The Bustling Harp Restaurant (I) (Continued)
"Money? I don't need to go to the Jockey Hong Kong Jockey Club to make money through horse racing. But women? Now that I can't go to nightclubs anymore, this is the most effective way I can think of to pick up girls." As Chu Xiaoxin spoke, he picked up the three thousand Hong Kong dollars that Song Tianyao had lost to him in a bet and handed them to the two jockeys opposite him. "Here you go."
"Thank you, Mr. Chu." The two jockeys expressed their gratitude. Although they were Black Jockeys, three thousand Hong Kong dollars seemed like a considerable sum to them, and their smiles widened considerably.
The four of them ordered a few light dishes, opened a bottle of brandy, and chatted idly. Chu Xiaoxin was absent-minded, his eyes constantly darting around inside and outside the restaurant. Meanwhile, Song Tianyao finally understood why the Second Young Master Chu could use two Black Jockey to help him pimp, and why he kept it a secret.
These two Black Jockeys had been training and racing horses for the Lu Family for many years. However, the Lu Family did not appear as a unified entity within the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The Lu brothers, Lu Wenjin, Lu Wenhui, and Lu Family Lu Wenhao, each had their own racehorses at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. One of the jockeys trained and raced horses under Lu Wenjin's name, and the other under Lu Wenhao's name. Originally, they had no connection with Lu Wenhui.
Although the three Lu Family brothers are family members off the track, their races are ranked within the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The jockeys who race under the Lu Family brothers' names are all Black Jockeys. While these two may be renowned outside, they have no equal advantage in front of a major Chinese Malaysia owner like the Lu Family. Other horse owners do invite them to train their horses for racing, but firstly, the pedigree and quality of their horses are inferior to those of the Lu Family. Secondly, the Black Jockeys don't want to give up the powerful backing of the Lu Family. Other horse owners may be richer than the Lu Family, but they certainly don't have the Lu Family's influence. Therefore, these Black Jockeys from the Lu Family basically move around within the Lu Family. It's not unusual for them to race for Lu Wenjin one day and Lu Wenhui the next. The reason why Chu Xiaoxin seized the opportunity this year is because Lu Peiying and Chu Xiaoxin are engaged.
Although the Lu Family made it seem like a casual affair, marrying off an illegitimate daughter, they couldn't really let Lu Peiying get married so easily. At the engagement, Lu Wenhui offered to give Lu Peiying and Chu Xiaoxin a racehorse that had just been imported from Britain.
Lu Peiying and Chu Xiaoxin were not members of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and Lu Wenhui would never actually have the horse delivered to their villa. The so-called "gift" meant that all the Hong Kong Jockey Club member dividends earned by the horse after competing in Hong Kong Jockey Club would go to Lu Peiying and Chu Xiaoxin. Considering the Hong Kong Jockey Club's huge annual ticket sales, if the horse's quality wasn't too bad, it would be equivalent to Lu Wenhui giving the two hundreds of thousands of dollars in pocket money every year, which was definitely a generous gesture. And if the horse performed well and won championships one after another, the benefits would be even greater.
Unfortunately, this horse became a hot commodity among the Lu Family's jockeys. To become a black-label jockey, besides training horses, the most important thing was having a discerning eye for judging them. Several black-label jockeys believed that after training Lu Peiying and Chu Xiaoxin's new horse, it had a real chance of causing a rookie upset. Simply put, all the jockeys believed that this horse had a chance to win in any race. What's the most prestigious thing for a jockey? Of course, it's personally training a rookie horse to victory. That's far more impressive than riding a racehorse that has already achieved a championship. Moreover, if this rookie horse becomes a favorite, it's not just about the prestige; a little manipulation, a tiny trick to close the gap between first and second place, even if the difference in ranking is only one place, can net hundreds or thousands in cash.
The Lu Family's Black Jockeys all wanted to apply to train the new horse. Lu Wenhui said that the horse had been given to his daughter and son-in-law and he would not interfere. While the other Black Jockeys were still thinking about finding an opportunity to meet Lu Peiying, these two Black Jockeys had already taken the initiative to visit Chu Xiaoxin and asked Chu Xiaoxin to give them a chance to train the horse.
Of course, Chu Xiaoxin wouldn't make such a decision on his own. He asked Lu Peiying, Lu Peiying naturally gave Chu Xiaoxin face and let Chu Xiaoxin decide. Chu Xiaoxin then chatted with the jockeys a few times, learning about the Hong Kong Jockey Club's operations and the horse racing mechanism. Since they were all men, and there was someone like Second Young Master Chu, their conversations naturally included some lighthearted banter. It was only after chatting that Chu Xiaoxin realized he had met the jockeys too late, because the two jockeys opposite him had never paid for any of their dinners or nights with women.
Just a little bit of inside information about horse racing is enough to send countless women swarming around him, with the women even paying for his hotel rooms. And these women aren't the kind who spend their days in brothels selling their smiles and entertaining others; they're either the concubines of some small factory owner, or the daughters of wealthy families who love horse racing. Occasionally, there are even tall, long-legged White Russian women or even Britain girls. Sometimes, hoping to turn their fortunes around through horse racing, they'll also send flirtatious glances to the jockeys.
These words were like opening a door to a new world for Chu Xiaoxin, causing Chu Xiaoxin to beat his chest and stamp his feet in despair countless times at night, wondering why he hadn't gone abroad to learn equestrianism and come back to become a jockey who dominated the courtesan scene... no, the racetrack.
"They're here, they're here." Chu Xiaoxin suddenly interrupted the three's chatter, whispering, "Aren't they those two beauties? Wow, they really are..."
Song Tianyao looked up and saw two women walking towards the restaurant entrance. One of them was wearing a Western-style dress, a women's hat with feathers on her head, and a pair of women's sunglasses with gold frames covering her face. Her makeup was a little heavy, and her pursed red lips looked quite alluring. She was about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and had the unique charm of a mature woman.
Beside her was a woman of understated elegance, wearing a light floral dress and a wide-brimmed hand-woven hat, with a gentle smile on her face. The two of them walked in together.
Song Tianyao didn't recognize the first woman with fiery red lips, but Song Tianyao recognized the seemingly harmless and serene woman next to her— Lu Yuanchun, a woman who was determined to restore the glory of the Lu Family Malaya and whose heart was far from the sunny exterior she appeared to be.
"Boss Cen, I just heard that your men have been keeping an eye on that scoundrel named Song Tianyao. How about this, you don't need to do anything, I'll have someone take care of him. What do you say? If anything goes wrong, it'll all be blamed on me, Liao Donggui, and Boss Cen won't be implicated."