On Our Wedding Night, I Discovered the Crown Prince's Hidden Illness

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Win-Lose Gamble

Miao Zhu nodded, “The maid understands, it will be dealt with after dark, definitely not in the Eastern Palace.”

“Hmm, let’s eat first.”

Turning her head, she saw the wallet she brought back from the last calligraphy competition and picked it up as she walked out of the inner room.

Once in the outer room, she gestured for Mrs. Zhao and Miao Zhu to sit down and join her for a meal. @@novelbin@@

The two glanced at the palace maids waiting in the yard and the corridor, hesitating to take a seat.

Leng Yu Yan tapped her fingertips on the table, “You don’t even listen to my words now?”

Mrs. Zhao and Miao Zhu exchanged a look, then took their seats.

Leng Yu Yan took out a Jade Pendant and a jade ring from the wallet and passed them over, “The Jade Pendant is for Miao Zhu, and the jade ring is for Mrs. Zhao—use them as a hairpin.”

Mrs. Zhao took the jade ring, held up her thumb, and slipped it on directly, nodding her head repeatedly while making ‘eh eh eh’ sounds.

Meanwhile, Miao Zhu looked at the Jade Pendant uneasily, “Miss, isn’t it bad to take this Jade Pendant rashly?”

From the pattern, it seemed to be a man’s adornment, and a very expensive-looking one at that.

“The Jade Pendant was broken by me at one corner, now just a worthless piece of jade; rest assured.”

Hearing this, Miao Zhu joyfully accepted it, “Thank you, Miss!”

—

The next day, school at the academy.

Early in the morning, Xu Yaxiang set up a betting stall in front of the Class A teaching house.

“Tomorrow is the preliminary contest, and the teams that qualify can compete to play the roles of the Flower God and Flower Fairy. Those with spare silver, come join the fun—guaranteed profits!”

Xu Yaxiang shouted without restraint.

Immediately, many female students crowded around.

Someone asked, “Xu Yaxiang, how do we place bets?”

“Simple, you bet whether the team of Lai Jiajia and Leng Yu Yan will lose or win—if the final result matches your bet, you win; if it doesn’t, you lose,” Xu Yaxiang yelled, “No turning back once you bet!”

Someone asked, “But if we all bet on them losing and we all win, where will the winning silver come from?”

“Isn’t it just silver? The host will put it up,” Xu Yaxiang sneered contemptuously, “You can’t lose!”

She wanted nothing more than to embarrass the Leng Family’s ugly daughter!

“Such a great opportunity!” someone immediately took out their wallet and placed a bet.

Xu Yaxiang sat behind the stall, ringing a small gong, “Not only can everyone earn silver tomorrow, we can also make the ugly girl remove her veil. Let’s all see just how hideous she is that the whole world considers her the number one ugly girl.”

The crowd laughed together, “That’s going to be a huge embarrassment!”

For a moment, the betting stall was bustling with excitement.

Inside the Class D teaching house,

Lai Jiajia stood with her hands on her hips, fuming, “Sister, that Xu Yaxiang is too much, I heard she started taking bets privately a few days ago. Today, she was so brazen as to set up the stall right outside the teaching house.”

“What’s the situation like now?” Leng Yu Yan asked with a faint smile, having heard that Xu Yaxiang’s father had recently been promoted, which explained her brazenness.

They’re all betting on us to lose,” Luo Meng’er was also furious.

Mi Xinmei lowered her voice, “No one is betting on us to win.”

“The current betting ratio for our team to qualify or not is thirty-nine to zero,” Lai Jiajia puffed her cheeks, sat down, and slammed her hands on the desk.

“Then here’s our chance to make money,” Leng Yu Yan took out a stack of silver notes from her wallet, “Go bet on our team to win.”

Lai Jiajia counted the silver notes, “Sister, this is one thousand taels!”

Leng Yu Yan nodded, “One thousand silver taels, the odds will multiply several times over—if we win, we can make a fortune.”

Lai Jiajia clutched the silver note, voicing her anxiety, “What if we really lose?”

“If we lose, the silver is gone and it’s on me; if we win, after deducting the principal, the net profit is split evenly among the six of us, how’s that?” Leng Yu Yan said with remarkable ease.

“We can’t let sister bear the loss alone!” Lai Jiajia took out her wallet from her waist and slapped it on the table.

“Yeah, Yu Yan is putting in both money and effort, we can’t let Yu Yan shoulder the costs alone.” Mi Xinmei pulled out ten silver taels, “I’ve been eating plain food these days, my complexion has improved a lot, and I’ve even managed to save some money, even if it’s only ten taels.”

Lai Jiajia took it without any hesitation, “Ten taels is good too, it’s also a show of support for our team.”

Thus, the five of them pooled together one hundred taels, and together with Leng Yu Yan’s one thousand taels, Lai Jiajia took it to Xu Yaxiang’s stall.

“Hey, Xu, can we join this betting game?”

Xu Yaxiang sneered, “How much money do you have?”

Lai Jiajia placed the silver note and silver on the table, “One thousand and one hundred taels.”

Xu Yaxiang thought to herself, that’s a lot!

This team of ugly girls is bound to lose; not only would their silver make all the students who just bet earn a bit, but she, the bookmaker, would make quite a profit as well.

It seems this team is the big sucker!

With that thought, she laughed, “Of course, you can join!”

As she spoke, she reached out to take the silver, “Once you’ve placed a bet, you can’t back out. Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Of course!” Lai Jiajia held down the silver, “But you need to make a written note of it!”

Seeing so much silver made Xu Yaxiang’s heart itch; she immediately responded, “Certainly!”

Then she took up pen and ink to write out the note.

The odds changed to thirty-nine to one, and the students spread the word.

It was said that the ugly Leng family’s team had put up one thousand and one hundred taels betting on their own victory, prompting everyone to make bets.

After all, Xu Yaxiang’s reputation wasn’t great; being the bookmaker, she might not be willing to pay up in the end.

But with one thousand and one hundred taels, if everyone bet on the Leng family’s ugly girls to lose, they would get both their principal and profit in the end.

By the time classes ended, the odds had become one hundred and nineteen to one.

Still, no one else bet on Leng Yu Yan and Lai Jiajia’s team to win.

Lai Jiajia told Leng Yu Yan about the odds.

Leng Yu Yan smiled, “The contest is tomorrow, let’s just jump as we’ve practiced on regular days. If we win, each of us can get a good share of the silver. Therefore, everyone should rest well today, and bring your best condition to the preliminary exams tomorrow.”

The girls agreed with nods and then walked together toward the academy entrance.

Along the way, the students pointed at them and discussed loudly.

“They’re sure to lose, and we’ll have a great show to watch tomorrow!”

“I’m really looking forward to it, if they lose, we get money!”

“Right, Xu Yaxiang thought she’d have to pay out of pocket to be the bookmaker, but she didn’t expect a big sucker to appear.”

Lai Jiajia and the others, upon hearing this, felt anxious and angry.

Especially Luo Meng’er, who was afraid of dragging the team down, whispered anxiously to Leng Yu Yan, “What if we lose, what then?”

Leng Yu Yan reassured her, “Just relax; if we lose, I’ll simply take off my veil. Any shame will be on me, not you.”

The more Yu Yan spoke this way, the more Lai Jiajia and the others inside felt even more determined to prove themselves.

At the academy entrance.

Just as Leng Yu Yan was about to get into the horse carriage, Li Yuyue quickly approached and called out to her, “Yu Yan, I’ve had the jade bracelet sent to the border with the fastest horse.”

Leng Yu Yan turned around, “That’s wonderful, I hope Aunt Wang Fei likes it.”

“Mm, do you have time today? I’d like to take you out for a meal.” Worried that she would refuse and seeing Lai Jiajia bouncing over, Li Yuyue added, “Bring Jiajia along too.”