KN | Chapter 14

The Dealer Is God

With Tan Youming around, the arrangements for going out to sea were settled very quickly.

Given his social-butterfly nature in Haishi, he invited quite a few people, all of whom would be useful sooner or later.

Tan Youming had long felt that the way Zhao Shengge did business would not work. If he were Zhao Shengge, he would not be able to do it either. This was not overseas. Once you came back, you had to deal with all the social maneuvering, relationship-building, and faction-forming.

When Zhuo Zhixuan informed Chen Wan, Chen Wan specifically asked him whose gathering it was.

“…”

Zhuo Zhixuan looked at him with a pair of dark eyes and said nothing.

As for those usual gatherings, Chen Wan followed one principle very strictly. If it was a gathering hosted by Tan Youming or Shen Zongnian, he would go. If it was in Zhao Shengge’s name, he would not.

In Chen Wan’s eyes, Tan Youming counted as half a friend. Being able to see Zhao Shengge at a friend’s gathering along the way was good luck.

But Zhao Shengge was not a friend. If the other side had not spoken up and invited him by name, then shamelessly tagging along on Tan Youming’s or Zhuo Zhixuan’s account would be a different matter entirely.

Without blushing or skipping a beat, Zhuo Zhixuan lied to him, “Tan Youming wants to go out to sea for fun, so he borrowed a boat from Zhao Shengge. Tan Youming is also the one who invited everyone.” Strictly speaking, that was also true.

Only then did Chen Wan agree.

He had not shown his face for some time, and Tan Youming had invited quite a few people this time as well. When Zhuo Zhixuan ran into Tan Youming by the sinks in the restroom, he indirectly put in a few good words for Chen Wan in advance.

He told Tan Youming that he knew about the matter with the police station. It was not that Chen Wan did not want to come during this period, he truly had too much on his plate. This time, there would be many unfamiliar faces, and not all of them knew Chen Wan.

They might not know where the line was or how to behave. He hoped Tan Youming could help introduce him around and build a bridge. At the very least, Chen Wan could not be looked down on or bullied.

Zhuo Zhixuan knew what those people were like. They were either rich or powerful. Setting aside whether they were good or bad people, some of them were difficult to get along with.

Zhuo Zhixuan was not like Tan Youming. Though both of them were playboy sons from wealthy families, Zhuo Zhixuan really was a useless good-for-nothing. Otherwise, Chen Wan would not have had to work so hard and swallow so much frustration.

But Tan Youming truly held real power in his hands. He only looked unreliable. In reality, the identity of the Tan family’s eldest son was there for all to see, and with his ties to Zhao and Shen, who in all of Haishi would dare provoke this demon king?

Tan Youming had a twisted temperament. He was easy to talk to with his own people, but toward those he disliked, he could grind them into the dirt. Zhuo Zhixuan had gotten along quite well with him when they were children, and they were still on good terms now, but when people were born into families like theirs, once they grew up, understood how the world worked, and grasped the reality of benefits, many things would inevitably become less pure than before. Even so, Zhuo Zhixuan still felt he was closer to Chen Wan.

To have even one true confidant in life was already rare enough.

Tan Youming said of course, Chen Wan was his friend too.

With those words from him, Zhuo Zhixuan felt relieved. His expression relaxed, and he began flattering him with his usual loose tongue and unserious manner. “Ah Wan’s really been so busy lately he does not even have time to sleep. But when I told him you were inviting everyone out to sea for fun, he agreed right away, and even asked whether you needed him to come help.”

Hearing that, Tan Youming felt rather warmed by it. He thought Chen Wan was a thoughtful person. This bunch all agreed very quickly when he asked them to come out and have fun, but not a single one of them asked whether he needed help. Even Shen Zongnian had been very busy lately and had no time for him.

The two of them chatted back and forth quite happily when a deep, steady voice came from behind them.

“Excuse me, let me through.”

Zhuo Zhixuan turned around and froze.

He was certain the inner section had been empty just now. Otherwise, there was no way he would have said all that to Tan Youming there. Who would have thought he had gotten so absorbed in the conversation that he had not even noticed someone coming in.

Fortunately, it was not someone else.

Zhao Shengge pressed out hand soap, washed his hands, wiped them dry with paper, and when he looked up, he glanced at Zhuo Zhixuan through the mirror.

Tan Youming noticed nothing and asked Zhao Shengge, “Where’s Nian-zai?” In all of Haishi, he was probably the only one who dared call Young Master Shen that.

Zhao Shengge still looked at Zhuo Zhixuan, his gaze calm. He brushed away the hand Tan Youming tried to sling over him. “How would I know?”

The voyage would last two days and one night, and the captain chose a route with especially beautiful scenery.

They set sail from White Shell Sands Port and passed through a stretch of coral sea. It was high summer. The seawater was blue and clear. In the evening, the sunset spread across the sky and poured into the sea, and in the deep-water zone, pink dolphins followed the ship.

Zhuo Zhixuan had worried for nothing. Chen Wan did not need Tan Youming to smooth the way for him at all. It was as if he had been born with that gift. After everyone was introduced, people very quickly began unconsciously asking Chen Wan what varieties were still left in the wine cellar, when the open-air swimming pool would be opened, and so on.

By the time you came back to yourself, the whole scene could no longer function without him. It was as if the ship belonged to Chen Wan.

There was no shortage in this circle of people who were skilled at social maneuvering. One degree more, and they became fawning. One degree less, and they were not socially alert enough.

Chen Wan was neither servile nor overbearing, and he gained people’s trust with ease.

Once they entered international waters, everyone began playing cards. Although the gambling industry in Haishi was also highly developed, it still operated under layers of rules and restrictions, and even the odds on the stakes were limited. For these young masters, who could throw away fortunes in a single gesture, that was not exciting enough.

Out here, they made the rules themselves and played however they liked. Otherwise, there was no point in coming all the way out to sea.

For the first few rounds, Chen Wan acted as the dealer.

He had been rushing around everywhere during this period and was not in the best health. He had lost a bit of weight. Today, he was dressed very plainly in a cotton-linen shirt and black suit pants. The sea breeze billowed the white shirt, outlining a particularly slim waist, especially when he bent forward to deal the cards.

While waiting for the cards, someone brought up the Baihetang case involving Zhao Shengge that had stirred up such a commotion some time ago. From start to finish, Chen Wan acted as if he knew absolutely nothing about it and focused seriously on dealing the cards. Everyone else talked over one another, but he did not add a single extra word.

But very quickly, thanks to Tan Youming, everyone learned that Chen Wan had been called in for questioning. He answered them all with a smile, never once bringing up Zhao Shengge. The subtlety of his phrasing and the tightness of his mouth left people amazed.

In this round, Zhao Shengge called for cards and took the banker’s position. Chen Wan did not cut him any slack. He handled everything impartially, just as business should be handled.

Sitting to Zhao Shengge’s left was Qin Zhaoting. His father was a major force in the stock market, known as the God of Stocks in Haishi. Qin Zhaoting was very good at counting cards, and he had secretly pulled tricks more than once, which was within the rules here.

The whole point of going out to sea was to cast off the rules and play however you pleased, to use every possible means in order to win.

Dealer Chen was very fair. Without anyone noticing, he washed away Qin Zhaoting’s tricks, and that too was allowed. The players could play however they wanted, and the dealer could judge however he wanted. Their authority was far greater than that of those tool-like dealers in ordinary casinos.

And that was exactly what made the game more fun and more unpredictable. The players were not only up against the other players, but also the dealer, who might be a wolf in disguise or a lucky star. In fact, the bigger the stakes, the more important the dealer became.

Some dealers were well liked and treated like gods of wealth. Others drew resentment and were treated like bringers of doom.

They could shuffle and deal in ways that ignored normal logic. You never knew whether what they were handing you was poison or blessed fortune.

There was a saying in the gambling paradise of the Boli Strait: “The dealer is God. The dealer is the ruler.”

Those favored by the dealer might not gain the whole world, but they would at least gain half of it. A dealer could make you win until your bowls overflowed, or lose until not a scrap of your capital remained.

After several rounds, everyone specifically asked for Chen Wan to act as dealer.

Unlike others, who became dealer and then toyed with people as they pleased, he did his best to maintain a relatively fair playing environment on that small gambling table.

Because of that, everyone developed the illusion that he was favoring them.

Even with something as purely recreational as shuffling and dealing cards, Chen Wan was serious. The gambling table was set up on the open deck. The evening glow had already spread over the sea and fallen across him, dazzling enough that people could not look away.

The face cards flipped and overlapped between his fingers. His gaze was sharp and calm, and his expression warm and modest, yet he looked as though he were a god bestowing grace upon the crowd, controlling one divine card after another in his hands, ruling over victory and defeat, wealth, and the fate of every player at the table.

Zhao Shengge examined the cards Chen Wan had dealt him.

Two Kings of Spades, and a Jack of Clubs.

How interesting.

Beside him, Qin Zhaojun, no one knew what cards she had been dealt, lifted her eyes toward the dealer and suddenly smiled.

For a moment, the expressions on the faces of everyone at the table turned subtle.

Zhao Shengge leaned back in his chair, his expression indifferent.

Author’s Note:

This is what it means for a god of beauty to descend.

Wan: a highly emotionally intelligent workplace professional