“We were just saying that this boy’s a fool but I didn’t expect that he’s just pretending to be a little lamb in order to eat them up!”

“A person who can make Gambling King sweat at the gambling table is no simple man!”

“The Gu clan’s gone and smashed their own foot with a rock this time.”

These bits of gossip reached Shentu Tian-Yin’s ears and she felt all conflicted inside. She’d thought Xia Lei was a soulless gambling addict earlier and was very disappointed but now she discovered that Xia Lei had an ungodly skill when it came to gambling. With his skill, he could live a life of luxury just by gambling but he had not; he had worked hard to make money doing business. Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying had colluded to get him to gamble this time so in other words, they had sent themselves to the slaughter!

Who wouldn’t go for the kill if the prey offered themselves?

The gossip burned in Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen’s ears. The Gu siblings had anger in their hearts but the people present were all business tycoons and big people. They could not vent their anger in front of these people. The Gu siblings turned ashen with having to hold their anger back. Their eyes were ready to shoot lasers and set Xia Lei alight when they looked at him!

Xia Lei ignored the Gu siblings’ fierce glares and sat calmly. He had a faint smile on his face. “Oh, what a bummer. Over so soon.”

He Jia-Ying controlled the flames of anger in his heart. “You still want to gamble?”

Xia Lei nodded. “Of course, I’m just afraid that you won’t dare to.”

“You-” He Jia-Ying wanted to snatch up the ashtray on the table and fling it at Xia Lei. He was the Gambling King of Macau - when had anyone ever ridiculed him in this way? However, he had to force himself to calm down. He knew this was Xia Lei’s ploy to provoke him to continue gambling. After Xia Lei’s gambles, he had more than 160 million Euros now and that was 1.14 billion Chinese yuan. Who would dare accept an all-in bet of that amount?

Even the fortunes of billionaires were not enough to pay for Xia Lei’s winnings!

Xia Lei’s gaze went to Gu Ding-Shan. He spoke mockingly, “Mr Gu, you said I had to act like a man earlier. You should act like a man now too. Do you dare to continue gambling with me?”

Gu Ding-Shan’s face was as dark as coal.

Gu Ke-Wu spoke angrily, “Xia Lei! Be more respectful! You’ve only won some money - what’s with the arrogance?”

Xia Lei grinned. “You can come play against me too, Gu Ke-Wu.”

Gu Ke-Wu did not move.

“You can’t not have enough money, can you? Oh, right, all your money’s from your father. Go call him ‘daddy’ and ask him to give you money to play with me. How about that, huh?”

Gu Ke-Wu clenched his teeth tight.

“Hahaha...” Xia Lei laughed loudly. “You’d better go home and wash the clothing and do the cooking. Don’t come out and act like a rich boy.”

“You motherfucker!” Gu Ke-Wu could not take any more of Xia Lei’s mocking. He charged at Xia Lei.

Gu Ke-Wen grabbed Gu Ke-Wu. She knew Xia Lei’s strength - ten Gu Ke-Wus were not enough to take Xia Lei on, much less one!

“Xia Lei!” Gu Ding-Shan stood abruptly, pounding the table hard. “How dare you act this way in front of me!”

Xia Lei stood too and looked straight at Gu Ding-Shan. “Then gamble with me. Never mind if you don’t have cash. Property and company stocks are accepted too. Gamble with me if you’re a man.”

Gu Ding-Shan glanced at He Jia-Ying next to him, but He Jia-Ying gave him a slight shake of the head.

He Jia-Ying had thought of trying to win back his losses after losing the third round but with Xia Lei betting like this, he did not have the courage to bet against Xia Lei any longer. More importantly, Xia Lei had over a billion Euros in his hands so that meant him losing a billion Euros if he lost, and it would only get worse afterwards. If Xia Lei won three more times, he would get over 8 billion Euros - that would be losing so bad he could lose his fortune!

He Jia-Ying’s apprehension was not shared by Gu Ding-Shan - he did not even consider gambling further with Xia Lei. However, he still said, “You win today, punk. We’ll meet another day. Take care of yourself; don’t meet with any accidents or that will truly be tragedy in the midst of joy.”

“You threatening me?” Xia Lei laughed, then suddenly slammed his palm down on the mahogany dice cup. Bam! The solid wood dice cup was slapped to bits.

Everyone was gobsmacked. He slapped a solid wood dice cup to bits! How strong was he?!

The corners of Gu Ding-Shan’s eyes twitched. This was the first time he’d felt fear in his many years! However, what scared him was not Xia Lei’s strength but the look in his eyes. He was familiar with this look because he had often looked at others this same way when he was still in the underworld. The people he had looked at with this gaze ended up either disabled or dead - not one had a good ending.

Xia Lei spoke coldly, “Gu Ding-Shan, and you two, Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen. I’ll say this today - don’t come making trouble for me. I don’t care who you are. I’ll make sure you won’t see the light of day again.”

“Heh heh, oh really? We’ll see about that,” Gu Ding-Shan sneered. “Let’s go.”

Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen glared hatefully at Xia Lei and followed Gu Ding-Shan out.

“Hold on. I’ll give you a warning, Gu Ke-Wu,” called Xia Lei.

Gu Ke-Wu looked back at Xia Lei and said dismissively, “Who do you think you are? Warn me? You should take a close look at yourself before you say things like this to me.”

Xia Lei spoke coldly, “Listen, and listen clearly. Do not bother Tian-Yin again. She does not even like you. Your consistent pestering makes you look like a scabies-ridden dog - don’t you think you’re disgusting?

The venue was dead silent.

No one could believe that this unknown character would dare speak to the heir of the Gu clan like that. The room of tycoons now saw Xia Lei in a new light - he was so bold!

Gu Ke-Wu was so angry he laughed. He pointed at Xia Lei. “Good. Very good.”

The Gu clan and He Jia-Ying’s group left the card room in a huff. The distinguished guests also dispersed.

Shentu Tian-Yin’s eyes lingered on Xia Lei. His last warning line directed at Gu Ke-Wu had touched the softest parts of her heart. No matter how successful she was and how much status she had in society, she was still a woman and wanted a man to make her feel safe. This was not the first time Xia Lei had come to her defence. He had made enemies of the Gu clan without care for himself. He had acted as bait, using his body to shield her even under the assault of the killers hired by Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng. A man like this... how could he not be the man she needed?

Shentu Tian-Yin was also ashamed. She had misunderstood Xia Lei earlier and even felt disappointed in him. This feeling of having wronged him troubled her.

Xia Lei, on the other hand, did not notice the change in Shentu Tian-Yin’s feelings. His gaze pierced through the walls of the card room and he quickly saw the Gu clan’s group walking in the corridor.

In the corridor, Gu Ke-Wu took out his mobile phone and pressed three numbers on the number pad. “Hello, is this the police report hotline? I’d like to report...”

Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He did not have time to ‘listen-in’ on Gu Ke-Wu’s words but he could guess what he was up to when he saw him press just three numbers.

‘Reporting me to the police? Fuck. It was a rare chance for me to win so much money and you want to get the police to confiscate it!’ Xia Lei cursed internally, then turned to look at Shentu Tian-Yin. “Tian-Yin.”

Shentu Tian-Yin looked at him blankly and seemed to not have heard him calling her name. There was a trace of a smile on her lips and she looked like her thoughts were wandering.

“Tian-Yin?” called Xia Lei again.

“Oh... Nn?” Shentu Tian-Yin snapped back to reality.

“Do me a favour,” said Xia Lei.

“What do you want me to help with?” asked Shentu Tian-Yin.

“Get someone to move all this money away. We have to be quick. I think the Gu clan will make a police report. The police will confiscate this money if they come,” said Xia Lei.

“No problem. I’ll get someone to come immediately.” Shentu Tian-Yin took out her phone to make a call.

Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin returned to the banquet hall ten minutes later. Everyone’s eyes were on them, not because Shentu Tian-Yin was holding Xia Lei’s arm, but because rumours of what had happened in the card room had spread to the hall of elites. Only a few knew who Xia Lei was in the beginning but everyone knew him now.

“Who said that this punk was not suitable for Shentu Tian-Yin earlier? He’s so wrong! He dared to challenge Gu Ding-Shan and Macau’s Gambling King He Jia-Ying on his own, and scolded the Gu clan so badly their ears could bleed. Just his boldness and guts are enough to be a suitable match for Shentu Tian-Yin!” said someone.

“He won one billion in a game. Damn it. The economy’s not good now - my company doesn’t even make that much in a year,” said someone enviously.

“Winning is winning but challenging the Gu clan like that is not a good thing. He won’t have a good end,” said someone in schadenfreude.

“What do you know? Didn’t someone say he was going to have to jump off a building? He won in the end. Would he dare challenge the Gu clan if he didn’t have the power to do so? Don’t mock him - he’s not a fool.” Someone spoke up for Xia Lei.

Seemingly every single guest was talking about Xia Lei; some good, some bad.

Xia Lei swept his gaze over the banquet hall and quickly found Gu Ding-Shan, Gu Ke-Wu, Gu Ke-Wen and He Jia-Ying. These four had not left.

‘Waiting for the police to come so they can be witnesses, huh?’ A small sneer appeared on Xia Lei’s lips.

“Let’s have a dance, Lei,” said Shentu Tian-Yin. She hadn’t ever danced with him before and she very much wanted to.

“I don’t know how,” said Xia Lei shyly.

“I’ll teach you,” said Shentu Tian-Yin with a smile.

Xia Lei forced himself to nod, then followed Shentu Tian-Yin onto the dance floor.

“Put your arm around my waist,” said Shentu Tian-Yin gently.

Xia Lei reached out and put his arm around her waist. She felt warm and delicate. Shentu Tian-Yin drew closer into his embrace and put an arm around his waist and a hand in his hand, guiding him as they started dancing.

Women at a banquet dance did not normally stick so close to their male partners when dancing but Shentu Tian-Yin stuck close to Xia Lei. Her breasts, pushed up high, were scant millimetres from Xia Lei’s chest. She did not seem to care about the gazes of the surrounding guests and looked to be enjoying herself.

This closeness made Xia Lei nervous. He could not dance well either and it was unavoidable that he’d step on Shentu Tian-Yin’s toes once in a while. Every time he stepped on her toes, they grew closer...

Next to the dance floor, the corners of Gu Ke-Wu’s lips turned up an a sneer. “We’ll see if you’ll still be able to smile later.”