Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Did Langjun write all this himself? It’s brilliant!” Meng Hun said as he flipped through Jiang Pengji’s proposal about the soldier’s training. Xu Ke then showed him her first draft with torment in his eyes.
The excited man took a quick glimpse at it, fell into silence, and decided to put it aside.
“Coach Meng, please feel free to ask me if there’s any problem.”
Meng Hun did not want to trouble Xu Ke any longer. He was relieved by Xu Ke’s peaceful tone throughout their conversation, and thus made a polite hand gesture to him. “Thank you, Xiaoyu.” He was starting to like the boy already.
Although Xu Ke was completely unfamiliar with the military, he had made extra efforts in the designing the training. After his detailed explanation, Meng Hun had obtained most information they needed about the new force even before he officially met the soldiers.
The two did not chat much, and talked only about their work. Even so, during their interactions, the talented Xu Ke had learned much about fighting battles. He was especially skilled in internal affairs and arrangements, and was therefore intrigued by the logistics of wars.
It was true that food came before soldiers, for a well-thought out supply chain in a battle could determine the ultimate result of it. Obviously, Jiang Pengji wanted more than the victory of one fight. To assist her, Xu Ke knew he could not merely be a bookkeeper for a family––that would not suit his own ambitions, either.
He inquired to Meng Hun in that regard and the coach told him everything he knew. The grown up was not as educated as Xu Ke, yet his experience was equally as valuable as knowledge from books. As last, he recommended some relevant readings to him.
They talked until dusk, had a simple dinner, and then parted ways for their respective duties.
Meanwhile, in the gambling house, Jiang Pengji was wearing all black and hiding the two rolls of bamboo slips in the shades of the storage room.
“Here we go…” She smiled. Everything was under control.
Her shadow vanished in the darkness of the night.
That evening, the gambling house was busy as usual. Gamesters did not care about how much the boss had lost recently; all their attention was on the money in their pockets.
Losing four thousand taels to Jiang Pengji was enough to make the boss faint on the spot. Soon, he heard about someone kidnapping the pretty captive in the storage room and injuring the guards on duty. At that moment, the boss thought he would die instantly at the news. Fortunately, he did not.
The two blows were not enough to kill his enthusiasm in squeezing money out from other gamesters. As long as he opened the gambling house, hundreds of pieces of silver would be his. With that belief, he paid for the physician and medicine for his guards and called others to replace their shifts temporarily.
“Big! It must be big!”
“No way! It has to be small!”
Men were roaring in the lobby. A banker was wearing a smile on his face, trying to conceal his nervousness.
He opened the dice cup. Once again, it was three sixes. The banker won.
A bunch of gamesters were irked, and shouted that the he was cheating.
“Not again! This is the third time tonight! I’ve lost twenty taels already!”
“The last turn was three ones, and this time it is three sixes. Who are you trying to fake?”
“Give me back my money! I sold my land for it!”
The banker looked at them and despised them secretly. Every gambling house played tricks. Did they expect fair games there?
As the crowd was getting out of control, he gestured some guards to hold their wooden sticks for intimidation. The angry gamesters gradually became quiet; they could not fight those men.
The banker retained his composure. “It’s not our fault that you have bad luck. You can’t yell just because you’re not the ones who win.”
In fact, he was uncertain of what to do next. If he continued to make them lose, even the unsuspecting guest would know something was wrong. However, he had no choice. The boss had ordered them to win all silver crumbles from the gamesters and, unlike their past practice of winning little by little, they must win as much as possible.
“Just leave if it suits you.” The banker shook his head.
The people looked at one another, exchanged a look of, “What if we win the next turn?” and sat back around the table.
The banker made a silent “Tst!” sound.
Stupid people!
The noise of angry moans and excited shrieks resumed until dawn.
The sky was not fully bright. Dew was hanging on grass and leaves. The town gate was still locked, yet peasants were already waiting outside, preparing to sell their produce in the market.
Creak. When the gate opened, the people quietly queued up, went through checks one by one, and entered the town.
Clip-clop! Clip-clop! Horses were heard in the distance, while some peasants at the back were attentively counting the eggs in their baskets. They had collected them for days and had hurried to the market that morning, hoping to sell them for a good price.
“Stay clear!”
The peasants had taken a few steps aside when the horses approached, not supposing that they would run them over directly instead of turning away or stopping in front of the gate.
“Ouch!”
“Help!”
“My eggs! My eggs!”
“Who stepped on me? That hurt!”
The horses ignored the crowd, leaving a mess behind.