Chapter 50: The Casino Lighthouse

The four Pai Gow tiles in front of him were turned over one by one in pairs. Hua Twelve did not know how to play Pai Gow himself, but after receiving Shen Chongyang's memories, he saw that two of the tiles showed four spots, making a pair known in Pai Gow as the "Bench," while the other two formed a "Mixed Eight." In his memory, these two pairs were clearly not good hands.

Sure enough, the dealer burst into laughter, turned over his own two pairs—the first pair being Plums, and the spots on the second pair combining to form the "Red Head" in Pai Gow:

"Plums cover the Bench, Red Head beats the Mixed Eight, a clean sweep!"

The dealer laughed not just because he had won, but because he could finally finish for the day. He stretched lazily and shouted:

"Wrap it up!"

Hua Twelve felt no sense of disappointment; he stood up and prepared to leave.

The dealer called out to him from behind: "Brother Chongyang!"

Hua Twelve turned around. The dealer looked at him earnestly and said:

"Every month when you get your salary, you run straight here, and every time you lose it down to the last copper. Do you know what the regular gamblers behind your back call you?"

Hua Twelve could not help but ask in confusion: "What do they call me?"

The dealer said with a helpless smile: "You know what a casino beacon is, right? The kind of guy who bets on Big when everyone else bets on Small, so everyone else is guaranteed to win while he is bound to lose—that kind of weather vane."

Hua Twelve smiled: "Are you saying I'm the casino's beacon?"

The dealer shook his head and said: "No, no. The regular gamblers call you the 'Casino Lighthouse'—burning bright and never extinguishing through the darkest night."

Hearing this, Hua Twelve could not help but chuckle and burst out laughing. So Shen Chongyang was an upgraded version of a beacon; with this kind of luck, what was the point of gambling at all?

Seeing him laugh, the dealer assumed he was mocking himself and immediately sighed:

"When other people gamble, some say they lose more than they win, and others say nine out of ten bets are losses. Even when they lose money, there's always a time when they win. But you, Brother Chongyang, dutifully hand over your salary on this exact day every month, rain or shine, and you've never won once. I heard you even pawned the quilt from your house these past couple of days!"

"Our boss has been running a gambling den for over twenty years and has always been ruthless, but even he felt bad hearing about your situation. Let me give you some friendly advice: a small gamble is just for fun, but you always need to keep some money to live on, don't you?"

Hua Twelve raised an eyebrow: "Then are you going to refund me some money today?"

"Bah, keep dreaming!"

The dealer scooped up the money and shouted: "Closing time!"

Several dozing attendants woke up at the sound and lazily began to tidy up.

Hua Twelve gave a chuckle, fished a pack of unfiltered cigarettes out of his waistcoat pocket, lit one, bit it between his lips, and walked out.

Stepping out of the casino, his eyes met no skyscrapers of late-generation Hong Kong, but only low-lying houses, with at most two- or three-story tenement buildings. The atmosphere of the old era rushed toward him.

According to the memories Hua Twelve had just received, it was now early June, leaving four months before the plot began. This much time was plenty for him to make some preparations.

The so-called preparations certainly did not involve getting entangled in the affairs between the Qing court and the revolutionaries, but rather getting ready to take back Shen Chongyang's daughter.

Normally, he should go to Li Yutang's house right now and bring his daughter home.

However, according to the task assigned to Hua Twelve, he first needed to make something of himself before he could go fetch his daughter.

To be fair, this was quite reasonable. He asked himself what qualifications he had at this moment to stand up to a wealthy tycoon of Hong Kong—just because he was currently a penniless, habitual-gambling Chinese constable!

Before entering this mission world, Hua Twelve had checked the background of Li Yutang. His historical prototype was practically the richest Chinese man in Hong Kong, or at the very least, of the exact same tier.

Li Yutang himself was the insurance king of Hong Kong, and his insurance companies spanned the treaty ports of the Great Qing and the islands of Nanyang.

Aside from the insurance industry, he also founded two major medicinal herb firms, Jinliyuan and Shuiliyuan, raking in a fortune daily. He also engaged in the grain business in Henan and founded an electric power company in Guangdong province.

Such a mega-tycoon—if Hua Twelve were to knock on his door right now and tell Li Yutang that the daughter born by his fourth concubine was actually his, that Li Yutang was actually a cuckold, and that he now wanted his daughter back and demanded she be returned—well, if he really went and said that, he probably wouldn't even know how he died.

Therefore, Hua Twelve believed that if he wanted to converse with such a mega-tycoon, he had to be on equal footing.

Fortunately, there were still several months left. He would use this time to properly prepare himself, and when the time came, he would openly and honorably take his daughter back to raise her.

Hua Twelve took a deep breath of the unpolluted fresh air of this era, and his mood improved considerably.

According to Shen Chongyang's memory, today was his rest day, which was why he had gambled all night. He walked through the streets and alleys back to his small two-story building. Pushing the door open, he could not help but give a wry smile. The phrase "four bare walls" perfectly described this situation.

A wooden plank bed without a pillow or a quilt—in his memory, both the pillow and quilt had been taken to the pawnshop.

Two rickety old wooden chairs that looked far from steady, and a wooden table covered in greasy sludge.

The floor was littered with peanut shells and cockroaches. The peanuts had been a tribute sent by Limping Zhang from the grocery store downstairs, as a gesture of gratitude to his neighbor, the Chinese constable, for keeping him safe from local ruffians and scoundrels.

Judging from how he looked after his neighbors, Shen Chongyang was not entirely a bad person.

Hua Twelve felt a bit troubled. This house was unlivable; the cockroaches on the floor were darting around actively, and unless one had two months of experience sleeping in a garbage dump, it was truly impossible to get used to living here.

He thought about finding a hotel outside, but when he felt his pockets, he could only smile bitterly.

Not a single copper coin.

He wanted to go out and borrow some, but searching through Shen Chongyang's memories, he found that everyone he could possibly borrow from had already been bled dry. Now, friends would walk the other way when they saw him, and even formerly close colleagues kept their distance, terrified he would open his mouth to ask for money.

"A single copper truly can stump a hero!"

This body had stayed up all night, and now a wave of sleepiness washed over him. Hua Twelve had no choice but to make do with a nap on a chair, sleeping all the way from daylight until late at night.

*Creak.*

The sound of the door moving awakened the sleeping Hua Twelve. Bleary-eyed, he turned his head and saw the door behind him pushed open. A thin, dark-skinned man holding a kerosene lamp and wearing a black waistcoat walked in.

Seeing Hua Twelve turn around, the man raised the corner of his mouth and chuckled lightly:

"Went gambling again yesterday?"

By the time he spoke, he had already walked close to Hua Twelve, placing the kerosene lamp on the table. However, when he saw the environment inside the room, he could not help frowning, a look of disgust showing on his face: "Can't you ever tidy up?"

This man was Hou Sheng. In the original plot, he was the one who acted as the go-between for Shen Chongyang and the Qing court.

Yet in the movie, this Hou Sheng would beat and scold Shen Chongyang at every turn, showing not an ounce of respect.

Hua Twelve also knew from the memories inherited from Shen Chongyang that Shen Chongyang utterly detested this Hou Sheng.

In Shen Chongyang's memory, Hou Sheng was originally a member of the Hongmen in Hong Kong, but was expelled for committing offenses. Afterward, he defected to the Qing court, spying on information in Hong Kong for the Tatars.

And yet, a man like this was currently Shen Chongyang's bread and butter.

The reason was that Shen Chongyang, impoverished by gambling, was acting as an informant for this fellow just to earn some pocket money.

Hua Twelve shook his head. He felt exasperated by Shen Chongyang's lack of backbone; being a running dog for the Tatars was already contemptuous enough, but acting as a running dog's running dog was taking it a bit too far.

Seeing him daze off, Hou Sheng seemed used to it and didn't mind. With that same irritating, sarcastic smile, he asked:

"Yesterday was payday, and you gambled it all away again?"

Hua Twelve nodded, pulled out another cigarette, lit it himself, took a deep puff, and used Shen Chongyang's customary reaction to ask:

"What do you want?"

Hou Sheng didn't answer his question. Instead, he looked around the room, clicking his tongue:

"It seems like there's even less stuff here than the last time I came. Well, well, you even pawned your bedding!"

Having said that, he put on a look of utter exasperation and said:

"To think that you, the great three-time martial arts champion of the Hong Kong police force, have been hanging around for so many years and are still just a constable in green, and you're getting worse off by the day. Look at Smith! He started in the trade two or three years after you, and he can't even fight, yet he managed to become an inspector in the Central Police Division—he's become the boss of your boss's boss!"

Hua Twelve knew Smith; he was the character played by Eric Tsang. A "sub-inspector" in the police force meant a "inspector" in Hong Kong films.

Hou Sheng probably relished this feeling of being bossy and arrogant, as he actually used his finger to tap Hua Twelve on the head as he spoke:

"In this world, a guy who only knows how to fight and kill will never amount to anything. You've got to use your brain more!"

Seeing the look of anger on Hua Twelve's face after saying this, Hou Sheng spread his hands:

"I'm only saying this out of the kindness of my heart, though it doesn't seem to do any good because you don't have a brain. Hahaha..."