Chapter 20: The King of a Thousand Kings

In 1983, a man with a fruit knife stuck in his head walked seven streets.

In 1984, a car accident victim with broken glass on his face once ran to a farmer's market.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year in 1990, a strange person appeared on the street, with two dice embedded in his eye sockets, which were smashed into them, and sometimes people's vitality is very tenacious. He was first admitted to the hospital, and after returning home, he was bedridden for half a year and died.

His last words to his son were only two words: no betting!

The son's name is Baoyuan, who was 16 years old at the time, and later became a well-known gambling king in the north and south of the country.

His mother worked hard to pull him into an adult, built a house, and married a daughter-in-law. The family lived in peace and happiness, with a son and a motorized tricycle that traveled to and from the river and the market to sell seafood. One day, several fishmongers got together, and one of them said, "Let's play poker, shall we?"

This sentence changed Baoyuan's life.

It was in a factory that had been abandoned for many years, the gears were covered with morning glories, and there was even a plane tree growing in the factory. It was raining heavily, and the fishmongers threw their motorized tricycles along the river and ran into the factories on the shore to take shelter from the rain. One of the fishmongers proposed to play poker, and they said yes, and the fishmonger broke off the plane tree, gave each of them a leaf, put it under his buttocks, and sat cross-legged.

Bao Yuan crossed his arms and watched, everyone mobilized him to play together, he smiled and said, "No." ”

They play "Fraud Golden Flower", also known as three cards, which is a folk multiplayer card game that is widely circulated throughout the country. Playing "Fraud Golden Flower" may be a small card and a big trick, which is a contest of strength, courage and resourcefulness, and a game for adventurers.

Bao Yuan watched it for a while and learned it.

A fishmonger said to him, "Old watch, have fun, there are a lot of people." ”

His blood boiled, he rubbed his hands together and said, "Okay." ”

He inherited the risk-taking genes inherited from his gambler father, just as each one remained the same as the other had before.

There were a lot of mosquitoes in the abandoned factory, and they had bitten dense bumps on his body, which he gently pinched with his fingernails, and he enjoyed this quite comfortable feeling all afternoon. At dusk, when the rain stopped, the fishmongers who collected the fish scattered, and he counted some money and won more than 2,000, which was his first gamble.

He stood up, patted his butt, and a leaf fell.

Since then, Bao Yuan has a deck of playing cards in his pocket every day. He gambled in various places, in the open space of the dock, in the neighbor's bed, on the greasy table of the food stall, he began to be dissatisfied with the small game of a few tens of yuan, and the gambler helped him contact the big gambling game.

He fell deeper and deeper, and gradually lost all his savings. He thought it was bad luck, but later someone reminded him that it was someone who made a thousand in the gambling process, and he couldn't figure out how to get out of it. Even so, he was still obsessed and borrowed money to gamble every day.

His mother found out about Bao Yuan's gambling and made him kneel in front of his father's portrait.

"Why did your dad die?"

"Sick and dead."

"Fart, fart, it's gambling, out of the old man was caught, and people smashed two dice into his eye sockets. Do you know what you smashed into it? ”

"I don't know."

"Use a bench!"

Bao Yuan didn't have the money to gamble anymore, and no one was willing to lend him money, so he watched others gamble stupidly every day.

On February 19, 1997, Bao Yuan picked up a lighter on the street, and his fate took a turn for the worse. The lighter is made of copper, polished and polished, and the light is recognizable. He had an idea that he could use the reflection of light to see his hole cards. That is to say, put the lighter in a suitable position, and when the cards are dealt, the cards are sent out from the lighter, so that he only needs to look down at the lighter, and he can know what hole cards are dealt to each one.

At that time, high-tech out of thousands had not yet appeared, many out of thousands of props were not popular, gamblers out of thousands of completely relied on techniques and skills.

This idea simply made Bao Yuan ecstatic, he experimented with it himself a few times, and thought it was indeed feasible, so he quietly sold the house.

He had a lighter in his pocket, a flame burning inside him, and through this lighter, he peeked into the most uncanny darkness of gambling.

It was in the private room of a teahouse, and several bosses played very big, with a base of 100 and a cap of 1,000, and the wins and losses were hundreds of thousands. When Bao Yuan went, he was already in full swing, and the gamblers said hello to him, and he joined the gambling game.

He lit a cigarette and put the lighter on the table in front of him, and when it was his turn to deal cards, he could see the hole cards of all the players on the field with the help of the reflection of the lighter, and slowly won a lot of money. He played cautiously, and when it was almost dawn, he touched three sixes.

Bao Yuan thought that the time had come to win or lose, and he would never gamble again after getting the money back.

The money on the table had been piled up into a small mountain, and the others had given up after a few rounds of followers, leaving only a man in a suit, who had staked up 1,100 yuan. Bao Yuan knew in his heart that the opponent's hole cards were two kings and a 3 of spades.

The man in the suit asked Baoyuan, "How much money do you have?" ”

Bao Yuan replied: "More than 40,000." ”

The man in the suit took out four stacks of money and said, "1,100 is too slow, how about we bet all the money?" ”

Bao Yuan understood that the other party wanted to scare him away, so he threw all the money on the table and said, "Okay, you get the money and open the cards." ”

The man in the suit picked up his card, looked at it casually, turned it over, and said, "See for yourself." ”

Bao Yuan was dumbfounded, and until years later he remembered the other party's cards: three kings!

He clearly saw that his opponent's hole cards were two kings and a 3 of spades, and he didn't understand how it became three kings.

On the way home, he was penniless, had a lot of foreign debts, the wind was so strong, and the weather was so cold.

In order to avoid creditors, the mother returned to the countryside and was forced to live with her aunt, and the wife took her son to her father-in-law's house. Outside, firecrackers rang out, and every household was beaming, and Baoyuan couldn't help but feel sad and cried loudly.

Baoyuan went to his father-in-law's house to find his wife, and his son opened the door and called out to his father. The wife pinched the child hard, and gritted her teeth while beating the child: "Don't call him dad, he's not your dad, you don't have a dad, your dad is dead!" ”

The 3-year-old son looked at Bao Yuan with tearful eyes.

Many years later, he always saw his son's helpless and aggrieved eyes in his dreams.

Since then, all the stories of Baoyuan have been in a different place.

There is a seller of cool skins under the Laoguan Bridge in Jiangxi, and he has been selling there for five years. One day, when his cool leather shop was about to close, a vicious man walked in, and since then, he has never opened the door again, and he has been ransacked.

The person who robbed it was none other than Bao Yuan.

Suppose there is a river in front of him, he will jump off. He thought about committing suicide, and when he stood on the bridge, he was timid again, and he looked at the river, and the clouds were reflected on the water, and there were fish swimming by, and the people in the boats were casting nets, and some of the fish could not catch the nets, because they belonged to the sky. Baoyuan ate a bowl of cold skin under the bridge, and after eating enough, he robbed the old man who sold cold skin and began his career of wandering all over the world.

In Henan, he worked as a copper factory security guard, and in Hebei, he worked as an apprentice in a restaurant. Wuqiao is also the hometown of Chinese acrobatics, whether it is the streets and alleys or the countryside, from the elderly to the children, Wuqiao people are all equipped with unique skills.

One day, Bao Yuan was wandering around the station, and a group of people gathered around the roadside, and he squeezed in to see a lame old man playing poker.

The old man takes three cards, two of which are hearts and one is the ace of spades, and he throws three cards on the ground, and the bet on the ace of spades wins, and the big wins the big and the small wins the small. Since he moves slowly, even a small child can see clearly where he throws the ace of spades. After a while, he lost a lot of money, and he was a little anxious, muttering: "Everyone I met today are all masters, and if you play the last one, you will close the stall." ”

The old man still threw the three cards on the ground slowly, and the audience saw that the ace of spades was in the middle position, and some of the heartfelt people bet one after another, and Bao Yuan also bet 10 yuan. The old man turned over the middle card, but it was not the ace of spades, and many people lost.

This is a widely circulated street scam, not magic, but the use of low-level tricks to make people feel delusional.

Baoyuan went to the station every day, and he got acquainted with the old man as soon as he came and went. The old man claimed to be from the Northeast, but he spoke with a southern accent, and he had been wandering the rivers and lakes for more than ten years. Once, Bao Yuan had just paid his salary and invited the old man to drink, and in a beef noodle restaurant, the old man performed a few poker tricks for Bao Yuan to see.

The old man skillfully shuffled the cards, and also performed a one-handed shuffle, after the shuffle, issued four, Bao Yuan turned over his own cards, his eyes lit up, it was three Ks. The old man turned over his cards and smiled smugly, and it turned out to be three aces.

The old man asked Bao Yuan to reissue a card casually, and he turned over the card, and it was still an A.

Bao Yuan thought that he had met a fairy, so he begged the old man to teach him, and the old man said: "You can't teach in vain, you have to pay tuition." Bao Yuan took out his salary. On that day, the old man taught him how to shuffle cards, change cards, and steal cards.

Bao Yuan suddenly realized, and finally understood how he lost in the first place.

Bao Yuan asked the old man: "You are so powerful, why don't you gamble?" ”

The old man said, "Don't say that, my son, these are the stuff of a three-legged cat." There is a magician in the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, named Chen Shirong, who is the real master. ”

Bao Yuan is very perceptive, the old man practiced a few times and he mastered all the essentials of the movements, and he practiced the basic skills of a thousand arts.

Gamblers can always find a gamble, just as wild dogs can find poop.

Bao Yuan is proficient in practice and eager to try. Although these are only elementary thousand techniques, but no one knows through some small gambling games, Bao Yuan also won a lot of money relying on these small skills, and gradually, everyone stopped playing with him. He heard a fellow villager say that there was an underground casino in Shijiazhuang, and he went to Shijiazhuang the next day.

The darkness of underground casinos is unfathomable, and what people know is only the tip of the iceberg.

Bao Yuan was very confident in his three-legged cat kung fu, he entered the casino, and was caught as soon as he made a thousand.

The casino didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so it beat him up and let him go.

Bao Yuan lay in a humble station hotel for half a month, and then went to Shanghai, where he prepared to learn art. The lame old man at Wuqiao Station once told him that there was a magician named Chen Shirong in the Shanghai Oriental Acrobatic Troupe, and he was going to work while slowly looking for it, but he didn't expect Chen Shirong to be very famous, and he asked a few people on the streets of Shanghai and inquired. The Oriental Acrobatic Troupe is well-known all over the world and has won many international awards, and Chen Shirong is an old magician who has performed on stage since the 80s of the 20th century, especially good at poker magic. The acrobatic troupe performs in the theater every day, and when Bao Yuan went, it happened to be Chen Shirong's program, Chen Shirong performed an empty-handed change of cards, and the audience threw cards and grabbed an A, but the audience applauded very little, only Bao Yuan stood up and cheered loudly.

Chen Shirong looked at Baoyuan and said, "This little brother, it's my honor to cheer me on, I'll give you another performance!" ”

He took a deck of cards out of his pocket, pulled one out, and shook it off, and the card spun and flew into the air, and the audience looked up and saw that the card was gradually disappearing in the air. It was hard to believe that the playing cards flying in the air had disappeared from their sight, and the audience fell silent, followed by thunderous applause.

Chen Shirong bowed for a curtain call, Baoyuan went around the backstage, walked in front of Chen Shirong, and knelt down.

Bao Yuan said, "I want to apprentice." ”

Chen Shirong said: "Yes, have you signed up?" ”

Bao Yuan said: "Sign up? ”

Chen Shirong said: "Our group has a magic training class, and I go to give lectures every week. ”

Bao Yuan said, "I'm not here to learn magic. ”

Chen Shirong said: "Then what do you want to learn?" ”

Bao Yuan said: "I want to learn a thousand arts. ”

Chen Shirong smiled slightly, not surprised, he helped Bao Yuan up, looked at it carefully, and then took out a deck of poker and asked Bao Yuan to show him all he would know, and Bao Yuan did his best to perform without reservation. After reading it, Chen Shirong said: "I see that you are very talented, and I don't want to turn you away, as long as you can promise me one thing, I will accept you as an apprentice." ”

Bao Yuan asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Chen Shirong said: "It's very simple, just two words, don't gamble!" ”

Bao Yuan thought for a while and said, "Okay." ”

Chen Shirong pursed his lips and said, "You lie." ”

Bao Yuan's face turned white for a while, and he hurriedly said, "No." ”

Chen Shirong took out a dagger that was bright and dangling, threw it in front of Bao Yuan and said: "Every once in a while, someone will come to me to apprentice, as long as you can insert this knife into the palm of your hand and abolish one of your own hands, I will accept you." Otherwise, you're like those people and go back. ”

Bao Yuan picked up the knife and hesitated for a long time, he learned a thousand techniques by himself, but he couldn't gamble, so what was the use of learning this. Suddenly, he had an idea in his heart, he didn't gamble, he shouldn't be a Qianqian, but he could still catch Laoqian. The thought was like lightning in the night sky, illuminating his path ahead, and at last he made up his mind to raise the dagger and stab it against the back of his hand, but without a trace of pain, the dagger retracted into the hilt like a spring.

That dagger is just a magic item!

Chen Shirong officially accepted Baoyuan, it was the first time he had met someone who dared to use a knife to stick in his hand, and he had always wanted to find a successor. During the day, Baoyuan did some handy work in the acrobatic troupe, and at night, he learned a thousand techniques from Chen Shirong. Chen Shirong told Baoyuan that he was a native of Hongmen, and his father was a powerful man in the past, and everyone in Shanghai knew about it, and thousands of techniques belonged to ancestral skills. Eight generals of a thousand doors: Positive mention of anti-wind and fire to eliminate rumors!

Positive: Falsifying with a thousand techniques or card skills.

Mention: Set up the game.

Against: Use interpersonal relationships to pull opponents into the water.

Off: Win the money and find a way to escape.

Wind: Send a special person to watch the wind.

Fire: Deal with problems by force.

Except: Use negotiation to deal with problems.

Rumors: Use rumors to make opponents hit.

Chen Shirong said that magic is heaven, and a thousand arts are hell. He completely corrected Bao Yuan's method of going out of the thousands, and warned Bao Yuan: "Rookie old people will only use props, once they are caught, the end will be miserable, either missing arms or legs, or cutting off fingers." Hold the hand shape of the card to be natural, senior thousand look at the other party's hand shape to know its level, shuffle the playing cards do not show, do not wash so many tricks, wash skillfully can only make people doubt, should be disguised as an ordinary person. ”

Chen Shirong also taught Baoyuan some advanced techniques and the understanding of high-tech tricks, including mahjong and pai gow.

Chen Shirong said: "The highest state of a thousand is not a thousand. ”

Bao Yuan asked, "Then what do you rely on to win money?" ”

Chen Shirong said: "Probability! ”

The casinos in Las Vegas and Macau in the United States do not cheat, and the world's four major casinos rely on probability to make profits. Every time a gambler bets whether he wins or loses, it is a random event, although it is your personal luck, but as a gambler as a whole, the probability is on the side of the casino. Casinos rely on a large base of gamblers to win money from it. And gamblers, if they keep gambling, constitute the base of a large gambling behavior, and every random win or loss has no meaning. In front of the rules and odds designed behind the casino computer, every time a gambler bets, the casino wins more and loses less.

The first person to consciously calculate the odds of winning gambling was Cardano in Renaissance Italy, who gambled almost every day and was convinced that if a person does not gamble for money, then nothing can make up for the time lost in gambling. He calculated which number was most likely to appear when two dice were rolled at the same time, and it turned out to be "7".

Chen Shirong said to Baoyuan: "There are people outside the world, there are heavens outside the sky, there will always be thousands of people who are higher than you, some mathematicians, physicists, chemists, may be masters you have never seen." ”

Three months later, Bao Yuan was discharged.

Since then, he has become a well-known gambling king.