Chapter 57 - An Unexpected Thing and Two Mysterious Men

Chapter 57: An Unexpected Thing and Two Mysterious MenTranslator: Li XinyiIt must be said that Nangong Ning was a little naive, but so far, she didn’t realize it. Soon the carriage stopped, and Wenren Yao raised his eyebrows with a smile, lifting the curtain with his closed fan and signaling to her to look out. Looking over, Nangong Ning saw another carriage parking in front of theirs.

The one in front of them was very luxurious compared with the one she and he were sitting in now, but the latter one had an ordinary exterior and a comfortable interior, while the other’s curtain had beautiful golden patterns and crimson laces. Nangong Ning stared at the carriage and asked, “What is that?”

Wenren Yao said, smiling, “I’ve got this for you, and there’s a new suit in the carriage, and yours, er……” he shook his head, “Not proper.” Nangong Ning frowned. Her dress was not proper? She wore her favorite one today, why did Wenren Yao say that?

“I help you publicize his name, but you want to make an equal bet with this person today; naturally, you can’t be less powerful than him. Don’t you think I am right?” Wenren Yao was helpless at her slow understanding.

Nangong Ning found it a bit of surprise. But when she thought it over, she had to admit that he was right. She stared at the carriage, nodded reluctantly, and then, as if remembering something, she turn and asked, “Won’t you come with me?” “You go in the front door to make a show of yourself, and I go in the back door to help you prepare, so we can’t go together.” Wenren Yao shook his head.

Nangong Ning thought a while, nodding, and getting out of the carriage.

A coachman and some guards were already waiting for her beside the splendid carriage, saluting her as soon as she walked over to them. He had really done a good job! She drew a quiet breath and got into the carriage, and then her smile froze on her face. All that glitters was not gold!

The inside of the carriage was rough, with no cushions or back cushions, and so there was no place to sit on. Her lips twitched and she gave a little curse, but still went in. After she had entered, the carriage began to move, and as she had not yet gained her footing, she nearly fell. Holding the side of the carriage, she found a wooden box beside it. Wenren Yao said that he had prepared a suit for her, which was supposed to be in it.

Thinking of this, Nangong Ning opened the box and found a suit of clothes in it. Fortunately, although the dress was very gorgeous, it was not luxurious. On the contrary, it looked very delicate and elegant. She changed her clothes quickly, and found out that although it wasn’t luxurious, but when she wore it, she would definitely be the center of attention. But, as he said, she did need to dress up today.

She closed the box again and sat down on it, using it as a makeshift chair. Because the carriage was large and empty, it was not stable. Soon she felt like throwing up, but fortunately, the carriage stopped at that moment.

Outside the coachman said, “Here we are, Miss.” Nangong Ning let out a hum, adjusting herself, and then holding up her skirt and pulling back the curtain. As soon as she appeared, she heard a cry of surprise, and her face stiffened. But then she relaxed again. Her lips curved in a barely perceptible smile, and then she walked calmly out of the carriage.

Siba Casino had always been empty during the day, and most of the time people came here only at night. But today was different. Last night almost everyone knew that a man named Ning Ziqin was there, and this man had the most valuable treasure in the world, Xusnhuang Box. Siba Casino was very mysterious, which proved that the forces behind it were very powerful, so no one dared to cause trouble in there; however if they just came to watch what would happen, none could blame them, could he?

Coming here early in the morning, they had not expected to hear another piece of news, which was an even more exciting one. Nangong Ning, the eldest daughter of Nangong family, wanted to win the treasure box, so today she would come to the casino to gamble with the mysterious man.

Two focuses, both the Xuanhuang box and Nangong Ning, were involved in the event, which had already been a big news, and even more, there was another fact that made the it more complex, which was that Miss Nangong, now, was the regent’s fiancée, and so did the regent know that his future wife was going to gamble?

No one could answer that question, and no one in the capital dared to explore the matter related to the regent. It was because no one dared to mess with the regent that everyone came to watch her. Miss Nangong was actually quite famous, but she had rarely been seen before, and most of those present were seeing her for the first time.

“Oh my god, Miss Nangong is a beauty!”

“Yeah! No wonder the emperor betrothed her to the regent! With such a beautiful face, she, the eldest daughter of the Nangong family, is the only person in the capital who is qualified to be the princess of our regent.”

“You are too naïve! It is only the emperor’s plan. I hear that the regent is very angry and refuses to accept it!”

“Maybe you are right, for this young lady was prince’s fiancée before, but later……”

Nangong Ning listened to the buzz running through the crowd with a calm face. Because of her present identity, some bodyguards were standing beside her, so no one dared to push his way up to her, but all the sounds of their voices were in her ears. She was really calm outside but upset inside now. She couldn’t understand, why do these people talk about Jun Qianye again? She’s been trying so hard to ignore that man these days.

“Here you are, Miss Nangong.” At this moment, a middle-aged man in a silk dress came over with a big smile on his face. Wenren Yao had told her that the owner of the casino was Zhao Mingde, so here was the man. “Thanks a lot.” Nangong Ning said coolly. Zhao Mingde made a gesture of extending his hand to show his welcome, and she entered calmly.

After taking her to the casino, Zhao Mingde had it announced that there were only twenty guests who could stay in the casino today. Those bystanders had long expected such an arrangement, so no one questioned what the worker had said. The twenty guests had to buy a wooden pendant before they could enter. The price of it was about one thousand taels of gold, and there were only twenty pendants. Although everyone wanted to see the game, but when they were asked to pay money to see it and should cost a lot of money, not so many people would be willing to do it, for in fact, although they had to wait outside the casino, it didn’t ’t matter much. They could still watch the game.

An employee took out twenty small wooden pendants, most of which were immediately bought by people, so the casino made a profit before it opened. “Last one! Who wants it?” he shouted loudly, holding up the last wooden pendant.

A fat man standing in the back of the crowd pushed his way over, wiping his head with sweat and saying, “I, I buy……”

However, his voice paused suddenly, because the wooden pendant in the employee’s hand disappeared, and the employee was stunned, too. He had just felt a figure come over him and left, and before he knew it, his hand was empty.

At this time, people saw a man dressed in black, holding a wooden pendant, stopped in front of another man. The man, who was wearing a silk robe, the color of which was almost black and made people feel cold and dark, and superiority of which also gave a feeling of magnificence and noblilty, just stood there, but none dared to look at him for long. The two persons had masks on their faces, so that though it was day, no one could see their faces. “Master, this is the pendant.” The man in black said respectfully, while the black-robed man gave a slight nod of his head, and then he lifted his foot and walked on toward the crowd, who parted spontaneously and let him through.

It wasn’t until they got to him that the worker understood what had happened, and he opened his mouths, saying, “Well, a thousand taels of gold…” Before he could finish, a bank note flew straight at him. He was startled, hurriedly reaching out a hand to grasp, and then the cold sweat ran from his forehead. At the moment when he touched the note, he noticed the power attached to the note, and he could feel that his arm could be cut down by the note if the man wanted to. He wiped the sweat on his forehead and said quickly, “With the pendant, you……” But when he looked up, he found that the man had been gone.

He asked the people at his side, but they hadn’t see yet, not even those around him, whether the two men had gone in. The worker felt rather depressed, and actually he had wanted to say that today was special, even if they had gotten a pendant, only one could go into the casino.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He asked others to pay attention to the two men and ran into the casino in first. He went straight to Zhao Mingde’s room, saying, “Master, the situation has changed. One of the twenty wooden pendants we sold was bought by two strange people.”

Zhao Mingde was surprised, for today was special, he had to be more careful than before. He asked without hesitation, “What do you mean by saying strange?” The worker answered tentatively, “They have masks on their faces and look very mysterious, and…… I can feel imposing presences when I face them, so I don’t think they’re ordinary people. Could they be sent by boss?” Zhao Mingde shook his head, saying, “Our boss has never told me that he will send people…… Well, I’ll handle this issue. And you…… to see if there’s anything unusual in the casino.” “Yes,” responded the worker.

Zhao Mingde walked quickly into the room, stepped behind a screen, and pressed a switch. A hidden door opened slowly, and behind it was a secret room. For people who stood on the outside of the room, they would not notice the room, but for people who were sitting in the room, they would be able to know what was happening in the whole casino, because there were many small holes on the wall of the room, and some mirrors were placed in there. Neither the holes nor mirrors were optionally placed but arranged according to optical principles and so that the mirrors could be used as some monitors.

Wenren Yao was sitting in the room, drinking his tea coolly. “How’s it going? Have you finished arranging everything?” Wenren Yao asked coldly when he saw Zhao Mingde entering. Zhao Mingde hurried over to his side, lowered his head, saying reverently, “Everything is good, boss, but there has been an unexpected thing, two mysterious men with masks on their face are now in the casino. A worker tells me that they are good at martial art, I am afraid that……”

Wenren Yao shook the jade cup in his hand, smiling and saying, “Our plan is really grand and almost everyone in the capital is involved, so it’s normal that there are some unexpected things. Just keep an eye on them, and if they don’t ruin our plans, we can be blind and deaf. Do you understand?”