Bab 17: Chapter 17: You're Useless When Given the Opportunity
Why does gambling ruin people? Because the house never talks about fairness or justice.
Many gamblers are hopelessly trapped, and one of the main reasons is that they firmly believe in science.
More precisely, in probability.
From a probabilistic standpoint, three dice chaotically spinning around, and the chances of landing on high or low are the same—winning or losing depends solely on luck.
If you lose money, it's just bad luck, slippery and deceiving.
But in reality, it has nothing to do with luck.
The sole purpose of running a casino is to make money from you, not to adopt you as a charity case.
All the meticulous planning is aimed ultimately at emptying the gambler's wallet.
Throughout history, the house's tricks have been many and varied.
Some of these strategies are proven to be unfailingly effective and have stood the test of time.
For instance, luring newcomers into the games, giving them a taste of victory to spark their desires. Then letting them suffer losses, scaring them into compulsive playing.
A few ups and downs later, newcomers lose their minds completely, betting all their assets, and eventually end up with nothing but their underwear.
The Du brothers played this game too.
Wang Yunxiao said he didn't know how to play, but that was no problem—just fix a few games.
The two brothers laughed like scoundrels, their thoughts as plain as the expressions on their faces, thinking Wang Yunxiao couldn't tell.
Wang Yunxiao roped in Loach, and started playing three-card trick with the Du brothers.
The rules were simple: each person had three hidden cards and two revealed, comparing who had the higher cards.
The minimum bet was one coin, and Lv'er had come prepared, having exchanged plenty of one-coin Colorful Banknotes at the bank beforehand.
Currently, there are two types of legal tender circulating on the market. One is the "Industrial Coupons" issued by Xingguo Bank, whose value has always been solid, fully exchangeable for Silver or silver.
But this is a foreign capital bank.
Their ability to issue currency was related to the Imperial Court's campaign in the Northwest years ago. It's said that the Imperial Court couldn't muster sufficient military funds at the time and had to mortgage the rights to issue money as part of the borrowing agreement. Of course, they weren't called banknotes back then, what were issued were bearer bonds.
Because they retained value and were convenient, they naturally became circulating currency.
The other type is the so-called "New Currency," released by the previous Imperial Court about five years ago. Its denominations kept increasing, with the largest even being one million yuan per note—too stiff even to be used for toilet paper.
Both types of notes, known as "Colorful Banknote" and "New Currency," are in circulation with an exchange rate of one to eight thousand five.
Luckily, after the establishment of the new government, the circulation and exchange of the New Currency were not immediately canceled, otherwise, it would be only useful for wiping butts.
The brand new one-coin Colorful Banknote, about three inches square, was less than half the size of a palm. Both sides were printed with blue-green landscape designs, labeled in Chinese, English, and a language Wang Yunxiao couldn't recognize with "Xingguo Bank" and "One-Coin Reserve Coupon".
For the common folk who lacked education and exposure, it was like a colored picture, hence colloquially called a Colorful Banknote.
It was perfect for use as chips.
It was unclear whether it was because of good luck today, or the Du brothers deliberately throwing the game too obviously, or perhaps the legendary newbie protection period had kicked in.
In short, Wang Yunxiao had been winning from the start, winning until his hands and feet were numb, winning to the point where the two brothers across from him were flushed and sweating from their foreheads.
Du Chun had lost a bit too much and, seeing that he once again held a few worthless cards, couldn't help but turn his head towards Guozi, who was dealing, and yelled, "Can't you deal properly?"
With Guozi's fiery temper, he couldn't tolerate such an insult. He immediately threw down the deck and stood up, saying coldly, "Say that again, I dare you."
Wang Yunxiao quickly grabbed Guozi and shouted at Lv'er before turning back and, with a smile, said to Du Ming, who was also holding back Du Chun, "Don't be angry, gentlemen, cool down. You see, our place has just opened and we indeed are short-staffed."
He could swear on the lamp, although there wasn't a lamp there... but Wang Yunxiao really hadn't cheated. His thoughts were actually the same as the Du brothers', which was to meet the mysterious backer behind the scenes as soon as possible, without being suspected.
Unfortunately, his luck was just too hot.
Seeing Wang Yunxiao call Lv'er over to deal, the brothers' expressions eased slightly.
Lv'er took over the table and reshuffled the deck.
Wang Yunxiao watched him hide an Ace at the bottom of the deck and deal it to Du Chun in silence.
Such clumsy cheating. In the casinos of the past, this kid wouldn't have been able to keep his hands.
Just then, Miss Meng and Madame Cui of the Meng Family returned from outside and, seeing the sultry scene in the courtyard, Miss Meng frowned and was about to speak when Madam Cui held her back, gently shook her head, and the two quietly entered the inner room.
Since the two ladies had entered the courtyard, Du Chun hadn't taken his eyes off them. He watched them go inside and shut the door, then turned around with an excited face and asked Lv'er, "You lad, preparing such entertainment?"
He hadn't even noticed the card Lv'er had given him and casually dismissed the entire round with a wave of his hand.
Lv'er quickly replied with a forced smile, "Second Master, you misunderstand. They are the owners of this place, not those kinds of women, they don't engage in such acts."
Upon hearing this, Du Chun grew even more thrilled, "So what if they're the owners? Shouldn't they come out to greet the guests and offer a toast? What's with the young ladies these days lacking such manners and etiquette?"
He deliberately raised his voice, seemingly so the women inside could hear him.
Lv'er's expression shifted slightly. He quickly implored, "Second Master! Please give me some face; don't stoop to their level. You see, they are nuns from the church, we really shouldn't mess with them..."
"Nuns? Aren't they just foreign nuns?"
With an indifferent expression and a sneer, Du Chun said, "Come on, are the buttocks of foreign nuns more precious than those girls halfway hiding behind doors along the river? I couldn't tell; you really look up to foreigners. You think I can't afford it?"
The more he spoke, the uglier it got, causing the surrounding card players to glance sideways.
Lv'er reluctantly kept smiling and speaking nicely, while frantically signaling Wang Yunxiao with his eyes.
Wang Yunxiao got the message instantly. This was the time for him, who was in charge of the money and venue, to act.
As the saying goes, money is hard to earn, and shit is hard to swallow.
The more underground the business, the quicker the money comes in, and the more trouble it attracts.
This was still a good time for him, considering what Youtiao had said about having to pay respects to the powers of both the underworld and heaven a few years back before setting up such a stall in order to safely open for business.
Even though the social environment had improved, it was unavoidable that such troublesome customers would appear.
This was when he needed to step up and handle the situation.
Wang Yunxiao subtly kicked Loach under the table and, putting down his deck of cards with a smile, said, "Second Master, our business here is small, we can't afford the trouble of involving women; please don't make it difficult for Brother Lv'er, okay?"
Hadiah
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