Forces of Temptation

Counting chips.

Note the odds.

Licensing.

Roll the dice.

Jiang Fang completed every job perfectly.

Except for a little hand tremor when dealing cards at the table for the first time, Jiang Fang's quick thinking, adaptability and perfectionism are enough to handle everything.

In the hundreds of late nights when he first entered the casino, at home, he often freed up one hand to practice cutting cards, turning cards, changing cards, dropping cards, and thumb slapping with one hand.

The other hand was cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning up broken wine bottles.

At the same time, he listened to his mother's drunken sleep talk, listening to her express her love and miss for her father for the thousandth time.

Occasionally, one or two words in my mother's sleep were addressed to him.

She sang lullabies mumbled to her imaginary infant son.

And Jiang Fang was no longer a child.

Jiang Fang always smiled before saying anything.

This gentleman's elegant appearance was cultivated by his father.

The oriental beauty gene combines Ukrainian blood, forming a style of its own, and it is a scenery worth stopping in the casino.

However, people who come to the casino are all about luck, and most of them hold incomplete and deformed concepts.

For example, the only time Jiang Fang was beaten was not because he miscalculated the chips, but because of the tattoo on his neck.

——The gamblers on the side he dealt the cards lost miserably, and the five big and three rough people rushed forward and slapped Jiang Fang across the face.

The reason is simple: the tattoo on his neck is an eyesore, which brings bad luck to the guests.

However, this is a small probability event.

After Jiang Fang bought a pair of chokers and put them on, the situation improved a lot.

Once Jiang Fang dealt a good card, some gamblers who were flushed with excitement would cheer and stuff handfuls of chips into the pockets of his overalls.

Jiang Fang has watched tens of thousands of Texas hold'em games and thousands of games of slot machines.

Every day, tens of millions of chips flowed through his fingertips like running water.

The dice rolled flexibly at his fingertips easily ruled a person's life.

Jiang Fang watched all kinds of things in the world with cold eyes in the most materialistic underground world.

Pole dancer with disheveled hair takes off her lace panties on a high platform, tie her hair up, and sways towards the luckiest gambler of the day, kissing his wine-smelling lips in exchange for a big tip .

The gambler who had just won tens of thousands of yuan and was complacent, lost millions in an instant, beating the machine that had swallowed up his life's hard work and howling and crying.

An old and dizzy old gambler, holding a property title certificate, trying to sell his only real estate to other gamblers in exchange for the last chance to stand up.

The benevolent loan shark looked at the young man kneeling on the ground like a dog with a smile, shook his head and sighed, then waved to the people behind him, and dragged the gambler who was howling "give me some more time" like a pig into the closed room. small room.

The gamblers looked curiously at the room that was said to be the execution room, and pricked up their ears, trying to taste and chew the suffering of others.

Jiang Fang buried his head in arranging the cards, expressionless.

As a staff member, he went on duty to clean the execution room specially used for criminals and debtors.

He had swiped a severed finger in the corner.

He also wiped away the remaining blood on the table.

Jiang Fang could feel his heart harden unconsciously.

In the next second, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, he pulled a hand of beautiful flower cards to attract the attention of the gamblers who were running away.

He won applause.

The applause drowned out the hoarse screams in the execution room.

Under the neon lights of the crazily spinning casino, the bright pink in the corners of Jiang Fang's eyes shone with unquenchable light.

Like sultry eye waves, like fine tears.

Jiang Fang's fixed income is $30 per hour.

Tips are countless.

Soon, he was making enough to pay for the exorbitant fees of the alcohol and drug rehab centers.

On the day my mother was forcibly sent to a rehab center, she said a lot of pleading and harsh words.

Jiang Fang didn't take it seriously.

He just sat alone on the steps under the apartment for a long time after his mother got in the car.

After sitting until his legs felt a little numb, he got up and went back to the empty apartment, where he packed up his belongings and folded his clothes.

After six o'clock in the afternoon, the street lamps came on on time and came in through the window, illuminating everything in the house, bright or dark.

Along with the hum of the street lamps was the sound of the impoverished violinist in the attic.

My father loved books during his lifetime. Novels, magazines, illustration collections, comics, and scientific newspapers occupied an entire wall.

Jiang Fang lay down on his back on the clean bed, letting the sharp and square reflections of the windows and bookcases fall on his cheeks and silver hair.

He is like a dead fire that has been frozen, breathing slowly and taking a nap quietly with the decadent and melancholy accompaniment in the apartment that smells of alcohol.

Most casinos work at night.

After not being distracted from taking care of his mother, Jiang Fang had another period of leeway that he could use.

Jiang Fang's student status has long been cancelled.

And when he goes back to school, he won't be allowed to work.

Jiang Fang began to explore and find his own way of balance in life and work.

At night, he works for the casino.

During the day, he wears the "supervisor certificate" he made and an elegant suit made for him by the casino, randomly picks a school that looks good, enters any classroom grandly, and sits down in a corner of the classroom.

At that time, Kiev State strictly inspected education, and there were often school inspectors who came to various schools from time to time to inspect the teaching situation.

Jiang Fang is tall and tall, with a calm and elegant demeanor throughout his body, without any guilt, and has memorized a lot of relevant information on the local education website.

Even though his face is still a little green, Jiang Fang's image of a civil servant is still serious after carefully taking care of his hairstyle and clothing, and wearing a pair of cool Crochet thin-rimmed square glasses.

He even met a physics teacher who had gambled in a casino and owed a debt in one of the high school classes he attended.

Not only did the teacher not recognize Jiang Fang, but he took off his hat and bowed to the young inspector.

Jiang Fang bowed slightly to return the salute.

He thought it was funny.

But it didn't stop him from taking notes under his fake "inspection record".

In addition, Jiang Fang will also sign in for some college students who are not good at academics, attend lectures, take notes, and write papers for them.

When the casino was not his turn, he went to the theater as a roundman.

Jiang Fang often enjoys "Salome" with folded arms, and at the same time conceives a thesis assignment for a student majoring in music.

At the age of 16, Jiang Fang, a croupier, gained his fame in the underground casino because of his excellent skills.

Joker.

It's like a double-sided portrayal of him over the years.

At the age of 17, he received a business order.

There was an international student who went to Ukraine to study, and his family was very rich.

He was so rich that he barely finished high school with almost all C grades, and still relied on donations from his parents and a fake athlete certificate to enter a very good local university.

To celebrate being admitted, he got carried away abroad.

When he realized something was wrong, there was only half a day left before his university registration deadline.

There was no way, he urgently contacted a circle of his friends, and found Jiang Fang, who had the best reputation in the local substitute school.

The rich second generation asked him to take his spare key, get his registration materials, register for him, and help him attend a few days of classes by the way.

About half a month later, he kissed the hot beauty goodbye, patted his butt contentedly, and returned to Kiev from sunny Hawaii.

But after he came back, he realized that he had become the leader of the study group, a member of the accordion club, and an enhancer of the school's ice hockey team without knowing it.

He turned pale with fright, and hurriedly found Master Jiang Fangxing to question him.

In the coffee shop, Jiang Fang picked up the cup calmly, looked at the young man who was two years older than him, and asked, "Isn't that good?"

"What you want is a degree and a good resume. It's four years of studying abroad. As for what you have learned, it doesn't matter."

Jiang Fang said: "I am the opposite. I want to go to school, and what I want is this experience."

He rested his chin lightly on the back of his crossed hands: "We each get what we need. This will be a good deal for you and me."

The rich second generation swallowed his saliva.

This is undoubtedly a huge temptation.

He went back and thought about it for two or three days, and discussed it with his cronies for a while. He felt that spending a sum of money to buy four years of unrestrained happiness didn't seem bad.

After making up his mind, he called Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang over there had already expected it.

He was sitting in the library with a beautiful arc on the corner of his mouth.

"Then, Mr. Cabin, I wish us a happy long-term cooperation."

Jiang Fang got a stable big client at the price of temporarily losing the right to use his name.

But it doesn't matter.

In the past four years, Jiang Fang has been conscientious, hanging out in schools, ice hockey teams, accordion clubs and underground casinos, pretending to be perfect.

His mysterious and gentle temperament, his beautiful accordion playing, his occasional magic tricks, his deep understanding of all kinds of wines in the world and his ability to taste them make him so charming at any time and any place. shoot.

Especially after he became an adult, men and women who were willing to flirt with him followed suit like crucian carp in a river.

In the ice hockey team, there was a cheerleader who confessed to him in public.

In the casino, there is never a shortage of men and women whistling obscenely at him.

Logically speaking, Jiang Fang shouldn't feel lonely.

He can indulge.

But he doesn't like anyone, and he doesn't get close to anyone.

The point is, he never gives people a feeling of alienation and coldness.

Anyone around him will feel happy and comfortable from the bottom of their hearts, even if they are rejected by Jiang Fang, they still feel that they can still be good friends with him for the rest of their lives.

It took a long, long time for these people to realize that they and Jiang Fang were not even friends.

Jiang Fang has an extensive social circle and knows every friend's situation.

He can tell the truth about everyone's situation like a few treasures.

But correspondingly, no one knows what kind of person he is.

... No one knows what kind of mood he felt when he came home and looked at his mother who was drunk and passed out in the frozen vomit at the door.

Maybe even Ms. Jiang herself didn't know.

Long-term alcohol dependence has long destroyed her sanity and brain.

In the past few years, she has repeatedly appeared in major alcohol rehabilitation centers and drug rehabilitation centers.

Come out and go in again.

It's nothing more than quitting and drinking again.

Even if Jiang Fang personally sent her to the Alcoholics Anonymous Association and supervised her, she could escape midway while going to the toilet and get drunk in some unknown tavern.

As time passed, Jiang Fang no longer restrained her.

He opened the heavy anti-theft door with a brass key, silently picked her up horizontally, carried her to the bed, wiped her head and face with a hot towel, kissed her forehead, and said good night to her softly .

Then he called the rehab center again.

When he hung up the phone after communicating with the staff, he heard his mother whispering in Ukrainian.

"I, am I... am I sorry for you?"

Jiang Fang stroked her prematurely dry and gray hair and the deep lines in the corners of her eyes.

He didn't answer directly, but said softly like he did when he was a child: "My angel. Go to sleep."

But alcoholics' introspection and regret are often as short-lived as a flash in the pan.

Jiang Fang would no longer believe in anything easily.

He tricked his mother, as he would any "friend," into at least getting drunk tonight.

Fortunately, he still has ice hockey.

Ice hockey is a gentlemanly and violent sport.

You can choose to be a rose poet waving a bat and dancing on the ice, or you can choose to be a flower of blood blooming on the ice.

Jiang Fang vented all the depression accumulated under elegance and gentlemanship on this ice hockey rink, which was his father's favorite during his lifetime.

——"Joker is a born fighter."

A Russian veteran who works as a security guard in the underground casino where Jiang Fang works.

This is how he commented on Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang is light in stature and soft in muscle, possessing the brute strength of Eastern Europeans and the flexibility of Asians.

On the ice, the protective gear is heavy and wide, and it is not easy to use strength. In ice hockey, the fights often involve back and forth, punch after punch, and black bear-like clumsy and rough punches.

Jiang Fang is different.

His gentle and elegant figure looks more like the main player in possession of the ball, but when others challenge him, he can easily tear off his gloves, throw the club, and punch him with a short body, and then he slams up.

He once smashed half of the opponent's face shield with a punch like this.

Of course, in bumps and bumps, injuries are inevitable.

If Jiang Fang's finger was injured, so red and swollen that he couldn't bend or stretch it, he would ask the casino for a day off.

The next day, he would cover the wound with a one-off rose tattoo and play a poker hand in front of guests, to the screams and whistles.

In his junior year, Jiang Fang's brave performance in a game won him the attention of the Kiev State Cavalry Hockey Team.

Jiang Fang signed a one-year contract with them.

The reason is the good pay.

In fact, Jiang Fang didn't know why he wanted to make money for a long time.

He just thought his mother might need it.

So, he wants more.

Other schools and community hockey teams in Kiev have long heard of the "Mr. Cabin" reputation.

They all knew that this was a madman-like, aggressive beauty enhancer.

No one dared to provoke him easily.

Because when he fights, it seems that his life is not his own.

The Cavalry's road to the championship is not too difficult.

On the day the competition ended, Jiang Fang got a large bonus as promised.

However, that afternoon, when he returned home with his golf bag on his back, Jiang Fang saw the staff of the Alcohol Rehabilitation Center who had dealt with him many times at the door of the apartment.

When he saw himself, he took off his hat, his nose was red, and he wiped the tip of his nose awkwardly.

... Jiang Fang stopped.

A shadow that he had envisioned for a long time but never arrived slowly enveloped him.

As he expected.

Mother passed away.

Because of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in sleep.

Fortunately no pain.

That year, Jiang Fang was 21 years old.

Although no one in the community knew Jiang Fang's real occupation, they all knew that Jiang Fang had been working for his mother.

However, in the eyes of others, this young man who was gentle, filial, and devoted himself to supporting his mother for several years did not shed a single tear at the funeral.

Jiang Fang used all the warmth he experienced in childhood to heal and compensate for his scarred youth like overdraft.

Now, the last of his light was burnt out.

...Jiang Fang thought, he is free.

After that, Jiang Fang completed his graduation thesis for Mr. Cabin and handed in almost all A's.

After that, Jiang Fang sold their house, quit his job in the casino, and embarked on his long solo journey.

Jiang Fang's footsteps covered every corner of Ukraine.

He practiced longboarding alone on the abandoned highway, with an extinct volcano behind him that could no longer erupt.

Wearing black sports gloves, he tapped his fingertips lightly on the rough ground as he bent over the bend.

The temperature of high-speed friction made him feel a short stimulation.

But the excitement was fleeting.

A few months later, Jiang Fang took the test for a truck driver's license.

Because he heard that there is a section of a certain company's delivery route, the scenery there is the best, and you won't get tired of looking at it for ten years.

But within a few months, he resigned.

He has had enough of Ukraine.

So, Jiang Fang applied for a passport and left the place where he grew up.

He spends wantonly on food, play, and housing without restraint.

When he ran out of money, he would step into the local casino, no matter how big or small, and gamble on a few hands.

Sometimes, Jiang Fang would be targeted because he won too much.

In less than a quarter of an hour, someone would invite him to wait in the VIP room of the casino.

The small manager of the casino will hand him a sum of money politely.

The implication is that if you make a friend, you will accept it as soon as you see it.

This is the unspoken rule of the industry.

Once the casino meets someone who is capable, they will not tear their face easily. The common way is to give a little money and see off the customer peacefully.

It was this money that Jiang Fang wanted to earn.

Jiang Fang flicked the banknotes in his palm, and walked out of the noisy casino amidst the manager's hypocritical smile.

Standing under the huge, wide, dark blue sky, he felt alone.

But he also felt that loneliness was not the same thing.

Jiang Fang seems to have a lot, and seems to have a lot of dreams.

But only he knows that he is just a game of life.

……

Jiang Fang said gently to Nan Zhou: "My name is Jiang Fang. 'Fang' means 'a boat that is not tied', and it means living in seclusion."

"It seems that a name is a wish after all. A wish that cannot be realized is called a wish."

Nan Zhou opened his mouth, wanting to say something: "I..."

Jiang Fang smiled beautifully at him, hissed softly, and blocked back what Nan Zhou wanted to say lightly.

"Everyone has their own story..."

Jiang Fang put his hand on Nan Zhou's shoulder.

With Nan Zhou's imperceptible strength, his fingers circled around the tooth marks on the back of his neck.

"When to say it is up to you."

"For example, I think the moonlight is very good today, so I want to tell you about myself."

"Whenever you think it's time, you can tell me about you."

"Anytime... I'd be happy to hear it."

Nan Zhou blinked, looking at Jiang Fang's face immersed in the darkness, his gaze was novel and serious, as if he was meeting him for the first time in his life.

Jiang Fang asked, "What are you looking at?"

Nanzhou: "The bedtime story is very good. I want to sleep."

Jiang Fang smiled freely: "It's a great honor to help our Teacher Nan—"

The next moment, his body froze suddenly.

Because Nan Zhou hugged him without any warning, and embraced his shoulders without any shame.

After realizing that his height and body shape could not wrap Jiang Fang well, Nan Zhou took advantage of the opportunity to put his head on his shoulder, and naturally passed under his arm with one hand, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Jiang Fang's blood lost its ability to circulate.

Jiang Fang couldn't do anything that would allow him to talk and laugh freely and be slick in all directions.

With a sour voice, he asked in a low voice, "What... are you doing?"

Nan Zhou said calmly, "Sleep."

As he said that, he raised his head, and two silver stars were shining in his cold eyes: "When I was young, if I felt lonely, I would think that it would be great if I could be hugged like this."

Nan Zhou asked for his opinion fairly and openly: "Do you want to be hugged by me like this?"

Jiang Fang: "..."

He closed his eyes, feeling that the skin on his waist held by Nan Zhou's arms was scorching hot, and the muscles on his waist were throbbing slightly.

Nan Zhou: "You can push me away if you're not happy."

Jiang Fang: "..."

Nan Zhou leaned on his shoulder: "Then, good night."

Jiang Fang's "good night" was not whispered in Nan Zhou's ear until after Nan Zhou fell asleep.

Jiang Fang's fingertips gently brushed Nan Zhou's hair.

He stroked the ground up and down, with neither light nor heavy strength.

He kept his voice very soft, like a whisper, for fear of waking Nan Zhou up.

In that case, Jiang Fang might lose the courage to speak his mind.

"I hate being in love with someone, it usually means I'm losing control of myself."

"I was terrified."

"I was terrified of becoming like my mother."

"To love someone madly and desperately is a dangerous thing."

"I've seen that kind of madness firsthand, so I thought I wouldn't repeat it."

Jiang Fang paused.

"But I seem to be wrong. The power of heredity is great."

"So...Mr. Nan, I'm probably crazy to like you."