"Ronnie, didn't you want to go sailing with me last time? come with me today when you are on vacation!" Alice said to Ronnie and Michiko.
"Sis, I was just about to tell you when you opened your mouth, we really have a heart to heart."
"Then you two get ready, we're leaving in ten minutes."
Ronnie found a hat and sunglasses to put on, while Michiko applied sunscreen to her body.
"Michiko, what are you wearing?" Ronnie asked curiously when he saw her.
"Sunscreen to protect my skin from tanning."
"Put some on me too!"
"Forget it for you, you're so dark it's useless to put it on."
"You're such a cheapskate."
"Okay then! I'll put some on you too."
"Michiko, no wonder you are so white, you use sunscreen all the time."
"I'm a girl, no one will want me if I'm too dark."
"Nobody wants you even if you are so white now!" Ronnie said with a cheeky grin.
"Fuck off!"
Michiko said angrily.
In a lively atmosphere, the three of them left the Umbrella House with their boating gear, went to the beach and boarded the boat again, Ronnie even brought his newly painted flag this time and stuck it on the cabin as he said to Alice, "Sister, can we go further this time to catch more fish?"
"I think so too, and this time we can go further with both of you."
The boat was three nautical miles out when Alice suddenly said, "Let's do it right here, you two work in groups and drop the net on the left."
Ronnie and Michiko dropped their nets as they were told, then sat down on the edge of the boat and waited quietly. After about fifteen minutes, Ronnie asked, "Sister, can we pull the net now?"
"Okay, let's pull the net at the same time!" When she said that, Alice grabbed one corner of the fishing net tightly, Ronnie and Michiko pulled the other end, the three of them exerted force at the same time and slowly pulled the net up, as the net gradually rose, the mood of the three of them became more and more tense and expectant, when the net was all exposed to the water, the first thing that came into sight was a tuna, its scales glistening in the sunlight. "Sis, what kind of fish is that?" Ronnie asked, pointing to another larger and longer sea fish.
"It's called a big ling, and it's very fierce, so you have to be careful."
Michiko, however, was interested in a sea turtle and wanted to catch it, but hesitated for fear of being bitten. They threw the tuna and the big ling into a big bucket, and Alice spoke up, "All right, let's go down the net one more time and go home!"
"Sister, why don't we drop the net a few more times?" Ronnie couldn't help but ask.
"Ronnie, this is a good day's catch, you can't be too greedy, because if you catch them all, you won't have any fish to catch next time. This is a creed that the old fishermen have passed down from generation to generation and guarded all their lives.”
"I can't imagine that there are so many rules for being a fisherman.”
"Of course, every industry has its own rules, and we can't break them," Alice said.
The three of them cast another net, this time catching a few small fish, Ronnie picked up two slightly larger ones, the others were all thrown back into the sea, and then they sailed back to the beach and went ashore, carrying the fishing gear and the caught fish back to the Umbrella House.
As soon as they entered the house, Ronnie sensed that something was wrong. "Sister, why do I feel like someone has been in our house?"
"You're being paranoid, maybe it's a wild cat outside."
"Huh ... Sister, look, someone here drew a circle on the floor, and there are two 'Bira coins' in the circle." Ronnie had sharp eyes and immediately saw the circle drawn on the ground.
"It looks like someone really came here and dropped 'Bira coins' here," Michiko also said.
Ronnie picked up the 'Bira coins' and said whimsically, "Is it some guy who has a crush on my sister and came to give her money?"
"Then why isn't it the guy who has a crush on me?" Michiko asked, pointing at the tip of her nose.
"It's weird that someone likes you, you don't have as high a chance of being crushed as I do?"
Ronnie rolled his eyes.
"Ronnie, you're getting fatter too," Michiko shot back.
"Sis!" Someone called out.
Alice heard it and assumed it was Ronnie and couldn't help but sneak up and ask, "Ronnie, did you call me?"
"I didn't call you, you heard wrong, right?"
While the three of them were talking, three City-state guards suddenly burst in from outside the door, they were all over six feet tall, with righteous faces, the leader was a bearded man, he stepped forward and said, "We received a report that someone is illegally hiding 'Bira coins' here, we're now going to conduct a search of this place, here's the search warrant, " he said as he showed a paper with a red seal.
"Uncle, we just picked up two of them and I have them here." Ronnie pulled out the "Bira coins" and handed them to the bearded man.
"You picked them up in your own house?" The bearded man was incredulous, this was clearly a sophistry.
"Actually, I just picked them up," Alice also stepped forward to speak.
"Little girl, I'm sorry, you may have to explain all this to the Knights Committee, right now we're going to confiscate these two 'Bira Coins' and put you under a fine of three thousand star coins."
"Robbing money ah ... we handed over the 'Bira Coins' and you still want to fine us," Ronnie lost his voice when he heard this.
Alice and Michiko also frowned, they hadn't expected that two small Bira coins would have such consequences. The bearded man sympathized a little and said, "Sorry then, these are the rules of the city-state and we must enforce them." After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and waved, and the two city guards behind him immediately rushed up, ready to handcuff Ronnie.
"Slow down!" Alice blocked in front of Ronnie, "I'm going with you, the 'Bira Coins' are mine."
"Sister, why are you lying?" Ronnie shouted.
"You shouldn't be in such a hurry, as long as you have three thousand star coins, we'll release her immediately, or of course you can wait for the Knight Council's announcement,"the bearded man said, about to handcuff Alice.
"Wait!" Alice shouted sharply, turning her head to Ronnie and saying, "Ronnie, I'm fine, don't worry," she took off the watch on her wrist, "there's still some Star Coins in here, you two need to save and spend them, don't worry, I'll be back soon."
After Alice left, the house suddenly became cold and quiet, the two of them, Ronnie and Michiko, looked at each other with wide eyes and didn't say anything for half a day. It was Ronnie who broke the silence first, "Michiko, what are we going to do?"
"I'm trying to find out who the hell threw the 'Bira Coins' here and then set us up."
"That's not important right now, what's important is getting my sister out."
"Of course I know that, but if we don't find out who set us up, he or she might come back a second time."
"And who do you think that could be?"
"It would have to be someone we know, or no one would want to take revenge for no reason."
"Do you think it could be Dorsom? he's the only one with a grudge against his sister."
"That's a good possibility, Ronnie, how are you going to save Alice?"
"Of course, it's to get enough Star Coins to get my sister back early. I want to go and borrow money from brother Rajeev. go now," Ronnie said and immediately got up and pushed the door out of the house. Soon he arrived at Rajeev's house, he knocked on the door, not long after that Aunt Penny came out from the inside room, she saw him arrive, with a smile on her face she asked, "Little Ronnie, what's the matter with you?"
"I want to meet Rajeev, is he home?"
"He went into town to do some shopping, he'll be back soon, do you want to come in and sit down?"
"No, I'll go into town and look for him," Ronnie left as soon as he said that, without a moment's delay.
He had just turned two corners when he saw Rajeev walking head on, he hurried forward and said, "Brother Rajeev, can you lend me some star coins? I'm going to save my sister."
Rajeev had completely given up on Alice since she rejected him the last time. When he heard Ronnie's words, instead of not wanting to help, he also gloated a bit and said coldly, "Ronnie, I'm afraid I can't help you, and I don't have that many Star Coins, go find someone else!"
Ronnie couldn't help but freeze, he didn't expect to run into a nail, but for the sake of his sister, he still opened his mouth and said, "Brother, just help us, we'll pay you back,”he pulled him by the corner of his shirt and begged bitterly.
Rajeev, annoyed by his pestering, shook off his arm forcefully and scolded, "Go away! who is your brother? Besides, I don't have any money, and even if I did, I wouldn't lend it to you. Nothing good happens when I meet you siblings, so get lost, you annoying guy. ”This time he tore off his face completely and had no scruples.
Ronnie looked at him with a surprised look on his face, as if he hadn't expected him to be so heartless, and he let go of his hand and returned to Umbrella House in a dejected mood. As soon as Michiko saw him, she asked, "How did it go? did you borrow the star coins?"
"No, Rajeev said he wouldn't lend us any even if he had the money," Ronnie shook his head.
Michiko didn't seem surprised and said lightly, "It seems he failed in his courtship and started to hate Alice."
"Michiko, why do people change so quickly? I wouldn't recognize him if he changed his face."
"I don't know, but I know a place where you can make money and it should be easy for you."
"What place?" Ronnie asked excitedly, like a man overboard reaching for a lifeline.
"Monte Carlo Casino, I went there once with my brother and there's a way to play there as long as you have a good memory."
"Then let's go now."
"It's too late now, that place is quite far from here, it's in another city, it takes more than two hours to walk, we'll go tomorrow. I'll introduce you to the game first, this game is called 'Guess the Twins'.”
“The way to play Guess the Twins is as follows: Fifty-two cards face up. You have twenty seconds to memorize them all, after twenty seconds the fifty-two cards are turned over, the host chooses one at random and lets you choose the opposite card (e.g. the seven of spades and the seven of clubs are a pair), if you guess right you get two hundred star coins, if you guess wrong you lose one hundred star coins, and of course you can place your own bets. There is also an upgraded version, played with two decks of cards, which is more difficult and doubles the prize money.”
Michiko finished telling Ronnie the details. He was very interested and rubbed his fists together, "It's too easy, isn't it,? it almost feels like giving me money.”
"Of course it's easy for you, it's hard for a normal person to memorize all the cards in twenty seconds, some people memorize only part of the cards to take their chances and sometimes they can guess right,”Michiko explained.
"Well, let's get up early tomorrow and go to Monte Carlo," Ronnie made his decision.