11: Lin Chuan: Money! I have plenty!
Lin Chuan walked up to Lin Jiang and squatted down directly.
Looking at his eldest brother, who had protected him since childhood and worked himself to exhaustion to earn money for the family, his heart was filled with mixed emotions.
But when one needed to be harsh, one had to be harsh.
"Big Brother, does it hurt?"
Lin Chuan's voice wasn't loud, but it pierced Lin Jiang's ears like a needle.
Lin Jiang raised his swollen, tear-streaked face to look at his brother. His lips trembled, and he couldn't speak at all, only nodding frantically.
It hurt!
It hurt like hell!
It wasn't just his face; it was his heart that ached—a piercing pain from having destroyed his family's livelihood!
"Do you regret it?"
Lin Chuan stared into his eyes, his gaze like a torch.
"Little brother! I regret it! I regret it so much!"
Lin Jiang grabbed Lin Chuan's sleeve, crying like a lost child.
"I really didn't expect it to be like this... I just wanted to win some money for your sister-in-law's medical treatment... I wanted our family to have a better life... I'm a beast! I've dug up our family's roots!"
"It's good that you know," Lin Chuan said coldly. "Gambling is something that turns people into ghosts.
When you win, you want more; when you lose, you want to break even.
In the end, families are ruined, and loved ones are scattered."
"Brother, look at me." Lin Chuan pressed his hands on Lin Jiang's shoulders and asked, enunciating every word.
"I'm only asking you this one question."
"In this life, will you ever gamble again?"
Although Lin Chuan possessed a God-Level Gambling Technique, he didn't like this thing that caused families to be ruined and loved ones to be scattered.
Lin Jiang's body shuddered.
"No more gambling! Even if I starve to death! Even if I have to beg! If I ever touch a card again, I'll chop off these hands!"
He raised his hand and swore a solemn oath, without a hint of hesitation in his eyes.
Only after feeling the pain did he truly understand.
"Fine."
Lin Chuan nodded, a faint smile finally appearing at the corners of his mouth.
"Remember what you said. This is the last time in your life you'll cry over this."
After saying that, Lin Chuan stood up.
He turned around and glanced at the gambling table, which still reeked of the metaphorical smoke of battle.
He sat down directly in the chair Lin Jiang had just occupied.
The chair was still warm.
"Little brother! What are you doing?!"
Seeing this, Lin Jiang was scared out of his wits and scrambled to get up and pull Lin Chuan away.
"We have no money left! We have nothing! Get up quickly! This place devours people!"
"These two brothers are interesting; one just quit gambling, and the other is about to start."
"I think they're lining up to die."
"The eldest and the third of the Lin family are each more of a spendthrift than the other!"
"I heard he's a college student, but I didn't expect him to be so impulsive."
The surrounding crowd chatted as if watching a show.
"Brother, I have money."
Lin Chuan held back his brother, who was trying to rush over, and gave Long Wu a look.
Long Wu understood immediately and blocked Lin Jiang like an iron tower, saying in a booming voice, "Big brother, trust your sibling this once."
Lin Chuan leaned back in his chair, hands crossed on the table, a look of ultimate confidence on his face as he looked at the smug Little Mustache opposite him.
"Boss, you had quite a winning streak just now, didn't you?"
"How about the two of us play a round?"
Little Mustache looked at Lin Chuan with a hint of disdain.
"Play? What are you going to play with?"
"Your brother almost lost his underwear; your family's dilapidated shack is already mortgaged here.
What? You want to mortgage yourself to me? I'm not interested in pretty boys."
"Hahaha!" The onlookers burst into laughter again.
Little Mustache knew exactly what he was doing.
He set up this scheme specifically for the Lin family's homestead.
He had connections in the county and had long since received inside information that the urban area was expanding and that land was slated for demolition and redevelopment.
Once he got his hands on it, it would mean a huge sum of money and several apartments in the city center!
Besides, there were rules within the rules of this casino.
He could use money to buy collateral that the casino didn't want.
The condition was that the person who mortgaged it no longer had the money to redeem it.
And the casino wouldn't actually send people to farm or take over those homesteads.
The casino only wanted money, liquid assets; as for anything else, they weren't interested.
Lin Chuan didn't waste words with him.
He reached into his coat and pulled something out.
*Slap!*
Three stacks of brand-new, tightly bound big unity bills were slammed onto the table like bricks.
Thirty thousand yuan!
It was so dazzling it made people's heads spin.
In this day and age, who had ever seen someone walking around with thirty thousand yuan in cash?
The crowd of gambling onlookers held their breath for a moment.
Due to the system's "reasonable range correction" ability, no one present thought to investigate Lin Chuan's family.
This was the power of the system!
Simple, crude, and illogical.
Of course, Lin Chuan couldn't be too reckless; if he suddenly produced hundreds of millions at once, it would exceed the system's correction range.
"Money, I have plenty of it."
Lin Chuan extended a slender finger and tapped the table.
"Twenty thousand in principal, plus the interest of Nine Out, Thirteen Back. Miss Chu, here is thirty thousand. Keep the change."
"Can I have the IOU back now?"
The smile on Little Mustache's face froze.
He hadn't expected this guy who came out of nowhere to actually be so damn rich!
Chu Yueli stared at Lin Chuan with interest, then tossed over the IOU marked with a bloody thumbprint.
Lin Chuan took it and, without even looking at it, in front of everyone...
*Rip—*
*Rip—*
He tore it to shreds in a few strokes and tossed them into the air; the scraps of paper drifted down like snowflakes.
Lin Jiang watched from behind, tears flowing uncontrollably.
Now that the IOU was torn...
The home was saved!
Although he didn't know where his brother's money came from, he knew that an imminent crisis had been averted by him.
"Alright, the old debt is settled."
Lin Chuan brushed the paper scraps off his hands and leaned back against the chair.
His composed demeanor was even more like a God of Gamblers than the God of Gamblers himself.
"Time to settle a new account."
"How do you want to play?"
Little Mustache's ferocity was piqued; although he hadn't gotten the land this time...
Since this kid had money, he would fleece him for all he was worth.
"Still Tractor."
Lin Chuan said indifferently, "Simple, direct, and doesn't require much thought."
"Good! Let's do it!"
Little Mustache sneered, "Then deal the cards!"
The atmosphere of this round was clearly different.
The previous noise had vanished; hundreds of people held their breath, staring intently at the center of the table.
Although it was Lin Chuan's first time at such a high-stakes table, with God-Level Sleight of Hand, this scene was child's play.
While shuffling, his fingers were as nimble as if he were playing the piano.
Little Mustache cut the cards with extreme proficiency.
However, after a few rounds, Little Mustache hadn't placed any bets.
He always folded early.
Lin Chuan smiled to himself.
He had noticed it long ago.
Standing not far behind him were Pockmark and Skinny Monkey, who had just been pretending to comfort his brother.
They were standing on tiptoe, staring at his back.
They wanted to see his hole cards clearly and then signal Little Mustache opposite him.
'Heh, you want to see? Then I'll give you plenty to look at.'
An imperceptible sneer curled at the corner of Lin Chuan's mouth.