"F—fine." From the drift of Yang Juehuan's words, Zheng Shaopeng sensed he meant to exact something from him. A hand, or a foot? If his hand were crippled, he would lose his position as casino consultant—after all, his hands were his livelihood.

Still, it did not matter. The money he had earned over the years was enough for Zheng Shaopeng to live out the rest of his days in comfort; even if he never worked again, so be it.

"You know what Infernal Affairs is?" Yang Yanchuan said. "From now on, act as if I never came looking for you. If your boss contacts you again, you are to notify me at once. Any problem with that?"

"No problem," Zheng Shaopeng said, crestfallen. Though this meant betraying his boss, what choice did he have at this moment? Besides, he had betrayed him once already—one more time would make little difference. His present situation was ten times, a hundred times better than what he had imagined. He had thought Yang Ce would strip some part off him.

"However, to be on the safe side, I'll have to trouble you a little." Yang Ce reached into his coat and drew out a small box. Opening the lid, he took out something like a small pill and said to Zheng Shaopeng: "Open your mouth and swallow it yourself."

Zheng Shaopeng had no idea what Yang Ce was making him take, but at this moment, even if it were poison, he could only grit his teeth and swallow it. At least dying of poison would be better than the agony he had just suffered.

Besides, Yang Ce had already said he would not take his life, so it clearly could not be a fatal drug. At worst it was a slow poison; he probably would not die right away after taking it.

Having reasoned thus, Zheng Shaopeng took the pill without hesitation, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it. To keep Yang Yongjin from doubting, he even deliberately opened his mouth wide to show Yang Ce, then asked: "What was it I just took?"

"A gu," Yang Linyue said flatly.

"What—a drum?" Zheng Shaopeng had not caught it clearly.

"Gu poison. Have you heard of it?" Yang Ce explained. "Gu worms—now you know what it is, don't you?"

"Gu!" This time Zheng Shaopeng heard it clearly, and he was startled on the spot. He had seen such things in movies and books, but this was the first time he had encountered it in real life.

Could it be that when Yang Ce touched him earlier and left his whole body wracked with unbearable pain and itching, that too had been a form of gu? Very likely. Zheng Shaopeng knew nothing of acupoint techniques, and so instinctively assumed that what Yang Ce had done to him before was also gu.

"That's right, gu. You'll need to take an antidote at regular intervals. I'll send the antidote to you periodically by express mail. Of course, if you disobey, there will be no antidote—and when the gu flares up, you'll enjoy it even more than what you felt just now." Yang Ce was trying to scare him. In truth, Yang Shuoxuan had no idea what would happen when this gu flared up; he did not even know whether it worked. He had concocted it a while ago following the methods in the introductory book on gu arts that Lan Ling had given him, and had no notion whether it had succeeded, so he was using this fellow Zheng Shaopeng as a guinea pig.

"Yes, yes! I'll be a proper mole, I swear!" Hearing that it would be even more enjoyable than before, Zheng Shaopeng rushed to assure Yang Ce.

"This is a three-month supply of the antidote. Take one every month and you'll be fine." Yang Ce handed the remaining pills to Zheng Shaopeng.

Zheng Shaopeng hastily tucked them away with great care. These were his life-saving treasures—if he lost them, he really would enjoy himself to death.

"Don't mention what happened today to anyone," Yang Yanzhou said. "Otherwise, you know the consequences."

"Don't worry, Brother." Whatever Yang Yanzhou was to Zheng Shaopeng now, Zheng listened to it all. He had no desire to be ruined again.

"If President Zhang comes looking for you in a bit, you know what to say?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

"I'll just say I'm not saying anything," Zheng Shaopeng replied.

"That's for the best. Though he probably won't ask you anyway." Yang Duoran would pass the word along to the Xuanming Sect's people.

To be continued

867. Crashing the Party

867. Crashing the Party Once he was out of the room, Yang Ce returned to his usual self. In Huang Yan's room, the Xuanming Sect was waiting anxiously for Yang Ce's return. If anyone else had claimed his consultant had a problem, the Xuanming Sect might have laughed it off or dismissed it as someone stirring up trouble. But the one speaking now was Yang Ce, and who was Yang Ce? Huang Yan's boyfriend.

The Xuanming Sect knew that great families like the Huangs were strict in raising their children, especially their daughters. Now that Huang Yan and Yan had that kind of relationship, matters were more or less settled—Yang Ce was as good as the Huang family's son-in-law. So he had no choice but to treat Yang Yanzhou's words with the utmost gravity, and he had been waiting on tenterhooks for the outcome of Yang Ce's meeting with Zheng Shaopeng.

Huang Yan, by contrast, was utterly carefree. After turning matters over to the Guixu Sect, she went off to play computer games on her own. When the little fox spirit saw that Huang Yan had found herself a master of Bubble Dragon, she simply stopped playing Bubble Dragon with her and switched to another game called Pocket Money Wars.

Yang Ce had barely pushed the door open when the Xuanming Sect sprang to his feet. "How did it go?"

"Heh, Uncle Zhang, I may have been overly sensitive. It's all been cleared up—that business has nothing to do with Zheng Shaopeng." Yang Heng smiled as he spoke.

"Oh, is that so? Well, no harm done," the Xuanming Sect said, breathing a long sigh of relief. If there really had been a problem with someone in his casino—and someone who had been here eight years, no less—Yang Ce could hardly be blamed for doubting his competence.

"Yes, no trouble at all is the best outcome." Yang Yuting nodded. "I've asked about everything I needed to ask. Uncle Zhang, please don't bring it up with him again, so he doesn't get any ideas."

"Understood," the Xuanming Sect said. "You and Lele enjoy yourselves, then. I'll go take care of some business. If anything comes up, call me anytime."

"All right, go ahead, Uncle Zhang," Yang Yanzhou said.

The Xuanming Sect was just about to get up and leave when a burst of urgent knocking came from Huang Yan's room. His brow knitted at once. This was Huang Yan's private room—no one at the casino was permitted to come disturbing them without good reason—and such loud knocking naturally infuriated him. "Who is it?"

"President Zhang, it's me." Secretary Liu's voice came from outside the door.

The Xuanming Sect paused. Only Secretary Liu knew he was in Huang Yan's room, so the man must be looking for him. Secretary Liu had been with him for many years and was steady in his work; he would never knock so rashly. If he was so urgently seeking him now, something important must have come up.

At the thought, the Xuanming Sect hurried to open the door. "Xiao Liu, what is it? An emergency?"

"President Zhang, people from the South City Casino have come to crash our party," Secretary Liu said, a note of anxiety in his voice.

"What?" The Xuanming Sect frowned at once. "Who came?"

"It's Yu Deyi, the consultant from the South City Casino," Secretary Liu said.

"He came himself?" The Xuanming Sect frowned and pondered in silence for a long moment before saying, "What's he doing now?"

"When he came in he bought a hundred thousand yuan worth of chips, and now he's just idling around the hall. But the chips in his hands have already doubled to four million," Secretary Liu said.

"Leave him be for now, but notify Consultant Zheng Shaopeng at once and tell him to be ready to meet the challenge at any time," the Xuanming Sect instructed Secretary Liu.