I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 306 The Feng Shui of the Entertainment Hall
In fact, Jiang Shuyue, the middle-aged man who looked to be around fifty years old and wore a "modified Zen robe," had already been seen three times. It seemed that he was a regular customer of these wealthy families.

"It's said that they're quite accurate, but I'm not really sure, I've never dealt with them."

Upon hearing this, Su Cheng couldn't help but ask, "Manager Jiang, do you believe in this?"

“I definitely don’t believe it,” Jiang Shuyue answered Su Cheng’s question decisively.

She is a highly educated person; how could she possibly be superstitious?

She was referring to genuine higher education, not just advanced degrees.

"Yangwen, what about you?"

"I don't believe it either... What about you, President Su?" Zhang Yangwen asked Su Cheng in return. He called Su Cheng "President Su" both outside and at the company, and only called him "Brother Cheng" in private.

Su Cheng certainly didn't believe in this stuff, nor did her father, and her deceased mother certainly didn't believe it either.

There are no sculptures or statues in his home.

But how to say...

There are indeed several types of people who are quite superstitious about this.

The first group consists of large business owners from Hong Kong and Macau.

Su Cheng has seen the second type of person more often. These people generally have the following characteristics: low education level and low cognitive ability.

The former often makes the news, because of feng shui, he did something, blah blah blah.

Take Chen Suna's mother, for example.

Su Cheng knew without asking that Chen Suna's mother liked to have her fortune told.

And Ye Li's mother, she must also like to have someone do divination.

One consultation wasn't enough. If I found out that someone in a certain place was good at calculating accuracy, I would ride my electric bike for two hours in the sweltering summer heat to get it done.

Su Cheng personally respects religious beliefs, but he would never be superstitious about fortune telling or divination.

He only trusts his own six eyes.

The group didn't have to wait long at the door. A girl with a neat ponytail, who introduced herself as Ma Ru's assistant, led them to a temporary meeting room to receive them.

It was only when they arrived that Su Cheng learned the purpose of their visit.

Ma Yingyao wanted to change the layout of the Diamond Palace, so he hired many people from the consulting industry.

However, judging from the expressions of the others, it seemed that they already knew what he was going to do, except for Su Cheng, who had just found out.

After the female assistant finished giving instructions, Ma Ru entered the temporary meeting room to greet everyone.

"Sorry everyone, I had some other things to take care of, so I'm late."

"I believe my assistant has clearly explained the specific responsibilities to everyone."

"Our entertainment hall is still open as usual today, mainly to ensure that everyone can examine the details."

While speaking, Ma Ru carefully observed the crowd, making sure Su Cheng had arrived.

In order to reasonably explain and cover up his motives for seeking consulting services from Su Cheng, Ma Ru specially prepared a plate of dumplings and invited many people in the consulting industry to act as a cover.

This place features the Big Three of North America, as well as benchmarks from Europe and America.

Su Cheng and his people are just one of them.

They even invited their father's "good friend," the feng shui master, to come over.

Ma Ru herself doesn't believe in this stuff, and feng shui shouldn't be taken into account when making decisions.

However, his father always told him to trust him, and in order not to go against his father's wishes, Ma Ru would do as he was told as long as it was something minor and didn't involve crucial decisions.

Besides providing cover.

Ma Ru was also worried that Su Cheng would be put in a dilemma.

Although the entertainment industry is legal here, Mr. Bai once emphasized that Su Cheng is a person with a strong sense of honor.

He was afraid that Su Cheng would have a moral dilemma, which is why he didn't tell him the specifics of the business from the beginning.

Now all you need to do is show up.

I let you fill in any amount on the contract, so I can also arbitrarily specify my business scope.

but.

Ma Ru's worries are actually unnecessary; as long as you act legally and compliantly, it's fine.

After explaining some necessary precautions, Ma Ru signaled her assistant to bring in a small cart from outside, which was densely packed with neatly arranged chips.

Ma Ru stated that everyone can take 100,000 yuan in chips and play as they please, and if they win, they can take the chips with them.

He gave everyone three hours to observe, and Ma Ru had already given the security department orders in advance that these people would have very high authority today.

"We'll meet here again in three hours."

As Ma Ru spoke, she raised her wrist to check the time, and everyone else, including Su Cheng, also checked the time at the same time.

Ma Ru politely extended her hand to indicate that everyone was free to inspect the area: "Please, everyone, make yourselves at home."

After receiving their chips, each team headed straight to the casino.

Su Cheng, Jiang Shuyue, and Zhang Yangwen also received 300,000 chips.

They followed behind the main force.

The entrance to the entertainment hall features a huge tiger head relief, carved from a single piece of wood, which looks quite valuable.

This tiger head serves as a screen; after passing around it on the left and right, you'll find yourself in the entertainment hall.

The others entered from the left and right respectively, but the old man and the young man who were doing the feng shui consultation started discussing the tiger head in hushed tones.

Hmm...that aligns with most people's understanding of feng shui.

These two were the only ones who didn't take any chips; even Su Cheng took some.

There's nothing interesting at the entrance; I'd definitely go inside to see the details.

Zhang Yangwen originally wanted to take a picture of the big tiger head and post it on his WeChat Moments, but Jiang Shuyue gently stopped him.

"Um, Assistant Zhang, shall we wait until we come out before taking the photos?"

She felt that if Zhang Yangwen took photos since no one else did, it might make them seem like they had very low professional skills.

Zhang Yangwen immediately understood and put his phone away.

"Let's go outside and talk about it. I think the river by the entrance is quite beautiful. I'd like to take a picture of it later."

As soon as Zhang Yangwen finished speaking, the feng shui master left the hall alone with his apprentice, seemingly to go and see the river.

Jiang Shuyue: ? ? ?

No.

Everyone else is inside conducting research, and you're going to go outside to conduct research?
"That's normal. If they like to look at the river, let them. In feng shui, water represents wealth."

Jiang Shuyue asked in confusion, "Hmm? President Su, you understand this too?"

"I don't understand their stuff, so let's ignore them and do our own thing."

Su Cheng gestured for the two to hand over their chips to him. After receiving the chips, Su Cheng immediately put them in his pocket without any intention of taking them out.

Su Cheng had no intention of going to the table to experience it; he didn't want Zhang Yangwen and Jiang Shuyue to fall into the trap.

Although Ma Ru said that if you win, you can take it away without any problem, your mind will be affected as long as you play, whether you win or lose.

They're here to work; they can't get mixed up with other people, especially in this kind of thing.

It is said that local taxi drivers in Macau come here every few days because they often pass by the casino when picking up passengers, or some passengers' destination is the casino.

Taxi drivers who are just driving around outside are bound to get caught, let alone those who are carefully observing from inside.

If it actually ends up on the table, it might plant the seeds of something significant in one's life.

Su Cheng didn't want Zhang Yangwen to inherit trillions of dollars, feel empty about life, and end up ruining his family after coming to Macau. Forget about Lao Deng and Lao Zhang's efforts and sacrifices for Zhang Yangwen; Su Cheng's own efforts would all be wasted.

Su Cheng had seen the video of Lao Ma's interview.

This game involves a rake, so if you bet the same amount every time, you'll actually lose everything after forty rounds.

There's no need to sit at the table and play during the inspection; you can just observe from the sidelines when needed.

After preparing the two for psychological protection, the three of them entered the entertainment hall together.

The moment you step into the entertainment hall, it's as if you're instantly swept into a meticulously woven golden dream.

The sense of space is deliberately enhanced, with the high dome resembling an inverted, luxurious bowl, and a giant chandelier made of tens of thousands of Swarovski crystals and a warm gold metal frame hanging in the center.

It is not still, but rotates extremely slowly, pouring down countless tiny and dazzling lights like liquid gold, flowing and leaping on the carefully polished marble floor with textures like splashed ink landscape.

The design was in place from the moment you stepped inside.

Three consulting colleagues from BCG stood under the lamp, discussing in hull numbers in English, and even took out their phones to measure the reflection angle of the floor.

In fact, when it comes to feng shui, these people are no different from the masters outside.

If you replace the gyroscope on their phones with a compass or other tools, and then they chant incantations like "Find the dragon and divide the gold by looking at the winding mountains, each winding is a barrier," then they are indeed looking at feng shui.

They just place more emphasis on scientific methods.

Is it useful? Or is it scientific?
That's quite scientific.

This crystal chandelier is gold, but not the dazzling kind of gold. Su Cheng estimates that its lumens are no more than 3000K. This warmth gives people a psychological illusion of security.

Su Cheng guessed that the reflection angle should be between 21 and 25 degrees. This angle would create a continuous halo on the human retina, thereby continuously activating the nucleus accumbens in the brain.

The last three foreigners also confirmed that the temperature was 22 degrees Celsius.

Yes, Not Bad.

These people are indeed capable.

In fact, there are some things in the entertainment hall that you don't need to see; it's already basic common sense for these people.

For example, it first distorts players' values ​​and views on money.

Cash-for-chips is designed in this way.

Chips are chips, and cash is cash.

When 10 yuan in cash becomes a smooth card in your hand, your concept of money will be constantly weakened.

Money and assets will then become ordinary numbers.

Behind each casino table, there is a huge screen displaying red and blue trends, seemingly able to predict the outcome of the next round.

This is a very typical scam.

Whether the banker or the player wins, and whether the marker turns red or blue, is actually a meaningless statistic.

But many players enjoy watching this stuff.

This 'trend prediction' will create a compensatory dependency mechanism for players' decisions, causing their ability to make independent judgments to shrink.

What happens when one's ability to make independent judgments atrophies?
That would become uncontrollable, and the false activation rate of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex would increase by 62%.

This isn't just something Su Cheng made up; there's neurological evidence to back it up.

He clearly remembers the data above from a paper published in Nature in 2021.

Oh wait, this paper hasn't been published yet; it won't be released in Nature for another three or four years.

As Su Cheng pondered, she suddenly frowned and took a deep sniff of the air.

Can you smell anything?

"I just smelled it, a fragrance, like jasmine," Zhang Yangwen whispered. "Could there be something in the air, like a stimulant or hallucinogen? Something that makes people feel high?"

Ok.

Zhang Yangwen is half right.

However, it's definitely not a hallucinogen or stimulant. There are too many ways to get someone high; this is the stupidest, most basic, and easiest way to give yourself away.

Who puts sleeping pills in the air at their entertainment venue?

The fragrance is just a normal scent, the kind that hotels and similar establishments use.

But something's wrong with the air.

Since coming in, Su Cheng's mind and cells have become much more active, and her body feels lighter.

This is not something that ordinary date rape drugs can do.

There is only one thing that can do this: oxygen.

If Su Cheng's guess is correct, the oxygen content in the air of the regular entertainment room and VIP room is higher than that in the rest area, tea area, and corridor.

More oxygen means that the prefrontal cortex will fatigue more slowly, and the speed of perception and decision-making will increase by 35%.

Simply put, it's about getting you to place your bets quickly, ideally playing a round in just one second.

In this way, you'll have lost everything in 40 seconds.

The cost to achieve this effect per cubic meter would not exceed one dollar, probably around seven or eight cents.

Su Cheng was somewhat familiar with this design; he had seen it in a dental hospital case study in the database. It showed that by using techniques to transfer oxygen concentration, patients' anxiety could be reduced by 23%.

As a result, the Ma family used the oxygen transplant technology in their entertainment hall, which was actually a very malicious act.

I don't know which expert came up with this trick for them, it's just too damn ruthless.

It's unlikely that you'll lose everything in 40 seconds, but at the very least, you can play one game every minute, so around 40 minutes would be about right.

How much money does a banknote printing plant print in 40 minutes?

Compared to the Diamond Palace, that speed is simply too slow.

This place could actually be called a super money printing factory.

Interestingly, Su Cheng noticed that these dealers had actually received standardized training.

Zhang Yangwen frowned.

Su Cheng had already discovered many designs, but he hadn't noticed anything.

After hearing that the dealer had received training, Zhang Yangwen stared at the dealer intently for a long time, but couldn't find anything wrong with him.

It seems like all the card dealing techniques are the same?
"no……"

"So that means they all dress very conservatively?"

"Hmm? Getting closer!"

Sexy dealers dealing cards online—that's a really low-class method.

They don't need to use revealing clothing to get players excited at all.

The standardized training Su Cheng referred to was the micro-expressions and micro-movements of these dealers.

When players are on a winning streak, they will shake their heads slightly, which can trigger overconfidence.

When a player is on a losing streak, they will blink rapidly, implying that the player's "luck is about to change."

The dealers sitting opposite the players do more than just deal cards; they also subtly influence and even manipulate the players' behavior through their micro-gestures and micro-expressions.

Zhang Yangwen: ? ?
He observed it carefully.

It really is!
The shaking motion was so slight it was barely perceptible; it was just a gentle sway of the head.

If Su Cheng hadn't pointed it out, Zhang Yangwen would have been completely unaware of this.

"W-W-W-Is it really that scary?"

(End of this chapter)