The next morning, Hua Zhi waited for Yu Mu.
"Last night we all had a try. I pretended to have lost all the money I had and wanted to borrow money from the casino, but they told me that I was not a local and they could not lend me money according to the rules. After some trickery, their manager came forward and allowed me to borrow 200 taels of silver from them in exchange for a piece of jade. They also told me that as long as I took the 200 taels of silver to redeem the jade within two days, there would be no interest. If I did not redeem it within ten days, the jade would belong to them."
After a pause, Yu Mu said, "This morning I took the silver note to exchange for jade, and I really got it back."
"No interest?"
"yes."
"How much is that jade worth?"
"About four hundred taels."
Hua Zhi lowered her head and smoothed the raised corners of the government document. She sorted out her thoughts and said slowly, "Jinyang is close to the capital, and they always speak Mandarin. It's impossible to tell you're a foreigner from your accent. In other words, we are in their control as soon as we enter the city, or every foreigner who comes to Jinyang is in their control. To put it more broadly, the entire Jinyang City is under their control. Because you are a foreigner, they won't lend you money. After you pawn something, they will lend you money worth half of the pawn, and they won't compound interest."
Hua Zhi raised her head and smiled. "It's a casino, but it's more regulated than many other industries. It seems to be acting with a conscience and morality. If I didn't know it was a casino, I would have thought it was a clean business."
"It is indeed very clean. I feel..." Yu Mu thought of a more vivid metaphor, "They are like doing business with their doors open. They don't sell on credit, but they don't clean people either."
"You are always welcome to come back next time?"
Yu Mu indeed had this feeling. If he didn't think about it, he wouldn't feel anything. But once he thought about it carefully, he felt that something was wrong.
Hua Zhi asked again, "Is it the same for other casinos?"
"yes."
"Including the four casinos they are suppressing?"
"Yes, but those four companies gave one more chip."
It’s a business, and it’s not such a decent business, but even the competitors have the same rules. You don’t have to worry about being cheated. You won’t get stuck once you get in. It’s just that the promotions they run in their shops are different. You can go to whichever shop has the most attractive promotions. It’s like going to Macau to play, you can go to any casino you want…
Hua Zhi stood up suddenly!
“Sister Hua!” Xiao Liu hurried forward to support the person who was swaying. “Where do you feel uncomfortable? Are you dizzy? Go get a doctor, Wang Cheng, go get a doctor quickly!”
His voice broke as he spoke, and his eyes were filled with panic.
"It's okay, I just thought about something and it made me feel nervous. No need to call a doctor." Hua Zhi patted his hand and sat down again. She closed her eyes to relax and then opened them, smiling at Xiao Liu soothingly.
"Are you really okay?" Xiao Liu stared at her face closely. Seeing that it was not too bad, he felt relieved. He took the tea from Nian Qiu's hand, opened the lid and handed it to her mouth.
How could it be this bad? Hua Zhi laughed and took a few sips. Seeing that he was still standing in front of her and pulling someone to sit next to him, she looked up and told Yu Mu, who was much closer, "Go check who set the rules of the casino and when they were set."
Yu Mu turned around and was about to leave, but Hua Zhi stopped him again.
Looking at the several prefectural records that she had not yet finished reading, Hua Zhi said, "Look for the differences between Jinyang and other places, and write down everything that is different from other places."
"yes."
As soon as Yu Mu left, Hua Zhi opened the local gazetteer and planned to continue reading, but she couldn't calm down when she thought of that possibility. She simply put the book down and walked out, walking around in the small courtyard, not noticing that Xiao Liu was also slowly following her.
Suppose, just suppose, someone wants to turn Jinyang into a gambling city. There will be no bullying here, no loan sharks that will keep people from making a comeback in their lifetime, no people being forced to sell their children. If you win, it's all thanks to your ability, and if you lose, you can just come back next time. If it becomes a big success, not only gamblers, but also people with some spare money will probably be happy to come here to play.
In this place without mobile phones or computers, and without so many diverse entertainment options, it is impossible not to be popular.
Yes, Jinyang is very lively, even as lively as the capital city at the center of a country. It cannot be so lively without something special.
It must have taken some time to get to this point, but it won't be too long. If it takes longer, its reputation will spread even in this era when communication, transportation and other things are inconvenient.
Or it may already have some reputation, but gambling is not something that can be brought to the table. Even if people know about such a place, they will not mention it unless they are someone who likes it.
At this time, Chen Si walked into the yard and stood far away to report, "Miss, Master Zeng wants to see you."
Hua Zhi looked up, "Where's Xiaoliu?"
"Sister Hua, I'm here!" Xiaoliu's voice came from not far behind her. Seeing her turn around, he smiled and raised his hand.
"You go meet him." Hua Zhi approached and lowered her voice, "Try to get him to agree to take me there tomorrow."
Xiaoliu nodded and strode out. He didn't know what Sister Hua was thinking. Since she proposed to go to the horse farm, it might be related to that place. He had to think about how to get Zeng Xiangyan to nod.
Hua Zhi sighed as Nian Qiu helped her sit down on the cushioned stone bench. She missed Yan Xi a little. If Yan Xi was here, he would definitely help her find the clues from this mess. There would be no need for her to work so hard and be so surprised.
She didn't know how much profit Jinyang, a newly established gambling city, had, but she vaguely remembered that Macau's gambling taxes amounted to hundreds of billions a year, and the gambling houses here did not have to pay taxes at all. Even if they had to take care of the government, it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the profits.
If the Chaoli tribe's money came from here... Hua Zhi didn't dare to think about it further.
After a while, Xiaoliu came back. "I've sobered up and am here to apologize. Master Zeng asked me to convey his apology to my sister."
He looks wanton and frivolous, but in fact he is well-behaved. This shows that the Zeng family must not be too bad. It's a pity that he is in Jinyang. If he were in Beijing, Xiaoliu could interact with him more often.
Hua Zhi turned and went into the house, and asked in a low voice, "Did he agree?"
"Yes, he will come to the inn to pick us up at noon tomorrow morning." Xiao Liu came closer and asked, "Is the Zeng family suspicious?"
Hua Zhi smiled, "The current Jinyang is like the sun in the sky. It is so beautiful to watch from afar. Just as Master Zeng said, it is even better than the capital. But the sun is still the sun. If you get too close, it can burn you to ashes. I don't know what the other members of the Zeng family are like, but Master Zeng Xiangyan should just be watching from afar and has no chance to get close."
I just don’t know if he really had no chance or was protected by Zeng’s family.
"Jin Yang has a big problem?"
"It's hard to say." Facing Xiaoliu's surprised gaze, Hua Zhi smiled, "If the Chaoli tribe is behind this, then that's a big problem."
Even if it has nothing to do with the Chaoli people, Daqing cannot have a gambling city. Daqing is far from being the Great China of later generations. Whether in terms of territory, population or productivity, it is far behind and cannot have a Macau.
PS: The ending of Chapter 447 has been modified. Thanks to the girl in the book review section 'This is a purchased account' for reminding me that the Fourth Prince did not know that the leader of the Seven Stars Division was the Crown Prince.