The following morning, Hua Zhi waited for Yu Mu’s return.

“Last night we all tried our hand at the tables. This subordinate pretended to have gambled away all the silver on my person and asked the house for a loan. They told me that as I was not a local resident, their rules did not permit them to lend me silver. After I made a show of stubbornness, their manager came out and agreed to let me borrow two hundred taels in exchange for a piece of jade, informing me that if I returned the two hundred taels within two days to redeem the jade, no interest would accrue. If the jade was not redeemed within ten days, it would be forfeit.”

He paused, then continued: “This morning this subordinate brought banknotes to exchange for the jade, and we did indeed get it back.”

“No interest charged?”

“None.”

“What was that piece of jade worth?”

“Approximately four hundred taels.”

Hua Zhi lowered her head and smoothed down a turned-up corner of the gazetteer, letting her thoughts arrange themselves as she spoke in an unhurried, steady tone. “Jinyang sits right next to the capital and has always been a place where the official tongue is spoken — there is no way to tell from accent alone that someone is from out of town. Which means we were under their observation from the moment we entered the city. Or to put it another way, every outsider who comes to Jinyang is within their purview — and stated even more broadly, the entire city of Jinyang is under their control. Because you were an outsider, they would not lend you silver outright; but once you put up collateral, they lent you half its value with no accruing interest.”

Hua Zhi looked up with a slight smile. “A gambling house that is more regulated than many legitimate trades — and one that, by all appearances, operates with a measure of conscience. If I didn’t know it was a gambling house, I would think it was quite a clean business.”

“It really is clean. This subordinate feels that they are…” Yu Mu searched for an apt comparison. “Like a business that operates with its doors wide open. No credit extended without collateral, but they also won’t strip anyone to the bone.”

“Always welcome to come back and spend more?”

Yu Mu had indeed sensed something of the sort. He hadn’t fully processed it at the time, but looking at it clearly now, something about it all felt wrong everywhere he looked.

Hua Zhi asked again, “The other houses your people visited — same situation?”

“Yes.”

“Including the four they’ve been suppressing?”

“Yes. Those four just offered one extra chip as a bonus.”

One industry — and not an especially reputable one — where even the competition operated by identical rules. No fear of being swindled, no risk of walking in and not being able to walk out. Just a matter of which house’s current promotion appealed to you more, and you walked into whichever one you liked. Like visiting Macau — you could walk into any casino you pleased…

Hua Zhi shot to her feet!

“Sister Hua!” Xiao Liu rushed forward to steady her as she swayed. “Are you unwell? Are you dizzy? Go and get the doctor — Wangcheng, go quickly!”

By the end he was nearly shouting, his voice cracking, his eyes full of alarm.

“I’m fine — I just stood up too fast after thinking of something. No need for a doctor.” Hua Zhi patted his hand, sat back down, closed her eyes briefly to steady herself, then opened them again and gave Xiao Liu a reassuring smile.

“Really, you’re sure?” Xiao Liu stared hard at her face, and only when the color looked not too bad did his heart settle. He took the tea from Nian Qiu’s hands himself and held the cup to her lips.

It was hardly that dire. Hua Zhi almost laughed. She took the cup and drank a few sips herself, then, seeing him still planted in front of her, pulled him down to sit beside her. She looked up and called to Yu Mu, who had moved noticeably closer: “Go and find out who set the rules for the gambling houses, and when those rules were established.”

Yu Mu turned to go. Hua Zhi called him back again.

She looked at the remaining gazetteer volumes she hadn’t yet read, then said, “Also look into whatever makes Jinyang different from other places. Anything at all that sets it apart — write it all down.”

“Yes.”

Once Yu Mu had gone, Hua Zhi picked up the gazetteer intending to read on — but the moment that possibility surfaced in her mind, she couldn’t sit still anymore. She set the book aside, stepped outside, and began pacing around the small courtyard. She didn’t notice that Xiao Liu had started slowly ambling along behind her.

A hypothesis — only a hypothesis — that someone intended to make Jinyang into a gambling city. A city where there would be no bullying, no usurious loans that left people unable to climb out for the rest of their lives, no one driven to sell their children. You won, that was your skill; you lost, come back next time. Once it grew to a certain scale, it wouldn’t just be compulsive gamblers who came — anyone with a little money to spare would happily come here for the entertainment.

In a world without mobile phones or computers or the endless diversions of later times, a place like this could not fail to draw people.

Yes — Jinyang was lively. So lively, in fact, that it rivaled the capital of a nation. You couldn’t achieve that without something distinctive.

Reaching this point must have taken some time — but not too long. If it had been going on for years, even in this age of inconvenient travel and communication, a reputation would have spread. Or perhaps some reputation already had — but gambling was not something one spoke of openly. Even if people knew such a place existed, they wouldn’t mention it in polite company. Unless it was among those who were particularly fond of that sort of thing.

Just then, Chen Si came into the courtyard and stood at a respectful distance to announce: “Miss, Mister Zeng is here to call on you.”

Hua Zhi looked up. “Where is Xiao Liu?”

“Sister Hua, I’m right here!” Xiao Liu’s voice came from just behind her. She turned to find him waving at her cheerfully.

“Go and receive him.” Hua Zhi stepped close and lowered her voice. “Do your best to persuade him to take us tomorrow.”

Xiao Liu nodded and strode off. He wasn’t sure what Sister Hua had realized, but if she wanted to go to the horse track, it was probably connected to whatever this was. He needed to think of how to get Zeng Xianyan to agree.

Steadied by Nian Qiu’s arm, Hua Zhi settled onto a stone seat that had been padded with a soft cushion, and sighed. She missed Yanxi a little. If he were here, he would certainly work through this tangle of threads alongside her without her having to work so hard — or be so startled.

She didn’t know how much profit a gambling city still in its early stages might generate, but she vaguely remembered that Macau’s annual tax revenue from gaming alone ran into the hundreds of billions — and the houses here had no need to pay any taxes at all. Even with officials requiring their cut, it would amount to a drop in the bucket compared to the profits.

If the Chaoli Clan’s silver was flowing from here… Hua Zhi did not dare let herself think too far down that path.

Shortly after, Xiao Liu returned. “He came sober to apologize. Mister Zeng asked me to pass along his apologies to you.”

Looking boisterous and unruly on the surface, but with a proper set of rules underneath — which told you the Zeng family was no different. What a pity he was in Jinyang. If he had been in the capital, Xiao Liu might have made an effort to know him better.

Hua Zhi turned and went inside, asking quietly, “Did he agree?”

“He did. Tomorrow at the first double-hour of morning he’ll come to the inn to collect us.” Xiao Liu leaned in and asked, “Is the Zeng family suspicious?”

Hua Zhi gave a small smile. “The Jinyang of today is like the sun in the sky — seen from a distance, it bathes everything in warmth and light, as fine as anything could be, just as that Mister Zeng said — better even than the capital. But the sun is still the sun: get too close and it will burn you to ash. Whether the other Zeng family members are involved I couldn’t say, but this Zeng Xianyan appears to be one who has only seen it from a distance — who has never had occasion to get too close.”

Whether that was truly because he’d had no opportunity, or because the Zeng family had kept him shielded, she could not yet know.

“There’s a serious problem in Jinyang?”

“Hard to say.” Meeting Xiao Liu’s look of surprise, Hua Zhi smiled. “If the hand behind all this is the Chaoli Clan — then yes, it is a very serious problem.”

Even without any connection to the Chaoli Clan, Daqing could not afford to have a gambling city. Daqing was nothing like the great nation of later ages — whether in territory, population, or productive capacity, it fell far short. It did not have the capacity to sustain a Macau.