The Duan Family Manor Again Takes a New Son-in-Law; Fang Mountain Stronghold Merges with the Old Brigands

Now to tell the story: Wang Qing at that time came to Dingshan Fort. This place held five or six hundred households, and the stage had been set up in the wheat fields east of the fort. The woman performer had not yet come on stage. Around the stage were set thirty or forty tables, and many people were crowded there throwing dice and gambling. There were many names for the dice games: Six Winds, Five Ones, Fire-Scorched Hair, and the Red Nest. There were also people squatting on the ground tossing coins to gamble, in piles and groups, more than twenty lots in all. The coin-tossing games had many names too: Pure Blend, Three Backs, and Eight Forks. The dice-throwers shouted loudly, calling out their points; the coin-tossers cried “heads” and “tails.” Some laughed and cursed, some quarreled and came to blows. Those who had lost money would strip off clothes, snatch off headcloths, and pull off shoes and socks if it would let them win it back. They would not work and would not sleep, and in the end most still lost. Those who had won were smug and swaggered about,......