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  Chapter 145: The Boss Lady is a Master

  TL: Etude

  “Shall we py for money?”

  “No gambling for me, I’m broke as hell, and I’m strictly against gambling and drugs!”

  Dong Wenhao coughed and said, “We don’t usually py for moher, but we thought we’d make an exception sihe boss is here.”

  After hearing this, Jiang Qin looked puzzled: “Oh, so you think I’m an easy mark?”

  “No, no, no, it’s just that, given your esteemed status, we wao py something with real stakes.”

  Jiang Qin smirked, “Heh, Wenha to learn from me how to swindle people? You’re on the right track, but it’s not enough to pique my i.”

  Lu Feiyu couldn’t help but interject, “Boss, we have fun pying our usual games, but think about it, having a bunch of paper stuck to your face would really undermine ynity. And dignity, that’s something money ’t buy.”

  “That word, ‘dignity’, really is something else.”

  After listening, Jiang Qin poked Dong Wenhao, “Listen to this, Old Lu is learning faster than you. I’m almost tempted now.”

  Dong Wenhao coughed, “Great, the boss has agreed to py for money. Five bucks a game!”

  “The hell, when did I agree? Five bucks is too much, I only spend fifty ts on ice cream!”

  “Boss, does your boss dy keep you on such a tight leash?”

  “Nonsense, five bucks it is!”

  Cursing under his breath, Jiang Qin reached for the cards.

  The pame they pyed, taught by Dong Wenhao, was uo his hometown and involved five pyers.

  The Emperor is known to all, but the Eunuch is a secret ally, w together to beat the three oners. Victory is achieved when all of a pyer’s cards are pyed, with the fun lying in the Eunuch’s hiddey, creating mutual suspi, to the extent that even the Emperor doesn’t know who his protective Eunuch is.

  The game requires four decks of cards, totaling over two hundred cards.

  After Dong Wenhao expihe rules, Jiang Qi fident and pyed his cards with a ctter, ending up st.

  “Boss, you lost, pay up!” Dong Wenhao extended his hand.

  Jiang Qin frow him, “Put it on my tab. Who knows, maybe I’ll win it back ter.”

  Lu Feiyu looked up, “Just don’t fet, boss. You owe me five bucks too.”

  “I’ve only pyed one round, how e I owe both of you money?”

  “Dong’s the Emperor, I’m the Eunuch, and since you came st, you have to pay double. That’s the rule.”

  “What kind of bullshit rule is that? It’s even shadier than mine.”

  Dong Wenhao and Lu Feiyu exged gheir faces alight with the thrill of fleeg a newer. In these kinds of card games, first-timers rarely have the upper hand and mostly flounder between uanding and fusion, so losing money is a given.

  It would take at least eight or nine rounds for even the smartest person to grasp the intricacies of the game.

  So, they figured the boss had agreed to py just to give his employees a bonus.

  “Boss, you’re not going to lose your cool over losing money, are you?”

  Jiang Qin snorted, “That would be low css. I uand the stakes of the game. Let’s shuffle and start again. I think I’ve got the hang of it now.”

  Ma Yubao coughed, “The loser shuffles the cards. That’s also a rule.”

  “Fuck!”

  Jiang Qin cursed as he gathered the scattered cards in front of him and started a new game, only to lose again, once more finishing st.

  The four pyers across from him were about to die ughing, especially Yang Shuai, whose mouth stretched almost to his ears.

  While they were ughing, the door of Room 208 suddenly opened. Jiang Qin looked over at the sound and saretty, petite face peeking in. Her eyes were cold, her expression fierce yet cute. Her full, cherry lips looked soft and moist uhe light, as if oe would yield water.

  Simultaneously, all the employees in Room 208 turo look and brightened up instantly, sweetly calling out “boss dy” in unison.

  Feng Nanshu nodded with some pleasure and theered, sitting down beside Jiang Qin, looking obediently demure.

  She seemed to have just taken a bath. As the young, wealthy woman leaned in, a soft, floral st wafted into Jiang Qin’s nostrils, a delicate and refreshing fragrahat tickled his senses.

  “Do you want to py?” Jiang Qin passed the cards to her.

  Feng Nanshu leaned over to look and said, “I don’t know how, I’ll just watch you py.”

  “Deal the cards, deal the cards.” Jiang Qin shuffled the cards and id them o.

  “Boss, you haven’t paid for the st two rounds. We agreed, no bag out of debts.”

  Jiang Qin’s eyebrows shot up, “Do you think I’d run away from a monastery but not from the monks? If I really wao dodge the debt, just take all the ptops in the offid I won’t say a word.”

  Dong Wenhao was taken aback, “But those ptops are all ours.”

  “We’re all family here, why talk like strangers? Hurry up, I o redeem myself.”

  So, they pyed another round with vigorous card-pying, and the petition was intense. Except for Lu Feiyu, who was a oner a first, the rest were in a teandoff.

  When it was Jiang Qin’s turn, he hesitated because his hand didn’t seem very strong. It would be difficult for him to be the sed to finish, so the safest bets were third or fourth.

  “Py this o.”

  Feng Nanshu stretched out her fair hand, pointing at Jiang Qin’s cards, her breath warm and fragrant on his face.

  “That’s the highest card I have. If it gets blocked, I’m done for.”

  For the first time, Jiang Qin was this close to Feng Nanshu, so close that he could touch her cute h a tilt of his head, even feeling the warmth of her skin.

  “They don’t have anything higher than this.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “Brother, py this oime, trust me.” Feng Nanshu turned her head to him, her face so close it was almost toug his.

  Jiang Qin’s breath hitched, and he carelessly pyed his highest cards, five Jacks. The oppos’ faces ged immediately, and they shook their heads, deing the py.

  The few rounds were simir. Whatever the little rich dy suggested, Jiang Qin pyed, swiftly and precisely, keeping Dong Wenhao, the dying eunuch, from showing his hand.

  Ma Yubao was silently pnning to trap the boss with his cards, but Jiang Qin quickly cleared his hand before Ma could react.

  After a few rounds, Dong Wenhao and Lu Feiyu eaore than ten bucks, their faces turning ashen.

  “How about it, shall we tinue?” Jiang Qin asked, his mouth askew.

  Dong Wenhao shook his head, his lips pursed, “No more, the boss dy is a master. If we keep pying, we’ll lose our entire wallets.”

  Feng Nanshu spoke up seriously, “I don’t know how to py.”

  “One doeser a family without fitting in,” Dong Wenhao muttered under his breath, “Never a word of truth from her.”

  Feng Nanshu’s eyeshes trembled slightly, “I really don’t know how to py, but I t. I scored 671 in my college entrance exam, only 12 points in the essay.”

  “…”

  After a while, Dong Wenhao, with tears in his eyes, pulled out his wallet aantly handed Jiang Qin some money, refusing to py any further.

  Well, if they tinued, it would just be an endless cycle of the boss’s sary being won back by the boss dy, a never-ending, prosperous development for the business.

  “Damn, are you two undering money or what?”

  Watg Dong Wenhao insist on leaving, Lu Feiyu and Ma Yubao also paid up, packed their things, and prepared to return to their dorms to sleep.

  Jiang Qin looked up and noticed that it had bee dark outside. The night, deepened by winter’s arrival, seemed particurly dehe wind blowing through the window was cold, carrying a damp st, hinting at impending rain.

  Turning around, he saw Feng Nanshu still sitting obediently, gazing at him ily with her beautiful eyes.

  “It looks like it’s going to rain. I should walk you back to your dorm.”

  “Okay.”

  Jiang Qin stood up, picked up his coat, and walked out, only to find the little rich dy still standing in the same spot, quietly watg him, as if waiting for something.

  “Let’s go.”

  Feng Nanshu looked down at her feet, “Jiang Qin, I ’t move.”

  Jiang Qin frowned, “Are your feet numb? Weren’t you fine just now?”

  “My feet are sealed. I o feel the power transferred from your palm to break the spell.”

  “?!”

  Jiang Qin uood; she wao hold hands. This ing little devil, first cozying up to him during the card game and now this trick.

  “Well, stay here then. I’m leaving. But just a heads up, once I leave, Su Nai’s puter will start making some terrifying noises.”

  Su Nai’s eyes fshed murderously, thinking to herself that if Jiang Qin dared to stay alo would be his end. If not for the fear of the boss dy witnessing bloodshed, today would mark his death anniversary year!

  As Jiang Qin walked away, Feng Nanshu’s eyes dropped slightly, but she still pushed open the door and followed. Her little leather shoes echoed in the empty hallway with a ‘tap tap’ sound.

  “Such strong wind, has Zhu Bajie arrived?”

  Jiang Qin stepped outside the Entrepreneurship ter to find a strong wind blowing through the campus, sounding like a mischievous spirit, the tinual ‘whooshing’ swirling all around, tossing the yet-to-fall leaves into disarray.

  The little rich dy seemed a bit panicked, her eyes fixed on Jiang Qin, following his every step.

  Jiang Qin slowed down, allowio catch up, then took her arm, holding her slightly cold hand firmly.

  “Is the spell broken?”

  “It’s broken.”

  Feng Nanshu spoke seriously, her only hint of fear vanishing pletely.

  Jiang Qin led her towards the dire of the girls’ dormitory. But halfway there, they bumped into Cao Guangyu and Ding Xue, hand in hand. The four exged gnces, creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere.

  “Yo.”

  “Yo my foot, get lost!”

  Cao Guangyu had barely uttered a sylble before Jiang Qin cut him off with a blunt ‘get lost’.

  Jiang Qin kly what Cao Guangyu, that jerk, wao say – something along the lines of, “How e you’re holding hands now? I thought lovey-dovey couples weren’t your thing,” followed by a smug smile as if unc some great secret.

  Jiang Qi at peace with himself and saw nothing to hide, but Cao’s smugness was unbearable.

  Get lost, then! Cao Guangyu, cursing under his breath, walked away with Ding Xue.

  “Jiang Qin.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Why do so many people want to be lovers if the ultimate end is to bee strangers at death?”

  Feng Nanshu asked softly, her voice gentle, her expression filled with fusion and wonder as she watched Cao Guangyu and Ding Xue walk away.

  “Perhaps… it’s for the joy of the fleeting moments.”

  EtudeTranstions