Chapter 337: Reconciliation and Huang Gai (1/2)
Sun Wentai paused for several seconds. Then, he suggested Huang Gongfu another idea.
[By chance, is that kid an exam participant?]
”Probably so.”
[How is his strength from your point of view?]
”Very decent. He's about 20, but his strength is late 4th-stage, but his essence volume is quite unusual. I also detect several element Qi in there, but he hid them well.”
[That's enough to get on his good side. Offer him a month of free stay in our best suite. Give him free food, drinks, and women. After that, send me his details. I want to know about his origins, name, and face. Also-*Drrrrr*-Ah, shit. Sorry, Gongfu. I've got another call from my brother. Will call you back later. I have several urgent matters to attend to.]
”Alright.”
Huang Gongfu doubted if that was enough to please Miaomiao, but he had no choice.
After hanging up the call, the elder made another call to the hotel manager before he walked toward Miaomiao.
…
”Hmm?”
Seeing the approaching elder, Miaomiao wondered what he was scheming. He expected a good show.
”Junior. I'm sorry about before.”
As expected, the elder had come to apologize. Miaomiao shrugged, ”No harm's done. It's just business. I understand why you did that. You have a reputation to uphold there.”
”Still, it was indeed an immature move on my part. You see, my boss has ordered me to compensate you for that last hand.”
”Oh?”
Miaomiao grinned. Professional casinos in the modern world usually offered various perks to their whale customers when they lost a lot of money, and he had guessed that this place might do the same.
Huang Gongfu continued, ”Say, are you participating in the annual assessment exam of Jiangdong White Tiger's sect tomorrow?”
”Yeah, but I won't be joining the sect, though. I want to join in for the fun.”
The elder squinted his eyes as he was taken aback. No one had ever joined the sect's exam for FUN before, and Miaomiao's action was suspicious.
Had it been normal circumstances, Huang Gongfu would have taken Miaomiao into custody to investigate his motives or purposes for being here. Because of the recent game, the elder believed that Miaomiao was just being salty.
”How about this, junior? We will give you a month of free stay in one of our best suites. This includes unlimited food, free access for all our hotel facilities, and top bed warmers from our city's best brothels. The hotel will also gift you five essence cores worth of casino chips to play in our other games.”
Miaomiao raised his eyebrows in astonishment. They were too generous for someone who had just lost only a couple of essence cores.
”Are you sure? That's quite excessive for compensation.”
”Consider it as a payment to maintain my reputation as a dealer. I couldn't lose that game, or I might lose my job.”
”Ah, I see. If that's the case, I'll gladly take that offer.”
Huang Gongfu took a deep breath and sighed as if he was relieved, ”Thanks, junior. By the way, what's your name?”
Without hesitation, Miaomiao used his alias again even though his identity had already been exposed, ”This junior is Cao Mao.”
”I see, Cao Mao. I haven't heard of the Cao Clan. Where are you from?”
Miaomiao paused for a moment. Then, he grinned, ”Siren City.”
Huang Gongju froze. He gave Miaomiao a disapproved look, ”Be serious. A stupid joke like that can get you killed in this city. I can overlook this, but other people would have mistaken you for a spy. You know what we do to spies, don't you?”
Seeing that the elder didn't take it seriously, Miaomiao maintained his façade, ”Hah! Just kidding. I'm from Red Sun City.”
”Hadn't the local cultivators migrated to either Red Sun Port or other cities?”
Miaomiao shrugged and opened his palms, ”That's why I'm here.”
”Do you want to move here? Want me to introduce you to a real estate agent? A promising youth like you will always be welcomed here even if you're not a part of the Sun Clan's sect.”
”I'll think about it.”
Huang Gongfu nodded and went back. A few minutes later, he returned and passed Miaomiao a new coin.
It was a coin with a mega-shark image, the Megalodon Token, which allowed Miaomiao to access all facilities of this hotel.
”Are you sure about this?” Miaomiao was surprised by the elder's decisiveness.
”You said you were a Megalodon. I believe you.”
”What if I say I lied?”
”Nah, had you really lied about your wealth, you would have been frustrated from that game. Only someone who DOES have a lot of money could stay calm after losing a few essence cores.”
”I could have been a wastrel who doesn't know the value of money, though.”
”If that was the case, you would have flaunted your wealth and wasted all your money after that loss. Also, even the smartest or boldest young masters of some rich clans could never maintain their composure when they played a high-stake game. On the other hand, you were calm and collect throughout hundreds of games, and you didn't flinch when you bet all your money. That means, your words and actions made sense. Me, as a professional gambler, I want to bet on your words that you told the truth.”
The elder seemed smart as he had already deducted Miaomiao's character like a poker master.
Miaomiao was impressed by the former's insight, ”You're something, senior.”
”I've seen every kind of customer here. It's easy to spot a real dragon among the heaps of lizards.”
”Haha! Nice comparison!”
…
Both Miaomiao and the elder chatted about random stuff until dawn. At 7 AM, the elder excused himself.
”I'll be heading toward the exam site now. I'm one of the sect's elders, so I need to help the others manage the event. I hope to see you there, Junior Cao.”
”See you later, Senior Huang.”
Miaomiao had learned the elder's name during the conversation. As usual, he ran into another counterpart of a famous historical person.
Huang Gongfu was the counterpart of Huang Gai, one of the veteran generals of the Sun Family. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he played a major role in the Battle of Chibi, and he was responsible for burning Cao Cao's fleets.
Huang Gai and Huang Gongfu were similar in certain parts, their intelligence and their wits. They were quick on the uptakes – Their flexibility and adaptability were top class, which made them scary in mind games and tactical battles.
Now, in this cultivation world, offending a smart and strong expert wasn't a good idea. Although most cultivators were straightforward about their strength, cunning cultivators were hard to deal with, especially old foxes, since Miaomiao couldn't predict what they were up to.
His life experience in Poseidon Spa House taught him the hard way not to trust cunning cultivators. He almost became Xu Xiuying's slave during his early days. Hadn't he had the dual-cultivation abilities, he would have been enslaved by her goons long ago.