Chapter 62.2 - The new manager of the gambling house
Master Zheng had a brother, who was an official of the second rank in court, and Young Master Zheng was Master Zheng’s only son.
Young Master Zheng hadn’t gone to school but was quite capable of doing business. That casino was under Young Master Zheng’s control. Jiang Zhen couldn’t make an appointment with Young Master Zheng, so he made an appointment with the casino manager, but it turned out unnecessary.
Jiang Zhen knew Young Master Zheng’s identity. After all, the day before, he had asked Yang Jing in detail. However, he didn’t know that the one who wanted to buy his porcelain was the Zheng family.
At that time, even if he had known it, it would have been useless. After all, as a porcelain seller, even if he wanted to have some relationship with the Zheng family, he would not be able to do so by merely wishing it.
However, he was lucky. After coming to the restaurant ahead of time, he saw Young Master Zheng sitting there . . . Jiang Zhen wanted to give the cards to the manager, but now . . . he could gain more benefits by giving these cards to Young Master Zheng.
“You asked him out? Don’t worry about that. You can keep playing with me,” Young Master Zheng said. “What else can we play with these cards?”
“There are dozens of ways to play with these cards,” Jiang Zhen said. “Does Young Master Zheng want to see the game suitable for the casino or the one suitable for the family to pass the time?”
“I want to see both!” Young Master Zheng said without hesitation.
For the time being, it was impossible for Jiang Zhen to show all the ways of playing. In fact, he himself didn’t remember much. In the end, he demonstrated only two methods of playing, one was Bullfighting, also known as Niuniu, and the other was Fight the Landlord.
These were only three ways of playing. But after a whole afternoon of playing, they were not bored at all.
“It’s getting late, Young Master Zheng.” Jiang Zhen reminded him that he would like to go home for dinner.
“And . . .” Young Master Zheng reluctantly put down the cards in his hand, and then asked Jiang Zhen, “Did you come up with this yourself? How much do you want?”
Young Master Zheng’s real name was Zheng Yi. He was very fond of and very proficient in playing. After playing all afternoon, he had already discovered the value of this set of cards. After pondering for a while, he felt that Jiang Zhen might have attracted his attention on purpose. Of course, if they hadn’t met, Jiang Zhen would have gone to the person in charge under him.
After taking a look at the manager, who was thinking the same thing, Zheng Yi felt that Jiang Zhen came to them mostly for the sake of money.
“Young Master Zheng, someone taught me this, but I’m sure that only a few of us in Daqi can play it now. But . . . it’s not about money,” Jiang Zhen said.
“You don’t want money? So what do you want? Tell me,” Young Master Zheng asked. He had never seen these cards before. If he could offer them . . . maybe all the ladies in the palace would like them very much. Even if he didn’t offer the cards to them, they were also good for his casino.
“As a matter of fact, I made an appointment with Manager Zhang today because I offended the people from the gambling shop. With these cards, I want to make amends,” Jiang Zhen said.
“You offended the gambling house staff?” Young Master Zheng looked at Manager Zhang.
Manager Zhang was also somewhat shocked. Did Jiang Zhen offend them? He knew nothing about it! He had never seen Jiang Zhen before.
“I beat up Liu Heitou from your gambling shop. He has many people under him, so I’m afraid it is not good for my family,” Jiang Zhen said.
“Who is Liu Heitou?” Young Master Zheng asked again. Was there such a person in his gambling shop?
“Little Hei, the big and young one,” Manager Zhang said.
“Ah, it’s Little Hei . . . You could beat him?” Young Master Zheng looked at Jiang Zhen with some surprise. Liu Heitou was one of the best fighters under him.
“You don’t know this, Young Master Zheng, but Eldest Brother is very powerful. He can even defeat ten people by himself. Yesterday, our Eldest Brother was getting married, but Liu Heitou showed up to make trouble. He even brought many people with him, but was still beaten . . . I thought that Liu Heitou would not give up, so I helped him make an appointment with Manager Zheng to resolve things and make peace,” Yang Jing said with a smile, praising Jiang Zhen.
At this moment, Yang Jing had already made up his mind to mix with Jiang Zhen. He was getting more and more convinced that Jiang Zhen was a capable man. Even regarding these cards, he didn’t know how he came up with it. After playing with them, he felt that it was too boring for him to play dice like before.
Zheng Yi always thought that Jiang Zhen should have been thinking about it for a long time and finally came up with something interesting. So then he found their Zheng family and wanted to rely on this thing to make money, but unexpectedly . . . This man actually beat one of his thugs and wanted to make amends.
“It’s just a small fight with Little Hei. It’s nothing. What else do you want?” Zheng Yi asked again.
“Master Zheng, I don’t want anything in particular . . . Why don’t you give me a name at the gambling house? You don’t have to give me money or work, as long as you can take care of Liu Heitou,” Jiang Zhen said with a smile.
Hearing this, Zheng Yi burst out laughing. “You’re very interesting. No problem. You’ll be one of the managers of the gambling house in the future, like Manager Zhang, and your monthly salary will be the same as Manager Zhang’s. If you don’t want to be in charge of the gambling house, you can leave it to others. If you like, I’ll leave it to you to take care of the card-related matters.”
The gambling shop was just one of Zheng Yi’s industries. For him, it was really nothing to let Jiang Zhen be in change, and now it was settled.
Such conditions far exceeded Jiang Zhen’s initial plan. Naturally, Jiang Zhen would not decline the offer. He smiled and thanked him. And just like that, Jiang Zhen became one of the managers of the gambling house.
Meanwhile, Liu Heitou was talking about Jiang Zhen to the people in the gambling house.
Liu Heitou had been working in the gambling house for more than ten years and got to know a lot of people. When those people heard that Liu Heitou had been beaten, they comforted him one after another and said they would help him get revenge.
Liu Heitou thanked them.
“Chief Liu, who is the one who dared to hit you? What is he like?” one of Liu Heitou’s men asked.
“That man’s name is Jiang Zhen. I don’t know exactly where he came from,” Liu Heitou said.
He suspected that Jiang Zhen had a background, but when he thought about it carefully, he concluded that Jiang Zhen shouldn’t have any background. He was a farmer born and raised in Hexi Village. What kind of background can he have?
“Don’t worry, Chief Liu. We’re all on your side, and we won’t let him off!” someone said to Liu Heitou.
“Yes, we won’t let him off!” the rest of them added.
Just at this moment, someone from outside ran in. “Manager Zhang is back!”
Hearing that Manager Zhang had come back, Liu Heitou quickly stood up intending to greet him. At the same time, he also wanted to ask Manager Zhang to help him inquire about Jiang Zhen.
But, as it happened . . . Liu Heitou went out to find Manager Zhang and unexpectedly saw a person he didn’t expect to appear there . . .
“Jiang Zhen?!” Liu Heitou was shocked to see that man who walked side by side with Manager Zhang and doubted if he had seen right.
However, he was not wrong. That person was Jiang Zhen and even Zhao Jinge was with him!
“Little Hei!” Manager Zhang frowned at Liu Heitou and said, “Show some respect! This is the new manager, Jiang. From now on, you will treat him as you treat me.” Manager Zhang didn’t want to share power with anyone, but he was very clear on Zheng Yi’s character.
The young master looked very talkative and easy to talk to in general, but if someone didn’t listen to him . . . He remembered the fate of some blatantly disobedient shopkeeper. As a consequence, Manager Zhang was kinder to Jiang Zhen. Anyway, as long as he did his job well, he would not be treated badly by the young master.
“Manager Jiang?” Liu Heitou turned silly. What was Jiang Zhen’s background? He—all of a sudden, he became the person in charge of their casino?
The people who had originally agreed with Liu Heitou to help him get revenge were now silent. Earlier, Liu Heitou said that the man who beat him up was Jiang Zhen, so this new manager was the one who beat him?
They were all working in the gambling house and they couldn’t offend the management of the gambling house . . . At the moment, some people were even planning to curry favor with Jiang Zhen. He was now in change. There had to be a reason!