Misty Rain of the Old Times

Amidst the regretful and sympathetic gazes of many around him, Chen Xuan was escorted away by several people. They were regretful that they could no longer make a fortune by betting with Chen Xuan, and they sympathized with him because they thought he would probably suffer the consequences.

Just three bets, each with the highest odds from the authorities, turned a single copper coin into over a hundred taels of silver. Anyone would know there's something fishy going on; it's either a shill or a scam.

Do casinos hire people to win? Of course they do, but they wouldn't hire someone who keeps winning, otherwise everyone would follow suit and the casino would go bankrupt. It's not like it's a special holiday or promotion.

In a casino, winning streaks are not unusual; it's not just three times, but ten or eight times. However, it's unreasonable to consistently bet on the highest odds offered by the authorities.

"What, your casino only allows people to lose but not to win? With hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in turnover every day, people can't afford to play after winning only a hundred taels?" Someone stood up to speak the truth and sneered. He was obviously an old gambler who had lost everything. He was just about to follow Chen Xuan's lead and place a bet when he was taken away. This was unacceptable.

As soon as he said this, many people around him echoed and egged him on, using words to provoke the casino. Once someone takes the lead, some people are always eager to stir up trouble.

The leader who wanted to take Chen Xuan away was in his forties, dressed in a dark purple robe, and was rubbing two jade balls in his hands. He was a master who had opened up the eight extraordinary meridians and one of the casino managers.

Faced with this situation, he remained calm and smiled, saying, "Please don't misunderstand, everyone. We welcome customers here. If we dare to do this business, we're not afraid of losing. We can afford to lose as much as we can. However, this young master is a bit too suspicious, so I plan to ask him a couple of questions alone to make sure he's alright before we can continue. Do you all understand?"

"Hmph, you better be the ones who can't afford to lose, otherwise no one will dare to come again," the speaker sneered. Gamblers, when they're desperate to lose, don't care about anything else. Even if they know that casino owners are a bunch of heartless bastards, they still dare to talk back.

Chen Xuan had a calm smile on his face. He didn't care. He just wanted to earn some pocket money. He had no scruples in this kind of place. If the casino wanted to play any tricks, then there would be more fun than just pocket money.

Chen Xuan was quickly led to a private room. Surrounded by several burly thugs who were watching him menacingly, the head steward gestured for him to drink tea and said with a smile, "This young master has quite the luck, I admire you."

"No problem, no problem. So, this brother brought me here just to talk about this? Or do you think there's something wrong with me?" Chen Xuan took a sip of tea and asked with interest.

Shaking his head, the other party chuckled and said, "No, that's not it, young master, you misunderstand. Our people have observed you carefully, and there's nothing wrong with you. It's just that our person who sits on the stake isn't skilled enough, and you just happened to hit the target every time. It's both luck and skill, which is why I said I admire you."

"Since I have no problem, then what are you all doing here?" Chen Xuan looked around and asked, speechless.

The other party waved his hand and said, "Young master, please don't misunderstand. We didn't mean anything by it. Please accept this small token of our appreciation. We hope you won't feel embarrassed."

As he spoke, the other party took out a stack of silver notes from his pocket and placed them in front of Chen Xuan, each note containing a hundred taels, totaling a thousand taels.

Seeing this, Chen Xuan was completely baffled and asked in astonishment, "What does this mean?"

"Here's the thing, we're in business and we believe in making money through harmony, but our ultimate goal is to make money, right? And you're having such a lucky streak, young master. If you keep winning like this, our casino will be yours after a few more wins. So, please accept this money, young master, as a treat for drinks. How about we be lenient?"

Chen Xuan was immediately delighted. He understood. This guy knew how to handle things. He was very sophisticated. Sending away this plague god for a small amount of money was a piece of cake for them. They wouldn't have to cause any conflict that would affect their business or reputation.

Since they were being so polite, he felt awkward continuing. You can't hit someone who's smiling at you.

So Chen Xuan picked up the silver note, patted it, and said with a smile, "Then I'm sorry."

"Haha, young master is so generous. Consider this a friendly gesture. I have a favor to ask..." The manager laughed heartily as he saw the man hand over the money.

Chen Xuan interrupted with a smile, saying, "Since it's an unreasonable request, then let's not say it."

“Young master is a man of deep feeling, and I apologize for my abruptness. Please, to be honest, I originally intended to offer you 100,000 taels of silver to visit another place, but since you are unwilling, I can only give up on that,” the other party said regretfully, shaking his head as he gestured for him to leave.

With a twitch at the corner of his mouth, Chen Xuan thought to himself that he had been too hasty. Why didn't you say so earlier? What did you mean by "unreasonable request"? If you had just said so, I would have reluctantly agreed. Now that you've already said it outright, what can I do but give up?

It has to be said, this guy is quite something. He's actually willing to spend 100,000 taels to invite me to gamble at another casino. He's generous, but also ruthless. Will he waste that money? If I go to another casino and keep winning like before, he could win back my principal and interest, and even the other casino, if he plays it right. After all, competitors are enemies.

Nobody's an idiot, they're all shrewd bastards.

Since things had come to this, Chen Xuan could only smile and say, "Let's cooperate again in the future. I'm not in the mood for it today." "You're welcome anytime. Well then, no need to see me off," the other party nodded, maintaining a smile throughout. He was a true smiling tiger, getting rid of Chen Xuan for the least amount of money, avoiding conflict, and preserving his reputation. No wonder he was able to become the manager of this casino.

Since they were being so polite, Chen Xuan didn't mind returning the courtesy with a smile. Upon entering the hall, under the astonished gazes of many who had initially been gloating, he smiled and said, "Please continue, everyone. I won't disturb your enjoyment any longer. I've had my fill today, farewell..."

After he left, the steward in the room stopped smiling, shook his head and pretended nothing had happened. The loss of a mere thousand taels was not even a fraction of their daily turnover.

One of the henchmen hesitated and said, "Boss, this isn't our style of handling things like this. When have we ever willingly suffered a loss? Why not make him return his principal and interest? Or we could set a trap to make him lose all his wealth. He doesn't look like a pauper; we should be able to make a fortune!"

The thug speaking had a vicious look on his face, clearly having done this kind of thing many times before. If he dared to run a casino, he must have powerful backers, some of whom were gambling experts with all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. Often, many gamblers would die without even knowing how they died. Once they got involved with this kind of thing, they would unknowingly fall into someone else's trap.

Shaking his head, the manager said helplessly, "Do you think I didn't want to? But I didn't want to die. I even saved the lives of everyone in our casino. I was prepared to bleed a fortune, a full 100,000 taels, to settle things peacefully. I never expected them to be so easy to talk to."

"No way, that young man has such a powerful background?" The thug who spoke looked astonished.

The manager's eyes gleamed as he said, "You guys, open your eyes wider. With most other guests, there are very few we wouldn't dare cheat; everyone at the gambling table has to follow the rules. But he's one of the people we absolutely cannot cheat."

"Why? Is he that special?" one of the thugs asked, somewhat bewildered. "How come I can't see it?"
The person in charge shook his head and said, "Did you see the jade bell at his waist?"

"I saw it, nothing special," someone said after thinking for a moment.

The manager said with a look of disdain, "Isn't that special? Not only does it have dragon patterns, but it also has cloud patterns. The fact that he dares to hang it on his waist so openly means he must have a close relationship with that place. Only someone with the guts of a bear and the courage of a leopard would dare to cheat him!"

"Hiss, dragon pattern and cloud pattern, these two patterns appearing on the same ornament, only Princess Fuyao's mansion has that honor...", a thug gasped as he realized what was happening.

The steward's face darkened, and he angrily rebuked, "Shut up! Be careful what you say! Now you know why I was willing to spend money to send him away. Given his position in His Majesty's heart, he has close ties with that place. If a conflict breaks out, none of us will see the sun rise tomorrow. Don't forget what era we are in now; everyone is on edge. Even our employers can't protect us, and it might even implicate them. His Majesty is just looking for an excuse."

“We’re not very bright, we can’t think of that much,” one of the thugs said hesitantly.

"If you're not quick-witted, just do your job well..."

Chen Xuan was unaware of what happened next. It would have been easy for him to hear those words with his senses, but there was no need for it.

As he walked out of the casino, he had more than a thousand taels of silver in his pocket, which was bulging again. Although this amount of money was nothing in the capital, at least he wouldn't have to sleep on the streets anymore.

He was a fairly principled man. He picked up a copper coin from someone and used it as capital, saying he would return it double. The gambler who had been thrown out was still there when he tossed him two copper coins and walked away. Gamblers like him didn't deserve any sympathy; he wouldn't give them an extra copper coin, not even if they were lost.

The gambler, who had already lost everything, got two coins and happily ran back into the casino, hoping to win back his losses. You could say that such a person deserves to die.

He found an inn, booked a single room, and put everything that had happened before out of his mind. Lying on the bed, he was thinking about how to get the materials for setting up the formation.

He currently has over a thousand taels of silver. Let alone buying the three types of materials, he could probably only afford a fraction of a tael of fire copper, not to mention the quantity he needs and the white cloud wood, which is still nowhere to be found.

"Buying it with money is definitely unrealistic; no amount of money could cover the cost. And we don't have the time or energy to find wild ones. Why does the Zheng family's merchant guild sell fire copper for such a high price? Why don't they just rob it…? Robbery? It's not impossible!"

As Chen Xuan thought about it, his eyes lit up. The Zheng Family Chamber of Commerce was practically robbing people of their money; he could do that too.

'Don't think you're the only ones who know how to steal; I can too!'

Chen Xuan quickly came up with a way to get the materials: to steal them. But it had to be a skillful way—a legal and legitimate way, a way where both parties were willing. In the most likely scenario, the other party would not only willingly hand over what he needed, but might even thank him.

A sophisticated robbery definitely requires capital, and he happens to have over a thousand taels, more than enough. He could probably get what he wanted without even taking a fraction of the cost… (End of Chapter)