The Bet on the Bridge

Huo Tian cheered happily and ran after Ding Chen. Ding Rong shook her head helplessly, the smile on her face seemed to be able to influence the gloomy weather above the slums.

Ding Chen asked Huo Tian, "What kind of phone do you want? I'll ask someone I know. The phones he sells are cheap."

Huo Tian was a little curious about those cheap high-end phones. She followed behind Ding Chen and found a short, sneaky man.

After chatting for a while, Huo Tian found out that those phones had all been stolen by the short man from places like shopping malls or train stations.

Ding Chen picked up an iPhone and inspected it, then said to Huo Tian, "Tiantian, what do you think of this? It looks 90% new."

Huo Tian shook her head. "Don't we have old phones at home? I'll just use that first."

She did not want such stolen goods. If the owner of the phone happened to call the police, she would also be implicated as the buyer.

Ding Chen seemed to understand Huo Tian's thoughts. He rolled his eyes and said, "You're just as stubborn as your mother. Alright, then we won't get this. I'll bring you to the phone shop to buy a new one."

However, Huo Tian said, "I don't want a new phone. Uncle, why don't you buy me a computer? I have use for it."

Ding Chen sucked in a breath of cold air and patted Huo Tian on the head. "You sure talk big. Computers are much more expensive than phones. How can you afford one with so little money?"

How could Huo Tian understand the current prices? Even if it was the original owner of the body hadn't gone to buy things herself before.

"Then bring me to dye my hair back. I don't want this color anymore."

Ding Chen burst out laughing. "That's fine too. Your purple hair is really piercing to the eyes."

However, it was too expensive to dye hair at a hair salon. It cost a few hundred yuan to dye her hair black. Huo Tian wanted to save money to buy a computer, so she decided not to dye her hair black. She told the hairdresser to cut her long hair short. Her new hairstyle was refreshing and capable-looking, having an androgynous handsomeness. The punk-style purple hair now appeared to be full of character.

Ding Chen sighed. "It's a good thing that you're a girl. If you were a guy, who knows how many girls would be knocked out by you."

Huo Tian asked, "Uncle, you're quite handsome too. Why didn't you knock out a few girls?"

"That's enough, that's enough…" Ding Chen looked like he was having a headache. "Why do you like to pressure me into getting married like your mother!"

Although they had only met for the first time yesterday, Huo Tian felt that there was no barrier between her and her uncle. She wondered if this was the power of blood connections. It was too amazing.

Ding Chen brought Huo Tian around the urban village primarily to help her identify the complicated roads. In the afternoon, they ate beef noodles in a shop that served good food and was only planning to bring her home in the evening.

When the two of them passed by a bridge, they realized that there were six or seven people gathered together, looking at something. It was unknown what they were looking at, but they could only hear their occasional cheers or sighs of frustration.

Ding Chen's interest was immediately piqued. He pulled Huo Tian to squeeze over and said, "Let's go and join in the fun."

Huo Tian was also curious about the entertainment activities from hundreds of years ago, so she obediently followed Ding Chen and squeezed into the innermost area.

A dark and skinny man was squatting on the ground. There was a bowl upside down on the space in front of him. He had a handful of melon seeds in one hand, then as soon as he said "start", he casually scattered the melon seeds under the bowl. Then, the people around him passed money to the man fervently.

"I'll bet nine!"

"I saw it clearly just now. It's seven…"

"Yes, yes, seven!"

"Why do I feel that it's six?"

"Alright, hands off after you've placed your bet!"

The dark skinny man opened the small bowl. There were only six melon seeds underneath. The people who guessed it right took back double their money while those who guessed wrongly sighed and felt frustrated. However, they were unwilling to lose just like that and would continue to take out the money and give it to the dark skinny man. Even after they had lost all their money, they still could not bear to leave and would just stand at the side and watch.

Ding Chen watched agitatedly for a long while and could not help but take out the money that Ding Rong had given him. He said to Huo Tian fawningly, "Tiantian, I'll play just once. Don't tell your mother."

With that, Ding Chen confidently gave a number and handed a hundred yuan bill to the banker.

Without any surprise, he lost.

Ding Chen, who had said that he would only play once, lost 500 yuan in a row. This money was enough to buy the almost new iPhone from the seller just now.

Huo Tian finally stopped leaving him be. When Ding Chen was about to report the number again, she covered his mouth.

The dark and skinny man smiled and said, "Little girl, if you guys don't want to play, don't crowd around here. Other people still want to play."

Ding Chen's mind seemed to have finally cleared up a little. He realized belatedly that he had already lost 500 yuan. He thought to himself that he was done for. He would be given a beating by his sister with a ruler when he returned!

However, Huo Tian took all the money in Ding Chen's pocket and held it in her hand. "No, I want to play. And I want to play a big one."

"There's a total of 1,700 yuan here. I bet there are 13 melon seeds under the bowl. Do you dare to open it?"