Chapter 12: If you can beat me, you win.

The old man smiled and said, “Mei Mei^[1]Little sister, you like horse racing too?”  

Ye Tianhui replied, “I don’t know much about it yet. I bought a magazine to learn first.”  

The old man: “There’s a lot to learn here. Take your time.”  

Ye Tianhui listened and agreed.  

At first, she thought that her skill in judging horses was enough to make a fortune, but now she realized that there was indeed a vast amount of knowledge involved.  

Setting aside the complicated rules about weights, handicaps, and class matchups, even just understanding the variety of betting pools required considerable effort.  

The day after tomorrow, there would be an inter-class race for betting, and she had to place her bet tomorrow. The time left for her was very limited. She had to study quickly tonight and place her bet tomorrow once she figured things out.  

She went upstairs and returned to her room. First, she put the two bags of snacks on the table and opened them to take a look. Ye Wenyin’s bag contained common snacks, but Gu Shizhang’s bag was surprisingly comprehensive—it even included siu mai and crab roe buns.  

Ye Tianhui was already starving after the day’s events. She took out a crab roe bun and swallowed it in two bites. The filling had large chunks of crab meat and roe, sweet and savory, and incredibly delicious.  

Unable to resist, she ate three in a row before trying other snacks.  

After this meal, she was almost full. She drank some water, considering this meal to be dealt with.  

She packed the remaining snacks back into the food box, thinking that luckily the weather wasn’t too hot right now. They probably wouldn’t spoil by the day after tomorrow. This way, she could save on food expenses for the next couple of days.  

After eating, she grabbed her towel and a change of clothes to wash up, but it was a busy time, and she ended up waiting in line for a while.  

While waiting, people inevitably chatted. Most of the people here were poor, many of them from the mainland, so there was a sense of shared hardship among them as they talked about ways to make a living.  

Ye Tianhui overheard that two young women seemed to be considering entering the flesh trade.  

She looked up at them. They were delicate and pretty—likely the kind of well-behaved girls who, back in the mainland, would have been particularly proper. But now, driven by circumstances, they had resigned themselves to their fate.  

Finally, it was Ye Tianhui’s turn. She quickly washed up, changed her clothes, and came out.  

As she walked down the corridor, a man in flared pants approached from the opposite direction. The corridor was narrow, so Ye Tianhui stepped aside. However, the man stared at her chest.  

Ye Tianhui was wearing a white shirt with all the buttons neatly fastened. Still, having just showered, her damp hair clung to the front of her neck, causing the shirt collar to stick slightly to her fair skin. In the eyes of others, it was somewhat alluring.  

The man in flared pants leaned closer, reaching out as if to touch her, and with a grin said, “Hey, Meizai^[2](Cantonese dialectal, Conghua Hakka)- girl, let me give you a start. How about a red snapper bill?”  

Ye Tianhui glanced at him sideways. After a moment’s thought, she understood. He thought she was a prostitute and was offering her a hundred dollars to sleep with him.  

She furrowed her brow slightly, feeling confused.  

In her previous life, no one had ever dared to treat her like this. Who would dare?  

No one dared!  

In this life, back in the mainland, she was young, and the social norms were conservative, so no one dared to treat her like this.  

But now, in Hong Kong, first it was Li San, and now this random guy? Both had the audacity to harbor such thoughts about her?  

She found it hard to understand and said, “You want to give me a hundred dollars? To sleep with you?”  

The man in flared pants nodded. “Yes, yes! Don’t think it’s too little. It’s cheap. The first time’s always a bit awkward, but you’ll get the hang of it!”  

Ye Tianhui raised her hand, looked at him indifferently, and gestured for him to come closer. “Come closer.”  

Thinking she had agreed, the man in flared pants leaned in.  

Before he knew what was happening, he felt a blur before his eyes.  

Without even realizing what Ye Tianhui had done, he was slammed to the ground.  

Ye Tianhui raised her foot, the tip of her cloth shoe pressing against his back. Her face was completely expressionless.  

The man in flared pants cried out in pain, “Hey, hey! Let me go!”

Ye Tianhui said coolly, “You little bastard, go take a piss and look at your reflection. See how much you’re worth. A scrawny little bean sprout like you dares to come humiliate yourself in front of me? How did your mother raise you?”  

After finishing, she pressed down harder with her foot, causing the man in flared pants to yelp in pain and cry out.  

The commotion attracted a crowd, and people were astonished by the scene.  

Everyone knew that Ye Tianhui was a frail-looking young girl with no companions. They assumed she wouldn’t last long before ending up in the same situation as the other girls in the building, doing flesh trade work.  

They had seen such stories unfold many times before.  

But who would have thought she was this capable!  

Who could have imagined that such a delicate-looking girl was this good at fighting!  

The crowd buzzed with chatter and gathered to watch. Even the few gangsters living in the building were shocked.  

This girl had such impressive skills!  

Ye Tianhui knew that she couldn’t leave this slum for the time being. Since she couldn’t leave, she had to establish her authority so that no one would dare to bully her.  

She released the man in flared pants and said, “If you’re not convinced, let’s go again. I’ll fight you with one hand. If you win, it’s your victory.”  

The man in flared pants, unwilling to back down, struggled to get up and tried to attack her again.  

However, Ye Tianhui was already adept at handling such situations. She sidestepped effortlessly and countered with a quick hold, pinning him down. With another swift motion of her foot, the man hit the ground with a thud, landing face-first in an embarrassing heap.  

The surrounding crowd clapped and cheered.  

The man in flared pants, now covered in dirt and humiliated, tried to struggle but was too weak. His face turned red with effort, yet he couldn’t get up.  

In the end, he had no choice but to stay lying on the ground, listening to the mocking laughter of the crowd.  

Only then did Ye Tianhui let him go. “I don’t mess with others if they don’t mess with me. But if someone crosses me, I’ll beat them to death”  

With that, she clapped her hands, picked up her belongings, and went back to her room.  

The onlookers, still eager for more excitement, reluctantly dispersed while continuing to discuss the incident.  

Ye Tianhui listened to the noise outside and understood that her display of strength had likely served as a warning. No one would dare provoke her easily after this.  

She paid no further attention, turned on the light, and focused on the racing schedule. The day after tomorrow marked the start of the racing season, with two Class 5 races and one Class 4 race.  

Among them, there were a few horses in one of the Class 5 races that she favored.  

She planned to place her bets, but there were many betting methods.  

For example, “Win” required predicting the first-place horse in the race. “Straight Trifecta” required correctly predicting the top three horses in the exact order. “Trifecta Box” allowed for predicting any of the top three horses in any order.  

Each category had its own prize pool, with varying levels of difficulty and rewards.  

The variety of options made it challenging to maximize earnings. It required careful analysis of the information at hand to choose the option with the highest probability, preferably targeting the largest prize pool.  

Ye Tianhui reviewed the horses participating in tomorrow’s races again and realized, unfortunately, that the horses she favored were in different races. It wasn’t realistic to bet on all three placing in the top three in a single race.  

Without much knowledge of the other horses, she didn’t dare take blind risks.  

The easiest option was “Win,” but while it appeared simple, the odds weren’t high.  

The best choice for her was the “Treble.”  

The so-called “Treble” required betting on the winners of three consecutive races. If all three predictions were correct, it was a major win. If only the first two were correct and the third horse placed second, a consolation prize was awarded.  

This was the most advantageous option for Ye Tianhui.  

After much deliberation, she finally selected two horses for each race. She planned to bet on each horse individually and purchase multiple tickets to ensure she wouldn’t lose money.

This really tested her math skills.  

Ye Tianhui did some quick calculations. With two selections per race and three races, there were eight possible combinations.  

Given the current odds of 43-to-1 for the Treble Jackpot, buying eight shares meant that if she hit the jackpot with just one of those shares, she could earn about five times her investment.  

If luck was on her side and she scored a consolation prize, she might make even more money.  

She went over her rent and living expenses, factoring in her potential monthly outlays and her current funds. After weighing everything, she decided to invest 300 HKD in horse racing.  

This way, even if she lost everything, she’d still have enough to survive for a month or two without being left destitute and starving.  

And if she won, she could potentially get a five- to sixfold return—around 1,500 HKD. Such a windfall would give her the breathing room to explore more opportunities.  

Having made up her mind, Ye Tianhui prepared 300 HKD and decided to head to the betting station first thing the next morning.  

—

Since it was the last day for betting, Ye Tianhui headed straight to a nearby betting station after getting up the next day.  

In Hong Kong, with its booming gambling industry, horse racing was a sport everyone participated in. The wealthy could own premium horses, while the more affluent middle class could place bets over the phone. For regular citizens, going to a betting station was the only option. Fortunately, betting stations were scattered all across Hong Kong.  

Ye Tianhui quickly found a station nearby. Outside, colorful posters adorned the walls, the most striking one featuring a jockey galloping on horseback. The jockey’s name was Ke Zhiming.  

Wasn’t this the very name Gu Shizhang had mentioned—the man who revolutionized Hong Kong horse racing and ushered in an era of local jockeys?  

She read the introduction underneath the poster. Ke Zhiming was indeed extraordinary, boasting a win rate of 40%, an impressive feat by any standard.  

After a quick look, she entered the betting station.  

The station was manned by an old uncle. Initially, Ye Tianhui thought she would need to explain how she wanted to place her bets, but the man was clearly a seasoned pro.  

All she had to do was pick two horses per race, and in no time, he calculated her combinations, registered her bets, and asked for payment.  

Ye Tianhui was surprised—something she had spent hours figuring out the night before, the old man seemed to handle effortlessly.  

Clearly, practice made perfect. For someone like him, placing horse racing bets required no mental effort at all.  

After paying 300 HKD, she received her betting tickets.  

The tickets had green floral patterns on the edges and red in the center, with “The Hong Kong Jockey Club” printed prominently. Below that were the words “SPECIAL CASH SWEEP ON THE” and further down, the details of her bets in traditional Chinese.  

As Ye Tianhui reviewed her tickets, she felt someone’s eyes on her.  

Looking up, she spotted a group of young men in the corner of the street. They were dressed in floral shirts with open collars, their hair permed, exuding a fashionable but roguish vibe.  

They were obviously triad members, and judging by their demeanor, probably ones doing well for themselves.  

Over the past few days, Ye Tianhui had overheard enough conversations to understand that triads varied in rank and organization.  

She could handle people like Li San or deal with sleazy men in the slum, but it was best not to provoke organized triad members, especially those who traveled in packs.  

She tucked her betting tickets away, lowered her head, and walked off. Even after putting some distance between herself and the station, she could feel the triad members still watching her from a distance.  

That day, Ye Tianhui stayed home, choosing caution over curiosity, waiting for the races to begin. 

TN:

5 Chapters unlocked today. Merry Christmas everyone.