For the first time in his life, Lian Jue was witnessing a scene like this, leaving only eight words echoing in his mind:
Uncompromising methods, iron-fisted resolve.
Though, it was understandable.
Chen Xingjian had fought his way up entirely on his own, managing in just a mere five years to catch up to what took other companies decades to develop. Without ruthless methods, he wouldn’t be able to stand firm.
Holding the mung bean cake that was on the verge of crumbling into dust in one hand, Lian Jue couldn’t help muttering inwardly.
The sugar daddy he had picked for himself was simply too aggressive; things might genuinely go south when the time came for him to run away. He really should have vetted him a lot more thoroughly from the start.
“Lian Jue.”
The lingering aura of violence had yet to fade completely from Chen Xingjian’s brows and eyes. Hearing him call out, Lian Jue instinctively stiffened his back.
He sidled over to Chen Xingjian’s side with cautious care, calling out obediently, “Sir.”
Chen Xingjian raised a hand to take that piece of mung bean cake, his fingers meticulously crushing the pastry into pieces.
The pale green pastry crumbs were scattered unevenly across the marble floor tiles, reflecting a pair of frightened eyes.
“President Jin, since you love pastries so much, make sure you thoroughly taste what the mung bean cake here is like.”
Once this farce came to an end, Chen Xingjian acted as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, returning to sit with the remaining people to discuss business and occasionally offering a few sentences of input.
With President Jin serving as a cautionary example, everyone who had originally intended to wait and see completely abandoned any lingering thoughts. They obediently handed over the reins of control and earnestly tried to decipher Chen Xingjian’s intentions.
The business negotiations proceeded with unexpected smoothness, culminating ultimately in the signing of contracts.
The tense nerves of everyone present relaxed collectively by a notable margin. The bolder ones began testing Chen Xingjian’s mood and proposed playing a round of dice.
Lian Jue’s gaze flickered.
He had been tossing dice and playing with them since he was a kid; controlling and guessing the numbers came as second nature to him.
The stakes in a game of dice at an occasion like this were bound to be outrageously high—skimming a bit of money off the top would practically be like taking candy from a baby.
“Want to play?” Chen Xingjian asked in a low voice, his upper body leaning slightly toward him as his palm found its way back to Lian Jue’s waist, kneading it with moderate pressure.
“A little.” Lian Jue answered honestly. After thinking for a moment, he rubbed his head against Chen Xingjian’s chest with a wronged expression. “I don’t even have any chips. I’m so pitiful how can anyone sit down at a gaming table without a single chip to their name?”
Pitiful and aggrieved, he was practically shouting give me some money right to his face.
Chen Xingjian felt an itch in his throat as his palm tightened involuntarily.
This tiny shift didn’t escape Lian Jue’s notice, and a sense of triumph welled up inside him.
Fortunately, Chen Xingjian seemed to thoroughly enjoy it when he acted meek and coquettish, and had always been quite receptive to this routine.
“Roll a couple of rounds of dice.” Chen Xingjian shifted his upper body back, pulled a black card from his jacket pocket, and placed it right beside Lian Jue’s hand.
“What if I lose?”
“Win or lose, as long as you have fun.”
Joy bloomed across Lian Jue’s face, the warmth of his smile toward Chen Xingjian turning noticeably more genuine.
The dice game began, using the simplest gameplay: guessing high or low.
Six dice were rolled together, and the total count of the faces was estimated; 15 was the midpoint—anything above was high, anything below was low.
Lian Jue propped himself up, observing the rise and fall of the dice cup, and could more or less make an accurate guess in his head.
Betting high or low gave a fifty-percent probability, and Lian Jue could hit the correct bet seven or eight times out of ten.
After a while, some of the others caught on that something was off and began following Lian Jue’s bets, prompting even Chen Xingjian to flash a momentary look of surprise.
“President Chen really has a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger by his side.”
“No wonder he’s able to stay by President Chen’s side; that eye for detail is truly top-tier.”
Lian Jue smiled shyly. “I don’t have any real skills. I just happen to stick close to President Chen and catch a bit of his good fortune.”
Hearing this, Chen Xingjian let out a light laugh and reached out to press down on the dice cup.
“Want to bet against me? Still guessing high or low.”
“What are the terms?” Lian Jue asked with curiosity.
The money he could rake in from the table had already been mostly rounded up by him, and since everyone else was just tailing his bets, the room left for him to make a profit on his own was already exceedingly small.
“If you win, I’ll double the money you’ve won at the table and give it to you. If you lose, everything you’ve won goes to me.”
Double it?
Lian Jue glanced sideways at the chips scattered across the gambling table.
Calculating based on ten thousand per chip, he had already won close to two hundred thousand. Doubling it would mean eight hundred thousand.
“Deal!” Lian Jue didn’t forget to tug gently at the corner of Chen Xingjian’s sleeve, his almond eyes lifting upward slightly with tension. “Sir, you have to go easy on me.”
“Keep your eyes glued if you want to win.” Chen Xingjian picked up the dice cup and shook it with leisurely composure.
The speed at which he shook it wasn’t fast, and Lian Jue intently simulated the path of the dice colliding inside the cylinder within his mind, not daring to relax his focus for even a second.
Chen Xingjian stopped moving his fingertips and pushed the dice cup toward Lian Jue. “Care to make a guess?”
“High?” Lian Jue hesitated. Chen Xingjian’s technique was bizarre; he had never seen anything like it and could only rely on experience to guess.
“Made up your mind?”
Chen Xingjian spoke slowly, studying the face of Lian Jue, which was furrowed with tension.
Internal conflict, nervousness, hesitation.
Emotions flickered across his face in turns. Guess wrong, and he’d walk away with absolutely nothing.
Lian Jue tentatively surveyed Chen Xingjian’s expression and tested the waters. “What kind of numbers does President Chen like?”
Chen Xingjian stared at Lian Jue with a look that was half-smile, half-serious, his words carrying an ambiguous weight: “Getting a bit bold, aren’t we?”
Lian Jue hurriedly lowered his head, dodging Chen Xingjian’s gaze.
Fine, if I’m not allowed to probe, I won’t probe. Why’ve you gotta be so fierce about it?
Such a petty person.
Lian Jue made a random guess aloud: “I’m guessing high.”
The dice cup was lifted slowly, revealing the numbers beneath.
It landed precisely on a total of 15 points.
Since it was neither high nor low, by standard rules it should be counted as doubled back to him, but knowing how calculating Chen Xingjian was refusing to even give him a proper title—he figured the man would surely object.
What if he dismissed him in front of everyone and made a scene? What should he do if he flew into a rage out of humiliation?
Lian Jue’s mind raced through countless scenarios, torn with indecision, before ultimately falling back on the professional code of conduct of an exemplary kept canary and obediently handing the decision-making power back to Chen Xingjian.
“Sir, what do you think?”
He raised a pair of watery eyes, gazing at Chen Xingjian with an expression of pure, pitiful helplessness.
He wouldn’t really leave me with not a single cent, right? At the very least, he has to return the two hundred thousand I won with my own effort, doesn’t he?
Back then Chen Xingjian even told me there was money to be made running this errand today, and now that I’ve barely caught a glimpse of the cash…
Chen Xingjian tapped his fingertips casually against the edge of the table, his gaze drifting toward an empty teacup.
Lian Jue displayed top-tier situational awareness, immediately stepping up to pour him fresh tea and bringing the pastries from before over to his side, playing the part of a tender and considerate companion to absolute perfection.
“Half of the money you won stays with me, and the rest counts as your reward.” Chen Xingjian picked up his teacup and spoke with measured leisure.
The perfect expression on Lian Jue’s face almost cracked right down the middle. This wasn’t a reward at all it was outright humiliation.
He clearly could have won the entire sum cleanly, which would have at least left him looking like the tragic victim of a ruthless plundering.
What was the meaning of him taking half of it away now?
After all his hard work and half a day of effort, half of the money he earned went straight into Chen Xingjian’s pockets. He was nothing more than a pitiful wage slave who still had to put on a show of profound gratitude to Chen Xingjian on the surface.
The mere thought that a portion of the designer outfits Chen Xingjian wore was funded by his own contribution made him want to crush the pastry in his hand and fling it straight into Chen Xingjian’s face.
“Thank you, sir,” Lian Jue said through gritted teeth, pouring the tea with an even heavier hand.
He wanted to brew a pot of piping-hot tea and scald blisters all over Chen Xingjian’s mouth.
Brownish-brown tea cascaded from the spout, and a pair of jade-white hands suddenly pressed against Lian Jue’s wrist, halting his motion.
Staring pointedly at the teacup before him, Chen Xingjian let loose a remark loaded with hidden meaning: “Just a thank you? That’s not how you ask for a reward.”
That familiar, unhurried voice brushed past Lian Jue’s ear like a death warrant.