The next day!
Six-thirty in the evening.
Below the apartment building.
Lin Fan furiously swung his head around. He kept feeling that somewhere around him, there were sets of eyes strangely fixated on him. It was a disturbing feeling, the feeling of being watched.
After looking around for a while, he couldn’t determine the source of the eyes. There wasn’t much time left too. It wouldn’t be nice to be late.
As he drove off in his car, three silhouettes emerged from a hidden place.
“Quick, get on the car. Otherwise, we won’t be able to keep up.”
“Hehe, he won’t bring us with him but does he think we can’t go ourselves?”
…
Shanghai Television Station main entrance.
“You must be Teacher Lin,” a young man immediately went forward and greeted him.
He was startled. What did this guy call him?
Teacher Lin?
That’s a nice title.
“Mmm.” Lin Fan nodded without a shred of modesty.
“Teacher Lin, Crew Leader Li has already told me that once you’re here I am to bring you backstage. Do you have anything that you need us to bring?” the programme crew member asked.
Lin Fan shook his head. “Nope.”
“He does, he does. Wait for us.” At that moment, a voice came from afar.
When Lin Fan turned around to look, he was stunned. What are these guys doing here?
Fraud Tian immediately came to Lin Fan’s side and said to the programme crew member, “We’re Master Lin’s assistants”
“Right,” said Zhao Zhong Yang.
Lin Fan sighed, “Isn’t Wang Ming Yang here too? Why didn’t you link up with him?”
Fraud Tian was dumbfounded. They had forgotten to link up with Wang Ming Yang. If they had known, they would have contacted him from the start.
“They’re all my assistants. Please arrange some seats in the audience for them,” said Lin Fan.
“Don’t worry, Teacher Lin. We’ll take care of it. It’s getting late. Shall we head inside? The director wants to explain some things regarding the programme,” said the programme crew member.
“Alright.”
…
It was Lin Fan’s first time at Shanghai Television. When he reached the backstage, there was a group of people already there. Because Fraud Tian and the rest were not invited guests, they were brought to the audience seats by another crew member and allocated seats.
When Lin Fan entered, everyone’s attention was turned to him.
A middle-aged man saw Lin Fan and instantly smiled. “You must be Teacher Lin. I’m the one who contacted you on the phone, Li Guang Rong.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Lin Fan courteously.
Li Guang Rong said, “Director, this is Teacher Lin. Teacher Lin, this is our programme director, Zuo Hu.”
An introduction was done so everyone would know each other.
“Teacher Lin, this is the South Gambling King, Ye Zhen Ming, Teacher Ye. This is the North Gambling King, Ou Yun Xing.” Initially, this programme had been supposed to feature just these two, who had once been prominent individuals in the gambling scene. Later on, due to unforeseen circumstances or perhaps a change of mind, the two of them turned to the anti-gambling industry. Perhaps times had changed and some of the regulated casinos had become more difficult to cheat in.
As for those smaller casinos, they looked down on them. Moreover, if one were to win money there, it would become dangerous. Hence, they entered the anti-gambling industry.
As for the full explanation, no one knew for sure.
Lin Fan looked at the two gambling kings. The Southern one, although he was middle-aged, looked like he was only thirty plus. He had a cocky and cold expression.
The North Gambling King, Ou Yun Xing was already in his forties or fifties. He was balding and out of his ten fingers, he had four missing. He wore spectacles and he nodded at Lin Fan as a way of greeting.
To those two gambling kings, Lin Fan was a stranger. Especially because he was so young, they didn’t believe that he had much ability. But they were both public figures pushing for the anti-gambling cause. They were on television just to boost their popularity, so they listened to whatever the director told them.
The director started speaking, “Later on, Teacher Ye Zhen Ming will go on stage first. The other two of you will sit in the audience for the first part. Halfway through the programme, the two of you will be invited up on stage…”
The director explained the rough sequence of events. Lin Fan just listened to the plan roughly as well. The most important part was probably later on.
As for the rest, he would just express himself and speak his mind. But the important point was that he must not promote gambling on the programme, instead, he had to advise people to avoid gambling.
…
Everything was ready and in place.
There was still a period of time before the start of the programme.
Lin Fan looked at the two other people and they looked back at him. The three of them just stood there with their eyes wide open, looking at each other.
Then, Ye Zhen Ming opened his mouth, “This brother looks unfamiliar.”
Lin Fan smiled. “I’ve never meddled in a casino before, nor have I gambled.”
Ye Zhen Ming was surprised, even that Ou Yun Xing was surprised. It was as if they had never expected Lin Fan to say that.
“Then, you…” What Ye Zhen Ming wanted to say was: What are you going to do on stage later if you’ve never gambled before?
Lin Fan chuckled, “Although I don’t gamble, I’m quite knowledgeable about its skills and techniques.
The two of them were speechless. They felt like this guy wasn’t very reliable and he was exaggerating a little.
…
At that moment, a significant number of Lin Fan’s Weibo followers were sitting in front of their televisions.
“D*mn, it still hasn’t started.”
“What’s the rush? There’s still ten minutes.”
“I never thought that Master Lin would be invited to this program. I heard that initially, it was supposed to just be the North and South Gambling Kings. Now that Master Lin is on as well, who do you think is the best among the three?”
“Master Lin is the best for sure. Didn’t you see that broadcast? His technique was simply earth-shattering.”
I think that may not be the case. I’ve done my research on the North and South Gambling Kings. They’re f*cking impressive, especially that South Gambling King Ye Zhen Ming. He’s known as Asia’s Gambling King. His ability is mind-blowing. He’s never made a mistake and he retired that way.”
“I think that North Gambling King, Ou Yun Xing is impressive. And he’s not young either. He looks just like a veteran. His skill must be insane.”
“Hehe, him? He’s no good at all. I’m afraid you don’t know but he was caught cheating once and that’s why he lost his four fingers. If he really was good, he wouldn’t have made that mistake. That’s why I think Ye Zhen Ming is the really f*cking awesome one.”
“That makes sense.”
“The programme has started! Why is only Ye Zhen Ming on stage? What about the other two?”
…
The programme officially began.
Lin Fan sat below the stage, not anxious at all. That Ye Zhen Ming was on the stage interacting with the host. At the same time, there were two guests who were addicted to gambling sitting in front of Ye Zhen Ming as he demonstrated all kinds of techniques that left the two of them dumbfounded. They were both speechless but in their hearts, they were in awe.
In their eyes, it all seemed unreal.
But to Lin Fan, this was akin to child’s play. It wasn’t interesting at all. However, he didn’t feel any disdain because Ye Zhen Ming’s motive was good. As for himself, although he was f*cking awesome, he only had his skills because of the encyclopedia.
One of the guests exclaimed, “How did you do that?”
Ye Zhen Ming laughed proudly and said, “I can’t tell you that. Right now, we’re on an anti-gambling show. But I can tell you this. You definitely cannot win me, because I can give you any card I want. Take those I just gave you for example. If this were real, wouldn’t you want to bet your whole net worth on it?”
The guest nodded. “Yes, but I don’t believe that the time I lost, it was because they were cheating. It didn’t seem like it.
The host smiled. “Con men aren’t so easily revealed. Why don’t we invite two of our guests up on stage? You can see if they look like con men. Who would like to come on stage?”
At that moment, the audience maniacally raised their hands.
But this had all been planned by the host. He picked Lin Fan and Ou Yun Xing.
When the two of them went on stage, the netizens watching televisions and the live broadcast all cried out excitedly.
“Master Lin is on stage! This is what I want to see, Master Lin shocking the entire crowd.”
“Stop dreaming. This is a television programme, not a one-man-show. Besides, this Ye Zhen Ming is more active, he really knows how to control the conversation.”
“Hehe, that is nothing in front of Master Lin. I have complete faith in Master Lin.”