Zeng Guoyu glanced coldly at Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu, then brandished his pistol and shouted at the bodyguards who had betrayed him, "You lot, bring those boxes over here, put the money in, hurry up, or I'll break the legs of anyone who's slow!"
At this point, it was Zeng Guoyu's turn to say something about breaking a dog's legs.
There were about ten bodyguards who came with Zeng Guoyu. Two of them were injured by Zhou Xuan, and two more were beaten. Zeng Guoyu also injured Guo Zijie. At this point, there were only seven or eight people left. Zeng Guoyu fiercely brandished his gun and shouted. They immediately ran over in a panic to grab the empty boxes that were used to store money and put the money in them.
When Zhuang Zixian saw them indiscriminately stuffing the money from both sides of the table into the box, he immediately reached out to stop them, saying, "Wait, Hua Shao and Gu Shao, you can just put your own money in, but don't put mine in."
Gu Yuan and Hua Jianxing jumped to their feet, furious and speechless for a moment. But Zhou Xuan spoke first: "Your money? Zhuang Zhixian, Zhuang Zhixian, your skin is thicker than the Great Wall! Everyone at the gambling table has said it: you win some, you lose some. You've lost all your money to me, so what bill on this table belongs to you? If we lose, wouldn't this money be yours? According to your logic, if you have a gun and you're strong, does that mean the money belongs to you?"
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Zhuang Zhixian immediately flew into a rage upon hearing this. In Hong Kong, even high-ranking government officials would give face to super-rich families like theirs, which had instilled in Zhuang Zhixian an arrogant and conceited attitude from a young age.
Zhou Xuan just said that he won all the money, so how could Zhuang Zhixian tolerate this unknown guy? If it were Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, or Zeng Guoyu, he would give them some face. But Gu Yuan and Hua Jianxing are not much different from his family in terms of power, and their statuses are similar.
Of all those present, Zhuang Zhixian cared most about Wei Haihong, who had remained silent the whole time. He understood that no matter how wealthy Wei Haihong's family was, they wouldn't dare to easily offend the high-ranking officials in Beijing.
He didn't care about Zhou Xuan. Moreover, Wei Haihong had explained that he had no connection with Zhou Xuan, they were just acquaintances who happened to be there to watch the gambling. So he assumed that Zhou Xuan had no background and that it didn't matter if he offended him. Usually, these gambling experts were converted from swindlers and couldn't possibly have any background.
But Zhuang Zhixian was wrong. As soon as he spoke, Wei Haihong stood up abruptly, slammed his hand on the table, and roared at Zhuang Zhixian, "Zhuang Zhixian, if my brother is nobody, then who the hell are you? Believe me or not, I can wipe out all of your Zhuang family's businesses with just one word!"
Wei Haihong's words were unlike those of others; they carried extraordinary weight!
Zhuang Zhixian was stunned by Wei Haihong's words and couldn't react for a long time. Wei Haihong called this guy a brother, so what exactly was their relationship? Wei Haihong's words were not a joke. If he used the power of the Wei family to say that he would destroy the Zhuang family's business, although it was a bit presumptuous, it was not a laughing matter. If the high-ranking officials in the capital wanted to crack down on a certain businessman, even if they couldn't kill him immediately, they could severely damage him and regress him to the primitive society. This was not impossible!
Zhuang Zhixian is usually extremely arrogant, relying on the power of his family. In his eyes, it is all about money. If the Zhuang family has no money, what else is there for him to be arrogant about?
After Wei Haihong spoke, Gu Yuan realized that Zhou Xuan, who had helped them win money, was no ordinary person. Given Wei Haihong's status and demeanor, he had never heard him mention anyone as his brother. Startled, Gu Yuan brandished his gun and retorted angrily, "Zhuang, if we hadn't brought this up, I wouldn't have said anything. But since you've gone so far as to be shameless, I, Gu, will also lay it all out beforehand. From today's events, I understand that you are Ma's backer, you are his boss. Before, you set up a scheme and won nearly 300 million yuan of cash from me and Hua Shao, and we didn't utter a sound. Whether you cheated or genuinely won, you won anyway, and we didn't catch you cheating. We lost that money. A bet is a bet. But now, Zhou Jingsheng has won against Ma Shudong, you saw it clearly. He won through skill. I lost and you want to take it back, you lost and you want it back? Who the hell do you think you are?"
Gu Yuan got angry, and Hua Jianxing also flew into a rage, brandishing his gun and roaring, "Don't mention this! Just thinking about it makes me furious! We took this money legitimately today. You surnamed Zhuang, you're truly despicable! If anyone says that again, I'll shoot them and break their legs!"
Seeing the bodyguards moving slowly, Hua Jianxing fired a shot that shattered the window of a car next to them, yelling, "Hurry up, all of you!"
It was force that had the power to intimidate. As soon as Hua Jianxing fired his gun, the bodyguards sprang into action. Seven or eight of them packed the money into boxes one by one. Hua Jianxing said to Gu Yuan, "Young Master Gu, bring over that sixteen-seater van and load it with money. I'll keep an eye on these bastards."
Gu Yuan nodded and went to drive the car. Zeng Guoyu urged the bodyguards to hurry up and load the money. Seeing the 2 billion yuan in cash on the long table being packed into boxes, Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu turned pale. But at this moment, they were truly under someone else's roof and had no choice but to bow their heads.
Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu actually had different thoughts. Zhuang Zhixian was heartbroken that his money was taken away by others, while Ma Shu was heartbroken about the money, but more importantly, he was wondering how Zhou Xuan knew his background.
Ma Shu's secret was known only to Zhuang Zhixian, and no one else knew it. Ma Shu wondered if Zhou Xuan also possessed this ability.
Ma Shu's ability to read minds is a secret he kept to himself. He discovered the benefits of this ability when he was eleven years old. At that time, his father was a gambler and an alcoholic who often lost money. When he lost money, he would come home and beat him and his mother.
Ma Shu grew up being tormented and beaten by his father, so he harbored a deep hatred for him. When he was ten, he discovered he had the ability to read minds, and so he plotted against his father. In his father's gambling games, he would secretly tell him what to bet on, ensuring his father won small amounts of money each time. After three months, his father had won a considerable amount and, becoming arrogant, partnered with some underworld figures to gamble big.
This time, Ma Shu made his father lose everything and incur a huge debt. More importantly, Ma Shu's father also made his partner lose a lot of money. So the people in the underworld tied Ma Shu's father up with a big rock and threw him into the sea!
After this incident, Ma Shu and his mother secretly fled far away, wandering the world. As he grew up, he lived in the lower rungs of society. However, Ma Shu grew up tormented and troubled by poverty, so he was particularly careful in his actions.
He always had a mix of wins and losses when gambling in casinos or with acquaintances. He would lose a few hands and win one, losing more than he won, but at the end of each round, he would always win a little, so as not to arouse suspicion.
The reason Ma Shu got involved with Zhuang Zhixian was that he ultimately didn't want to live a life of small-scale gambling. With those people, he could only ever win small amounts, never big ones. And the level of caution in casinos was much higher, because the surveillance and control were much stricter. If someone consistently won big, they would be blacklisted, cutting off Ma Shu's source of income.
But things changed after getting involved with Zhuang Zhixian, because Zhuang Zhixian was in contact with all the super rich young masters and the upper class. Winning money from them was easy, and the amounts were extremely large, amounts that could not be won in a casino in the long run!
The more than 200 million yuan that Ying Guyuan and Hua Jianxing won was a scheme set up by Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu. Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu's agreement was a 60/40 split: Zhuang Zhixian would provide the money and find the prey, while Ma Shu would only be responsible for winning the money. Zhuang Zhixian believed he had contributed more, so he wanted a larger share, which Ma Shu didn't object to, thinking that even 40% was a sum he couldn't imagine!
Zhuang Zhixian initially set up a scheme and won 10 to 20 million yuan. Later, the winnings grew larger and larger. Last time, he set up a scheme and won 270 million yuan from Gu Yuan and Hua Jianxing. Now, the two of them have won more than 400 million yuan in total, and each of them has split 200 million yuan. The soaring money has made Ma Shuxin's ambition grow wildly. With 200 million yuan, he wants 2 billion yuan. Perhaps after having 2 billion yuan, he will want 20 billion yuan. Human desires are never satisfied.
Since his debut, no one has ever been able to beat Ma Shu at the gambling table, but Zhou Xuan's sudden victory today caught him off guard. He is still blushing and his ears are burning!
While Ma Shu was lost in thought, Gu Yuan drove up, and he and Zeng Guoyu, armed with guns, led the bodyguards to stuff boxes full of money into the van, filling the dozen or so seats to capacity. (To be continued)
Volume 1, Chapter 283: Making a Mistake
Zhu Zhixian found it most unbearable. But there was nothing he could do. In such a scene, with the dark muzzle of a gun looming overhead, even the most arrogant person wouldn't dare to act recklessly.
Once the money was loaded, Gu Yuan and Hua Jianxing waved, signaling Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong to get in the car. Zeng Guoyu was the last to board, still seething with anger. He stuck his gun out the window and fired wildly. The bullets sparked as they hit the walls, terrifying the twenty-odd men who cowered on the ground, too terrified to move.
As Gu Wei drove the car out of the warehouse, the more than twenty people inside stared at each other, completely dumbfounded.
Only Zhuang Zhixian angrily cursed, "Look! What are you looking at? Why aren't you driving off to chase after that brat?"
They have real guns, while they only have useless, unusable scrap metal. What's the point of chasing them?
Of course, apart from Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu, the others weren't in such a hurry. Even if they were, life was more important. What use is money if you lose your life?
Whether it was Zhuang Zhixian's henchmen or Guo Zijie's group who defected from Zeng Guoyu's side, they were all bought by Zhuang Zhixian. But in this situation, no one was blind. Money could buy them, but when faced with death, money came second. No matter how ruthless Zhuang Zhixian was, life was still more important; saving one's life was the priority.
Zhuang Zhixian was very anxious. Four hundred million of the ten billion Hong Kong dollars were from previous wins, which the two had just split. But he wanted to gamble big, so he rounded it up again, emptying his own pockets. The remaining six hundred million was from working capital that Zhuang Zhixian had secretly misappropriated from their gambling company, a deal he had made with Ma Shu. Of the ten billion Hong Kong dollars won, Ma Shu would only get two hundred million, with the remaining eight hundred million going to Zhuang Zhixian, because Zhuang Zhixian had contributed more. Although Ma Shu felt Zhuang Zhixian was too greedy, he genuinely couldn't come up with that much money himself. Winning was good enough; two hundred million was no small sum. Winning another two hundred million would bring him a total net worth of four hundred million. Compared to Zhuang Zhixian, his share was less. But without partnering with him, how could he have won so much money? In a casino, winning a few million would attract the attention of the casino, making it difficult to win more. But it was different for young masters like Gu Yuanhua and Jianxing; no matter how much they lost, as long as they weren't caught cheating... Then there's no problem.
Ma Shu and Zhuang Zhixian had planned this scheme beforehand. During the initial betting with Gu Yuanhua and Jianxing, Ma Shu deliberately pretended to win big, dealing the cards during the high-stakes bets – a deliberate attempt to arouse suspicion without revealing any flaws. Gu Yuan's group also believed Ma Shu was cheating, but couldn't find any evidence. If they hired a skilled cheater, they might be able to find a weakness in Ma Shu's act and win their money back.
Ma Shu's intention was to give Gu Yuan and his group confidence. Since no one could possibly suspect he possessed the ability to read minds, he wasn't afraid of Gu Weihua or Jianxing hiring any experts. The more skilled the expert, the more likely they were to lose money, because believing in their own abilities made them more susceptible to being scammed.
Indeed, Gu Wei, Hua Jianxing, and the others were fooled, believing that Ma Shu had won by cheating with his hand movements, and Zhou Xuan thought so too. He believed that Ma Shu was cheating.
The idea was correct, but none of the parties involved anticipated it. Ma Shu's superpower was indeed an accident, and Zhou Xuan hadn't expected that such an ability actually existed in the world either. However, looking back now, it's quite understandable; wasn't his own superpower even more peculiar?
Originally, Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, and Zeng Guoyu were going to suffer another major setback. But they were lucky. They just happened to run into Zhou Xuan. If they had invited anyone else instead of Zhou Xuan, they would have lost another billion Hong Kong dollars. Perhaps they would never be able to recover from this.
For scions of wealthy and noble families like theirs, a life of ease is indeed possible. However, if they wish to live a life of great wealth and extravagance, they must not make any major mistakes. If they commit a grave sin that no one in the family can forgive, they will never be able to recover. If they lose the trust of the head of the family, they will lose everything.
Like this incident. If this huge sum of misappropriated funds cannot be returned to its rightful place, then tomorrow will mark the beginning of their tumultuous period!
Zhou Xuan hadn't expected it either. But his ice-based ability was even more unexpected, leaving Ma Cun completely baffled. He obviously didn't know Zhou Xuan also possessed special abilities; he was simply wondering how Zhou Xuan knew about his mind-reading ability!
Zhou Xuan's ability stems from his supernatural ability to sense ice. His five senses far surpass those of ordinary people, while Ma Shu's ability to read others' thoughts isn't simply a matter of sight. He must also use his eyes, observing the other person's gaze. Only after their eyes meet can he read their thoughts.
Because of this, the moment Ma Shu's eyes met Zhou Xuan's, Zhou Xuan sensed it. He tested Ma Shu a second time, and it was indeed the same. So, the second time Zhou Xuan looked at Ma Shu, trying to read his mind, he focused on his own hand: a pair of three-of-a-kind, a pair of four-of-a-kind, and a Fulhouse. This hand didn't count, but Ma Shu's hand was a pair of three-of-a-kind, a much stronger hand than Zhou Xuan's. After reading Zhou Xuan's guess, Zhou Xuan went all in. Ma Shu's heart pounded. Now, without needing to think so much, the outcome would be decided in one hand. So he also went all in!