es. Now, she had deeply hidden the pain in her heart."You've always wanted to know who your father is Today I will tell you: your father's name is Zhao Lingyun; in my heart, he's a truly great man!" X...Chapter 418: The Malevolent Side of Gambling (Part 1)

Xiao Yu knew that he was lying, and after a moment's thought, said, "Erzhu, if you don't tell me the truth, I won’t lend you money!" With that, he turned around to leave.

"Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu! Alright, I'll tell you the truth. But please, beg you, just lend me some money!" Seeing Xiao Yu turn away, Erzhu quickly stopped him and said.

Seeing the pleading look on Erzhu's face, a pang of sympathy struck Xiao Yu. After a moment's thought, he nodded his head.

The instant Erzhu saw Xiao Yu nod, an excited expression appeared on his face as he started talking to Xiao Yu.

It turned out that he had become addicted to gambling. At first, he was bored and just wanted a little fun, but then one night, he got incredibly lucky, winning over ten thousand yuan in a single night. The next day, he thought about how wonderful it would be if he could win ten thousand yuan every day; wouldn't he be a millionaire after a year

With such thoughts, when the casino called him on the second day, he went without hesitation. That evening, he won another three thousand yuan, which made him see a shortcut to wealth that he couldn’t earn through hard work in an entire year.

The next day, those people came looking for him again. He didn't want to go at first, but they said persuasively, "With such good luck, you won forty thousand yuan in two days! Who knows, today might bring another ten or eighty thousand, enough to buy a mid-range car!"

Hearing their words, Erzhu's heart began to race. He thought, 'That's true, working hard for an entire year doesn't earn me more than forty thousand yuan. If my luck is really good today and I win ten or eighty thousand, it wouldn't be a problem! The reason I won less before was because I had little money and made small bets; now with this forty thousand, I can make bigger bets, and winning ten to twenty thousand wouldn’t be an issue.'

With these thoughts in mind, he not only took the forty thousand yuan but also brought another two thousand yuan that his family was saving for home renovations, joining the others back at the casino.

When he arrived at the casino, he initially had good luck and won twenty thousand yuan. However, late into the night, it seemed like his luck ran out; within just an hour, not only did he lose that evening's winnings but also what he'd won in previous days.

Seeing how much he had lost, he didn't want to continue playing, but for some reason, with a sudden surge of emotion, he pulled out the remaining two thousand yuan from his body.

Erzhu was now caught in a vicious cycle: the more he lost, the bigger his bets grew, and the bigger the bets, the faster he lost. Within ten minutes, these two thousand yuan were gone.

At this point, Erzhu had nothing left; dejectedly, he wanted to leave the gambling table when the person who brought him there walked over with a stack of money in his hand and said, "What’s wrong brother Did you lose No worries, take this for now, maybe you’ll win it back soon!"

Ergu hesitated for a moment before making up his mind to stretch out his hand to take the money. But as soon as he reached out, the other person retracted it.

Ergu looked at this man in confusion, and the man noticed Ergu's puzzlement. He then took out a piece of paper and a pen from his bag and handed them to Ergu: "Brother, you should write an IOU! Of course, we don’t lend money for free; there’s interest involved. Five ten thousand now, six ten thousand in ten days. If you want it, take it, if not, that's fine too. We don't force anyone!"

"Haha... Big win... I've made a fortune!" Upon hearing this man's words, Ergu knew he was dealing with a loan shark. Just as he was hesitating to reject the offer, suddenly there came an excited shout from nearby.

Ergu turned his head upon hearing that cry and saw another person at a different table collecting money; this person had won over fifty thousand in one go.

Seeing this scene, Ergu gritted his teeth and took the paper and pen from the man's hand to write an IOU.

The moment he finished writing the IOU, the man revealed a slight smile and handed the money to Ergu.

Ergu then walked over to the gambling table with the cash in hand. It seemed his luck had returned; he won five rounds consecutively, earning forty thousand yuan.

Even after winning this sum of forty thousand, Ergu showed no intention of stopping and continued betting. After these few rounds, however, his luck appeared to have run out again; whatever bet he placed did not win, each time ending in a loss. But at this point, Ergu seemed oblivious to the situation, simply placing bets and losing.

Soon enough, not only was the forty thousand he had won gone, but most of the fifty thousand loaned to him was also lost. As he was about to be broke once again, that man approached Ergu with another stack of money and asked: "Brother, do you want more"

This time, Ergu did not hesitate at all; he took the money from the man's hand immediately and quickly placed a small pile on the table. This time, however, the man did not ask for an IOU.

Only after Ergu finished placing his bet did this man take out another piece of paper and pen and handed them to Ergu. Without any pause, Ergu wrote down the IOU again.

But it seemed that good luck had finally abandoned him; no matter what he bet on, it ended in a loss. In less than an hour, this fifty thousand yuan was completely lost as well.

The sky was beginning to lighten and the gambling session was nearing its end. When Ergu tried borrowing more money again, however, that man told him there would be no more loans for today; he should come back in the evening instead. This round was the last one of the day.

"Ouch...!" At this time, Ergu suddenly let out a sigh of regret. It turned out that this round's outcome matched what he had intended to bet on, but due to his lack of money, he could not place any bets and thus lamented over it endlessly.

The casino closed down after the session ended.

Erectus walked out of the casino, and on his way home, he remembered what he had done last night: ten thousand yuan! He hadn't just lost all the money he brought with him but also borrowed ten thousand in high-interest loans. This left him at a loss as to how to proceed.

Now penniless, he could only walk home.

In that moment, his mind was blank, and after walking back home, he didn't say anything but crawled into bed and slept the whole day without eating.

At four in the afternoon, he got out of bed and took a deposit slip for five thousand yuan from his wardrobe; this was all their family savings. Holding the deposit slip, Erectus hesitated before finally putting it in his pocket and leaving home.

He went to the bank and withdrew all the money from the account, thinking to himself, "If I can win just enough to pay off my high-interest loans, I'll stop gambling for good."

Cradling the cash, he arrived at the casino. It wasn't yet open, so he headed to a nearby snack shop and ate a bowl of noodles.

At around 8:30 pm, he got to the casino and knocked on its door. Soon after, someone opened a small gap in the door and looked out; seeing it was him, they let him in.

After entering the casino, his luck wasn't too bad initially, winning over six thousand yuan before dawn. Thinking these earnings were sufficient to pay off his high-interest loans with some left over, he planned on stopping.

However, looking at the leftover money in his hand, he thought, "If I play just a little more and lose, I'll stop; but if my luck holds out, maybe I can win back what was lost."

Hence, he started playing again with these few thousand yuan. To his dismay, he ended up disregarding everything once he began: not only did he lose the remaining few thousand, but also all six thousand in winnings and even the five thousand yuan brought along.

Seeing him depleted of funds again, another person handed over an additional five thousand yuan. Now seemingly devoid of reason, Erectus didn't count the money; instead, he took a pen to write up an IOU.

Before dawn, he had lost everything once more and was filled with regret after his losses.

Returning home, he found there were no funds left at home. Desperately, he turned to borrowing from relatives and friends, each time taking only a few thousand yuan. Yet even that small amount was eventually squandered.

This cycle continued, and he found himself sinking deeper until he was trapped with no way out.

Gradually, his family became aware of the situation. At home, he argued with them about it but suddenly remembered that his wife had two thousand yuan in personal savings.

He asked his wife for it, but she adamantly refused to hand it over. In a fit of rage, he smashed things around the house and their son fainted. When his mother went to Dr. Xiao's residence for help, he found his wife’s card. However, before he could do anything else, Xiao Yu arrived at his home to treat his son, and he fled.

Xiao Yu saw him waiting on the street corner for a car from the casino; now that he was considered a big client there, all it took was a phone call to get picked up.

After going back to the casino, predictably, he lost everything again. Over these past couple of days, he had run through every relative and friend but no one would lend him money anymore.

As he passed by Xiao Yu's house, he thought about Xiao Yu; his mother had mentioned that Xiao Yu had made a fortune outside their village. So, he dialed Xiao Yu's number.

Xiao Yu listened to what the man had to say and looked at him with concern, asking, "If I lend you money, will you gamble it away"

"No, no! First, I’ll pay off some of my debts. As for the rest, in a few days, after talking things over with my family, we'll figure something out!" Erzhuu’s eyes lit up when he heard Xiao Yu's words and hurriedly replied.

Xiao Yu looked at Erzhuu before him and found it hard to believe that the man would actually tell the truth. He asked, "How much money do you need"

"T-two thousand... Do you have any" Erzhuu hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Wait here!" Xiao Yu didn’t finish speaking before he turned around and went home. Shortly after, he returned with two stacks of money and handed them to Erzhuu, saying, "Don't gamble anymore."

Erzhuu nodded repeatedly, took the money, and walked deeper into the alley.

Xiao Yu watched as Erzhuu disappeared down the alley. He sighed helplessly, thinking, 'I hope he doesn’t continue gambling or else I really don't know if helping him would be better than hurting him.'

Xiao Yu then turned and walked home since he had promised Erzhuu not to tell his family about it. When Xiao Yu’s mother and sister asked about the matter, he evaded their questions. time did she understand. It turned out that the deputy director was being promoted to become the vice-director of the bureau, and this position would be taken over by her, Bai Jing. In other words, h...