Unconventional [Rebirth] - Chapter 37

“Young man, have you thought this through? Do you really want to borrow all the money here? Although my interest isn’t high, borrowing this much—even if you pay it back tomorrow—the interest won’t be a small amount.” Jiang Jianlin feigned earnestness, advising him.

Jiang Rui, who was using the alias Tang Xuan, said impatiently, “What, are you afraid I can’t pay it back? My luck was bad before, but next, I’m definitely going to win back everything I lost!”

Jiang Jianlin had been loan sharking in Huidu for a while and naturally wouldn’t believe the words of a gambler. He smiled obsequiously at Tang Xuan: “Young Master Tang obviously comes from a wealthy family and wouldn’t care about this small amount of money. It’s just that this money is my entire net worth, so I have to be careful. How about you sign this IOU first and press your fingerprint?”

Tang Xuan frowned, took the IOU, glanced at it twice, then immediately signed the words “Tang Xuan” with a flourish, pressing his fingerprint without hesitation.

Jiang Jianlin smiled so widely that his eyes were barely visible, looking at the IOU.

Tang Xuan exchanged all the money he had back into chips. This time, he didn’t bet heavily and seemed to have become more cautious. Every bet was placed very carefully.

Yet, for some unknown reason, his luck remained terrible; he lost every time.

The people near the gambling table had already noticed this young man with extremely bad luck. Some cunning gamblers who followed the opposite of Tang Xuan’s bets consistently won.

After losing ten rounds or so, Tang Xuan looked annoyed. Feeling that he had no luck left at the Sic Bo table, he went to the roulette table and played a few rounds. However, his luck was even worse than at Sic Bo. In no time, he lost all his chips.

Including his own money and the money borrowed from Jiang Jianlin, Tang Xuan had lost a total of one hundred thousand kuai. The total circulating gambling funds in Huidu for one evening were only about a million kuai.

Tang Xuan’s face turned pale from losing.

Jiang Jianlin approached him again, no longer wearing the fawning smile he had when persuading Tang Xuan to borrow money. He looked cold and disdainful: “Young Master Tang, didn’t you say you could definitely win the money back?”

Tang Xuan looked at him as if seeing a lifeline, grabbing his clothes and shouting: “Lend me another twenty thousand! I can definitely win back all the money this time!”

Jiang Jianlin sneered, shaking off his hand: “Young Master Tang, you should first figure out how to pay back the money you owe me.”

“No! Lend me twenty thousand more, just twenty thousand! I promise…”

Jiang Jianlin opened his mouth to interrupt him, but someone spoke first: “Huaiqing, go get this Young Master Tang twenty thousand in chips.”

Tang Xuan turned his head and saw a tall man, about thirty years old, standing ten steps away from him. The man smiled elegantly as he instructed the handsome young man beside him, who had a wild, unruly look in his eyes.

Tang Xuan, that is, Jiang Rui, stared at the man. Images from his previous life flashed through his mind. He couldn’t help but clench one hand tightly behind his back, his veins visibly bulging on his hand.

Even if they met in this life and did not know each other, with no entanglement, the feeling of resentment was deeply rooted.

The moment Jiang Jianlin saw Wang Chenghui, he disregarded Jiang Rui and quickly stepped forward, saying, “CEO Wang, you don’t know, this person has already lost one hundred thousand kuai. If you lend him more, I’m afraid he won’t be able to pay it back.”

Wang Chenghui smiled and waved his hand: “It’s only twenty thousand more that he’s borrowing. Since this young man wants to play, we can’t appear stingy in Huidu, as if we can’t afford a loan of twenty thousand.”

Huaiqing placed the tray holding the chips on the gambling table next to Jiang Rui. Without a glance at him, he returned to stand beside Wang Chenghui.

Jiang Rui recalled that Ye Wenbin had the same attitude when he first met him in his previous life. At the time, he thought it was due to the other’s arrogance. Now, he saw that it was merely contempt.

Yet later, Ye Wenbin’s attitude towards him changed dramatically. His actions were ambiguous, expressing affection both openly and secretly, and he even had a relationship with him, which led Jiang Rui to accept him.

Jiang Rui never understood the vacillation in Ye Wenbin’s attitude, nor Wang Chenghui’s ultimate abandonment. Seeing the young man standing beside Wang Chenghui now, he had a sudden realization.

When he worked for Wang Chenghui, he sometimes felt that Wang Chenghui was looking for someone’s shadow in him. Later, as he grew older, his body matured, his appearance became handsome, and he lost the youthful spirit and rebelliousness of his seventeen or eighteen-year-old self. Wang Chenghui’s attitude towards him changed greatly. There was less intimacy and a more formalized relationship, like that between a superior and subordinate, a boss and a lackey, or a master and an apprentice.

And the later Ye Wenbin resembled his younger self, but he resembled the young man standing right there—Huaiqing—even more.

Jiang Rui had been with Wang Chenghui for many years and had gained some understanding of his temperament. He could tell that in Wang Chenghui’s eyes, this Huaiqing was no different from the him and Ye Wenbin of the past.

They were all just substitutes.

Jiang Rui even suspected that Wang Chenghui merely preferred their type of young man and wasn’t seeing another person through them.

Ye Wenbin’s hot and cold treatment of him was probably also due to his involvement with Wang Chenghui.

In Wang Chenghui’s mind, he had likely already intended to have Ye Wenbin replace him.

It was laughable that it took him until now to understand all this.

Jiang Rui stared at Wang Chenghui and suddenly spoke with a laugh: “What is a twenty-thousand-kuai bet? Since CEO Wang is here, we must play a big game to make it worthwhile.”

Wang Chenghui was somewhat surprised by the shift in Jiang Rui’s attitude. His gaze swept over Jiang Rui repeatedly, finally settling on the ordinary-looking face. A flash of regret quickly passed through his eyes, but he still asked, “How does Young Master Tang want to play?”

Jiang Rui looked him straight in the eye: “Sic Bo, best of three determines the winner. If I win, all the money I lost in Huidu today will be completely wiped clean…”

Wang Chenghui laughed: “Young Master Tang has quite the nerve.”

Jiang Rui raised an eyebrow: “I haven’t finished yet. If I win, I have one more condition.” With that, he suddenly pointed to the side at Jiang Jianlin.

Jiang Jianlin was startled by the sudden movement and took a step back.

Jiang Rui continued with a cold smile: “My condition is that this person under CEO Wang’s command be handed over to me to deal with.”

Wang Chenghui’s smile faded slightly. A Jiang Jianlin was nothing, but he thought of Jiang Rui’s nephew, the top scorer in the city’s senior high entrance exam, whose appearance was very tempting to him. That was why he set up this whole scheme, hoping to bring that child into his hands soon. He hadn’t expected Tang Xuan to make such a demand at this critical moment.

Jiang Jianlin, seeing Jiang Rui’s expression, felt that this young man was completely different from the ignorant wealthy young master he had encouraged to borrow high-interest loans earlier.

He absolutely could not fall into this young man’s hands.

“CEO Wang…” Jiang Jianlin tried to speak, hoping Wang Chenghui would refuse the young man’s unreasonable request.

Wang Chenghui had already ascertained that this young man named Tang Xuan had come prepared today.

Given how the situation had developed, Tang Xuan’s previous unskilled and unlucky gambling made all the surrounding gamblers believe that Wang Chenghui was certain to win this bet. If he refused, it would make him look like he was conceding defeat before the bet even began, losing the demeanor of the master of Huidu.

Wang Chenghui stepped closer to Jiang Rui, the smile on his face still refined: “And if you lose? Can Young Master Tang afford the stake if he loses?”

Jiang Rui’s lips curved slightly at the question. He pulled out a translucent emerald green jade dragon pendant, exquisitely carved, from his clothes and said, “CEO Wang, take a look. Can this jade dragon pendant serve as the stake?”

Wang Chenghui signaled to Huaiqing, who turned to fetch the jewelry appraiser hired by Huidu.

It wasn’t uncommon for gamblers in Huidu to lose heavily and use antiques or jewelry to settle debts and exchange for chips, so Huidu employed dedicated jewelry appraisers and antique appraisers.

Soon, Huaiqing brought the appraiser over.

The appraiser’s eyes lit up when he saw the item in Jiang Rui’s hand. After taking it and examining it closely, he found the carving style of the dragon pendant familiar. However, thinking of the famous master in the jade carving world who rarely took on commissions for others, he dismissed the thought as unlikely.

After estimating the value of the dragon pendant, the appraiser looked at Jiang Rui with a hint of regret.

For people who had handled jewelry for half their lives, the greatest pity was a pearl being obscured by dust—a good treasure not meeting a master who cherished it.

The appraiser reported the estimated value of the emerald dragon pendant to Wang Chenghui. Considering Qingshi’s purchasing power alone, the value of this jade dragon pendant was more than ten times the gambling debt owed by Jiang Rui. If it were placed in other first-tier cities or at an auction, the price of the pendant would likely double.

Wang Chenghui smiled upon hearing the value: “I underestimated Young Master Tang. Even I cannot produce such a high-quality jade. May I ask how Young Master Tang acquired it?” The implication was that he suspected the item’s source was dubious, and the young man was desperate to dispose of it at Huidu.

Jiang Rui knew exactly what he was implying, but his expression remained unchanged: “I obtained this piece of excellent jade while gambling on stones in Yidian, and then I had a master meticulously carve it.”

Wang Chenghui asked, “May I ask which master in the jade carving world carved it? I see the carving of this emerald dragon pendant is extraordinary; it must be the work of a master jade carver. Coincidentally, I also know a few skilled masters in the jade carving world. Perhaps I even know the master who carved this pendant for Young Master Tang.”

Jiang Rui had anticipated this question. Without changing his expression, he said: “It is the work of Master Xue of the Zhuoyu School.”

This emerald dragon pendant was carved by Jiang Rui himself. Jiang Rui’s carving skills had received the true essence of Master Xue Hening’s teachings. The pieces he carved were indistinguishable from Master Xue’s work to anyone except Xue Hening himself.

The appraiser and Wang Chenghui were clearly aware of Master Xue of the Zhuoyu School. The appraiser, in particular, immediately picked up the jade dragon pendant again for closer inspection after hearing Jiang Rui’s words.

A moment later, the appraiser exclaimed in surprise: “This is indeed the work of Master Xue! CEO Wang, this is truly a piece by Master Xue!”

Wang Chenghui had initially thought Jiang Rui was merely trying to inflate the price of the dragon pendant. Who would have thought that this was an authentic piece by Master Xue?