Chapter 11: I Bet She Can Win

Since she had won at odds of 35-to-1 in the previous round, the chips in Shang Ying's hand doubled to 700,000 yuan. Her slender fingers idly toyed with the chips as she quietly waited for the dealer lady’s next move.

Ding—

A crisp, almost icy chime sounded. The little ball turned into a silver arc as it darted in, rubbing against the spinning roulette wheel lined with red and black numbers.

Before the dealer calls to stop, players can place their bets at any moment. Toward the very end, as the ball's rotation slows down, more people tend to place their bets because their calculated odds of winning are higher at this stage.

The players placing bets stared at the roulette wheel, while the onlookers kept their eyes fixed on Shang Ying, curious to see if the Goddess of Fortune would grace this young girl once again.

While the atmosphere was tense, Shang Ying was completely relaxed. Holding a piece of cake in her hand, she pulled down her mask slightly, scooped up a small bite, and fed it into her mouth. This was something she had asked the helpful guy nearby to fetch for her earlier.

The casino featured a dedicated food court. Presenting itself as the most luxurious establishment in the Capital, Guangming strived for perfection when it came to culinary offerings, specifically inviting international master chefs to oversee the kitchen and serving a wide variety of ever-changing daily menus.

However, after taking a bite, Shang Ying set down the small golden spoon. The taste was just average, merely edible.

Seeing her stop eating, the guy instinctively asked, "Is it not good? I just asked the waiter over there, and they said a lot of people order this cake."

Shang Ying turned her head to look at him, her eyes showing unhidden disappointment.

"The cream is too greasy, and it has raw coconut on top, which I don't like."

The guy: (˚ ⊿ ˚)

He hadn't been able to taste any of that just now.

After thinking for a moment, Shang Ying decided to give Guangming's desserts another chance, so she patted the kind guy's shoulder.

"Hey, can you grab me a portion of tiramisu instead? Thanks."

With the roulette wheel still spinning, everyone around was either excited or anxious. Yet, the most eye-catching person among them was still thinking about eating desserts. For a moment, the guy didn't know whether to worry for her or admire her composure.

"You haven't placed your bet yet. Aren't you nervous?"

"Oh." Taking his hint, Shang Ying casually placed all her chips into a single pocket on the felt. "There, placed."

The guy: ???

Nervous? Shang Ying wasn't nervous at all, because her capacity for nervousness had vanished back when she lost countless times on her path here. Going completely broke and accumulating a mountain of debt wasn't something that had never happened to her before.

So she wasn't necessarily insanely skilled, just exceedingly experienced.

Seeing her act like a nonchalant, profligate rich kid, the guy silently slipped out of the crowd. Fine, he might as well stop worrying on her behalf and just go fetch the dessert.

Seeing Shang Ying place another straight-up single-number bet, the surrounding crowd erupted into a chaotic clamor of murmurs. Doubtful, surprised, mocking, and skeptical, all intertwining into a messy buzz centered around the continuously spinning ball and roulette wheel.

"Getting greedy after a win, huh? Just because you guessed right once doesn't mean you can guess right a second time. Kid, don't let your ambitions get too big!"

"Yeah, 700,000 yuan is enough to go back and buy a nice bag to celebrate, haha! This time you're gonna lose it all to the bone~"

"Still too young, can't keep a cool head. Betting straight-up on a single number has a one-in-ten-thousand chance. If it were me, I'd choose a corner bet. Playing it safe is how you expand your wins."

"What does a kid know? She's just playing around randomly. Losing this 700,000 back is gonna earn her a huge earful from her parents when she gets home, haha!"

Listening to these comments, Shang Ying touched her earlobe, the corners of her mouth beneath her mask turning downward as she let out a quiet scoff.

‘Earn an earful from your dad.’ She had already smashed a collectibles piece worth hundreds of millions at home. As long as she didn't break another one worth billions, Shang Heng probably wouldn't bother with her, let alone care about a mere 700,000 yuan.

In the VIP private suite on the second floor, the three men were still standing by the window, watching the gambling game below.

Cui Heyuan saw the girl surrounded in the center holding a piece of cake earlier and felt somewhat bewildered for a moment. He took a small piece of cake from a platter and popped it into his mouth.

"Hey, tell me, she already won 700,000 yuan. Why is she still playing? Isn't she afraid of losing it all?"

He was genuinely curious. This girl, who looked completely out of place in a casino, whom they originally thought had wandered in by mistake, had actually won an entire round with a straight-up single-number bet. Yet, instead of walking away with her winnings, she insisted on continuing.

And every time she played, she went straight for a single-number bet. To put it mildly, the kid was overly bold. To put it bluntly, wasn't she just here to play the fool and throw money away?

Xie Tuo's eyelashes fluttered softly. The cuffs of his shirt, shimmering with a silver sheen, were folded up to his forearms. The outer corners of his eyes tilted up slightly as he stood there with a deep, composed aura.

The red wine glided down the smooth glass wall into his throat before he set the glass down gently on the table, speaking faintly.

"Who says she might not win?"

Wei Yanyi caught the underlying meaning in his words, looked down at the floor, then turned to look at Xie Tuo, raising an eyebrow. "Ah-Tuo, do you think that kid knows how to calculate the roulette?"

Xie Tuo smiled and asked back.

"Don't you think so, too?"

"Not sure," Wei Yanyi refrained from making a hasty judgment. Objectively, he didn't believe it, but intuitively, he felt the kid was anything but simple. "Let's wait and see after this round."

Cui Heyuan pulled out his phone to check the time, then nudged Xie Tuo with his elbow.

"Is Shang Yan still not coming?"

Xie Tuo let out a soft "Mm." "He said he can't make it, he's busy."

"Why is he busy every single day? What does he have so much to be busy with?"

Hearing that Shang Yan wasn't coming, Cui Heyuan slumped lazily onto the sofa. He really couldn't fathom why this brother of his spent every day buried at the company. Who on earth was even there at the company? Could it be more alluring than he was?

After complaining for a moment, he scrambled back up from the sofa, his eyes gleaming brightly.

"Hey, how about we make a bet on whether this kid can win or not?"

Cui Heyuan had been a restless soul since childhood. Guangming was opened by him in the first place, originally meant as a place to mess around with his group of friends. Who knew it ended up being renovated too well, turning into an open-membership venue.

Now that it had earned the reputation of being the top casino in the Capital, it was completely outside his expectations. He was probably just a lucky guy who succeeded through sheer randomness!

Wei Yanyi waved his hand at him in annoyance.

"Get lost, you have the home-field advantage charm. Who's gonna bet with you? If you want to play, go over there and play with them."

"Tch, boring. I was thinking about using the development rights for that land in the western suburbs as a stake to bet with you guys."

"Alright, I'll bet."

Wei Yanyi instantly flipped his stance.

Hurt by his opportunistic behavior, Cui Heyuan clutched his chest in dramatic grief.

"Fourth Brother, how did you become like this? Your eyes light up at the sight of money! Did Dad starve or freeze you growing up? Haven't I shared a portion of every good thing with you since we were kids?"

"Scram, what did you share with me? Test papers? Or the little girlfriends you needed me to help deal with?"

It was fine if he didn't bring it up, but mentioning it brought Wei Yanyi a headache. Unlucky as he was, he had been in the same class as this fool Cui Heyuan since primary school. The Cui family's discipline was strict, demanding high standards for the younger generation, even arranging private tutors from an early age.

The Wei family was different. They raised their children with a hands-off approach, granting them resources while letting their personal growth depend entirely on themselves. Wei Yanyi had been a free spirit since childhood, but after meeting Cui Heyuan, he was dragged into attending private tutoring together, right down to completing an extra set of test papers for him.

Upon reaching high school, Cui Heyuan went around flirting with girls. Whenever he encountered someone difficult to handle or someone he didn't feel like talking to, he would throw them directly to Wei Yanyi to clean up his mess.

If Cui Heyuan weren't his brother, Wei Yanyi would have finished him off with a hoe long ago.

Thinking up to this point, he rolled his eyes and said in annoyance, "I bet she loses."

"I also bet she loses."

Cui Heyuan gritted his teeth with a smile and gestured toward Xie Tuo with his chin.

"Ah-Tuo, what do you bet?"

Xie Tuo stared at the girl eating dessert downstairs. Suddenly, the girl looked up toward the second floor, as if sensing someone watching her.

The corners of his lips curled up.

"I bet she can win.”