"Open open open!"

"Three o'clock - one more!"

"What time is it?"

"It's on, it's... It's two points!"

"Three-two, a total of five points, Jiang Lao wins four!" The dealer looked at the number of the dice and announced loudly.

"Come again!" Hu Ye was a little surprised, but he felt that this result was expected. Of course, he was not convinced by this result, so he said:

"It's still big!"

"Then I'm still betting small?" Jiang Laosi replied honestly.

"Open open open!" Everyone bets very hard, and naturally they are looking forward to the opening of the cup.

"Three o'clock, three o'clock, still small!" Brother Jiang has won again!

Jiang Laosi accepted the compliments from others with a smile, looked at Hu Buwei, and said with a smile: "Master Hu, how many more?"

Hu Buwei took a cup of tea handed by others, took a sip, but didn't swallow it, just rinsed his mouth, then took a sip of thick phlegm, cleared his throat, and said: "Come on, Jiang Laosi, you have won a lot, I also confessed, I must win you today, this is about the contest of gambling skills between us, today, unless I lose everything, I will never go back!"

Jiang Laosi narrowed his eyes and said, "Then Master Hu will ask you to bet first?"

It all seems to be weird, but it makes sense.

Hu Ye's heart suddenly swelled with an uneasy emotion, which he had only felt before when he was discovered by his master for playing clever. He looked at Jiang Laosi's narrowed eyes, as if he wanted to see through his thoughts.

Jiang Laosi also did not shy away from it, facing the gaze of Hu Ye who was strafing. Faced with this smiling gaze, Hu Ye looked at the silver money he still had left, lowered his head and thought about it carefully, and suddenly his hand shook slightly, as if he had figured out something, and then sat in place and laughed "hehe".

"Hehe, I see, I see, Jiang Laosi, you don't have to play with me, I can completely see that you can follow me to bet on the few losses just now, but you just bet small, I'm very curious." Hu Ye no longer had the momentum of the beginning, but said flatly.

"Then what do you mean by Hu Ye? Could it be that I don't make money even if I have it?" Jiang Laosi looked puzzled and looked at Hu Ye suspiciously.

Hu Ye laughed out loud and said: "I, Hu Buwei, fifteen years old, apprenticed to others, studied for three years, and my master learned the eye method of watching the dice cup, and then I have been eating in the casino, and I have been thinking about it for almost 30 years." He looked disdainfully at Xie Fatzi, who was hiding behind Jiang Laosi, and then said: "I'm a person, I don't like to beat around the bush when I speak, I have always said one thing, Jiang Laosi, I will tell you directly, you just deliberately lost a few games just now, just to let me down my guard, make me feel that there is still a chance to win, and then you can slowly eat my money, right?"

Jiang Laosi also took a cup of tea from the little guy in the gambling house at this time, took a sip, looked at Hu Ye, and said, "Since Hu Ye said so, then I won't hold it, so what do you want?"

"My idea is very simple, Jiang Laosi, don't you just want to eat my money? Let's play a buyout game, and the winner will be determined in one game. Hu Ye's words were very calm, as if he had bet a few pennies at random.

"What!" Buyout!" Everyone was very surprised, and looked at Hu Ye in some surprise, not understanding why Hu Ye would make such a move.

You must know that Hu Ye has always been famous for his calmness in the gambling house, and it is not that he has not encountered a hard stubble for so many years, but every time he encounters a hard stubble, he will smell the danger and avoid the past.

Of course, Hu Ye had his own thoughts, he pushed all the money on the table to the middle, and said, "This is all the money I have now, a total of thirty taels, and I will bet with you on this handful." ”

Even Xie Fatzi and the others who were sitting at the table were a little moved when they saw this, thirty taels of silver, converted into copper coins, is thirty hanging big coins. If it is a poor family with an income like an old Taoist priest, it will only be three hangings a year for a lot of money, and a commoner will only be six hangings a year. All of you here can come to the gambling house to play for money, all of them are the solid masters of the small city, but even most of them have an income of only a hundred taels of silver a year, these thirty taels are indeed a great wealth, at least for Jiang Laosi, to win this money, where does he need to go to the land west of the river to collect melons?

Jiang Laosi didn't look surprised at all, rubbed his eyes a little sour, just staked the copper coin in front of him and the silver ticket of five taels, and said seemingly unintentionally but with certainty: "It's been a long time since I've met such an interesting person as Hu Ye, let's play, I'll play with you this time, don't be angry if you lose." ”

"Don't be embarrassed!" Several people next to Hu Ye heard Jiang Laosi's arrogant words, and scolded him repeatedly.

Hu Ye heard Jiang Laosi's arrogant words and did not get angry like others, but stopped others from scolding Jiang Laosi, his emotions gradually became excited, and he said tremblingly: "If my judgment is not wrong, if I can see your listening and arguing skills, even if I lose Hu Buwei, it will be worth it." ”

He has changed the address to "you".

Jianghu sorcerers, naturally, do not set their dignity and humility based on their age and identity, what they pay attention to is that they are "the master first", this title has already made it clear that he Hu Buwei admits that his ability is weaker than Jiang Laosi.

Jiang Laosi was also a little surprised, he didn't expect this Hu Buwei to be so sensitive to discover his "trickle of water" strategy, which is not bad, the old oilman who has been in the casino for so long really can't be despised ah, he glanced at Hu Buwei's fingers and wrists, and said: "You learned to view the cup, right?

Hu Buwei nodded, so he told everyone the story about how he came to be able to do this:

"That was more than 20 years ago, when I was a good gambler, and you also knew that my family had some money, but then because of the gambling with others, the family's property was ruined. I remember, it should be an afternoon, I was sleeping in the mountain temple outside the city, and one came in, one ......" Hu Buwei thought about it carefully, and then said with certainty: "Yes, it should be the son of a scholar in a green shirt, the age should be twenty-five or sixteen, he walked directly to my side and begged me for half a bowl of rice to eat." ”

"I wondered how such a son, who was obviously a member of the county clan, would come to a small place like ours, and what would he ask for food for a beggar like me? But I still gave him the food, and I didn't expect him to actually eat half of my bowl of rice. Then he asked me if I had any wishes, and I told him the truth about my family, and he asked me if I wanted to go back to my roots? Of course I thought about it! So he passed on my ability to watch the cup, but because I was stupid, Master He only passed on this kind of ability, and it is said that there is also a more advanced method of listening to the sound and arguing position, but unfortunately I did not learn it. ”

"That's the end of the story, and everyone knows the rest of the story. Hu Buwei's tone was a little lonely, looking at Jiang Laosi, the loneliness on his face was swept away, and his expression became excited: "I know that I, Jiang Laosi, am just a gambler in the eyes of others, and I can play a little clever, but I have never seen this kind of gambling technique of yours! This was my wish back then! Master didn't teach me back then, so now I ask Mr. Jiang to demonstrate it to me, I hope Mr. Jiang will not be stingy, I Hu Buwei is grateful!"

Jiang Laosi looked at Hu Buwei's palm, where there was a thick callus, and said: "Guanju debate, it is about relying on the usual palm training, constantly shaking the dice cup with various techniques during training, at this time with both eyes to observe the shaking degree of the dice cup, in the mind to conceive the angle of the dice hitting and rolling in the dice cup, and finally get a rough result, but the accuracy of this method is not high, you can't get out of the teacher after a few years of practice, the cocoon in your hand is the result of practicing privately because you feel that you haven't learned home over the years, right?" ”

Fat Xie slowly stretched his head in front of Jiang Laosi and asked in a low voice, "Feelings, this Hu Buwei turned out to be a half-hanger?"

Hu Buwei shrunk his hands in his arms, his fingers kept clasping the thick calluses on his hands, he couldn't sit still anymore, got up and bowed to Jiang Laosi, and said ashamedly: "I thought I had learned home, and my hands were very tight, so I secretly came back to the city to gamble a few times, and then the master was discovered by my father, and the next day the master left, I still practice diligently over the years, but I have made little progress, it's my fault, you are my predecessor in this regard, you will accept my worship for my master!"

One hand grabbed Hu Buwei, who still wanted to worship again-it was Jiang Laosi who got up.

"You don't have to worship me, you should worship your master, since you are a halfway monk, then you can only be regarded as half of his apprentice, he is that person, how to say it, I can't stand it if you worship me..."

"You, you know my master!"

"Uh... Let's not talk about that. Jiang Laosi decisively interrupted the topic. "Settle it out beforehand, dealer, and shake the dice cup. Then Jiang Laosi looked at Hu Buwei, who was a little afraid to look up at himself, and said, "You can use all your skills for me now and prove your master's skills to me." ”

Hu Buwei raised his slightly guilty eyes and said, "Then please start." ”

......

The morning sun had risen before a quarter of an hour, and even the rain outside had stopped. The warm yellow sunlight shone through the thick clouds, through the plum trees in the courtyard, and the fresh yellow plums that were still carrying rain and dripping, shone on the tables in the Chen family's gambling house.

"Ding Ding Ding Bell ......" The dice cup shook up and down three times, left and right, followed by a circle back and forth, then turned diagonally three times, and then four times shook each other, accompanied by the sound of hitting the inner wall of the dice cup with the sound of the dealer shaking the dice very classic. In those hands, the position of the dice changed one after another, and the dice cup kept changing in the dealer's hand, like a butterfly taking off up and down.

After a few breaths, the dice cup was quietly placed on the table.

Everyone in the room was staring at the dice cup, and they didn't dare to let out the atmosphere, as if speaking at this time would destroy the sacred atmosphere.

"How about it, bet big or small?" Fat Xie looked at Jiang Laosi.

"Four up, five down, three left, collide with each other twice at the same time, and come ......three times diagonally" Hu Buwei carefully thought about the impact and rolling trajectory of the dice, his brain was running wildly, and even some hot sweat broke out on the door of his head, he had not gone so hard since he was out of school, but despite this, he was still not sure that he could win.

"I'm betting small. Hu Buwei replied first.

"I'll bet on it. ”

"Come on, come on, it's time to open the dice cup!" The dealer's small words attracted everyone's attention, and some of them were anxious to directly uncover the small dice cup, only Jiang Laosi, who was still leisurely, closed his eyes and rested.

The dealer slowly unravels the cup, revealing the first dice.

"It's one!"

Hu Buwei's breathing became short, then, Jiang Laosi only has a one-sixth chance to win against himself! He will immediately prove that he is no worse than listening to the sound and arguing position!

"Open the next one!"

"It's on! There are more hearts!" A man who was close shouted to him.

"It's actually a lot of hearts!" Hu Buwei quietly clenched his fists.

"How many hearts?"

"One, two, three, four... Five"

Hu Buwei's heart was overjoyed.

"There is one more, it is six, Jiang Laosi won!" The dealer opened the dice cup completely and added loudly.

There was a deathly silence around at first, and then those who had taken the big one cheered, and they all walked up to Jiang Laosi to thank him, and together with Xie Fatzi, they all smiled.

"Sure enough..." Hu Buwei suddenly lost his strength, slipped off the bench, and sat down on the ground.

......

Inside the courtyard of the Chen family gambling house.

After Jiang Laosi said goodbye to everyone in the gambling house, he stood under the plum tree alone, looked at the gradually clear sky in the sky, plucked a yellowed plum from the plum tree and threw it into his mouth. While chewing, he said: "I didn't expect to meet half of your disciples here, Senior Brother, this little trick you taught me back then, I didn't expect it to really come in handy today." ”

Then he spat out the pit under the tree with a "poof" and muttered, "Sure enough, it's not fully ripe." ”

Many years ago, when this plum tree had not grown to bear fruit like it is now, there were two Confucian and Taoist scholars in the capital of the Great Qin Emperor: one was called Lide and the other was called Lixing.