"Can't you believe it? I've heard that he is a Taoist priest from Jingling Palace. He is now a guest of an official family. His fortune-telling is very effective."
Kou Ji blinked his eyes, looking innocent.
Wu Ming opened his mouth, not knowing how to evaluate Kou Ji's words.
The Taoist priests in Jingling Palace were all Taoist friends who accompanied the official Zhao Heng to cultivate immortality. He did not dare to make casual comments. If he was not careful, he would get into trouble.
But Wu Ming knew clearly whether the Taoist priests in Jinling Palace had real talents or knowledge.
After all, in order to cater to the holy will, Wu Ming also accompanied his brother Wu Xian to serve as a Taoist priest in Jingling Palace for a few days.
Wu Ming looked at Kou Ji with a hint of pity in his eyes.
What a simple, stupid kid who can deceive anyone he catches.
Rather than being polarized by others, it is better to be deceived by me. Just treat him as my uncle and teach him in advance the truth that there are too many bad people in the world...
"Since my nephew has the guidance of an expert, he will definitely be able to make a lot of money. You go to the private room first and wait while I let the people in the gambling house make arrangements."
Wu Ming said with a smile.
Kou Ji looked at him with expectant eyes, "Can it really be changed?"
Wu Ming patted his chest and promised: "With my help, uncle, there is nothing I can't do."
"My father is indeed right. Uncle Shi, you are such a good person."
Kou Ji praised excitedly.
Wu Ming smiled knowingly and asked Kou Ji to go into the private room while he went to find the steward of the gambling house.
Kou Ji entered the private room, walked around the private room, and measured step by step at the foot of the east wall. Finally, he stopped at a place and turned his head to ask the governor Kou.
"Behind this, it should be the warehouse of Donglai Pawn Shop, right?"
Governor Kou was stunned for a moment, and after mentally calculating the layout of Donglai Pawn Shop and Ziqi Gambling House, he nodded and said, "It should be..."
After Kou Ji confirmed that he had found the right place, he sat down at the gambling table in the private room.
Wu Ming returned to the private room at this time, followed by seven or eight people.
"Hahaha... nephew, the steward of the gambling house has agreed to let us stay in this private room. Let me introduce to you, this is one of the stewards of the gambling house, Manager Lin; this is Chang Longbu
Boss Qian; this is Boss Chen from Hongchang Jade Shop."
Wu Ming introduced the three leaders to Kou Ji, but he did not introduce the rest of the group who were similar to minions and long-term followers.
The manager of the gambling house, Lin Guanshi, is a rather old middle-aged man with a thorny beard. He looks like a fierce man, and he looks like a gangster at first glance.
The boss of the cloth shop, Qian, is a fat man wearing silk and satin.
Boss Chen of the jade shop is wearing a long cloth gown. He is slim and looks like a scholar.
Kou Ji carefully looked at the boss Qian of the cloth shop and the boss Chen of the jade shop. He felt that these two people were not hired by Wu Ming. They were probably just like him, they were lambs to be slaughtered.
Kou Ji didn't expect that while Wu Ming was cheating him, he was also preparing to cheat others.
He really never misses any opportunity to trick people...
After Wu Ming's introduction, Kou Ji stood up and saluted everyone cautiously.
Boss Qian and Boss Chen looked at Kou Ji's performance with a little more contempt in their eyes.
Manager Lin and Wu Ming looked at each other and smiled, looking at everyone's eyes as if they were looking at a slaughtered lamb.
"Now that everyone is here, let's start."
Boss Qian held his stomach in his hands and moved to the gaming table. After sitting down, he said with a smile.
Boss Chen sat down at the gaming table with a cold face.
Wu Ming also came over, sat down at the gambling table, then slapped the table and shouted to Manager Lin: "Hurry up and start."
Manager Lin nodded and walked over holding a deck of Pai Gow.
"Um...can you wait a moment..."
Kou Ji suddenly spoke.
Everyone's eyes fell on him.
Under the gaze of everyone, Kou Ji shrank his neck and said cautiously: "What are we betting on?"
Wu Ming smiled and said: "With so many of us, of course we are gambling on Pai Gow. What do you think, Boss Qian, Boss Chen?"
Boss Qian said with a cheerful smile: "You can bet on anything, the most important thing is to bet on something."
Boss Chen said coldly: "I don't care."
Kou Ji shrank his neck again and whispered, "But...but I don't know Pai Gow, I can only play dice."
Everyone was stunned.
Boss Qian suddenly looked at Kou Ji and said with a cheerful smile: "Is this your first time at a gambling house, little brother?"
Kou Ji hesitated for a moment, then nodded seriously.
Boss Qian smiled again and said: "Since this is the first time for the little brother to come to the gambling house, we seniors can't bully him. Let's just bet on dice."
Boss Chen glanced at Kou Ji and said calmly: "I don't care."
The three guests wanted to play dice, so Wu Ming and Manager Lin had no choice but to let them get their way.
Immediately, Wu Ming winked at Manager Lin in a vague manner, and Manager Lin handed Pai Gow to the man behind him and ordered in an angry voice: "Change the dice..."
The dice were quickly brought out.
The gambling game also started as planned.
Before the gambling game started, Kou Ji said again, "Well... I'm a little cold, can you add a brazier for me..."
Manager Lin looked at Wu Ming, and when he saw that Wu Ming didn't respond, he turned around and told the men next to him, "Go get a brazier for the guest."
"One is not enough, so two are needed, one on each side."
Kou Ji added another sentence.
Everyone's eyes fell on Kou Ji again.
Kou Ji timidly said: "No?"
Boss Qian smiled and said: "It's not that it can't be done, but I feel a little cold after you said that. Manager Lin, ask your people to bring another brazier."
Boss Chen's eyes lingered on Boss Qian and Kou Ji, and he also asked for a brazier.
When the guests have requests, Manager Lin naturally has to comply.
In a place like a gambling house, if you want to make money, you have to make your guests comfortable.
In this way, big customers will come frequently.
Neither Manager Lin nor Wu Ming thought there was anything wrong with Kou Ji's request for a brazier.
In early spring, the river has just opened, the willows are not green, the frozen soil has not yet awakened, and the weather is still cold.
Kou Ji was wearing thin clothes, so it was not too much to ask for two braziers.
Four braziers filled with silver charcoal were lit vigorously, instantly heating up the private room of the casino.
Koji specially placed the two braziers belonging to him by the wall, closest to him.
The gambling game officially started the moment the brazier was brought in.
…
the other side.
Donglai Pawn Shop.
After Liu Heng left, the middle-aged man in charge of the shop closed the door of the pawn shop and took the painting to the pawn shop's warehouse.
The warehouse of Donglai Pawn Shop is very large and uniquely built.
In order to avoid being noticed by thieves, the warehouse has no other openings except the door, not even windows. Closing the door is equivalent to a sealed space.
At the door of the warehouse, there is a small house, which is where the middle-aged man who is the shopkeeper lives.
There is only one door in the entire warehouse, and the middle-aged man who is the shopkeeper lives at the door of the warehouse and guards the door himself, which largely prevents thieves from visiting.
The middle-aged man opened the door of the warehouse and found the bookshelf built on the west wall with the ray of sunlight coming through the door.
The bookshelves are filled with calligraphy and paintings, but not many of them are valuable.
Everything valuable was taken back to the mansion by Wu Xian.
As usual, when a pawn shop receives calligraphy and paintings by famous people, middle-aged people will not personally give them to Wu Xian.
Instead, Wu Xian came to pick it up in person.
The reason for doing this is to prevent being framed by others.
If someone figured out the time and route when a middle-aged man went to Wu Mansion to deliver something, and then pretended to pawn a priceless thing, then snatched it back halfway, and finally came back with the pawn ticket to redeem it, then Donglai Pawn Shop would be in trouble.
Before there was such a rule, Donglai Pawn Shop suffered from such a scheme.
Then he lost an authentic poem by Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and was compensated with 30,000 yuan.
It was from that time on that Wu Xian set such a rule.
Middle-aged people will be robbed, but Wu Xian will not.
As an official of the imperial court, Wu Xian always had a sedan when he came in and out, and he was followed by guards.
More importantly, anyone who openly robs a court official in Bianjing City will be attacked by all officials inside and outside the court.
No official wanted to suffer the same fate in Bianjing City.
The middle-aged man took advantage of the sunlight and found a box wrapped with Sichuan brocade on the bookshelf. After opening it, he put the "Spring Play" that Liu Heng had pawned.
Then he left the warehouse, locked the door, and returned to the house at the door to wait for Wu Xian's arrival.