This type of game is called "division." The dealer has a pile of Go pieces in front of him, uses a cup to cover a portion and pushes them to the center of the table, then lifts the cup to reveal four pieces in one pile, four in another, and so on. The number of pieces left at the end determines the result: if one is left, that's "one division," two is "two," three is "three," and four is "four." However, the payout is only one to one.

Edward Harris understood why there were so few people here. After all, there were definitely still people playing "Big or Small" elsewhere in the casino, and the odds of winning at this division game were a full fifty percent lower than at Big or Small. If it weren't for the fact that the Big or Small tables were already too crowded to squeeze into, he believed everyone here would have left.

Having understood the rules, Edward Harris didn't place a bet right away. Although he had ten strings of currency in his pocket, the money hadn't even warmed up yet—he didn't want to lose it so casually.

Still, Edward Harris picked up a one-string note and held it in his hand. It was his first time holding money from this era, so he couldn't help but examine it closely. It was a vertically oriented rectangular piece of paper, about twenty centimeters long and ten centimeters wide, roughly the size of a modern book page, and the paper quality was quite good. In the middle of the note was a title bar, with five large characters written horizontally in regular script: "行在会子库" (Xingzai Huizi Ku).

Above the title bar, on both sides, were vertical boxes with the denomination printed inside. The left box read: "大壹贯文省" (Great One String, Wen Province), and the right box read: "第壹佰拾科" (No. 110). Between the two boxes were several lines of text, and since it was hand-carved and printed, Edward Harris had to look closely to make it out: "Those who counterfeit Huizi will be executed, reward of one thousand strings. If you do not wish to claim the reward, you may be appointed as a Yixiaowei. If a convict or someone harboring a convict confesses, they will be pardoned and also receive the reward, or may choose the aforementioned appointment."

This was truly heavy rewards and harsh punishments: if caught counterfeiting, you would be executed on the spot, while those who made a meritorious report could receive a reward of one thousand strings. If you didn't want the money, you could become an official. The position of Yixiaowei was a ninth-rank official post; for an ordinary commoner, this was a leap to the top. This showed just how severe the court's punishments and rewards for counterfeiting currency were.

"You'll never win money if you don't place a bet." Someone nearby saw Edward Harris staring at the note in his hand and patted him on the shoulder.

"But at least I won't lose money." Edward Harris glanced at him and saw that the person was about his own age, with a fair complexion. It seemed he, too, had only come here because he couldn't squeeze into the more crowded tables.

"If you don't want to win money, why come to the casino at all?" The young man was rather disdainful of Edward Harris's words, but soon his attention was drawn back to the dealer's cup. He placed a three-hundred-wen note on "two" and ignored Edward Harris.

Edward Harris, however, didn't follow suit, because as he watched the dealer count the Go pieces under the cup, he suddenly discovered a little trick. Since the Go pieces on the table weren't covered, Edward Harris could clearly see at least how many were left on the table, and the dealer would count out the covered pieces in groups of four or two. So, with some simple arithmetic, he could figure out exactly how many Go pieces there were in total.

By subtracting the number of Go pieces left on the table from the total, then dividing the result by four, the remainder would be the final outcome. Edward Harris was suddenly excited by his own calculation—this wasn't gambling at all, it was basically just taking money, even easier than using an ATM in his previous life.

The first time, Edward Harris only bet one string, and as expected, he won. With such simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, he couldn't possibly make a mistake. What he needed to do now was to quickly count the number of Go pieces left on the table after the dealer covered some with the cup. As long as that number was correct, the result would be in his grasp.

Seeing that he could win every time, Edward Harris immediately began to increase his bets, from five strings to ten, then to twenty, and in no time, he had won nearly fifty strings.

Fifty strings was no small sum. Very soon, Edward Harris noticed that he was attracting frequent glances from the dealer. Decades of experience told him it was time to stop...

Chapter 8: Borrowing

After deliberately losing two rounds in a row, Edward Harris caused several gamblers who had wanted to follow his bets to immediately give up the idea. It seemed this kid's luck had just been too good.

After intentionally losing two five-string bets, Edward Harris won two more ten-string bets, then began to wind down, dropping his bets from several strings to just a few hundred wen, and he stopped carefully calculating the dealer's answer. He wanted to experience the real feeling of gambling.

The real feeling of gambling is excitement, but more losses than wins. Fortunately, Edward Harris had already won nearly fifty strings, so even if he lost more than he won with each bet of a few hundred wen, he would only lose a few strings at most. But this made Edward Harris resolve that, unless he had a cheating device, he should stay away from gambling.

"Sigh, lost it all!" came a familiar voice from beside him. Edward Harris looked over and saw it was the fair-skinned young man who had wanted to win money at the casino earlier.

"Heh, looks like it's really hard to win here," Edward Harris chuckled.

"Easy for you to say, since you won money," the fair-skinned youth said, eyeing the pile of notes in front of Edward Harris. He hadn't expected his luck to be so bad today—he'd lost everything in less than two hours. If he went home now, he'd definitely be laughed at.