Baizhu Town is backed by Baiya Mountain and has a pleasant climate. The East River flows slowly in front of the town, telling the beauty and tranquility of this thousand-year-old town over the long years.
The town is not big, and there are not many people. There is only one main street, but there are many alleys, which are arranged on both sides of the main street like centipede legs. Seven or eight Zhuangzi are located around the main street. There is a market on even days, and because the business road passes through the town, it is particularly lively on market days. There are all kinds of businesses on the main street, many selling for money and even more bartering. Except for businessmen from other places, everyone basically knows each other. Even if they are not familiar with each other, they can probably call each other by name or not, and they also know that this is so-and-so who lives in that Zhuangzi, and is related to so-and-so. What glory and embarrassment. This is the case for people in small places. They make ends meet by communicating with each other about their daily routines. The daily pleasure is to find someone to praise or laugh at. Chewing the root of the tongue nourishes qi and promotes blood circulation, but gossiping can keep the mind sharp. After all, it takes some imagination to describe a sesame seed as a watermelon, or simply make it out of nothing. Whoever has an outstanding imagination will stand out from the crowd and become the center of attention during this period of time. There is only one joy in Baizhu Town these days. No matter how many people are gathered together, they are all talking about one thing vividly - Bai Wei, the eldest son of the Bai family who was once a wealthy family in the town, choked to death while eating shit. .
Bai Wei was born ugly, with skin as yellow as wax. He originally came from a relatively well-to-do family and was the eldest son and grandson of the Bai family, the largest hunter in the town. The Zhang family was in the furniture business. The Bai family hunted wild animals, skinned them and gave them to the Zhang family. The Zhang family's animal skin Taishi chair business actually reached the state capital, so the Bai family's animal skin business also reached the state capital. In the early spring, the Zhang family came to a large family in the prefecture and asked for two tiger-skin Taishi chairs. They asked if they could get some tiger skin. If you are in a hurry, you have to see the goods arrive in half a month. It doesn't matter if the animal skins are not completely dried. As long as they can be seen in half a month, you can get as much money as you want. I only gave a deposit of one hundred taels of gold. The Bai family saw that if this business was successful, even Bai Wei's grandchildren would be able to lie down and eat for the rest of their lives, and they would have to work hard to eat them all. Uncle Bai is thinking that there are not even a hundred but eighty giant insects on Baiya Mountain. He can hunt a few every year. How can this be so difficult! Give me so much money! Although it seems urgent, half a month is more than enough for my family. If you are lucky, you might see the couple walking as soon as you enter the mountain, and they will return in three days. In total, even if the contract is signed, if the goods are not available for half a month, all the property will be lost to compensate the other party. When the big family heard that, they were overjoyed and said they would give an extra one hundred taels if they arrived one day early, and they would give an extra one thousand taels if they arrived five days early. Just don't miss important things. When Uncle Bai heard this, he thought it was a big deal! Since the other party is so open-minded, we should be happy and keep saying that the officials can rest assured! There must be no mistake! With a stroke of a pen, the contract was added: "I will return in half a month, guaranteed by my head! If the two tigers are not seen, the whole family will die." After writing, he pressed his fingerprint with a "pop", and a mouthful of old spit was heard, and he ordered Bai Wei's father to take his second father with him. The third father followed the most experienced second and fourth masters into Baiya Mountain. It can be said that he was "all the best" and vowed to return from hunting tigers within seven days. They also made an appointment for seven days, and if the hunt was successful or not, someone would send a message out. Early in the morning on the eighth day, the Bai family looked at the path at Baiya Pass. When the fog cleared, no one came back. The usually steady old man couldn't sit still and sent the third master to take all the young men in the family into the mountains to look for him. Another five days passed, but no one who was looking for him came back.
Time is the most fair, and it will always arrive when it is due. Never a pause or a delay. Don't be afraid of anyone, don't pity anyone. Whether you need it or not, you won’t get a little more than others. If you are experiencing pain, it will not pass for a moment. The half-moon period comes with the anger of the big houses in the state capital. Big houses are big houses after all. They not only want to use the lives of humble people in their eyes to heal the emotions caused by the irreversible facts, but also try to recover the losses. After the uncle endured the humiliation and dissipated his family wealth, he finally managed to save what was left of his bloodline. Several younger brothers of Bai Wei's generation who had not entered the mountains were used as tools to establish their power when the big family threatened the uncle of the Bai family to sell their houses and land. Only the remaining Bai Wei is a single seedling, the ugliest seedling. He survived only because his appearance amused the executioner, and he must be left to visit his master who will arrive soon. After the uncle sold all his possessions and went in with a stack of banknotes, he beat the corpse on the ground and screamed at the heavens and the earth, the wealthy family finally left with satisfaction and rolled up a few pretty female members of the Bai family. Before leaving, he threw down a tael of silver and said, "Old man, don't tell me that we will kill everyone. We always keep our word and only act in accordance with the contract. Now I not only leave you a piece of incense, but also leave you some capital. Help your grandfather and grandson to make a comeback. I will stay on the sidelines today so that we can meet each other in the future. If there is such a win-win business, we can still cooperate with each other."
Bai Wei hurriedly crawled over, picked up the silver and put it into his clothes. He is lustful and gambling. It should be noted that both of these are expensive. Looking at Bai Wei who was standing on tiptoes to avoid the corpses and body parts lying on the ground as he walked out the door, Mr. Bai hoped that he would be a bit bloody and catch up with him, as if he was determined to take revenge, even if he was killed by someone else's knife. Okay, it's almost like annihilation anyway. It's amazing that the whole family is neat and tidy underground. But his tearful old eyes blurred the figure running towards the alley where the gambling house was located. The crotch of the figure was still wet with some light yellow.
Uncle Bai left a letter with the manager of the Zhang family, asking for nothing more than to take care of the last bloodline. If possible, let Bai Wei leave a seed for the Bai family. After that, he entered Baiya Mountain and did the same again. Didn't come back. The Zhang family is also loyal, or they feel that the downfall of the Bai family has something to do with themselves. If he hadn't pulled the strings and plotted the tiger's skin, this disaster would not have happened. But after thinking about it, I felt relieved. How could it be calculated like this? If it is so related, then I can only blame your ancestors for hunting instead of blacksmithing. If your family is an ancestral blacksmith, why would I ask you for a tiger skin? Use money to do things, rely on your ability to get work, and you can't blame anyone if you win or not. No one has a knife on your neck to force you. Just help him this time! Just for peace of mind! A few acres of land were bought next to Zhuangzi and several tile-roofed houses were built for Bai Wei to eat, live and work. Less than a month later, Bai Wei was told to have a daughter-in-law, hoping to fulfill the deceased's last wish. But in less than a month, Bai Wei paid off his wife's gambling debt. When the Zhang family learned about it, Mrs. Zhang was not angry at all. He only said that Bai Wei's life and death in the future had nothing to do with the Zhang family. If this son comes back again, he will leave the house. Go, let no one mention this dog-like thing again, even if it was cut into pieces by five horses and each part was divided again by five wild dogs! When Bai Wei sent his wife to the creditor's home, he worked hard to get half of the money back. Bai Wei was so happy that he had taken advantage of it and was in a good mood. He bought a pound of wine and half a roast chicken and drank while walking. In the meantime, he gnawed the roasted chicken clean, thinking about how to ask the old man of the Zhang family to pawn the land deed for money. He passed by the former old house in a blink of an eye. The door was open. Someone seemed to be willing to buy the house. He could see a broker he knew taking a young man around to observe the scenery in the courtyard and pointed out his house. . He took a big gulp of wine, smacked his lips and said, "I miss you, the eldest son of the Bai family, who is so elegant and unrestrained. I used to have rich clothes and fine food, and I once spent a hundred and two pictures in one night." Le, I don’t even smell wine like this, bah! If it weren’t for the short-sightedness, greed and ignorance of the elders in the clan, and their wrong decisions that brought this disaster to our family, how could I, Bai Wei, be in such a predicament today! How could I even go to the gambling table? I want to be with the poor guy for a few cents and a few taels in pledge. Bah!" His voice became louder as he muttered to himself. He was so angry that he threw the wine bottle on the ground. It didn't break, but a lot of wine was spilled. He quickly picked it up again. Take a sip. "Fortunately, I have always had hands and feet. Even if I am self-reliant, I can have wine and meat every day. My father and grandpa actually said that I could starve to death after being away from the Bai family for a few days. It depends on how many bowls of rice I eat at the last meal. ! Bah!" He bumped into someone hazily, and Bai Wei fell to the ground: "I'm going to die now. Without twenty taels, I can't cure my waist. The daughter-in-law I just married is about to stay as my wife, and now I can't. Good, it will delay me from passing on the family line."
It has always been the old man who blackmailed him, but today the young man finally felt proud in front of the old man.
Haha, little friend, wasn’t your wife sold by you? "As soon as the old man finished speaking, Bai Wei got up.
"Old man, who are you? Do you recognize me, Bai Zhu, the little bully?" Bai Wei blew his nose.
"But what about the little Baizhu bully who had a town full of children crying for their fathers and crying for their mothers, and the little bully from Baizhu who was exterminated the day before yesterday?"
Bai Wei was a little shocked: "Who are you? How come you know everything? Why don't I recognize you? You are so unfamiliar."
"I just passed by here today."
"Then how come you know everything?"
"Forget it." The old man said calmly, stroking his white beard, which seemed to be a bit of an immortal.
"You can actually count?" Bai Wei seemed a little unconvinced, "These are things that are spread all over the town. As long as you pass by this place, you can know it without asking. Bah, this is a place where no one can do it. Die. Poor to the death, left to eat and die, no one is too busy, and one has too much to talk about!"
"You paid off your wife's debt for twenty-two taels, and after sending her away, you got half a copper coin, a catty of wine sold for three hundred and twenty cents, half a roasted chicken for seventy cents, and now you have a remaining balance of one hundred and ten cents." The old man squinted. He looked at Bai Wei, who was stunned: "Does anyone know about this?"
"Ah! Ah!" Bai Wei slapped his greasy mouth twice, and then hurriedly gave a salute: "Don't blame the old god, the villain is drunk and talking nonsense. Please help me, please help me calculate the big bet and small bet tomorrow? Buy it? Zhuang buy leisure?" He grabbed the old man's sleeve, as if grasping the hope of reviving the family.
"You are a blessed person. Heaven is about to entrust you with a great responsibility. Now is the time when your mind is suffering and your body is being abraded. If you can survive it, glory, wealth, fame and fortune will come to you without you having to take them." People who are in misfortune often comfort themselves in this way, and people who want to get something for nothing are even more convinced that they are pretentious. Therefore, the old man's words were deeply recognized by Bai Wei, and he felt that the old man's calculations were accurate, and he was that kind of person.
"I dare to ask the old immortal, I have suffered all the hardships in the world and gone through many hardships. When will this suffering end?" Bai Wei beat his chest and stamped his feet, crying freely.
"Come on! Come on! Come on! Since you and I have met, we are destined to be together. I will help you get through the current difficulties smoothly." The old man seemed a little unbearable.
"Thank you! Thank you, old god! If I can turn over, I will definitely build a golden statue for you, old god." Bai Wei was excited and incoherent. He started kowtowing before he saw any benefits.
The old man picked it up and said, "You will go out again at exactly noon tomorrow, spend ten cents to burn incense and some paper money for the Tutu Temple, and then go directly to the gambling house you often go to. Each round will be nine rounds, and the first round will be your bet. One, three, five, seven, in the second round, two, four, six, eight, and in the third round, only the ninth. Bet on one to four in each round. Bet all you can. Every bet will win. Remember, you can only play these nine rounds. ." The old man paused: "After nine rounds, one hundred copper coins will have turned into more than 26,000 taels of silver, which is enough for you to redeem your family property." After the old man finished speaking, Bai Wei was like a tree struck by lightning.
"If it is true as the old god said, I will definitely build a temple for the old god in Baizhu Town, so that future generations can worship him forever!" Bai Wei's whole body and lips were trembling, as if he had nearly 30,000 taels of white silver. Right before your eyes.
"No need! Just remember not to gamble again in the future." After saying that, he walked away. Only Bai Wei, who was still shaking, was left, and a surprised young man leaning on the door frame of the Bai family's old house not far away.
The afterglow of the setting sun stretches the silhouettes of pedestrians, and even the doorways of poor people's homes are sprinkled with a layer of golden gold. Bai Wei's tile-roofed house was also dyed golden, as if to indicate that the owner of this house would become rich from now on. But the way the master walked showed no trace of wealth, only endless loss of soul and desolation. He softly pushed open the door that was never locked, and fell softly on the couch, as if his soul had been taken away. His eyes were still filled with unwillingness, and he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. The head was hammered with a dull sound. "How is it possible! How is it possible! I don't believe it! I don't believe it!" he roared. "By the way, old god, old god!" He said and ran out of the door like crazy.
Peng Jiu loves to travel. It has been more than a year since he left home. He suddenly remembered that it will be his father's 70th birthday soon. He counted the time and slowly enjoyed the trip. It was exactly two months. The distance is so long that we can go back in a hurry. Peng Jiu had a very happy month walking from Heitan County to Baizhu Town. The whole journey was really a good place, with mountains, rivers and beautiful scenery everywhere. Unlike Qinggang City, the climate is dry. There is not even a single tree in the Qinggang Mountains. They are all earth mountains, including white earth mountains, yellow earth mountains, white, yellow, white and yellow earth mountains, and yellow, white, yellow and white earth mountains. The soil does not affect its majesty at all. From a distance, it still stands tall and green. I seem to have been unaccustomed to the dryness there since I was a child, and neither does my father. Both of them often have dry coughs. I've been playing in Baizhu Town for a while, but I haven't even coughed. The heat of summer seems to be shut out by the surrounding mountains. In a good summer resort, there are hunters selling fresh game from the mountains every day on the streets. There are fish and shrimps in the river, and there are also river crabs caught in the water. Leg hair. This place is very nice, I will definitely come here often in the future, especially in summer, I will bring my dad here to escape the heat. After thinking about it, I simply bought a house so that I could stay there permanently. Among the eight or nine houses he chose, this house was the one that caught his eye the most. However, he heard that the yard was stained with blood recently, and the family was almost wiped out after offending a big shot. It was unlucky, so it was sold cheaply. dead? What a joke, my son Peng Taiping is afraid of dead people? If ghosts could harm people, my father would have been strangled to death countless times by ghosts if he had been bleeding all his life. Big shot? Are you as big as me, Kitahara? No longer thinking about it, he directly gave the money, took the property deed and drove the broker out. On the way, he drew his sword and carved the word "Peng" on the door. Anyway, the door would have to be renovated next time he came back, and the door would have to be replaced. Just as he nodded with satisfaction, a soft man stumbled and ran past the wall. He was looking around for something, glanced at himself and then looked away anxiously, looking for someone. Isn't this the drunkard who was teased yesterday? He was fooled by an old man's few words and kowtowed to the ground. But he listened and taught him how to gamble, how to turn a hundred cents into twenty thousand in nine games. Two more silvers, haha. Yesterday, I was just so surprised, thinking that some people believed this, that I forgot to laugh. It was only after I fell asleep that I remembered again, and hid my head under the quilt and laughed for a long time. I must smile again today. Yes, you should point at him and laugh, and ask how the twenty thousand taels of silver were spent, haha.
Bai Wei has walked around the place where he met the old immortal yesterday for more than ten times, sometimes fast and sometimes slowly, sometimes looking at his feet, sometimes looking anxiously at various intersections in the distance. As soon as Peng Jiu walked closer, holding back his laughter, Bai Wei ran over to the other side, and an old man walked slowly towards him in the sunset.
"Old god, save me!" Bai Wei knelt down and bowed before he could get close, kowtowing like he was pounding rice.
"Hey..." the old gentleman sighed, "You don't need to say anything, I already figured it would be like this."
"Old god, save me!" Bai Wei bowed again, "The first nine games are just as you always said, I already have nearly 30,000 taels of silver in my hand." Bai Wei paused, his lips trembled and tears flowed out: "The tenth Game, tenth game...I didn't want to play, and I remembered the old fairy's advice, but...but...I didn't know why, so I placed my bet, one handful, just one handful, and then there was nothing! Old God! Save me, Old God!"
"Hey! You! You are so greedy! I told you again and again yesterday because I was afraid that people would be incompetent and it would be inevitable in the end. Well, it's my fault. I shouldn't look at you and help you. Everything happened because of me, and you will end up with it. But I only lost a hundred coins, here is one hundred and ten coins, and I will pay you back even the money you paid to burn incense for the Tutu Lord. Now you are back to yesterday. There is no loss. You just pretend that you have not encountered it. I am just a dreamer." After saying that, he raised his legs and wanted to leave.
Bai Wei became anxious, threw himself at the old man's heels and hugged his legs, and howled: "Old immortal! I was wrong, old immortal! What I lost was not a hundred coins, but tens of thousands of taels!" Bai Wei did not cry that day when his whole family was wiped out. So sincere.
"When did you have tens of thousands of taels, and you only have one hundred Wen?"
"I won! Everything I won is already in my arms. It was all that last move, the last mistake. I can still win it back. The old god will save me. This time I will win it back. I will definitely win it back. You can bear it!" Bai Wei was already a little crazy.
Most gamblers are like this. When they lose, they want to get their money back, and when they win, they want to win again. If you can win so much every day, why bother to make a living. If you keep losing, you won’t lose much in the end. The biggest fear is that after winning a large amount and losing it again, the gambler will feel that he can win, but he is just unlucky. As long as you bet a few more times and change your betting routines, you will always be able to win back everything you lost. As a result, the snowball snowballed, and the debt piled up, causing harm to the family. Looking back, if I stopped at any step before the catastrophe, the result would be a hundred times better than now. If you lose 10,000, you want to recover your losses, if you lose 100,000, you want to recover your losses, but if you owe one million, you have given up the idea of recovering your losses, and you know it is impossible. But he will still gamble, because it is too late to stop now. He will never be able to pay it off by slowly saving money or taking the right path. Although you are willing to save, the creditor will not be willing to wait. I just hope that I can win back a little bit and reduce my debt so that I can spend less time repaying it. If you can go back from owing one million to five hundred thousand, it will be God's mercy. Never thought that this wish would have been achieved before.
Just like Bai Wei at this moment, if he could realize that he only lost a hundred coins and his capital was only a hundred coins, he wouldn't feel anything. But he felt that the more than 20,000 taels belonged to him. From one hundred wen to more than 20,000 taels, it can happen once or a second time, it just depends on whether the old god in front of you is willing or not. So at this moment, he would believe whatever this "god" said and do whatever he was asked to do.
"I can't help it. You have lost all your luck." The old man closed his eyes and sighed. "When a person's luck is over, that means the situation is over. In the last game, you not only lost money, but also your life. You are like the mud that cannot hold up the wall. I wasted no time in trying to change my fate. I want to help you, but you are really no better than shit. You can't hold on to the wealth and wealth given to you. You will die soon, you rotten person who will eat shit and choke to death!" Immortals can utter obscene words, It was obvious that he was very angry, so he kicked away the toad lying on his feet, raised his legs and walked away. His shoes were stained with snot and tears, and shone with golden light in the setting sun. Peng Jiu, who was not far away, was smiling. Today was more interesting than yesterday. He smiled, shook his head and went back to the house, not looking anymore. But I still thought that this old man had some skills that could really help him win money.
Bai Wei's sluggish look was like a pile of rotten meat on the chopping board that was about to collapse. After listening to the old god's words, he had turned into a puddle of soft mud.
"Unless..." The old man walked not far, stopped and turned back. The rotten meat actually jumped up, very neatly, "Unless what? Dad! Grandpa! Unless what." His wide-open eyes were piercing, and he was instantly energetic, and he walked to the old man in two steps.
"Take advantage of the situation."
"How can I borrow it? Who can I borrow it from?" Bai Wei was indescribably urgent.
"Using the power of all sentient beings to bury it in your yard will help your dead tree to revive in spring. If your current disaster is caused by the power of a single person, if you burn it, he will extinguish it. This is a life-threatening act. You can only borrow it. If the power of all sentient beings is reduced, there will be no harm." After all, the old man seemed to be a little bit intolerable.
"Yes, yes, the old god is merciful. How can I borrow it?" Bai Wei nodded repeatedly.
"Shi, any one with the same sound as "shi" can be borrowed as "shi". Go ahead and borrow it. I can't say any more. I've already given away too many secrets. My fate with you is over. May you wish for more blessings." After that, he threw it down. The ingot of silver floats away. The last voice floated over: "Remember, you still have to go out at exactly noon, otherwise you won't be able to take advantage of it."
