The Empress’ Livestream

From going from a losing streak to winning many times in a row, Jiang Pengji had turned one tael into 256 taels. Nongqin was not the only one astonished—the banker felt a cold sweat in his palms despite his composed expressions.

The amount she won was sizeable for a medium-sized gambling house like the one they were in.

“Would you like to wager in this round?”

Jiang Pengji looked down. “I was betting small, but I’ll save it for the next round.”

Her reply confused Nongqin. If she had wanted to bet, she could continue.

Other gamers heard and put their wagers on small. However, Jiang Pengji knew the banker would win that round anyway.

The result was three sixes—a rare triple. Gamers betting either big or small lost to the banker. Still, the house was not much pleased, because Jiang Pengji won the succeeding two rounds.

She had lost five taels at the beginning, but gained 1,024 in the end!

The banker could stay no longer. He felt like there were needles on his chair. After leaving with an excuse, he went to the second floor for his boss.

If they continued to let Jiang Pengji win, they would lose all of their profits from the past few years.

In order to make a profit, they used filthy methods. That was why many men had lost so much that they had to sell their children and wives in order to repay their debts.

Behind the illusion of a fair game were tricks that the bankers were well-versed in. Dices, for instance, were specially made with an unbalanced weight so that they could control the results by feeling the delicate change of weight and adjusting them as they wanted.

Large-scale gambling houses could even alter settled results secretly after the gamers had put their wagers. That would explain why losing was much more common than winning. Even for those who had luckily won for once, they would lose in the coming rounds.

The routine of gambling houses was to let their targets win at the beginning when their bets were little, then win them back when they finally made heavy wagers. The bankers would then tell the gamers, “It’s all about luck. Maybe you can win next time!” to lure their targets to continue.

When the boss heard about what had happened, he rose from his chair. “What? Didn’t you use tricks?”

The banker explained hurriedly, “I did! But that boy always avoids the tricks as if he knew about them beforehand… I can’t make triples each round, right? Or else everyone will sense that something’s wrong.”

The boss would not let Jiang Pengji win what should have belonged to him.

“If we can’t win him here, when he leaves…” His hand gestured to cut his neck.

They would do anything for money, especially for the huge sum that Jiang Pengji had obtained.

His suggestion startled the banker, who pondered and added, “We can’t. It seems that the boy and his friend are from wealthy families.”

Hejian was a county that accommodated clusters of important houses. Teenagers with luxurious clothing were usually from families that the gambling house could not afford to provoke.

The boss stomped his feet. “What should we do then?”

After a moment of pause, the banker suggested, “The boy’s got a friend who’s playing at another table. That one seems unskilled. Should we win the money back from him?”

If they could do nothing to Jiang Pengji, why didn’t they change their target? They could make his friend lose even more than what Jiang Pengji had won.

Brilliant! The two men looked at each other and smirked.

Brilliant indeed! Jiang Pengji closed her eyes for a while when the banker returned. They had already fallen into her trap.

Those who schemed to trick her were always the ultimate losers.

“Let’s resume the game.” She smiled casually. The threat under the sweet appearance sent a chill through the banker’s body and he almost lost grip of the dice cup.

Her winning streak had thrilled the crowd, who were accustomed to losing and had never seen someone obtain over four thousand taels in one night. The glittering silver shone in front of them. Won’t this be too heavy to carry?

The banker calmed himself down and returned a smile. “Langjun, are you betting this round?”

Unexpectedly, Jiang Pengji laughed. “No! This is tedious!” Then, she walked away, leaving the banker speechless. Nongqin hurriedly wrapped up the silver and held it in her arms. The weight made her feel like she was in a dream.

The banker was going to invite them to stay when he heard Meng Liang banging the table near them. Oh, yes, that’s where they’ll win.

It was then that Jiang Pengji “realized” that her cousin had gone to another table.

“Is everything fine?” When she and Nongqing walked towards Meng Liang, the boy’s eyes were reddened with madness.

“Leave me alone!” Meng Liang shouted at her, and then he pointed to the banker sitting at the desk. “Another round!”

Jiang Pengji was not angry. Instead, she asked a gamer, “What happened to my cousin?”

The gamer sniggered. “You’d better stop him. He’s already lost more than six thousand.”

Even Jiang Pengji was surprised by the figure. Wow, Meng Liang’s really generous.

The game was to guess between odd numbers and even numbers. It appeared fairer than the one she had played, so how did Meng Liang lose so much?

As she glanced at the dice cup, she found the answer to her question. Sigh! He can’t even spot such poor tricks?