He had played mahjong for 10 to 20 years already. However, the number of times he had won could be counted with two hands.
The more one won, the more addicted one became to gambling. The more one lost, the angrier one became and wanted to win back what they had lost. It was a vicious cycle.
It had been more than four hours since he had returned today, and he had already played nearly 20 rounds. He had not won once, and had lost about 500,000 by now.
Third Brother, Huo Ji, looked at him. “Ah Ci, this is just the start. It’s the New Year. Don’t spoil the fun.”
“That’s right. Us brothers haven’t met in such a long time. Let’s go another two rounds.” Fifth Brother Huo Pei agreed.
“Sixth Brother, are you anxious about losing? Are you afraid that your luck is bad and you will keep losing? Do you even lack that bit of money?” Huo Li was a gambling addict. He could not stop gambling once he started, so he naturally did not want someone to leave.
Besides, he usually wasn’t very lucky at gambling, and his everyday luck was not good either. However, compared to Huo Ci, he was much better. Even if he could not win every time, he would not lose either. Because there was someone at the bottom anyway, it gave him a sense of pride, like he had become the King of Gambling.
Huo Ci was someone who could not take provocation. Upon hearing his words, he was unhappy. How could a man not have the desire to win? “I was afraid that you guys will lose until you can’t even wear pants. Come on, next.”
Upon seeing that his scheme had succeeded, Huo Li’s eyes were full of self-satisfaction. “Come, continue. The bargaining chip is too low. How can it match up to Sixth Brother’s status? Increase the bet!”
Huo Ci said, “So be it. How much?”
Upon seeing that the duo was about to make the decision for everyone, Huo Pei frowned and reminded them, “Sixth Brother, Fourth Brother, take it easy. If Father finds out, we’ll all suffer.”
The Old Master had a rule that forbade one from playing big. It was fine if one lost hundreds of thousands or millions, but if he found out someone dared to bet big, he would definitely whip them to death.
“If you and I don’t say anything, and everyone else keeps their mouths shut, how could Father know? Ah Pei, according to my knowledge, you just cashed out 50 million before the new year. Don’t tell me you can’t even bear to fork out such a small sum of money for fun!” Huo Li was a gambler. Now, he wanted to argue with anyone who opposed him. He was in the mood for gambling!
Huo Pei thought to himself, even if I can’t win money, I won’t lose either. There was Ah Ci the scapegoat as the worst player in any case. “Of course, I won’t say.”
Huo Li gave Huo Ji a look. “What about Third Brother?”
“Since you’ve said so, let’s play a bigger game.” Huo Ji liked to gamble too. He had never let the Old Master discover his secret.
The key was that he lacked money badly. There was a business deal before the new year where he had lost tens of millions. He did not dare let the Old Master know, afraid that he would seize the business away from him.
He had to pay for the losses himself. In the past, tens of millions would not have been a big deal to him. However, he had been dragged to Macau again to have fun during that period and had lost a lot of money. He did not even have any turnover left. If he transferred a large sum of funds wantonly, it would definitely alarm the Old Master.
This was a good opportunity. Sixth Brother was rich and he was poor at gambling too. He would get some money from him to make up for his deficit first.
Before Ling Sheng went to bed, she even knocked on her father’s door to see if he had returned. A servant told her that he had been dragged away by Fifth Uncle to play mahjong.
As soon as she entered the house, she heard a commotion downstairs. It seemed like someone had come. Everyone had gone out to join in the fun.
Xiaoqi was already asleep. After Ling Sheng covered him with a blanket, she closed the door and went out. She happened to bump into Huo Xuanzhou, who was walking down leisurely from the third floor.