A Wandering Youth

Chapter 16

“Master Wei has forged more than two divine weapons. Among the weapons currently circulating in the martial world are Young Master’s ‘Erosion of the Sun’, Young Master Yu Xue’s ‘Still Lacking’, and my humble ‘Black Tortoise Embryo Bow’. Could there be a secret hidden in the Dragon Pattern Sword?”

Qiu Yeyi Jian remained motionless, but a cold smile played on his lips: "Just counting one away."

Yin Guang and Leng Qi couldn't help but stare at the young master's face.

Qiu Yeyi's handsome face was as if shrouded in a thousand years of ice and snow, devoid of any warmth: "The moonlight of the first day of the lunar month."

The people in the room looked at each other in silence.

"It is said that Changyou and Moonlight are inseparable. As soon as Changyou appears, Moonlight appears. It is true."

Hearing the young master's cold voice, as sharp as a glacier after a snowfall, no one dared to speak.

Suddenly, Qiu Yeyi stood up and swiftly drew the dragon-patterned sword from the table. She deftly twirled the sword, then pointed the tip downwards, right in front of Yin Guang.

The Silver-Light Prince remained calm and unmoved.

"I want to see that person alive or dead." Qiu Yeyi's sword wrist remained unmoved, the fragmented green sword light gathered before the silver light, making the silver light dazzling and dim.

"As for the Dragon Pattern Sword, it was only because Nan Jingqi wanted to seize it to rally his subordinates, since the sword contained the spiritual power of the fallen warriors."

17. Skillful hands

Chu Yi stood silently in the shade of the poplar trees across the street from the headquarters.

The winter sky was dry and clear, the cold wind howled and stung one's face, and the sun's shadow flickered erratically overhead, as indifferent as ever.

He clasped his hands together, glanced coldly at the gilded gate and the high-hanging red lanterns, then turned and walked expressionlessly toward Willow Street.

After turning a corner and passing several houses, Chu Yi lifted half of the blue cloth curtain and hunched his shoulders as he went inside.

This is a gambling den, and it has everything you could want: all sorts of people, from merchants and traders to even down-on-their-luck scholars in long gowns. It also has things you shouldn't: drinking games, reciting poems, young women coming and going—it's a chaotic marketplace.

After recuperating at Qingshan Temple for ten days, Chu Yi finally couldn't wait any longer and rushed to Ruzhou. He didn't know where the young master Bixie was, but with the prime minister's son by his side, things would be much easier.

Sure enough, after Chu Yi arrived at the camp near the border of Ruzhou, Zhao Yingcheng, the son of the Northern Chancellor who was personally leading the expedition, also arrived shortly after. Chu Yi found a pawnshop that looked quite impressive, took out the crystal chain that was still warm around his neck, hesitated for a moment, and handed it to the smiling pawnshop owner.

After leaving, they went straight to the "Four Seas One Family" gambling den.

The gambling den owner who chose this name clearly had a good intention. It is said that his favorite saying was "Where there's life, there's hope," so he was known as Boss Chai.

The reason for coming here on the first day of the Lunar New Year is not to travel across mountains and rivers or pay homage to the local authorities, but because the pawnshop owner said: "We have nothing here, but if you want to gamble, find someone to have a lavish party, you must go to 'Sihai Yijia'."

So on the first day of the lunar new year, he went to the Sihai Casino.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I gambled here all day long, gambling until I was completely out of control. I placed my bets without even blinking, and I lost every single one of them. After losing a total of sixty taels of silver, I sneaked to a guest room on the second floor to sleep.

The next day, the first day of the lunar new year, he stayed in the gambling den again. This time he lost a full hundred taels of silver. He touched his body, smiled blankly at everyone, and said, "It's all gone." Then he went out once, wandered around for a while, and went back to his room to sleep.

Early on the third day, Chu Yi went downstairs.

Before he even reached the last step, he heard someone shouting from the smoky ceiling, "He's here, he's here! That kid's here!"

For gamblers, gambling knows no day or night, so no matter when they come out on the first day of the lunar month, the place is always packed.

Chu Yi seemed not to hear, and went outside to the greasy guest room to order soy milk and fried dough sticks. As he was slowly chewing them, a thin, blue-faced man approached him with a lewd grin: "Guest, which side are you betting on today?"

When I looked up on the first day of the Lunar New Year, I remembered that this man was a persistent gambler named Cai Laojiu.

He wiped his mouth and said, "Let's see." He stood up, walked through the chaotic crowd, and entered the inner room.

Everyone looked up at Chu Yi, their eyes like those of a starving stray dog seeing a bone. In particular, a plump man in his forties, with a protruding belly, came forward with a smile: "A-Gu, serve tea to the guests."

Chu Yi walked over slowly and sat on the first stool on the left.

Everyone had been holding their breath and watching Chu Yi, but as soon as he sat down, they all rushed to the right in a flurry.

A pair of soft, boneless, delicate hands offer a cup of tea.

The tea was served elegantly in a floral porcelain cup, and upon lifting the lid, a delicate fragrance wafted out. Chu Yi lowered his head and, as expected, saw a layer of tea stains floating on the rim. Without changing his expression, he raised the cup with one hand and took a large gulp.

"Guest, would you like to play dice or dominoes today?" the man with a smile like Maitreya Buddha asked solicitously.

Chu Yi raised his eyes and said expressionlessly, "The usual, Boss Chai."

Boss Chai beckoned, and the black-clad servant Agu, who had just served tea, silently walked to the gambling table, facing the sign for "Banker".

Chu Yi picked up three dice from the table and handed them to A Gu. "I'll bet on small."

Agu took it, his palm slightly warm, and stared at Chu Yi for a moment. The boy in front of him was as still as water, his appearance unremarkable, but the eyes he remembered, which shone brighter than the cold stars in the sky, were now lowered indifferently, staring at his own hands.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and placed their bets on "big".

Agu scooped up three dice from the table with his right hand, sending them flying into the dice cup with a "ding-ding-ding," and then quickly shook them. Chu Yi looked straight at Agu, just as she had in the past.

With a "bang," the dice cup came to a standstill, landing firmly on the dark table. Everyone held their breath, craning their necks to look at A-Gu.

Chu Yi sat there without moving an inch, without the slightest change from beginning to end. Boss Chai, standing next to him, could see this clearly, but the big boss didn't seem very happy.

A thin layer of sweat appeared on the forehead of Agu, who was usually steady on his feet. He pursed his lips and looked down at the dice cup under his right hand.

"Should we go for the big or the small?" Everyone looked at Agu expectantly.

Chu Yi suddenly reached out, lifted his robe sleeve, revealing a long, icy hand. "I'll do it." Everyone's eyes were drawn to that hand.

On the first day of the lunar month, the bell was lifted cleanly and neatly: two, two, one, small.

Everyone immediately started cursing.

Boss Chai looked at Agu, who lowered his head.

"Want to come again?" Chu Yi looked around and asked with a smile.

At this moment, Agu said to the boss with a listless expression, "Boss, I'm going to the toilet."

Boss Chai nodded, and Agu quickly walked out of the room.

The crowd surged forward again, creating a chaotic mess.

In a private room on the third floor, a woman dressed entirely in bright red sat cross-legged in a chair, leisurely trimming her nails with a small knife in her hand. On the table was a porcelain bottle, sprinkled with red nail polish.

She leisurely finished manicuring her nails before looking up at the two people in front of her with a gentle smile: "You were overconfident, weren't you? You've run into a tough nut to crack."

"Miss, what do you think we should do?" Boss Chai's face was full of bitterness, but he managed to force out a few trembling smiles.

The woman in red lowered her long eyelashes, extended her slender fingers, and blew on them with satisfaction: "Don't mess with him, let him win."

Boss Chai had nowhere to vent his anger. Seeing Agu standing beside him with his hands clasped and eyes downcast, he slapped him hard on the shoulder: "You little brat, go down and chop your hands off."

The woman in red raised her eyes, a faint murderous aura tugging at her dark brows. Her movements were swift as the wind, and the small knife she held flew out of her hand.

Mr. Chai was so frightened that he shrank his neck.

"Is 'little hand' yours to call me?" the woman in red said coldly, her face frosty. She swayed her willow-like waist as she walked to Agu's side, put her arm around his shoulder, and blew a breath into his ear.

Agu didn't move, but just frowned slightly.

"He lost 160 taels in two days without batting an eye. What, can't he at least spit some out?"

"That's not what I meant, Miss. Look, even Agu has failed..."

“He moved the dice,” Agu, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up. “He softened the mercury inside, making it impossible to control the force.”

"Why did you only drive once before leaving?" The woman in red was still clinging to him, her eyes sparkling as she asked sweetly.

“He controlled his strength very well, why should I humiliate myself?”

"What's the meaning?"

"He softened the mercury without crushing the surface of the dice, which shows he's a master. Since the force of the mercury's movement is uncontrollable, the dice changed when he lifted the dice cup, proving he has at least one unique skill that others can't achieve—the ability to control the changing dice. What am I still standing there for!"

Boss Chai looked at Agu in surprise. His smooth-sailing business was facing two unexpected changes today: Tang Xiaoshou, who was known as "skilled hands", admitted that he was not as good as him; and the somewhat dull boy made Tang Xiaoshou talk so much for the first time!

"Oh? Is that so? I just noticed that the boy's background was a bit unusual," the woman in red said with interest.

"Young Miss, who is that young man?"

"Why do you think people come to gamble as soon as they arrive in Ruzhou?"

"His clothes were made with Huaxi Double Needle, but he didn't dress like a young master from a noble family who would squander money..."

“In our gambling den, where there is a large and diverse population and a high turnover of people, newcomers come to gamble in order to gather information.”

"I didn't see him talking to anyone."

"Gathering all sorts of people from all walks of life, what kind of people don't they know? What kind of news wouldn't they know? Just by listening, he could hear what he needed to know! Moreover, he deliberately lost for two days, so that no one was on guard against such a fool, and naturally he would speak recklessly and say anything."

The woman in red glanced down at the table downstairs, then turned her bright and beautiful face and curled her lip: "But it's hard to say now. He won all the money downstairs and hasn't left yet, so it's definitely not that simple."

A large stack of chips lay before Chu Yi, but he didn't look particularly happy; he remained calmly seated on the stool. "Want to play again? One last hand!"

A pale-faced scholar who had been shouting himself hoarse in the crowd squeezed out, his eyes fixed on the tooth and bone chips in front of Chu Yi, and said loudly, "I'll take it."

Chu Yi looked up at him, a warm smile spreading across her face. "Mr. Wu?"

The woman upstairs leaned on the railing and looked on, then slowly said, "So she's waiting for Wu Sanshou."

Agu squinted at the group at the table in the distance: "'Gambling with No Life' Wu Sanshou?"

The woman in red nodded and said with certainty, "That's right. Wu Sanshou's only weakness is gambling. He gambled away his entire fortune and fled everywhere, eventually ending up in the borderlands. Rumor has it that his craftsmanship is unparalleled; he can make anything you can imagine. It seems that the young man has definitely got Wu Sanshou wrapped around his little finger."

"Cheng Xiang, don't forget that Wu Sanshou is also known for his lightning-fast hands. As long as he cheats, no one can beat him," Agu said calmly.

The woman named Cheng Xiang turned around, a smirk playing on her bright eyes and white teeth: "What, you're still not convinced you lost?"

Agu shut his mouth.

"Want to make a bet? Let's see who wins in the end?"

How can you be so sure that person will win?

Cheng Xiang's eyes darted around, and she chuckled, "The more serious a man looks, the more cunning he is."

Chu Yi and Wu Sanshou were betting on Pai Gow, which was Wu Sanshou's suggestion.

Wu San shuffled the cards quickly and, out of politeness (though the dealer should actually turn first), asked Chu Yi to roll the dice first. Chu Yi, however, politely waved his hand and said, "Mr. Wu, please."