Chapter 20 The King of Thousand Kings

In 1983, a man with a fruit knife on his head walked across seven streets.

In 1984, a car accident victim with broken glass on her face once ran through a farmers' market.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year in 1990, a strange man appeared on the street. Two dice were embedded in his eyes, which were smashed into it. Sometimes people's vitality was very tenacious. He was first sent to the hospital, and after returning home, he died in bed for half a year.

The last words he left for his son were only two words: Don’t bet!

His son was Baoyuan, who was 16 years old at the time and later became a famous gambling king from all over the country.

My mother pulled him up with great difficulty, built a house, and married a wife. Their family lived a peaceful and happy life. He had a son and a motorized tricycle, traveling to and from the riverside and the market to sell aquatic products. One day, several fishmongers got together, and one of them said: Let’s play poker?

This sentence changed Baoyuan's life.

It was in a factory that had been abandoned for many years, with morning glory crawling on the gears, and even a sycamore tree grew in the factory. It was raining heavily, and the fishmongers threw their motor tricycles on the riverside and ran into the factory on the shore to shelter from the rain. One of the fishmongers suggested playing poker. Everyone agreed that the fishmonger broke the sycamore tree casually, and each person had a leaf, placed it under his butt, and sat cross-legged.

Baoyuan looked at it with his arms in his arms, and everyone mobilized him to play together. He smiled and said, "No."

They play "Faijinhua", also known as the Three Cards, which is a folk multiplayer card game that is widely circulated across the country. Playing "Faijinhua" may make you lose your cards with small cards, which is a contest of strength, courage and wisdom, and an adventurer's game.

Baoyuan looked at it for a while and then learned it.

A fishmonger said to him: "Cousin, it's fun, there are so many people."

His blood was boiling, and he rubbed his hands and said, "Okay."

He inherited the adventure genes inherited by his gambler's father, just as everyone kept the other person's appearance as before.

There were many mosquitoes in the used factory, and they snatched dense lumps on his body. He gently pinched them with his fingernails. He enjoyed this comfortable feeling all afternoon. Until dusk, the rain stopped and the fishmongers who collected the fish scattered. He slid money and won more than 2,000. This was his first gambling.

He stood up, patted his butt, and a leaf fell down.

From then on, Baoyuan had a deck of playing cards in his pocket every day. He gambled in various places, on the open space at the dock, on the bed at the neighbor's house, and on the greasy dining table at the food stall. He began to be dissatisfied with the small game of dozens of yuan, so his gambling friends helped him contact the big game.

He fell deeper and deeper, and gradually lost all his savings. He thought it was because of his bad luck. Later, someone reminded him that someone gave a thousand yuan during gambling. He couldn't figure out how to get a cheat. Even so, he was still obsessed with it and borrowed money to gamble every day.

My mother discovered Baoyuan’s gambling and asked him to kneel in front of his father’s portrait.

"How did your dad die?"

"Diet sick."

"Fasting, farting is a gambling thing. The cheater was caught. He smashed two dice into his eyes. Do you know what to use to smash it in?"

"have no idea."

"Use a bench!"

Baoyuan had no money to gamble, and no one was willing to lend him money. He just watched others bet gamble every day.

On February 19, 1997, Baoyuan picked up a lighter on the street, and his fate turned around. The light was made of copper, and after polishing and polishing, the light could be used to identify people. He had an idea and thought that he could use the reflection of light to see the trump card clearly. That is to say, put the lighter in a suitable position and when dealing the card, the card was sent out from the lighter, so that he just needed to look down at the lighter to know what trump card each company sent.

At that time, high-tech production of thousands had not yet appeared, and many production props were not popular. Gamblers produced thousands entirely based on techniques and skills.

This idea made Baoyuan ecstatic. He tried it several times by himself and thought it was indeed feasible, so he secretly sold the house.

There was a lighter in his pocket, and a flame was burning in his heart. Through this lighter, he peeked at the most incredible dark scene in gambling.

It was in a private room in a teahouse. Several bosses had a lot of fun, with a minimum of 100,000 yuan, and the winning or losing in one game was more than 100,000 yuan. When Baoyuan went there, he was already having fun. The gambling friend said hello to him and he joined the gambling game.

He lit a cigarette and put the lighter on the table in front of him. When it was his turn to deal the cards, he could see the trump card of all the players on the field with the reflection of the lighter, and slowly won a lot of money. He played very cautiously. When it was almost dawn, he touched three 6.

Baoyuan thought that the time for winning or losing was coming, and that was the only way to make money back and never bet again after making money.

The money on the table had already piled up into a hill. After following for a few rounds, the others gave up, leaving only a man in a suit, betting up one thousand and one thousand. Baoyuan knew in his heart that the opponent's trump card was two K cards and one spade 3.

The man in a suit asked Baoyuan: "How much do you have?"

Baoyuan replied: "It's more than 40,000."

The man in a suit took out four stacks of money and said, "It's too slow for one thousand to one thousand. Let's bet on all the money, how about it?"

Baoyuan understood that the other party wanted to scare him away, so he threw all the money on the table and said, "Okay, you can get the money and open the cards."

The man in a suit picked up his card, took a casual look, turned it open, and said, "Look at it for yourself."

Baoyuan was stunned. Until many years later, he still remembered the opponent's cards: three K!

He clearly saw that the opponent's trump card was two K and one 3 Spades, but he didn't understand why it turned into three K.

On the way home, he was penniless and owed a lot of foreign debts. The wind was so strong and the weather was so cold.

In order to avoid the creditor, the mother returned to the countryside and was forced to live with her aunt. Her wife took her son to her father-in-law's house. Firecrackers were ringing outside, and every household was full of joy. Baoyuan couldn't help but feel sad and burst into tears.

Baoyuan went to his father-in-law's house to find his wife. His son opened the door and called him dad. His wife pinched the child hard, and gritted his teeth while hitting the child, "Don't call him dad. He is not your dad. You don't have a dad, your dad is dead!"

The 3-year-old son looked at Baoyuan with tears in his eyes.

Many years later, he always saw his son's helpless and aggrieved look in his dreams.

From then on, all Baoyuan's stories were in another place.

There is a sold cold skin under Laoguan Bridge in Jiangxi. He has sold it there for five years. One day, when his cold skin shop was about to close, a vicious man came in. Since then, he has never opened the door again and he has been looted.

The person who robbed was Baoyuan.

Suppose there is a river in front of him, he will jump down. He thought about committing suicide, but when he stood on the bridge, he was timid again. He looked at the river, clouds reflected on the water, fish swam by, and people on the boat were casting nets, and some fish could not be trapped because they belonged to the sky. Baoyuan ate a bowl of cold skin under the bridge, and after eating, he robbed the old man selling cold skin, and began his life of wandering around the world.

In Henan, he worked as a security guard in copper factory, and in Hebei, he worked as an apprentice in restaurants. Wuqiao is also a hometown of acrobatics in China. Whether in the streets and alleys or rural villages, from the elderly to the children, Wuqiao people have unique skills.

One day, Baoyuan was wandering around the station, surrounded by a group of people on the side of the road, and rushed in and saw a lame old man playing poker.

The old man took three cards, two of which were reds and one was A spade. He threw three cards on the ground, and the one who bets A spades won, the one who bets A spades won, the one who got the big one and the one who got the small one. Because his movements were very slow, even the child could see clearly where he threw the A spades. After a while, he lost a lot of money and was a little anxious, muttering, "Everyone I met today is all experts. If you play the last game, you will close the stall."

The old man still slowly threw three cards on the ground. The audience saw A spade in the middle. Some heart-wrenching people bet one after another, and Baoyuan also bet 10 yuan. The old man opened the card in the middle, but it was not A spade, so many people lost.

This is a widely circulated street scam, not a magic trick, but just a low-level fraud technique that makes people feel illusioned.

Baoyuan goes to the station every day, and gets familiar with the old man after a while. The old man claims to be from Northeast China, but speaks in a southern accent. He has been in the world for more than ten years. Once, Baoyuan just got his salary and invited the old man to drink. In a beef noodle restaurant, the old man performed several poker tricks for Baoyuan to see.

The old man skillfully shuffled the cards and performed one-hand shuffled the cards. After the shuffle, he handed out four stores. Baoyuan opened his card and his eyes lit up. There were three K cards. The old man opened his card and smiled proudly. It turned out to be three A cards.

The old man asked Baoyuan to issue a card casually, but he turned the card on, and it was still an A.

Baoyuan thought he had met a god, so he begged the old man to teach him. The old man said, "You can't teach in vain, you have to pay tuition." Baoyuan took out his salary. That day, the old man taught him how to shuffle, change cards, and steal cards.

Baoyuan suddenly realized and finally understood how he lost.

Baoyuan asked the old man: "You are so powerful, why don't you go to bet?"

The old man said: "My son, don't say that, these are all three-legged cats. There is a magician named Chen Shirong in the Shanghai Acrobatics Group, who is the real master."

Baoyuan is very insightful. After practicing a few times, the old man mastered all the key points of the movements. He also practiced the basic skills of thousands of techniques.

Gamblers can always find gambling games, just as wild dogs can find feces.

Baoyuan became proficient in practice and was eager to try it. Although these were just basic techniques, no one could see through some small gambling games. Baoyuan also won a lot of money with these tricks. Gradually, everyone stopped playing with him. He heard a fellow villager talking about an underground casino in Shijiazhuang, and went to Shijiazhuang the next day.

The darkness of the underground casino is unfathomable, and all people know is the tip of the iceberg.

Baoyuan was very confident about his three-legged kung fu. He entered the casino and was caught as soon as he made a thousand.

The casino didn't want to make things worse, so he beat him up and let him go.

Baoyuan lay in a simple station hotel for half a month, and then went to Shanghai. He was preparing to learn from his master. The lame old man at Wuqiao Station once told him that there was a magician named Chen Shirong in the Shanghai Oriental Acrobatics Troupe. He was going to work while searching slowly. Unexpectedly, Chen Shirong was very famous. After asking a few people on the streets of Shanghai, he found out. The Oriental Acrobatics Troupe is famous all over the world and won many international awards. Chen Shirong is an old magician who performed on stage in the 1980s, especially good at poker magic. The acrobatics Troupe performs in the theater every day. When Baoyuan goes, it happened to be Chen Shirong's program. Chen Shirong performed empty-handed cards and spread cards all over the venue to grab an A. However, the audience applause was very little, and only Baoyuan stood up and cheered loudly.

Chen Shirong looked at Baoyuan and said, "This little brother, it is my honor to support me. I will perform another unique skill for everyone!"

He took out a deck of cards from his pocket, drew one, and swung it casually. The card swirled and flew into the air. The audience looked up and saw that the card gradually disappeared in the air. People could not believe that the playing cards flying in the air actually disappeared in their sight. The audience was silent, followed by thunderous applause.

Chen Shirong bowed and ended, Baoyuan walked around the backstage, walked to Chen Shirong, and knelt down.

Baoyuan said: "I want to become a disciple."

Chen Shirong said: "Yes, have you signed up?"

Baoyuan said: "Register?"

Chen Shirong said: "Our group has a magic training class, and I go to give lectures every week."

Baoyuan said: "I'm not here to learn magic."

Chen Shirong said: "Then what do you want to learn?"

Baoyuan said: "I want to learn a thousand skills."

Chen Shirong smiled slightly, not surprised. He helped Baoyuan up, looked at it carefully, then took out a pair of poker, and asked Baoyuan to demonstrate all he could to him. Baoyuan did his best to perform without reservation. After reading it, Chen Shirong said, "I think you are very talented and don't want to turn it off. As long as you can promise me something, I will accept you as your disciple."

Baoyuan asked: "What's the matter?"

Chen Shirong said: "It's very simple, just two words, don't bet!"

Baoyuan thought for a while and said, "Okay."

Chen Shirong curled his lips and said, "You are lying."

Baoyuan's face turned pale and he hurriedly said, "No."

Chen Shirong took out a shaky dagger and threw it to Baoyuan and said, "Every time, someone will come to me to become a disciple. As long as you can insert this knife into your palm and destroy one of your hands, I will accept you. Otherwise, you will go back like those people."

Baoyuan picked up the knife and hesitated for a long time. He learned thousands of skills by himself, but could not be a gamble. So what's the use of learning this? Suddenly, he had an idea in his mind, not be a gambler, but he could still catch the gambler. This idea was like lightning flashing in the night sky, illuminating his future path. Finally, he made up his mind and raised the dagger and stabbed it hard on the back of his hand. However, there was no pain. The dagger stretched and retracted into the hilt like a spring.

That dagger is just a magic prop!
To be continued...