The night was as dark as water, and everything was silent. Except for the two lanterns with the word "Liu" hanging in front of the door, the entire Liu Mansion was already dark. Liu Ningshi, who was wearing a light blue silk shirt and a vermilion cotton cloak, Walking by the pond with a lantern in hand.
I remember that when he was five years old, Liu Yuanzhi took the shy Liu Ningshi into the Liu Mansion for the first time and said to Liu Qingyao: "Ningshi will be my daughter from now on. You must treat your sister well."
Six-year-old Liu Qingyao happily pulled Liu Ningshi and promised: "Sister, I will never let anyone bully you in the future; let's go to the pond to see the carp, it's so beautiful."
"Yeah." Liu Ningshi pursed her lips and nodded.
More than ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and the two of them would watch the carp by the pond every year. Not long ago, the son of the Minister of Household Affairs came to the mansion to hire someone to marry his sister, but because of these murderers, everything became different.
Liu Ningshi sighed softly, thinking about this sister who had been the best to her since she was a child, and secretly swore in her heart: "No matter what the cost, I will find a way to heal her."
"Who is it?" Liu Ningshi's heart tightened, and a black shadow flashed from the corner of his eye.
Liu Ningshi's movements were faster than her voice. With just a click of her feet, she chased him from the pond to the east wing in a few ups and downs.
"Huh? Why is the black shadow missing? He is so familiar with the roads in the mansion, could he be from the mansion?" Liu Ningshi frowned.
Liu Ningshi was thinking and exploring the surrounding situation, and unknowingly came to a simple wooden door.
"Is this my father's study?" Liu Ningshi held a lantern with her left hand and pushed the door open with her right hand. Some dust fell from the door frame.
Liu Ningshi waved her right hand to disperse the dust: "Father's study is still the same, plain and simple."
The bookshelves around the study room are filled with all kinds of books. In front of the innermost bookshelf in the study room are an aoki desk and a Taishi chair; three wolf hairs of different sizes hang on the pen stand in the upper right corner of the desk. Beside the pen stand The ink on the inkstone with the word "Yuan Zhi" engraved on it has long dried up; the books on music and etiquette placed in the upper left corner of the desk are covered with dust, and it seems that no one has cleaned them for a long time.
Liu Ningshi walked around the bookshelf and finally came to the desk. She took out a handkerchief from her waist and wiped the two books on music and etiquette. She said to herself: "When I was a child, my sister and I had to deal with my father a lot in order to learn etiquette and music well. rebuke."
"Huh? What is this?" Liu Ningshi picked up a piece of paper that fell between the two books: "If you want to know the whereabouts of Liu Yuanzhi, come to Tianyi Gambling House."
"The ink is not dry yet, could it be left by the black shadow?" Liu Ningshi frowned and thought: "No matter what, this is a clue and it is worth exploring."
Fengyuan Inn is not a big one. The guests here come from all walks of life, including scholars rushing to take exams, businessmen doing business, and craftsmen who like to come here for a few drinks after work. This day was no exception. More than a dozen tables in the lobby of the inn were already full of people. Some were drinking and punching, some were drinking by themselves, and some were drinking and singing, showing all the different aspects of life.
At a small table at the end of the lobby, a fat young man in fine clothes stared at Tong Bo who was sipping tea across from him with a plaintive look on his face: "Xiang Yun, what do you want to do with your date in this damn place? Last time, I wanted to help you investigate. The scandal between Yin Ying and Chen Wenchang made me owe a lot of favors to others."
Tong Bo slowly put down the tea cup in his hand: "I want to go to Tianyi Gambling House to make some extra money, but I am short of money and have no gambling capital, so I have to find a way with you."
"Stop talking nonsense, are you a stingy guy going to gamble? I think you probably want to investigate some case, right?" The fat boy tapped the table with two fingers.
"Oh, you can see all this. As expected, Brother Su knows my heart." Tong Bo chuckled: "Actually, I just want a name card for the underground gambling ring."
The fat boy almost spit out a mouthful of wine after hearing Tong Bo's words: "What, it tastes so big. Do you know how difficult it is to post this post?"
"Brother Su, you are not a gambler either. You are just reselling famous postcards to earn some drinking money. But if Miss Rufeng finds out about this, what do you think will happen?" Tong Bo leaned into the fat boy's ear. Laughed quietly.
"Hey, forget it!" The fat boy sighed: "This post and what you owed me before are a total of two hundred taels of silver. How about it?"
"Deal. But you still have to pay the money first." Tong Bo gently patted the shoulder of the fat boy who was so angry that he was grinning.
Tianyi Gambling House is separated from Fengyuan Inn by an alley, and the number of gamblers will gradually increase during the You hour every day. The business is at its best during the Xu hour, so Tong Bo, who has a mustache and a gray cloth, chose I walked into the gambling shop at this time, looking like a complete gambler.
"Two, three, five are small."
"Haha, I won another hundred taels. I'm really lucky tonight."
"Damn it, I lost again."
As the dealer rolled out the dice, some people were really happy and some were worried. Tong Bo looked at the gamblers who were suppressing their blushes and yelling loudly, and smiled in his heart: "Nine out of ten bets will lose, and the winner will always be the banker."
"Four leopards, fifty taels." A man with a thin but rosy face placed a handful of silver on three four-dot patterns.
"Have you all decided to leave?" The banker stared at the man with a gloomy face, seeming to be very annoyed with him.
"Oh, man, four leopards pay ten for one, but it's not easy to win. Do you dare to bet on it?" A gambler next to him looked at the man in disbelief.
"Haha, you're lucky today. Do you believe what you bet on?" The thin man rubbed his hands excitedly and urged, "What are you waiting for? Drive quickly."
As the dealer removed the cup covering the dice, the gamblers around the table made a lot of noise: "Look, there are really four leopards. If I had known we would bet on this too."
Seeing the thin man holding five hundred pieces of silver in his arms, the gamblers' hearts filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.
This man is very shrewd. After he won a big one, he no longer put all his bets on it, but began to place bets in a steady stream. The dealer probably wanted to eat him alive.
"It's him, Ge Er, the guard of the Xuanwu Academy!" Tong Bo on the side squinted at the thin man whose ears trembled slightly when the dealer rolled the dice, and thought to himself: "This guy is usually dull and low-key in the courtyard. I didn’t expect to hear the merit.”
Tong Bo has been practicing hidden weapons for a long time, and he can tell at a glance that Ge Er uses his super hearing to hear the points of each hand. Moreover, this kid is so shrewd that he can win a big one after losing a few small ones, which makes people catch him. No clue.
"We have to find a way to make him lose." Tong Bo walked around the lobby a few times and placed a few bets. Suddenly, a familiar figure came into his sight.
"Two, five taels." At the fantan table, a man with a green scarf on his head and a folding fan with the word "Qingfeng" in his hand took out an ingot of five taels of silver and placed it. On the pattern of the word "二".
"If you buy it, leave your hand, if you buy it, leave it." The dealer said, holding a bamboo stick and moving the white chess pieces; once, twice, as the chess pieces were moved four by four to the right, and finally the chess piece on the left Only two remain.
"Hey, we lost again." Most of the gamblers around the table sighed loudly. The young man in white used his fan to push the silver coins into the pattern of "two": "Together with the last handful of winning coins, Keep betting two.”
"Damn, why did it come out again?" As the dealer moved the bamboo stick, most of the gamblers started a new round of shouting.
Tong Bo looked at the young man in white from the corner of his eye, and saw that he had won the money but did not look happy, but had a melancholy look on his face, as if saying that this kind of game was too unchallenging, and he laughed secretly in his heart.
Tong Bo calmly walked behind the young master in white and whispered softly: "I didn't expect Mr. Liu's fantan to be so good. I wonder if I can also get rich."
The young man in white turned around and looked at Tong Bo in disguise. He was stunned at first, and then the smile in his eyes gradually grew stronger: "Why not, the game is more interesting when there are more people playing it."
"Why is Miss Liu here?" Tong Bo asked using the secret voice transmission while holding the silver.
"Someone sent me a note saying that there is news about my father here." The young man in white is none other than Liu Ningshi, who is disguised as a man.
"No matter what this person's purpose is, there is indeed a lot of trouble here. Miss Liu, since you are here, please help me." Tong Bo turned his eyes to Ge Er on the other table: "Go over there and do something secretly Use your hands and feet to make that person lose everything.”
Liu Ningshi also glanced at the excited Ge Er over there, with a look of resentment on her face: "That person just relies on his ear skills. With Brother Xiangyun's ability, it's not difficult to win over him. Why do you want me to go?"
"Because I'm lazy." Tong Bo smiled lazily at Liu Ningshi.
"..." Liu Ningshi glared at Tong Bo speechlessly before pulling away.
"Why are these lucks so bad? It's really bad luck!" Ge Er deliberately yelled after losing dozens of coins like a stroke of water.
"I said, brother, your luck is good enough; do you think I have lost everything?" The gambler next to him spread his hands with a depressed look on his face.
"I don't believe in this evil anymore." Ge Er made up his mind to withdraw from the game after winning another big one.
The dealer held the wooden Gu in his hands and shook it up and down, and the three dice made a crisp collision sound; watching the dealer shake the Gu vigorously, Ge Er sneered in his heart and squinted his eyes to listen attentively.
At the moment when the wooden voodoo in the banker's hand stopped on the table, Liu Ningshi knocked an ingot of five taels of silver heavily on the pattern of "big" with her right hand. The thumping sound of the silver and the sound of the wooden voodoo stopped. The voices suddenly blended together.
"Five hundred taels, bet six leopards." Ge Er's eyes showed a confident look.
"The bet is gone, the bet is gone." Seeing the gamblers all betting out their money while shouting, the banker slowly opened the wooden gu.
"Six, six, five o'clock." The banker glanced at Ge Er, who had been playing games all night, and his face brightened instantly.
"Impossible, how could I hear it wrong? This hand should obviously have six leopards?" Ge Er was surprised at first, and then anger came to his heart. He pointed at the banker and said: "You are a cheat!"
"Brother, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't talk. When you won just now, can I think that you won for a thousand dollars?" A cold light flashed in the banker's eyes.
"But..." Ge Er was about to say something. Tong Bo, who was watching the show, patted Ge Er on the shoulder and smiled at the banker: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. This friend of mine I just said the wrong thing when I was in a bad mood, how could your brother be so unlucky, please Haihan."
"Hmph, for the sake of this friend's face, forget it this time. If you talk nonsense again, don't blame us for being rude." Seeing that the banker had won back the money, he obviously didn't want to make things worse.
Tong Bo pulled Ge Er and said with a smile: "Friend, victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. Don't worry about it. If you can trust me, let's go to the Fan Tan table for a while."
