Zhou Xuan's hands, which had been in his pockets and were warm, became somewhat annoyed when he saw Wei Xiaoqing disregarding her own health. He dragged her towards the market on the street. When they reached the steps on the street, the snowflakes stopped falling on them, and he gently rubbed her cold hands with his own.
Wei Xiaoqing tilted her head and looked at Zhou Xuan. She didn't pull her hand away or object. She just sighed and then said, "Zhou Xuan, I really want to ignore you and forget you. I'm also very proud, but I just can't forget you. I know you can't give me what I want, but I still can't help thinking about you. What should I do?"
Zhou Xuan was taken aback, immediately released her hand, and hesitated for a long time before answering, "Xiao Qing, you know!"
"I don't know, I don't know, I just don't know!"
Wei Xiaoqing suddenly covered her face and cried out, her emotions running high!
Passersby also looked over, and Zhou Xuan felt embarrassed, so he quickly pulled Wei Xiaoqing to another alley.
The main reason was that Wei Xiaoqing was too beautiful, and the men in the crowd were all very resentful. They usually liked to show off in front of pretty girls, so naturally they wanted to strongly despise Zhou Xuan. As a man, making such a beautiful girl sad, no matter what, was something a man shouldn't do.
The alley that Zhou Xuan pulled Wei Xiaoqing into was a snack street. The street was not wide, and there were snack shops on both sides. However, most of these snack shops were not the same type. For example, there were dumplings from Northeast China, steamed buns from Tianjin, snacks from all over the country, and even Xinjiang halal snacks.
We definitely came to the right place!
These snacks are enough for two people to eat their fill; fifty yuan won't even be enough. They're delicious and cheap, unlike high-end restaurants where a hundred yuan wouldn't even cover the cost.
"Xiaoqing, what do you want to eat? These things are cheap and delicious!" Zhou Xuan asked Wei Xiaoqing, pointing to the shops.
"I don't want to eat anything, I just want to go shopping and take a walk!"
Zhou Xuan felt somewhat helpless. The snow was heavy and the weather was cold and freezing. He hadn't brought any money, so what was the point of strolling around the streets? More importantly, he wasn't in the mood for it. He could never betray Yingying, so this seemingly romantic but unromantic thing was pointless.
After walking for a few more minutes, we turned the corner of the street. There was a large vegetable market next to it, with a pedestrian passage that was six or seven meters wide. People were coming and going to buy vegetables, but there were seven or eight people gathered around the entrance and exit, some squatting and some standing, forming a circle.
Wei Xiaoqing pulled Zhou Xuan along, saying, "Let's go take a look!"
Squeezing through the crowd to the front, Zhou Xuan saw that it was a group of people gambling.
This kind of gambling is purely a scam. Unlike other games, these people usually work in groups, with as many as a dozen or as few as seven or eight. Some are in charge of setting up the game, some are pretending to be players and placing bets, and others are on lookouts. If the police arrive, they quickly signal for them to come out, and the group will scatter or pack up their loot and pretend nothing happened. Once the police leave, they will start playing again.
Zhou Xuan had seen many such scams in the south. These scammers were most common in markets and alleyways, and their methods weren't very sophisticated. They usually used two small lids and some small objects as props, such as sunflower seeds, peanuts, or coins. Sometimes they would play a game of guessing whether it was odd or even. For example, there were usually six or seven sunflower seeds or peanuts, not too many. They would cover the lids and then guess whether it was odd or even.
It's very simple. When the scammer puts the lid on, they do it very slowly, making sure that bystanders can see it clearly. This makes onlookers think it's a sure thing to win, and that's why they can't resist placing bets.
The bookmakers usually have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. If it's just their own people betting, they'll let them win money easily. This blatant way of enticing people is very likely to tempt onlookers to place bets.
However, there are too many scams like this, and they're too old-fashioned. Only the lowest-level thugs would still do such things, and it's very risky because there are also many plainclothes police officers. If someone calls the police and the 110 (police emergency services) arrives in a car, they generally won't be caught. They have sentries on both sides of the road who will immediately give a signal as soon as they see a police officer or police car approaching.
But no matter how old-fashioned the scam is, there are still some rural people who have just come out of the internet, or old men and women who fall for it. They think that this money is so easy to make, winning a hundred is enough, they don't need to win more, they just want to get a day or several days' worth of groceries for free. They don't know that once they place a bet, they will lose the groceries for many days, and some will even lose all the money they have.
These scammers' methods are not sophisticated; they mainly rely on working in groups. Some victims realize they've been tricked almost immediately, but the scammers, with their large numbers, will fight and rob, managing to steal even if they don't manage to scam anyone. Then they'll scatter and go back to divide the money.
Zhou Xuan glanced around. There were about fifteen or sixteen onlookers, more than half of whom were watching. Zhou Xuan guessed that these people were just passersby. The bookmaker who was pulling the strings was a man in his mid-twenties. There were four men and two women standing by, holding money and shouting for bets. Judging from their furtive glances and furtive manner, Zhou Xuan knew that they were in cahoots.
"Xiaoqing, let's go, there's nothing to see!" Zhou Xuan pulled Wei Xiaoqing towards the edge of the crowd, but Wei Xiaoqing twisted her arm and grabbed his hand, whispering, "Wait a minute!"
Zhou Xuan assumed she didn't know what these people did. So he leaned close and whispered in her ear, "Xiaoqing, these people are scammers. There are more than a dozen of them. Don't recommend them. You won't win if you gamble with them!"
Zhou Xuan didn't even realize that his lips were touching Wei Xiaoqing's ear when he said this. Wei Xiaoqing's face turned bright red instantly, and her ear felt hot.
After Zhou Xuan finished speaking, he tried to pull Wei Xiaoqing away, but Wei Xiaoqing still struggled and refused to leave. Zhou Xuan looked at her strangely.
Wei Qiqing's eyes were fixed on a person placing a bet. The person was an old man in his sixties who was trembling as he took out a small bag from his underwear, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, but had not placed a bet yet and was looking at the lid on the ground.
The young woman next to them waved the banknotes in her hand and said, "Grandpa, why aren't you playing? Look, we've already won over a thousand. It's easy to win. Why don't you join us?"
The old man looked at Zhongtian and couldn't hold back any longer, so he took out his money, but he was still trying his best to restrain himself.
The man who was playing the game of "the lid" (a game involving a game where the lid is covered with peanuts) had his phone ring. He took out his phone while covering the four peanuts with the lid, and then turned his head to make a call.
The two women said to the old man, "Grandpa, hurry up and place your bets! There are four, an even number! Hurry up and place your bets, or you'll miss your chance!" As they spoke, one of them placed two hundred yuan and the other placed three hundred yuan.
The old man was very tempted, but seeing that the bookmaker had turned away and was making a phone call, he hesitated to place a bet. Then the bookmaker hung up the phone, turned around, and asked, "Have you placed your bets yet? I'm opening the bets!"
Seeing that the dealer wasn't going to put the lid back on, the old man immediately reached out to stop him, saying, "Wait, wait, I'll bet, I'll bet, I'll bet a hundred!"
The man nodded and smiled, saying, "Okay, place your bets! The more you bet, the more you win!"
The old man hurriedly put down a hundred dollars, then stared wide-eyed at the two lids on the ground.
Zhou Xuan had already activated the ice energy. He probed the inside of the lid and immediately understood. There were no mechanisms on the lid itself; the mechanisms were on the peanuts inside. In another part of the lid, among the unused peanuts—seven in total—three had iron wires inserted inside. The peanuts were already prepared, so nothing was visible on the outside.
Inside the lid where people placed their bets, one of the four peanuts had a wire stuffed inside.
There's a tiny piece of metal hidden inside the dealer's right side; that's where the mechanism is!
If someone falls for the trick and places a bet based on the correct number, the dealer will usually only put one peanut with a wire stuck in the betting lid. Regardless of whether the bet is on odd or even, the dealer will use a magnet in their palm to pick up the peanut and stick it to the top of the lid. As a result, the number of peanuts at the bottom will change, and no matter what, the person who placed the bet will lose.
Of course, if there are no outsiders betting, and the only bettors are their own accomplices, the bookmaker won't use a magnet and will intentionally let them win money. If a mechanism is to be used, it will only be used when there are outsiders betting.
Without hesitation, Zhou Xuan used his ice energy to transform and absorb the iron wire in the middle of the peanut kernel. However, he did not transform the ones under the other lid, but only the ones under the lid where he placed the bet.
The shills were all smiling at each other, but the old man was the most nervous, his hands clenched tightly.
Each member of the group had their own agenda: the scammers thought the old man had been dragged into it, while the old man was thinking about winning a hundred yuan.
People who are addicted to gambling, can't resist it, and can't control themselves all have this kind of thinking.
Wei Xiaoqing thought to herself that the old man was going to be tricked, and he would lose the hundred yuan without a doubt.
Only Zhou Xuan didn't think that way, but he didn't know if these people would readily give the money to the old man if he won. Even if they didn't give him the money, they would at least return his principal to the old man. He felt helpless about this idea!
Zhou Xuan understood that such swindlers never had any principles or morality. They set up stalls in places like this just to cheat people, and if they couldn't cheat them, they would steal their things.
He couldn't possibly kill these people with ice energy; they weren't Somali pirates. Back in China, Zhou Xuan still didn't want to kill anyone!