Chapter 14: Keeping Warm
Song Qianzhao unconsciously shrank his shoulders and said cautiously, "What are we betting on?"
Wang Ju smiled and said, "With so many of us here, we'll naturally play Pai Gow. What do you think, Boss Zhang, Boss Lin?"
Boss Zhang grinned and said, "Anything is fine, as long as there's something to bet on."
Boss Lin said calmly, "I don't care."
Song Qianzhao lowered his head timidly, his voice as thin as a mosquito: "But I don't know how to play Pai Gow, I only know how to play dice."
Everyone was stunned.
Boss Zhang suddenly turned his gaze to Song Qianzhao, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Little brother, is this your first time in a gambling house?"
After a slight hesitation, Song Qianzhao nodded.
Seeing this, Boss Zhang smiled again and said, "Since this is the young man's first time in the gambling house, we seniors can't bully him. Let's play dice."
Boss Lin glanced at Song Qianzhao and said nonchalantly, "Anything is fine."
Since the three guests wanted to gamble with dice, Wang Ju and Manager Li naturally could not refuse them.
Wang Ju immediately gave a subtle wink to Li Guanshi, who understood and handed the Pai Gow to the attendant behind him, saying in a gruff voice, "Change the dice."
The dice were brought up quickly.
The gambling game went on as planned.
Just as the gambling game was about to begin, Song Qianzhao spoke again.
"I'm a little cold, could you help me add a few more braziers?"
Steward Li glanced at Wang Ju and, seeing that he had no objection, turned to his attendant and whispered, "Add a brazier for the guest."
"One is not enough, we need two, one on each side."
Song Qianzhao said again.
Everyone's attention was once again focused on Song Qianzhao.
Song Qianzhao shrank his neck timidly and whispered softly, "This...isn't this okay?"
Boss Zhang stroked his beard and smiled, "It's not that I can't. It's just that after hearing what you said, I feel a little cold. Manager Li, have your people bring another brazier over."
Boss Lin looked at Song Qianzhao and Boss Zhang for a moment, then asked for a brazier as well.
If the guest has a request, Manager Li will naturally comply.
If a place like this wants to make money, it has to serve its customers well.
As for the trivial matter of Song Qianzhao asking for a brazier, Manager Li and Wang Ju saw nothing wrong with it.
The temperature is not high now, and Song Qianzhao is not wearing much, so it is not excessive to have two braziers.
The charcoal basin in the private room was burning brightly, driving away the cold air in the room.
Song Qianzhao placed his two braziers against the wall, closest to himself.
After the brazier was delivered, the gambling game began.
Another place.
Xiangyun Pawnshop.
After Fan Zhiyu left, the middle-aged man closed the door of the pawnshop and took the painting to the pawnshop's warehouse.
The pawnshop's warehouse covers a large area and has a unique structure.
To prevent thieves from stealing, the warehouse has no windows except for the door. When the door is closed, it becomes an enclosed space.
There was a low house at the entrance, which was the middle-aged man's residence.
The entire warehouse had only one door, and the middle-aged man was guarding the door himself, which largely avoided loss.
The middle-aged man pushed the door open and, with the dim light coming through the crack in the door, he touched the bookshelf against the west wall.
Although the bookshelf is filled with scrolls and paintings, there are only a few that are truly valuable.
Wang Yang took all the valuables back to his house.
As a rule, when the pawnshop received an authentic painting, the middle-aged man would not personally give it to Wang Yang.
Instead, Wang Yang came to take it himself.
This was done to prevent anyone from plotting against Wang Yang.
If someone figured out the time and route that the middle-aged man would take to deliver goods to the palace, and then pretended to pawn something valuable, snatched it back on the way, and then redeemed it with the pawn ticket at the end of the term, Xiangyun Pawnshop would probably lose everything.
Pawnshops had already fallen into this trap before this rule was established.
Not only did he lose a piece of handwritten poetry by a famous person, but he also had to pay 30,000 taels of silver in cash.
Since then, Wang Yang established this rule.
Middle-aged people will be robbed, but Wang Yang will not.
Wang Yang was a government official, and he always traveled in a carriage, with someone escorting him.
More importantly, in the capital, anyone who dares to kidnap an official will be attacked by both the government and the people.
No official wants to suffer the same thing.
The middle-aged man took advantage of the daylight filtering through the crack in the door and found a brocade box wrapped in Shu brocade from the bookshelf. After opening the lid, he put the "Brocade Book and Clouds and Geese" inside.
Then he left the warehouse and waited for Wang Yang's arrival.
While the middle-aged man was quietly waiting for Wang Yang's arrival, the atmosphere in the gambling house had reached its peak.
The four braziers were burning brightly, and the flickering flames illuminated the entire room red.
Manager Li's forehead was covered with sweat, and the sweat drops as big as beans slid down his cheeks and hit the ground, leaving wet marks.
But he didn't care. His eyes were fixed on the table and his whole body was trembling.
The desk was piled high with copper coins, silver ingots and gold bars, forming a small mountain. A rough calculation showed that there were at least three thousand taels of silver.
Boss Zhang, Boss Lin, and Song Qianzhao each had a pile of loose change weighing about two thousand taels in front of them.
But in front of Manager Li and Wang Ju, there was nothing, not a penny.
"Open the cup! We don't have enough time to wait."
Boss Zhang sat at the desk, playing with silver and money in his hands, urging the manager with a smile on his face.
But that smile sent a chill down Manager Li's spine.
His gentle words sounded like a death curse from the underworld to Manager Li, frightening him to the point of trembling with fear.
Just now, Boss Zhang also smiled like this and swept away nearly two thousand taels of gambling money in the gambling house.
The phrase "always win every time you gamble" is very appropriate to describe Boss Zhang.
For nine consecutive games, he won nine games in a row by making small bets and making big profits.
The money he brought increased from one hundred taels to two thousand taels.
Boss Lin never said a word, but he kept betting with Boss Zhang and won more money than Boss Zhang.
Except for losing the first round, Song Qianzhao also won 500 taels in the subsequent bets by following the two bettors.
Boss Lin had lost his previous calmness. Seeing that Manager Li was hesitant to move, he couldn't help but sneer, "Why, you don't dare to open it?"
Manager Li had cold sweat on his forehead, his lips trembled, and he looked at Wang Ju.
At this moment, he no longer cared about hiding his relationship with Wang Ju.
I didn't dare to open it this time.
Boss Zhang, Boss Lin, and Song Qianzhao bet all three thousand taels on a leopard with three sixes, with odds of thirty-six to one. If a leopard with three sixes really comes out, the gambling house cannot afford to pay, and the Wang family behind it cannot afford to pay either.
Since Manager Li dared to manage the Wang family's casino, his gambling skills were naturally impressive, and he was familiar with all the tricks. Even the dice he used today were tampered with and filled with mercury...
If he had met an ordinary customer, he would have been able to sweep the game and win a great prize.
But Boss Lin and Boss Zhang are obviously not ordinary customers.
Manager Li's gambling skills, which he usually controlled with ease, completely failed today as if possessed by an evil spirit.
I wanted to roll big, but the dice fell small.
I intended to go small, but ended up going big.
Whatever Boss Zhang and Boss Lin bet on, that’s what comes out, almost exactly.
Anyone who wasn't a fool could tell that these two were experts, and that they were specifically looking to cause trouble. Li Huai had sensed this as early as the end of the first round.
Because she saw the surprised expression on Manager Li's face after he opened the dice, and she also saw Boss Zhang and Boss Lin exchange glances and smile at each other.
She immediately realized that the two men must be old acquaintances, and their confident attitude made her decide to place a bet with them.
Anyway, Song Qianzhao’s goal is not to win money, and winning or losing is not important to her.
But for Song Qianzhao, being able to win money is also a rare blessing.
After all, no one wants to lose money.
As it turned out, her bet was right.
Wang Ju also sensed ulterior motives from Boss Zhang and the other man. He had never imagined that the two dupes he'd been scouting for on the street were actually experts at playing dumb. They knew his true identity perfectly well, and it was clear they were setting him up. Now that his true identity had been exposed, he decided to stop pretending.
If he continues to pretend, the entire Wang family will lose everything.
The Wang family is not his, he can't afford to lose.
He stood up with a sinister look on his face and saluted the two men, "Gentlemen, I wonder how I, Wang, have offended you."
Boss Zhang still had a smile on his face, but the look he gave Wang Ju was cold. "Are you not pretending anymore?"
Wang Ju smiled reluctantly: "I won't pretend in front of people with discerning eyes."
Boss Zhang ignored him and turned to Boss Lin, smiling, "He can't stand it anymore and is admitting defeat to us. Do you want to stop here?"
Boss Lin glanced at Boss Zhang and said coldly, "If he says he wants to give in, then so be it. He has no grudge against us, so there's no need for him to give in. Even if he has to give in, he should open this leopard first."
It is obvious that Boss Lin is unwilling to settle the matter peacefully.
Upon hearing this, Boss Zhang said to Wang Ju with a smile, "My brother's point is, after this, it's not too late for you to give in..."
"You two, please don't push things too far. Leave a way out so that we can meet again in the future."
Wang Ju's face darkened and he squeezed out words from between his teeth.
Boss Zhang's smile suddenly vanished, and he said coldly, "Always leave some room for improvement so we can meet again in the future. Brother Wang, that's a nice thing to say, but if you can't do it yourself, why do you impose it on me and my brothers?"
Wang Ju's expression changed.
Enemy?
But no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't remember offending the two of them.
The other party showed no mercy, so Wang Ju had to reveal his background. "You two, the gambling house is the property of the Wang family. I am not the only one in the Wang family."
Wang Ju was certain that these two people dared to harm him, and they must have investigated his identity and knew about the existence of his brother, so he brought up his brother's name to intimidate the two people.
"Oh!"
Boss Lin sneered.
Boss Zhang folded his hands, glanced at Wang Yang and sneered, "Do you think our Liaodong Liu family is afraid of your Wang family?"
"Liaodong Liu Family!"
Wang Ju was shocked.
The Liaodong imperial merchant Liu family is no ordinary imperial merchant.
In terms of family wealth, the Wang family's property of more than 100,000 taels makes them just a poor family compared to the Liu family.
In terms of backing, the Wang family’s biggest backer is the censor Wang Yang, but the Liu family’s backer is so strong that it can cover the sky with one hand.
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