Chapter 465: A Turn of Luck in Gambling

“Haha! Found it!”

Shui Miao took out the money from a hidden pocket inside his clothes—two 10s, four 5s, and ten 1s, totaling exactly 50 yuan.

“Oh come on, Brother Shui, you actually had secret savings!”

During the days Shui Miao had been unconscious, his secret stash had been discovered and spent by his grandfather and Chen Bing. Chen Bing never expected that Shui Miao still had 50 yuan hidden away.

“Come on, let’s go get rich!”

Full of confidence, Shui Miao patted Chen Bing on the shoulder and strode off.

“No way! Are you really going to gamble away your last bit of savings?” Chen Bing quickly shut the door and hurried after him.

Shui Miao’s heart stirred. “Chen Bing, come on, let’s test our luck with a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors.”

“Heh… Fine!”

Chen Bing also had some secret savings tucked away—just enough for his bus fare back to Hai City.

As they walked, they played rock-paper-scissors, but Shui Miao kept losing every round!

His original confidence gradually faded, and he began to calm down.

Could everything before have just been a dream?

Shui Miao’s mood quickly steadied.

He absolutely couldn’t recklessly lose this 50 yuan.

Grandpa usually rode his bike slowly, but today he sped off so fast that he disappeared in no time.

Shui Miao and Chen Bing ran all the way to the wooden bridge at the west end of the village.

From a distance, Shui Miao spotted Lame Li.

When Lame Li saw Shui Miao and Chen Bing, he waved at them.

“You kids, from which family are you? Did you come here for something?” Lame Li didn’t recognize them.

Shui Miao’s eyebrows twitched. “My name’s Shui Miao. My grandpa just passed by. Uncle Li, aren’t you here to sell us wild soft-shelled turtles?”

Lame Li was taken aback. “Soft-shelled turtles? What soft-shelled turtles!?”

Shui Miao pointed toward where he remembered Lame Li had placed his fish basket. “The soft-shelled turtles you caught, of course.”

“You little brats, your eyes sure are sharp. You saw where I put my fish basket. But there’s no soft-shelled turtles in it—just a few grass carp. Want to buy them?” Lame Li looked at Shui Miao and Chen Bing. Seeing their naive expressions, he suddenly lost patience and waved them off. “Scram, scram! Even if I really did catch soft-shelled turtles, you two kids wouldn’t have the money to buy them. You’re just wasting my time.”

Shui Miao and Chen Bing exchanged a smile and ran toward Old Li’s house.

Lame Li was indeed somewhat skilled, but right now, Shui Miao didn’t care about his skills at all. After being scolded and told to scram, Shui Miao actually felt especially pleased.

After Shui Miao and Chen Bing had walked about ten meters away, Lame Li turned around, looked at Shui Miao’s back, spat on the ground, and muttered to himself, “That old bastard Xiong Ying really got lucky. This kid has a clear and bright look about him—he’s a blessed child. The old man really hit the jackpot with someone to take care of him in his old age… Ah!”

Moved by the scene, Lame Li couldn’t help but think about his own regrets—how he had wasted his youth chasing after the wrong things.

In fact, Shui Miao hadn’t always looked this good. After lying unconscious at home for two months, his aura had completely changed. Now, Shui Miao really could be described as clear-featured and fair-skinned. If he put on a wig, wore women’s clothes, and dressed up a bit, he’d practically be a feast for the eyes.

The two ran quickly to Li Dafu’s house.

They didn’t rush into the house immediately. Instead, they first went around to the small room on the west side of the main house. Coincidentally, Li Dafu’s wife wasn’t there. Shui Miao had Chen Bing stay behind while he grabbed a brick and quickly ran to the back of the main house. He smashed the stone engraved with the Bagua diagram a few times, then urinated on it, zipped up his pants, and left quickly.

“Brother Shui, what are you doing?”

Chen Bing felt something was off. Shui Miao was acting sneaky and secretive, like they were burglars.

“No time to explain now. Let’s go inside.”

Shui Miao grabbed Chen Bing’s sleeve and pulled him along.

Chen Bing followed along, puzzled. Why did Shui Miao seem like he’d been here many times before? How did he know the place so well?

Shui Miao led Chen Bing into the house, where Li Dafu immediately greeted them with a smile, very hospitable.

Around a large round table, a crowd was playing a gambling game.

Grandpa, holding 100 yuan, was watching intently from the side. Since his stake was small, he remained very cautious.

“Yeah!”

“Win!”

“Ha ha! Finally got lucky!”

At that moment, everyone suddenly burst into excited laughter. The dealer lost, and everyone else won.

It must have been because the feng shui formation had been destroyed and started working.

Shui Miao’s heart stirred. He tugged at his grandfather’s arm and urged, “Grandpa, place a bet!”

“Go away, go play somewhere else…”

Xiong Ying dared not bet recklessly. He needed to observe the situation more carefully.

Shui Miao was anxious but couldn’t place a bet himself with his grandfather right there.

So, Shui Miao pulled Chen Bing into another room where people were playing dice. This room was mostly filled with rural couples gambling for small stakes of tens of yuan. As soon as Shui Miao entered the room, his right eyelid twitched a few times, and he felt a sudden emptiness in his heart.

“This is a bad omen.”

Shui Miao knew something was wrong, but he still stubbornly thought he had good luck. He took out twenty yuan to bet, deciding to play only once regardless of the outcome. But he really lost.

“Let’s go!”

Shui Miao immediately left, taking Chen Bing with him.

Chen Bing had just wanted to play a couple of rounds when Shui Miao pulled him away. On the way, Chen Bing asked confusedly, “Bro, what’s going on with you? Why are you acting so secretive? One moment you drag me here, the next there. Can’t you even tell me what’s on your mind?”

“My luck… isn’t that good anymore!”

Shui Miao felt disappointed and disheartened.

In fact, Shui Miao even missed the version of himself who used to win every gamble.

“Your luck? When has your luck ever been good?” Hearing Shui Miao’s words, Chen Bing couldn’t help but shake his head with a bitter laugh. He sighed and said, “We’ve always struggled through life since childhood. Our luck has never been good. Remember when we first went to the city and played the slot machines? We won a little at first, but then got excited and lost everything. So, we’re just naturally unlucky guys. We’d better stay away from gambling entirely—it always ends in losses. Don’t believe me? Let’s play a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors again?”

“Fine, let’s try…”

Shui Miao tested his luck again, but the result remained the same—he lost every time.

That’s it!

Shui Miao sighed inwardly. His current terrible luck couldn’t even compare to Chen Bing’s.

“Oh my god! Rabbit! Rabbit!”

Suddenly, Chen Bing spotted a gray wild rabbit and excitedly called out twice before immediately chasing after it.

Shui Miao turned his head and indeed saw a large gray rabbit. With the village surrounded by water on all sides, the rabbit could definitely be caught. Selling the rabbit would at least earn fifty to sixty yuan. Shui Miao’s mindset was actually quite positive now, not feeling down at all because of his bad gambling luck. His heart stirred, and without hesitation, he sprinted after it.