Volume 1 Chapter 100

  "Alright, as long as you two understand." Cheng Shigui stopped the two from their 'horseplay'. "Now I'll say something. There's not much to say about Hong Kong, we've bought a dock. As the mainland's reform and opening up deepens, more and more raw materials are needed, especially given Hong Kong's geographical location and shipping advantages, which are becoming increasingly apparent."

  "Pier, where does our family eat?" Fang Mo Nan knew that the pier in Hong Kong had always been a symbol of status, position and wealth.

  Cheng Shigui said: "We joined forces with a mainland company to win it together."

  Han Zhiqian smiled and interjected: "The company's boss, Nan Nan, also knows him." He smiled very mysteriously, "Ye Zhenhua, Ye Laosi's Zhongzhen Group."

  "Wow! He has developed so quickly and become a group company." Fang Mo Nan said.

  "With strength, background and strong financial resources, it's natural for development to be faster." Han Zhiqian said.

  Fang Mo Nan furrowed her brow, muttering to herself: He still doesn't know about me and Ah Gui... She's also worrying for nothing, how could she block the investigation of someone who is determined? "Forget it, if he finds out, he finds out. Can't stop him."

  Han Zhiqian heard her last words: "Can't see it for now, probably doesn't know yet!"

  Cheng Shigui said, "I met Ye Laosi in Moscow. You also know that the Soviet financial system was chaotic. I took advantage of the chaos to make a killing in their foreign exchange market. It wouldn't be right if I didn't take some for the polar bears too. That's where I met him."

  "Oh!" Fang Mo Nan couldn't deny it and reminded him: "Be careful."

  "I know that." Cheng Shigui nodded and changed the subject to Japan: "Since Nan Nan just mentioned the Japanese market, we should also know what to do with the Japanese stocks in our hands!"

  "Yes." Everyone said in unison, but each of them had green lights flashing in their eyes, clenching their fists and rubbing their palms, looking forward to its arrival at the end of next year.

  Han Zhiqian leaned back on the sofa and said elegantly, "I don't have anything to say, we're just building a house now."

  Liang Zidao said: "It's my turn now. There's nothing much to say, thanks to the blessings of several people, I'm starting to expand globally with hotels too. The hotel in Hong Kong is under construction, and we've already staked out a spot in Pudong, Shanghai, and our office is also neatly absorbing stocks." He spoke succinctly.

  Liangzi finished speaking and poked Pangzi, "It's your turn."

  Pangzi had previously attended the year-end summary with Fang Mornan, Liangzi and Shouhou. This was the first time he directly heard and saw it up close. It turned out that overseas markets were her true domain! His head felt a bit dizzy. Although Liangzi had told him to be mentally prepared beforehand, he was still shocked. "Oh!" Pangzi took a deep breath. "The domestic food company is running well, with post-tax profits already exceeding 100 million, and is currently vigorously developing new products."

  Fang Mo Nan heard him talk about new product development and wanted to say a few words, but saw that the clock had struck zero, so he decided to play here for a few more days, no hurry.

  "Alright. It's getting late, let's stop here for now!" Fang Mo Nan said. "Anyway, we still have to stay here for a few more days, if there's anything that comes up, we can discuss it then."

  Everyone was tired, especially a few people from Asia, who fell asleep on their beds.

  Fang Mò Nán inserted the house door, flashed into space and continued to cultivate.

  Others sleep soundly, but the fat man lies in bed and can't fall asleep no matter how hard he tries. He reads a book on the plane and falls asleep as soon as he starts reading, sleeping all the way until the plane lands.

  Liangzi pulled open the bedside lamp. He tilted his head to look at Pangzi, who was tossing and turning like he had nails on his body, scratching his head repeatedly, "What are you doing not sleeping?"

  Chubby looked at him waking up and said apologetically: "Brother, sorry, I'm dizzy from sleep deprivation, I really can't fall asleep!"

  Liang Zi looked at him and knew he was quite stimulated, can imagine, when he himself had also been through this. He made an effort to calm down for half a day before feeling better. He picked up two pillows, stacked them together and pressed them against his back, "What's wrong?"

  Fatso sat up straight and exclaimed: "Big brother, I thought I was quite capable, but compared to the boss, I'm far inferior!" He gestured with his hands, pointing here and there.

  "No one is asking you to compare with Nannan, just do your own thing." Liangzi picked up the cigarette and lit it, 'pa' flame burst out, then put down the lighter. He remembered that every time he met Fang Mo Nan, she would slightly frown when seeing them smoking.

  "Big brother, you're absolutely right." The fat man's eyes narrowed into slits as he smiled. "Bet on the right horse, win once; follow the right person, win a lifetime."

  "What a pity someone doesn't want to follow him!" Liangzi muttered.

  "What did you say? I didn't quite catch it." The fatty leaned over and cocked his ear to listen.

  "Nothing?" Liangzi waved his hand and said, recalling that after finishing dinner with Shouhou, he had someone secretly investigate Shouhou. Looking at the power of his younger brother's wife's family, his older brother-in-law was the second-in-command of a powerful department in the city. It turned out that this was a case of climbing to a high branch.

  The fatty asked in a very common tone, persistently: "Big brother, tell me, how much money is there?"

  Li said: "Do you still remember the share transfer agreement I asked you to sign last year?"

  Fatso nodded, "I didn't think much of it at the time. I didn't really have any concept of it, just knew you guys didn't leave me behind."

  "Specifically I don't know, all I know is that during last year's stock market disaster, Nan Nan and Cheng Shigui earned over tens of billions of US dollars in one day."

  Fat boy's eyes widened, "Over 10 billion? US dollars." He suddenly collapsed onto the bed. Scared, Liangzi jumped from his own bed to Fatboy's bed and saw that Fatboy had drool coming out of his mouth, grinning foolishly as he said: "Hehe... over 10 billion. Hehe..."

  Li Zishu patted his cheek, and the fatty turned over and got up, shouting: "No wonder a month later, there was suddenly so much more money on the account." He counted with his fingers, counting again, and smiled foolishly. Suddenly, his eyes were firmer than ever before, and he said proudly: "We who do real business will definitely not lose to those who play finance, huh? Is that right, big brother?"

  "Alright! Good job!" Liang Zi patted his shoulder and said, "Go to sleep for now."

  "Ah!" Fatso lay down and covered himself with the quilt, Liangzi jumped onto his own bed, turned off the bedside lamp, and also lay down steadily, having a good night's sleep. Fatso had sweet dreams in his sleep, with banknotes flying everywhere, making him laugh out loud. But as a result, there were too many banknotes, and they kept increasing, burying him under them, almost suffocating him to death. He was scared awake. He wiped the cold sweat from his hand, "Having too much money is also scary, it's still better to earn it myself honestly."

  Liang Zi looked at Pang Zi as usual and thought to himself: Indeed, people with thick nerves recover quickly.

  The next day, Fang Mo Nan and his companions finished their breakfast, packed up, and headed to the casino in the hotel where they were staying. At this time, the Las Vegas outside the casino looked like a dead city. However, when you enter the casino, it's as if you've entered two different worlds, with people bustling about. The casinos in Las Vegas stipulate that only those 21 years old can gamble, and Fang Mo Nan was only eleven years old. He could only enter with an adult leading him.

  After exchanging good chips, Yang Fan and Alan rushed into the casino with great enthusiasm and fighting spirit, ready to make a big kill.

  Cheng Shigui shouted at the backs of the two: "Don't forget our bet, be careful."

  Allen nodded and waved his hand: "We know." Then Yang Fan hooked his shoulder and entered the casino.

  The design of each casino here is a gaudy, bizarre building to attract tourists. All casinos are open 24 hours, with various gambling games and gamblers ranging from small-time bettors to high-rollers.

  Looking at everything in front of him, Fang Mo Nan clicked his tongue. The casino is located in the desert area of Nevada, USA. One hundred years ago, this place was still a remote and barren land. Now, the main economic pillar of Las Vegas is the gaming industry. Because casinos are gold mines, tycoons from all over the United States have invested in building casinos in Las Vegas. Even Japanese billionaires, Arab princes, and famous actors have come to invest, establishing a city that can absorb visitors from all directions for years on end, which is truly a miracle.

  He glanced at his watch, and it was still early in the morning, with so many people pouring into the casino. It can be seen that the gamblers' gambling nature is very strong. However, most of the people here are still white. In 1990, Chinatown also settled in Las Vegas. Soon became a gathering place for Asian Americans. Thinking about the rich and powerful officials at home who splurged money in the casino city, it's simply "heroic"! Of course, whether their source of wealth is legitimate or not, only heaven knows, they themselves know.

  The Chinese are known for their strong gambling spirit. When it comes to gambling, let's first look at the character "gamble", which is a pictophonetic character composed of "bei" (shell) and "zhe" (sound). In ancient times, "bei" referred to currency, which is equivalent to money today. Indeed, without money, there is no fun in gambling. If one were to gamble with their eloquence or reputation, it would not be as thrilling as gambling with real money. If the outcome of a gamble were not determined by money, the excitement would immediately dissipate.

  The nation's gambling can be traced back thousands of years. The forms are countless, such as: cockfighting, duck fighting, horse racing, dog racing, cricket fighting, and so on. Since modern times, with the opening of national gates, people have not only played mahjong but also introduced foreign gambling games like poker, lottery, roulette, and "eating angle tiger" which flooded in. Although gambling is prohibited, it still cannot withstand the surreptitious ones. Up to now, the nation is called the best gambling nation in the world. There's a saying that 90% of the population gambles, while the remaining 10% dances, whether right or wrong, it can't be denied that the nation indeed has its unique "gambling culture".

  At home, a mahjong table can be set up anywhere and four people will soon be playing leisurely; when there are not enough players, the cry of "three lacking one" can always be heard. Later generations of mahjong rooms were given beautiful names such as elderly activity rooms or community card rooms. Landlord is even more popular nationwide and can be seen everywhere.

  Furthermore, in any casino around the world, you always see Chinese people gathering. In later generations, whether it's Las Vegas in the United States or Monte Carlo in Monaco; whether it's the Yanggakdo Hotel in North Korea or Genting Highlands in Malaysia; from Australia in the Southern Hemisphere to Vietnam and Myanmar on the periphery of China, as well as casinos in South Africa, it's not hard to find Chinese people who are addicted to gambling. It's said that Russia also plans to build a casino on the border with China. Chinese people love to gamble, and they'll bet on anything, even using their wives as collateral. There's a saying in the gambling world: among all the continents, Asians are the best at gambling, and among Asians, Chinese people are the most skilled.

  Domestic culture advocates for personal sacrifice of self-interest, obeying the collective and neglecting human individuality. Over time, individuals will become very depressed and need to vent. Gambling has become a form of venting, thus forming a gambling personality.

  The Chinese believe in fate, believing that luck is controlled by an unpredictable force. Gambling caters to this cultural psychology of the Chinese people. Individuals hope to change their current circumstances or fate by gambling. Opportunities to get rich are scarce, and compared to openly fighting for wealth, gambling is much less risky. If one loses at gambling, they blame neither heaven nor others, but only their own bad luck.

  Cheng Shigui watched as Allen disappeared into the crowd. He said to Fang Mo Nan, "They're gone, let's go take a look at our own luck!" He then looked at Liang Zi and the others, "You guys go have some fun too, I'll keep an eye on Nannan!"

  "Listen... try your luck!" Fang Mo Nan muttered to himself.

  "That's fine, I'll find my own fun." With that, she swiveled her hips and left behind a captivating silhouette and a whiff of fragrance.

  Cheng Shigui looked at Liangzi and Pangzi who were still standing beside him and said, "You guys go have fun too!" He turned to Han Zhijian and said, "I don't need to invite you, do I?"

  Fatso asked a very silly question, "Isn't our country banned from gambling? Is it okay to play here?"

  "Haha......" Cheng Shigui burst out laughing and shook his head, "You're something else... We're abroad, go ahead and have fun."

  "No, I'm not familiar with this place, it's better to follow you guys!" Liang Zi said.

  Fatso heard him say this and said "I'll come with you guys too." Just arriving here his heart was still racing.

  Han Zhiqian said: "No, I'll play with you too." He had played enough in his youthful and arrogant years, but now he's not in a hurry.

  Cheng Shigui saw them say: "Well! We'll go in too."

  The first floor, I saw more than 3,000 slot machines, the venue was incredibly large. To this day, if a casino doesn't have these shiny, loud and colorful slot machines, it can't be called a complete casino.

  The clinking of coins and the whirring of slot machines filled the entire casino hall. In terms of number of games and bets placed, slots are the most popular casino game in the world, both now and in the future.

  Cheng Shigui took out some coins and handed them to Fang Monan, "Try it, it's very simple." He put the coins in and pulled down the lever, and saw the slot machine start moving. Unfortunately, the three patterns were different, and nothing came out.

  Fang Mo Nan took the coin and inserted it, pulling down the lever. Cheng Shi Gui also handed coins to Liang Zi and Pang Zi, "Play by yourselves, I believe you both will."

  Han Zhiqian also took out a coin to try his luck, making a small bet to ease the mood.

  Liang Zi and Pang Zi started playing the slot machines on both sides of Fang Mo Nan, and Cheng Shigui also chose a slot machine.

  Slot machine (one-arm bandit) is a coin-operated gambling machine named after the tiger patterned tokens on it. It has three glass cases with different patterns inside, and after inserting coins and pulling down the lever, it will start spinning. If specific patterns appear (such as three identical ones), it will spit out money.

  The slot machine looks complicated, but the core is actually: the chip that controls the circuit board. Generally, when playing a gambling machine, it's hard to grasp its rules, but clever gamblers can master the game skills set on the chip over time. Once this happens, the boss will replace the chip, making it impossible for gamblers to grasp the game rules forever.

  Fang Mo Nan lost ten rounds in a row, slowly grasping the skills, and pulled out a coin from Cheng Shigui's pocket. "Ding ding dong...""Wah wah..."