Pei Fengtang stood by the window, holding a portable stove for heat, a white fox fur coat draped over his shoulders. He stared intently at the snowy scenery outside, quietly muttering, “Would that young boy, who’s basically a jinx, follow an ordinary woman around?”
Li Qing looked down and said nothing.
Pei Fengtang turned his head around and asked Li Qing, “I had you investigate Bull-head and Horse-face. Is there any progress on that?”
Li Qing wiped the sweat off his brow, looking helpless. “I’m sorry. This useless servant has failed to discover anything.”
“Nothing?” Pei Fengtang narrowed his eyes. “Good-for-nothing.”
Li Qing: “…” He felt humiliation at the Heir’s words. He had never before experienced such a failure in his work.
Pei Fengtang scowled, his face set, “Don’t tell me that the two of them appeared out of nowhere.”
Li Qing, “…” He truly did feel as if those two had appeared out of nowhere.
…
At Old Man Yang’s house.
Old Man Yang was thinking about the chain of incidents that occurred after Qi Qingyao broke off all relations with Old Man Qi’s family. While eating, he exclaimed, “There’s something about Eleventh Daughter that’s quite intriguing.”
His wife was tailoring her son’s clothes for the ing new year. She answered casually, “Hm? Didn’t she only get a little lucky? A Heavenly Physician gave her a medicinal recipe. That’s all there is to it. What’s so intriguing?”
“You still don’t understand, do you?” Old Man Yang glanced at his clueless wife and shook his head.
“Understand what?” His wife replied questioningly, setting down the needle she was using.
Old Man Yang said seriously, “When I look at this chain of consecutive incidents now, I feel like Eleventh Daughter’s has been blessed by the Lucky Koi Fish…”
“Wait, what?” Old Man Yang’s wife was speechless. Had her husband gone crazy? They were talking about Qi Qingyao, that little fool! She, of all people, had been blessed by the Lucky Koi Fish? She was only a little luckier than usual!
Old Man Yang felt a little cold, so he took his shoes off and clambered up to sit atop the bed-stove. “Let’s not talk about the mess that is the Qi family and start with Zhang Tieyuan. Old Man Zhang’s obsessed with gambling, so Eleventh Daughter made a bet with him. The wager increased gradually, and she lost time after time…” Yet she kept going, as if she was certain that everything would be turned around during the final round. It felt as if she had set a trap for Old Man Zhang. Was it an illusion?
“I don’t agree with what you said at all. She shook the dice cup herself. It’s just that she happened to be unlucky and got six-points on the low quite a few times. The way you’re saying it is as if she deliberately lost to Old Man Zhang.”
“Then how did she get eighteen points in the last round?” Old Man Yang asked his wife.
“Luck,” Old Man Yang’s wife said with determination. However, she felt as if she had fallen for her husband’s trap. If it was all luck, then… Qi Qingyao’s luck was heaven-defying! She was definitely blessed by the Koi Fish God! Wow!
“What are the odds of getting six points in several consecutive rounds? What are the odds of getting eighteen points just when she needed to win?” Old Man Yang asked seriously.
“…” His wife did not know what to say in response. Everything seemed to e down to luck.
Old Man Yang was not joking. “If you think it’s easy, I’ll give you a dice cup right now and you can try getting six points five times in a row.”
“I know what you’re getting at. You’re saying that she can control the number of points she gets,” Old Man Yang’s wife gritted her teeth as she said those words.
“Control?” Old Man Yang thought about the word. “That’s not really plausible, but at the same time it’s within the realm of possibility. I heard my uncle’s uncle talk about an excellent banker at Huangshi Gambling House in Qingzhou City. He can control the points he gets.”
“Of course he can, he’s a professional. He runs a gambling house for god’s sake. As for Eleventh Daughter… She’s nothing. She’s merely a…” Old Man Yang’s wife nearly said the word “fool” out loud, but swallowed it down in the nick of time.
Old Man Yang was waiting for her to say that. “You said it. She’s only a fool. Even if she has bee intelligent, how can she control the points she gets like a professional banker does? I won’t talk about how I think she broke off relations with her family deliberately, but, about what happened today, I heard that she wasn’t there personally, but Qi Yuancheng was really struck by lightning after that young boy said something about how Qi Yuancheng should look out, lest he be struck by lightning!”
“…” Old Man Yang’s wife swallowed.
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