Upon answering the phone, before I could speak, I heard Xianyu on the other end say in an extremely urgent tone, "Brother Xiang, can you lend me some money?"
Hearing this, I didn't ask for the reason and instead directly asked, "How much do you need?"
Upon hearing my agreement, Xianyu on the phone clearly let out a sigh of relief and replied, "Not much, just one... one million!"
To be honest, when I heard the figure of one million, for a brief moment, I truly thought my ears had deceived me.
In my memory, whether it was when he was still a "die ma zai" (a term for someone who facilitates gambling for others) in Rui Chi, or now working with me, Xianyu had never asked anyone for money.
Instead, many people had approached him for loans, only to be politely refused by him for various reasons.
Since one million was not a small sum, I directly asked him on the phone if something had happened.
After a long sigh, Xianyu resentfully uttered, "It's all because of my useless brother!"
I had heard Xianyu mention he had a brother, but I didn't know much about him.
Regarding private family matters, I never actively inquired.
As far as I recall, Xianyu had mentioned that the reason he worked so hard and desperately to earn money was to pay off his brother's gambling debts.
Before transferring from Rui Chi, for a period of time, Xianyu had been working part-time as a "die ma zai" on Ying Baolin's gambling ship.
He stopped after clearing the debts.
The reason I admire Xianyu so much is that, besides his sharp tongue, his character of not asking for help and refusing to admit defeat or resign himself to fate deeply moved me.
In a similar family predicament, Qin Lei, whom I had previously mentored, immediately asked me to help him overcome difficulties.
It eventually turned into a story of the farmer and the snake.
Xianyu, however, was completely different.
It was only after he had cleared his debts and followed me that he told me the truth about why he had been so stingy before.
If I remember correctly, Xianyu told me that as soon as he finished paying off his debts, he had his brother cut ties with the gamblers he had been frequently associating with.
It seems his brother had not reformed, and his gambling addiction had taken hold.
Although this was the first time Xianyu had asked me for money, and I was personally inclined to help him, ...
Uncle Tuo had once warned me that if I were to form my own team in the future and my subordinates encountered difficulties requiring my assistance, especially concerning money, I must always inquire about the reasons.
And among these, money related to gambling should never be lent out easily.
Because we ourselves are tricksters, we know that once gambling takes hold, there is only one consequence.
Irreversible ruin!
Moreover, gambling debts, to put it bluntly, are like domestic violence.
Once there's a first time, there's no such thing as "only this time"; it becomes a cycle.
If you help someone pay off a gambling debt once, in the future, they won't think of other solutions and will directly come to you.
A drop of kindness can be repaid with a bucket of enmity.
Human hearts are always selfish and cannot be looked at directly.
Lending money to Xianyu and helping him pay off his brother's gambling debts ten or eight times would be useless.
If I fail to help him even once, to put it bluntly... he could resent you for life!
Therefore, unable to refuse Xianyu directly, yet unwilling to give him money for free to help his brother pay off gambling debts, I decided to find a more permanent solution to help him.
With this thought, without inquiring about the process of his relapse and debt accumulation, I directly asked Xianyu, "How much does your brother owe?"
Hearing my question, Xianyu on the other end clearly paused.
After a while, I heard him sigh heavily, "After calculating the principal and interest, it's around 1.2 million!"
Upon hearing this, after a brief moment of thought, I replied, "Take me to the place where your brother lost the money."
Hearing my words, Xianyu first seemed slightly stunned, then tentatively asked, "Brother Xiang, could it be that you intend to..."
"That's right!"
After responding, I said in an extremely solemn tone, "In your brother's situation, paying off gambling debts is merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause."
"To completely extinguish his desire to gamble, he must be made to understand what 'nine out of ten gambles are rigged' means!"
"Find out which establishment he gambled at, and at which table he lost the money. You'll come with me later!"
Xianyu agreed without hesitation, but he added an extra request.
"Can I bring my brother along too?"
I guessed that Xianyu said this because he wanted his brother to witness firsthand what true gambling was.
Therefore, I did not refuse this suggestion.
After hanging up the phone, to avoid being detected by Jiang Xiaowan, who was guarding the casino entrance, I employed the usual tactic.
I had Cheng Minglang continue to loiter in the establishment with Han Jinlun, while I took the opportunity to slip out through a secret door.
For this outing, I only brought a thousand yuan in cash.
The reason why Chen Xiaodao in the movie "God of Gamblers" winning 25 million US dollars with 20 Hong Kong dollars is too exaggerated is that in legitimate establishments, the chip exchange starts at a thousand yuan.
If you dare to exchange for a hundred yuan, although the casino will exchange it for you with the principle of "no entry without exit," I can guarantee...
Wherever you go, bright and hidden lights, along with high-definition cameras, are already ready for you!
Therefore, I only brought a thousand yuan to gamble as an ordinary casual customer.
...
An hour later, I, Xianyu, and Xianyu's brother, Yu Fei, arrived outside the establishment where the latter often gambled.
To my surprise, I had expected that the "small casino" Xianyu mentioned, no matter how small, would at least have some facade or decoration.
But unexpectedly, this private casino was entirely like the folk gambling dens popular in rural areas in the early 1990s.
This is because the private casino was hidden within an old residential house!
As we followed the Xianyu brothers to the entrance of the residential house, the three of us were stopped by a thug with a shaved head.
Seeing this, Yu Fei, Xianyu's brother, pointed at me and Xianyu and said with a fawning smile, "Brother Zhu, this is my brother and my brother's friend."
"I heard I often come here to play, so I thought I'd come and have a look, and maybe have a couple of rounds!"
Hearing this, the bald thug first looked me and Xianyu up and down, then asked in a gruff voice, "You're not hiding anything unclean on you, are you?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Fei quickly replied, "How could that be, Brother Zhu?"
"If you don't believe me, you can search us directly!"
Although Yu Fei was employing a strategy of "advancing by retreating," the thug named Brother Zhu did not fall for it at all.
After searching me and Xianyu one by one, he then smiled and let us in.