A seemingly unconscious glance allowed a flash of inspiration to strike deep within my mind.
In just an instant, the problems that had been eluding me suddenly became clear.
"Heh heh ~ Interesting!"
After chuckling softly, I spoke to myself, "I never thought that what Uncle Tuo once said about 'pigs digging up people' was actually true!"
"Pigs digging up people? What does that mean?"
As I asked this, Han Jinlun's face was filled with a look of utter confusion.
After handing Han Jinlun a cigarette, I lit one myself and, exhaling smoke, said, "Remember the casino's 'pig-slaughtering' scam that I explained to you before?"
Hearing this, Han Jinlun quickly shook his head.
After exhaling a large cloud of smoke, my eyes held a hint of recollection as I began, "The people currently at Zhang Chengxiang's place are the 'pigs' who have been scammed by the casino, meaning the gamblers."
"They, in turn, have come to the card room to play the same tricks that the casino played on them. This is called 'pigs digging up people'!"
"See these two Mercedes-Benz cars? If I'm not mistaken, they should have been rented from a car rental company, and they've also been fitted with fake license plates."
"These days, with fake plates on the road at night, as long as you don't run into a roadblock, nothing will happen!"
Upon hearing my words, Han Jinlun directly retorted, "How did you determine that these two Mercedes-Benz cars were rented and had fake license plates?"
"It's very simple!" I said, pointing to the exterior of the cars, "If you were the boss, would you drive an old, outdated model like this, even if it was washed spotlessly clean, to show off?"
"Of course not! If I were the boss, and I wanted to show off, I'd drive the most ostentatious car out there!" Han Jinlun replied decisively.
Nodding appreciatively, I continued, "Next question, if you had money and liked to gamble, would you park a car like this outside a card room or in front of a casino?"
This time, Han Jinlun didn't answer quickly. Instead, he furrowed his brow and began to ponder.
After about a minute.
Shaking his head slightly, Han Jinlun said, "If I had money and liked to gamble, I'd definitely want to be as low-key as possible."
"I'd find a tea house or a card room and invite a few regular card partners over."
"That's exactly right!" I nodded heavily in response. "That's fitting for a boss's status!"
"So, these pigs are trying to impersonate bosses from both sides, but they're making themselves so conspicuous!"
"However, from this aspect, we can deduce that they must have scouted the place beforehand, and not just once!"
"They confirmed that the card room only had bouncers for show, and no actual plainclothes security responsible for catching cheaters, which is why they came so well-prepared!"
"So, this is what's called 'pigs digging up people'!"
"Because this group of gamblers, without bottom lines or integrity, have had their intellects impaired by the casino's endless scams, and they naively believe they can also pull off the casino's pig-slaughtering scams."
"Oh, I see!" Han Jinlun exclaimed with a look of sudden understanding.
"Remember this, Jinlun! In this world today, rich people are afraid of others knowing they're rich. Only those who are poor and want to inflate their egos, or those with ulterior motives, are eager to make their wealth known to everyone!"
"You can only learn from successful scams; don't try to replicate them lightly!"
"Remember that! Let's get out of the car and take a look."
"Okay!"
As soon as the words left my mouth, Han Jinlun and I got out of the driver's and passenger's seats respectively and walked into the Yongli Card Room.
Whether a place has a thriving gambling culture can be easily ascertained by visiting its various card rooms.
Even though it was the dead of winter and the early hours of the morning, the card room, with its heating on, was still bustling with noise and filled with smoke.
The occupancy rate at the various card tables in the first-floor hall was nearly fifty percent, which was enough to show how good Yongli's business was.
Of course, every industry has its secrets.
Take card rooms, for instance.
Card rooms with good business generally use their own custom chips, just like casinos, and there are definitely a considerable number of people who book the room for the entire night, for a table, or for an entire venue.
There are significant hidden mechanisms at play here.
By providing chips for gamblers to bet with, card rooms not only serve to deal with any potential police inspections but also have the function of retaining these gamblers as much as possible.
It's similar to the VIP cards offered by various clubs; you can only redeem the numbers within for real money by coming to my establishment.
Otherwise, it's just a string of numbers.
Similarly, chips work the same way.
Besides that, do you really think that the people who sit in card rooms playing cards from morning till night are all legitimate gamblers? To be honest...
Two-thirds of them are decoys!
Calling them decoys isn't entirely accurate; they are also gamblers.
However, when they're out of money, they become decoys, and the final function of the chips is to control these decoys.
If you gave a group of decoys real money to gamble with, it would surely lead to major trouble.
I'm not too familiar with the situation in Longxi, but I know the ins and outs of Anhai and Wenzhou.
The price for hiring decoys is fifty yuan for the day shift and one hundred yuan for the night shift. For an all-night session from morning to night, it's two hundred yuan.
In a four-person all-night card game, if three of them are decoys, it might seem like the card room is losing six hundred yuan in chips. However, as long as the real gambler sitting at the table has more than a thousand yuan in their pocket, the card room will never lose!
Moreover, even if the real gambler loses all their money, it's fine; they can borrow more immediately.
Everyone, please remember, in any card room, regardless of the table, if there's a seat missing one player, it's usually three decoys waiting for one real gambler.
If you can't resist and sit down, it's the beginning of your path to ruin!
If a friend brings you, don't go. Your friend might have already become a "guiding ghost" for the card room!
...
After entering the card room and scanning the area with my eyes, I immediately spotted the "bosses" that Zhang Chengxiang had mentioned.
There were three of them in total, all around the age of forty, dressed as successful businessmen in suits, shirts, and leather shoes.
The saying "three men talking makes a tiger" comes to mind.
I have to admit, these three "pigs" who had been scammed by the casino were quite convincing in their portrayal of bosses.
Even without outsiders joining their table, the three of them were playing cards while chatting leisurely, their conversations invariably revolving around business.
The cigarette packs on their table were all different: Nanjing Jiuwuzhizun, Huanghelou 1916, and Huangjinye Tianye, all exuding an air of wealth and extravagance.
However, no matter how convincing their outward appearance, it was useless if their inner substance and details were lacking, making them completely hollow.
Seeing these three "pigs" diligently putting on a show, I couldn't help but sigh inwardly: You're trying too hard, my porcine brothers!