Lazily Yours.

"That— Of course, the company won't force Mr. Q to join this bet against Mr. Li, even if he is a VIP. After all, we value fairness to everyone." The man in white smiled as he gave an apologetic look at Mr. Li. How could he try to use his charm towards someone who already knew the rules? While this surprised him, the man in white just took it as Shen Qui being cautious. After all, this was his first time. The man might have studied every rule in this place just to keep himself safe.

Mr. Li scoffed. "What a coward."

Shen Qui snorted in response. Dead men can't tell anyone that they were cowards. Then he turned his head away and look at Lyca instead.

"Well then… since Mr. Q didn't agree… I believe we need to proceed?" the man in white uttered. He then gestured for his assistant to start opening the ores in Mr. Li's box. Slowly the ores were open, and just like everyone else, most of them didn't have a jade. However, the last two were different.

"A nephrite! A dark-green nephrite!" the man in white's eyes widened as he stared at the nephrite that was the size of a baby's fist. True, it was small, but this was the first rare nephrite that they got tonight. He immediately asked the person who examines jades to come forward and appraise the nephrite. Just like what the man in white or Ben said, it was indeed a nephrite— a rare dark green nephrite!

"This is… wonderful!" Ben couldn't stop himself from beaming as he eyed Mr. Li. "Congratulations! So far, this is the rarest nephrite that he found tonight!"

"Thank you!" Mr. Li said. However, his eyes were on Shen Qui and Lyca. How could he forget that embarrassment that he felt earlier when this man kicked his shin? He gave Shen Qui a smug smile, after all, this was supposed to be Shen Qui's ores. Seeing Shen Qui just smirked at him, he snorted and accepted the congratulatory words of the other players. This wasn't the first time that Mr. Li got himself a rare nephrite. but this was the first time he was using it to teach newbies a lesson to always respect their seniors. 

"Now… let's open the last ore. I can only hope that this is another nephrite." Ben excitedly look at the ore and watch his assistant opened it. "Eh? Another dark green nephrite?" Ben's eyes sparkled as his heart started pounding. One nephrite for one gambler is pretty normal, but two rare nephrite in one player was just… very lucky! "Ah! It seems that Mr. Li is indeed very lucky tonight!" Ben said before he announced the two rare items that Mr. Li found. 

Almost immediately the atmosphere turned joyful. Cheer and some clanking glasses followed as the people who put their bets on Mr. Li immediately celebrated the rare occasion. Everyone already assumed that Mr. Li would win this gambling tonight. 

After about five minutes of congratulatory messages, the crowd finally settled again, and the opening of ores continued.

"You shouldn't have provoked him." An older man suddenly said as he stood next to Shen Qui. He let out a sigh. "Provoking a businessman like Mr. Li just because of a woman…. Was just a poor decision on your part. The best thing that you could have done was to give him the woman and endure. Then once you are stronger and have more influence than him… then you strike and make him suffer."

Shen Qui didn't answer the old man. The old man's suggestion was something that normal businessmen would do. Does he really look that normal? Well… maybe he was normal. But the woman next to him was far from that. 

"Aiyo… younger people these days are really stubborn." The man let out another sighed. "Every young people these days always thinks that they were in the right. Even if they were clearly wrong. Here is a word of advice young man. After this… you should apologize to Mr. Li and… leave him the girl." The old man shrugged. "Women are everywhere… you can find them in every corner of this place. There is no need to try and show off to someone. You know that— " the old man suddenly stopped talking. He opened his mouth to try and say something, but no words came from his mouth. 

He tried to scream, but he seemed to…. He couldn't hear his own voice. The old man stared at Shen Qui's calm face as she struggled to say a word— any word.

Still, nothing came out of his mouth. He widened his eyes, his tongue slowly darted out of his mouth as his wrinkly face paled. "I think this man was having a heart attack." Lyca's voice interrupted the current opening of ores. Ben immediately stopped talking and motioned some people to help the old man out of the stage. There was no hint of emotion on Ben's face as he instructed his people to bring the old man to the hospital. Then he looked at the current person in front of him and acted as if nothing happened.

Even the people surrounding them acted as if it was a normal thing that happened almost every day. Seeing this, Lyca couldn't help but sigh. This place really reminded her of some gambling areas in her previous world. However, this wasn't her concern anymore. That old man won't die anyway. A stroke would probably stop him from talking without therapy, but that was all. 

Lyca just thought that the old man kept on giving horrible advice to Shen Qui so, she used the needle on her bracelet and poked the man's elbow. The old man didn't feel any itch whatsoever and didn't even notice her hand moving. Lyca looked at Ben and the others. Now that she thought about it, these people can be a very bad influence on Shen Qui's pure heart.

She needed to stop these people from corrupting her Shen Qui.

.....

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