Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 442 436. Gambling and Losing Money
"Father, I found it."

After a while, Du Xiang came out with a few servants, looking grim, carrying a box. This box was Du Chun's own box, and it looked full of clothes, but in fact, there were only a few pieces of clothes covering the surface, and underneath was full of silver.

"Check, how much is this!"

Old Master Du's expression did not improve, because he was quite experienced and knew it didn't match after just a quick glance. How much would more than three thousand taels of silver be? How could this mere box possibly hold all that?
Du Xi did not dare to be negligent and stepped forward to count with his brother.

"This... Father, the total is six hundred and forty taels..."

After a while, the two finished counting, and the number made them feel a little dry. There were only more than 600 taels here, where was the rest of the silver?
"Where's the remaining silver?"

It was obvious that Old Master Du also wanted to know this question. He was like an old lion, roaring with red eyes.

But this question was obviously not something that everyone present could answer, not even the servants who were controlled and often accompanied Du Chun could answer this question. After all, they were just a bunch of lackeys, how could they possibly know where the money went.

"Where is that evil creature Du Chun? Where is he?"

Old Master Du looked around and didn't see his good-for-nothing son. He roared and questioned his lackeys who didn't go out with him today.

"Old... Old Master... Young Master... Young Master went to Mengdiefang..."

Those lackeys knelt on the ground, their faces pale with fear and shaking like sieves. Naturally, they dared not hide anything in front of Old Master Du and could only tell the truth.

"Dream Butterfly House?"

Old Master Du has now retired behind the scenes. He is not familiar with the new things after the arrival of the Han army, and naturally does not know what this name means.

"Father, Mengdiefang is a casino... The entrance fee is ten taels of silver."

Du Xiang was a person who went out frequently after all, so he answered Old Master Du's questions with a somewhat grim look on his face.

"Casino? You bastard! Catch him back to me!"

Old Master Du naturally knows that gambling is harmful to people, so now he can only hope that Du Chun is not addicted and can still be saved.

Unfortunately, plans cannot keep up with changes. When the Du family was busy preparing to look for Du Chun, Du Chun had already been brought back to get the money.

"What on earth did you do, you beast?!"

When Old Master Du saw a dozen burly men escorting Du Chun back, he already had a bad feeling.

"Ah... Father, these... these people are my friends, we have something to discuss..."

Du Chun thought he had not been exposed, so he explained frantically, trying to get away with it. But unfortunately, everyone in the Du family had probably guessed what had happened, and they looked at Du Chun's poor performance of trying to cover up the truth with expressionless faces.

"Alright, you beast, I want to ask you, where did the missing silver from the treasury go? How come there are only 600 taels left in your little building?"

Old Master Du shouted and cursed loudly, but the big men just looked at each other with amusement and unclear meaning on their faces.

"Father, father, let's talk about this later, later!" Du Chun was sweating profusely, waving his hands wildly, trying to stop his father from talking. However, a big man who was holding him beside him patted his shoulder, and he had to be quiet. Another big man came forward and bowed to Old Master Du.

"Old Master, we are from Mengdiefang. Your son borrowed money to gamble at Mengdiefang today. He lost the bet and told us that he didn't have enough cash and wanted to bring us back to get the money."

"Rebellious son! You...you...ah...how much money does he owe this time?"

Old Master Du covered his chest, the thing he was most worried about still happened. Gambling is addictive. The more you lose, the more you want to gamble, and the goal will change from a small profit at the beginning to "no loss", but you will only lose more and more.

Du Chun was the same. At first, he could still control himself, and he only bet a few dozen taels. But after fighting with Mr. Huang two days ago, the two met again in Mengdiefang and fought openly and secretly. Du Chun broke his own limit in anger.

As we all know, a person's bottom line is only between zero and countless times. Once you break the rules once, the bottom line will be lowered again and again. The so-called bottom line is just a joke.

That night, the two of them each invested nearly five hundred taels of silver in the game, and in the end Du Chun was left with only a dozen taels of silver. This "big victory" made Du Chun so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.

Now Du Chun had no scruples when gambling in Mengdiefang, and he would bet hundreds of taels of silver at a time. The onlookers in the casino praised Du Chun again and again, and the face of Huang Gongzi who was unwilling and angry when he lost made him feel extremely happy, so he spent more than two thousand taels in less than five days. Occasionally he would win a little, but he would lose it all back immediately.

That's what happened tonight. After Du Chun got drunk, he simply wrote an IOU for two thousand taels of silver, stamped it with his own seal, and mortgaged it along with his jade token to Mengdiefang, and gambled with Master Huang.

The result was a disastrous defeat as expected. When Mengdiefang asked Du Chun for money, Du Chun felt as if he was in another world and was sweating coldly.

Although he went to steal silver every night, he had only stolen more than 3,000 taels so far, and he had already spent most of it. How could he come up with 2,000 taels of silver now? But he couldn't run away, so Du Chun could only bite the bullet and bring his men back first and then think of a solution.

"Old Master, Master Du borrowed two thousand taels of silver from my Mengdiefang, and he came here to ask for it back."

The big man who spoke was very polite, but the content of his words was shocking.

"How much more? Two...two thousand taels?"

Old Master Du rolled his eyes and almost fainted. Now there were only more than two thousand taels left in the treasury and Du Chun's place. Du Chun, the prodigal, had spent it all in a few days? Not only that, he also borrowed another two thousand?

"Hurry up and leave! Do you know where this is? Are you here to ask for money and property from my Du residence? Hurry up! Otherwise, I will report you to the police!"

When Du Xiang saw his father like this, he waved at those people and drove them away.

"Sir, if you pretend nothing happened, then we will go to the government. The IOU signed by Mr. Du himself is clearly written in black and white. It clearly states that Mr. Du owes us two thousand taels."

The leading burly man didn't get angry. He just took out the IOU and waved it in front of the Du family members, as if to say, "Do whatever you want."

"This……"

Du Xiang and Du Xi looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

If the incident was reported to the government, the administration of the Han Dynasty was no longer as good as that of the Eastern Wu Dynasty. The important officials were all from Jingzhou or even Sichuan, and they would not show leniency to the local nobles. If someone from the government came, it would surely cause a stir in the city.

(End of this chapter)