Chapter 19 - 19 19 Impending Crisis

Chapter 19: Chapter 19 Impending Crisis Chapter 19: Chapter 19 Impending Crisis Ma Liu laughed heartily, “Ha ha, Brother Jiu Si, haven’t seen you in two days. Are you going to try your luck with a couple of bets today?”

Chen Jie shook his head, “No, Brother Liu, I’m short on money recently, not playing.”

“Don’t be like that, if you’re out of money, that’s okay, we have places to borrow from.”

Ma Liu said with a smile, but Chen Jie replied, “Brother Liu, I’m absolutely penniless, who would lend to me?”

“Hey, don’t you still have a room? Besides, that little ankle-biter of yours and your unlucky charm of a wife, you could mortgage them, and you should be able to get five or six silver taels.”

Ma Liu’s pockmarked face squeezed into a grin as he spoke to Chen Jie.

Upon hearing this, murderous intent already began stirring in Chen Jie’s heart. These bastards really were planning to suck him dry, to extract every last drop of oil from his body.

They devour people without spitting out the bones.

Chen Jie replied hesitantly, “This, this doesn’t seem right.”

Ma Liu said, “Hey, think about flipping the script, brother. Think about how much money you’ve lost at Yu’s Treasure House. Don’t you want to turn it around? That’s all the lifetime savings Mr. Chen had accumulated, just letting others win it away?”

“Can you really accept that?”

Ma Liu tempted him, knowing far too well the mind of a gambler, thus every word struck right at the gambler’s core.

A gambler, once you sit at the table, don’t expect to get up.

If you win, you want to win more; if you lose, you want to recover your losses. Until you’re bankrupt and your family’s torn apart, don’t think about stopping.

So Ma Liu’s tactic was very effective, and the Baoju would typically let you win a little at first, then slowly make you lose. Once you start losing, you want to recover your losses, and the more you try, the more you lose. In the end, not even one cent would remain; it would all belong to the Baoju.

“Come on, brother, have a couple of hands, a little gamble for some light entertainment. Let’s go.”

As he spoke, Ma Liu tried to push and prod Chen Jie.

But unexpectedly, Chen Jie withdrew his hand and said to Ma Liu, “Brother Liu, I’m not playing. I’ve got things to do, I’m leaving.”

Saying this, Chen Jie pushed his cart and left.

Ma Liu watched stupefied, his hand still poised in an inviting gesture, as his eyes took on a sinister cast.

He watched Chen Jie’s retreating figure, pulling his hand back, feeling that this Chen Jiu Si was different.

A henchman watching Chen Jie’s disappearing silhouette said to Ma Liu, “Brother Liu, this kid?”

Ma Liu replied with a dark look, “Something’s off.”

The henchman asked, “Do you mean he’s turned over a new leaf?”

Ma Liu sneered, “Turned over a new leaf? Ha, after working with me for so many years, seeing plenty lose their families and their lives, have you ever seen one who quit gambling and cleaned up his act?”

The henchman shook his head, and Ma Liu scoffed, “This Chen Jiu Si, he can’t escape the palm of my hand.”

“However, this kid is... not normal. It won’t do, we need to find an opportunity to push him. You two continue to bring in customers, I’m going to see Mr. Yu.”

“Alright.”

The two henchmen responded and followed Ma Liu as he quickly made his way to a large residence in town.

This was the Yu Mansion. After being reported, he was told to wait for a while as the young master was in the middle of his ‘morning class.’ Ma Liu got the hint.

After a bit, the butler told Ma Liu he could come in. In the courtyard, he saw a man being held up by several house servants, his face full of tears.

Facing him, a large door opened and Yu Sanliu, Young Master of Yu’s Treasure House, walked out, pulling up his trousers, shirtless, and through the gap in the door, one could see inside, a woman, naked and bound to a frame in an extremely shameful pose.

Clearly, she had just been subjected to very ‘cruel’ treatment.

When Yu Sanliu came out, a maid immediately brought him tea. Yu Sanliu took a sip of the tea, holding the cup as he approached the man being held up and directly splashed the tea on the man’s face.

The man looked at Yu Sanliu, and Yu Sanliu looked at the man, saying, “Your wife has done a fine job, serving the Young Master to his satisfaction. I won’t ask for the interest on the money you borrowed, just stick to the old rules. Pay back the principal tomorrow, and we’ll call it even. If you can’t, then you’ll have to scram again, and by then, your wife might not even cover the interest.”

“Understand?”

“Mm-hm!”

The man nodded, and Yu Sanliu waved his hand, saying, “Take your wife and scram. Let him go!”

The man was released and entered the house, dispirited, followed by a chorus of crying inside.

Yu Sanliu stuck out his little finger to clean his ear and turned to Ma Liu, asking, “What’s happening?”

“My lord, I saw Chen Jiusi today.”

“Oh?”

Yu Sanliu’s eyes sparkled; Chen Jiusi was like a walking God of Wealth, having given almost one thousand taels to his Baoju in just the past half year.

Among them, there were real estate, fertile lands, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings, as well as gold and silver treasures galore.

“You didn’t pull him in to play a couple of games? His wife, Su Yunjin, isn’t bad. My father wanted to marry her into our family back in the day. It’s a pity that Old Su was too proud, looking down on the Young Master. But I like them proud; the more they look down, the more I want to get on top of her, the more I want to humiliate her!”

Yu Sanliu did not hide his depravity.

However, Ma Liu said, “My lord, it seems Chen Jiusi has reformed. He didn’t go to Baoju this time, but instead bought some rice, flour, oil, and salt...”

“Hmm?”

Yu Sanliu’s gaze sharpened, reverting to family life was not a good sign. Ma Liu said, “So, my lord, I think we have to press him a bit, or he might not comply willingly.”

“Oh, you mean?”

Yu Sanliu looked at Ma Liu.

Ma Liu said, “I remember he has an IOU with you, Young Master.”

Yu Sanliu laughed, “Ah, that one tael of silver? Didn’t he pay that back already?”

Ma Liu said, “But the IOU wasn’t torn up. At the time, you let him win two taels of silver, and in his joy, he just forgot about it, didn’t he?”

“Killing two birds with one stone, Ma Liu, they wouldn’t call you crafty for nothing.”

Yu Sanliu waved to the house servant, “Ding Box, find that IOU and bring it here.”

“Yes.”

The house servant immediately went to search and, after a short while, returned and handed over an IOU, which read: Chen Jiusi borrows one tael of patterned silver from Yu Sanliu, with a daily interest of 0.02, on March 2nd, the ninth year of Zhizheng.

Ma Liu took the IOU and laughed, “My lord, I don’t believe that youngster won’t comply readily this time!”

While they were talking and laughing, suddenly they heard a thump!

Then a man’s anguished cry followed, “Cui’er!”

Shortly after, a house servant came to report, “Young Master, that woman committed suicide by jumping into a well.”

Yu Sanliu was furious, “Damn it, you clods, how could you let her jump into the well? Are we still supposed to drink this water? It’s truly damned bad luck. Get her out of there, out...”

“Yes, yes, Young Master, I’ll take care of it right away.”

The house servant replied immediately and hurried off, as if such incidents were not a rare occurrence. Ma Liu clicked his tongue in pity.

Yu Sanliu glanced at him and said, “You better handle this task well for me. As long as you help me get Su Yunjin, I’ll reward you with the next ‘morning class’.”

“Ah, thank you Young Master.”

Ma Liu was overjoyed.