Before Liu Xiang appeared, apart from Yu Fei's debt issues, the most information I had Xianyu gather was about whether anyone else, like Yu Fei, had accumulated massive gambling debts.
Xianyu's answer was: yes, but not many.
At that moment, after hearing Xianyu's reply, I instantly pieced together the true reason behind Yu Fei's debts.
A small casino operating in a residential building, without even chips, had no reason to offer high-interest loans to its patrons.
Due to geographical limitations and influences, the customer base this small casino could access was mostly comprised of villagers who were lazy, good-for-nothing, and addicted to gambling.
Even if they owned houses and land back home, selling them wouldn't fetch much.
If they incurred gambling debts and the interest kept compounding, even if it reached hundreds of millions, they still wouldn't be able to repay it.
Coupled with Yu Fei's earlier mention that the casino owner had asked him to gamble at a new venue after taking out the high-interest loan, I arrived at a conclusion.
Recruitment!
The so-called recruitment was exactly like the scenes of various franchise stores that emerged later, with packed houses on their opening days!
However, franchise stores hired extras to fill the seats, and they had to be paid daily wages.
Casinos, on the other hand, made people work for free.
When a new casino is established, the owner would more or less employ the recruitment tactic.
Of course, this excludes big-shot owners.
The targets for new casinos to fill seats were mostly gamblers and addicts.
Although there was remuneration, in the eyes of addicted gamblers and addicts, it was merely a drop in the bucket.
Therefore, after receiving the remuneration, the first thing these gamblers and addicts would do was exchange it for chips and return it to the gambling table.
Besides using gamblers and addicts as patrons, touts were also an indispensable role for new casinos.
For the opening of large casinos, touts often came uninvited.
For small casinos, it depended on the conditions you privately offered and whether they were willing to come.
Under normal circumstances, casino owners would formally arrange for people to negotiate terms with touts and then openly poach them.
But Liu Xiang was different.
This scoundrel was ruthless and his methods were extremely ugly, much like the mythical gluttonous beast, Taotie, that only consumed and never disgorged!
Not only did he relentlessly target gamblers with a bit of money, but he also, after investigating their backgrounds, directly prescribed the right medicine, trapping them step by step until they were doomed!
Unfortunately, Yu Fei and Yu Xian, the two brothers, were among his targets.
If it weren't for me, Liu Xiang's scheme might have actually ensnared Xianyu.
But now that I was here, Liu Xiang's scheme was destined to fail!
Just by seeing my close relationship with Xianyu and then winning some money, Liu Xiang had already plotted against me. With this… how could I let him get away with it?!
After organizing the cash, I quickly left the casino with the two Xianyu brothers.
When we returned to Ruichi through the secret door, only some service staff were left cleaning up.
After I left through the main entrance with Cheng Minglang and Han Jinlun, and Jiang Xiaowan, the monitor, also left with me in the car, Xianyu then took Yu Fei straight to my residence.
As Ying Baolin had not yet assigned me any tasks, Jiang Xiaowan's surveillance of me was limited to tracking, not close personal monitoring.
Therefore, as long as I was in private areas like the casino and my residence, I still had considerable freedom.
I knew that with Ying Baolin's omniscient capabilities, Xianyu's existence was definitely not something that could be hidden.
So, I might as well use Yu Fei's matter to bring Xianyu out in the open, which would be better than Ying Baolin secretly ordering Jiang Xiaowan to investigate me further.
Currently, apart from Qin Manli, who was my trump card, almost all the people under me were exposed to Jiang Xiaowan's sight…
…
Upon returning to my residence, Xu Peiyu saw the two bundles of crumpled cash I brought back and asked with a mixture of curiosity and jest, "Did you guys team up to rob a bank?"
Hearing this, I first smiled and then recounted the matter of Xianyu's brother in its entirety.
This was something I intended to keep secret, but it was impossible to hide.
As the saying goes, wind moves, and words leak!
Rather than letting Xianyu accidentally expose it, it was better for me to speak up first.
This way, at least Cheng Minglang, Han Jinlun, and Xu Peiyu would believe that I was someone who would go all out to help a friend, someone who would go through thick and thin for them!
After handing over the two hundred thousand cash to Xianyu, I asked him, "I asked you to investigate your situation on the way just now, how did it go?"
Accepting the money with profuse thanks, Xianyu replied with a troubled expression, "I've inquired about everything."
"To be honest, that Liu Xiang… is not simple!"
Hearing this, I directly pressed, "How is he not simple?"
After organizing his thoughts, Xianyu said, "Liu Xiang is not only the mastermind behind the residential casino last night, but according to rumors outside…"
"He has at least seven or eight such casinos operating in villages!"
"And Liu Xiang is famously stingy and black-hearted!"
"Furthermore, he particularly likes to set traps for gamblers who have lost or won too much in his residential casinos, luring them to his newly opened venues to gamble!"
"As for the specific name and location of that venue, no one outside knows!"
No one knows!?
Upon hearing this, I immediately looked at Yu Fei and asked, "Last time Liu Xiang invited you to gamble at his new venue, how did you get there?"
Seeing me asking, Yu Fei replied nervously, "I, I'm not quite sure."
"Because when they arranged for someone to take me there, my eyes were blindfolded as soon as I got into the car."
"The driver told me that Liu Xiang had invested a lot of money in that venue and was afraid of being reported by jealous individuals, so he was very cautious."
"Only after entering the venue did they remove the black cloth that was covering my eyes."
Hearing Yu Fei's answer, I immediately felt that the venue had problems, and quite significant ones at that.
There were many people who ran casinos in Wenzhou. Even the owners of Ruichi and Baoli, despite the tense situation, had never resorted to underhanded tactics like making anonymous reports.
With this in mind, I asked again, "Besides this, can you recall anything else about that new venue?"
"Even a single sentence, an object, or the place that left the deepest impression on you."
My words immediately plunged Yu Fei into deep thought.
After a long pause…
"There is one thing that left a deep impression on me!"
"The curtains! The blackout curtains, they were very similar to the ones used in chain budget hotels!"