Chai Shao fled back to the city from Li Xiu in a hurry. When he saw that Princess Pingyang behind him was not chasing him, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then he began to worry again, because he knew that Princess Pingyang would definitely not give up. If she went to His Majesty to complain, he would probably be in great trouble.

Thinking of this, Chai Shao immediately began to think about countermeasures, but he could not stop Princess Pingyang from entering the palace at all, so he could only think of a way to ask others for help. However, among the civil and military officials in the court, only the prince or the king of Qin was able to help him. The king of Qin was not in Chang'an, so the prince was left.

In contrast, Chai Shao and Li Jiancheng had a very average relationship. After all, he was a military general and used to serve under Li Shimin, so his relationship with Li Shimin was quite good, but now he had no choice but to bite the bullet and beg Li Jiancheng.

While heading towards the East Palace, Chai Shao cursed in his heart that Minister Feng was not good at doing things. If he rushed into Li Xiu's house and arrested the other party, Princess Pingyang would not have time to react, he would probably not be so embarrassed. Poor Chai Shao still doesn't know that there are two princes in Li Xiu's family. If Minister Feng rushed in directly without knowing the death, the guards of the East Palace would have let their bodies be covered with the ground.

Chai Shao ran to the gate of the East Palace without stopping, and then signed up to the public but did not see him. He thought that even if his relationship with Li Jiancheng was average, the other party would definitely meet him. But what he didn't expect was that he waited outside the door for a long time, but in the end he only had a hunchbacked eunuch with a hunchbacked eunuch with a cold face on his face, "Duke Huo please come back. The prince has something to do today, so it's not convenient to see a foreign guest!"

"What? Have you reported it? Why didn't the prince see me?" Chai Shao was furious when he heard this. He was Li Jiancheng's brother-in-law after all, and he came to visit him in person, but now he can't even get in. This is too shameful, right?

"Duke Huo asked for it back. This was the prince's personal order. In addition, the prince asked the old slave to tell the duke that Prince Anlu had been studying at Li Jijiu's mansion for a while. I hope Duke Huo would do his own thing!" The old eunuch said slowly again. After saying that, he ignored Chai Shao's reaction and turned around and left with one step and three waves.

"What! This... how is this possible?" Chai Shao stood there dumbly when he heard the old eunuch's words, and his eyes lost their focus. He finally figured out who the guards rushed out before Princess Pingyang arrived at Li Xiu's house. It turned out that they were all the palace guards protecting Li Chengdao. No wonder he felt that they looked familiar, but unfortunately it was too late to understand these things now.

When the guards of Shilang Feng were beaten by the palace guards, these guards had already sent people to the palace to report the matter there to the East Palace, so Li Jiancheng knew so clearly. Moreover, Li Chengdao also ordered the person who reported the news to say that he was almost injured, which made Li Jiancheng very angry. At this time, he was angry with Chai Shao, and it was already considered polite to keep him out.

Chai Shao left the East Palace in a daze, wandered around the street for a long time but didn't know where to go. Finally, he returned home helplessly, and locked himself in the study and thought about countermeasures. Unfortunately, after thinking about it, he couldn't come up with a corresponding solution. He could only passively wait for the court's punishment.

Although Li Yuan refused Princess Pingyang and Chai Shao and Heli that day, he felt very guilty when he saw the most beloved daughter leaving sadly. In the end, this guilt turned into anger towards Chai Shao. The first one was Mr. Feng, who was dismissed from office and then found out that he was full of his personal pockets, was arrested in prison of the Ministry of Justice.

As the murderer behind this incident, Chai Shao naturally did not escape punishment. A few days later, an imperial edict was sent from the palace to Chai Shao's mansion. The content of this imperial edict was very short, and he was directly relieved of Chai Shao's position as the General of the Right Guard, fined him three years of salary, and asked him to think about it for a month behind closed doors, without saying any reason. After all, such matters involving internal conflicts in the royal family have never been made public. Anyway, the person who was punished knows the reason and dare not have any objection.

After receiving the imperial edict for dismissal, Chai Shao couldn't help but frown. The salary was fined and thinking about his mistakes were irrelevant. Only the general was relieved of his general. After all, in this way, he would become a noble without real power and his speaking weight would be greatly reduced. If it were other officials, it would almost be equivalent to being dismissed on the spot, and there would be no hope of resurrection in the future, and his entire career would be ruined.

However, although Li Yuan removed Chai Shao from his actual official position, he did not touch his title as Duke Huo, which made Chai Shao taste a glimmer of hope. This shows that Li Yuan did not really want to completely refrigerate him, but gave him a serious warning. He is likely to be activated again in the future. After all, there is a family behind him with a deep foundation, which is definitely not comparable to ordinary officials.

Thinking of the above, Chai Shao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Although Li Yuan's punishment was heavy, he at least left him a little hope. As long as he was more honest during this period, he would not provoke Princess Pingyang again, especially when he was in the New Year, he would take this opportunity to enter the palace to admit his mistake to Li Yuan, and it would probably be over.

With the above thoughts, Chai Shao stayed at home for a month honestly. He was a person who liked the fun. Being locked up at home every day was a torture. However, in order not to make Li Yuan angry, he still forced himself to stay at home for a whole month. Even after the expiration was closed, he tried to reduce going out as much as possible and create a kind of simplicity.

The most common place Chai Shao goes to is a casino near Dongcheng City in Chang'an, called Dong'an Casino. Although gambling is prohibited in the Tang Dynasty, there are dozens of casinos of all sizes in Chang'an City. Dong'an Casino is the largest one. On the surface, this casino was opened by a businessman from another place, but in fact the controller is Chai Shao.

Chai Shao likes to gambling, which is a common problem for almost all military generals. When he was the former Sui Dynasty, he was still the Qianniu of the Great Sui Dynasty, he often gambled with a group of noble children. Moreover, he was more smart than ordinary noble children. When he saw the huge profits of gambling, he thought of opening a casino himself, which was opened by him when he was young.

Later, due to the war, the Dong'an Casino was closed for a while. However, after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Chai Shao also became famous, so he opened the casino again and became the largest casino in Chang'an City. With this Dong'an Casino, it was convenient for Chai Shao to play by himself, and also sent a lot of money to the Chai family. Therefore, Chai Shao also attached great importance to these things. In the past, he would play a few games every few days, and even after getting addicted to gambling, he could also patrol here by the way.

However, although Chai Shao is good at gambling, he is not a bad gambling like a bad dog skin, and he does not play in the lobby like ordinary gamblers. In fact, there are not a few nobles like him, so many nobles go to the casino every day. These nobles usually play in specific private rooms in the casino, so Chai Shao doesn't have to worry about lacking gambling friends at all.

After thinking behind closed doors, Chai Shao immediately went to Dong'an Casino to play a few games. In the next period of time, he did not go to other places. He would only come to Dong'an Casino to play a few games when he was addicted to gambling. For people like them, winning or losing is no longer important, and they are just a heartbeat.

On this day, Chai Shao came to Dong'an Casino again. This casino was located in Shengyefang next to Dongshi City, occupying a huge area. From the outside, people who don't know would think that this is a noble villa, but when they enter it, they will see a very vast hall. The hall is divided into different areas according to the gambling methods. Each area is filled with people, and gamblers who lose their eyes are roaring everywhere.

In this huge casino, people lose money every day, and even lose their wives and children lose to others. Some even borrow money from the casino but cannot pay it back. As a result, they were cut off by the thugs in the casino on the spot. It can be said that this place is simply a huge cannibal cave, but countless people still jump down willingly every day.

After Chai Shao came to Dong'an Casino in the evening, he first habitually walked around the hall and felt the fanatical atmosphere in the hall. This made him feel a little excited, and his hands became even more itchy. He went to the back of the hall, where this was the private room of the casino, and only those rich and identifiable people could come in.

"Master, there are several big gamblers coming today. Each of them brings a large amount of gambling money. Do you want to play a few games?" As soon as Chai Shaogang arrived here, a middle-aged man in a gorgeous costume came up with a flattering look on his face and said, "The middle-aged man's surname is Liu. Because he lacks a finger, he is called "Jiu Finger Liu". On the surface, he is the owner of the casino, but in fact he is Chai Shao's slave.

"Oh? Then I want to see it!" Chai Shao was feeling itchy, and he always liked to bet big. Every time he came here, Jiuzhi Liu would arrange a few big gamblers for him to enjoy his exercise, and this time was no exception.

At that moment, Jiuzhi Liu led Chai Shao to a separate small room. When he entered, he saw that there were three people sitting inside, and each of them wore a special hat on his head. The gauze on the hat just blocked their faces, but it did not affect their sight. He was wearing wide clothes, which made people unable to see their figures clearly.

After all, gambling is not a glorious thing, not to mention that it is strictly prohibited by the court, so nobles who come to the casino generally do not like to expose their identities and fame and fortune are caught. Therefore, the casinos have gradually formed an unwritten rule, that is, guests who come here can cover their faces and just bring enough gambling funds to let go of the big game.

Chai Shao is the owner of this place, which is almost an open secret. Moreover, Chai Shao's foundation is strong enough and he is not afraid of being caught. In fact, even if someone steals his gambling incident, Li Yuan will not blame him for this little thing. For example, when Chai Shao came here in the past, he never liked to wear a veil, which was his confidence. However, the situation is special now, so he also wore a special hat when he came in.

The nobles who came here all became addicted to gambling, so Chai Shao did not say nonsense after coming in and announced the start of the gambling game. It was interesting to say that Chai Shao hated Li Xiu very much, but he liked to play cards made by Li Xiu when gambling. The same was true for this gambling game. The four of them played a game similar to later tractors, but the rules were different.

Chai Shao's luck today was very average. He won a few games at the beginning, but he lost more and more. Instead, the guy sitting opposite him was very lucky and soon filled with chips in front of him.

He played until the sky in the east turned white, and Chai Shao almost lost all the chips he brought today, which made him push the table with some annoyance and stood up and said, "I won't play anymore. Today's luck is really bad. Let's play again the next day!"

Chai Shao said and turned around and left, but at this moment, the guy opposite him who had won the most suddenly said: "It seems that Duke Huo, your bad luck has not passed yet. I think you should not bet recently, otherwise you will only lose like that bad dog skin and lose everything!"

Hearing the other party's words, Chai Shao also turned around suddenly, stared at him with a bright look and asked sternly: "Who are you, what do you mean by saying these words?"

"Haha, Duke Huo is really a noble man who forgets things!" The other person suddenly stretched out his hand, then took off the hat on his head, revealing a young face full of smiles.

"Li Xiu! You...you are actually here!" Chai Shao shouted in surprise when he saw this young and familiar face. He never expected that the person who played cards with him for the whole night was Li Xiu.

"Haha, it's just a casino. I didn't expect that my luck was not as good as you boy!" Before Li Xiu could speak, the man on Li Xiu's right also spoke, then reached out to take off his hat, revealing a mighty face, but he was Ma Ye, who had the best relationship with Li Xiu. He was worried that Li Xiu would not be safe from coming here alone, so he followed him together and also enjoyed gambling, but he didn't expect that he could not play Li Xiu's game with his cards, and except for Chai Shao, he lost the most.

"Haha, I didn't expect General Ma to come too!" Chai Shao couldn't help but squint his eyes when he saw Ma Master. Then he looked at the man wearing a gauze hat on the left side of Li Xiu and said, "Then who are you? You must be from Li Xiu's gang?"

"Hahahaha~, it's interesting. I didn't expect to encounter such an interesting thing even if I played a few cards. But Duke Huo, please rest assured. I am not from this Li Jijiu and General Ma!" The man on the left said with a long laugh. He heard what he meant, and seemed to know Li Xiu and Ma.

But Li Xiu felt that his voice was very strange. He looked at him at the moment, but he could not see the other person's appearance through the veil. In the end, he had to give up, then looked up at Chai Shao, and showed a bright smile and said: "I didn't expect that the dignified Duke Huo would secretly run such a large casino. I don't know how many people are here every day. Such a serious crime, isn't Duke Huo afraid of lightning strikes?" (To be continued.)

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Chapter completed!