Miss Jiang is about to overturn the table?" Pale fingers pinched the celadon cup, their fingertips pressing against the red lotus pattern on its base—the mark of an East Depot spy.
Jiang Songyi's palms were sweaty. In her previous life, when this evildoer had massacred the Ministry of Revenue, he had also played with a red lotus in his hand. She raised her eyes and smiled softly, "If the factory owner is reluctant to part with this tea, I am willing to give him a hundred kilograms of Rain-Predated Longjing tea."
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