Ji Lingxue glanced at the floating clouds in the sky and said uncertainly, "It's OK."
During this period of time, Ji Lingxue was bored staying in the palace, so she learned how to roll dice from Xiao Si. She didn't learn any other gambling skills, so naturally she didn't know how to do it.
Xiao Yichen twitched his lips and said, "You won't sell out all my wealth tonight, will you?"
Ji Lingxue smiled with her eyes curved, "Prince, how can you think of me like this? I am a principled person." At most, I will lock you in the casino tonight and sneak back, squandering all the family fortune, but she is reluctant to do that.
Ji Lingxue just thought about the second half of the sentence in her mind, fearing that Xiao Yichen would strangle her to death if she said it out loud.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yichen glanced at Ji Lingxue and continued to walk briskly across the roof.
"Stop!" Ji Lingxue suddenly patted Xiao Yichen on the shoulder and said.
Xiao Yichen stopped and turned to ask, "What's wrong?"
Ji Lingxue smiled awkwardly, "Let me see if I have any money with me. I was in such a hurry when I came out just now that I don't think I have any."
Xiao Yichen's mouth twitched, and he turned his head to look behind him. A dark shadow flashed by, "The secret guard went back to get it."
Ji Lingxue said "oh", and Xiao Yichen carried Ji Lingxue on his back again and walked forward.
After a while, Ji Lingxue patted Xiao Yichen on the shoulder again and said, "Stop!"
Xiao Yichen's heart twitched and he turned to look at Ji Lingxue, wondering if this young lady had dropped something again.
Ji Lingxue raised her finger and pointed to the sky and said with a smile: "Look, it's a shooting star!"
Xiao Yichen turned his head to look at the sky. A ray of white light flashed among the stars in the sky, drawing a beautiful arc in the air, and then disappeared without a trace.
There was a chill in their ears, and suddenly they heard the sound of bells. It turned out that there was a tower under their feet. The wind chimes on the eaves of the tower swayed in the wind, and pleasant sounds floated down.
Xiao Yichen said: "The shooting star is very beautiful, this is the first time I have seen it."
Ji Lingxue said: "Legend has it that the meteor shower is caused by a fairy in heaven who fell in love with a mortal, but could not be together and was forced to separate. Then she learned that her lover was sick, and the fairy cried every day in heaven. She turned her tears into a meteor shower, making everyone who saw it happy. Her lover recovered, but the fairy died, and after death she turned into a shooting star that streaked across the sky."
Xiao Yichen hummed, looked at Ji Lingxue and asked, "So...if we all see a shooting star passing by, will we be happy?"
Ji Lingxue looked up at the sky, her profile looked so soft and beautiful in the moonlight that Xiao Yichen was a little dazed.
Xiao Yichen turned his head and saw Ji Lingxue looking up at the sky in deep thought. He coughed and said, "It's getting late. Are we going to the underground gambling house?"
Ji Lingxue came back to her senses and nodded vigorously, saying, "Let's go quickly." Then she lowered her head and put her face against Xiao Yichen's back.
In the underground gambling house in the west of the city, Ji Lingxue and Xiao Yichen successfully passed the door inspection and walked in. The casino was filled with cheers and sounds of betting.
Ji Lingxue walked to a gambling table and started looking at it. Xiao Yichen stood behind Ji Lingxue with his arms around his chest to prevent the men around them from accidentally touching Ji Lingxue.
The gambling here is to buy big or small, and the dealer will open the market after you buy. Some people won a lot overnight and laughed so hard, while some people lost everything overnight and left crying.
Ji Lingxue was not in a hurry to place a bet. Xiao Yichen bumped Ji Lingxue's shoulder and motioned her to look at the dealer. The dealer's expression was different every time he opened the market. Every time he saw that there were many people buying big, he would definitely open a small number.
After leisurely watching three gambling games, Ji Lingxue had mastered the method, untied the purse around her waist and started placing bets.
I don't know if Ji Lingxue's fortune tonight was particularly good. Except for the first two rounds, she won all the remaining ten rounds. Many people at this table followed suit and won a lot of money.
Ji Lingxue counted the silver bills she won, ten thousand taels, a good harvest tonight.
Ji Lingxue turned to Xiao Yichen and said, "It's getting late, let's go back and play again tomorrow."
Xiao Yichen nodded, took Ji Lingxue's hand and left gracefully. The people in the gambling house looked at each other in bewilderment. They were deeply impressed by the two young men with extraordinary looks and good gambling luck, and they all planned to hang out with that young man tomorrow night.
Xiao Yichen, who was carrying Ji Lingxue on his back, was flying on the roof like a swallow. He asked, "Why did you stop so early tonight? You were targeted by the boss of the gambling house. If I hadn't been so fast and got rid of those followers, you would have been robbed tonight."
Ji Lingxue patted Xiao Yichen's shoulder and smiled, "Don't I have you here? I'm not afraid of anything."
Xiao Yichen was satisfied and returned to the palace briskly with Ji Lingxue.
Xiao Yichen asked: "Are you going again tomorrow night?"
Ji Lingxue nodded, "Tonight is just the beginning, tomorrow night is the highlight."
Xiao Yichen smiled, watched Ji Lingxue go into the house, then turned to the study and found Chi Feng, "Go check who opened the casino in the western suburbs, no matter how big or small it is."
Chi Feng clasped his fists and accepted the order. Suddenly, he saw Xiao Yichen with a smile on his face. He seemed to be in a good mood. He couldn't help but wonder, the prince was in a good mood because he went to the casino. Did he win money? Or did he have a romantic encounter in the casino
Xiao Yichen's eyebrows twitched, "Why don't you go and do your work? What are you doing here?"
Chi Feng hurriedly took his leave, and in his mind he expanded on the gossip about Xiao Yichen's affair in the gambling house.
So the next day, word spread in the mansion that Xiao Yichen had fallen in love with Shisan Niang from the gambling house.
Ji Lingxue raised her eyebrows when she heard the gossip from Mo Xiang. It was him and Xiao Yichen who went to the gambling house together last night. She knew best whether he had a romantic encounter or not. How come Shisan Niang suddenly appeared
Mo Xiang said, "Chi Feng investigated and found out that the gambling house in the western suburbs was opened by someone called Xiao Shisan Niang. Shisan Niang is as beautiful as a flower. I heard that she is about 22 years old. The people who go to her gambling house are either rich or noble. No one dares to cause trouble in her casino."
Ji Lingxue said, "This Thirteenth Lady is really something. A woman who runs a gambling house must have some power behind her."
"That's right. I heard that Xiao Shisanniang has many suitors. I didn't expect that the prince is one of them..." The prince is too romantic. No wonder his own princess doesn't like him very much.
On the other side, Zi Ye also told Ji Yuqing who was having breakfast the news she had heard. Ji Yuqing's face turned pale. Since she married Prince Chen, one thing after another happened. The prince didn't like her as much as before, and instead got closer and closer to Ji Lingxue.
Ji Yuqing asked, "How did the prince go to the gambling house? He is not a gambler."
Zi Ye said: "This newly opened gambling house in the western suburbs is indeed very famous. All the noblemen in the city know about it. It is normal for the prince to go back."
Ji Yuqing put down her bowl and chopsticks and thought for a while. The mysterious person didn't respond to the carrier pigeon she sent out, so it seemed that she had to go out in person.
Ji Yuqing said: "I am also curious about that gambling house, I will go and take a look tomorrow."
Zi Ye hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not good for a concubine to go to such a place. If the prince finds out, he will put the master in solitary confinement."
Ji Yuqing said, "Why don't I go out so blatantly and change my attire so no one will know that I am the concubine of Prince Chen, right? Look at my sister, she often shows up in public, and the prince didn't say anything."
Zi Ye: “…” What the concubine said seemed to make sense.
That night, Xiao Yichen came to Ji Lingxue's room as scheduled. Ji Lingxue was still wearing the inconspicuous gray men's suit, with a bulging purse in his hand, looking like a dandy young man.
Xiao Yichen smiled, carried Ji Lingxue on his back and climbed out the window.
A quarter of an hour later, Ji Yuqing changed into men's clothes and put on a black cloak. Under the guidance of Zi Ye, she bribed the servant guarding the back door and walked out of Prince Chen's Mansion.
The sky is full of stars tonight. Ji Lingxue enjoys the night view along the way and walks into the bustling gambling house.
Ji Yuqing, wearing a cloak, came out from under a tree not far from the gambling house. She curled her lips slightly and revealed a strange smile, "Prince, sister... So you all like to come here to have fun."
Ji Yuqing glanced around, pulled her cloak tightly around her, turned around and disappeared into the darkness. She moved through the woods, her feet making crackling sounds on the fallen leaves, which was particularly creepy in the silent night.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, Ji Yuqing suddenly stopped. The towering leaves above his head suddenly shook, and a ghostly figure floated in front of Ji Lingxue. He was still wrapped tightly in a black cloak, so his face could not be seen clearly.
A cold and lonely voice sounded: "I knew you would still compromise on my conditions."
Ji Yuqing stretched out her hand and took a sealed box from the ground. "I've given you the map you asked for. Now can you help me kill my sister, the princess? Now is a good time. She's in the underground casino in the western suburbs."
The mysterious man in black nodded, "Okay, I'm a man of my word." He put away the box and disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind his confident words, "Go back and wait for good news!"
The mysterious man in black stood on the roof of the gambling house like a ghost. Then, under the starlight above his head, he took out a wooden box, opened it, took out the map inside and unfolded it. The next moment, his eyebrows twitched and he said angrily, "Damn woman, you actually lied to me!"
There was a maze on the paper with a sentence: "Try and see if you can get out of my maze."
The man in black was so angry that his fingers were shaking. He clenched his hands and crumpled the drawing into a ball.
In this gambling house, the arrival of Ji Lingxue and Xiao Yichen was like two rays of light, attracting a lot of attention. They were standing in front of a gambling table, and there were gamblers behind them, some waiting to follow suit and place bets, and some just watching the fun.
The old man from the Zhuang family smiled at Ji Lingxue and Xiao Yichen as a greeting.
Just like yesterday, Ji Lingxue didn’t bet correctly in the first two rounds, and the number of people betting with her gradually decreased.
Xiao Yichen snatched the purse from Ji Lingxue's hand and bet the entire bag of silver, as if he was ready to go all out for a gamble.
Ji Lingxue looked at the dealer who was grinning from ear to ear, and then looked at Xiao Yichen, with an expression of risking everything. She pushed the silver in front of her forward to the big betting area.
Ji Lingxue bet on big, and the rest of the people bet on small, and the silver and banknotes piled up into a small mountain.
The dealer picked up the big bowl and started shaking the dice. Everyone's eyes moved around the bowl in the dealer's hand.
Xiao Yichen narrowed his eyes and looked at the Zhuang family. The Zhuang family's old man's hands trembled when he was looked at by Xiao Yichen's deep black eyes. The next moment, the bowl in his hand fell on the table. His heart skipped a beat...
(End of this chapter)