Chapter 53 Unrestrained Gambling
Angel, the girl Lin Qi once pushed into a gutter, was undoubtedly beautiful. She had light mahogany hair that fell over her shoulders and hung loose on her back like waves, a fair and fresh face, dark cherry red lips, and a pair of quick-witted light-green eyes like emeralds, profound and charming.
In the aristocratic circle of Dunerk, Angel was the most famous beauty of her generation, making her the target of many young masters. Angel's family controlled Dunerk's whole ore import and export business, from the common iron and copper ore to the precious gold and silver ore, as well as other rare metals. Every ore produced from every mine in Yasen Province would go through the hands of Angel's family before being loaded onto enormous cargo s.h.i.+ps and s.h.i.+pped to other places in the continent.
Thus, although Angel's family wasn't extremely wealthy, they had sufficient merit to be considered among the most elite families of the province..
In addition to Angel herself being a beautiful girl, once one gained her affection, one would truly kill two birds with one stone. As a result, Angel had an extremely strong influence on this circle of young masters; once she moved, her followers would immediately follow.
The maid standing next to Angel took out a small leather purse and carefully pulled out thirty sheets of golden notes worth one thousand gold coins each. Angel haughtily raised her chin, looking at Lin Qi like a proud peac.o.c.k. "Mister Lin Qi, I will bet thirty thousand gold coins with you. Since you like that repulsive, sinister, savage, disgusting reptile, then I will bet on this good-natured, powerful, mighty, adorable polar bear!"
Lin Qi waved the golden note in this hand, without a care. He sent a provocative look at the young masters sanding behind Angel. "Look, Angel and I are betting thirty thousand gold coins! Goodness! Ice-armored Polar Bears have an innate restraining effect on all cold-blooded reptiles. My offer of one hundred thousand against one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins is reasonable! Don't tell me no one is willing to raise the stakes?"
Lin Qi smiled brilliantly, but in the eyes of the young masters and mistresses he'd bullied before, his dazzling smile seemed repulsive. Several well-groomed and elegant young mistresses softly issued cold snorts and signaled the maids next to them with their eyes.
One after another, those maids took out golden notes from their mistresses' purses, sc.r.a.ping together several thousand to ten thousand. The families supporting these young mistresses couldn't be compared to Angel's, so their finances also weren't as much as Angel's. Several thousand or even ten thousand gold coins was already the total amount of pocket money they had painstakingly saved.
If not for their deep hatred and fear of Lin Qi, they wouldn't have bet all their money like this because if they lost today, they would have to live frugally for the next few months. Although the families supporting them were rich and powerful, they didn't have any authority there, and they truly didn't have any other source of income.
Adding the bet from the several young mistresses, a stack of golden notes worth a total of eighty thousand gold coins was placed in front of Lin Qi.
Whistling complacently, Lin Qi winked to Enzo, waved his hands in excitement and shouted, "Aha! Dunerk's young ladies are more courageous than its men! Tsk tsk, eighty thousand gold coins? This is not enough, not enough at all! I have one hundred thousand gold coins here, one hundred thousand!"
A thick stack of golden notes was thrown into the pile. A youth as arrogant as a little rooster stole a glance at Angel and while sneering, he said, "Lin Qi, this time you will definitely lose miserably. Miss Angel's choice can't be wrong. I have fifty thousand gold coins here—I will also bet with you!"
Looking at the youth seizing the opportunity, the other young masters present also one by one contributed generously to the bet. They bet all their money down to the last copper coin; golden notes, gold coins, silver coins, even jewel inlaid cufflinks and b.u.t.tons were thrown into the pile.
Golden Rose had in-house appraisers. Beaming with joy, Jin quickly called an appraiser over to evaluate the value of those small accessories inlaid with jewels. According to the appraiser, there was a total of 305,780 gold coins, 15 silver coins, and 17 copper coins bet in front of Lin Qi.
According to the 1:1.5 gambling ratio, Lin Qi had to take out an additional 103,000 gold coins before he could bet with them.
"Dear Lin Qi!" Jin rubbed his hands hard, eyes s.h.i.+ning. With the betting stakes reaching more than five hundred thousand gold coins, the Golden Rose's commision for overseeing the bet could go up to more than fifty thousand. After deducting the cost of buying the two magical beasts, the Golden Rose would still have a one-fold profit. A one hundred percent profit! This was a rare deal.
However, Lin Qi's bet was insufficient!
Jin awkwardly rubbed his hands and sighed, then forcing a smile said, "Dear Lin Qi, look here, your bet isn't enough."
Lin Qi knitted his brows. He clutched the golden note worth one hundred thousand gold coins and turned his head to look at the Golden-eyed Green Boa restlessly twisting in its iron cage.Probably because Lin Qi jumped to the front of its cage a moment ago and startled this huge beast, it was currently breathing heavily and unceasingly, spitting toxic green gas.
The surrounding magical formation had automatically been unleashed; a layer of faint light blocked the toxic gas from exiting the wrestling ring.
The polar bear also started to get agitated because of the big serpent's unusual movement. It angrily stood up, scratching its large paws on the iron cage with all its might, the friction producing sparks.
Everyone could see the hesitation and nervousness in Lin Qi's heart. Angel complacently raised her eyebrows and suddenly took off the dazzling ruby necklace on her neck, then casually threw it into the gambling pile. "Lin Qi, this necklace of mine was made by an Earth-level great master. It's worth forty thousand gold coins. Do you dare accept this new stakes?"
Several young mistresses simultaneously showed enchanting smiles. One after another, they also took off their necklaces, rings, as well as other jewelry and added them to the bet. Their total bet immediately rose to more than 470,000 gold coins.
Lin Qi's face suddenly turned green!
Looking at Lin Qi's ugly expression, a young master heavily threw out his sword, which was embedded with countless jewels. Golden Rose's appraiser estimated the value of the sword, and concluded that the sword itself wasn't worth much, but the jewels on it were worth more than thirty thousand gold coins.
Lin Qi's expression turned even grimmer.
On the other hand, when the other young masters looked at Lin Qi's increasingly ugly expression, their hearts grew increasingly complacent. One after another, they also took out their swords and other valuable jewelries, down to the last sc.r.a.p, adding those to the bet. The total bet quickly rose to 780,000 gold coins.
There were a total of ten young masters and mistresses of Dunerk's aristocratic families gathered here, all joining hands against Lin Qi. With the stakes acc.u.mulating to a total of 780,000 gold coins, Lin Qi's expression continuously changed, turning uglier and uglier.
After hesitating for a while, Lin Qi looked helplessly at Jin.
"Jin, you give loans here, right? I believe lending me several hundred thousand gold coins will be sufficient!"