He could only take a deep breath to suppress the agitation in his heart, and then casually slapped the sexy buttocks of the two escorts, saying, "Don't rush to play, I'm hungry, I want to eat something first."
"Oh...then we'll accompany the boss to the restaurant...I wonder what kind of food you like, boss? Chinese or Western food? The food and drinks here are all free, but if you want to order expensive dishes like lobster or sea cucumber, you'll have to pay the cost price."
"No need for that..." Yang Hongtao waved his hand in a magnanimous manner and said, "Those things are too much trouble to make and don't taste very good. Besides, I'm mainly here to have some fun. I don't care about Chinese or Western food. I can just eat something simple to fill my stomach and avoid wasting time."
The two escorts looked visibly disappointed. After all, they had always longed for those delicacies and thought they could get a taste this time. Hearing Yang Hongtao say that there was no chance, they couldn't help but curse Yang Hongtao for being stingy in their hearts. However, they dared not show it on their faces and continued to smile and say some cheesy compliments, leading Yang Hongtao and the other two straight to the restaurant.
Yan Jun and Liu Ni exchanged a glance, their faces involuntarily revealing a look of disdain.
Yan Jun sneered inwardly, thinking: I'll teach you to act tough! You think you can get away with taking advantage of these escorts so easily? When you can't come up with a tip, those two women will eat you alive!
After a hearty meal and drinks, Yang Hongtao, clutching the least valuable chip, swaggered into room number one, surrounded by two escorts and Yan Jun and Liu Ni.
The game being played in this room is baccarat. The original facilities in the room have long been removed. The room, which is more than 60 square meters, only has an oval gambling table in the middle, where seven people are currently gambling enthusiastically.
Baccarat is a simple game. It consists of a banker and two players. After the cards are dealt, players compare their points. The highest score is nine points and the lowest is zero points. In some parts of mainland China, this game is also called "smash nine points". Generally, one person is the banker and bets against the others. There is no limit to the number of participants, from two to dozens of people, which is why it is called Baccarat.
In a legitimate casino, the dealer is someone on the casino's side; you could say the gamblers are betting against the casino. However, here, the person organizing the impromptu game resolutely refuses to participate in the actual gambling. Therefore, the dealer is also a gambler. Regardless of who you are, as long as you have enough chips, you can act as the dealer and gamble against other gamblers. If no one is willing to act as the dealer, the gamblers present can take turns acting as the dealer.
However, in baccarat, the chances of winning as the banker are relatively higher, so once the game starts, there's never a shortage of people willing to be the banker. The people in this game have clearly been playing for a while now, long past the initial testing phase, and the bets are getting bigger and bigger; there are practically no chips less than ten thousand left on the table.
The person in charge at this moment was a bald, middle-aged man dressed casually. Judging from his appearance, he looked like any ordinary office worker you could see anywhere on the street. He was so ordinary that he would be lost in a crowd. However, the chips in front of him were piled up like a small mountain. A rough count estimated that the total value was at least three million. This showed how wealthy this man was.
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 15: Baccarat
Beside the bald man, a very alluring escort leaned against him, showering him with attention. She would light his cigarette, feed him water, and distribute chips to him, keeping herself very busy. The bald man was quite generous; whenever he won a lot in a hand, he would casually pick up two low-value chips and stuff them into the escort's bra. Of course, he would also squeeze them hard inside, making the escort moan like a wildcat in heat, constantly crying out "Oh oh yeah yeah."
Upon seeing this scene, the eyes of the two escorts beside Yang Hongtao immediately lit up.
They had both seen the bald man earlier, but he didn't seem like a rich man, so they didn't bother to approach him. That's how that little vixen got the better deal. Now, seeing the little vixen's smug look, how could they not feel regret and resentment?
"Oh... Young Master Zhou is here!"
When Yang Hongtao and his group walked in, the people at the gambling table glanced over. It seemed that most of the seven gamblers present knew Zhou Ziwei. They nodded to Yang Hongtao, and some even greeted him.
However, it was clear that they treated Yan Jun with a greater degree of enthusiasm than they treated Yang Hongtao.
The reason is simple. Although the Yan family is not as powerful as the Zhou family, Yan Jun is the only son of the Yan family. Sooner or later, the vast family fortune will only end up in Yan Jun's pocket. As for Zhou Ziwei... he is already a crown prince who has been publicly deposed. No matter how rich the Zhou family is, it has nothing to do with him. So naturally, no one will take him seriously. They only greet him out of politeness.
"Xiao Jun, what are you doing here?"
When the bald man saw Yan Jun, his brows immediately furrowed.
Yan Jun immediately cursed upon seeing the bald man. It turned out that the bald man's surname was Yuan, and he and Yan Jun's father were childhood best friends and business partners. The bald man had a share in many of the Yan family's businesses. To Yan Jun, he was practically like an uncle. As a child, Yan Jun had been kicked in the butt by the bald man countless times, leaving him with a deep-seated fear. Even now, Yan Jun was more afraid of the bald man than of his father.
Upon seeing the bald man present, Yan Jun nearly ran away in terror. However, seeing that the bald man, though somewhat displeased, didn't appear overly angry, he mustered his courage and forced a smile, saying, "Ah... Uncle Yuan, you're here too! Hehe... I'm just a country bumpkin who's never seen much of the world. I heard there was a private gathering here, so I came with Young Master Zhou to broaden my horizons! Don't you know me? I'm not a big gambler; I'm just here to watch the fun!"
"Hmm... It's fine for young people to like joining in the fun, as long as you don't become like some people and get so obsessed that you can't extricate yourself!"
The bald man's expression softened slightly after hearing Yan Jun's words, but when his gaze swept over Yang Hongtao, a look of disgust immediately appeared on his face. He snorted and said, "But I'm not trying to criticize you... Xiao Jun! Young people must be careful when making friends. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. If you want to make progress, you should get closer to those promising young people. As for those good-for-nothings who can't do anything but eat, drink, gamble, and whore, it's best to stay away from them in the future!"
"Yes, yes, yes... Uncle Yuan, you're right. I'll definitely pay attention in the future!"
Faced with this bald man, Yan Jun didn't dare to utter a single word and could only obediently accept the lesson. However, he couldn't help but vent his resentment on Yang Hongtao, blaming Yang Hongtao for making him get scolded. He had long forgotten that he was the one who had been scheming against Yang Hongtao, trying to make him look bad in front of him.
Furious, Yan Jun could no longer wait to watch the show. Turning his head, he saw Yang Hongtao still putting on an air of inscrutable mystery, standing in front of the gambling table with two escorts on either side, trying to look cool. He couldn't help but snort and said, "Hey, Young Master Zhou, stop acting like a fool! You only have one chip, what are you showing off for? Can't you see that the smallest bet here is tens of thousands of yuan? What are you doing with your worthless chip? Go cool off somewhere else and don't delay Uncle Yuan from winning money!"
As soon as Yan Jun said this, the expressions of the two escort girls who had been clinging to Yang Hongtao immediately changed.
They had always thought Yan Jun was Yang Hongtao's follower, but now it seemed that wasn't the case at all. Moreover, they heard that Yang Hongtao only had one chip in his hand, which made their hearts sink even more.
They've seen plenty of poor people, but they've never seen one who dares to come to a place like this and pretend to be rich. If Yan Jun wasn't lying, then all their previous efforts to be attentive were for nothing.
Or perhaps the only happy person in the whole room was Liu Ni. She had abandoned Zhou Ziwei and eloped with that wandering painter. At first, they enjoyed a few days of romantic life, but soon she discovered that the painter had been secretly keeping in touch with a woman by phone. Under her constant questioning, the wandering painter confessed that he was already married, with a wife and a three-year-old son. He was actually a middle school art teacher, and he was just taking advantage of the summer vacation to experience life and fulfill a childhood dream. When the vacation ended, he would return to school and home. As for his relationship with Liu Ni, he was just playing around.
These words completely devastated Liu Ni, making her realize how naive and ridiculous her impulsive decision had been. However, she was too ashamed to go home, so she decided to venture out on her own.
Over the past few years, Liu Ni has suffered a lot. Whenever she has free time, she can't help but regret not seizing the opportunity. She clearly had a rich boyfriend who loved her to death, but she didn't know how to cherish him. Instead, she insisted on eloping with a poor and destitute conman. But the deed was done, and she knew that even if she turned back immediately, she could never get Zhou Ziwei's forgiveness again!
When Liu Ni returned to Dangyang a few days ago and heard that Zhou Ziwei had gotten married, she couldn't quite describe how she felt. But after learning about Zhou Ziwei's status at home and his current situation, she immediately felt much better.
However, she also longed to see Zhou Ziwei being despised and looked down upon in front of her. Only in that way could she prove that her initial choice was not so wrong, and that even if she had followed Zhou Ziwei all along, she might not have been as successful as she is now!
Now Liu Ni's wish has finally come true. Seeing everyone, even the two escorts who were just flirting with Yang Hongtao, looking at him with such contempt, she felt as comfortable as if she had eaten honey.
However, she was also somewhat puzzled. She wondered when this man, whom she had always perceived as somewhat timid, had become so shameless. Under the contempt of so many people and amidst Yan Jun's mocking words, which were practically insults, he could still maintain a nonchalant smile and leisurely toss that lowest-ranking chip up and down in his hand! Could it be... that he was deaf and blind, and hadn't heard what anyone was saying at all?
In fact, Liu Ni was right. Although Yang Hongtao was neither deaf nor blind, he did not notice Yan Jun and Uncle Yuan's conversation at all. As soon as he entered the room, he couldn't wait to release a wisp of his soul power, which seeped into the card dealing machine on the gambling table.
Then, the playing cards in the card dealing machine became clear to Yang Hongtao one by one. He then calculated according to the rules of baccarat and suddenly realized that the next few hands were surprisingly interesting!
I'll bet on a tie!
After calculating the next few hands with perfect accuracy, Yang Hongtao finally tossed the chip he had been tossing in his hand accurately onto the square on the gambling table marked with the word "Tie".
Seeing this, Bald Uncle Yuan's face darkened again. He snorted and said, "Hey, Young Master Zhou, are you deliberately trying to mess with me? What's wrong with you? You actually have the nerve to throw a thousand yuan's worth of chips into this? Hmph... I know you're a gambler, but even if you want to play, you should find a place that suits your status, right? If you don't know a place, I can recommend one. My fourth son just opened an arcade on Nansha Street. There, you can get half a sack of game tokens with your thousand yuan. I guarantee that even if you're having the worst luck, you won't lose it all in two or three hours!"
Yang Hongtao wasn't angry when he heard what Uncle Yuan said. He just smiled faintly and said, "I know... You must have known that this hand would definitely end in a tie, so you didn't dare to accept my bet, right?"
"You think I'd be afraid of your paltry bet? Hahaha..." Uncle Yuan was amused by Yang Hongtao's words. Although the odds of a tie were as high as 1 to 8, much higher than the odds of a banker and player, Yang Hongtao had only placed a bet of 1,000 yuan. Even if he won, he could only win 8,000 yuan at most. Meanwhile, the other gambler had placed a minimum bet of 20,000 yuan. How could Uncle Yuan be intimidated by Yang Hongtao's 1,000 yuan bet?
"Alright, Young Master Zhou! I know you're trying to provoke me, but... I'll give you this one chance to lose this chip, and then let's see what you can say to me!" At this point, Uncle Yuan had already learned from Yan Jun that Yang Hongtao had actually only exchanged one chip, so he was too lazy to waste any more words with Yang Hongtao and planned to just win the chip from Yang Hongtao and be done with it.
He didn't believe Yang Hongtao was that lucky. If betting on a tie was so easy, everyone would bet on a tie, and who would bet on the banker or the player?
Uncle Yuan nodded, indicating that the dealer could deal the cards.
To prevent gamblers from cheating, although any gambler can be the dealer, the shuffling and dealing of the cards can only be controlled by the dealer. The dealer basically shuffles and deals the cards by operating the dealing machine, thus minimizing the possibility of cheating.
This dealer was also formally trained. Regardless of the amount of bets on the table, it seemed to have no effect on him. He simply dealt the cards one by one according to the rules after receiving the dealer's signal. After a round was finished, he announced the cards in a somewhat mechanical voice, expressionless: "Dealer seven points, Player seven points, Tie—"
As soon as the dealer's voice rang out, everyone in the room froze.
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 16: Three Consecutive Wins
"This kid's luck is still pretty good, he actually managed to win like that!" The other gamblers nearby were either betting on the banker or the player to win, but this time they didn't expect it to actually end in a tie, which made them quite annoyed. However, they weren't too envious of Yang Hongtao. After all, Yang Hongtao had only bet 1,000 yuan. Although there was an eight-fold payout for a tie, he only won 8,000 yuan. Those gamblers would bet at least 30,000 or 50,000 yuan at a time, and some even bet 200,000 or 300,000 yuan. Naturally, they wouldn't be envious of Yang Hongtao's 8,000 yuan.
"What... I've already given you the chips, aren't you going to take them and leave?"
Although the previous round was somewhat unexpected, it was definitely a huge win for Uncle Yuan, with the total bets placed at the gambling table exceeding 300,000.
Aside from Yang Hongtao's 1,000 bet on tie, he had won all the other six people's bets out of the 300,000-plus yuan. The amount he paid out to Yang Hongtao was barely a fraction of what he had won. Therefore, Uncle Yuan was in a good mood. However, he didn't want Yang Hongtao to cause trouble here, so he signaled to Yang Hongtao to quit while he was ahead.
However, Yang Hongtao seemed not to have heard Uncle Yuan's words at all. He didn't even take back the chips that Uncle Yuan had given him, leaving them piled up in the same place along with his original chips.
"Hey... take your chips, we're going to start the next round!"
Seeing that Yang Hongtao was ignoring him, Uncle Yuan became even more annoyed. He snorted and said, "If you don't take them away, I'll assume you've bet all these chips on 'Tie'!"
Yang Hongtao casually raised his eyelids and said, "Since I haven't taken the chips back, of course I'm going to continue betting on a tie... Isn't that obvious?"
"Uh..." Uncle Yuan was taken aback by Yang Hongtao's words, then snorted and ignored Yang Hongtao, nodding to the six gamblers and saying, "Keep betting!"
Seeing this, a middle-aged man next to him shook his head repeatedly and said to Yang Hongtao, "Young Master Zhou, how easy is it to tie in baccarat? You've hit the jackpot once, and you don't have to gamble like this to lose money. I think you should bet on the other two sides instead! Hmm... I'm more optimistic about the banker winning this time, why don't you place a bet with me and give it a try?"
Yang Hongtao knew the man meant well in reminding him, but he pretended to be crazy and said, "What's the point of the other two bets being paid out so little? It's better to bet on a tie, with an eight-fold payout! If I win ten or twenty times in a row, I'll be rich! Or... why don't you try betting on a tie with me five or six times?"
"Me? I... I'd better pass!" The middle-aged man glared at Yang Hongtao as if he were an idiot, and muttered, "It's rare to see two consecutive draws, I'd bet on several draws with you if I had nothing better to do! Uh... several draws... if draws were that easy, the bookmakers would have gone bankrupt long ago!"
Seeing this, the other gamblers burst into laughter. One of them even pulled out his phone, used the calculator, and exclaimed in astonishment, "Wow... you don't know until you calculate it! Don't be fooled by the fact that Young Master Zhou only put in a thousand yuan. If he can really win ten times in a row, then... that thousand yuan can turn into over a trillion! Wow... over a trillion! Then our Young Master Zhou will be the undisputed richest man in the world! Amazing... amazing..."
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man burst out laughing and shook his head repeatedly, saying, "One trillion! Even if he can bet on the tie ten times in a row, Uncle Yuan would still have to pay him one trillion! Even if Uncle Yuan immediately went home and opened a printing press, printing money for fun, it would still take a year and a half to print that one trillion, right?"
Yan Jun, observing coldly, naturally didn't think Yang Hongtao would have such good luck after just one bet. Seeing Uncle Yuan's face turn very ugly, he quickly went to the gambling table and shouted, "Everyone, stop joining in the commotion, hurry up... place your bets! Everyone hurry up, someone can't wait and wants to lose money! Let's just grant him his wish... Hehe... Since you're Uncle Yuan running the betting, I'll support you and bet 20,000 yuan on the player's win."
As Yan Jun spoke, he took two chips from the ones he had just exchanged and threw them onto the gambling table.
Seeing this, the other gamblers stopped joining in the commotion and quickly placed their own bets according to their calculations. However, they either bet on the banker to win or on the player to win, but none of them followed Yang Hongtao's bet on a tie.
"Deal the cards!"
Uncle Yuan had been waiting impatiently for a while. Seeing that the gamblers had already placed their bets, he immediately told the dealer to start dealing the cards.
"Banker gets three points, Player gets three points...Tie!"
As the dealer announced the score, everyone in the room was stunned once again.
"He fooled me again! Can it be that unpredictable?" The middle-aged man said with mixed feelings of regret, "If I had known, I would have bet with him on a tie... Uh... If I had bet all 100,000 I had on the banker... I would have won 800,000 this time!"
Another person said disdainfully, "Come on! If you had known you would wet the bed, you wouldn't have gone to sleep! Just now, Young Master Zhou seemed to be advising you to try betting with him five or six times. It's okay if you missed one chance, there are still four or five more chances, right? Why don't you bet with Young Master Zhou a few more times? I estimate that you won't need many, if you bet correctly three or four times in a row, you'll be guaranteed to win all the chips in front of Uncle Yuan!"
The middle-aged man curled his lip and said, "Do you think I'm stupid? If I had followed the bet and bet on a tie in the last round, that would have been somewhat plausible. But now that we've had two consecutive ties, if I were to bet again... wouldn't that be crazy? Humph... I've been playing baccarat for so many years, and I've never seen a game where we have three consecutive ties!"
"Then you must be ignorant! I've seen not only three consecutive wins, but even six consecutive wins... Oh, right... it was the year before last, when Boss Zheng was the dealer... That guy, six wins, made Boss Zheng a fortune!"
"Oh...you mean that time when Boss Zheng was the dealer...I've heard about that too, but that's a once-in-a-century stroke of luck, how easy is it for us to run into that...Hey...Young Master Zhou, why aren't you taking your chips back? You're not really going to keep betting on a tie, are you?"
Yang Hongtao smiled slightly upon hearing this and said, "Of course...didn't I say...the odds of betting on a tie are high, so of course I'll continue betting on a tie!"
Seeing that Yang Hongtao didn't seem to be joking and was actually going to continue betting on a tie, everyone got excited. After winning two rounds in a row, Yang Hongtao's 1,000 yuan in chips had now become 64,000 yuan. If he won again this time, his 64,000 yuan would immediately multiply to more than 500,000 yuan.
Although none of the people present would take 60,000 or 70,000 yuan seriously, they probably wouldn't have the courage to bet over 60,000 yuan on a draw that was highly unlikely to come up. Sure enough, although the gamblers felt that Yang Hongtao's luck seemed to be very good, considering that there had already been two consecutive draws, none of them thought that there could be a third. So they still placed their bets on Banker's win and Player's win.
But who knew that after the cards were dealt in the third round, both the dealer and the player opened with nine points, resulting in another draw!
As Uncle Yuan slowly pushed a total of 512,000 yuan worth of chips in front of Yang Hongtao, and Yang Hongtao immediately placed all his chips on the tie, a collective gasp filled the room, and then everyone's eyes turned fervent.
In just a few minutes, Yang Hongtao made only three bets, and his pitiful 1,000 yuan chips turned into more than 500,000 yuan. This was simply a casino legend! And having earned so much in the blink of an eye, Yang Hongtao was still not satisfied. He bet all his chips on the tie for the fourth time. If he really won again, then Uncle Yuan would have to pay him more than 4 million yuan!
Uncle Yuan originally had chips worth over three million. He had just won three times in a row. Although he lost over 500,000 to Yang Hongtao, he won nearly one million chips from other gamblers. If Yang Hongtao could win a fourth time, he would almost certainly win back all of Uncle Yuan's capital used for running the game.
This is bizarre! It's really too bizarre!
The other gamblers almost simultaneously stopped betting. They had just witnessed Yang Hongtao's miraculous winning streak in these few rounds, as if possessed by a gambling god, with every bet going in. He seemed unstoppable. Three consecutive rounds yielded results beyond their expectations, gradually instilling in them a strange sense of awe towards Yang Hongtao. They had a vague premonition that he might win again in the fourth round. Although several of them wanted to start betting with Yang Hongtao from this round onwards, seeing the pile of chips in front of Uncle Yuan, clearly tailor-made for Yang Hongtao's bet, they had no choice but to abandon the idea.
It would be disheartening if they won money following Yang Hongtao's lead, only to find that Uncle Yuan had no money to pay out. Since they all believed in Yang Hongtao's luck and anticipated another tie in the next round, who would willingly throw money away on the Banker and Player bets? Therefore, the other gamblers chose to observe, waiting to see if Yang Hongtao would fail miserably, losing all his hard-earned 500,000 yuan, or if he would overcome all obstacles and win four consecutive rounds, sweeping away the well-funded banker, Uncle Yuan!
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 17: Trump Card
Yan Jun was stunned by the series of blows. He had long known that Zhou Ziwei, this spendthrift young master, was a womanizer and a gambler, but he had never heard of Zhou Ziwei having any gambling skills. However, the scene in front of him looked a bit like the scene of the God of Gamblers dominating the world in a Hong Kong movie!
No… how could this kid possibly be a gambling god? He's clearly just hit the jackpot; he might lose everything the next time the cards are dealt! As the saying goes, there's a chance of a second chance, but not a third or fourth. He didn't believe Yang Hongtao's good luck would continue!
Liu Ni and Yan Jun had completely different thoughts. Perhaps it was a woman's intuition that made her feel that the "Zhou Ziwei" in front of her no longer resembled the sentimental yet cowardly young man she remembered, even though he didn't look much different, except that his originally somewhat immature face had become more mature.
However, Liu Ni felt an inexplicable sense of unfamiliarity with the person in front of her, an unfamiliarity that made her heart pound...