Not long after Yang Liuqing left with her subordinates, Han Jinlun, Xianyu, Cheng Minglang, and Xu Peiyu... all returned together!
Before I could even ask where they had been, Han Jinlun, upon seeing the messy state of the room, immediately exclaimed, "Holy shit! Brother Xiang, you're something else!"
"Where did you find this girl? She's so cooperative even when she's on her period?"
"Look at all this red light running, you've got a glorious record, haven't you!"
Just as I was about to retort, Cheng Minglang cut me off, saying, "That's human blood!"
"No shit, Sherlock!"
Han Jinlun dismissively replied, "What else would it be, chicken blood? Hey! You know, it really could be chicken blood!"
"What kind of decent woman would play like this?"
Cheng Minglang immediately shot back, "Idiot! I meant human blood because someone fought here! It's blood from a person!"
"It's one thing if your brain can't hold anything else, but can't your eyes see further?!"
"Didn't you see the extendable baton at Chen Xiang's feet, and a bloody steel plate fallen in that corner by the wall?"
Hearing this, Han Jinlun and the others almost in unison turned their gaze towards my feet and the corner Cheng Minglang was pointing at.
Suddenly, the lively atmosphere in the room fell silent again, tinged with a hint of awkwardness.
Seeing everyone's varied expressions, especially Han Jinlun's look of guilt, I quickly said, "It's fine! I've already dealt with it."
Upon hearing this, Han Jinlun looked at me with a doubtful expression and asked, "Brother Xiang, you're that good at fighting now?"
Ignoring Han Jinlun and giving him a roll of my eyes, I turned my attention to Cheng Minglang and asked, "Why did the four of you come back together?"
This was the question I was most eager to have answered.
Based on my understanding of Cheng Minglang, he wouldn't have just run off without telling me.
Although Cheng Minglang didn't call me Brother Xiang as frequently as Han Jinlun and Xianyu, he was the one who was truly centered around me in everything.
As for Xianyu, due to the special nature of Feng Jiang's responsibilities, I didn't require him to execute every plan I designed.
And Han Jinlun, well, that was even less of a concern!
He called me brother purely because, within our small group, I held tight control over the money.
If he wanted to go out and have fun, he had to appease me.
When going out to indulge, the one who paid the bill was always the one surrounded by people calling him brother.
That's manhood!
When you're broke and want to have fun, just call out to your friends one by one, and there will always be a sucker who can't resist jumping out for that title of "brother."
And I was that designated and sole "sucker" in Han Jinlun's eyes!
Many times, Han Jinlun managed to keep his feet in check because he was forced to submit to Cheng Minglang's fists.
Just as Cheng Minglang was stammering, unsure how to answer, Xu Peiyu, carrying large bags, suddenly spoke up.
"I was the one who asked him to call Han Jinlun."
"Last time, because you were setting up a scheme, I didn't prepare any welcome gifts for everyone."
"No matter what, I'm the latest member of our five-person group, so it's only right and proper that I prepare some gifts for you seniors."
"There were too many things, and two people simply couldn't carry them all, let alone hail a taxi.
"There was no other way, so I asked Cheng Minglang to call Han Jinlun to come over and help us."
"There's still a lot of stuff in the car!"
After quitting her job at the club, Xu Peiyu's dressing style changed.
No longer in professional OL attire, she wore a milky white off-the-shoulder long dress.
Although the color was somewhat monotonous, it unpretentiously highlighted her perfect figure.
Curvy with a full bust and a slender waist.
Even though Xu Peiyu's face wasn't considered beautiful, the touch of fiery red lipstick applied under her light makeup, combined with the striking visual contrast and her alluring, devilish figure, unleashed her charm to its fullest.
Since entering the room, two people's gazes, after briefly pausing in the room, had basically remained fixed on Xu Peiyu.
One was Han Jinlun, and the other was Xianyu.
Seeing them both with lecherous expressions, and recalling what Xu Peiyu had just said, I immediately understood why they had run off so gleefully without even informing me.
Turns out they were all the type to value women over friendship!
Fortunately, the misunderstanding was cleared up.
I had been worried that one of the four of them might have fallen for Yang Liuqing's diversionary tactic.
However, this also served as a warning.
It made me clearly understand how to guard against and deal with the situation I faced today in the future.
...
With the misunderstanding resolved, my life continued as usual for the next period.
Yang Yuanyuan's situation was out of my hands; whether it succeeded or failed, Yang Liuqing was bound to give me a clear explanation.
Therefore, after temporarily resolving all immediate troubles, and with Yun Jin still being elusive, I began to discreetly investigate matters related to the Thousand King Token.
To unravel the cause of Uncle Tuo's death, I first had to thoroughly understand what had happened during the Thousand King Competition ten years ago.
Since the current clues pointed to the Thousand King Token, I had no choice but to start investigating from there.
Through Xianyu's constant interactions with various gamblers and gambling addicts outside, and my subtle probing of Shen Mengqing for information, I finally...
I managed to gather some information about the mysterious Thousand King Token.
There were rumors that in the late 1970s to early 1980s, Mr. He, the leader of the gambling industry in Macau, in order to make Macau comparable to the world-renowned gambling capital, Las Vegas, and thus attract more gamblers from around the world, came up with an idea.
The Thousand King Competition!
Just like the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, in 1979, Mr. He organized the first Thousand King Competition in Macau.
The winner of the Thousand King Competition would receive the Thousand King Token, personally presented by Mr. He, as the prize for victory.
The value of the Thousand King Token was not solely reflected in the fact that it was personally presented by Mr. He.
Anyone, and I mean anyone!
As long as one possessed the Thousand King Token, not only could they participate in the next Thousand King Competition, but they could also skip the preliminary rounds and qualifiers, directly advancing to the finals of that year's competition.
To ordinary people, this privilege might seem useless. However...
To put it bluntly, the Thousand King Token was like the golden牌 bestowed by an emperor upon his ministers in the imperial era.
People would treasure it in their homes and pass it down through generations; how could they possibly give it to someone else?
Therefore, first of all, this item would never fall into the hands of ordinary people.