Chapter 37

Qin Jiang's eyes moved upon hearing this, and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, an inexplicable feeling of sadness surging into his heart.

But in reality, he was very calm inside at this moment.

He knew that this sadness did not come from him, but from the instinctive reaction of this body.

"What happened?" he asked.

Wang Minglang raised his head to look at Qin Jiang; although the tears couldn't stop flowing, he still struggled to maintain his composure.

Stronger than this old man of his.

He sighed, "Encountered a Weird while on a mission, didn't come back, missing."

Qin Jiang nodded upon hearing this, "It's fine that she didn't come back; missing doesn't mean dead."

Wang Minglang also nodded subconsciously; yes, no news is good news.

But... the chance of someone coming back after encountering a Weird is not to say there isn't any, but it can only be said to be very slim; it's basically a death sentence.

He had never thought that one day he would experience the white-haired sending off the black-haired; he had high hopes for Qin Hong; she should have gone further.

Thinking of this, he lowered his eyes slightly, his hair seemed to be a bit whiter, and the twilight on his body seemed to have turned into substance.

A moment later, he raised his head and looked at Qin Jiang, "You want to join the Red Tiger Gang?"

Qin Jiang nodded, "Yes, I don't want to wait anymore. The city is becoming more and more dangerous; I want to get the Red Tiger Fist manual as soon as possible."

Wang Minglang looked at him with complex eyes, constantly smoking the big pipe.

Until a layer of faint smoke lingered in the room, he slowly spoke, "Joining the Red Tiger Gang, you might die."

Qin Jiang sat on the chair and picked up the wine bowl to take a sip.

Wang Minglang raised his hand slightly, somewhat stunned, "Eh, that was for your sister... forget it, drink it."

Qin Jiang was stunned, then drank the wine in one gulp, and immediately a hot burning sensation flowed into his stomach along his throat.

"Uncle Wang, I know I might die, but won't I die if I don't join the Red Tiger Gang?"

He looked at Wang Minglang sincerely, "Uncle Wang, in this chaotic world, only by holding power in your hands can you survive!"

"Blindly avoiding is just a coward's act, no different from drinking poison to quench thirst! It will only lead to self-destruction!"

Wang Minglang's body shook, looking at Qin Jiang with trembling eyes; after the astonishment came joy.

He laughed loudly, water light flashing in his eyes, "Hahahaha! Right! You're right! Didn't expect this old man to have lived for nearly a hundred years, only to be confused!"

He grabbed Qin Jiang's wrist, "Go! Jiang'er, to the Red Tiger Gang!"

After leaving the courtyard, the two headed straight for the North City Gate of the Inner City; when passing through the city gate, Wang Minglang showed a crimson token, and the guarding County Soldiers let them through without even asking.

Qin Jiang took the opportunity to observe; one side of the crimson token was engraved with a 'Wang' character, and the other side was a relief of a fierce tiger descending the mountain.

Entering the Inner City, the North Market hadn't closed yet, and there were still many people strolling around.

The Inner City had long since had no curfew, and even the County Magistrate himself was encouraging the night market.

Without going in, the two bypassed the North Market and headed toward Chongren Ward, one of the sixteen wards.

Before long, after crossing two small bridges and several streets, they stopped in front of a gambling house.

Qin Jiang looked over; there were many doors for the gambling house, each door was blocked by two pieces of gray cloth, with 'An' written on the left and 'Sheng' on the right.

Combined, it was the name of this gambling house—Ansheng Gambling House, which was also the largest gambling house in Black Mountain City.

Outside the dozen doors of the gambling house, there were two gang disciples guarding each door to prevent those who broke the rules from escaping.

"Look, this is our... this is an industry of the Red Tiger Gang; the two characters Ansheng are taken from the names of County Magistrate Song Xiaoan and County Lieutenant Long Yuesheng. Anyone with eyes wouldn't dare to cause trouble here." Wang Minglang said.

The two lifted the curtain and walked in; a smell of smoke and sweet wine hit their faces.

Although oil lamps were lit on the pillars everywhere, the gambling house still looked a bit dim and chaotic. All kinds of people walked back and forth; some wore tattered hemp clothes and were no better than beggars, while others were young masters in gorgeous clothes holding girls, taking money and placing bets from time to time.

From time to time, bursts of screams rang out, some excited, some annoyed.

Qin Jiang looked at one of the gambling tables with many people; the gamblers were red-eyed, ferocious, and shouting loudly, looking completely like lunatics.

On the seats used for rest in the corner, there were many people lying, sitting, or even squatting, but almost everyone looked ashen, forming a sharp contrast with the crazy gamblers at the gambling table.

Scanning it, he didn't watch anymore; he had no interest in gambling.

Wang Minglang shook his head; he had seen too many people addicted to gambling, and many had lost their lives or had their families destroyed because of it.

Or it could be said that as long as you are still gambling, you will eventually lose your family fortune.

"Let's go, let's go inside." He said.

The two passed through the gambling table area and came to a slightly larger open area behind the casino.

A huge cabinet was filled with wine, and outside the edge of the cabinet was a cloth curtain embroidered with a crimson tiger descending the mountain.

More than twenty gang disciples in black cloth clothes gathered together in front of the cabinet.

Some were drinking, some were smoking big pipes, and a few were gathered at a table playing Pai Gow.

One of them was lying on a recliner, looking like the boss of this group.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

At the Pai Gow table, a gang disciple walked over, looking ferocious, tilting his head slightly, carrying a kind of condescending arrogance.

Looking at the two opposite, he couldn't help but feel strange.

Ansheng Gambling House is not a good place; what are an old man about to enter the grave and a guy who looks like a novice doing here? Although this novice looks tall and is a martial artist, he could distinguish that kind of temperament at a glance.

His voice was not small, immediately attracting the attention of the gang disciples behind.

"Old Sun, don't talk nonsense, hurry up and finish and come back to play cards!", someone at the Pai Gow table shouted toward this side.

The small leader who was originally lying on the recliner was also woken up, raised his head, frowned and glanced at Qin Jiang and the two, and immediately widened his eyes.

Old Sun waved his hand without looking back and looked at Wang Minglang, "Heard that? Anything wrong? If not, hurry up and get out! Don't get in the way here!"

Bang! Just after he finished speaking, he was slapped on the back of the head by a hand coming from behind, and he fell directly into a dog-eat-shit position.

"Damn it, get out of the way! You don't even recognize Fourth Master?!"

After speaking, the small leader smiled flatteringly, looking a bit cautious, "Fourth Master, you... why are you here? Who is this little brother?"

He looked at Qin Jiang standing on the side.

"No need to call me Fourth Master anymore; I haven't been for a long time. Who is in charge of the gambling house now?" Wang Minglang asked.

The small leader nodded slightly, "Ay, Fourth Master, it's Nie Zhanglao; our Hall Master position is vacant, and Nie Zhanglao is managing it on his behalf."

Speaking of this, his expression was a bit ugly; Nie Dongsheng, this old thing, was asking for too much money.

The previous Hall Masters all took thirty percent, but as soon as Nie Dongsheng, this old guy, came, he wanted fifty percent, and these days he even wanted to increase it to sixty percent! Simply greedy!

Wang Minglang frowned slightly upon hearing this; why is it this guy?

Thinking about it, he pulled Qin Jiang and wanted to leave, "The luck is a bit bad; let's change to another place."

As a result, before they had walked out two steps, the curtain outside the edge of the cabinet behind was suddenly lifted.

"Old Wang! In such a hurry to leave! Not accompanying brother me for a meal and wine? Is it that you don't give me, Old Nie, enough face?!"

(End of chapter)