Liu Wu, who was standing nearby, suddenly saw Fang Zhiyi wink at him. He immediately understood what that meant and rushed to answer, "Mom, I can do it!"
Hu Xiulian didn't think much of it. "Alright, then Liu Wu can help me out!"
Fang Zhiyi looked at Liu Wen’s blackened face and could barely hold back a grin.
Hu Xiulian gave him a nudge. "You're always picking up new things these days. Say, head of the house, it's been a while since we... Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm tired from moving stones. I'm going to sleep!"
"Hmph, as if I'd want to sleep with you? Bah." Hu Xiulian turned around and caught her son staring at her. "Shoo, shoo, shoo, what are you looking at?"
That night, everyone in the Fang family was happy—except for Liu Wen.
Liu Wen tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. When breakfast came, his younger brother's bowl still had an egg, but his own bowl had nothing.
When he asked, the answer was always, "Your little brother is still growing, he needs to build up his strength."
That felt like swallowing a fly for Liu Wen.
Watching the cheerful Liu Wu, he remembered when his father died, how he had sworn to take care of his brother and mother. But why should he? Wasn't he still a child himself?
Yet the way those two old folks looked at him made it clear that if he complained about the egg, it would be a sign of being ungrateful.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, so he simply walked off.
After he left, Fang's Mother secretly slipped Liu Wu another yuan, winking at him.
Liu Wu pocketed the money, his sweet talk flowing even more freely. What a great life this was—helping wash a few dishes at night and getting money from his mom, then getting more money from his grandma in the morning. Couldn't be better.
Fang Zhiyi, as usual, left early in the morning, saying he was going to look for some business to do. His family didn't believe him, but they had no choice but to let him go.
Fang Zhiyi wandered around the village and stopped by the usual spot where idlers played cards. Sure enough, nobody was there today, so he turned around and headed toward the town.
The town was bustling that day, with many villagers from the surrounding area coming to buy and sell goods. Fang Zhiyi aimlessly strolled through the streets until he finally spotted his target.
Two of the original owner's disreputable friends were loitering in front of a small stall. Beside them was a man Fang Zhiyi didn't recognize, his eyes darting around.
Fang Zhiyi stood at a distance and watched for a while until he understood. These guys were running a gambling game with springs and balls—an old trick, but they seemed to have a new twist on it.
Ma Laoliu stood behind the stall, while his accomplices scouted for customers outside, especially targeting well-dressed young men. Once someone approached, the other two would pretend to be customers and lure them in.
"Oh, I won again!"
Wang Ergou’s shout of excitement quickly drew the attention of a young man, who curiously came over to look. Wang Ergou released the spring lever in his hand, and the ball shot out, landing steadily in the hole with the highest payout.
Ma Laoliu put on a reluctant face, pulling out a hundred-yuan note and handing it over.
Wang Ergou took the money excitedly. "Three more rounds, and I'm increasing my bet!"
The young man asked in surprise, "You can increase the bet?"
"Yeah!" Wang Ergou said mysteriously. "Keep it down—course you can increase the bet. It's easy to win. Let me show you the trick..."
As he spoke, he demonstrated again. Sure enough, another ball hit the hole. Ma Laoliu cursed under his breath and handed over five hundred yuan. "Get out of here, quit playing!"
Wang Ergou protested angrily, "Why won't you let me play?"
The young man, watching the stack of cash in Wang Ergou's hand, grew envious and immediately pulled out his own money. "I want to play too."
"Get lost, let him play. This guy keeps winning!" Ma Laoliu pretended to be furious and chased Wang Ergou away.
"How do you play this?" the young man asked.
"You just pull that lever. These holes here pay out if you hit them," Ma Laoliu explained. "Twenty yuan a try. But if you hit that hole over there"—he pointed to the frontmost hole—"you get nothing."
"Wow, the odds are that good?" the young man got excited.
"There's more. If you bet a hundred yuan for one shot, you get five times the prize money if you win." Ma Laoliu sized up the young man, who didn't seem very wealthy.
Sure enough, after a moment of thought, the young man pulled out twenty yuan. "I'll give it a shot."
The gang members exchanged glances.
Ma Laoliu released the foot-operated mechanism, and the young man's ball landed perfectly.
"Fifty yuan!"
Wang Ergou pretended to be regretful. "Too bad. If you'd bet big, you'd have gotten five times that."
Ma Laoliu handed over the money, eyes fixed on the young man. Seeing that he accepted it without leaving, he knew his guess was right: young people loved this kind of thrill.
"Then this time, I'll bet a hundred!" the young man said, taking off the bag slung over his shoulder. As he unzipped it, Wang Ergou got a shock—he saw a thick stack of banknotes inside!
The young man casually pulled one out and slapped it on the table.
Wang Ergou gestured frantically, while Ma Laoliu frowned impatiently. He wasn't blind—everyone had seen it. Who knew this young man would be such a fat catch?
Ma Laoliu hesitated. Should he step on the mechanism now, or... As a gambler himself, he knew the gambler's mindset well: once they start losing, most gamblers want to win it back, falling deeper and deeper into the trap.
Watching the young man pull the lever, he decided to take a gamble.
The ball shot out and landed steadily in the fifty-yuan hole.
The young man was overjoyed. Ma Laoliu offered his congratulations and handed over the money.
Greed is human nature.
Sure enough, the young man pocketed the cash but didn't leave. Instead, he stared excitedly at the crude machine.
Just then, his phone rang. Distracted, he stepped aside to answer the call. The movement made the men around the stall tense up.
They had given him a taste of the good stuff already—if he ran now, it'd all be wasted!
"For real, it's super easy to win! I'm not lying to you!"
"I've decided: if I win one more round, I'm going all in! My tuition's still in the bag!"
"Just wait till I get back to school— I'll take you on a ride!"
His words were clear to everyone nearby, and Ma Laoliu's heart settled.
Actually, he wasn't too worried the young man would just leave. After all, if he dared to set up a gambling game here, he had his ways to keep things clean.
Clutching the money he'd just won, the young man took a deep breath and handed it directly to Ma Laoliu.
"Just this one time. If I win, then all in. All in!" he muttered. Ma Laoliu narrowed his eyes.
His accomplice silently signaled him not to let it go this time. But Ma Laoliu, a gambler at heart, knew better: if he didn't let him win now, all the effort would be wasted. The money the young man was betting was rightfully his own—fifty yuan for the first win, then two hundred fifty for the second.
Since he'd set up this game, he might as well play big.
Not only did he not engage the mechanism, but he also adjusted the dish's curve.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
