Three Kingdoms Lords: Starting by walking into the mouth of a giant python

047 Chuqiao

Yesterday, Wang Bin, known as "Hundred Victories in the Arena," joined [Sky Courtyard]. As an indigenous player, he seemed out of place and awkward among the bustling crowd of players.

Xiong Ba was also there, but Wang Bin regarded him as a lackey of the Li family and was unwilling to have much contact with him.

Feeling incredibly bored, Wang Bin was about to leave [Sky Academy] and go find his sworn brother to play with. Several players found him, one of whom had a bruised and swollen face. Wang Bin recognized him; he must have been the one who beat him up in the arena.

Wang Bin thought they were seeking revenge, but they weren't.

The leader, named Chu Qiao, was very enthusiastic upon meeting Wang Bin. He praised Wang Bin's martial arts skills and expressed his desire to become friends.

Wang Bin refused, but he didn't take it to heart and left amicably.

Wang Bin felt ashamed, realizing he had been judging a gentleman by the standards of a petty person. For a moment, he abandoned his intention to leave and began to wander around the [Sky Courtyard].

This visit broadened his horizons.

Biogas digesters, quail fighting, Qinqiang opera...

There were many joyful things.

As he walked, he saw Chuqiao.

Chu Qiao got into an argument with someone, and a crowd gathered to watch. Wang Bin also came to take a look.

Someone was selling clay airplane sculptures, and Chu Qiao accidentally stepped on one while passing by. The strange merchant demanded compensation from Chu Qiao, asking for "fifty coins" right off the bat.

Fifty coins were nothing to Wang Bin. But judging from Chu Qiao's embarrassed expression, he clearly couldn't afford to pay.

Onlookers had mixed opinions: some said the merchant was asking for an exorbitant price, while others said the clay sculpture was just a "model" with "emotional appeal" and that fifty coins wasn't expensive.

Wang Bin didn't know what "airplane" or "model" were, or what they had to do with "sentiment," but in his opinion, the clay sculpture was truly crude and worthless. It wasn't even worth five coins, let alone fifty.

Chu Qiao's face flushed red, but he was helpless.

Wang Bin couldn't stand it, but he was too lazy to argue with the merchant. He threw down a few five-zhu coins and pulled Chu Qiao away.

The merchant still wouldn't listen, but Wang Bin drew his sword and angrily shouted, "You cunning scoundrel, shut up!" Only then did the merchant give up.

Chu Qiao was grateful to Wang Bin for speaking up for her and wanted to return the money, but Wang Bin refused.

Seeing Wang Bin wandering aimlessly, Chu Qiao suggested acting as a guide and showing him the living conditions of the strange people.

Wang Bin nodded in agreement.

With Chu Qiao's explanation, Wang Bin gained a deeper understanding of the current lives of the Yiren (people from different walks of life) and their once glorious modern civilization. He found it all bizarre and indescribably fascinating.

Of all the fun activities, Wang Bin was most interested in gambling.

The game of Liubo, also known as a board game, has existed since ancient times. It originated in the Yin and Shang dynasties and flourished in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. During the Han dynasty, it was further innovated and divided into Dabo and Xiaobo.

The Great Gambling Game has six chopsticks, while the Small Gambling Game has two.

Wang Bin's favorite game was "Xiao Bo," and he and his sworn brother would often play dice and chess, vying to catch fish, staying up all night long, enjoying themselves immensely.

But after talking with Chu Qiao, he learned about more and more interesting gambling games, or "games".

Go, Chinese chess, Ludo, Animal chess, Pai Gow, poker...

Seeing that Wang Bin was very interested, Chu Qiao said he could make him a "game" as a thank you gift for helping him out of a predicament and for his generous donation.

That "game" is said to "secretly conform to the numbers of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches" and "contain the principles of the Three Powers and the Five Elements," making it extremely mysterious.

When Wang Bin heard that all that was needed was wood and ink, and thinking that the cost would not be much, he readily accepted.

Chuqiao called two friends to cut down trees, chop wood, and draw diagrams, making 144 small wooden blocks.

Chu Qiao and his friends call it "Mahjong".

Once the mahjong game was set up, Chu Qiao explained the rules to Wang Bin in detail. Seeing that Wang Bin was really interested, he dragged his friends to a shack and played a few rounds.

Wang Bin quickly learned to call out "Nine of Bamboo", "One of Bamboo", "Gang", and "Win".

He was overjoyed after winning two rounds of the game.

Just as Wang Bin was having a great time, one of Chu Qiao's friends suddenly decided he didn't want to continue, saying he hadn't gone to level up or fight monsters to earn food that day.

Wang Bin casually took out some silver coins, intending to treat the three of them to dinner.

The friend said, "I won't accept a reward without merit." The other person joked, "If you won't accept a reward, you can gamble. You're so lucky, you'll definitely earn some money for a pancake from Brother Wang."

Chuqiao refused, saying, "It's just a game, not gambling."

Wang Bin, however, thought it was acceptable. At his insistence, the four resumed fighting.

At first, Wang Bin had a great run of luck, winning with a "pure suit". Meanwhile, the player who was supposed to go out and fight monsters lost three consecutive rounds, losing fifty coins in the process.

Then, Wang Bin had both wins and losses. By lunchtime, he had lost about twenty coins.

Wang Bin didn't care and continued to hang out with the three of them after dinner.

Around 9 AM, his luck suddenly turned sour. He lost one out of ten games and lost nearly a thousand coins.

Chu Qiao said he was done playing. Wang Bin disagreed, saying that he had almost won by winning the game when he was the dealer.

The game continued, and the situation took an even more dramatic turn. Wang Bin couldn't even manage a single decent hand, let alone a perfect one.

Later, when he was desperate to win, he bet all his [jade-fitted swords].

But we still lost.

Wang Bin was unwilling to give up and continued fighting with red eyes.

As a result, they didn't win back the Jade Sword and even owed Chuqiao a favor.

In a daze, the card game ended, and it was already past midnight, the fourth watch of the night.

Wang Bin walked alone outside the Sky Courtyard, feeling dazed and confused.

Xiong Ba, who was guarding the [Sky Monument], noticed the commotion and asked who it was. Wang Bin responded instinctively.

Xiong Ba frowned and asked him what was wrong. Wang Bin didn't want to say, but Xiong Ba kept asking, so he had no choice but to tell the truth about gambling all night and losing everything.

Xiong Ba turned around and knocked on the [village committee office]. Lu Xiuxi and the others rubbed their sleepy eyes and opened the door.

Upon hearing Xiong Ba's retelling, everyone immediately sensed something was wrong. Li Min summoned several skilled fighters and rushed straight to the shack Wang Bin had mentioned.

The shack was empty. Li Min found Chu Qiao and the other two about twenty feet away.

They surged forward and bound them back to [Sky Courtyard].

As dawn broke, Chu Qiao insisted that they had only gone out to relieve themselves, and that they carried the [Jade Sword] because they thought it was valuable and were afraid it would be stolen, not because they were trying to escape with the sword.

Then Chu Qiao asked Wang Bin, "Brother Wang, did you force us to gamble?"

Wang Bin nodded.

Chuqiao then asked if he, Chuqiao, had tried to persuade or stop him multiple times that night.

Wang Bin nodded again.

Chu Qiao said, "Brother Wang, you probably think it's all my fault, so please take back the [Jade Sword]. I have nothing to say."

Wang Bin remained silent.

Chu Qiao then looked at Lu Xiuxi and Li Min: "What do you two think? How do you intend to deal with us?"

Li Min scoffed: "Do you think we're stupid? We can't even see through a 'pig butchering trap'?"

When Wang Bin heard the words "pig slaughtering scheme," his lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

Chu Qiao's expression remained unchanged: "Say what you will, we have no ill intentions towards Brother Wang. Yesterday, things just escalated quickly, and we got carried away with our words, which led to such a big fuss."

Li Min scoffed and remained silent, waiting for Lu Xiuxi, Li Hua, and the others to give their opinions.

After discussion, Lu, Li, and others decided to return the Jade Sword to its rightful owner, and at the same time, to punish Chu Qiao and the other two by fining them and expelling them from the Sky Academy.

Lu Xiuxi handed the jade-hilted sword to Wang Bin, but he refused, saying, "A gentleman's words cannot be outdone by a team of four horses." Although last night was a game of chance, the sword had already been given away, and there was no reason for it to be returned.

Lu Xiuxi and the others were speechless.

Li Min pulled Lu and Li outside the office and told them a private matter concerning Dean Li—Wang Bin might become the dean's brother-in-law.

Regardless of how she found out, Lu Xiuxi and the others were even more speechless.

They already had a hard time dealing with Wang Bin, an NPC whose mind wasn't on [Sky Academy]. Adding to that his status as the "Dean's brother-in-law" and this messy situation made things even more difficult.

The group exchanged glances, and just as Li Min was about to speak, a series of greetings, "The Dean is here" and "Good morning, Dean," came from afar.

Lu Xiuxi, Li Hua, Li Min, and others hurriedly went to greet them.

After a brief conversation, Li Yu entered the village committee office and saw Wang Bin with his head down.

Li Yu ignored him and turned to look at Chu Qiao.

Chu Qiao greeted him with a smile: "Hello, Dean."

Li Yu nodded: "You have a good attitude."

Chu Qiao said, "I was also rated as a Class C talent by the [Academy]. This time, I truly did not intend to do evil. Please investigate, Dean."

Wang Bin looked up and saw Chu Qiao smiling, a very relaxed smile.

"Insightful? Very well!" Li Yu said, "I'll just ask you a couple of questions."

"Please speak, Dean," Chu Qiao said, still smiling.

"Did you meet Wang Bin before or after the [arena match]?" Li Yu asked.

Chu Qiao's smile faltered for a moment, then he said, "In the back."

"When you took him to gamble, did you know he had joined [Sky Academy]?" Li Yu asked again.

Chu Qiao's heart skipped a beat. He wanted to say he didn't know, but one of the three of them had been beaten by Wang Bin in the arena, so it was impossible for him not to know that Wang Bin had joined [Sky Academy]. Therefore, Chu Qiao's smile faded, and he said hesitantly, "I know."

Li Yu nodded: "Alright."

Chu Qiao was taken aback. What did he mean by "it's done"? Just as he was about to ask, he saw Li Yu raise his bronze spear!

"I……"

puff!

Chu Qiao uttered only one word before a spear pierced his throat.

Li Yu withdrew his bronze spear, and a few drops of blood splattered onto Lu Xiuxi and Li Min's faces.

Lu Xiuxi stared wide-eyed, remaining motionless.

Li Min laughed.

thump.

Chu Qiao's body fell to the ground, blood gushing from his neck and spreading to Wang Bin's feet.

Wang Bin looked down at the corpse, then stared blankly up at Li Yu, as if looking at a stranger.

As Li Yu wiped the blood from the spearhead, he said—

"First, [Sky Academy] is not a place for filth and depravity. Anyone who harms others through adultery, promiscuity, theft, gambling, or other vices shall be killed."

"Secondly, anyone who plots against members of my [Sky Academy] shall be killed."

The sound wasn't loud, but it made everyone in the room hold their breath and dare not utter a word.

"Did you hear that?"

"I heard you!"

Everyone responded in unison.

Li Yu nodded and went out to find Xiong Ba. Li Min quickly followed.

Once outside, Li Yu slowed his pace and, without turning his head, asked, "What is it?"

Li Min said, "Dean, Ma Xiaojiao, the one you asked me to keep an eye on, has made a move."

"What's that noise?"

"I don't know how she got in touch with the bandits of [Black Tiger Stronghold], but she seems to be heading there these past few days."

"Um?"

Li Yu paused in his steps.

My chickens are running away?