Chapter 42: Learning How to Apply What One Learned
In the next moment, The Long’s Dining Hall’s attendant came in with a few exquisite dices.
After Jia Ruidao carefully checked them, he selected a pair of die.
Tang Xiu saw that the dices were provided by the Long’s Dining Hall. He was disinclined to check them, but took the remaining pair of dices randomly.
Dice gambling was very simple. Each person only needed a pair of dices with its cup. Put the dies into the dice cup as both sides shook the cup and threw them out. The one who got the biggest total number would become the winner.
As long as they had a little bit of time, anyone could learn how to play this game in a short time. This game was very popular in the bars, karaoke, KTV, and other entertainment places.
Ordinary people would depend on luck when they played this Big or Small dice game. The better your luck, you win and the worse your luck, you lose.
But for the Gambling Master, this was not relied on luck, but on techniques.
In the process of throwing the dices, Gambling Masters were able to precisely control the dices’ number, which meant that the dice numbers were controlled by their skill and calculation, not on luck.
“Chief Long, are you sure to let this kid gamble with me and not you yourself take the shot? If luck were to be compared, yours perhaps might better than this brat, right?” When he shook the dices inside the dice cup, Jia Ruidao stared at Long Zhengyu and faintly smiled.
“Grandmaster Jia, you also know clearly that luck for this kind of thing is unclear. But recently, this Long’s heart feels quite satisfied with life, the lady luck for my gambling chances definitely has been gone. So I’ll have to ask Brother Tang to replace me.” Facing Jia Ruidao’s provocation, Long Zhengyu didn’t take the bait on the hook.
“Since it has come to this, Chief Long could only wait to hand over Walled Hill Village.” Having been refused by Long Zhengyu deliberately, Jia Ruidao also didn’t want to speak anymore. He snorted coldly as he shook the dice cup in his hand and began to move.
Jia Ruidao had been immersing himself in gambling techniques for many years. His techniques naturally had reached the peak and mastered them.
Along with the shaking of Jia Ruidao’s wrist, the dice cup was as if alive as it changed and reflected illusory images in the air, causing people to be unable to catch its traces completely.
For a time, the dice cup stood vertically, while at the other times, it was inverted. His movements were like a Coiling Dragon from the Ninth Heaven as it flew high and danced in the air with exquisite and beautiful grace.
The dies in the dice cup were as if they were stuck, and didn’t exude any sounds. But had people not witnessed personally that Jia Ruidao had put the dices into the cup, they would have suspected that there were no dies in the cup.
“This old guy really has some skills.” Tang Xiu’s attention was not focused at the dice cup, but rather locked on Jia Ruidao’s technique, silently observing it as he fully focused his senses on it.
Even though Tang Xiu had only an extremely low experience in gambling, but he also knew that gambles were nothing but “having keen ears and quick eyes and hands”.
Jia Ruidao’s techniques were truly very skilled and excellent. His arms were motionless as if it was fixedly supported, and only moved his wrist.
This allowed Jia Ruidao to reduce the movement range at the same time. Not only would it speed it up, it would also save a lot of physical strength.
Jia Ruidao’s eyes did not even see the dice cup. He also didn’t look at the tabletop, but slowly swept a glance at the crowd in the room. He especially stared for quite a while at Long Zhengyu and Tang Xiu.
But Jia Ruidao’s ears slightly moved from time to time. But since everyone’s attention in the room was focused on his hands, nobody noticed the slightest movement that Jia Ruidao’s ears had.
This sharp and fluid movement technique Jia Ruidao had done with the dice cup in his hands was enough to shock and intimidate the majority of people, not to mention that Jia Ruidao truly had mastered that skill.
Unfortunately, Jia Ruidao’s opponent right now was Tang Xiu. Not only did Tang Xiu have senses that were hundred times stronger than an ordinary person’s, his brains’ operating speed was also stronger by a hundredfold.
Others might not notice the slight vibration in Jia Ruidao’s ears, but Tang Xiu noticed them.
When the game had started, Tang Xiu also thought that the slight movements Jia Ruidao’s ears and were only an accidental behavior, and he didn’t pay any attention to them. But when Tang Xiu found that the subtle jitters seemed to be a regular pattern, as well as continued to move unceasingly, he immediately focused on it.
“No, it’s not that there are no dice sounds coming out from the dice cup, but it’s because the sounds are very vague and subtle, and couldn’t be heard by most people.” Tang Xiu quickly figured out that Jia Ruidao also should be listening to the rolling dices’ sounds in the dice cup, while also adjusting the dices’ number with his wrist’s shaking movements.
In a split moment, Tang Xiu’s attention was fully focused on the rolling dices’ sounds.
It was the first time that Tang Xiu played the dice with anyone after all. Not to mention that his opponent right now was the King of Gamblers. Thus, he did not dare to even have the slightest negligence, so he could live up to the Long Brothers’ expectation and also obtain the place with the Spiritual Vein in the Walled Hill Village.
On the other side, upon seeing Jia Ruidao’s dazzling performance, a frantic and excited expression was revealed on Zhang Deqin, Zhang Yongjin, Hu Wanjun, and Xue Renfei’s complexion. They were becoming happier, especially when they were seeing the confused and almost ‘drowned in daze’ expression Tang Xiu had.
Zhang Deqin and her group were looking at Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin with eyes full of compassion and sympathy, just like the vision from the champion looking at the losers. It was as if Walled Hill Village had already fallen to their hands.
At this very moment, Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin were indeed having a look of anxiety and concern on their faces.
It was because Jia Ruidao’s performance was truly attractive and beautiful. Jia Ruidao obviously didn’t regard his current opponent as an outsider or ordinary person as he really chose to go all out.
After having watched Jia Ruidao’s appearance that was fully immersed and concentrated, Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin turned apprehensive and trembled.
Could it be that because they had invited an outsider to gamble with him, it angered him?
“Hold on!” When Jia Ruidao’s performance had engulfed the atmosphere in the room, a voice suddenly sounded in the room and shocked everyone, whilst Jia Ruidao’s movements also slowed down, which made the originally attached dices to the dice cup’s wall almost be thrown out and fall to the floor.
It turned out that it was Tang Xiu’s voice that broke the show in that critical moment.
Tang Xiu could see that Jia Ruidao’s performance was getting better and better. If Jia Ruidao was allowed to play in this kind of state, Tang Xiu would very likely lose to him today, so he had to forcefully break his rhythm.
“Since Grandmaster Jia is very confident in your gambling skills, we might as well change the game from 5 session games with 3 wins to 3 session games with 2 wins, how about it?” Under Jia Ruidao’s burning glare, Tang Xiu calmly spoke in a moderate pace.
Upon hearing Tang Xiu’s words, Jia Ruidao had the urge to take a knife and stab him in impulse, “Let alone 3 sessions 2 wins, how about one game to decide the winner?”
Facing Jia Ruidao’s provocation, Tang Xiu decisively chose to avoid him for the moment.
To Tang Xiu, after having interrupted Jia Ruidao’s rhythm, whether it was 5 or 3 sessions of games didn’t really matter anymore. But certainly, deciding the victory with only one game was too much of a risk to take, so he naturally couldn’t agree to it.
“Then, as Grandmaster has said, let’s decide this gamble quickly. 3 session games with 2 wins are better.” Tang Xiu smiled as he gave his words with a grateful expression on his face.
“Is he really afraid that his death is not fast enough? With 5 sessions 3 wins, he might be able to win the gamble, relying on luck. But he actually wants 3 session games?”
“My, my… I think I understand his thought. In any case, he will still lose and be doomed. Then, he might as well die happily as he wished, so he won’t need to suffer much.”
“It’s fine in any case with me, so everyone’s time wouldn’t be wasted. I think that brat feels anxious, and his body feels unwell.”
****
Almost nobody could figure out as to why Tang Xiu abruptly made noise. They just thought that Tang Xiu was fearful and afraid as he wanted to leave this suffocating situation as quickly as possible. Thus, he couldn’t help but make noises and interrupted Jia Ruidao’s dice shaking movements.
Jia Ruidao glared at Tang Xiu with a disdaining expression, as he shook up his dice cup again.
However, this time, Jia Ruidao could no longer immerse himself into that kind of subtle sensation like before again. His hands’ movements became a lot slower, causing him to be in a kind of irritable mood.
A few seconds later, Jia Ruidao’s hands buckled up the dice cup on the table as everyone’s eyes in the room instantly shot toward the dice cup.
Under the intense gaze and everyone’s attention, Jia Ruidao slowly opened the dice cup and revealed the dices’ numbers.
“WOW, 6 points! Grandmaster Jia shook out six, we won the set.”
“Grandmaster is really worthy to be called as Grandmaster. Wanting a certain big number, then that certain big number he will have.”
“If I had the skill just like Grandmaster, it would be great. I would simply be picking up chicks and sharpen my weapon.”
The Zhang Yongjin trio couldn’t help but loudly shout in surprise upon seeing the dice’s points. A satisfied smile was also revealed on Zhang Deqin’s face.
On the other side, Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin’s face had turned unusually ugly, while Tang Xiu’s face also turned solemn.
Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin were frightened by Jia Ruidao’s gambling technique while Tang Xiu was surprised since he never thought that Jia Ruidao would still be able to shake out a big dice number in that kind of state.
“Kid, do you want to directly throw in the towel or want to continue to try your luck?” Jia Ruidao glanced at Tang Xiu and provoked him.
“Old man, do you want to bend down soldiers not to fight? Nah, you don’t have that ability.” Tang Xiu stared back at Jia Ruidao, and then picked a dice cup. He threw a dice into the dice cup and slowly shook it up.
Upon seeing Tang Xiu’s clumsy and sluggish movements, a ridiculing expression was revealed on Jia Ruidao’s smile, as Zhang Deqin subconsciously felt relieved.
“Hahaha, I really could die laughing. He’s pretty much unlikely to have learned how to shake the dice. But he actually dares to show off his own shitty technique before Grandmaster Jia. Man… he really wants to show off his pathetic abilities before an expert.”
“This punk’s technique is clearly lower than mine, but his thick-skinned face is truly way thicker than mine.”
“It’s really damn hard for Chief Long huh. But he’s actually damn good at finding such an extraordinary prodigy like him. You won’t lose face though, but we think you must have been terrified inside.
Although the others also felt that Tang Xiu’s technique was bad, but they did not say anything. But the Zhang Yongjin trio was completely unable to control their excitement and made satires as they burst into laughter out of their impulse.
“If you continue to disturb the gambling house, I really don’t mind kicking you out!” When the Zhang Yongjin trio burst into unscrupulous loud laughter and made noises, Long Zhengyu spoke in a cold tone.
Long Zhengyu’s words were as if a pair of invisible giant hands that grabbed on Zhang Yongjin trio’s necks. In an instant, they lost their voice.
Although Tang Xiu’s shaking dice’s technique was very poor, but since the gambling has already begun, then the house would prohibit any noises. Let alone such a loud, ridiculing behavior Zhang Yongjin and his friends were doing.
Had outsiders’ influence impacted the players and it was deemed to be unfair, the gambling house could be judged as not valid. Therefore, Long Zhengyu’s words carried along with it an absolute deterrent effect.
Upon seeing the Zhang Yongjin trio being suppressed with faces flushed red with anger, a satisfied smile was revealed on Tang Xiu’s face, while at the same his hand’s movements also gradually accelerated.