The wind blew the copper bells from the eaves of the gambling house, jingling loudly. Jiang Baichuan stood at the entrance of the alley, his dark brocade robe stained with wine. He stared at the bulging pouch at Jiang Qingmo's waist, his Adam's apple rolling. "My dear cousin, can you lend me some money?"
With a rustling sound, Jiang Qingmo flung open the banknotes. The cinnabar print on the mulberry paper shone bright red in the sunlight. She held a corner of the banknote and waved it in front of Jiang Baichuan's nose. "One thousand taels, is that enough to buy that piece of mutton-fat jade around your waist?"
Jiang Yuyao twisted her handkerchief and took a half step back into the shadows—the thickness of the banknotes was equivalent to half a box of her jewelry. The jade-inlaid hairpin that the Fourth Prince had given her suddenly felt incredibly heavy, pressing down on the back of her neck.
"If I win, I'll give you ten thousand taels!" Jiang Baichuan reached out to grab the banknote, but it slid back into the purse embroidered with lotus flowers like a snake. Jiang Qingmo sneered and tightened the drawstring: "If you're a gambler, even dogs won't eat you."
Jiang Baichuan turned to the girl in red clothes who had been standing silently for a long time and softened his tone: "Songyi, second brother will definitely make a comeback this time!"
"I think Sister Yuyao's hairpin is quite nice." Jiang Songyi suddenly used her round fan to pick up the golden filigree phoenix hairpin on Jiang Yuyao's temples. "It's a gift from the Fourth Prince, so the pawnshop should give a good price for it."
Jiang Yuyao hurriedly protected her hair bun: "This is a gift from the emperor!" The jade earrings dangled around her neck, reflecting the panic in her eyes.
"So the word 'support' is just empty talk." Jiang Songyi covered her lips with a round fan, and the silk-colored painting of a civet cat playing with a butterfly trembled with laughter. Jiang Baichuan stared at his sister's eyebrows, and suddenly heard a thunderous voice in the air -
"In your previous life, you believed this treacherous woman's sweet words and pawned the Treasure Pavilion to the casino. When you lost everything, did she pawn half of her ring?"
Cold sweat trickled down his spine, and Jiang Baichuan suddenly remembered how Jiang Yuyao had softly advised him at the gambling table yesterday, "One more bet will definitely turn the tables." At that moment, those affectionate eyes dodged, like a night owl burned by the scorching sun.
"Second Young Master, do you still want to borrow?" Jiang Songyi suddenly took a half step closer, pressing the round fan against his chest. "The key to the storehouse is under my mother's pillow, and my father's spirit tablet is in the ancestral hall. Why not!"
"Enough!" Jiang Baichuan stumbled back, knocking over a jar of pickled vegetables at the alley entrance. The sour juice soaked through his brocade boots, but he seemed oblivious, staring at the ants struggling in the cracks between the bricks—resembling himself yesterday, picking up chips from under the gambling table.
Jiang Qingmo was about to leave, tugging at her cousin's sleeve, when she suddenly saw Jiang Bochuan following like a ghost three steps away. His usually flamboyant black clothes were dragging in the dust, making him look like a lost dog.
"Why are you following us?" Jiang Qingmo stood between us like a protective child, "Are you trying to steal?"
"Let him follow." Jiang Songyi interrupted, the gentle flick of her round fan startling birds from the willow branches. In her previous life, this dandy would have already returned to the casino and stolen the land deeds from the Marquis's mansion as collateral. Now, in such a state of despair, he was even more ridiculous than a clown on the stage.
When the vermilion lacquer gate of the Marquis's mansion creaked open, Jiang Baichuan stumbled over the threshold. The gatekeeper held up a lantern to illuminate his pale face and cried out in alarm, startling the birds sleeping under the eaves: "Second Young Master, what's this!"
Jiang Songyi stopped and looked back, her eyebrows and eyes made out by the glass lamp: "Could it be that second brother has walked into the wrong door? The gambling house is in the west of the city." She deliberately emphasized the word "gambling house" and watched Jiang Yuyao shrink into the shadows with satisfaction.
"Me!" Jiang Baichuan's throat rolled as he suddenly lunged for the celadon jar behind the screen wall. As the koi fish darted away in shock, he scooped up cold water and splashed it on his face. The water dripped down his cheek from his gold hairband, leaving dark stains on the stone slabs.
Jiang Qingmo pulled his cousin towards the inner courtyard and asked in a low voice, "Is she possessed by an evil spirit?" But Jiang Songyi had a sneer on her lips and was tapping her palms rhythmically with the handle of her round fan - this was her usual action when she was plotting against someone.
The sound of the night watch drum pierced through the triple moon-shaped gate, and Jiang Baichuan, as if possessed by a mysterious force, reached the ancestral hall. The newly replaced sandalwood incense on the altar rose in a wisp of smoke, and his father's spirit tablet flickered in the haze. He suddenly seized the ruler and lashed it across his palm. The sound of the bamboo clappers breaking through the air startled the night watchwoman, who knocked over the oil lamp.
"The Second Young Master has gone mad!" The exclamation startled the entire mansion. When Jiang Songyi rushed over, she saw Jiang Baichuan kneeling on the futon, his left hand swollen and his ruler broken into three pieces scattered under the altar.
Mrs. Xu rushed in with a lantern, raising her hand to strike him. But the cane hung in the air, because her son's eyes were clearer than ever before.
"Mother, I want to learn how to manage accounts." Jiang Baichuan's voice was hoarse, blood foam dripping from the corner of his mouth. "The deed to the Zhenxiu Pavilion!"
"I redeemed it a long time ago." Jiang Songyi suddenly spoke, her round fan lifting his chin. "I used the jade screen you pawned to pay for it." She looked at her brother with satisfaction, her pupils shrinking. "Second brother, do you know that the list of betrothal gifts that mother saved for you is hidden in the interlayer of that screen?"
Jiang Yuyao hid behind a pillar, her fingertips digging deep into her palms. The hairpins the Fourth Prince had given her pricked her scalp, but she was oblivious—the silhouettes of the siblings reflected on the window paper looked an awful lot like their father teaching their eldest brother spearmanship when he was still alive.
As dusk stained the eaves of the Marquis's mansion red, Jiang Baichuan trudged through the hanging flower gate. The back of his neck burned; he didn't even need to turn around to know the look Jiang Songyi was giving him—a gaze like a whip dipped in salt water, lashing his back with burning pain.
The deafening roar of the casino still lingered in his ears. Clutching his empty wallet, he stumbled on the threshold. The excitement he'd felt when he first entered the gambling den ten years ago had long since worn away, leaving only a bitter taste in his mouth. Of the three Jiang brothers, the eldest could write brilliant essays, the youngest could draw a three-stone bow, but he alone couldn't even make the sound of lead on the dice.
“Bang!”
A copper-tipped cane lashed at his knees, and Jiang Baichuan stumbled, clinging to the stone lantern. Turning, he saw Xu standing beneath the wisteria trellis, her pale face tinged with a sallow hue by the dusk. Two servants followed behind, carrying a cane box filled with the pawn tickets he had lost gambling over the years.
"Where is the title deed to Zhenxiu Pavilion?" Xu's voice was shaking violently, and the Buddhist beads on her wrist made a banging sound against the rattan stick.
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