Cheng Shouping was bewildered. He had marched off to the counter gleefully to collect his money, thinking that the young master would reward him handsomely for his efforts. Yet, he actually messed everything up.
It was a million silver taels they were talking about here!
Cheng Shouping’s eyes immediately reddened in agitation. With a cry of despair, he charged forward to brawl with the manager, only to be swiftly dragged out by the guards of the Four Seas Casino.
“Where did this lunatic come from? Beat him up real good so that even his mother wouldn’t recognize him!” The manager covered his swollen eyes as he pointed his finger at Cheng Shouping angrily.
“Oh? Is this how the Four Seas Casino treats its customers? Not only are you all shrinking payment, you even try to turn things around your customers to frame them, even attempting to beat them to death?” a sharp voice sounded as Zu An strutted into the casino imposingly.
Beside him, Chu Chuyan also saw the pitiful plight Cheng Shouping was in, and her gaze turned cold. Even though she wasn’t too fond of Cheng Shouping, he was still a member of the Chu clan. She wouldn’t allow outsiders to just trample all over him.
Receiving Chu Chuyan’s subtle gesture, the Chu clan’s guards immediately rushed forward to beat down the guards of the Four Seas Casino, saving Cheng Shouping from their clutches.
“Waaa, this woman is really pretty!”
“Are you blind? Don’t you recognize the first miss of the Chu clan?”
“As expected of Brightmoon City’s number one beauty!”
“But what are they doing here? Doesn’t the Chu clan have strict rules against gambling?”
…
The others in the casino, as well as passers-by, immediately rushed over to watch the commotion.
Cheng Shouping staggered over to Zu An’s side with a swollen face. He hugged the latter’s thigh as he cried out indignantly, “Young master, that bastard over there has torn up the bet paper!”
Zu An’s eyelids twitched. “Stop using my clothes as a tissue paper to wipe off your snot.”
Seeing that Chu Chuyan was here too, the manager from the Four Seas Casino dared not to put on airs. He quickly stepped forward to welcome her with a smile, but his bruised eye made his appearance rather comedic. “Young miss Chu, what brings you here today? I’m the manager of this casino, Ol’ Third Du. Pardon me my lack of an appropriate welcome.”
Chu Chuyan harrumphed coldly and said, “If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have known how little you thought of the people from our Chu clan.”
“I dare not to!” Ol’ Third Du hurriedly replied with a nervous smile. “I didn’t know he had come under your orders, so please forgive me for my earlier act of disrespect.”
Zu An waved his hand impatiently. “Enough. Don’t waste our time with such pleasantries. Hurry up and pay the million silver taels you owe us.”
Ol’ Third Du put on a surprised look as he asked, “Young master Zu, I’m afraid that I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. The bet paper your servant brought to us is fake, so I’m unable to cash it out for you.”
“Whether the bet paper is real or not, you should have had everyone to testify for it. Don’t you think that it was highly inappropriate for you to tear it up just like that? That’s an act of a guilty conscience,” said Zu An coldly.
Those words were met with the fervent agreement of the crowd. The action of Ol’ Third Du was suspicious in their eyes too.
However, Ol’ Third Du had already prepared an answer to that. “I thought that this servant was falsifying the bet paper behind your back. It was out of consideration of the reputation of the Chu clan that I tore the bet paper on the spot. Otherwise, it might lead to unnecessary gossip. I didn’t know that he was doing it under your orders.”
Since the bet paper had been destroyed, there was no way for Zu An to disprove his words anymore. Not to mention, his words made perfect sense too.
As expected, those in the crowd immediately turned doubtful eyes toward Zu An.
“Oh? You’re even trying to turn the tables on me, huh?” Zu An burst into laughter. “It’s fortunate that I made preparations in advance. I knew that you would try to pull something like that, so I kept the real bet paper with me.”
Zu An took out the real bet paper from his robe and displayed it before everyone else. “What a pity that your guilty conscience prevented you from even taking a close look at the bet paper, resulting in such an elementary mistake.”
“…” Ol’ Third Du.
You have successfully trolled Ol’ Third Du for +666 Rage!
You have successfully trolled Zheng Dan for +666 Rage!
You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +666 Rage!
Zu An subconsciously glanced at the tightly shut doors behind the counter.
Zheng Dan and Sang Qian are indeed hiding inside. It looks like this is one of the Zheng clan’s businesses. It was wondering why Zheng Dan kept trying to get close to me previously, but it turns out that she does have ulterior motives in mind. Most likely, she was aiming for the 7,500,000 silver taels debt note I have on the Silverhook Casino, hoping to use it to devour the Plum Blossom Sect’s businesses.
Still, I must say that Sang Qian really went all out this time around. He even had his fiancée lay a honey trap for me, casually hugging and touching me.
Ey, that fellow can’t have some sort of weird cuckold fantasies, does he? Oh my! If that’s the case, I really should… make a friend out of him!
In any case, it means that they are unaware that the 7,500,000 silver taels is no longer on me anymore. I should tell Jiang Luofu to keep this matter hidden for the moment. It’ll be interesting to see the two of them desperately struggling, only to realize that it was all in vain.
It was also then that Chu Chuyan spoke up, “It’s very easy to discern the authenticity of a bet paper. Casinos would pay careful heed to the material of the paper, the quality of the ink, and the handwriting on it so as to prevent forgery, and a record of it will be kept in the magistrate’s office so as to avoid contention. On top of that, every casino would keep a spare copy of the bet paper for documentation purposes. I shall invite the vice magistrate over to look through your accounting book and judge this matter fairly.”
As one of the decision-makers in the Chu clan, she had to be well-versed with how businesses operated and the laws of the country.
“Young miss Chu, please wait a moment!” It was then that someone suddenly ran out. “I am the owner of the Four Seas Casino, Zheng Guanxi. It’s an honor to have Chu First Miss and young master Zu visiting our premises.”
There was no way the Zheng clan would allow them to go to the vice magistrate for this. They were clearly at fault here, and things would be made clear with just a bit of investigation. On top of that, if the vice magistrate really ran through their accounting books, they could stand to lose far more than just a million silver taels.
“You’re the owner of the Four Seas Casino?” Zu An shot a glance at the inner rooms of the casino as he spoke.
It looks like Zheng Dan and Sang Qian aren’t intending to come out. But again, given their lofty standing, they can’t possibly openly intervene in the matters relating to the casino or else it could lower their standing. It was only normal for them to find someone else to take care of matters.
“Yes, I am!” replied Zheng Guanxi with an amicable smile.
“Zheng? Are you from the Zheng clan?” asked Zu An.
“No no no, of course not. I have nothing to do with the Zheng clan at all. How could someone as humble as me possibly be related to the great Zheng clan?” Zheng Guanxi denied it right away.
Should I have used another name instead? Otherwise, it’s very easy for others to see through my background. But again, it’s much easier for me to settle problems when I bring the Zheng clan into the picture to pressure others. Ah, this is really a dilemma.
“I don’t care which clan you’re from. Just tell me, how are you intending to resolve this matter?” asked Zu An.
“Yes, of course.” Zheng Guanxi took out a handkerchief and dabbed away the small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “It was all Ol’ Third Du acting on his own accord earlier. Our casino is unaware of the matter. I reckon that he’s coveting this huge wealth.”
“???” Ol’ Third Du.
Zheng Guanxi wasn’t about to give Ol’ Third Du a chance to explain at all. “Men, drag him down and bring him to the vice magistrate!”