The Tiger's Accomplice 013

That evening, Fang Zhiyi arrived for their meeting with messy hair. Lin Zhou showed ample enthusiasm. He didn't have much money left, but it was obvious Fang Zhiyi had a connection. He had to figure out what Fang Zhiyi was doing. If there was money to be made, he needed to latch on. And if Fang wouldn't take him along... well, he’d make sure to ruin it for him!

If I'm in this state, what gives him the right to turn his life around?

Fang Zhiyi remained reticent, so Lin Zhou had to take the initiative to find topics of conversation. However, his chatter quickly veered back to his runaway wife and his short-tempered father.

"Are you stupid? If you can't find her, don't you know to look at her family's place?" Fang Zhiyi yawned.

Lin Zhou froze. That’s right!

But he quickly steered the conversation back. "Zhiyi, we've been brothers for years. If you've got something good going on, you have to bring me along." He noticed the new mobile phone Fang Zhiyi had placed on the table. "Yo, you even got a new phone? That couldn't have been cheap, right?"

Fang Zhiyi glanced at it casually and waved his hand. "It's second-hand. Not worth much."

"Then what about your old phone?"

"Naturally, it was..." Fang Zhiyi looked at him. "Thrown away. Why?"

Lin Zhou laughed awkwardly. "Look at you, talking like that. Don't hide the good stuff from me. Look how miserable I am." He started talking from his childhood and went all the way up to the present.

Fang Zhiyi checked the time, suddenly stood up, and said to Lin Zhou, "Let's leave it at that for today. I have things to do." With that, he left.

Resentment instantly rose in Lin Zhou's heart, but he didn't show it.

He continued to trail Fang Zhiyi, but today Fang went to a different location. There was still someone guarding the door, so Lin Zhou could only watch from a distance. He was determined to figure out what kind of place this was.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, a large hand grabbed him by the hair.

"It's him, Boss. This kid has been staring at us for a long time. Do you think...?" The burly man asked the middle-aged man beside him.

The middle-aged man wore a gloomy expression as he looked down at the panic-stricken Lin Zhou. "Kid, whose crew do you run with?"

Lin Zhou waved his hands repeatedly. "Big Brother, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding! I was just passing by..."

An uppercut slammed into his stomach, turning Lin Zhou's face pale.

"Passing by at four in the morning?"

"Big Brother, don't hit me! I came with a friend!"

The middle-aged man frowned. "Friend? What friend?"

"Fang Zhiyi! He brought me here! He told me to wait outside for him!" Lin Zhou barely thought before using Fang Zhiyi as a human shield.

Hearing the name, the men looked blank. They hadn't heard of him.

But upon further questioning, Lin Zhou did nothing but beg for mercy and push the blame onto Fang Zhiyi. Seeing his spineless behavior, the middle-aged man relaxed. "He's just a vagrant. Forget about him."

The burly man released Lin Zhou and pointed at him viciously. "Watch your mouth!"

Lin Zhou forced a series of apologetic smiles.

"I don't know what that friend of yours is thinking. Knowing you must be the worst luck of his life," the burly man at the back mocked as he turned around.

Lin Zhou could only nod awkwardly.

Just as he was tending to his wounds and preparing to confront Fang Zhiyi directly, Fang Zhiyi called to invite him to dinner. Today, Fang Zhiyi seemed to be in high spirits, ordering the best cigarettes and alcohol. Lin Zhou originally wanted to blame him, but seeing the situation, he swallowed his words.

He needed to figure out what was actually going on first.

"That's quite a unique look you've got there," Fang Zhiyi remarked.

Lin Zhou could only force a smile. "I accidentally got bitten by a dog."

Fang Zhiyi nodded and didn't ask any further.

It was the same old routine. Halfway through the meal, Fang Zhiyi made to leave, and Lin Zhou immediately followed.

This time, it was yet another new location. Watching Fang Zhiyi disappear behind that door, Lin Zhou took a deep breath and walked straight toward it.

Although there was someone guarding the door, the guard didn't show any particular reaction upon seeing him approach.

"Here to play?" a muffled voice asked.

Lin Zhou nodded.

"Go on in."

Lin Zhou was dumbfounded. It was that easy? Then what was that beating he took for? Did he just deserve that for nothing?

As he stepped inside, he was nearly choked to death by the secondhand smoke in the air.

But the noise soon attracted his attention.

This place was actually a small casino!

Suddenly, it was as if a blockage in his brain had been cleared; all his questions now made sense.

No wonder Fang Zhiyi always looked sleep-deprived. No wonder he suddenly had money! It turned out he was gambling!

A feeling of schadenfreude welled up in his heart. He had been stupid, too; how could someone in Fang Zhiyi's state have any legitimate business projects? He craned his neck looking for Fang Zhiyi but didn't see him. However, hearing people frantically shouting out numbers, Lin Zhou's gaze was drawn away.

Seeing a short man excitedly shouting that he had won and then scooping the money on the table into his arms, Lin Zhou's eyes went wide.

He played cards too, but the wins and losses were usually just a few dozen or a few hundred bucks. Good heavens, that pile had to be at least ten thousand, right?

Perhaps seeing him standing at the door, a man sidled up to him. "First time?"

Lin Zhou nodded subconsciously.

"Why not play a round?" the man asked with an ingratiating smile.

Lin Zhou hesitated. He didn't have much money. If he lost...

"I can tell just by looking at you that you're a young master from a wealthy family. Don't worry, the stakes here are small—just one or two hundred a go. With good luck, you can win thousands in a single round!"

Hearing the man's flattery, Lin Zhou couldn't help but feel a bit lightheaded with pride. Hearing that it was only one or two hundred a pop, he was tempted.

He was at a dead end anyway, so why not take a gamble?

Guided by the man, Lin Zhou walked over to a small table. The man seemed to know the dealer well. "A new young master."

Lin Zhou coughed to clear his throat and sat down heavily. "Let's play!"

That night, Lin Zhou felt a sense of exhilaration for the first time. His luck was excellent; he won seven or eight out of ten hands. In one night, he actually won four or five thousand!

Seeing that dawn was approaching, the man sitting beside him expressed some regret. "Oh man, if I'd known your gambling luck was this good, we should have played for higher stakes. That would have been forty or fifty thousand by now."

Lin Zhou immediately felt a pang of regret as well.

"How about we continue tonight? Let's ride the momentum and make a killing!" The man waved his hand as if it were a sharp blade.

Lin Zhou looked at the money before him and swallowed his saliva. After a moment, he pulled out two bills and stuffed them into the hand of the man who had kept him company all night. "Deal!"

He had long since forgotten about looking for Fang Zhiyi.

That same night, Lin Zhou returned. However, he was relatively cautious and stuck to small stakes. The result was that he won quite a bit again. This filled him with regret. Watching the neighboring table where wins and losses were in the tens of thousands, Lin Zhou's face was filled with envy. He completely failed to notice the eye contact exchanged between the man beside him and the dealer.

On the third day, Lin Zhou arrived at the place with familiar ease.

Only today, his luck seemed to be off; his wins and losses were split half and half.

"It's fine, there's always tomorrow!" Lin Zhou thought to himself. He would definitely earn more than Fang Zhiyi!