Changes at the Happy Forest

As a loyal regular of Happy Forest, Young Master Sun had barely arrived before someone went to report his presence, and Boss Liu of Drunken Moon Pavilion came out personally to welcome him.

"Hahaha, Young Master Sun, you haven't been here for a month, and the girls at Drunken Moon Pavilion have missed you to death. Today, I've specifically reserved two of our top headliners just for you." Boss Liu said with a chuckle, his face beaming with a warm smile.

"You're a good man, Old Liu."

Young Master Sun patted Boss Liu on the shoulder, rubbed his hands together, and said, "I haven't made a move in a month. I've been itching to go on a killing spree for a few rounds to satisfy my craving. Take me to the casino first, and tell the girls to wash up and wait for me."

With that, Young Master Sun headed toward the direction of Shunde Casino.

Boss Liu hurriedly pulled him back: "Shunde Casino closed long ago. I have a newly opened casino there; the interior is brand new, and the staff were all poached from Shunde Casino."

Young Master Sun asked in surprise: "Old Huang's Shunde Casino was raking in money by the bucketful. Did he lose his mind? Why did he suddenly stop?"

Boss Liu's expression turned awkward immediately, but he masked it in an instant and vaguely brushed the topic aside.

The Shunde Casino on one side of Drunken Moon Pavilion had already been turned into a branch hall by Su Xin, while on the other side was the newly opened Longqing Casino.

Come to think of it, the owner of this Longqing Casino was quite insightful.

After seeing Boss Huang crippled by Su Xin, and then watching Su Xin use one tactic after another to not only seize Boss Huang's assets but also emerge completely unscathed, he knew that he and his fellow merchants could never defeat Su Xin.

Since they couldn't win, the only option was to cooperate and maximize their profits.

Drunken Moon Pavilion was the largest brothel in all of Happy Forest; opening a casino right next to it would surely make business even more prosperous.

Thus, he decisively took out a thousand taels of silver to find Su Xin and traded for the land next to Drunken Moon Pavilion.

"Eh? Why are the girls from your Drunken Moon Pavilion all running over to the casino?"

Seeing a row of Drunken Moon Pavilion's most popular girls standing at the entrance of Longqing Casino, Young Master Sun was stunned for a moment.

"This is our new service in Happy Forest, Young Master Sun. Why don't you pick a few?" Boss Liu said with a beaming smile.

"Tsk tsk, not bad at all." Young Master Sun waved his hand, picked two familiar girls, and walked into the casino.

Once inside, Young Master Sun realized that quite a lot had changed.

Throughout the casino, nimble servants walked around carrying drinks and snacks; anyone who wanted to eat or drink could simply take what they liked.

If one wanted a full meal, the trays held by the servants contained menus, and once an order was placed, someone would immediately deliver it from the restaurant across the street, bringing it over as quickly as possible.

The original dealers who rolled the dice had also been replaced by the girls from Drunken Moon Pavilion; their movements might not have been as slick, but they were certainly pleasing to the eye.

Young Master Sun's eyes lit up. He casually grabbed a pot of wine from a passing servant and slapped a stack of banknotes onto the gambling table.

"Five hundred taels, all on Big! I've been pent up for a month, I'm going for a big win today!"

"Young Master Sun is so generous." The two girls beside him exclaimed in coordination, causing Young Master Sun to burst into hearty laughter.

Just then, the dice cup was opened: five, four, four—thirteen, Big.

"Hahaha! It's finally my turn to go on a killing spree today!"

Young Master Sun let out an arrogant laugh, swept the pile of silver and banknotes toward himself, and casually stuffed two notes into the bodices of the two girls, taking the opportunity to grope them.

Seeing those two banknotes, the girls' eyes lit up.

These were hundred-tael notes; usually, they would have to serve this man well to receive such a reward, but now, they had received a hundred taels without doing anything at all.

The others watching were green with envy and roared one after another: "Find me two girls too, make sure they're busty! I'm going to bet on Big today too!"

At the entrance, Boss Liu and Boss Chen of Longqing Casino exchanged glances, both wearing smiles.

The next day at noon, Young Master Sun crawled out of his bed of pleasure, smacked his lips while reminiscing about the previous night, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"This Happy Forest setup is truly brilliant! When I go back, I'll bring Old Li and those other bumpkins here to see it for themselves. Compared to Happy Forest, that place called Changde Ward is nothing but a piece of crap!"

On the very first day of its reopening, Happy Forest had already left a deep impression on regular customers like Young Master Sun.

Changning Prefecture was only so big; once there was new news, it could spread throughout the entire area in a single day.

Within three days, the news of Happy Forest's new gimmicks was known throughout all of Changning Prefecture, and everyone who had tried it had nothing but praise.

Consequently, in the following period, the flow of customers to Happy Forest began to grow explosively, and by the time the casinos and brothels in Changde Ward reacted, it was already too late.

They lacked the conditions to change, and they lacked the time to change.

Only a few wealthy owners managed to lease several storefronts in succession to renovate and remodel according to the Happy Forest model, but compared to the scale of Happy Forest, they fell far short.

A month later, when the owners of the various shops in Happy Forest tallied their accounts, their net income for the month had more than doubled—at the very least, it had tripled!

And those who earned the most, like Boss Liu of Drunken Moon Pavilion, had seen their profits increase by an astonishing fivefold.

Originally, the most profitable business in Happy Forest was the casino, but now, it was the brothel.

With Su Xin's changes, the young masters gambling heavily in Happy Forest were extremely generous; as long as they won a hand, they would desperately stuff silver into the girls' bodices.

These owners were raking in money hand over fist, so naturally, they had to pay Su Xin his share of the dividends.

As for these owners in Happy Forest, even the most seemingly obedient Boss Liu of Drunken Moon Pavilion, Su Xin had never trusted them.

So, when it came time for the dividends, Su Xin directly had Huang Bingcheng invite several accountants to audit the various shops to see if they were hiding any profits.

This audit was no small matter, and there were indeed some who didn't know when they were well off and underreported their profits.

Su Xin didn't say much; he simply had his gang members break the hands of the accountants who had cooked the books on the spot.

The owners turned pale instantly, never daring to pull any more tricks, and obediently handed over the dividends that were due.

Huang Bingcheng brought men carrying two large chests to Su Xin's home, his face full of excitement as he said, "Boss, guess how much we brought in this month?"

"Oh? How much?"

Huang Bingcheng flipped open the two chests, and a mass of gleaming white silver shone with a captivating luster.

"Eighty thousand taels! And this is just the first month. If we wait until next month, the reputation of Happy Forest will grow even more, and business will surely continue to boom. We'll definitely earn even more silver than this month!" Huang Bingcheng's face was flushed red with excitement, as if he had been injected with adrenaline.

"That much?" Su Xin was also taken aback.

According to his original estimates, the dividends for the first month would only be around thirty thousand taels. He hadn't expected it to be eighty thousand—nearly triple what he had anticipated.

It seemed there were quite a few wealthy people in Changning Prefecture after all. After all, it was the former capital of the Great Zhou, so it still possessed that foundation.

Rubbing his chin, Su Xin said, "Take thirty thousand taels from this silver, send it to Third Master Hu, and then tell the brothers to all gather at the hall."

"Th... thirty thousand taels!" Huang Bingcheng stared at Su Xin, dumbfounded.

Although they had previously given the assets of Shunde Casino to Third Master Hu, that was only because they needed to use Third Master Hu's name to swallow the casino.

But this thirty thousand tael dividend was essentially giving it away for free.

"We can't eat this much money. If we try to swallow it all, we'll only choke."

A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of Su Xin's mouth: "As the saying goes, it's better to share the joy than to enjoy it alone. This money will serve as my filial piety to my 'foster father'."

Huang Bingcheng was an old hand in the Flying Eagle Gang, so he immediately understood what Su Xin meant. This money was effectively protection fees.

Although it was a bit stifling, what had to be given still had to be given.

As Huang Bingcheng led his men out, the system's voice rang in Su Xin's mind: "Congratulations to the host for completing the main quest: Posture of an Overlord (I). Reward: 200 Villain Points and one intermediate draw."

Entering the system, Su Xin asked, "How many draw attempts do I have now?"

The system replied, "The host currently has 33 primary draw attempts and one intermediate draw attempt. Would the host like to use them now?"

Su Xin thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "Forget it, let's talk about it next time."

The primary draws he had accumulated over the past month could be exchanged for three intermediate draws, which, combined with the intermediate draw from this main quest, gave him a total of four.

Intermediate draws also carried uncertainty, so Su Xin planned to accumulate a few more and perform them all at once to see if he could pull out something good.