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A chill enveloped Plum Blossom Seven’s body, leaving him feeling as if he would be turned into an ice statue if he were to utter a single wrong word here. So, he quickly raised his hand and gestured for his henchmen to back down. Then, with a fawning smile, he said, “Miss Chu, you’re misunderstanding my intention. How could we possibly dare to make an enemy out of you? I apologize for not having disciplined my people well.”
“Why are you blocking our way then? Also, where is my 50,000 silver taels?” Seeing that the danger was over for now, Zu An leaped out once more and demanded arrogantly.
Zu An’s smug attitude left Plum Blossom Seven feeling incredibly irritated, and he was starting to understand why Plum Blossom Thirteen would lose his rationality and barge into the casino. This scoundrel was really a despicable scum at his core, a man who possessed no true ability and relied only on the backing of his connections.
“The reputation of our Silverhook Casino isn’t just for show, so of course we’ll pay up. Men, bring young master Zu’s money over!” Despite Plum Blossom Seven’s irritation, he had no choice but to force on a smile with Chu Chuyan around. The more he thought about this matter, the more furious he got.
You have successfully trolled Plum Blossom Seven for +344 Rage!
In terms of weight, 50,000 silver taels was too heavy to carry around, so for such a large sum of money, the convention was to use banknotes.
Plum Blossom Seven had his henchmen pass the banknotes over and said, “Young master Zu, please keep them well.”
50,000 silver taels was, by no means, a small sum of money, but the Silverhook Casino could still afford it. They couldn’t allow their reputation to fall into tatters over this matter.
After receiving the money, Zu An began counting every single note one by one, which made Plum Blossom Seven’s face turned even more livid.
“Young master Zu, are you doubting us of underpaying you?”
“Isn’t that obvious? To be safe, I think I should count my money properly.” As Zu An said those words, he conveniently passed half of it to Chu Chuyan, saying, “Honey, help me count this.”
Chu Chuyan tilted her body sideward to snub Zu An, not hiding her disgust at the dirty money earned from the casino at all.
The other workers in the casino also felt a fiery rage fuming in their minds. Somehow, the act of Zu An counting his winnings before him felt almost as if he was gloating at them, which made them seriously contemplate whether they should heck it all and just smash a fist into his face.
Needless to say, this meant yet another wave of Rage points into the system. While each of them contributed a small sum, it was good that there were quite a number of them. Just like that, he earned yet another thousand or so Rage points.
“Young master Zu, are you done counting yet?” Plum Blossom Seven asked with suppressed anger.
“Oof. I was still counting perfectly well a moment ago, but you suddenly disrupted me, and now I forgot which number I was on.” Zu An flung his hands around exaggeratedly before counting from the start again.
“…” Plum Blossom Seven.
Where’s my sword?!?!
You have successfully trolled Plum Blossom Seven for +800 Rage!
Zu An counted everything once more before remarking with a pleasured sigh, “The feeling of counting money sure is great.”
Plum Blossom Seven, on the other hand, felt his heart bleeding just by looking at the stack of notes in Zu An’s hands. That is our money! Damn it!
However, his years of experience as the manager of the Silverhook Casino allowed him to conceal his emotions and maintain a professional smile before his customers. “Young master Zu, are you intending to leave now?”
Zu An tilted his head sideward as he assessed Plum Blossom Seven with a sardonic smile. “Are you really intending to stop us? Honey…”
“Ah, no no no, of course not!” Seeing how Zu An wasn’t hesitant to bring his backing forward in every situation, Plum Blossom Seven secretly cursed him under his breath as he waved his hand hurriedly. “Young master Zu, please don’t misunderstand me. I just think that since lady luck is on your side today, it would be a waste for you not to play a few more rounds and take back more winnings.”
That suggestion from Plum Blossom Seven brought a frown to Chu Chuyan’s face. It was obviously a ploy from the casino to keep Zu An here so as to have him spit out his winnings.
It was a ploy so obvious that she felt that it was unnecessary to warn Zu An about it. Any human being with the slightest semblance of common sense would have seen through it and rejected Plum Blossom Seven’s offer.
However, things didn’t go according to how she envisioned it.
“I also think that my luck is extraordinarily good today! Since you’re inviting me so sincerely to earn your money, I think that I would be letting you down if I leave just like that. Very well, I’ll play a few more rounds!”
“Young master Zu, this way please!” Plum Blossom Seven was overjoyed. He was really afraid that Zu An would leave just like that.
Since you have chosen to stay, I shall make you pay back all of the money you have won out of sheer luck and put you in debt! Otherwise, I shan’t be known as Plum Blossom Seven!
Watching as Zu An strutted back to the gambling table without any hesitation, she clenched her fists tightly. This fellow knew that it was a trap, yet he still foolishly leaped right in. It was no wonder why those in the city look down on him so much!
You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +233 Rage!
Her face had completely darkened by this point. Her opinion of him was just starting to improve after what had just happened earlier, but it turned out that he was still the same wastrel as before.
Look like I was expecting too much out of him.
Surprisingly, the emergence of this thought alleviated her rage and composed her. She calmly followed Zu An over to the gambling table with hardly any fluctuation in her emotion.
For this round, Plum Blossom Seven didn’t feel safe allowing his disciple to deal with the earlier precedence, so he decided to go on the field himself.
“Oh ho, you’re going to hold the fort personally? Are you that afraid of losing?” Zu An teased.
A vein popped out from Plum Blossom Seven’s temples, but he quickly replied with a fawning smile, “Of course not. This fellow seems a bit too nervous at the moment—look at how his hands are trembling! I’m afraid that his inexperience will give you a bad experience. However, you need not worry. With lady luck shining on you today, I have faith that you’ll do well.”
Needless to say, these words didn’t reflect his true thoughts.
Luck? Hah! Those who depend on luck in the casino already have their wives sold to brothels!
“Well well, aren’t you a smooth talker! I’ll take your well wishes. Let’s start then,” Zu An replied with a smile.
“How much do you intend to bet this time around, young master Zu?” Plum Blossom Seven asked probingly.
Zu An waved his hand and replied grandly, “Do you even need to ask? I’m going all in! A true man should be decisive and charge right in!”
Those words made Chu Chuyan shake her head, but she didn’t speak up to stop him. The other gamblers were also shaking their heads too. They had seen plenty of such people in the casino over the years—they get ahead of themselves as soon as they earn a bit of money, and they eventually end up losing it all back to the casino.
Most gamblers carried a mentality where they couldn’t stand to see others faring well when they were faring badly themselves. They decided to just watch the show quietly by the side and wait for Zu An to lose all of his money.
It went without saying that Plum Blossom Seven was more than delighted about the current circumstances. “Young master Zu sure is direct!”
He was still worried that Zu An would play careful after his huge killing. It would be troublesome if the latter were to back out before he could lose all 50,000 silver taels. However, since the other party was betting everything on this single round, he would at least still be able to face the sect master even if he couldn’t get the other party in debt.
But all of a sudden, Zu An said, “You can’t be planning to cheat, right?”
Plum Blossom Seven nearly choked on the sudden accusation. He quickly waved his hands and assured, “Look at how many veterans there are in here; I would never dare to cheat before them! Besides, Chu First Miss is watching by the side too. There’s no way I would be able to fool her if I attempt something.”
The payment ratio was set in favor of the casino. It was extremely difficult to beat the odds, such that one was almost guaranteed to lose in the long-run. Even if one won a few matches now and then, the chances were that one would leave the casino with a loss.
Zu An nodded his head. “Very well, hurry up and shake the dices.”
Plum Blossom Seven sneered coldly as he began shaking his hands with great dexterity, such that he was actually leaving after shadows in the wake of his movements. It brought about awed exclamations from the crowd.
While Plum Blossom Seven wasn’t particularly strong compared to the other godsons of the sect master, he still managed to get to his current positions on the grounds of his superior gambling skills itself.
As long as he willed so, he could get any number he wanted.
He decided to shake out a triple, which allowed him to win all bets, regardless of whether one betted ‘big’ or ‘small’ or a specific number. The only chance to win was if Zu An betted on triple, which was extremely difficult to win given the odds.
While shaking halfway through, Plum Blossom Seven suddenly hesitated. What if that fellow somehow wins the bet staking all in?
One must know that betting on triple had a payout ratio of 1:150, which meant that he would owe Zu An 7,500,000 silver taels. Even if they sold the entire Plum Blossom Sect, they wouldn’t be able to raise that much money!
However, looking at it from another perspective, it should be impossible for Zu An to win. There were six different kinds of triples, so even if Zu An wanted to bet on triple, his chances of winning were still limited to only a sixth.
What am I so afraid of?
Plum Blossom Seven reassured himself as he finally slammed the dice shaker on the table. He looked at Zu An and smiled, “Young master Zu, please place your bets.”
His gaze was almost saying ‘Come and deliver your money right over’.
However, Zu An was in no rush to proceed on. He first turned to look at Chu Chuyan, to which, the latter replied, “Rest assured, he didn’t cheat here.”
Considering the disparity in their cultivation—Chu Chuyan was at rank five whereas this fellow was only at rank two or so—there was no way Plum Blossom Seven would be able to hide any tricks from her.
However, Zu An shook his head and said, “I’m not asking you that. I’m asking you if you have any copper coins on hand.”
“Copper coins? What do you need that for?” Chu Chuyan was confused.
She was in-charge of the Chu clan’s businesses, so she would usually bring some spare money around with her in case of emergencies. At Zu An’s question, she took out a single copper coin from her coin pouch.
“Lend it to me for a moment.” Zu An took the copper coin from her hand before leaning over to whisper in her ears, “Help me blow on it.”
Chu Chuyan’s face immediately turned cold. “Stop messing around.”
Zu An insisted with a chuckle. “Just help me this once. As long as you give it a wisp of your divine air, I promise you that I’ll be able to win this bet.”
“Blow it! Blow it! Blow it!”
The gamblers in the room loved commotions, so they began chanting in unison.
With all eyes on her, Chu Chuyan found herself put in a spot. So, she could only blow softly onto the copper coin. A slight tinge of redness colored her fair cheeks. She told herself that she would surely settle this score with Zu An later on.
Feeling a slight wind tickling his fingers, Zu An smiled in satisfaction. “Alright, with my wife’s divine air on my side, I’m certain that I’ll be able to win this bet. I shall bet on wherever this copper coin falls on!”
Right after saying those words, he flicked the copper coin up into the sky. Everyone watched with bated breaths as the copper coin fell on the gambling table and rolled around. Even Chu Chuyan was unable to tear her gaze away.
Her original intention was to just watch the show by the side, but Zu An’s earlier act of asking her to blow on the coin ended up drawing her into the show, turning her into a participant too.
Her heart, which had remained calm since many years ago, actually began to hasten for once. She found herself incredibly curious as to what the result of the bet would be like.
The copper coin continued to roll and roll until it finally struck the edge of the gambling table, which knocked it back a little before finally falling flat on the box indicating ‘1-1-1’.
With a hearty peal of laughter, Zu An placed all of his 50,000 silver taels worth of banknotes onto the box, saying, “Since destiny has decreed so, I shall stake all of my money here!”
“Open it! Open it! Open it!”
All of the gamblers around found themselves desiring to know the results of the match. Needless to say, they were all praying for Zu An’s loss. This man actually dared to flirt with his wife in the middle of the match. How abominable!
On the other hand, Plum Blossom Seven’s face distorted in horror. How could this be possible?
His mind went completely blank at this very instant. He couldn’t hear any of the commotions around; all he saw was mouths opening and closing in front of him, seemingly shouting something at him.
“Hm?”
Seeing how the dealer wasn’t opening the dice shaker, the gamblers realized that something was amiss. This brat can’t be that lucky as to have really guessed it, can he?
“Plum Blossom Seven, why aren’t you opening the dice shaker?”
“Hurry up and open it!”