"General Mu, please write a note first!" Shen Lixue took the paper and pen used by the shopkeeper for bookkeeping and placed them in front of Mu Tao.
Mu Tao frowned deeply: "We don't even know how much silver that is. How am I supposed to write an IOU for the remaining amount?"
"Just write down how much silver it is, and you can just follow it!" Shen Lixue's tone was light, but with a hint of impatience, as if she was mocking his lack of courage.
"Fine!" Mu Tao glanced at Shen Lixue, who was filled with anger, picked up paper and pen, and wrote quickly. She was so eager to go bankrupt, how could he refuse?
After writing the content and drying the ink, he even stamped it with his seal to show that General Mu was fair, impartial, and highly trustworthy.
"Then let's begin the betting!" Shen Lixue carefully read the contents of the IOU, nodded in satisfaction, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. She grabbed the six dice from the gambling table, put them into a small cup, and forcefully turned it upside down on the gambling table: "General Mu, please guess the numbers!"
Mu Tao was taken aback: "You haven't rolled the dice yet!"
"We're competing to guess the numbers, not shaking dice. Who said you have to shake dice when guessing numbers?" Shen Lixue blinked her clear, bright eyes, her hazy gaze innocent and adorable, which made Mu Tao's heart burn with anger.
Knowing that he could identify the dice by sound, the woman deliberately didn't shake it, but instead placed it face down on the table. In this way, he couldn't hear the sound of the dice and couldn't guess the exact number on the dice.
"Indeed, no one has ever stipulated it!" Mu Tao glared at Shen Lixue, swearing through each word. This stupid woman's gambling skills were mediocre, but her mind was very quick. She was always trying to cheat people. No wonder she was so generous. All the money she made was from swindling others.
"Then please guess the dice, General Mu!" Shen Lixue smiled sweetly, like a hundred flowers blooming, her beautiful eyes sparkling and mesmerizing.
"One two, one three, two fours, two sixes!" Mu Tao angrily announced the approximate number of points, his loud voice infused with internal energy, making people's eardrums dizzy.
Shen Lixue rubbed her ears. This was only the beginning, and he was already getting angry. He really had no patience!
"General Mu, take a good look!" She smiled and lifted the lid, revealing six exquisite sieves to everyone.
Everyone craned their necks to look: two ones, one three, one four, and two sixes!
Mu Tao guessed two points wrong, and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were gone just like that. What a pity!
Mu Tao stared at the six points, his tiger-like eyes flashing with cold light. He hadn't heard a sound, yet he had guessed so many points, which was quite remarkable. That stupid woman was actually quite clever.
"General Mu, you have lost!" Shen Lixue smiled as she looked at Mu Tao, her voice clear and melodious like the tinkling of a spring.
"This general will not renege on his promise. Quickly calculate how much silver that is, and I will send someone back to the manor to collect it!" Mu Tao, though losing money, did not lose face. His voice was arrogant and his tone was sharp. He glanced at those silver notes. Although they were a thick stack, the face value was not very high, at most a few hundred thousand taels. He could afford to lose.
Next, he'll be the dealer, guaranteeing that the clever yet cunning foolish woman will lose everything.
"Gentlemen, how much silver is that?" Shen Lixue lazily turned around and looked at the group of people counting the silver notes.
The men looked at the silver notes in their hands, their expressions changed slightly, they exchanged glances, and quickly walked up to Mu Tao, saying urgently, "General, these notes are quite valuable!"
"Receipts? What receipts?" Mu Tao looked at the group in confusion. That thick stack of notes was all worth several thousand taels of silver each. How could they be so valuable?
The man placed a large stack of receipts in front of Mu Tao, and said in a trembling voice, "General, please take a closer look!"
Mu Tao looked down at the so-called receipts, his pupils suddenly contracting. They were indeed different from silver notes, even more valuable than silver notes. Each one was marked with the names of manors and shops in the most prosperous areas. Any one of them was worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
"What's going on?" Mu Tao was a little confused. He grabbed the receipts, blinked hard, and examined them carefully. The receipts were all valuable.
"We don't know either!" The man lowered his head. After receiving the silver notes, he carefully noted the amount of silver. At first, the amount of silver was normal, one thousand or two thousand taels. Who would have thought that the amount would increase as time went on, with some notes containing tens of thousands of taels. The middle notes were even more valuable, each one containing a note of considerable value, representing shops and estates. The value was too high, which made him feel apprehensive.
"Didn't you say it was a bet of silver? What are you doing with the receipt?" Mu Tao was furious. He slammed the receipt in his hand at Shen Lixue. After years of fighting on the battlefield, he realized that he had been tricked by such a strange situation.
With so many receipts worth millions of taels of silver, how could he possibly come up with them? He couldn't acknowledge these receipts, absolutely not: "We only agreed to gamble with silver, not receipts. These receipts are invalid!"
Shen Lixue's gaze sharpened. She reached out and took the receipt, looking at Mu Tao and said coldly, "General Mu, this receipt can be exchanged for silver. It can be used as silver on the gambling table. When we first started gambling, I used my hairpin as collateral, and you didn't object!"
"Hairpins and receipts are not the same..." Mu Tao roared angrily.
“What’s the difference, General Mu, tell me!” Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow at Mu Tao, her gaze cold and unyielding.
“That’s right, that’s right…” Mu Tao’s eyes darted around as he thought of the most appropriate words.
Shen Lixue blinked: "Could it be that you can't afford it and are just making excuses?"
"Of course not!" Mu Yutao roared angrily, but his eyes flickered.
Shen Lixue flipped through the receipts, her smile bright and dazzling: "General Mu, as a border general, issues orders and his word is law. Ordinary gamblers know the principle of accepting the consequences of their bets, and General Mu must be very clear about this as well. You were just excited and misspoke, so I won't hold it against you. These receipts are probably worth a million taels of silver. The gold and silver on General Mu's table are far from enough."
Mu Tao gritted his teeth. Her words were impeccable, flattering him and leaving him no reason to refute. If he didn't compensate her, he would be a shameless and untrustworthy person, a laughingstock, and the reputation of the entire Mu State Duke's Mansion would be ruined.
They're both clever and despicable.
This general, who had fought on the battlefield, was not made of clay to be molded and shaped by others: "Madam, you didn't say you were betting on tickets in the first place!"
"I said I bet everything!" Shen Lixue blinked, looking completely innocent. "Does General Mu understand what 'bet everything' means?"
Mu Tao gritted his teeth. The so-called "all-in" meant that she had put all her valuables into the deal, including the banknotes. He had thought they were just some banknotes and hadn't looked at them closely. Now he realized that this bitch had set a trap for him.
"General Mu Er, do you think we should send someone back to the manor to get the money?" Shen Lixue gently held the IOU written by Mu Tao. The white background and black words were clearly visible. It fluttered in the breeze like a victory flag, deeply stinging Mu Tao's eyes.
Mu Tao clenched his fists, his sharp eyes flashing with cold light. Damn it, damn it!
Suddenly, something flashed through his mind. He flicked his sleeves and stood up, coldly looking at Shen Lixue. Dongfang Heng said, "This general is willing to admit defeat. You will come with me back to the manor to collect the silver notes!"
The couple were strangers, and it seemed that none of the other customers in the restaurant knew them either. They had caused him so much humiliation, so how could he let them off so easily?
Take them back to the Duke of Mu's mansion, and execute two of them in his courtyard. It will be easy and unnoticed. If they want money, fine, he'll burn it for them after they die.
"Thank you, General Mu." Shen Lixue smiled slightly, a smile that was both refreshing and eerie. She took Dongfang Heng's arm and followed closely behind Mu Tao out of the restaurant, heading towards the Duke of Mu's mansion.
Dongfang Heng deliberately rolled a low number on the dice and misheard the dice. His purpose was to lower Mu Tao's guard. Mu Tao won three or four rounds in a row and thought that the two of them knew nothing and could do nothing. He was sure to win, so he dared to place a big bet, which allowed Shen Lixue to lure him into the trap.
Mu Tao strode forward angrily, when behind him he heard the voices of Shen Lixue and Dongfang Heng: "You've won so much silver, what are you planning to buy?" The voices were doting and tender.
"We can travel around with this money, see all the different countries. We have so much money, we could never spend it all in our lifetime. We can just eat, drink and have fun every day without having to work hard anymore!" The clear voice was deliberately raised, with a hint of boasting. It was Shen Lixue.