At the root of it all, this was still the trouble that Lou Mingxin had caused!
She deserved to get beaten.
If it weren’t for Lou Mingxin, that person surnamed Jiang wouldn’t have set their sights on him. If he hadn’t been targeted, he wouldn’t have lost money and lost face.
Now, Xu Yao was stuck in a difficult position. He was risking offending the Lou family, yet he hadn’t gained a single benefit. On top of that, he had lost billions, and the red jade he wanted had slipped through his fingers. All he could do now was stand there drooling over it.
“I f*cking lost big time!” The quiet office echoed with a low curse, filled with frustration and regret.
His subordinate was stunned, seemingly unable to believe that their always-victorious boss had actually stumbled.
However, Xu Yao quickly brushed away his dejection and restored his usual composed and powerful demeanor.
He waved his hand. “You can go.”
“Yes, sir.”
The subordinate bowed slightly, backed out of the room, and closed the door behind him.
The large office remained brightly lit, but Xu Yao’s expression remained dark. Instead of relief, his face carried a deep sense of frustration and… puzzlement.
The image of those five Spade Ks flashed through his mind again. He ruffled his hair in irritation. That moment had practically become a haunting shadow.
His mind was full of questions.
It shouldn’t be possible…
After Jiang Fuyue had left, just to be sure, Xu Yao had his men review the surveillance footage. The cameras had captured her every move clearly.
There was no trickery, no sleight of hand. Every single card she drew was genuinely a Spade K.
And precisely because of that, Xu Yao found himself sinking deeper into confusion.
After a moment of thought, he picked up his phone and dialed a number—
“Elder Cen, it’s me, Xu Yao.”
On the other end, there was a rustling sound, followed by an irritated roar: “Xu brat, do you even know what time it is?!”
Xu Yao glanced at the clock on the wall. Tsk, 3 AM.
“You might not be sleeping, but other people need their rest! Especially an old man like me! Old people are fragile, you know! I need a full eight hours of sleep. Lose even a second, and it’s shaving years off my life! Do you understand, huh?”
Xu Yao’s ears twitched. “You’re in Shanghai?”
Silence on the other end.
Two seconds later, an eerie voice muttered, “…How did you know?”
“Cough! You always pick up the local accent wherever you go. After all these years, that habit hasn’t changed.”
The person on the other end nearly lost it. “You have five… no, two minutes! Speak if you have something to say! If not, hang up and get lost!”
Xu Yao rubbed his nose, carefully choosing his words. “Do you think… there’s a possibility that someone could have even better luck than me at the gambling table? Drawing higher-ranking cards?”
“That’s a dumb question. There’s always someone better. Luckier people than you exist all over the place. What, you think you’re some kind of chosen one, blessed with a protagonist’s halo?”
Xu Yao twitched at the corners of his mouth. Protagonist? Halo? Who was this supposed to be?
Forget it. This old man always blurted out weird phrases—he was used to it by now.
“I mean after worshiping the ‘Five Ghosts.’”
There was a pause on the other end, as if something had been caught onto.
“You’re saying… you paid respects to the Five Ghosts before gambling, but still lost?”
As humiliating as it was to admit—
“Yes.”
Facts were facts.
This time, the other end of the line went silent for a long time. Longer than the two minutes that had been given.
“…Describe exactly what happened.”
Xu Yao took five whole minutes to recount the events of that night—how Jiang Fuyue had deliberately drawn his attention in the lobby, how she had lured him step by step into her trap, and how, at the gambling table, she had forced him to concede both land and money.
He meticulously detailed every moment.
There were even details Xu Yao hadn’t originally noticed, but speaking them aloud made him realize just how much had gone over his head.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and summed it up—
“Cunning! Absolutely devious!”
But the person on the other end was not satisfied.
“That’s it? Think carefully—did you overlook any details? Especially any physical contact.”
Details…
Physical contact…
Xu Yao’s gaze sharpened suddenly.
“When I returned to the gambling hall after changing clothes, she bumped into me. Then she patted me.”
“Where exactly?”
“My arm.”
“Check if anything was left behind.”
Xu Yao glanced at his right arm. Black fabric. From this close, if there were any traces of something, they would be visible immediately.
But—
“There’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Well, I don’t see anything.”
A moment of silence.
“…Don’t look. Get closer and smell it.”
Xu Yao did as he was told.
The next second, his expression changed slightly.
“There’s a scent of pine resin and pomelo leaves.”
“That’s it. Pine resin to calm spirits, pomelo leaves to ward off ghosts. Since you worshipped the Five Ghosts beforehand, it wouldn’t have worked for you. Good fortune wouldn’t come your way. On the contrary, if she leveraged the gambling hall’s ‘Five Ghosts Fortune’ setup, she could have redirected all the luck to herself. That would mean every hand she played was a winning hand.”
Five Spade Ks—wasn’t that the ultimate winning hand?
The old man sighed.
“Looks like… you ran into a master.”
Xu Yao suddenly recalled Jiang Fuyue’s words from that night—
“You’re already at the door, and you still need preparation?”
“What, are you going to bathe, burn incense, and pray for the God of Gambling’s blessing?”
“Seems like you’re trying my method after all…”
“Otherwise, why would you change your clothes?”
Now, thinking back to Jiang Fuyue’s subtle smirk and meaningful expression—
A chill ran down Xu Yao’s spine!
Xu Yao: This is… terrifying.
