Chapter 65: Despair

Zu An joyfully reaped his bounty of Rage points. His wisdom for rejecting a private discussion with Mei Chaofeng was once again affirmed.

The triumphant look on Zu An’s face made Mei Chaofeng grit his teeth in anger. 

Just a month ago, this trash wasn’t even worthy of standing before me. Even my underlings could make him hunch over respectfully.

Now, in the span of just a few days, not only is he standing before me as an equal, he even dares to threaten me so openly?

Shit! I should have pimped myself out as well when I was younger!

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for 666 Rage points!

Mei Chaofeng took in another deep breath to compose himself. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. He beckoned to his subordinates. “Men, bring Plum Blossom Seven over!”

There was a short lull, and some of his henchmen appeared, dragging an utterly horrified Plum Blossom Seven in with them. As soon as Plum Blossom Seven saw Mei Chaofeng, he fell to his knees and hugged the sect master, tears and snot flowing down his face as he cried pitifully, “Godfather, I have let you down! I didn’t expect to bring such huge trouble to you!”

Without sparing a glance for Plum Blossom Seven, he kicked his whimpering godson aside and coldly declared, “The earlier gamble was conducted under Plum Blossom Seven’s own discretion, and was not officially sanctioned by our casino. If you want money, get it from him. Since Plum Blossom Seven has flouted the rules of our sect and brought shame to our sect, I hereby declare that he’s permanently expelled from the Plum Blossom Sect!”

“Godfather! Sect master! You can’t treat me like that! I have worked hard for you over the years…” Plum Blossom Seven knew immediately that he was being abandoned, and wild panic set in. He didn’t even have the ability to fork out ten thousand silver taels, let alone seven-and-a-half million silver taels! He wouldn’t be able to raise that much money even if he were to sell himself off as a slave!

He was on the verge of protesting further, but one of his now-former brothers smashed a fist right into his chin, knocking his lower jaw out of place. That prevented him from uttering any more.

The casino fell deathly silent as everyone witnessed Plum Blossom Seven’s pitiful fate. They suddenly remembered that the Silverhook Casino was run by an underworld organization that had murdered countless innocents in cold blood.

Zu An’s eyes narrowed. 

It looks like this fellow is quite skilled at cleanups. Even so, it’s not that easy to run away with my money!

“Sect Master Mei, do you consider everyone here to be fools?” Zu An said. “Plum Blossom Seven is your godson and your aide, and this casino is a business run by your Plum Blossom Sect. Yet, you refuse to acknowledge both when you lose money. After this display, who would dare visit your casino in the future?”

“That’s right, that’s right~”

The surrounding crowd whispered agreement amongst themselves. The most important thing to a casino was its credibility, and a casino that lacked credibility was bound to close down.

If the Plum Blossom Sect wouldn’t even honor its agreement to someone who had the backing of the Chu clan, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what would happen to powerless individuals like them when they finally struck it rich.

Mei Chaofeng sneered coldly at Zu An’s threat. “I can tell you outright that I’ll be taking your money today! I’ll gladly pay all the other customers whatever they have earned. In the entire Brightmoon City, you will be the only one to whom I won’t even pay a single copper coin. What can you do about it?”

Hah, a wastrel like you wants to fight with me? No matter how hard a bird tries to fly to a higher branch, it’ll never transform into a phoenix! I have weathered all sorts of storms over the years. What could a mere brat like you possibly do to me?

Do you think that the world is only filled with reasonable people? Very well, I’ll show you the treacherous side of the world then!

“Sect Master Mei, your behaviour is absolutely shameful!” Chu Chuyan’s stepped forward, her face cold, but she was unexpectedly held back by Zu An.

Zu An favored Mei Chaofeng with a smile. “Sect Master Mei, do you think that there’s nothing I can do to you?”

“What can you possibly do?” Mei Chaofeng scoffed contemptuously.

A mere wastrel who has risen to his current position on the coattails of a woman; what could he possibly be capable of?

Zu An shrugged calmly. “It’s fine if you aren’t willing to pay me. From this day forward, I’ll head to every single casino under your name and teach all of these people how to place their bets. I shall make sure that every single one of them wins every single round they play. What do you all think of that?”

Those words immediately galvanized the gamblers, and their excitement spread quickly to the spectators outside.

“Sounds good!”

“Love live young master Zu!”

“Young master Zu, you’re handsome!”

“Young master Zu, you’re like our new parent!”

“Young master Zu, has anyone told you that you and Miss Chu make the perfect pair?”

“Holy shit, how could you spout such blatant lies?”

“Aren’t you doing the same too?”

… 

As the old sages once said: for a fifty-percent increase in wealth, a man would choose to take risks; to double his wealth, a man would be willing to forsake all social norms; to quadruple his fortune, a man would be willing to commit any crime, even murder.

The amount of wealth that could be earned at the gambling table was massive—Zu An was living proof of that. In one round, he had multiplied his fortune one hundred and fifty times!

Who could possibly keep their composure when offered such a chance? Many of these gamblers were people who were willing to die for money. If the Plum Blossom Sect then dared to withhold every person’s winnings, these gamblers would undoubtedly band together and riot, no matter how powerful the Plum Blossom Sect was. There was no way the Plum Blossom Sect would survive such a challenge.

Mei Chaofeng understood the implicit threat in Zu An’s words. His face twisted in consternation. “You’re really able to win every round?”

Zu An gave him another cool shrug. “I’ve already won seven-and-a-half million silver taels from you today. What do you think? Please call me the God of Gambling from this day onward!”

Blinded by the promise of great riches, the surrounding crowd worshipped him with their shameless flattery.

“God of Gambling~”

“God of Gambling~”

“God of Gambling~”

… 

Zu An closed his eyes and savored the cheers of the crow. All that was lacking was an appropriate background music track to underscore his awesomeness.

Mei Chaofeng’s cheeks began twitching uncontrollably. He had no idea how Zu An managed to do it, but based on his confident tone, it appeared that his wins had not been down to luck at all.

There was no rational way to justify his wins as mere coincidence, and no way that a person could ever be that lucky.

If this fellow were to lead the other gamblers and wreak havoc in his other casinos, his business would be run completely into the ground. However, paying up wasn’t an option either. This was a sum of  seven-and-a-half million silver taels, not just seventy-five thousand!

He found himself well and truly in a quandary.

Just then, a disturbance broke out near the entrance.

“Stand aside, stand aside!”

A squad of soldiers barged in, led by a young man wearing golden armor. This young man had a slender frame and a decent-looking face, and the shine from his armor amplified his eye-catching appearance.

“Waaaa, what a handsome man!” The girls close to him whispered excitedly.

Zu An sniffed indignantly. Aren’t they merely being seduced by the uniforms alone? These women really haven’t seen much of the world before.

He snuck a glance at Chu Chuyan. Upon seeing her nonchalance toward the new arrivals, he heaved a sigh of relief.

“Who is causing trouble here?” The young commander scanned the crowded casino floor, and his gaze fell on Zu An.

“What are you looking at me for? Are you envious that I’m better looking than you?” Zu An responded impatiently. The fact that this man had eyed him right from the moment he entered betrayed his ill intentions. With that established, there was no reason to hold back.

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 100 Rage points!

Sang? What a rare surname, Zu An thought to himself.

The young commander’s mouth hung open. Clearly, he’d been about to interrogate Zu An, but the abrupt jab had thrown him completely off course, leaving him clueless as to how to proceed.

Fortunately for him, Mei Chaofeng rushed to his side, embracing his newly-found backing. “Commander Sang, you’ve arrived just in time. This fellow has conducted fraud in our casino. When I confronted him about it, he threatened to lead the other gamblers in cheating at my casinos in order to ruin my business.”

The members of the crowd were completely dumbstruck. We know that you are from the underworld, but surely that’s too blatant a lie? Do you think us braindead fools?

Despite this, not a single person came forward to speak up for Zu An. They knew just how unreasonable the world could be, and so no one wanted to get involved until it was clear which side was odds-on to be the winner.

While the money promised by Zu An was enticing, it would be all for naught if they were killed before they could even earn or spend it.

The young commander named Sang Qian immediately stepped forward and bellowed, “Do you know what’s the crime of committing fraud?” He turned to Mei Chaofeng. “Ah right, how much did he scam you?”

“Seven-and-a-half million silver taels,” Mei Chaofeng replied with a bitter smile.

“Seven-and-a-half million silver taels?” Sang Qian repeated dumbly. His brain was still processing the shock.. 

Do you all play with such high stakes here? My father was once the Minister of Finance, but that’s still considered an astronomical sum of money by the royal treasury!

His face lit up in excitement. “The crime of committing fraud involving a huge sum of money warrants a sentence of three to ten years in prison, or even beyond that in particularly severe cases. For daring to scam the Silverhook Casino for over seven-and-a-half million silver taels, you should resolve yourself to spend your entire life in prison!”

Zu An rolled his eyes, not bothering with response. Instead, he turned to Chu Chuyan and asked, “Honey, who is this fellow? Why has he decided my crime and pronounced my sentence just after hearing from that Mei fellow? It looks like he has been accepting quite a bit of money from the Plum Blossom Sect, huh?”

Those words sparked a commotion in the crowd.

Chu Chuyan’s lips crept upward in a slight smile. “Commander Sang is the son of the ex-Minister of Finance. Lord Sang has become the new governor of our Linchuan Commandery. You shouldn’t take him lightly.”

Sang Qian sketched her a quick bow. “Miss Chu, you’re too kind. I’ll be needing the Chu clan’s help for our work here in the future.”

No man in the world could resist a beauty on the level of Chu Chuyan. Even though this father-son pair had obviously been sent here to deal with the Chu clan, Sang Qian still wanted to impress her.

Just as Sang Qian was congratulating himself on his impeccable etiquette, a harsh voice rang out, “Tsk~ I was wondering how capable of a person you were, but it turns out that you’re someone relying on connections just like me.”

There stood Zu An, casually picking his ears.

Sang Qian nearly choked on his own breath. Although he’d never met Zu An in person, the reputation of the notorious drafted son-in-law of the Chu clan was well-known. This wastrel was a laughingstock in his own circle! And yet, he had to associate himself with this scoundrel now?

What utter humiliation!

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 300 Rage points!

Mei Chaofeng’s eyes widened in astonishment as well. Sang Qian was a man of prestigious background. His father was an illustrious official from the royal court, holding power over huge swathes of land. 

On the other hand, Zu An was nothing more than a scoundrel who had been lucky enough to have gotten involved with the Chu clan. 

Can they even be considered to be backing you? How shameless must you be to say such words! How shameless!

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for 300 Rage points!

Zu An was puzzled. His insult had been directed at Sang Qian, yet he had somehow provoked Mei Chaofeng as well. It strongly suggested some kind of illicit, underground relationship between the pair of them.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan observed the rage in Sang Qian’s eyes and chuckled quietly to herself. The world finally gets to see Zu An’s shamelessness as well. She cleared her throat and said, “Young master Sang, if I’m not mistaken, you’re merely the commander of the River Patrol Team. You don’t have the right to interfere in civil cases such as this. It doesn’t seem appropriate for you to pass judgment on this matter.”