Book 3 Chapter 8 - Trouble in the Casino
Ren Meimei left the gambling table to meet them. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling found out that her clothes was tightly wrapped around her body, emphasizing her full body and exquisite curves; immediately their hearts were beating faster.
This charming beauty moved her full-of-youthfulness-and-vitality body to three people's presence. After sizing up Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling again, she turned to Xiang Yushan and said with a laugh, "These two Gongzi seem to be strangers; are they your friends?”
With a bitter laugh Xiang Yushan replied, "Mei Gu [charming aunt], you'd better not provoke them.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling did not expect Xiang Yushan to be that forthcoming toward her; they got a shock.
Ren Meimei did not take offense at all; she walked around to the two boys' back and laughed coquettishly, "Xiang San Shao [third young master] must have spoken a lot of malicious words behind my, Ren Meimei's back, but two gentlemen must by all means not believe him. If he is a good man, then I am the Guanyin Dashi [Goddess of Mercy] who saves common people.”
Xiang Yushan cleared his throat and said, "Mei Gu, you must not damage our friendship. Don't forget that Peng Liang Hui and our Baling Bang have always been living together in harmony …”
Ren Meimei circled around to face the two boys again; covering her mouth, she laughed tenderly, "Did you see that? Xiang San Shaoye frequently uses Baling Bang to bully me, a weak woman; what kind of hero is that? Wow! Two little brothers[1] are really handsome, no wonder San Shaoye took a fancy to you. What are your names?”
The two boys had a feeling that Baling Bang sounder familiar, but momentarily they did not remember who mentioned this name to them.
Xiang Yushan was showing his displeasure openly, "Mei Gu, did you lose some money? Let me compensate you then, but don't babble nonsense in here.”
Evidently Ren Meimei was not afraid of him, she cast Xiang Yushan a flirtatious glance and said, "Am I, Ren Meimei, someone who doesn't have any gambling nature? You are the one who babbled nonsense.”
Suddenly her hand shot forward to grab Xiang Yushan.
Xiang Yushan let out a cold snort and raised his right hand to brush away her artery.
Ren Meimei laughed and said, "I don't want to fight!” Yet although her mouth said so, her jade palm flipped over and swept down to block Xiang Yushan's attacking right hand, while her crooked finger counterattacked by flicking Xiang Yushan's artery.
Xiang Yushan pulled his hand back and turned it into a chop, with his curved palm swatted her flicking finger.
These several moves happened within an area about one chi wide; it was both swift and displaying deep offensive and defensive techniques. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling watched the exchange wide-eyed; they were very interested in this kind of intricate fighting technique.
Ren Meimei laughed tenderly, "I haven't seen you for several months, turns out you were hiding to train your martial art skill; no wonder your arrogance soaring to the sky.” While she was speaking, her jade hand made subtle swinging a few times, as if she was going to attack, but not exactly attacking, as if she was blocking, but not exactly blocking.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling intuitively understood what she was doing, they were able to fully grasp her move and strategy. While obviously Xiang Yushan failed to understand Ren Meimei's bizarre technique; unexpectedly he took a step backward. The two boys knew the worst was yet to come, Ren Meimei already laughed tenderly, while fast as lightning she thrust her finger onto the back of Xiang Yushan's palm.
While Xiang Yushan was jolted by this attack, Ren Meimei already grabbed his sleeve and pulled it hard, so that he was carried away and stumbled to the side. All the while she did not forget to flash her enchanting smile toward the two boys and unhurriedly said, "I'll have a few words with Yushan, and then I'll come back to accompany you.”
They saw the two people went toward the corner of the hall and mumbled several secret whispers with each other. Xu Ziling's countenance suddenly changed. "I remember now,” he said in hoarse voice, "Didn't Beautiful Shifu mention that Baling Bang is the Emperor's young son's running dog? They are specializing in trafficking human beings!”
Kou Zhong sucked in a mouthful of cold air, "So what good can we say that he took a fancy on us? Quick! We must slip away immediately.”
"Hold on!” Xu Ziling pulled him back, "They are back. We are going to change according to the situation. Ay! I really did not see this ‘mountain trader' [play on words on Yushan, ‘jade mountain'] is also a martial art expert. On that street we randomly picked someone to ask, why did we pick a martial art expert and a bad egg [i.e. ] in one?”
Meanwhile Ren Meimei and Xiang Yushan walked back hand-in-hand toward them. Looking at their friendly spirit, the two boys knew that the two people had reached a private agreement.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling felt their scalp turned numb, knowing that once again the two of them had become a commodity.
From a distance Ren Meimei already let out her unrestraint laughter, "Turns out the two little brothers [see footnote 1] came here this time is to have a taste of women's gentle and soft feeling. Let me, Jiejie [older sister] take care of this matter.”
This time Xiang Yushan's tone of speech was greatly changed, "It's rare that Mei Gu shows such respect for you. I will have a VIP suite opened up for you, everybody can drink, have a chat and laugh, and enjoy the romance together.”
Kou Zhong giggled and said, "Why worry about it? I suddenly have an urge to play a hand or two, I am good at Paijiu [paigow, dominoes] the most.”
Xiang Yushan laughed, "So be it,” he said, "You ought to go to the VIP suite right away. Mei Gu also loves Paijiu the most. You guys want to accompany her playing, nothing could be better than that.”
This time Kou Zhong was at a loss for words.
Still maintaining his elegant and unconventional demeanor, Xu Ziling shrugged his shoulders and said to Kou Zhong, "If you want to gamble, you should seek my approval first. I don't know anything about Paijiu, but I do want to stroll around the casino to broaden my horizon.”
Ren Meimei moved her tender body to the front. Pulling the crook of two boys' arms she gave Xiang Yushan a meaningful glance and said with a smile, "Let me take care of them.”
Xiang Yushan laughed to give his approval and immediately turned around and left.
Ren Meimei intimately pulled the two boys along toward the inner lobby. She said with enchanting smile, "You must not listen to that fellow Xiang Yushan talking any idle gossip about other people.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were about to speak, but when they looked at her, they saw that when she was walking, the twin peaks on her chest were continuously bobbing up and down following her gait; it was extremely captivating, so that they could not restrain their hearts from thumping wildly and jumping madly, and they forgot what they were about to say.
All of a sudden they did not think that she was so scary anymore; especially her figure and her expression, none did not carry a special charm that was capable of moving other people's heart, that unconsciously gave birth to a feeling that even if they had to die for her, they would gladly do it.
The fact was that Ren Meimei was extremely proud in her heart.
She had ‘read' countless men, and in just one glance she could tell that these two boys were still virgin. To a person who was adept at ‘collect and mend' technique like her, the two boys were no more than exquisite serum or sweet nectar that would bring great benefits to her vitality; hence the reason she wanted to wrestle them, by hook or by crook, from Xiang Yushan's hands.
This moment she was exploiting her body, unleashing her superior charm, to evoke the two boys' primal sensual desire.
Xu Ziling's mental power was slightly better than Kou Zhong's; only after a slight daze, his mind cleared up considerably. Seeing Kou Zhong involuntarily panting and licking his lips, and was showing a leering look on his face, while intentionally used his shoulder to bump her silky breasts, he knew something was not right; his brains moved fast, and he blurted out, "Ol' Die is here!”
Kou Zhong was startled and came to his senses. "Where is he?” he asked in panic.
Ren Meimei was puzzled, "Didn't his old dad pass away already?” she asked.
Inwardly, Xu Ziling breathed a sigh of relief; he cooked up some nonsense, "It's just a joke we invented; it means a ghost is coming, which means nobody is!”
Kou Zhong summoned all the willpower he could muster, he no longer dared to look at this woman's chest.
Ren Meimei was angry; she twisted her appealing body, immediately the two boys were aware of her well-developed body, burning desire touched their heart and strayed their mind.
But since they were already wary of her, they firmly suppressed their surging lust, while groaning inwardly, wondering how they could get out of this predicament.
If her ‘flesh-temptation' continued, and they were unable to resist, who knows what kind of dire consequences would ensue. Xiang Yushan's earlier warning was still ringing in their ears.
Kou Zhong happened to see the gambling table on their left only had five guests around it, which leave seven or eight seats vacant. A sudden inspiration struck his mind, "Let's play a game or two!” he said. Wriggling himself free from Ren Meimei's clutch, he sat on an empty seat.
Ren Meimei did not seem to mind at all, still smiling coyly, she sat on his left, while Xu Ziling took the empty seat on Kou Zhong's other side.
As soon as this beautiful woman sat down, the eyes of the other five guests were immediately drawn to her chest. When Ren Meimei swept her pretty eyes around, the five men were immediately overcome with lust; so much so that one of them was drooling.
The dealer was a woman around twenty years old, quite pretty; but compared to Ren Meimei, she immediately lost her splendor, and no longer enjoyed the limelight.
This table happened to be a Paijiu table. Although Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had never really gambled before, growing up in the marketplace they had seen enough people gambling, naturally they were also well-versed in the way of doing it.
Ren Meimei's interest suddenly arose; she said to the dealer, "Let me be the banker!”
The dealer naturally knew who she was; after repeatedly agreed, she withdrew to the side.
Ren Meimei took the banker position and laughed coquettishly, "Why haven't you put down your bet?”
Everybody immediately put down their bet; they were all very excited.
But Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were groaning in their heart. To have their hard-earned money put down in gambling was naturally painful and heart-breaking.
Ren Meimei's gaze fell on them. "Don't you want to play a hand or two?” she urged, "Quickly put down your bet!”
Kou Zhong giggled and said, "We need to sit tight first and observe how you, the new dealer, play your trick before we lay our bet; alright?”
Ren Meimei only smiled tenderly without saying anything. With skillful finesse she shuffled the tiles, and only after she piled it up stack by stack did she throw the dice and deal the tiles.
It was not clear whether she employed some kind of trick, but she lost three rounds in a row. The gamblers' cheers and applause immediately attracted the attention of the other gamblers on several tables nearby that they flocked over and took all the seats.
Ren Meimei smiled and said to Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, "Jiejie suffers an adverse wind; if you want to win, quickly lay your bet.”
From the back, someone yelled, "If you don't bet, give up your seat!”
Ren Meimei gave the man a hard stare; she shouted, "Who dares to tell them to step aside, I'll wring his hands.”
The man obviously knew that she was formidable, immediately he kept his mouth shut out of fear.
Kou Zhong had no choice; he fished a tael of silver and tossed it out as his bet.
Ren Meimei burst into a tender laugh and cast a sidelong glance toward the two boys. She was about to deal the tiles under the burning gaze of more than a dozen pairs of eyes, when suddenly a soft and tender voice came from behind Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's back, "Hold on!” And then an incomparably delicate and beautiful jade hand reached out from between the two boys, and put a piece of gold ingot, weighed at least ten taels, next to Kou Zhong's pitiful one tael of silver.
This action sent the gamblers into an uproar, because this ingot of gold worth at least several hundred taels of silver, so it was indeed rare that someone would place that much wager in one bet.
Ren Meimei's eyes shot a cold flash as she looked at the beautiful woman that squeezed through several men that they were pushed to the east and opened to the west.
When Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked up in astonishment, a pair of delicate hands already pressed on their shoulders. As they looked closer, they could not help crying out to their Niang, because the woman was none other than the ‘Serpent and Scorpion Beauty' Shen Luoyan.
Shen Luoyan was looking down at the two boys, her face showed a sweet smile as she said, "I told you, two little kids, not to play around randomly. Look! People nearly cheated you your wealth and trick you into having sex.”
A deep, cold killing aura flitted across Ren Meimei's beautiful eyes. "Who's coming?” she asked coldly.
Shen Luoyan simply met her stare for half a day before smiling and said, "Who's the banker? Since Third Master[2] wants to be the banker, you ought to follow bankers' rule. If you cannot meet the stake, you ought to just admit defeat and leave the field.”
Realizing that the opponent already know who she was, yet still struck a hard stance, Ren Meimei trembled inwardly, yet on her face she still maintained that foxy attitude brimming with the thoughts of romance. "Such a tiny gold ingot, our Peng Liang Hui can still deal with it,” she said with a smile.
Among the guests crowding around them, there were more than a dozen who, when they heard the name Peng Liang Society, were afraid of getting involved. These people immediately slipped out quietly, not even daring to fetch the money they put down as a wager back.
The crowd around the gambling table was thinning out; two seats immediately became vacant.
By this time Kou Zhong already calmed down; he patted Shen Luoyan's jade hand that was pressed threateningly on his shoulder. "Hi Beautiful!” he said, "There is an empty seat beside me, why do you tire yourself by standing up?”
Shen Luoyan smiled slightly; she stooped down to give each of the two boys a peck on the cheek. Unexpectedly she really sat down on the chair next to Kou Zhong.
Noticing her confidence, as if she was certain she would get them, plus her affectionate kiss with her fragrant, delicate, soft and tender cherry lips, which melted their souls, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling really did not know whether they should be happy or scared.
Ren Meimei still maintained her silence as she dealt the tiles.
[2] Third Master - here, the word ‘master' is ‘dang jia', someone who is in charge/who call the shots. I was tempted to use the word ‘skipper' or ‘captain', but it sounds so western.