Chapter 12

"Twenty thousand!" He casually tossed twenty thousand in chips onto the table. The others followed suit, and the female dealer dealt the cards one by one.

The others hurriedly checked their hole cards, while Xue Chen merely glanced at one corner of his card and saw "Ace of Diamonds." He looked at the dealer. "I want to split."

The others exchanged looks at once. The female dealer nodded and dealt Xue Chen two cards in turn: the Two of Diamonds and the Three of Spades. This time, the woman across from him had the higher hand. Without even looking, she tossed in fifty thousand. One of the men turned over his cards, clearly folding.

Once the dealer dealt again, Xue Chen saw everyone else's cards and smiled faintly. Just as expected. The woman spoke again, tossing in another fifty thousand.

With a ladies' cigarette between her fingers, Sister Nian took a puff and blew the smoke at Xue Chen in an extremely flirtatious manner. "Handsome boy, interested in following Sister Nian? I guarantee you'll have both money and women."

Xue Chen frowned. "Sorry, I'm not interested in women as old as my mother."

Sister Nian immediately grew irritated. In this part of Macau, who dared refuse to give her face? She had merely taken a liking to his looks and wanted a little affair on the side, yet he had humiliated her outright. "Kid, don't mistake my kindness for weakness, you..."

"Ha ha ha—" Before Sister Nian could finish, a bald man seated to her right burst out laughing.

"You bald bastard, what are you laughing at?" Sister Nian's face turned truly ugly as she glared at him.

"I'm laughing at you. Your face is full of wrinkles, yet you're still pretending to be some beauty? Take a look at yourself—you could be his grandmother. Calling you his mother was already giving you plenty of face." The bald man shot her a disdainful glance.

As soon as he finished speaking, waves of laughter rang out around them.

"Ha ha ha!!"

"Hmph, you bald bastard. If you dare walk out of here, don't blame me for having you killed." The woman glared viciously at the bald man, but he clearly did not fall for her threats.

"Sorry, everyone. I take all!" Xue Chen paid no attention to their quarrel and instead fixed his gaze on the dealer.

The moment he said that, the room fell silent again. Sister Nian slammed down her chips, grabbed the handbag she had bought first, and stormed off. The bald man smiled faintly. "Kid, you've got some nerve. You dared embarrass Sister Hua of Flower Street. Aren't you afraid she'll bring her lover over to cause you trouble?"

Xue Chen did not take his advice to heart. "Got it, Flathead. Aren't you one of them?" His expression remained calm.

The bald man looked a little guilty. After that brief exchange, he already knew the young man before him was not someone to be trifled with. He grabbed the chips on his table and slunk away.

"Little brother, you've got quite a few chips. It's boring playing down here. Why not go upstairs and have some real fun?" The man seated diagonally across from Xue Chen said with a smile.

"Oh? What kind of fun?" Xue Chen asked with an interested expression.

Seeing that the young man seemed interested, the man's lips curled slightly. "Texas Hold'em—the hottest game right now. Interested?" A calculating gleam flashed across his face as he stared unblinkingly at Xue Chen.

Xue Chen raised his brows. "Sure." He could clearly tell the man had not told him everything, but he had no intention of exposing him. He saw no malice in the man's eyes, so he did not mind taking a look. After all, this was the He Household's establishment. If even the He Household could not keep order in their own territory, their business was probably not far from collapse.

"Little brother, you're certainly straightforward. Come on, let's head upstairs!" Delighted that Xue Chen had agreed so readily, the man got up, dusted himself off, and led him to the second floor. Two casino attendants carrying chips followed behind them.

Watching the two leave, Young Master He could not help saying, "That kid has good luck. He actually caught the Xie Household's attention. Looks like I underestimated him." Mr. He did not say a word, but his expression was full of approval.

Before long, they arrived at the second room to the right of the stairs. The moment he entered, Xue Chen noticed it was luxuriously furnished. Various gambling tables filled the room, and three or four people were already seated around the largest card table in the center.

One of them stood up when he saw them and grinned at the man beside Xue Chen. "Xie Tian, I thought you were too scared to come!"

After saying that, Xie Tian pulled Xue Chen over to an empty seat, then puffed out his chest proudly. "Qi Si, don't get cocky. I only lost to you last time because I was careless and underestimated you. The expert I brought today will wipe out you little bastards completely."

"Hey, hey, hey! You all heard that, right? Young Master Xie has not only come personally to hand over money, he even brought along another cash bucket to donate with him. Don't hold back, everyone." Qi Si looked at Xue Chen's excessively handsome face. He seemed no older than twenty-four. While his bearing did resemble that of their circle, Qi Si had never seen such a young expert in the gambling world. He figured that fool was just being stubborn and had randomly dragged someone in to take the fall.

The others laughed as well, looking at Xue Chen with sympathy. Their thoughts were clearly the same as Qi Si's.

Xie Tian was not having it when he heard his close friends mocking him. "I'm telling you, don't underestimate him. Later, he'll make you lose even your underwear." Then he turned sideways and leaned close to Xue Chen. "Boss, when you win later, don't go easy on them. These guys are loaded. They can afford it."

"Hey, hey, hey, now that's going too far!" Seeing his friend shamelessly sucking up, Qi Si could not help complaining.

"Boss, fleece him hard. Oh, right, Boss, what should we prepare next?" Xie Tian rubbed his palms together.

Xue Chen said, "Prepare what? I've never played before!"