Business, Bustle

Early the next morning.

Sheep Pen Street was still washed in cold gray, the shop shutters on both sides tightly closed.

Lu Chen had already set up in the middle of the street.

The yard-long strip of red cloth Shuan Hu had procured snapped in the wind, hanging from an earthen wall. Eighty characters had been written on it in ink, each as large as a bowl.

Baldy had somehow borrowed a battered gong. He banged it hard enough to shake the heavens, then called out in a hoarse, slick voice:

"One copper coin for a shot at thirty! The draw will prove it true!"

People gradually began gathering on the deserted street.

Early travelers and small-time peddlers all crowded over to watch, pointing at the red cloth and whispering among themselves.

"One coin for thirty? Who are you trying to fool?"

"Must be some new trick from traveling swindlers."

"Exactly. Some bastard must have gone mad from wanting money!"

Voices overlapped, and laughter rang without end.

But when everyone saw that Lu Chen was sitting behind the red cloth,

they fell quiet at once, like ducks with their throats clutched shut.

Though Lu Chen was a hoodlum on Sheep Pen Street, he did things by the rules.

With his reputation on the line, this matter suddenly seemed to carry a few grains of truth.

Last autumn, a group of out-of-town thugs had eaten wontons at Old Sun's stall and refused to pay.

When Old Sun tried to reason with them, they instead accused his wontons of being unclean and smashed up his stall. The soup pot, tables, and benches shattered across the street.

Lu Chen had led his men after them for three streets. Not only had they beaten those scoundrels until they knelt and begged for mercy, they had made them compensate Old Sun for the stall and even pay for the fright they had caused him.

Old Sun had remembered that favor to this day.

Now, seeing everyone still muttering,

Old Sun trembled as he searched through his clothes, then pinched out a copper coin polished bright with wear.

With a clang, he tossed it into the box.

He shouted, "What are you all staring at? Could Lord Lu's operation possibly be fake?"

Then Old Sun carefully used a thick, dark finger to mark a crooked "Sun" on the spread-out red cloth.

It was the only character he knew and could write in his entire life.

A few other peddlers who had once received Lu Chen's help also took out a copper coin each, willing to give it a try.

Clink, clank—several copper coins dropped into the wooden box.

When the hour of the Snake arrived,

at Lu Chen's signal, Blind Man covered his eyes with black cloth and began feeling through the pile of slips with his withered hand.

He drew out a red slip and slowly unfolded it. On it was, sure enough, the character "Sun."

"I... ah?... I won."

Old Sun's body jolted, as though something had struck him on the head. He stood there with his mouth hanging open for a long while before forcing out half a sentence:

"This... I really ran into it?"

Lu Chen stepped forward and personally counted out thirty copper coins into his hands, one by one.

It was not much money; Old Sun could hold all of it in both hands.

As he cradled those thirty coins, his split grin never once closed.

He had only wanted to lend Lord Lu some support and repay a favor. Who could have imagined that the kindness he had just cast out would bring him such an unexpected gift?

"He won! He really won!"

"Thirty coins! Old Sun's luck is good today."

"This is kind of interesting."

The spectators immediately erupted.

Before the second draw,

the woman selling flatbread at the end of the street clutched her grease-stained coins and hurriedly squeezed to the front.

An old man who had come into town to sell firewood also counted out three coins and stuffed them into his grandson's hand, telling him to place a bet.

Even the Innkeeper of the silk shop in the middle of the street, who never gambled, sent a clerk over with several copper coins and quietly bet on the character "Wealth."

The copper coins in the wooden box piled into a small hill, nearly overflowing.

Just as Blind Man was about to cover his eyes with the black cloth, a pockmarked thug suddenly shouted:

"Wait! This time, everyone has to watch the draw."

Lu Chen cast him a cold glance and recognized him as one of Han Lao Wu's lackeys.

He gave Blind Man a slight nod. Understanding, Blind Man flung the black cloth onto the ground, spread all eighty character slips across the table with a swish, stirred them back and forth three times with his withered palm, then closed his eyes and casually pulled out one.

"The character 'Fortune'! It's 'Fortune'!"

The cart-pulling laborer suddenly sprang from the crowd. His dark face split into a broad grin of white teeth, his wrinkles bunching together from laughter.

He accepted the thirty coins Lu Chen handed him with both hands, then counted them over and over in his palm.

Thirty copper coins—he might not earn that much even if he ran himself ragged hauling carts through the cold wind for an entire day!

The watching laborers' eyes burned with envy. Several men who had been clutching their money and hesitating now rushed to throw their coins into the wooden box.

But as Lu Chen watched this scene, a trace of vigilance flashed through his eyes.

Since Han Lao Wu's men had shown up,

this business probably would not remain peaceful for long.

The sun rose higher.

Sheep Pen Street had never been so bustling.

That night.

The wick of the oil lamp in Lu Chen's room had been turned up bright.

On the table in the center sat two glistening roast chickens, several large baskets of meat buns, and a jin of white liquor.

The rich scent of meat and alcohol temporarily drove away the room's usual musty odor.

The brothers sat around the table, every face flushed red as they ate meat, drank liquor, and discussed how wildly successful the day's lottery business had been.

Blind Man sat alone on the kang bed.

He counted the copper coins they had earned that day, one by one.

When he finally finished, he raised his head, his throat a little dry.

"Big Brother, I've tallied it all. After deducting the prize payouts, we cleared... this much!"

He held up two fingers, then made an eight with his hand.

"Two taels and eight mace of silver?"

Shuan Hu cried out, nearly dropping the bun in his hand.

The room instantly fell silent.

Only heavy breathing remained.

One day—just one day!

Lu Chen had been gnawing on a chicken leg. He tossed the bone onto the table, lifted his coarse earthenware bowl, and took a sip of the fiery white liquor.

The sum was even greater than he had expected.

"We made this money, but it's hot in the hand."

Lu Chen set down his bowl, his voice deepening. "Han Lao Wu's men already showed their faces today. If we can swallow this business, others will turn green with envy. The threshold for this trade is too low. Anyone can learn it after watching for a while."

Blind Man picked up the thread:

"Big Brother is right. After today's commotion, I'm afraid half of South City knows already. By tomorrow, others may well be hanging up red cloth and starting lottery businesses of their own."

Lu Chen abruptly rose to his feet.

"That's why we need to sink our roots deep and make enough money while we're still the only ones doing it. Starting tomorrow, we'll hold thirty draws a day. Shuan Hu, prepare more wooden boxes."

"Yes, Boss."

The Great Liang Dynasty did not ban gambling, but Wen'an County's gambling trade had long been firmly controlled by several elderly underworld bosses.

These men had been in business for decades, had greased every hand in the yamen, possessed no shortage of capable fighters, and were rich and powerful.

If anyone foolish enough dared to set up a private gambling den,

at best, they would have their hands and feet broken before being thrown outside the city; at worst, they would be fed straight to the moat. The authorities had always turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to such matters.

Lu Chen's lottery operation was, when all was said and done, gambling too.

For now, it was novel and only rolling among poor men, so there was not much oil to skim.

Those old men might still be narrowing their eyes and watching it as entertainment.

But once the operation grew larger and the profits grew thick,

those tigers that seemed to be napping would bare their fangs at any moment.

The easier this money came, the faster the blade hanging over their heads would fall.

Lu Chen had thought of the lottery idea the moment he had transmigrated here.

But at the time, he had been alone and weak, afraid that a tall tree would catch the wind, so he had kept it buried in his heart and never dared act on it.

Now that Green River Sect's people had beaten him half to death and his golden finger had awakened, he was desperately short of silver. Paying to grow stronger could not wait; he could no longer worry about so much.

Full of food and drink, it was time to divide the money among the brothers.

With a clatter, Lu Chen poured all 2,800 copper coins onto the table.

By the old rules, Lu Chen was the boss and took twenty percent—560 coins.

Blind Man was the second-in-command. His share was fifteen percent, 420 coins.

The remaining sixty-five percent was divided into seven shares, 240 coins each.

Lu Chen's way of splitting the accounts was already considered supremely fair in their line of work.

In the jianghu, a boss taking half for himself was considered benevolent, and plenty swallowed seventy percent.

Yet Lu Chen took only twenty percent, giving the remaining profits solidly to the brothers who risked their lives for him. He never shorted a brother by even a single coin.

It was precisely because of this fairness that the brothers followed him with all their hearts.

Elsewhere, if the boss were gravely injured and bedridden, his underlings would have stabbed him in the back and seized his place long ago. But Lu Chen had lain there for a month, and the brothers had guarded him in turns, not one of them harboring disloyal thoughts.

Everyone understood that if anyone else took the position, there was no chance they would yield profits downward and handle matters as fairly as Lu Chen did.