Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 829 My First Trial Requires You to Go All In
Young Master Lu tried to run into Xia Daosheng for several days but couldn't, because Xia Daosheng had been busy at Douyazi's place, designing different routes for her and some borderline activities that were neither illegal nor illegal but could satisfy her desires.

So the person Young Master Lu has been longing for is now participating in a grand feast to eliminate him...

In April, when the grass was green and the birds were singing, the largest entertainment center in Fuliang and even the entire Great Wei opened in a grand manner. It covers an area of ​​about 670 acres, of which the main building complex occupies as much as 450 acres, and the remaining space is open public space.

What does this mean? Simply put, with the Dugu family's funding, Xia Lin's leadership, and Emperor Jingtai's supervision, the world's first one-stop shopping space was born. It not only has high-end luxury items, but also extremely affordable things. For example, the front area of ​​this shopping center basically concentrates hundreds of merchants in three major categories: catering, accommodation, and leisure. The goods inside range from general merchandise to meat, eggs, and vegetables. Stepping into this space, you can enjoy a shopping experience unlike any other.

Moreover, compared to ordinary markets, this place is well-managed and neatly arranged, and you can find all kinds of products by simply heading to the area you need.

Within the same area, one can find everything needed for daily life—clothing, food, housing, and transportation—within just a few steps. Most importantly, its prices and quality are superior to those of retail goods outside, thanks primarily to Dugu Family's formidable integrated transportation and industrial consolidation capabilities.

Some people say this might squeeze out other businesses. Well, isn't the core of encouraging competition precisely this: either you can provide better products, better service, or more suitable prices. Otherwise, what's the point of competition? Saying businesses are pitiful means that ordinary consumers deserve to use expensive and inferior products?
Behind the ordinary living area lies another world entirely. Exquisite fox fur coats are sold here, often costing thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver, a stark contrast to the cotton and linen clothes sold for a hundred or two hundred coins in the front. There are also delicacies and treasures; a single meal can cost hundreds of taels of silver, enough to make ordinary people hesitate.

There is also a high-end auction house that specializes in collecting rare and exotic treasures from all over the world for auction. Even the people in charge of appraisal are all senior managers transferred from the Dugu family. They are the kind of retired masters who are kept at home and whose eyes are like rulers. They can both teach their disciples to appraise treasures and continue to use their expertise.

Of course, that would not be surprising if it were just these things. What is more shocking is that this place actually received special permission from Emperor Jingtai to open a legal casino, and there is only one of its kind.

The casino was as luxurious as a royal palace, and the various novel gambling equipment inside was astonishing. The casino was divided into three floors: upper, middle and lower. Because of the prestigious Dugu family brand, no one questioned their financial strength and reputation.

In short, the model that followed was basically a copy of the Lu family's, but it was bigger, better, and more authoritative. Even the casino's reception girls were all high-class. You should know that they were all redeemed from brothels all over the country, which was a crushing advantage for ordinary men. Working here was much more comfortable than working in brothels. And if they really thought they were earning too little, they were willing to degenerate and take on private jobs, and no one would care. Anyway, they definitely couldn't do that kind of thing in public.

Today marks the opening of the store, exactly forty days since the young master of the Lu family last glanced at the bean sprouts. The opening immediately attracted people from all over the county to come and stroll around, creating a huge crowd.

They were not surprised by the bizarre sights here, because these days, as the artificial lake has been able to achieve a positive cycle of water storage and release, various lighting projects have gradually begun to penetrate into the lives of ordinary people. Although it is still far from having electricity in every household, streetlights have been installed on the main roads.

From now on, there will never be another case of someone chiseling a hole in the wall to borrow light. With the advent of lights, the constraints of darkness were lifted, and the first truly sleepless city in human history was born. Now, even after midnight, there are always a few people sitting in the noodle shops on the roadside, or a few grown men carrying wine and snacks, sitting under the streetlights drinking, eating meat, and playing cards.

So when the Dugu Family Never Sleeps City appeared, people were more curious and inquisitive. Shock? Shock is for the country bumpkins; city dwellers have long been desensitized to these things.

The public areas outside were not wasted either. The pavilions and towers here are all in the style of Suzhou gardens, and everything inside is open to the public for free. The most interesting thing is that a library has also been built in this small park. The books inside are all replicas of the Dugu family collection. Some of them are even rare and unique, and they are not even found in the Jinling Library and Fuliang Library.

In short, it's very high-end, extremely high-end.

Because of the grand opening of this place, Lu Dunxin, the young master of the Lu family, naturally came to this place as well. After walking around inside, he was so angry that he trembled all over. Wasn't the model of drinking tea and having fun outside and enjoying aristocratic pleasures inside his family's winning formula?

Now someone has copied it exactly and slapped him in the face so blatantly. Even if the other side hadn't set up the same thing in the same location, it would have been fine, but this place is only a mile away from his manor, practically visible to the naked eye. Isn't this blatant blatant climbing over other people's faces to get ahead?

He tried to curse several times but couldn't get a word out, so he simply sat on a bench that could be found anywhere by the roadside, panting heavily.

Looking up at the surroundings again, what grandeur and magnificence it was! It's true what they say, when faced with despair, people can truly collapse. He was arrogant, but even the most arrogant person can't remain calm when faced with overwhelming pressure.

He couldn't understand why such a large family, which hadn't been purged by the empire, would go to such lengths to escalate the conflict between his small family, whose annual revenue was less than half a month's net profit.

That deep sense of powerlessness was like the helplessness after seeing the true nature of the four words "shackles of fate." He sat there and sighed deeply. Just then, several of his regular customers passed by. He watched helplessly as they went to the Dugu family's place to play. You should know that they also had a program today, but after sending messages to these customers, the replies were either that they were not available or that they had something to do at home today.

Those who had family matters to attend to today were now red-faced and arguing in front of the dice table at the Dugu family's residence, while those who were too busy today were smugly stuffing a silver note into the hand of the servant who had run errands for them.

His supposedly unparalleled venue was deserted today, except for a few staff members and shills. Even when a few people came by, most of them would turn around and leave when they saw that their familiar friends were not there.

After thinking for a moment, he mustered up the courage to enter the place. As soon as he entered, a fragrant breeze wafted in. Although it was bustling inside, it was orderly, well-lit, and had a good view. It was clearly a high-class place.

The drinks, beverages, and all kinds of food and pastries inside are free. You can eat and drink as much as you want, and you can even order some hot food to be made fresh by the kitchen. The service is so good that you feel right at home. There are guards in uniform with badges on their chests patrolling the place. They are obviously professional thugs.

And those pretty young ladies fluttered around each table like butterflies, deftly handing over whatever the guests needed, while playfully and charmingly dodging any unwanted advances, making them even more enticing than those who immediately said "Come and play, sir."

As soon as Young Master Lu entered the room, someone immediately handed him a hot towel, and then a girl's sweet voice asked, "Would you like some wine or tea, sir?"

"Give me a drink, anything will do."

"Would the master like something to eat?"

Young Master Lu waved his hand and then walked to a table on his own. The equipment here was on a completely different level from his place. The white marble table was covered with velvet, and the chairs for the guests were soft and comfortable. Regardless of the stakes or whether they played at all, everyone who came in was treated as a guest. The only problem was that it seemed that people who were improperly dressed were not allowed to enter. But that was understandable; most of the guests here, even if they weren't prominent figures, were quite wealthy. Who would want to play with a smelly beggar?

After a while, the waitress placed the wine glass in his hand and handed him a clean, hot towel: "Sir, here is your wine and towel."

Young Master Lu wiped his face, feeling the warm, fragrant towel. He felt refreshed afterward. He secretly sighed to himself, thinking that if it were him, he would probably choose to have fun here too.

He wandered around with his wine glass in his hand until he came to another area where several people were gathered around a table, holding long rods that looked like fishing rods. They would sometimes bend down and tap the stone ball on the table, sometimes stand up and take a sip of their drink, and then chat in a relaxed and pleasant manner, exuding an air of elegance.

Just then, someone saw him approaching and immediately stepped forward to ask, "Sir, would you like one turned on?"

"This is?"

"Oh, this is called billiards. It's most fun to play with a few friends."

Young Master Lu asked curiously, "What are these rules?"

Then the staff member began to explain the rules of billiards, while Young Master Lu kept studying the materials of these things. The tabletop was made of a whole piece of Dali Temple, with a layer of sturdy canvas. You only need to use the white ball to hit the other colored balls into the pockets and finally put in the black eight to score.

The rules weren't difficult for him, but he had come alone today. Although he was itching to fight, he couldn't seem to find a way to compete. However, at that moment, the man said, "We can hire someone to fight with us here. It costs between two hundred coins and five taels of silver per hour."

"What kind of five taels of silver is it?" Young Master Lu took out ten taels of silver and handed it over: "I don't have any change, so I'll just give you ten taels."

"Sir, we don't offer refunds for clocking out."

"Who are you looking down on?"

Then a group of beautiful young women dressed in their finest clothes walked in. Each of them had a number tag hanging from their waist. Even the seasoned playboy, Young Master Lu, was overwhelmed by the choices and finally chose the lucky number 88 to stay.

You should know that these pretty young girls were all redeemed from brothels all over the country. Most of them had been taught how to coax men since they were young. Now they don't have to sell their bodies anymore, but they still have to provide maximum emotional value. The young master Lu, who was originally in a gloomy mood, was indeed healed by the girls' tenderness.

After two hours, Young Master Lu had gone from a complete novice to a beginner. He was getting tired, and his sister's time was up, so he waved his hand and said, "Add two more hours."

"Sir, I think we should forget about it. You don't earn money easily, so it's not worth spending so much money on someone like me. Save some money and find a good woman to settle down with."

"Don't say such things, add it!" Young Master Lu slammed ten taels of silver on the table: "If you're tired, just say so."

"Not tired at all, sir. Are you hungry? I'll ask the kitchen to prepare something for you."

What's here?

"I'll go ask for the master."

Eating and drinking here with beautiful women by his side was truly a carefree experience. When Young Master Lu came out, it was already dawn. He was quite surprised, feeling like he hadn't been playing for long, how come it was already dawn when he turned around? And he didn't feel particularly tired.

From that day on, this man, who owned the casino, would come every day... Sometimes he would play billiards, sometimes he would gamble a few rounds, and sometimes he would simply spend some money to chat with his younger sisters about poetry and literature. The sense of recognition he couldn't get from his father was greatly enhanced by his sisters, who were proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Although his family business was about to go bankrupt, he felt that these past few days had been the happiest time of his life. He calculated that his daily expenses were at most a hundred taels of silver. As long as he didn't gamble heavily, a hundred taels of silver could even be enough to take his sisters out for a luxurious seafood feast.

Ah, the land of gentle pleasures, it's truly wonderful.

At this moment, he no longer cared about Xia Daosheng. Rather than letting that arrogant fellow put him down and belittle him, he would rather spend a few taels of silver here and hear those young and beautiful girls screaming, "Brother is so amazing!"

As usual, there was no business at the family's place today, and the staff had all left. Some of the people I run into here every two days are a bit awkward.

“Young Master, we’re not far from our doom. Ever since the Dugu family started their business, nobody’s come here anymore. The auction venue has also gone cold. Nobody gambles, nobody pawns… Sigh, Young Master, what do you suggest we do?”

"I'm quitting, let's sell it." Young Master Lu said, his eyes bulging with dark circles. "Find someone to sell everything. We could live a life of luxury and never run out of money. Why bother with all this trouble? You all can rest today. I'll take you to a nice place tonight!"

(End of this chapter)