My cousin-in-law helped me achieve my ambitions.

"You might as well sell me off!" Qiu Tong rolled her eyes at him and said, "Your sister-in-law doesn't have that much money."

Su Ming felt a pang of bitterness. It seemed that even his cousin-in-law couldn't bail him out after those three thousand ICs went bust. Appeasing Lin Shumei and managing the arcade well were his only two options for survival.

He forced a smile and replied to Qiu Tong, "I was just kidding."

"I can tell you're joking." Qiu Tong smiled and put her hand on Su Ming's shoulder, saying softly, "Su Ming, you've really grown up! Your cousin-in-law knows you care about me and won't squander my money. You're the only man I can rely on in this city."

"Then Jiang Jian, he..." Su Ming wanted to ask the man behind her.

"Can we not mention him?" Qiu Tong gave a bitter smile, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Sister-in-law, what's wrong?" Su Ming asked with concern. "Did you two have a fight...?"

"Fool, how could I dare to have a conflict with him..." Qiu Tong said with a bitter smile, "He's my sugar daddy, and I'm just his pet canary. Have you heard the song 'Caged Bird'? My cousin-in-law is nothing more than a pitiful little bird he keeps in a cage..."

"Sister-in-law, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned him..." Su Ming suddenly remembered his own experience. Wasn't he also a bird kept by Lin Shumei? Although he could manipulate Lin Shumei in return, it was limited to the moment when she was aroused.

"It's nothing!" Qiu Tong brushed a stray hair from her forehead and forced a smile. "My cousin-in-law is actually a good person. She's just feeling uncertain about the future. Okay, let's not think about it anymore. Come on, let me give you a hug..."

As she spoke, she suddenly opened her arms and hugged Su Ming.

"Mmm!" Su Ming hugged her tightly as well.

The two embraced, which triggered an instinctive reaction in Su Ming. He felt sorry for her, wanted to protect her, and a primal desire stirred within him.

Suddenly, he wanted to lift her cheeks and kiss her hard.

Just then, Su Ming's phone rang at an inopportune moment.

He quickly let go of her, frantically pulled out his phone, and his heart tightened again when he saw the screen.

Caller ID: Bao Yazhong.

He held the 20,000 yuan in one hand, then looked at his phone, and for a moment he was at a loss.

Qiu Tong glanced at Su Ming's phone, a playful smile playing on her lips: "What? Was that Yang Tian calling?"

"Hmm!" Su Ming nodded awkwardly, then hung up the phone. He didn't dare tell the truth!

"Then why aren't you going yet?" Qiu Tong nudged him, her tone urging him on. "Go on, business is important."

Looking at her, Su Ming felt a warm current well up in his heart, along with a strange sense of guilt. He put the money in his bag and then turned away.

He stopped at the door, turned around, and said earnestly to Qiu Tong, "Sister-in-law, thank you! You're so kind!"

Qiu Tong smiled and waved at him, "Go on! Don't keep Yang Tian waiting too long."

Su Ming wanted to say it wasn't Yang Tian, ​​but he couldn't find a suitable excuse.

Without further hesitation, he turned and strode out the door.

As soon as he left the apartment, he dialed Bao Yazhong's number.

Bao Yazhong grinned broadly, "Dude, business is picking up at our shop. Want to come take a look? There are still people playing, haha, the three slot machines are packed with people! Come on over, I'm planning to close at midnight, let's settle the accounts and then go grab some late-night snacks."

"Great, I'm coming right now." Su Ming replied and immediately hailed a motorcycle and headed straight for the Yinshan Industrial Zone.

He rushed to the shop he rented and saw that the arcade was indeed full of people. Several casual customers were playing coin games, and there was a crowd gathered around the three slot machines.

Two energetic young women were also busy nearby, creating a lively atmosphere.

As soon as Su Ming entered, Bao Yazhong immediately went to greet him with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Haha, buddy, you've come at the right time. How's business? Not bad, right?"

"Hmm, not bad. If it were like this every day, that would be great." Su Ming seemed a little excited.

"Absolutely, we can definitely do this every day. Come on, let's go take a look." Bao Yazhong pulled Su Ming to the slot machine.

The two stared at the three slot machines, where young workers in overalls were throwing handfuls of coins into them, as if the coins were free.

Su Ming stared at the numbers flashing on the slot machine, his heart pounding with joy! He'd only been watching for ten minutes when he roughly estimated that two or three hundred yuan had already been put in, but the coins he'd been giving out were probably only around a hundred yuan. As long as someone was playing, he could probably earn two or three hundred yuan an hour.

This guy is a real money-grubbing tiger; he just opens his mouth and tries to eat money.

Just as Su Ming was sighing, Bao Yazhong grabbed Su Ming's clothes and led him to a corner.

"Oh, right!" Bao Yazhong seemed to remember something, and took out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket, handing them to Su Ming. "This is some good stuff I just got, it'll definitely be useful in our line of work. Take it back and study it carefully."

Su Ming curiously took the notebook, opened it, and saw that it was filled with densely packed records of various slot machine models, odds settings, and some circuit diagrams that he couldn't understand.

"What is this?"

Bao Yazhong chuckled, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, "This is called a 'remote scoring device.' To put it bluntly, it's a cheat device. It can add or subtract points from the machine without anyone noticing. Then, you can make whoever you want win, or whoever you want lose. This thing is our real cash cow!"

Upon hearing this, Su Ming was startled and instinctively reached out to return the notebook to him.

Bao Yazhong pressed his hand down and said earnestly, "Ming-ge, I know you're kind-hearted. But in business, you can't stand firm without being ruthless. We're not running a charity, we're a casino! How can we make money without resorting to tricks?"

He pointed to the notebook: "Take it back and take a good look. This isn't stealing, it's taking. It's taken from the people, and used for...ourselves!"

"Wait a minute! Didn't you say it could automatically adjust the odds?" Su Ming asked curiously, "Once it's adjusted, you just don't need to do anything about it."

"Hey buddy, you're too naive." Bao Yazhong patted Su Ming on the shoulder and said, "This thing needs to be adjusted up and down sometimes to make it work! When you encounter someone who's really into it, you can lower it a bit, especially right after payday, when the money just comes in!"

"This..." Su Ming was somewhat reluctant.

Bao Yazhong chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Dude, think positively. This thing is all about making money off gamblers. What's a gambler? It's someone who gets addicted as soon as they touch gambling. Even if they didn't come to play slot machines, they would have gone to play other forms of gambling. They're going to lose sooner or later anyway. It just so happens that he came here to play. He can't control himself, so who can he blame? As long as he doesn't get carried away, I guarantee that no one will lose much. If he does get carried away, there's nothing we can do about it."

"Alright!" Su Ming nodded helplessly, holding the small notebook, looking at Bao Yazhong's face full of "shrewdness", feeling a mix of emotions.

He knew that from the moment he decided to open the arcade, he had embarked on a path of no return.

On this path, there is no right or wrong, only winning or losing.