You're Strong But Now You're Mine
Chapter 151 - 150 "Monopoly

Chapter 151: Chapter 150 "Monopoly

"What do you play to pass the time during your patrol duties?"

In the patrol camp, inside the captain’s rest room, Le Yin fanned away the milky white smoke in front of his nose and suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at Le Yin curiously.

It’s been over a week of patrol duty, and in their impression, Zhengwei from the Jing Family has always been a loner, not fond of making friends. Besides being somewhat familiar with his deputy, Qing Lan, he had little interaction with other young masters.

This seemed quite incredible to them - everyone here was the designated next-generation heir of various commercial associations, and there weren’t many fools. Even if they couldn’t figure it out themselves, their elders would surely explain the significance of their patrol duty.

They definitely weren’t here to experience the life of the lower class.

Besides representing the Silver Blood Association in controlling the patrol team, they were supposed to form close camaraderie with other young lords during their shifts. Some had even planned to head to Xiangxue Sea together after their duty, deepening their bonds naturally.

Having endured hardships together (patrol duty was considered tough for them) and enjoyed some pleasures, the ties within the Silver Blood Association would undoubtedly become stronger. If you had a beautiful sister and I had a loud-mouthed sister, maybe we could even become family through marriage...

Quite a few were eager to curry favor with Zhengwei from the Jing Family. Without mentioning the Jing Family’s patriarch being critically ill, leaving open the possibility of Zhengwei becoming the head of the family soon, which these eager second-generation heirs envied, just having control of the Youth Daily already made it impossible for anyone to ignore him.

It’s hard to say about other aspects, but in terms of making money, everyone in this room was professional enough to see the immense potential hidden within the Youth Daily.

Unfortunately, the Youth Daily was a family asset of the Jing Family, and no one dared to play dirty with them.

While most large commercial associations rose to power through bloody means, at least others would offer some semblance of charity or relief on the surface.

But the Jing Family was different.

The Jing Family also wanted to erect a "chastity archway" to prove they weren’t treacherous, but worker uprisings occasionally forced them into bloody suppression from time to time, so much so that everyone knew the Jing Family hadn’t abandoned their old ruthless tactics, but had even upgraded to a more powerful version.

Unable to play dirty, they had to play it straight.

However, the newspaper didn’t lack funds, and they had no way to invest due to not being familiar enough with Zhengwei from the Jing Family.

After some twists and turns, they realized the issue: it was Zhengwei who never gave them a chance to get close!

When Zhengwei was down and out, almost no one favored him, and naturally, the young masters had no ties with him. But Zhengwei rose too swiftly, and if they couldn’t build a rapport with him during the patrol, by next meeting, he might already be a leader of one of the five major commercial associations, making it difficult to forge a deep friendship!

Now with Le Yin suddenly extending an olive branch, someone immediately responded. A pale-faced sickly young man quickly said, "I have a small house in Half City with a cherished ’Qingfeng Huanpei’ model water pipe and two maids bought from Xiangxue Sea. You can try it tonight, Wei Shao—"

"Damn it, Beifeng, you rascal!" Luo Zhen, who had his legs propped on the table, suddenly cursed, "You’re indulging in pleasures during patrol duties!? Do you believe I won’t kick your balls in?"

Midtown leader Beifeng wasn’t intimidated: "Alright, alright, Brother Luo, you can come too if you have time, okay?"

"That’s more like it." Luo Zhen lay back down: "Then make sure to restock, you know what I like."

"Sigh..." Beifeng was a bit exasperated: "Alright, I’ll get another Tian Kui from the Red Jade Sea."

Le Yin couldn’t help but glance sideways at Luo Zhen - he knew about the Red Jade Sea as well. Though similar to Xiangxue Sea, it was much less famous, and the difference lay in the type of service providers, particularly in terms of gender.

Yes, the Red Jade Sea was in the male escort business. The counterpart to a courtesan was the Tian Kui, the star attraction male escort in the Red Jade Sea.

While not as renowned as Xiangxue Sea, in terms of expenditure, Red Jade Sea even surpassed it because, after all, men understood men better and naturally knew how to raise their value in a patron’s heart.

Le Yin wasn’t shocked by Luo Zhen’s different sexual orientation — compared to Zhengwei from the Jing Family, Luo Zhen’s ’unusual preference’ was hardly noteworthy — he was shocked by Luo Zhen’s boldness in expressing his preferences publicly.

Le Yin glanced at Qing Lan beside him, who quietly said, "Luo Zhen is an only child, no siblings."

No wonder... Le Yin was relieved.

Luo Zhen wasn’t an ordinary person; coming out meant the Luo Family line might end, or descendants might come from other branches. Whatever the reason, if the Luo Family’s patriarch and tribesmen had a choice, they certainly wouldn’t want him to inherit the family.

But they didn’t have a choice; the Luo patriarch had only this one son.

They might be hoping that when Luo Zhen got tired of playing, he might find an honest woman to marry someday?

"So what about you, Wei Shao?" Beifeng asked expectantly: "There are two beds there, and we could spend the night together."

Ever since Qing Lan started calling him Wei Shao in front of others, everyone began addressing Le Yin with that name, reminiscent of a beginner village’s elite villain.

Le Yin shivered and shook his head: "I’m not interested in water pipes, and I’m the team leader, I can’t just hide in a room..."

Actually, the midtown leader couldn’t either, but since Beifeng was from the second team, and Quan Xin the team leader and Luo Zhen the deputy of the second team didn’t care, he naturally wouldn’t meddle out of his jurisdiction.

"So, what about you, Young Master Quan?" Le Yin finally moved the topic to his target: "Young Master Quan, Young Master Luo, what do you use to pass the time during your patrol duties?"

Quan Xin, who had been twirling a pen, looked up at Le Yin. His pen wasn’t an ordinary pen; it was a specially made double-headed weighted pen, with a stable center of gravity and intricate patterns that looked particularly beautiful when spun.

He didn’t answer but meticulously spun the pen from his thumb to his pinky, then from his pinky back to his thumb, and then flicked it, catching it deftly.

Quan Xin raised an eyebrow and laughed, "Just this."

Le Yin blinked and asked, "Just this?"

"It’s an eight-hour shift, any pastime becomes dull eventually." Quan Xin shrugged: "I’ve tried reading newspapers, reading books, messing with men, and women, but there’s nothing you can play with for eight hours... Later, Luo Zhen and I started doing our own things, I spun my pen, he practiced Combat Technique, and time passed quickly. What about you guys?"

Le Yin said, "We play Battle Cards."

"Battle Cards? That’s not bad." As he resumed spinning his pen, Quan Xin remarked, "Didn’t expect you, Wei Shao and Master Qing, would enjoy that kind of entertainment.

"The condition is there must be wins and losses." Le Yu looked frustrated: "I’ve played almost a thousand rounds with him these days."

"What’s the win-loss record?"

"I’ve only won one round."

Everyone was stunned and looked at Le Yu with subtle eyes, filled with sympathy and disdain—everyone look, there’s a noob here!

Le Yu was also angrily silent—after all, he was the strongest duelist under the legendary line, how could his card prowess be despised by this group of trash?

However, Qin Le Yin was simply stronger than him!

Change card sets, get thrashed;

Change tactics, get thrashed;

Le Yu even swapped card sets with Qin Le Yin on the spot, and then Qin Le Yin used the combo tactic Le Yu prepared to wreck him.

This feeling was like the ADC being suppressed on the bottom lane by the enemy support and even invaded under the tower for a kill...

If it weren’t for the thrilling and tense fights with Qing Lan at night, Le Yu would surely have been beaten into quitting by Qin Le Yin.

Qin Le Yin smiled without saying anything.

At this moment, Le Yu pulled out a box and said enthusiastically, "I’ve recently found a new game, but it requires at least four people to play together. How about we try it tonight when we’re off-duty?"

Picture unfolds, dagger revealed!

Le Yu actively brought up the topic just to lay the groundwork for his sentence!

Luo Zhen and Quan Xin became interested: "What game?"

"This game is called—’Monopoly!’"

Le Yu opened the box and took out a silk white cloth covered in various squares!

"Each player starts with a certain amount of funds."

"Move by rolling dice."

"When you reach a property, you can choose to buy it."

"Players can cash out funds by selling properties to the Imperial Court at half price."

"Players can trade among themselves."

"But many unforeseen events occur in the game, wars, natural disasters, human misfortunes, all of which can drastically reduce a player’s assets. No matter how much you earn, you’re just postponing your bankruptcy."

"The last player not bankrupt is the winner; or at the end of duty, the player with the most assets is also the winner."

"How about it, are you interested?"

Le Yu barely finished speaking before a young master asked, "Where can I buy this game? I want to buy it too!"

"I want to play too!"

"Me too..."

Seeing their fierce reactions, Le Yu wasn’t surprised at all. Monopoly became a global sensation due to its solid gaming quality and the threshold that’s easy to learn but hard to master. Everyone, from kids to adults, love to play it—let alone these merchant offspring dripping with the dark blood of commerce?

Monopoly hit them right where it itches!

Le Yu cleared his throat and said, "I asked a friend to buy it from Yanjing. It’s not available in the market now; Xuanzhu County only has this set. If possible, I’ll ask someone to buy more."

After hearing Le Yu say this, the young masters had to give up the idea of buying and instead looked at the game in Le Yu’s hands: "How many people can play at most? I won’t leave tonight, let’s play until dawn!"

"I can too!"

"A maximum of six can play together." Le Yu said casually, glancing at Quan Xin and Luo Zhen: "Young Master Quan, Young Master Luo, are you interested?"

"Seems quite interesting."

A familiar voice came from behind. Le Yu turned around and saw Ting Zhaozhao and Lan Jianbo returning from duty.

"If six can play together, why not add me and Jianbo as well?" Ting Zhaozhao took off his military cap, smiling, "Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, do you want to join?"

Quan Xin stopped spinning his pen: "I can, what about you, Luo Zhen?"

Luo Zhen shrugged: "Let’s play then; sounds quite interesting."

Le Yu could hardly suppress the joy inside, couldn’t help lifting the corners of his mouth, seeming happy being able to play games with everyone: "Great."

Awesome!

Now, he had five scapegoats to share the blame with!