Gambling houses inevitably encounter those who refuse to pay their debts, cause trouble, or become aggressive after losing. Therefore, every gambling house employs bouncers.
The Gold Jade Hall was no exception.
At the Gold Jade Hall, there were eight bouncers in total, each a burly and rough-looking man with a fierce countenance that warned others not to mess with them.
Except for Hou Zehua.
Hou Zehua was thin and lanky, with a scar on his face and an often mischievous smile. The other bouncers had given him a nickname—Houzi (Monkey).
At this moment, seeing that both Old Six Hu and Jiang Ning had rolled "six-six-six," a triple six, Houzi quietly walked behind Old Six Hu, chuckled, and said in a low voice, "Uncle, how about that? Didn't I tell you this woman was something else? Have you met your match? Was it worth coming out of retirement for this?"
Old Six Hu glared at his nephew and returned to the other side of the gambling table.
While Old Six Hu was rolling the dice, Jiang Ning openly scanned everyone present, but couldn't find Zhao Instructor. It seemed he had already left.
At the gambling table, Old Six Hu stared at the dice, deep in thought. Whatever he could do, Jiang Ning could do as well, perhaps even better. So how could he outmaneuver this young girl?
Houzi, sensing Old Six Hu's thoughts, had a spark in his eye and leaned in to offer advice: "Uncle, this woman probably knows all the ordinary tricks. You need to think of something else. Don't you still have your 'Ten Dice Leopard' special move?"
Old Six Hu's eyes lit up at these words. Of course! He had almost forgotten about that. Wasn't it this very move that had made him invincible at the gambling table in his heyday?
Old Six Hu's expression relaxed as he picked up three dice and began to play with them. His six fingers moved nimbly, once again drawing everyone's attention.
Jiang Ning heard Old Six Hu speak confidently: "Young lady, we can't distinguish between our skills with ordinary methods, and I don't want to waste your time. How about we try something new?"
"Let's hear it," Jiang Ning guessed the old man was up to no good.
"Three dice don't offer much variety. Why don't we add a few more... how about ten? Ten for perfection, for good luck. We'll still compare who gets the higher number, with the payout multiplied by each point. Do you dare to accept, young lady?" Old Six Hu finished speaking, already brimming with delight.
As soon as Old Six Hu finished, before Jiang Ning could react, the surrounding crowd erupted.
"Ten dice? Goodness! How can anyone roll that many?"
"You young folks don't understand. Six was the best at this back in the day. He could even roll all sixes with ten dice, earning him the nickname 'Ten Dice Leopard'..."
"Oh, oh, I've seen it, I've seen it..."
The chatter was incessant. Jiang Ning pretended to be deep in thought, not responding for a while.
Old Six Hu, thinking Jiang Ning was afraid, laughed and said, "Young lady, are you scared? If you admit defeat, I won't be hard on you. Just leave ten taels of silver at ten times the odds."
Jiang Ning slowly curled her lips into a smile, though no one noticed. The crowd only heard her say casually, "This game is indeed novel, but..."
Jiang Ning deliberately left her sentence hanging. Old Six Hu quickly asked, "But what?"
Jiang Ning didn't answer immediately. Instead, she lazily picked up a die and examined it closely, intentionally putting on airs.
It wasn't until Old Six Hu impatiently asked again that Jiang Ning responded leisurely, "I think ten dice are too few. How about fifty? What do you think, Six?"
"Fifty?" Old Six Hu was so shocked by this number that his mouth hung open.
The gamblers present were also stunned, looking at Jiang Ning as if she were insane.
"What's the matter, scared?" Jiang Ning raised her eyes and stared intensely at Old Six Hu, repeating his earlier words: "If you admit defeat, I won't insist. At ten times the odds, you just need to give me ten taels of silver."
Old Six Hu stared back at Jiang Ning, his eyes full of malice. The hand playing with the dice was now behind his back, clenched into a fist. Everyone was watching him, waiting for his reaction. He was in too deep to refuse now.
"Fine! I'll gamble with you using fifty dice!" Old Six Hu answered decisively.
Houzi, standing behind him, hadn't anticipated this turn of events either. He looked at Jiang Ning with a complex expression, then at his uncle, unable to say anything. He could only turn to prepare the dice and large bowls.
Soon, everyone saw a colorful pile of dice and several large soup bowls placed on the gambling table.
Fifty dice certainly wouldn't fit in a regular dice cup, so Houzi had brought wide-bottomed soup bowls the size of wash basins. When filled with dice, they were packed tightly, with only a finger's width of space left to the bowl's rim.
One could imagine that once shaken, the first problem to solve would be the dice stacking on top of each other, let alone worrying about the numbers.
Exciting! Exciting! Unheard of and unseen before! The gamblers were all fired up, waiting to see Jiang Ning and Old Six Hu face off.
Old Yu thought for a moment and went to fetch two abacuses. After all, with fifty dice, the maximum possible score would be three hundred points. How could anyone keep track of that in their head?
With everything prepared, Old Six Hu looked at Jiang Ning and said, "Ladies first, young miss."
Jiang Ning inwardly sneered but didn't decline. She covered two soup bowls together, picked them up with both hands, and began shaking them vigorously while controlling her strength.
"Clack! Clack! Snap! Snap!"
The fifty dice collided inside the bowls, sounding like a sudden downpour. Even the most skilled person couldn't possibly discern so many numbers by ear.
"Thud!"
A moment later, Jiang Ning set down the bowls and looked at Old Six Hu, saying, "Your turn!"
Hearing this, Old Six Hu stared fixedly at the pile of dice in the bowl for a while before slowly covering it with another bowl. He steadily picked up the bowls with both hands and began to shake them slowly. Unlike his previous flashy display, this time Old Six Hu shook very slowly, moving left and right, his fingers tightly gripping the bowl's rim, fully concentrated and not daring to relax for a moment.
Seeing Old Six Hu's actions, Jiang Ning guessed that he was trying to keep the dice as flat as possible in the bowl without overlapping.
After shaking for about half a quarter hour, everyone saw Old Six Hu gently set down the bowls and let out a long sigh.
At this moment, Houzi brought over a cup of tea. Old Six Hu, feeling thirsty, looked approvingly at his thoughtful nephew and drained the cup in one go. Then, his face resumed its earlier relaxed expression. Old Six Hu laughed and lifted the bowl himself.
Everyone craned their necks to look. They saw the fifty dice in the bowl arranged neatly in circles. Except for the outer two rings where the numbers varied, the dice in the inner circles were all showing "six"!
"Marvelous! Marvelous!" Old Yu was the first to applaud, and the others followed with praise.
Houzi, holding the teacup, came closer to look and couldn't help but exclaim, "Uncle, you're still in your prime!"
"Stop jesting!" Old Six Hu tried to suppress the joy on his face, then raised his voice and said, "Let's count the points then!"
"Alright, alright!"
Old Yu nodded repeatedly and called Houzi to help. Houzi picked up the dice one by one from the bowl and placed them in another empty bowl, calling out the numbers loudly while Old Yu clicked away on the abacus, keeping count.
"Six, six, six... three, five, two... one, six, done!"
After tallying all fifty dice, Old Yu announced loudly, "Six's total is two hundred and seventy-six!"
Another round of gasps and words of praise came from all corners, and Old Six Hu listened with a broad smile.
"Alright, it's my turn," Jiang Ning said coldly, interrupting the jovial atmosphere.
Old Six Hu cleared his throat and nodded to Old Yu and Houzi. The two walked to the other side of the gambling table, and the rest of the crowd leaned in to watch Jiang Ning's side.
Under everyone's gaze, Jiang Ning lifted the bowl, revealing the unevenly scattered dice inside.
"Hiss!" Old Yu drew in a sharp breath, his expression frozen.
Old Six Hu's heart tightened. He quickly pushed through the gathered crowd and strode to this end of the table. When he clearly saw the state of the dice in the bowl, his brows furrowed, his lips pressed tightly together, and his face became grave.
In the black bottom of the bowl, the dice were scattered, and every face showing was a "six".
But that wasn't all. Somehow, Jiang Ning had managed to arrange the dice in two layers without overlapping. The upper layer of dice was tilted, wedged into the gaps of the lower layer, with each die simultaneously showing three faces: "four, five, and six"!
Everyone's gaze towards Jiang Ning changed. Who could believe such an otherworldly technique if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes?
After a long while, everyone heard Old Six Hu let out a deep sigh and say, "I've lost."
His voice was low and hoarse, full of reluctance. He then beckoned to Old Yu and Houzi, gesturing for them to count the points.
Old Yu looked at Old Six Hu anxiously, but saw him standing with his hands behind his back, eyes lowered, his expression unreadable.
Houzi squinted at Jiang Ning, but could only see her calm, unwavering eyes, unable to guess what this woman was thinking.
Picking up a die from the top layer, Houzi tossed it into the empty bowl with a "ding" and announced, "Four, five, six."
Old Yu snapped back to attention and quickly made a few calculations on the abacus.
"Four, five, six... four, five, six... four, five, six..."
There were ten dice on the three sides of the top layer, followed by the dice on the bottom layer. Houzi glanced at them and said, "Forty dice, all sixes."
Old Yu clacked away on the abacus, glanced at Old Six Hu, and then announced in a moderate voice, "This young lady's score is... three hundred and ninety!"
The whole room erupted in commotion!
According to the rule of one point equals one times the bet, Old Six Hu would lose over a hundred taels of silver!
A glimmer of amusement appeared in Jiang Ning's eyes as she addressed the grim-faced Old Six Hu, "Master Six, one hundred and fourteen taels of silver. You won't renege on the debt, will you?"
"Heh, a gambler must honor his debts. You just wait!" Old Six Hu said through gritted teeth before turning to go upstairs.
Jiang Ning watched Old Six Hu ascend the stairs when suddenly Houzi's sinister voice sounded behind her, "Miss, you've certainly made quite a fortune today."
Jiang Ning retorted, "I have you to thank for that, actually."
She hadn't missed the fact that Old Six Hu had been called down by Houzi. Otherwise, she would have left long ago to find Liu Ming'an, rather than being delayed here for so long.
"Huh," Houzi responded noncommittally, a smile on his lips but a cold light in his eyes. "I've never heard of someone like you before. May I ask your full name, miss? Where are you from?"
Jiang Ning remained silent, not bothering to respond to Houzi even until Old Six Hu came back downstairs.
Old Six Hu approached Jiang Ning carrying a wooden box. He opened it in front of everyone, revealing eleven gold ingots and four silver ingots lying quietly inside, making everyone's eyes gleam with desire.
"One hundred and fourteen taels of silver, not a penny less," Old Six Hu said, staring intently at Jiang Ning.
"Thank you!" Jiang Ning reached out to take the box, holding it close to her chest before saying, "I'll take my leave now."
Everyone parted to make way for Jiang Ning as she walked to the entrance, lifted the curtain, and left the Gold Jade Hall.
Old Six Hu fixed his gaze on Jiang Ning's retreating figure, his eyes like a venomous snake darting its tongue, sending chills down one's spine. He then cast a fleeting glance towards Houzi, who imperceptibly nodded and called for Huzi. The two of them quietly slipped out of the Gold Jade Hall through a side door.
Old Yu stood beside Old Six Hu, not daring to breathe a word. The master had lost both money and face today, and would surely not swallow this bitter pill. That young lady, he feared, was in grave danger.