Qi Qingyao looked at the confident Zhang Tieyuan with a superficial smile then turned to Ma Sanye.

"Since this bet is too big, let's do it like this. Let's make a simple agreement. We'll have the village head write up a contract and then sign it. The losing party will have to own up to it."

​​

Zhang Tieyuan angrily denounced, "I'm the one who is afraid that you'll go back on the contract."

Ma Sanye noticed that he was being pulled into the fray. He had initially just been watching the excitement as an onlooker but at this moment, he was nervous. However, Zhang Tieyuan had urged him. After he brought a pen and paper over, Ma Sanye's hand that was holding the pen was even trembling.

"Do you really want me to write it out?"

To bet on the deed of the farm and land was akin to betting one's life away.

If he lost, he would have nothing left.

Qi Qingyao looked behind Zhang Tieyuan at the agitated but silent son and daughter-in-law of the old Zhang family as well as Zhang Cuiyun who had been caught up in the gambling frenzy. She shook his head and said, "Just write it, Ma Sanye. If you don't, I'm afraid that I might refuse to hand over a thousand taels later. This is, after all, not a small amount."

Ma Sanye's fingers trembled as he wrote up the contract nervously.

Once he was done writing it, Qi Qingyao asked Zhang Cuiyun and others to confirm it.

"This is your last chance. Do you all agree to your father betting the deed to the farm and land as well?"

Zhang Tieyuan's son and daughter-in-law both said nothing, only swallowing unconsciously as they glanced at the ten pieces of paper money on the table agitatedly.

Zhang Cuiyun also made no sound. Her head was lowered and she kept biting on the nail of her left thumb.

Their silence was their acquiesce.

Zhang Tieyuan looked at Qi Qingyao and mocked disdainfully, "Little Qi, don't tell me that you no longer feel like gambling now that things are coming to an end and you're afraid that you might lose?

He called Qi Qingyao "Little Qi" enthusiastically in the tone of an elder who was admonishing a junior.

Qi Qingyao still had that indifferent smile on her face as she pointed to the contract. "I just think it's a big deal. It's better for your entire family to sign it."

"Then we'll sign it. All of you, sign the paper." Zhang Tieyuan took the lead. After being the first to sign it, he urged his entire family to hurry up and sign it too.

Zhang Cuiyun, her younger brother, and her sister-in-law also signed it in a hurry.

Ma Sanye then took the contract and looked at it. Once confirming that everything was in place, several others inked their fingerprints on it as well.

Ma Sanye felt a little overwhelmed internally. To have written a contract, even inking their fingerprints on it; this had legal power. According to the laws of Northern Liang, if Old Man Zhang lost, the deed to the farm and land will all...

But Old Man Zhang should not lose.

The young lady of the Qi family was unlucky today.

Everyone threw a glance at the contract and felt their bodies becoming heavier, even losing a bit of the earlier excitement.

"I'm so nervous."

"What's there to be nervous about?"

"Eleventh Daughter would lose one thousand taels if she loses later, is this not nerve-wracking?"

"She's extremely rich and is not afraid of losing. It's Old Man Zhang and his family who will gain divine success this time. The way I see it, once Old Man Zhang changes his fortune, he and his entire family will be living in Qingzhou City!"

"I think the girl has a formidable mentality. She has already lost more than 100 taels. If it were me, my legs would have turned to jelly and I'd have pissed myself. She's about to lose more than 1,000 taels very soon yet she's still laughing! I fear that she might have gone mad."

"That's right, it must be the madness in her bones that have yet to be treated."

"Madness or stupidity, I don't think she's cured of either of them."

Qi Qingyao did not take any of their buzzing chatter to heart at all.

Behind her, Jiang Yeqian smiled silently.

Jiang Yeqian took a look at this group of obnoxious villagers rejoicing stupidly and found it amusing.

What was even more amusing was that Zhang Tieyuan's daughter was actually a gambler as well but the family did not have any money for her to gamble with. If she had some money, she definitely would have been the same as her father, a gambler down to her core.

His son… was also the same.

A gambler who did not know how to quit when he was ahead. The day would come when they would fall beyond their ability to save themselves.

It was just a matter of time.