The Card Apprentice

Lin Yao had been rejected, and it was easy to imagine how angry she was. She had never seen such an ungrateful jerk as Qiao Yuan. She had thought that by coming personally, Qiao Yuan wouldn’t be so likely to outright refuse. Then, as she went over things slowly, she realized she should have been able to accomplish the matter. She had the capital for such confidence. Given her appearance and temperament, along with her aristocratic identity, she had never been so directly refused like that.

Qiao Yuan’s refusal had been so blunt that it left no room for ambiguity—not even a glimmer! She had always thought highly of herself, and she had wanted to demonstrate some ability in front of her elder classmate Zeng. Who would have thought her counterpart would have finally been so rude as to leave her no face? The affair far exceeded common sense with her taking such a firm shutting of the door.

Lin Yao was just on the verge of storming off. Luckily for her, though, she hadn’t gotten carried away with her anger. She drew in a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She felt some regret; if she had known what would have happened, she would never have spoken so fully. It would have been better if she hadn’t said anything to move Qiao Yuan and had merely returned embarrassed.

No expression was visible on Ah Sang’s face, though she was feeling rather fine inside. Some of what Lin Yao had said had been pretty hard to hear. She’d had no scruples about Ah Sang’s standing and hadn’t shown any respect whatsoever. Now, seeing Lin Yao get into trouble, Ah Sang remained silent and looked on coolly.

When that sudden noise sounded out, the two women both looked surprised. Before they could react, a large gang of people rushed in with a roar. There were quite a few reporters carrying their equipment.

Lin Yao’s expression changed dramatically. Although she hadn’t figured out what was actually going on, she had a feeling it was nothing good. Ah Sang’s face also shifted as she wondered to herself why so many reporters would arrive at once. Fortunately, the two of them were no ordinary characters, and they quickly resumed their calm.

“Wow, two pretty women! So beautiful! Hurry; take a shot! Hurry up!”

“I never thought there could be such pretty women at this backwater, so the trip wasn’t in vain…”

“Who are these two women?”

“One of them is a student from Moon Frost Island. It seems like she’s called something like Lin Yao. The other is the daughter of the boss of this establishment. Good stuff!” The one speaking didn’t have a strong voice, but he was quite clear, even in the noisy environment.

“Moon Frost Island!” The reporters looked excited. If one were to say they had just been doubting if those people were being deliberately mystifying, they were now believers. There would certainly be some news there—big news!

“Miss Lin! Miss Lin, why would you show up here? Could there be some new trend at Moon Frost Island? Or, does Moon Frost Island want to enhance their influence in the district of Zargan?” A reporter with quick reflexes kept asking a barrage of questions.

Old Wang looked on coldly, his mind like a mirror. Some of the people wanted to bag Moon Frost Island! He looked at the reporters leading the questioning like they were fools. To offend a gang of plunderers would be to court death. To offend Moon Frost Island, though, would mean the rest of one’s days wouldn’t go so well.

But he was also curious about why someone from Moon Frost Island would suddenly come to such an unknown place as Zargan. Moon Frost Island was the only school among the Big Six where the female students outnumbered the male students. It was their tradition to emphasize the women and to de-emphasize the men. That had also created a situation where the female students had comparatively higher positions in the school than the men. Thus, when the reporters found out the woman in front of them was a student from Moon Frost Island, how could they not be excited? So long as there was news related to Moon Frost Island, it would basically not be small news.

Lin Yao abruptly became a little flustered. When had she ever witnessed such a scene? But, when she saw the equipment on the shoulders of the reporters, she immediately understood it was a live broadcast.

She forced out a smile. “I’m sorry, everyone. We are only performing an ordinary job here.”

“We?” The reporters keenly grasped the news that word revealed. Right then, another reporter asked, “Miss Lin, who has come along with you?”

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on her, and she helplessly responded. When she brought up Zeng Yushan, all of the reporters’ faces lit up. They knew about Zeng Yushan’s fame and that the so-called ordinary job was actually Zeng Yushan leading troops. That certainly wasn’t so ordinary as what Lin Yao said.

One of the reporters noticed the closed door behind the two of them and couldn’t help but ask, “Would you please step forward a little, Miss Lin? Do you have some kind of agreement with this Miss Ah Sang from the Chichi Trading Firm?”

Ah Sang’s face shifted; she hadn’t expected to be dragged into it.

Lin Yao suddenly had a brainstorm as she said with a smile, “Yes. We at Moon Frost Island have already reached an agreement with the Chichi Trading Firm, and the two sides will form a partnership. I was just discussing that with Miss Ah Sang. We consider the Chichi Trading Firm to be a trading house with great potential, worth our paying attention to.”

If she didn’t have a way to bag Qiao Yuan, that didn’t mean she didn’t have a way to bag the Chichi Trading Firm. She didn’t believe the Chichi Trading Firm would deny her in front of that many people. Ah Sang had just demonstrated how much she looked up to Moon Frost Island, and she was letting her fully grasp it in her heart. So long as the Chichi Trading Firm reached an agreement, with Qiao Yuan being employed by them, she would only have to ask Ah Sang to step up the pressure. When it came to Qiao Yuan, she would just turn it over to Ah Sang to think of something. Although she didn’t know why Qiao Yuan would accept employment from Ah Sang, she rather maliciously thought that perhaps the two of them had some unusual relationship.

All of the blood drained from Ah Sang’s face in that instant. She had never expected Lin Yao to play that hand!

In front of Moon Frost Island, the Chichi Trading Firm was nothing more than a small firm that couldn’t be any smaller. The two sides were at completely different levels. The only result of that would be that the Chichi Trading Firm wouldn’t have the ability to contend with them unless they could find some backer in another establishment that did have the power to contend with Moon Frost Island.

Lin Yao was speaking in front of so many reporters’ faces that it completely sealed the relations between the two sides. Ah Sang was clear about Lin Yao’s objective, and she was equally clear about what the result would be if she denied her. That firm, into which her father had poured his life’s blood, could disappear by tomorrow. That play of Lin Yao’s was really too insidious!

All of Lin Yao’s recent anger flew away with her smile, and she felt completely satisfied. For her to come up with such a wonderful idea in such a short time, how would she not be proud? She felt moved to strike while the iron was hot. “Miss Ah Sang, there’s no time like the present. At such an important moment, why not invite Mr. Qiao Yuan to meet everyone?”

“Qiao Yuan! Ah! Could that be the Qiao Yuan who killed Mo Ta and defeated Jin Yin?”

“I heard he recently defeated Dang Han…”

The reporters became even more excited. Qiao Yuan had appeared from out of the blue during that time and had immediately gone soaring in popularity at a jaw-dropping speed. Although they knew the name Qiao Yuan, they weren’t so clear about what had specifically happened there. The reporters had only just found out that Moon Frost Island had originally come there because of Qiao Yuan.

Ah Sang’s face was pallid, and her expression was wooden as she gnawed on her lips and silently turned around. She faced the closed door in a daze and used all of her energy to raise her right hand. It seemed as though her right hand was stuck in midair and wouldn’t knock no matter what.

Lin Yao’s proud voice came from behind her. “Don’t keep people waiting, Miss Ah Sang.”

Ah Sang closed her eyes, having no way to curb her tears as they slipped quietly down. That didn’t attract anyone’s attention in the midst of the sound of her knocking on the door.

The door squeaked open. The reporters outside were stretching their necks, wanting to see Qiao Yuan’s true face. Too bad it was perfectly dark inside.

Ah Sang walked in cautiously, and the door slowly closed. Lin Yao really wanted to go in, but she hesitated and decided not to. Who knew what kind of attitude Qiao Yuan had toward her? She, on the other hand, believed she had just had a great idea out of nowhere. If the two of them had no shenanigans between them, why would Qiao Yuan’s attitude only be so negative toward her?

In the training room, Chen Mu was watching Ah Sang, who looked like a wooden statue, and he sighed silently to himself. He had just heard clearly what had been happening outside. Lin Yao’s grand objective was so unscrupulous that it really disgusted him. For her to act that way, no matter how things developed, Ah Sang and the Chichi Trading Firm would become expendable.

Chen Mu broke the silence as he slowly opened his mouth and said, “There’s no use begging me; I’m not about to enter these turbid waters.”

He knew how deep that turbid water was. His power alone would be insignificant in those waters. He was certain that once he fell into that whirlpool, the possibility of his survival would be vanishingly small. Never mind that neither Constellation nor Moon Frost Island had good intentions.

Ah Sang showed despair in her eyes, and she was unwittingly biting through her lips with her snow-white teeth. There was no hint of blood in her exquisite face, so the traces of blood on her pale lips were a shocking sight.

“What should I do? Would my body be enough? I’m willing to pay any price!” Ah Sang said with a trembling voice. Before Chen Mu could respond, she extended her hand to open her clothes a little. Her body and her hands were shaking all along, and her gaze was fixed on Chen Mu’s eyes, as though she were grabbing onto her last hope.

That was an unexpected turn of events. Suddenly, memories from childhood came surging up like a tide and engulfed Chen Mu. He had seen quite a few people pay too high a price for survival. Society’s rules were the same everywhere!

An inexplicable sorrow filled Chen Mu’s heart, and his expression became still more hard and indifferent. “If I were interested in your body, it would have been mine a long time ago.”

That rational and nearly unfeeling phrase dashed the last bit of hope in Ah Sang’s heart like the point of an arrow. She crumpled to the floor as though the energy had been drawn out of her. She was unable to restrain her sobbing.

Watching Ah Sang on the ground, Chen Mu briefly looked like he couldn’t bear it. As he saw it, perhaps she had been a little permissive in her thinking and a bit shrewd. While she did have some moves, she was a little girl not yet 20, after all. The things she’d had to bear were really too cruel and too heavy for her.

As the initiator of all of that, Chen Mu deflected his head and looked out the door. A severe glow flitted past his eyes, and his urge to kill soared.

You think you can push everyone around?