The Poor School Heartthrob Was Secretly a Financial Titan - Chapter 9
After lunch, Li Man went out.
“Manman, do you think he can come today?”
“I don’t know.” Li Man hurried along. “We’ll find out if we go and see.”
Luo Diandian followed behind, muttering softly, “What if they don’t come?”
Li Man did not respond.
A dozen minutes later, the two arrived at the door of the card room. The door was ajar, and the sounds of shuffling cards, men’s laughter, and the acrid smell of smoke could be heard from inside.
Li Man took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
The room was dimly lit and filled with smoke. Several people sat around tables playing cards; some were shirtless, some had cigarettes in their mouths, and some had their feet propped up on chairs. Hearing the door open, several pairs of eyes swept over, lingering on Li Man for two seconds before looking away.
Li Man forced herself to endure the overwhelming smell of smoke and walked around the room.
Han Xuetao was nowhere to be seen.
She looked at it carefully again, but still nothing.
The smell of smoke made her eyes sting and her throat tighten. No one in her family smokes, so she couldn’t stand the smell and quickly retreated, covering her nose.
As soon as she stepped outside, she gasped for breath, her face turning slightly red.
Luo Diandian leaned closer and asked, “How are you? Are you there?”
Li Man shook her head.
“Let’s go,” Luo Diandian said. “Shall we go back?”
Li Man stood at the doorway, glanced at it again, and didn’t move.
“Wait a little longer,” she said.
“Wait for what?”
Li Man didn’t answer, but just stared at the door, as if waiting for someone to come out from inside.
Luo Diandian stood there for a while, then couldn’t help but say, “Manman, the smell here is too strong. Why don’t we leave first and come back tomorrow?”
Li Man thought for a moment, then turned around.
âCome on,â she said, âIâll treat you to some cakes.â
Luo Diandian’s eyes lit up immediately.
“real?”
“And milk tea.”
Luo Diandian almost jumped up.
In Donglin City, milk tea was still a novelty, only sold in Western restaurants, costing a ridiculously expensive six yuan a cup. She had only tried it once, when her cousin took her there during the Spring Festival when she returned from the provincial capital, and she still remembers the taste.
The two went to the Western restaurant on the commercial street and ordered two small cakes and two cups of milk tea. Luo Diandian ate with a beaming smile, while Li Man was absent-minded, poking at the cake with her fork without putting it in her mouth for a long time.
The meal took more than an hour. When it was time to pay the bill, Luo Diandian secretly glanced at itâit cost a little over twenty yuan.
She was secretly astonished; Manman had really gone all out to crack down on gambling this time.
The two returned to the entrance of the card room.
This time, Luo Diandian, feeling obligated because she had been treated to a meal, didn’t wait outside but instead accompanied Li Man inside for a stroll.
Two girls pinched their noses and walked through the smoke, looking around every corner.
Han Xuetao is still not there.
After they came out, Luo Diandian looked at Li Man’s unwilling expression and whispered, “Manman, how about… we come back tomorrow?”
Li Man bit her lip.
“OK.”
The second day, the third day, and the fourth day.
For four consecutive days, the two girls went to that card and mahjong room every day. Li Man spent over a hundred yuan just treating them to milk tea and cake.
But Han Xuetao never showed up.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, the two came out of the card room and stood on the street. Li Man looked unwell, her brows furrowed, staring at the door as if it were her mortal enemy.
Luo Diandian, watching her from the side, suddenly asked, “Manman, isn’t it a good thing that Han Xuetao isn’t coming?”
Li Man was stunned for a moment.
yes.
I came here to stop him from gambling, didn’t I? It’s good that he didn’t come, isn’t it?
But why am I so angry?
As she stood there, another thought suddenly popped into her mindâ
Am I angry because I didn’t see him?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, her face flushed.
She quickly turned her head and met Luo Diandian’s curious eyes.
Li Man panicked, her mind racing, and she blurted out, “I…I’m afraid he went to another mahjong parlor!”
Luo Diandian blinked.
âWeâve been keeping watch here, and he still hasnât come. He must be somewhere else!â Li Man said quickly and urgently. âWhat if something happens to him somewhere else and it tarnishes the classâs honor?â
Luo Diandian asked, “Then what should we do? We can’t just go to every mahjong parlor one by one, can we?”
What she said was true. In the past two years, more and more people in Donglin City have been laid off. With so many idle people, mahjong parlors have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. There are several in every alley in the old city, not to mention the game arcades and billiard halls, all of which have some degree of gambling involved.
Li Man thought about it more and more and felt that her analysis made sense.
Han Xuetao must have gone somewhere else.
She looked at Luo Diandian: “Could you ask your dad for help?”
“My dad?”
“Let’s ask the neighborhood committee ladies for help,” Li Man said. “They’re the most well-informed.”
Luo Diandian hesitated for a moment: “Is this… okay?”
âWhatâs wrong with that?â Li Man said. âItâs not like weâre sending them to arrest people. Weâre just asking around to see if any middle school students have been going to mahjong parlors lately.â
Luo Diandian smacked her lips, still tasting the milk tea in her mouth: “Then… I’ll go back and tell my dad.”
……
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, at the Chunmei Hotel.
In the mid-1990s, before international hotel chains moved in, the best place in the area was the six-story Chunmei Hotel.
The building has a restaurant on the first floor, four guest rooms in the middle, and an “intellectual activity area”âa place for people to play mahjong, gamble, and play dominoes.
Those who come here to spend money are all people with some wealth.
Han Xuetao was dressed in a gray waiter’s uniform, wearing a white mask, and carrying a tray with four cups of coffee and two plates of pastries.
After confirming the dishes with a table of foreigners in English, he neatly arranged the coffee cups one by one, his movements efficient and flawless.
Four days ago when he came to apply for the job, the manager on this floor didn’t really want himâa high school student, inexperienced, and unlikely to stay long.
Just then, a few foreigners came in. The waiters couldn’t understand English, and the manager could only stare blankly.
Han Xuetao took the initiative to go over and helped them order in fluent English, and also resolved a small problem.
The foreigners at that table were very satisfied, and the manager immediately kept Han Xuetao on the job. Over the next few days, they found him increasingly useful.
Han Xuetao carried the empty tray toward the service counter, his gaze sweeping over the top of his mask and landing on the row of private rooms.
Room 612.
The door was ajar, and the sounds of shuffling cards and laughter could be heard coming from inside.
“waiter!”
A man in his early twenties, wearing a floral shirt, poked his head out of the door and shouted at him, “Bring me two packs of Yunyan cigarettes!”
Han Xuetao nodded: “Wait a moment.”
He walked to the service desk, took two packs of Yunyan cigarettes, placed them on the tray, and then headed towards room 612.
As soon as I opened the door, a smell of smoke mixed with alcohol hit me.
There were four people sitting inside.
The person by the window, wearing a light-colored shirt, with a mole on the left corner of his mouthâit was Zhou Cheng!
The two people next to them, one fat and one thin, were both young people, chatting and laughing while smoking.
The fourth person sat opposite Zhou Cheng, wearing a crisp shirt, with his hair slicked back and a shiny watch on his wrist, slowly shuffling the cards.
Han Xuetao glanced at him.
Liu Jun.
They put on quite a convincing act, looking all respectable.
Liu Jun laid the cards out on the table, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and said unhurriedly, “Let’s raise the stakes, you guys. You’re betting too little.”
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