Chapter 20

（The weekend is too restless, and I'm at the bottom of the recommendation list again. Help...）－

As the saying goes, 'If the top beam is not straight, the lower beams will be crooked.' Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, was a famous gambler. His descendants also shared this passion, and even the current emperor, known for his benevolence and leniency, could not resist the temptation and often played gambling games with the palace attendants. However, Emperor Zhenzong's skills were not up to par, and he almost always lost, often losing everything.

The emperor could not stop and would ask the palace attendants to lend him half of the money he had lost to continue playing. However, in the Song Dynasty, the principle of 'willing to bet and willing to lose' was paramount, and the attendants would never return the winnings to the emperor, often leaving him feeling very depressed.

For the emperor, gambling was mainly for entertainment, and winning or losing money was not important. But for ordinary people, winning money was the primary goal, or at least equally important.

Chen Ke stood on the street of a thousand years ago, seeing clusters of people gambling under the tree shade, in front of stalls, and in shops. They were shouting and making loud noises, biting their lips, and scratching their nails, all in a state of intense tension. This immediately sparked his gambling instinct.

Is there any man who doesn't like to gamble? It's just that due to legal and moral constraints, they often have to suppress their gambling nature. But seeing the entire nation of the Song Dynasty engaged in gambling, and even the officials openly joining in, he couldn't help but feel his blood boil and be eager to try.

But who would play gambling games with a ten-year-old child? Even if he won, it wouldn't be a fair victory, and both parties in a gambling game need to put up a considerable amount of capital. At least, the other party should feel that they are not at a disadvantage, which would make it possible to start the game. Where could he get the money to bet?

More importantly, in the Song Dynasty, people almost started gambling from the moment they were born... as children, they played games like grass fighting, fish fighting, and dice throwing. By the time they were young adults, they had officially joined the ranks of gamblers, and everyone was a seasoned gambler. The small vendors who sold items through gambling would carefully design the games to ensure that the citizens could play with them without losing money. They would require the other party to follow their methods.

For example, they would make a three-foot diameter 'red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, black, white, and gray' nine-color disk. The gambler would pay one coin and use a needle with colorful feathers to shoot at the spinning disk once. The vendor would loudly call out phrases like 'white for fish, red for shrimp, the rest for nothing.' When the disk stopped, both parties would check where the needle landed. If it landed on white or red, the gambler could take the fish or shrimp. If it landed on other areas, they would sigh in disappointment or pay another coin to try again.

Such gambling games were not much different from the tricks seen in the future. Even without cheating, the house would win more often than lose. Dreaming of getting rich through gambling was simply a dream.

But he had his own method. After observing, Chen Ke chose this Pan Carpenter's shop. Three days ago, he boldly came to the shop and proposed a game to the bored Pan Carpenter.

Pan Carpenter, seeing that he was a child, initially didn't want to bother, but since he was bored, he teased, "Kid, how do you want to play?"

"Last night, I had a dream about the best chair in the world, and I've already drawn it," Chen Sanlang said with an innocent face. "I'll use this drawing to bet that you can sell at least ten of these chairs in three days."

"Quite a bold claim," Pan Carpenter laughed. Although he was skilled, Qingcheng was still a small place, and the furniture of this era was not like the fancy items of the future, which lasted longer than a person's life. Sometimes, he wouldn't sell a single chair in ten or fifteen days.

Out of curiosity, he said, "Let me see it first."

"That's not possible. What if you remember it and then refuse to play, or deliberately let me win?" Chen Sanlang shook his head. "What if you bully me because I'm a child?"

"Ha ha ha..." Pan Carpenter laughed loudly. "What are you talking about? In gambling, 'cheating is allowed, but not reneging.' If I renege, how can I survive in the future?"

"Still, it's better to have a witness," Chen Sanlang insisted.

Finding a witness was not difficult. This small gambling game had already attracted the attention of the nearby merchants, who all laughed and said, "Kid, just go ahead and play. If Pan Dalang cheats, we'll smash his shop."

"Alright, I trust you," Sanlang continued to act cute.

"Alright," urged by the crowd, Pan Carpenter finally couldn't resist and said, "I'll play this game with you. What do you want?"

"Five guan," Sanlang's demand was quite large, equivalent to Pan Carpenter's income for over half a month.

"Deal!" Pan Carpenter felt he was even more naive. How could such a small child come up with the 'perfect chair'?

Thus, they made the agreement, and Sanlang then took out the drawing. At first, Pan Carpenter was casual, but the old carpenter's intuition made him increasingly serious. Eventually, he stood up from his chair, "Let's go inside and talk."

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Do you know what Chen Sanlang drew? It was a four-legged official hat chair.

He had carefully observed the furniture displayed by Pan Carpenter and found that the chairs of this era already had a well-developed structure and many styles, but none of them were the perfect official hat chair.

This type of chair, which became popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties, seemed to have its prototype in the Southern Song Dynasty. But Chen Ke knew that just because it hadn't appeared didn't mean it wasn't popular. As the pinnacle of Chinese seating, the official hat chair had unparalleled advantages.

First, the ancients valued sitting posture, and the official hat chair could convey the dignity and solemnity of the sitter through the shape of the backrest and armrests. Second, it had no decorative elements, with an extremely simple structure that saved time and materials. Moreover, its seat supported the buttocks and thighs, the backrest protected the waist, the armrests supported the upper body, and the footrest cushioned the feet, making it very ergonomic, a level of comfort that Song Dynasty chairs couldn't reach.

The most appealing feature was that the headrest and armrests of the chair extended outward, resembling the black hats of officials, instantly elevating its status.

Pan Carpenter, an expert, examined it for a while and saw the broad prospects of this chair—it was a type of chair that could encourage people to upgrade. He kept blaming himself, "Why didn't I think of such a chair?"

At this point, he had forgotten about the bet and was fully focused on creating this four-legged official hat chair according to the drawing.

With Sanlang's guidance, Pan Carpenter spent a day making a sample and placed it in the most prominent spot in the shop. Since the news of their bet had spread, people came to see the new chair and tried sitting in it. They discovered that the cold and hard wood could feel warm and considerate, and its official hat shape was very appealing. Even for good luck, people would order one.

Orders poured in, and Pan Carpenter was overjoyed, treating Sanlang like a god of wealth. He not only fulfilled the bet but also made the wooden box for Sanlang for free, hoping to maintain a good relationship for future opportunities.

"That's the gist of it," under Er Lang's questioning, Chen Ke had to tell the truth. "But this isn't gambling. I practically gave away my invention and let him take all the benefits... sigh, what can I do, we're poor."

"You..." Er Lang was speechless, and after a long pause, he said, "If Father finds out, he won't care about the details. He'll definitely beat you." Not everyone likes gambling; many scholars oppose such 'wasteful and unproductive' activities, especially for minors.

"I can't worry about that now," Sanlang patted the wooden box indifferently. "This thing costs at least two thousand if you want to buy it. Can we afford it?"

"This wooden box," Chen Cheng, who had already joined his scheme, just said it out of habit and then turned to the 'main event': "Is this our trump card?"

"Um..." Sanlang nodded and took Er Lang to buy some things, stopping in front of a two-story tavern. "This is it!"

"Brother San, are we eating?" Xiao Liulang smiled broadly.

"Um, we're eating," Sanlang nodded and said to Er Lang, "It's up to you now."

"Um." Er Lang took a deep breath and led the brothers into the tavern.

Behind the counter, the waiter saw someone come in and quickly stood up to greet them. But when he saw that they were four children, the oldest being only thirteen or fourteen and carrying a basket of vegetables, he immediately lost his enthusiasm. "We don't buy ingredients." He thought they were there to sell.

"Who said we're selling? We're here to eat," Er Lang casually flicked something into the waiter's hand. It was a ten-coin piece, and the waiter immediately became enthusiastic. "Please, come in, sir!"

The waiter led the four brothers upstairs, wiped the table repeatedly, and served tea and snacks. "What would you like, sir?"

"Not in a hurry, let me ask you something," Er Lang tried to sound calm. "It's mealtime, but why are there no other customers?"

"Heh..." The waiter smiled bitterly. "More people don't mean better meals. Fewer people mean a quieter place."

"That's not the point," Er Lang shook his head. "Fewer people mean your food isn't good, or the shop is cheating. How can we dare to eat?"

"Ah..." The waiter was clearly depressed. "Would you still like to order something?"

"We should give you a chance, right? We don't want to change places," Er Lang said. "Call your boss and bring us a few of your best dishes."

"Alright." The waiter, dejected, went downstairs. Getting customers depended on their pity; this place was almost ready to close.

With fewer people, the dishes came quickly. In no time, the waiter and another young man brought up eight dishes on two trays.

After the dishes were served, the young man, who was in his twenties and chubby, didn't leave but waited expectantly for the customers to taste the food.

Under his hopeful gaze, Er Lang picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and then his face turned strange, unable to swallow or spit it out.

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