Super Zoo

The 2,200-meter middle-distance race ended quickly, and as all the horses crossed the finish line, the winning list flashed on the big screen.

"Wow, I see Mr. Su again!" the host exclaimed excitedly throughout the venue, "I wonder if it's the same Mr. Su from before, if it is, then he's made a fortune."

"Just who is this Mr. Su, he's practically a god of horses!"

The other host joked on the side, "Bet every race, win every race. If this keeps up, he'll buy out the entire Horse Club!"

The 'Mr. Su' who won first place bought three types of bets and hit a trifecta.

Trifecta means that in this race, he accurately predicted the first, second, and third place horses.

With 14 horses participating in this middle-distance race, to choose three out of 14, the odds are, combining permutations, a total of 2,184 possibilities, making it a super jackpot, a low-probability event.

On the big screen, after taxes, Mr. Su's prize money started with a "4" and was followed by a long string of digits, with a total of eight digits before the decimal point.

The entire racetrack was boiling with excitement, and even though large prizes are often handed out in horse racing, such instances of winning tens of millions at once are not common and hardly occur a few times in a season.

However, those who frequently bet on horses have seen more of the world, and winning tens of millions in one race is astonishing, but if placed in the history of betting on horses in Xiangjiang, such prizes have been awarded quite a few times. Moreover, there are so many ways to bet on horses, and the vast majority are done through telephone or off-track betting, so even though there's some surprise at 'Mr. Su's' good fortune, the gamblers at the racetrack remained calm and made their bets for the next race.

At this time, "Mr. Su" was down by the lower track with Nangong, observing the horses that would be running in the next race.

Nangong was in no mood to watch the horses at the moment! Her little heart was almost leaping out of her chest, and her face was flushed, barely able to stand straight. If it weren't for Suming supporting her, she would have nearly collapsed with weak knees the moment she saw "Mr. Su" winning on the big screen.

"Stay calm, just stay calm. It's only tens of millions. The assets in your husband's name, if converted, also amount to tens of millions," he said.

Suming himself couldn't even be convinced by his words, let alone Nangong.

He put a lot of effort with Zhao Yun's help behind the scenes, and after a year, he managed to establish several companies with assets totaling tens of millions.

But now, one trip, a little over an hour of betting on horses, and it's over forty million in the account. Although it's in Hong Kong dollars, converted to Huaxia currency, it's also over the forty million mark!

An hour of joy equates to a year of hard work! It's the hard work of several lifetimes for an ordinary person!

"A horse doesn't get fat without night grass, a man doesn't get rich without a windfall. No wonder people in Xiangjiang love gambling so much!"

Now he truly understood why so many people in Xiangjiang liked betting on horses. Many poor people would rather skip a meal to save money to gamble.

With an investment of just a few tens of dollars, hitting it big just once could completely change one's destiny.

And the odds for this game are much better than the lottery! Pure luck bets like win bets have about a 10% chance, and even the most difficult quadrella has a chance of one in over twenty thousand.

Whether it was the British Government or the Special Administrative Region Government, they allowed legal betting on horses, which to a great extent even played a role in stabilizing the society.

"Could it be that by the time we leave the racetrack, we'll have become billionaires?" Nangong was already starting to float away, with two more races remaining. According to Suming's current unstoppable 'luck,' casually hitting it big again and raking in a hundred million was entirely possible.

The old uncle, who had been following behind for insider tips earlier, had squeezed his way up to Suming at some point, pressing down his straw hat and leaning in to whisper with a chuckle, "Mr. Su, may I have a word with you?"

The address had unconsciously changed from 'young lad' to 'Mr. Su.'

Hearing the old man utter 'Mr. Su,' Nangong glared at him fiercely. This old man was too crafty; the title 'Mr. Su' now carried too much weight, and letting others hear it could cause trouble.

"Sure," Suming nodded and led Nangong away from the smaller track.

The lame old uncle limped to the second floor and took them both to a 'Happy Stand.'

The so-called 'Happy Stand' is a kind of semi-circular enclosure that juts outward, where small groups of friends can watch the horse races, drink beer, and chat. It's semi-open, offering some privacy.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Su. Uncle here is treating you to a beer, and you, lovely lady, don't need to be so nervous. This is the Horse Club, not Kowloon City. No one dares to snatch your purse here," he said.

Once they reached the 'Happy Stand' on the second floor, the lame uncle seemed to adopt an air of authority, generously gesturing for the waiter to bring over a few cans of Blue Girl beer.

Seeing the old uncle's demeanor, it seemed he wasn't there to ask for any 'inside tips.' Suming squeezed Nangong's hand to signal her not to worry and said with a smile, "Uncle, what should I call you?"

"Just call me Mr. Li."

Mr. Li put his cane aside and asked straightforwardly, "Su Sheng, are you planning to place bets on the last two races as well?"

Suming shrugged, "With my luck running this hot, not gambling would be an insult to the heavens."

"Good, young man should have the guts to fight and struggle! When I was your age, I had even more courage than you do!"

Mr. Li nodded, not only did he not say things like 'quit while you're ahead,' but instead, he gave Suming a thumbs up in admiration. However, he quickly changed the subject with a chuckle, "But, you should also leave a way out for others, shouldn't you?"

Upon hearing Mr. Li say this, Suming understood.

A way out? For whom? The implication was already quite clear.

The gambling world is the gambling world, official backing or not, it's all the same. A few tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands don't matter much, but the concept of gambling tens of millions in one night is entirely different. Nearly the entire day's profit for the Horse Club had fallen into his own pocket, which was enough to concern them.

Moreover, he had been winning consistently, and if he continued to bet on the last two races, as Nangong had predicted, it could very well exceed a billion.

"Mr. Li, I didn't know before that the Horse Club actually had connections with the triads." Suming didn't agree immediately, but instead changed the topic.

Mr. Li laughed heartily, "This is Xiangjiang. If it were a few decades earlier, go out and see – which restaurants, which gambling dens, which bus lines didn't have the shadow of triads behind them. However, I have no association with the Horse Club, and even if it's the triads, there are patriotic ones. It's everyone's responsibility to ensure the economic prosperity and social stability of Xiangjiang."

Suming almost spat out his beer all over Mr. Li's face. He was dismissing his connection with the Horse Club, denying he had been commissioned by the Club to approach him. That was understandable.

But the latter part of his statement was completely off the mark.

Leaning in, Mr. Li said with a chuckle, "Mr. Su, with your superb gambling skills, there's not much to wager on in Xiangjiang, just the lottery and horses, and there's not much to make from that – it's a shallow pond that can't accommodate a dragon. Why not take those tens of millions in capital and play in Macau instead?"

"Oh, I see. You think I'm some kind of gambling expert who came to smash up the place?" Suming suddenly realized, just now he had felt that the Xiangjiang Jockey Club was being petty. It was just tens of millions, but they went out of their way to persuade him not to gamble, which seemed rather beneath them.

Keep in mind, the Xiangjiang Jockey Club is considered the most upscale club in Xiangjiang, with an annual turnover of a hundred billion and profits in the tens of billions, contributing over 10% of Xiangjiang's taxes. Although it operates on a membership system and has a relatively loose organizational structure, every member is a social elite.

Among them, a few hundred 'selected members' are the core members, each capable of causing a minor earthquake in Xiangjiang by simply stamping their foot. Some well-known figures include personalities such as the Chief Executive, Li Chaoren, the Chairman of the Monetary Authority, the Chairman of Xinhongji, Chief Justice...

The Club certainly thought he was some gambling expert. If he continued to bet, it wouldn't just be tens of millions or even billions at stake. If they couldn't find any evidence of him 'cheating,' even if he won ten or even dozens of billions, the Horse Club would have to accept it, holding their noses.

So, under these circumstances, Mr. Li, with his triad background, acted as a mediator to negotiate.

Mr. Li continued, "The money the Horse Club makes goes to charity and benefits the people of Xiangjiang. You said earlier that you were a party member, Su Sheng, it wouldn't be right to compete with the public for money."

"Oh really?" Suming almost laughed again, unsure if Mr. Li truly didn't understand or was just playing dumb. Furthermore, isn't Macau also part of our territory?

"Winning money from the Horse Club is like winning money from the special administrative government," Mr. Li said with a grin.

"I do pay my taxes," Suming replied.

However, after winning forty million, Suming had already been considering quitting while he was ahead.

As the largest official gambling organization in Xiangjiang, he didn't believe they had no way to deal with a gambling expert. If they let themselves be slaughtered, the Xiangjiang Jockey Club would have been emptied by the world's gambling masters long ago.

If he insisted on continuing to bet, it wouldn't even take the triads to resolve it – the Horse Club would naturally have a way to ensure he didn't win.

One should be content. It was as if he came to Xiangjiang for a trip, and every citizen of Xiangjiang gave him six dollars, with more than forty million falling on his head from the sky, snatching food straight from the mouth of the special administrative government. What's there to be dissatisfied with?

Now that someone from the Horse Club had intervened, it was the perfect opportunity to gracefully step down.

Just as he was about to speak, a waiter walked over from a distance and quietly said something to Mr. Li.

Mr. Li kept nodding, and once the waiter had left, "It turns out you and Jacky are friends? He's in the VIP lounge upstairs, inviting you for tea."

The VIP lounge was also for members only, but it was not something just anyone could enter with money – one had to be a bona fide member of the Xiangjiang Jockey Club to have the privilege of watching horse racing from a box.

Suming was taken aback – didn't he say he was busy making a new film? How come he ended up here betting on horses!