Chapter 13: All Villains, One Family

Seeing the manager arrive, the crowd rushed forward to hurl accusations at him. Hearing the customers' complaints, the tactful manager smoothly soothed them with gentle words before speaking slowly.

"Thank you all for maintaining order. We have already reviewed the surveillance footage, and this young lady indeed did not use any external means or cheat. Everyone, please disperse."

Hearing this answer, those who had been shouting were completely dumbfounded. How was that possible? Could a real person actually reach this level of skill? Wouldn't that put her on par with a Casino King?!

"That's impossible... She's so young, how could she be so... skilled?!"

Seeing that these people still refused to believe it, Shang Ying rolled her eyes.

"What, did you finally realize you've lived your past few decades for nothing? Believe it or not, I don't care. Now get out of my way!"

The manager offered an apologetic smile. The man who had been berated by Shang Ying flushed red all the way to his neck. Surrounded by the disdainful looks of people judging him for being a sore loser, a surge of unbearable shame rushed to his head, and he grunted before striding away.

Shang Ying lowered her eyelashes, thoroughly irritated. The people in this casino were far too unaccustomed to seeing the world. She had originally planned to play two rounds of roulette before switching to another game to keep winning, but who knew just two rounds would completely break these people's composure?

Back when she played in overseas casinos in her past life, she had won five rounds in a row without seeing anyone put on such an ugly face!

"This kid is quite fierce, huh?"

Cui Heyuan clicked his tongue twice, watching with great amusement. Those two kicks had nearly dented the gambling table. Should he ask this kid to compensate for the damage?

Wei Yanyi merely chuckled.

"She has to be fierce. Look at that crowd, staring at her like wolves eyeing meat, itching to tear her apart."

In his heart, he felt nothing but disdain for them. Just a bunch of low-class, new-money upstarts making a fuss over such a minor thing, even teaming up to bully a kid. No wonder they would never amount to anything in their lives.

Xie Tuo sat back down on the sofa. The high, defined bridge of his brow bone framed his deep-set eyes, giving his unsmiling face an air of cold detachment.

"Your invitations here are surprisingly easy to get, aren't they?"

This sarcastic, loaded remark made its intent clear to anyone. Wei Yanyi burst out laughing, a playful gleam in his eyes.

Being targeted by the sarcasm, Cui Heyuan didn't care and simply shrugged, ordering his staff to sweep out everyone who had caused a scene just now, banning them from ever entering Guangming again. They were a total embarrassment to his venue.

Driven out like trash, the crowd felt immense regret, wishing they could slap their past selves. Guangming wasn't just a casino, it was a high-society networking hub. Anyone able to play in Guangming could become a potential contact for the future. They had suffered a massive loss today!

Leaning against the window sill, Cui Heyuan watched the girl pacing below, his eyes darting as a new idea popped into his head.

"I'm going to gamble with that kid!"

Just as Shang Ying was about to sit down at a card table, she was stopped by an abrupt hand. Looking over, she saw a manager wearing a flattering smile.

Shang Ying stopped in her tracks.

"What is it?"

The manager withdrew his hand, bowed respectfully toward Shang Ying, and offered a brilliant smile.

"Hello, Miss. Our boss invites you to come upstairs to the second floor."

The boss?

Shang Ying gripped the chips in her hand tightly, her brows knitting together. Why was the boss of Guangming inviting her upstairs? Hadn't the situation down here just been cleared up?

In an instant, all the classic tropes of novel villains dealing with people flashed through her mind…

Shang Ying shuddered, firmly shaking her head.

"Not going."

As a villain herself, her identity was far too sensitive. She would never place herself in an unsafe environment. What if an accident happened? What if she suffered physical or mental harm?

Noticing the guard in Shang Ying's eyes, the manager immediately explained, "Please rest assured, Miss. Our boss is inviting you up with complete sincerity, not to cause trouble."

"Not going."

Shang Ying's stance remained resolute. ‘What a joke.’ He was the manager here, so of course he would speak on behalf of his boss. If anything happened to her up there, could this manager help her?

‘Not a chance in hell.’

She was already showing immense courtesy by not causing a scene.

Seeing that he couldn't budge Shang Ying, the manager had no choice but to call his boss. Upon hearing this, Cui Heyuan dashed out of the private room with a whoosh, standing in the hallway upstairs and shouting down loudly: "Kid! It's me! Come on up and play!"

He had a smile plastered across his face, his shirt collar wide open, radiating a flamboyant aura as he waved his hand foolishly.

Shang Ying looked at him, then cast a complex look back at the manager.

The manager offered an awkward chuckle, lowering his head in embarrassment, unable to smile anymore.

‘Boss, can't you act a bit more dignified and composure-filled?!’

In the end, Shang Ying went up to the second floor. Fearing that too many people in the room might scare the kid, Wei Yanyi had led the trio to another empty suite, so when Shang Ying stepped up, she was met with the same elevator trio.

Shang Ying: "..."

‘What a coincidence.’ Meeting the boss and his friends in the elevator, wouldn't her fake invitation be exposed now? The chips in her pocket were suddenly in grave danger.

That said, the environment on the second floor was on a completely different level. The ground floor was already lavishly decorated, but compared to the second floor, it paled in comparison.

Cui Heyuan enthusiastically pulled Shang Ying by the arm, leading her over to sit on the sofa, before launching into his introduction.

"Hello, my name is Cui Heyuan. Watching you play roulette downstairs earlier was truly brilliant!"

Shang Ying's eyes narrowed sharply. ‘Cui Heyuan?’

The villainous supporting character from the novel, Cui Heyuan?! The guy whom the female lead treated like a dog, unable to shake him off no matter what, who ultimately turned against the protagonists due to unrequited love turning into hatred?!

Before she could process this further, Wei Yanyi offered a gentle smile from the side and spoke up.

"Hello there, I'm Wei Yanyi. You can call me Fourth Brother."

Shang Ying's scalp went instant numb. ‘Wei Yanyi…’

The sickly, obsessed villain who stabbed the male lead in the novel just to get the female lead, nearly causing the male lead to die on the operating table?!

Her gaze involuntarily carried a trace of admiration toward him. He really moved fast! If only he had stabbed him to death directly, it would have been a happy ending for everyone.

Receiving this gaze, Wei Yanyi was baffled: Huh? (⊙⊙)

With only one last person remaining, Shang Ying mechanically turned her head to look at the man sitting at the end. His facial contour lines were clean, sharp, and highly three-dimensional; merely standing there radiated a cold, confident, and imposing aura.

When those hazy, mist-like eyes looked down at her from above, that aloof detachment overlooking ordinary mortals gave her irresistible goosebumps.

So this remaining person could only be…

"Hello, I'm Xie Tuo."

‘Xie Tuo!!!’

This was the ultimate main villain of the entire book, Xie Tuo! The top villain who had nearly brought about the male lead's complete destruction, spared only because the old master of the Xie family pleaded for mercy!

Unlike the Shang family's brainless, love-crazed brothers, these three held the principle of 'if I can't have it, I'll destroy it'. They were exceedingly formidable villain characters. (Oh, except for Xie Tuo. He acted purely to protect his position as the family heir.)

Holy crap, she had stumbled straight into a villain's lair!

Shang Ying let out a silent sigh of relief.

There was nothing to worry about anymore. They were all villains, all one family.

The Four Great Families of the Capital: Xie, Cui, Shang, and Wei.

The Xie family, ranked at the top, had been involved in commerce since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Their bloodline carried royal lineage, their industries spanned across domestic and overseas markets, and the family had produced two founding generals. Their reach extended across military, political, and business sectors, and Xie Tuo was the sole direct legitimate heir of the Xie family.

The Cui family belonged to the direct lineage of the Qinghe Cui clan, the preeminent family under heaven, a top-tier aristocratic dynasty. The wealth accumulated across generations could sustain the Pacific Ocean if used to feed fish, granting them an exceptionally high social standing. Though Cui Heyuan acted flamboyantly, growing up in such a family meant he possessed no shortage of cunning methods despite his unconventional behavior.

The Shang family was a century-old financial syndicate deeply rooted in the East, its branches extending globally. As the only surviving prestigious family in the Capital, they built their fortune on silk and water transport in the late Qing dynasty before transitioning into national industry. Rumor had it they owned a mysterious ancient mansion in the Capital and adhered strictly to ancestral rules based on the "Shang Family Rules."

As for the Wei family, they possessed quite a background. The family's ancestors were not imperial royalty, but rather a prominent iron-cap prince who made distinguished contributions in the early Qing dynasty, belonging to the Bordered Yellow Banner of Manchuria. People teasingly referred to Wei Yanyi as the "Little Prince." His mother hailed from the Western noble family of Westendorp, making Wei Yanyi a strikingly handsome Eurasian half-blood who was fluent in five languages.