The Favored Heiress
Chapter 389: Someone is Causing Trouble Downstairs

Chapter 389: Chapter 389: Someone is Causing Trouble Downstairs

West City, where Qiaojin Road meets the highway intersection, stood a church-like structure.

Portuguese Silver Underground Casino.

After gambling in the South Sea became legalized, aside from the official Gambling City, many underground casinos sprang up in every corner of the city.

And the largest of them all was He Chen’s Portuguese Silver Underground Casino.

When Li Qiao drove there, the time had not yet reached nine in the evening.

She parked her car by the side of the road, turned her head to glance at the brilliantly lit church, then got out of the car without showing any emotion.

She didn’t know much about He Chen, but from the information sent by Shen Qingye, he seemed to have some ties to the underworld.

Li Qiao approached the church’s main entrance, where the area was enveloped in orange lighting. Stepping onto the front porch steps, a seemingly thin and small security guard emerged from under the columns beside her.

"The church is closed," said the security guard, his tone neither bad nor particularly gentle.

His lanky figure and eagle-like sharp eyes didn’t match.

Li Qiao, with one hand in her pocket, glanced at him, "Today’s ledger should be renewed."

That was the secret code to enter the Portuguese Silver Underground Casino.

Upon hearing this, the security guard’s eyes instantly changed, scrutinizing the bright and beautiful girl before him, he squinted, "Follow me."

Li Qiao observed the security guard turning toward the church’s back courtyard, and without much hesitation, she followed at an unhurried pace.

Once inside through the church’s side entrance, Li Qiao raised her eyes to the glittering domed ceiling, the carpet adorned with dark gold carvings, and a long corridor stretching out before her.

It screamed luxury.

The security guard casually closed the back courtyard’s hidden door and directed, "To the left, the common hall; to the right, the VIP Hall."

Li Qiao nodded in understanding, then looked back and asked, "Can I just walk in?"

The young security guard seemed taken aback and reminded her with some patience, "The minimum chip exchange for the VIP Hall is fifty million."

Li Qiao ’oh’ed, and sauntered into the VIP Hall on the right.

Security guard: "???"

The little beauty was young, but she certainly wasn’t lacking in courage.

Once she entered the VIP Hall, if she didn’t lose a billion tonight, she wouldn’t be thinking about leaving.

...

The VIP Hall was even more luxurious and extravagant than Li Qiao had imagined.

There were no windows, no clocks; here, the notion of time did not exist. Even the ventilation shafts sporadically injected oxygen to heighten gamblers’ excitement.

In the vast hall, where the eye couldn’t see the end, nearly every gambling table was filled with people, and above on the second floor were countless private gambling booths shielded by curtains.

In this lawless underground casino, gamblers seemed even more relaxed and flamboyant.

Li Qiao exchanged for fifty million in chips at the cashier, looked around, and then seemingly casually took a seat at a gambling table.

The dealer was a young girl with an innocent pretty face. When she saw Li Qiao, her eyes brightened for a second.

Without a trace, she glanced at the man sitting to the left of the table wearing a striped shirt. Their eyes met, and they silently smiled in understanding.

The game at this table was 21 Black Jack, and there were exactly six people around. The dealer dealt two open cards to each player, followed by one hidden card.

After a simple statement of the rules, the people at the table began to place their bets in turn.

Li Qiao tossed three million in chips. After one round, whether it was due to her good luck or the others playing poorly, she was the first to get a Black Jack and also got closest to 21 points, winning the first hand steadily.

According to the 2 to 1 odds, Li Qiao’s chips quickly doubled.

"Pretty lady, not bad luck, huh?"

At that moment, the man to the left of the dealer, his mouth holding a cigarette, fogged with white smoke, had a pair of eyes behind it that glowed hot like they had locked on to prey.

Li Qiao propped her cheek, fiddling with the chips in her hand, and curled her lips indifferently, "So-so."

Seeing her lack of enthusiasm, the man couldn’t help but signal the dealer with his eyes, and the second round began.

Li Qiao was lucky, still the winner.

A few people at the gambling table were getting restless, losing two rounds in a row, their chips dwindling, while the pile of chips in front of Li Qiao grew bigger and bigger.

As the third round started, Li Qiao casually waved her hand, pushed all her chips onto the table with the back of her hand, "All in."

The dealer’s sharp eyes flashed a light incongruent with her innocent face.

Going all in on Blackjack, to say she was either ignorant or too arrogant?

In the underground casino, you can’t expect much regulation, so basically any play goes.

Including the secrets beneath each gambling table, outsiders might not know, but the dealer and the staff of the underground casino were all crystal clear.

Watching Li Qiao bet all her chips, the dealer subtly manipulated the card-dealing sequence of the table as she dealt.

Then—

Li Qiao, lounging lazily with her cheek in her palm, squinted at the dealer’s ostensibly surreptitious movements and smirked, reminding, "Even if you move the Aces and Tens, I can still win."

The dealer froze, while the other gamblers, unaware of what was happening, also turned to Li Qiao, not knowing what act this young lady was putting on.

The underground casino’s VIP Hall thrives on heartbeat; winning or losing is all for show, and even if you know the dealer cheats, nobody would openly say it, after all, this isn’t a regular Gambling City.

The man on the side smoking a cigarette suddenly blew out a large cloud of smoke, curled his fingers, and knocked on the corner of the gambling table, "Pretty lady, are you starting something?"

"Isn’t it obvious?" Li Qiao arched her eyebrows and held his gaze with eyes calm as still water.

The man licked his back tooth and stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray, stood up, knocking the chair back, and walked behind Li Qiao, leaning one hand on the back of her chair, bending over to warn, "Pretty lady, play if you want to, but keep your mouth shut."

Li Qiao, slightly repulsed by the smoke on him, tilted her head and her gaze fell on the tattoo that ran down his entire arm, "What if I don’t?"

"Huh, do you know whose turf this is?" the man pressed down on his body, his eyes gleaming wickedly as they settled on Li Qiao’s pale skin.

At that, Li Qiao nodded nonchalantly, "Your brother’s turf."

This man was in the dossier, He Chen’s brother, He Ao.

He Ao stared at her in shock.

Not because she knew that the Portuguese Silver Underground Casino belonged to He Chen, but because she actually recognized him.

He Ao was silent for a long time, shadows filling his eyes, "Pretty lady, care for a private chat?"

The underground casino had all sorts of people, but a girl as striking as Li Qiao, who also carried an air of deliberately causing trouble, was indeed a rarity.

Li Qiao glanced at him dismissively and spoke with an air of disdain, "What’s there to talk about with you? If your brother were to come over, I might consider having a chat with him."

The snubbed He Ao: "??"

On the other side, in the private gambling room on the second floor of the VIP Hall, where outsiders were forbidden, the previously innocent-looking dealer hurriedly knocked on the door. He Chen’s bodyguard opened the door to see her with eyes sharpening, "Who let you come up here?"

The dealer glanced into the private room, her gaze particularly targeting the man in the black shirt sitting opposite He Chen.

Admiration hidden in her eyes, she hesitantly looked away, her voice soft and sweet, "Brother Yong, someone is smashing up the place downstairs, not only revealing the trick under our gambling table, but they also said they want to see Brother Chen."