"This is the royal house I'm staying in, what do ya think?"
Bumi grins like a madman as I observe the monstrosity he calls a house.
It's a small stone house that you would otherwise call a storage room by how empty it is. Except for a wooden table, there's basically nothing here. Spider webs are also around, which made me pity Bumi more.
He probably only goes here just to sleep and nothing else, that's why it's so neglected.
And the way he is grinning, he probably thought that I would leave when I saw this.
"This is fine, I could deal with this. I just need a place to sleep."
"You're surprisingly not picky. Well, good for you, I guess. But I'm the one who will sleep on the table."
"Fine with me, this is your house."
Bumi just shrugged and walked towards the door. He looks at me again with his crazed smile that is missing a tooth.
"Okay then, now that we got you a place tonight, wanna explore this city?"
"You mean you're going to steal again?"
"Keke, what's the big deal? It's not like they're going to get out of the business if we steal a thing or two."
I looked at him deadpan. If I want to form a meaningful connection with him, then I have to teach him the ways. But first, I have to know something.
"Do you know about Earthbending?"
Bumi tilted his head at my question, then suddenly took a stance and stomped on the floor. I felt a shake at the force he applied, then a small rock the size of a hand floated in the air.
"You mean this?"
I looked at it with amazement as it fell to the ground seconds later.
"You know about it? How?"
As far as I know, Earthbending is not easily learned, and one needs a teacher to even grasp the basics of it. Toph wasn't self-taught, she was taught by the badgermoles and some teachers that her parents hired. They had money, and badgermoles probably don't live under Omashu anymore. It's too populated.
And Bumi had neither of those two.
Bumi just had a puzzled look on his face, like I'm asking a dumb question.
"I learned it when the city guards were apprehending a criminal by watching them do it. I only tried this once, and although it looked cool, I only used it when I'm cornered by stall vendors. I don't want to use it to hurt them, so I just don't use it."
He learned it by just watching? He's more impressive than I thought, but then again, he won't be a non-noble and non-royal blood king of Omashu one day just with his wits and mastery of Earthbending, so it wasn't much of a surprise.
But I was more disappointed that he didn't think of any use of it other than an escaping method.
"Listen, Bumi, Earthbending isn't something so easy to learn, and you just learned it by seeing it once. This means that you have a talent, a talent you're not using very well."
"And what do you suggest, Guan?"
"Do you have any savings here?"
"I have some copper, but what will you do about it? I can see that you have something in mind."
Bumi looked at me with an excited smile, waiting for me to reveal my plan.
–
It took me a while to convince Bumi to play with my idea. It's basically a gambling game where there are three cups and one rock. Bumi will shuffle the three cups, and the gambler will have to guess where the rock is to double his bet.
I got this idea from the Fire Nation guy who was cheating at gambling in the canon, just to be beaten by Toph Earthbending.
We also took a small sack with us and filled it with rocks so we can say that we have enough money for them.
"Listen, I don't think this is a good idea…"
Bumi looked unconvinced.
"Well, if you want to keep being a thief all your life, then you can back out now. This is for survival, Bumi, and it's not like they will bet their whole property over this and be homeless for their entire life. It will just be simple gambling for them. Just trust me."
Although Bumi was still unconvinced by this, he went along with it. I guess because of my peer pressure and the fact that his main method for getting food before was stealing, this was not much of a difference.
We soon prepared the wooden board on the ground, readied the cups, and put the sack of rocks next to Bumi.
While Bumi was the operator, I would stand as a guard and take him with me together with the earnings just in case things went south.
"Ready?"
Bumi took a deep breath then nodded nervously.
I smiled, then walked towards a man wearing decent clothes with a thug-looking face. He was having a conversation with his friends when one of them noticed me.
"Hello, good sirs."
"What do you want, kid?"
"My friend and I have saved quite a bit of money, and we just opened a gambling stall. I'm asking if you wanna be the first one to gamble there?"
I pointed at the location where Bumi was looking very serious.
"Oh? That looks interesting. Do your parents know about this?"
"Hey, don't try to stop them, Gato! They just want to earn some money."
"Yeah, that's a great mindset, kid!"
Some of them were grinning, thinking that we're fools for opening a gambling stall and were an easy target. They guessed very badly.
–
"I'll bet 5 copper on the left cup. Let's see if my luck and eyes have it right."
Gato placed the exact amount on the left cup.
"That's weak, 20 copper in the middle."
"How many coppers are in that sack? I might win big, but you two don't have enough money for it."
I gestured towards the sack beside Bumi.
"As we've counted, there are about 69 copper coins in there, a total of 80 if you count the coins at hand. So don't worry about the payout if you win."
"You two certainly saved a lot. Just don't cry if we take them all, alright? Then I will place 20 pieces of copper in the middle as well."
Then I nodded at Bumi.
Bumi grabbed the right cup and slowly revealed it. There's nothing. Our three gamblers looked relieved.
Then Bumi grabbed the middle cup and slowly revealed it.
The three of them all wore an expecting look as they anticipated the result.
Bumi then fully revealed the middle cup.
"I won!"
Gato clenched his fist with a wide smile, while his two friends looked at it with disappointment.
"I'm so sure it was in that cup…"
"I too was so sure, but the kid was fast as hell with the shuffling of the cups, so bad luck, I guess."
Even I'm surprised as well by how Bumi shuffled the cups, he looked like an experienced operator. Though it's not like Gato won because he had a good set of eyes and luck, he won because Bumi chose to let him.
If we straight up let them lose, then they might immediately leave.
Gato took his five copper winnings, then placed them on the board again.
"Let's try it again!"
I couldn't help but grin inside. Now that we got him hooked, time to start the real gambling.
–
"I lose… Well, let's try again, I still have more here!"
"Alright, you two are winning, I will give this another try, and I'm out."
"I have some spare here, so I guess another try won't be bad."
–
"I lost again… Alright, I will only use my spare money here. Shuffle it again."
"Alright, I still have to save money, so I will give it one last try."
"Shuffle it again, kid!"
–
"What the hell? Is my luck this bad?"
"Alright, I'm out, my mother might beat me up if I continue any longer."
"Again!"
–
"Again!"
–
"Again!"
—
–
*
Gato and his friend let out a groan of frustration while the one who quit early just smirked at his friend's misery.
"Why is it that whenever I bet small, I win once, then continuously lose after!"
"Ahh, my luck is so bad today. I think we should stop before we lose more."
"Hah, don't blame the kids, Gato, your eyes and luck are just so bad. I'm just thankful that I stopped myself, or else I might leave home with one copper."
Gato calmed himself and stood up, followed by his other friend.
"Alright, let's leave, you two. Thankfully, it's not my allowance that I wasted, or I would get a long scolding from my mother."
–
Once the three were out of sight, Bumi finally breathed a sigh of relief and laid on the ground.
"That took a toll on me. I feel like one mistake and we might get a good beating today, hahaha!"
"Told you, this is a good legitimate business. Now let's wrap it up for now since you're tired, and let's count the money in your house."
"Yeah!"
–
Finally, back at Bumi's house, we set up the single candle we brought on the way and started counting the earnings. In total, we earned about 167 copper coins from those three men, minus 3 copper for the candle. We had a total of 175 if we added the 11 copper that Bumi saved.
"This is amazing! This is the first time I have this amount of money and the first time I earned this much! In one day! You're a genius, bro!"
"Haha, what do you say, wanna eat something good today?"
"Hell yeah, I know a good place, but this is the first time I'm going to enter it. It smells really awesome!"
I smiled. With this, I have successfully formed a connection with Bumi, and that, a friendship and a beneficial one.