bustling city

Zhou Jin only glanced at the two silver coins, and refused without hesitation: "I have no money."

"You don't need to pay, it's just a game."

As Yan Jun said, he opened his wallet, first took out two large denomination banknotes and pressed them on the bottom of the wine glass, and then took out a lot of coins from the glove box, all of which were one or two yuan.

He moved quickly in his hand, and after a while, he separated the two kinds of currency values ​​and stacked them neatly into two piles. Then, like dividing chips, he cut the two piles in half, pushed them in front of Zhou Jin, and said, "Just treat me It’s a guest in a casino, these are gambling funds, you won’t get it if you win or lose.” He then pointed to the two hundred-dollar bills under the wine glass, “Those are commissions, if you win me, both of them belong to you , if you lose, one will be yours, how about it?" Zhou Jin looked at him suspiciously, but he couldn't find any suspicious behavior in Yan Jun's eyes: it seemed that no matter how he looked at it, he was making money without losing money.

"Okay," he said, choosing a silver coin in compromise, "tell me about the rules."

Yan Jun raised the corner of his lips in satisfaction, and clicked on the upward side of the remaining silver coin: "This is heads, the rules are very simple, you can choose heads or tails by yourself, if they are both heads each round, you Win three dollars, if both tails, you win one dollar; if one head and one tail, I win two dollars."

While Yan Jun was talking, Zhou Jin weighed it in his heart. Based on his experience, this is an absolutely fair and simple rule. Even the possibility of cheating is basically non-existent.

To be precise, this really can only be counted as a chess game, not gambling at all.

Zhou Jin couldn't understand what Yan Jun wanted to do more and more, and gradually developed a trace of curiosity.

"Yes," he nodded and said, "How many rounds count as a round?" Yan Jun spread out his palm gracefully and pointed at Zhou Jin, and said, "It's up to you."

Zhou Jin didn't refuse, and immediately decided: "Then twenty rounds, let's start."

Only halfway through the first round, Zhou Jin discovered that Yan Jun seemed to be cautious in playing cards in each round, but in fact, he seemed to have already decided on the options.

He has been at the gambling table for others since he was 16 years old, watched countless gamblers, and played against all kinds of opponents. Like Yan Jun, he kept the whole situation in his mind from the beginning, and even deduced himself and himself. The type of opponent's every step is quite rare, and generally seeing such a move, Zhou Jin will never intervene rashly, because he knows that he will never win.

In the first half, there were wins and losses. On the whole, the pile of coins in front of Zhou Jin still increased slightly. However, in the second half, the situation suddenly reversed somehow, and there was no clear time point for the comeback. Among them, all the coins from Zhou Jin's side went to Yan Jun inexplicably.

And Yan Jun himself didn't seem to be surprised by this ending.

He took a sip from his wine glass, and handed the banknote to Zhou Jin.

The latter didn't answer, but said, "One more time, fifty rounds."

Yan Jun's heart moved, realizing that this was the opportunity he was waiting for.

The light in the reception room was just right, some of the setting sun cast light that was not too glaring and not too dim on Zhou Jin's face, all his facial expressions and eyes were unreservedly displayed in Yan Jun's eyes.

Yan Jun observed calmly, and found that when he asked for another round, Zhou Jin was indeed the same as last time, and he did not show the obsession with winning like ordinary gamblers, even though he knew that he would get an extra one hundred dollars if he won. .

The expression written on his face was more delicate, calm and serious. When speaking, Zhou Jin didn't even move his eyes to Yan Jun's eyes, but stared intently at his hands.

Apparently, Zhou Jin didn't regard this win or loss as a coincidence from the very beginning.

"Okay, it's rare that you're interested."

Yan Jun smiled kindly, and planned to divide the coins as bargaining chips equally again, but was stopped by Zhou Jin.

"No, that's it."

Seeing the seriousness of this young man, Yan Jun must figure out the appearance of Yinqu in it, and he also became interested in playing. Originally, he just wanted to use Xiaolu's hand to increase his bargaining chips in order to successfully recruit Zhou Jin into the gang, but in the end he played with him Five full rounds.

-I couldn't help laughing when I heard this, and Zhou Jin who was sitting opposite me also laughed.

I can see deep nostalgia from his expression: that night, when talking about his past in Mephisto, this was the first time he showed such an expression, which made me finally feel that those people who were wandering in the bustling The time in the city—or at least the time after meeting Yan Jun there—has always had happy and beautiful moments for him.

The clock on the wall was already going to three o'clock in the morning.

There was silence outside the window. The tall and thin street lamps shone brightly in the mist woven by the drizzle. There were no shadows of tourists on the street. I saw that all the shops across the street were closed and the gates were locked. A sleepy blackness.

Zhou Jin stood up and asked me if I wanted to have a drink.

I asked him if he was still planning to close the store, and he said that it is the boss's operating principle to stay open until the last customer leaves; and he is willing to chat with me again—if I want to hear it.

I was a little surprised because he said before that he is the owner of this store.

Zhou Jin poured himself a glass of wine at the bar and said, "Me too, he too, the two bosses."

I want to ask if the other person is Yan Jun, but I vaguely remember that when I heard the legend about the Red Knight in Mephisto, what I heard was a very embarrassing ending.

I was afraid of revealing the bloody results too early, so that I could no longer face the process. Although I became more curious in my heart, I didn't dare to ask.

I also ordered a glass of wine, and asked Zhou Jin to help me choose.

He gave me a glass of sweet cider, lactic acid, strawberry, and just a touch of alcohol.

I actually prefer to drink tequila or brandy, drinks that don't taste like alcohol, and I rarely choose them.

——I think Zhou Jin probably lacks the intuition for looking at girls.

I asked him again for a glass of red wine, tasted the slightly astringent aroma, and imagined that day many years ago, two men spent most of the day guessing coin games in an unpopular house. feel humorous.

It was a game with a completely predictable ending. I couldn't help laughing, and while laughing, I asked Zhou Jin to continue: "I guess you lost badly that day?" Bet, I have already lost so much that I can only cut off my arm to pay him."

He nodded, playfully putting on a rueful look.

And the flickering light in those eyes reveals his sincerity that he still feels very lucky for this encounter to this day.

"It was only later that I realized that Yan Jun is someone who doesn't need to work hard on his hands." He shook the liquid in the glass and fell into memory again, "He just needs to use his brain."

I didn't speak any more, and waited silently for him to continue.

But Zhou Jin suddenly asked me before continuing to narrate: "Have you heard of the Courant Institute of Mathematics?" This question caught me unexpectedly.

I have heard a little about this famous gathering place of high-IQ talents, but it is another novel and exciting feeling to be related to it in reality.

Seeing me nodding, Zhou Jin revealed to me with a little pride: "I only found out later that Yan County was born in Kelang.

At his house that day, what we played was not a gambling game at all, but pure statistics-he just bullied me for being uneducated. "

- But these are all later.

On that day, when Zhou Jin didn't understand what statistics was at all, and he didn't know how sacred the Currant Institute was, he was also simply conquered by Yan Jun.

At that time, with the keen intuition like a wild animal, the young man already felt that Yan Jun possessed a height beyond his reach, just like how he felt when he saw this man at the casino for the first time. is a predator.

In the narrow road, there is no fateful pursuit, and the only way for one party to gain absolute dominance in front of the other is to prove itself with absolute strength.

After playing with Zhou Jin until he resigned himself to his fate, Yan Jun finally put down the silver coin in his hand, took out another two hundred dollar bill from his wallet, and placed it in front of Zhou Jin together with the two hundred dollars just now.

"Even if you play another hundred rounds today, you can't beat me, you know."

He said calmly.

Although Zhou Jin resigned to his fate, he was still unwilling to be reconciled. He still didn't touch the money, and looked Yan Jun straight in the eyes with his neck straightened.

"I want to know why."

He said.

"It's still too early," Yan Yan said unhurriedly, "but if you join me, you will know the reason one day."

At that moment, the competitive mood—or an indescribable obsession with seeking knowledge—overwhelmed Zhou Jin's sophistication through hard work, and even overwhelmed the passion in his nature missing.

Did he know that there was a net woven by this person in front of him, and he waited for him to drill in, or did he resolutely accept the olive branch extended by Yan Jun.

"I don't gamble for myself, and I don't have the money to cooperate with you. There will never be a thousand dollars in the gamble. Except for these three things, you can entrust me to do anything."

Yan Jun laughed, pretending that he had made a loss-making business, "regret" and said: "Adding these three items, the things I can entrust you to do are already quite limited. How can there be any 'any'?" Zhou Jin didn't answer his words , because he saw that Yan Jun had already made a call.

He told the person on the other end of the phone to come over immediately and bring something.

Zhou Jin guessed that it must have something to do with him.

Maybe it will be a large amount of gambling money, or a bunch of messy information.

Like this kind of person who has an affair with the casino and finds someone outside to play games, nine out of ten think they don't have enough money, and want to use their status to make extra money for themselves.

In this regard, Zhou Jin thought that his guess about Yan Jun should be accurate.

But he never guessed that the lady who came brought a lot of clothes and dressing tools—only these, neither the expected safe box containing a large sum of money, nor documents.

After she came in, Yan Jun said to Zhou Jin: "Go take a bath first, you will live with me in the future, and everything will be arranged by me."

Zhou Jin cast a suspicious look at him, and he refused to comply with anyone's request before he figured out the situation.

"I will tell you the details later. The promise I can give you now is that no matter what happens in the future, I will never violate your three principles."

"At that time, did you trust him like that?" I couldn't restrain my curiosity and asked Zhou Jin.

"Trust me," Zhou Jin said as a matter of course, "He said he could make me a lot of money, and he would give me an identity to let me leave Mephisto, so he would be considered a big client."

"What if he tricks you?" I tried to persuade, but I didn't know what answer I wanted to hear.

"The pit is the pit. People who gamble will have this instinct. If there is a benefit in front of us, we dare to give it a go."

At that time, there was no trust, no understanding, maybe even Zhou Jin himself did not understand himself at that time.

And I think, in the world of young people who are born like floating weeds, Yan Jun is probably the first person he met that made him feel the existence of a sense of stability.

That Zhou Jin's mind in making a decision has nothing to do with clingy sentiments such as relying on it, but more out of curiosity and prying.