Chapter 1593
On the other side.
Inside the casino.
Magnificent and luxurious crystal chandeliers sparkled in all directions without a hint of smokiness. Instead, it felt like being in a high-end leisure club. Inside were various gambling tables: roulette, baccarat, and card tables. Judging from the chips, they were all relatively small stakes. Further inside, there should be a VIP area, but the group from Jiangnan Province had no intention of going there. After all, they could only look but not touch, and they didn"t have any chips on them, so they just wandered around the small hall.
"The casino is quite large."
"Heh, there"s more inside."
"Really?"
"There are several other areas, but we definitely won"t be able to get in."
"Why do you need a members.h.i.+p card?"
"It depends on how many chips you exchange. If you have enough, it"s fine."
"Secretary Song"s son is quite knowledgeable."
"Auntie Chen, I just heard it from someone else, hehe."
The young man who had been here once began to show off, acting as a guide for everyone. After introducing this and that, his mouth didn"t stop. His companions also spoke with a few words, all seeming very knowledgeable. Having been overshadowed by Dong Xuebing in the car for so long, they finally regained the initiative in the conversation. With a relatively strong sense of clique, it wasn"t surprising, as exclusivity existed everywhere. On the other hand, Dong Xuebing hadn"t said a word since entering the casino; he just kept looking around.
The young master Song glanced at Dong Xuebing. "Xuebing, did you play cards during university?"
Dong Xuebing smiled faintly. "Of course, we played often."
The young master Song said familiarly, "For money?"
Many older cadres and their family members felt this was inappropriate.
But Dong Xuebing wasn"t pretentious and didn"t care. "Yes, for money, but just small amounts. I didn"t have much money then, so I didn"t play many times."
Hou Wen wanted to cover for Dong Xuebing with a sentence, especially since he was now with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and this topic was sensitive.
But Dong Xuebing didn"t mind. "Oh, everyone has played cards with friends and cla.s.smates a few times. This kind of thing is just entertainment; it doesn"t const.i.tute gambling."
Hou Wen laughed. "You wouldn"t even think of gambling. Back then, you had poor card skills; you couldn"t even play Landlord. We had to teach you."
Dong Xuebing said, "You"re still bringing that up? Even though you taught me, you didn"t teach me everything. You guys ganged up on me and won."
Dong Xuebing repelled several official offspring, but the only girl among them, Han Fang, always squeezed into Dong Xuebing and Hou Wen"s circle. She giggled and said, "How about we play cards at the hotel tonight without betting money? We can play Truth or Dare. What do you think?"
Hou Wen clapped his hands. "I"m in."
Dong Xuebing smiled. "Forget it. You all know my poor card skills. If we play, I won"t win a single hand. I"ll watch you guys beat me."
Han Fang always tried to get close to Dong Xuebing. The group around the young master Song couldn"t stand it and felt very dissatisfied. After all, it was just a slightly higher rank. Who knew how he got there? There couldn"t be such a young deputy Division Chief cadre; it was probably through connections. From just now until now, more than an hour had pa.s.sed, and they hadn"t seen Dong Xuebing demonstrate any skills or standout qualities. His appearance, temperament, personality, knowledge, and conversation were all very ordinary, even more so than ordinary people, which made them even more unbalanced in their hearts.
Young Master Song saw them chatting lively and intentionally interrupted their conversation. He also consciously showed off his experience and knowledge, pointing upwards, "Everyone, you see, there are cameras everywhere, even behind the gla.s.s, there are hidden cameras. The coverage here can reach almost eighty percent."
Han Fang blinked, "So many?"
Young Master Song nodded and smiled, "To prevent cheating."
The others in the group also looked up, "Hmm, this angle..."
Hou Wen also paused, "Why do I feel like these cameras are all pointing at us?"
The people around Young Master Song also looked up and were startled. It was OK for those far away, with no changes, but the six or seven nearby cameras all turned to face them, making a buzzing sound as they followed their movements.
One of the family members said, "Something"s not right."
Everyone frowned, wondering why the cameras were pointing at them.
Han Fang and Hou Wen each stared at a camera, but the cameras didn"t react; they continued to face them.
But when Dong Xuebing squinted at the camera diagonally above, the camera hastily turned away within a second, moving in another direction.
Dong Xuebing: ......
He didn"t understand what was going on. Even if they recognized their ident.i.ties, what was the point? The officials who came here weren"t the first batch, and many big shots were inside. Their status wasn"t significant enough to attract attention from the casino. Besides, they couldn"t be suspected of cheating; they hadn"t even exchanged chips or indicated any intention to bet.
Everyone felt very uncomfortable and didn"t understand what was happening.
Suddenly, the elevator door opened, and four or five people in suits walked out. They didn"t look like security guards; they seemed more like office workers. As soon as they came out, they looked toward the group from Jiangnan Province, hesitated momentarily, then came over.
The two groups met.
The lead man immediately said, "h.e.l.lo, I"m in charge here."
The oldest woman among them, the wife of a City party secretary, looked at them with a strong demeanor and asked, "Do you have any business here?"
The person in charge coughed, "Forgive me for asking, are you all together?"
Dong Xuebing walked up with a stern face, "What if we are? What if we aren"t?"
Seeing Dong Xuebing, the person in charge"s pupils contracted, and the other staff members behind him also stared wide-eyed at Dong Xuebing as if they were looking at a giant panda.
Dong Xuebing wondered, "Why are you staring at me as if I"ve grown flowers on my face?"
Han Fang unhappily said, "Why are you all pointing the cameras at us?"
Young Master Song"s group also asked, "Why are you monitoring us? Give us an explanation."
Being people of status, they were all dissatisfied with this particular treatment and had a confrontational att.i.tude; there wasn"t a single coward among them. As they raised their voices, many of the casino"s guests noticed, and even many dealers and staff in the hall looked over in surprise.
"It"s Brother Zhang."
"Brother Zhang and Brother Li. They"ve come down personally."
The dealers recognized several of them, knowing they were responsible for the casino"s operation, especially the person in front who managed the prominent figures.
What surprised them was that today"s person in charge seemed relatively low-key, with a polite expression. He said, "It"s not about monitoring everyone, mainly due to some special reasons. Well, forget it. Let me say it straight and not waste everyone"s time. There"s a somewhat unpleasant request, could you..." The person in charge looked at Dong Xuebing with a wry smile, "Could you please be magnanimous and let us off today?"
Hou Wen was stunned.
Han Fang was dumbfounded.
Dong Xuebing pointed to himself, "Are you talking to me?"
The person in charge wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Yes, you."
Young Master Song"s group looked at Dong Xuebing in astonishment, wondering what was happening.
At this point, Dong Xuebing probably understood why the other party had behaved as if facing a great enemy earlier. He was also a bit speechless. "Are you asking me to leave?"
The person in charge clasped his hands, "Please be magnanimous, please be magnanimous."
Han Fang exclaimed angrily, "Why should Mr. Dong leave?"
A staff member behind hurriedly said, "We"re quite embarra.s.sed to say this, but..."
Dong Xuebing was also unhappy. "We haven"t even exchanged chips and never intended to place bets here. We just came to have a look around. How come we don"t even have this right?"
The person in charge smiled bitterly and said, "Your friends are fine, but you..."
Dong Xuebing was even more furious. "What"s the meaning of treating me differently?"
"No, no," although he said this, the person in charge wanted to curse in his heart. Of course, they were treating him differently. You just found out, didn"t you? It"s not that we deliberately targeted you, but you, a person who won a large casino with just one chip. How could we dare to let you in?
No chips, still not acceptable. They couldn"t take this risk. Other people on the danger list were fine; some didn"t need to be managed. Just a quick check with the cameras would do. They could accept it as long as it wasn"t too large an expenditure. But this person in front of them was different. This person was notoriously ruthless. What if he stuffed a chip into the slot machine and rolled out 777? Their casino"s profit for half a month would be flushed away.
Not only did the group from Jiangnan Province not understand, but even the surrounding gamblers and staff who didn"t know the situation were also shocked. They had never seen such a situation before. What was going on? Why weren"t they allowed to look just coming in for a look and not exchanging chips? Could it be that there were rogue gamblers here? It didn"t seem right. Even if there were people with a bad record, they wouldn"t be allowed in. Even if they sneaked in, the casino manager wouldn"t be this polite; they would have been kicked out long ago.
Dong Xuebing said, "What if I don"t leave?"
The person in charge wiped his sweat again, "Can we talk somewhere else?"
"No need, let"s talk here," Dong Xuebing said with a slightly unpleasant tone.
The person in charge didn"t know what else to say. He could only be even more discreet, making a very low posture, clasping his hands, and saying in a bitter tone, "Now that we"ve met, if there"s anything you need in the future, just speak up. But could you please give our boss some face today? We are also a small business. If you let us go today, I"ll thank you on behalf of our boss."
When everyone heard this, they almost spat blood.
A small business? You are the largest casino in all of Macau, and you call yourself a small business?