To be honest, Edward Harris never thought that borrowing money between brothers would have to be so clear-cut. Everyone helps each other out, right? Besides, his initial gambling stake was also given by his eldest brother, so now he’s just returning the favor.

Since a written IOU was made, William Harris naturally had to act within his means. For any gambler, the more gambling capital, the better. But now, with a daily interest rate of 20%, he had to think twice. In the end, William Harris only borrowed twenty strings of cash. He had already decided that, win or lose, he would pay his third brother back as soon as he got home. As long as it wasn’t past midnight, he wouldn’t have to pay any interest.

Chapter 9: Collateral

William Harris used to love dice games, but today his luck was just terrible, and now he needed to borrow money to keep playing. Fortunately, the lender was his third brother; otherwise, he would have felt quite embarrassed.

“Mr. Clark, Mr. Bolton, why did you two step out as well?” William Harris asked in surprise when he saw them there. After all, it takes a pretty good reason to get a gambler to leave the table—this isn’t something that happens for just any reason.

“You came out too, didn’t you?” John Bolton laughed. The few of them had only come today to let Edward Harris see what real gambling was, what a man should do. Who would have thought that the kid would win big, while the rest of them all lost miserably.

“How about we just play here?” William Harris suggested. Earlier, he’d been shocked by the amount of money in front of Edward Harris. In this era, a regular family could live for a month on just three strings of cash, so the ten strings he’d given Edward Harris that afternoon was no small sum. But in less than two hours, Edward Harris had multiplied it several times over. Instinctively, he felt his third brother’s luck was strong today—when fortune comes, not even the gods can stop it. So after getting the money, he didn’t want to hear the clatter of dice and bowls anymore; winning money was what really mattered.

“Sure! Little brother Zhongwei is on a lucky streak today, let’s see if we can get some of that luck too,” Brian Clark said with a smile.

“Hey, third brother, why aren’t you betting?” William Harris placed a bet of one string on “two,” but saw that Edward Harris was just standing beside him, showing no intention of betting.

“I’ll take a break and watch you guys play,” Edward Harris replied. He knew he needed to keep a low profile now. Even though he’d only won fifty strings, at the “pooling” table he was already very conspicuous. If he were still the old Edward Harris, he’d probably keep going enthusiastically, but now that he’d changed, he knew when to stop.

“Alright then, just watch your big brother show off his skills,” William Harris said, not thinking much of it.

“I wonder whose money you’re betting with?” Just then, Alice Bennett overheard and sneered.

“You... I can’t be bothered with you,” William Harris snapped, turning away in anger.

William Harris was loud and liked to shout. As long as the dealer hadn’t finished distributing the Go pieces, he’d keep yelling his bet, “Two! Two! Two! Two!” Brian Clark and John Bolton seemed to enjoy the atmosphere too. After they joined in, Edward Harris couldn’t take it anymore and decided to step outside for some air.

“Excuse me, young man.” Edward Harris had just stepped out of the casino when someone called out to him from behind.

“Who are you?” Edward Harris turned to see a shifty-looking man, only half a head taller than himself, with a mustache and shifty eyes darting around, clearly up to no good. His clothes were ragged and smelled strongly of earth. Edward Harris immediately became wary of such a person.

“I am Samuel Reed. I just saw you dominating inside—truly brave, resourceful, and incredibly heroic…”

What nonsense is this? Since when is gambling considered heroic? Edward Harris cut him off, “Enough, enough, just get to the point.”

“Could I have a word in private?” Samuel Reed kept glancing nervously at the casino’s bouncers, afraid they’d overhear his conversation with Edward Harris.

But this only made Edward Harris more suspicious. He was already on high alert with Samuel Reed; it was obvious this guy was no good, and now that he’d approached him, it couldn’t be for anything good. Should he even bother with him? But Samuel Reed was very enthusiastic, leading Edward Harris to a nearby corner—not far from the casino, but quite secluded.

Edward Harris figured that if he shouted loudly, the guys outside the casino would definitely come to his rescue, so he didn’t refuse Samuel Reed.

“So what is it? I’m busy,” Edward Harris said.

“Brother Han, I just wanted to borrow some money from you,” Samuel Reed said.

“Borrow money? No way!” Edward Harris immediately tried to leave. If you want to borrow money, just do it openly—why all the secrecy? Besides, in his previous life, the thing he hated most was people asking him for money.

“Brother Han, you misunderstand, I mean no harm. Actually, I have a treasure I’d like to sell you,” Samuel Reed quickly explained.