In the afternoon at the archery field, Han Qian made several attempts to appear as though he wanted to speak with Yang Yuanpu, but Yang Yuanpu didn’t give him an opportunity to talk privately.
After returning from the archery field to the eastern courtyard study hall to review the coursework Instructor Shen Yang had taught in the morning, Han Qian no longer sought opportunities to approach Yang Yuanpu. Instead, he hid in a corner with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong to chat idly.
Feng Yi behaved somewhat more properly than usual today, but he was accustomed to laziness. After practicing archery and horsemanship for an hour, his muscles and bones felt soft. At Linjiang Marquis Manor, there were no maids or servants running over to massage his legs and back or loosen his muscles—how could he have any interest in reviewing coursework?
He pulled Kong Xirong and Han Qian into a corner and couldn’t help taking gaming pieces from his robe to toss and play with. Guo Rong and the newly appointed Deputy Commander of the Guard Battalion were attending in the outer room—if there was nothing urgent, they wouldn’t come in to disturb them.
The gaming pieces Feng Yi tossed and played with were gambling implements for the currently popular “Five Wood Game”—a type of small wooden board with a flat middle and rounded ends. The front and back of the pieces were painted black and white, with five pieces forming a set. Throwing all five pieces showing black was optimal, four black and one white was second best, and the rest were “mixed colors,” which determined victory or defeat.
The Five Wood Game was, besides the “Six Pieces Game,” the most popular form of gambling entertainment among young masters of aristocratic families. Han Qian had previously been quite addicted to it. In just three or four months since arriving in Jinling, he had already lost quite a bit of money to Feng Yi and the others.
After integrating the memories of Zhai Xinping from his dreams, Han Qian learned that the dream world had so many exciting and thrilling gambling methods. Even though he hadn’t been thinking during this time about making every effort to make up for the six years of waste, he had become thoroughly uninterested in the Five Wood Game, Six Pieces Game, and the like.
Han Qian sat by the window and took a gaming piece from Feng Yi’s hand. It was somewhat similar to dice in the dream world, but much more crude.
Perhaps the dice in the dream world had evolved from the Five Wood Game pieces of this era.
Han Qian was about to return the gaming piece to Feng Yi when he saw Yang Yuanpu glance in this direction. He hadn’t intended to attract Yang Yuanpu’s attention—his thoughts had shifted to another matter.
He was now certain that his father, grandfather, and uncles had serious differences in their philosophies, which was why they had been unwilling to accept assistance from Xuanzhou all these years. If he wanted to gain his father’s trust, he could no longer take money from the Han Family Bronze Shop to squander—in reality, he couldn’t accept support from the Han clan without reason.
However, in the past couple of days, he had semi-forcibly arranged marriages for Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo, and the others, and had adopted a group of refugee children under their care. The household suddenly had nearly fifty mouths to feed.
The household soldiers all practiced martial arts and consumed even more. Relying on his father’s official salary, the manor’s harvest, and the occasional rewards he might receive was already far from sufficient to sustain them.
Han Qian had been troubled by enough matters these past two days—he only suddenly thought of this issue now.
Although the memories of Zhai Xinping from the dream had integrated into his blood and soul, allowing Han Qian to figure out quite a few ways to raise money, they all required manpower and energy investment. However, Han Qian was attending as a study companion beside Third Prince Yang Yuanpu. Except for major festivals and holidays when he could rest, he normally couldn’t get away to do other things.
The gaming piece in his hand suddenly made Han Qian realize that so-called gambling fundamentally lacked fairness. Even without considering game theory and probability calculations, some cheating methods from the dream world were absolutely unimaginable to people of this era.
Take the black and white gaming pieces Feng Yi was tossing in his hand—they reminded Han Qian of an interesting coin gambling puzzle from Zhai Xinping’s memories in the dream.
Although the memory was somewhat fuzzy, Zhai Xinping from the dream had done stock investment and had the most thorough research in game theory. After Han Qian thought carefully for a while and calculated with paper and brush, he confirmed it was feasible.
“What nonsense are you scribbling?” Feng Yi saw Han Qian writing a bunch of strange symbols on paper and didn’t know what he was doing.
Han Qian grasped a gaming piece in his palm and said to Feng Yi: “There’s a type of gaming piece gambling where I can guarantee winning without losing. Do you believe it?”
“How is that possible?” Feng Yi didn’t believe Han Qian’s words at all.
Although Han Qian was also unrestrained and dissolute in Xuanzhou, Xuanzhou couldn’t compare with Jinling’s prosperity. He usually just played cockfighting and dogfighting. In terms of gambling complexity, he couldn’t compare with the young masters in Jinling City.
Moreover, when Han Qian first arrived in Jinling City and gambled with Feng Yi and the others, he nearly lost his pants. Although Han Qian hadn’t been going out to be dissolute during this time, Feng Yi didn’t believe Han Qian had any method that could guarantee winning without losing.
“You and I each grasp a gaming piece in our hands. When we open them, if both are black, I lose you three coins. If both are white, I lose you one coin. If black and white differ, you lose me two coins. Is that acceptable?” Han Qian asked with a smile.
No matter how uneducated Feng Yi was, he had been forced to learn arithmetic since childhood. After hearing Han Qian explain the rules, he silently thought for a long time but couldn’t understand how this method could possibly allow Han Qian to guarantee winning without losing.
“I don’t believe it.” Feng Yi shook his head.
“There’s still an hour until dark. Let’s play for an hour and we’ll see the outcome.” Han Qian patted the money pouch tied at his waist and smiled.
Feng Yi was the type who could throw away thousands of coins at pleasure houses without batting an eye. A small win or loss of a few hundred coins was just to pass the time. Moreover, their method of playing wouldn’t alarm Guo Rong to run in and scold them for disturbing Yang Yuanpu’s coursework review.
Kong Xirong was extremely bored and leaned over to watch Han Qian and Feng Yi play with the gaming pieces.
Li Chong and Yang Yuanpu were scrutinizing word by word the salt administration that Instructor Shen Yang had taught in the morning.
Feng Yi still refused to believe in such supernatural ability and specifically had Kong Xirong run to the attendants to get several hundred copper coins. Every ten rounds, he had Kong Xirong count once. In the first few sets of ten rounds, Feng Yi still had small winnings. He smugly wanted to expose Han Qian’s boast. After continuing to play, although there were small losses, Feng Yi didn’t pay attention.
After over two hundred rounds, Feng Yi discovered that the copper coins in the pouch Kong Xirong was holding were decreasing bit by bit. In less than half an hour, the pouch was already empty—only then did he feel astonished.
“How can there be such supernatural methods?” Feng Yi asked in amazement. “Could it be you have some divine power and your eyes can see through to the gaming piece I’m holding in my palm?”
“In my childhood in Chuzhou, I learned this gambling method from an extraordinary person. If I explained it transparently, everyone could win—how could it be called divine power?” Han Qian laughed.
“Tell me quickly.” Feng Yi asked with his heart itching.
“I didn’t use this method to earn your money and possessions before—why would I teach you this gambling method now to earn other people’s money and possessions?” Han Qian said with feigned nobility.
Feng Yi loved gambling. Although he had previously won quite a bit of money from Han Qian, when gambling outside with other young masters, six or seven times out of ten he would lose.
Although the Feng family had great wealth and wouldn’t mind the loss or gain of one or two hundred ingots of gold, the feeling of losing was never pleasant.
“If you only teach me this method and it truly works, I’ll give you ten ingots of gold.” Feng Yi didn’t believe in Han Qian’s purity and immediately made a generous promise.
Ten ingots of gold were equivalent to three months of his father Han Daoxun’s official salary. Feng Yi’s offer could be said to be quite generous, but Han Qian said disdainfully: “If we had just switched to using gold coins for gambling, tell me how much you would have already lost. Would I teach this method to you alone for ten ingots of gold?”
“What do you propose?” Feng Yi’s heart was hooked by Han Qian’s enticement, and naturally he wouldn’t easily let Han Qian go.
“Besides the ten ingots of gold, whenever you use this method to gamble with others in the future, I want fifty percent of what you win!” Han Qian said.
“You’re far too greedy, aren’t you?” Feng Yi exclaimed.
“Only this way will I keep my mouth shut and not teach this method to others!” Han Qian said.
This new method might not necessarily gain widespread promotion, and if Feng Yi always won using this method, over time no one would play with him. Unable to maintain a steady stream of income, Han Qian naturally had to ask for a steep price now.
“How do I know your method will definitely work when I use it?” Feng Yi suspected Han Qian might deceive him.
“My method can be learned immediately upon hearing it. You can verify it on the spot with Kong Xirong or go outside and find Chen De to verify.” Han Qian said.
“Good!” Feng Yi cared more about the feeling of winning and wouldn’t make a fuss over ten ingots of gold. As for the future, he would only give Han Qian a share after winning money—surely he wouldn’t lose too much.
Han Qian leaned close and spoke to Feng Yi for a while.
“Will this really work?” Feng Yi stared at Han Qian and asked with a face full of hesitation and distrust.
Han Qian’s method was very simple—just have Feng Yi silently count in his mind and remember to randomly show the black face seven times out of every twenty rounds. This was a probability calculated using game theory—Feng Yi could rack his brains and would never be able to see through the mystery within.
Han Qian spread his hands and laughed: “I learned this from an extraordinary person in my childhood. Initially I didn’t believe it either, but to this day I’ve never failed once—it’s just that my father taught me to be low-key and I had no intention of seeking fame as a gambling god. Now I’m giving you this opportunity—ten ingots of gold is truly a bargain for you.”
“You play with me.” Feng Yi still didn’t believe the so-called guaranteed winning method could be so simple. On the spot, he wanted Kong Xirong to verify it with him.
Without considerable self-control or other interests and hobbies, there wasn’t a single descendant of wealthy clans in this era who didn’t love gambling.
Sometimes Emperor Tianyou even invited trusted ministers to the palace for gambling gatherings. However, Emperor Tianyou lost more than he won and often used this to strengthen his relationships with ministers. He didn’t know if Third Prince Yang Yuanpu had learned this trick.
Kong Xirong didn’t know what Han Qian had said to Feng Yi, but just a few sentences could turn Feng Yi, who constantly lost and needed him to bail him out, into a gambling god.
Yang Yuanpu ultimately lacked an adult’s patience and composure. After deliberately distancing himself from Han Qian for most of the day, at this moment he still couldn’t control his inner curiosity, and his attention was drawn to the commotion in the corner.
“The wise do not gamble; those who gamble are not wise.” Li Chong still dismissed Han Qian’s little tricks.
“The wise do not gamble; those who gamble are not wise” came from the Dao De Jing. The most direct and obvious meaning was that intelligent people don’t gamble with others. A deeper meaning was to warn people not to take risks lightly.
“The wise do not gamble—it’s merely because they don’t know the wisdom of gambling!” Han Qian saw that Li Chong still didn’t forget to poison the well against him at this moment, and casually retorted.
Seeing Li Chong glare at him, Han Qian shrugged, indicating he should watch the verification results between Feng Yi and Kong Xirong instead of arguing verbally.