This setup anticipated players’ needs, benefiting both gamblers and the casino. Anyone except beggars could play, but larger bets attracted more attention, while small stakes often went unnoticed.
The casino featured hidden private rooms that attracted wealthy and influential patrons, including high-ranking officials and successful businessmen from A City, expanding their clientele through referrals.
Betting amounts in these private rooms were enormous, with safety ensured as a priority. Lookouts were stationed around the clock, and strict entry checks were in place. Strangers could not enter without an introduction, and the casino was warned in advance of any police actions, allowing them to make appropriate arrangements.
How did they get such information? Nowadays, don’t they have protection umbrellas and informants? The plot of “Infernal Affairs” isn’t just on TV. Jiang Xiang Yang knew this trick too. This fearless young man was Jiang Xiang Yang.
This was a place he had won from the Qing Yang Gang six months ago. He had always found the gang distasteful, lacking brotherhood, framing others, and secretly attacking him and his brothers. The leader, Old Li, had likely wanted to deal with him, recognizing that Jiang would become a significant figure, threatening his own future.
They had settled their dispute in this gambling den, inviting respected underworld seniors as witnesses. In front of their brothers, they agreed on a decisive gambling match: if Jiang Xiang Yang won, the gambling den would be his; if he lost, one of his hands would be crippled. As fate would have it, Jiang won.
He didn’t tell Old Li he had some gambling skills; how skilled remained his secret. To survive in this world, Jiang Xiang Yang would never let anyone see through him completely. Now, the Qing Yang Gang no longer existed. He had gathered his brothers and dismantled their gang, while Old Li had fled after losing the gambling den.
At nine o’clock in A City, nightlife was beginning. The gambling den was crowded, filled with the sounds of dice, shouting, and whispers, creating a decadent scene.
On the second floor of the casino, Jiang Xiangyang leaned against his desk, cigarette in hand. His gaze fell on the bandage on his arm, marked by a small butterfly knot, reminiscent of her abrupt entry into his life and the ripples it caused in his heart.
