816: 607 not bad 816: 607 not bad As he drove up to the entrance of Spring and Autumn Plaza, his phone rang.
The barrier lifted.
Jiang Chen released the brake and with one hand on the steering wheel, he reached for his phone with the other.
He glanced down.
It was a call from Li Shuru.
Could she really be checking up on him?
In his mind, Li Shuru had always been a generous person, or perhaps it could be said that women were fundamentally similar in this respect.
“I’ve just entered the community,”
Jiang Chen answered the call, placing the phone to his ear and said with a smile.
“Hmm, there’s a guest,”
Li Shuru’s voice came through.
A guest?
So, she wasn’t checking up on him.
But who could have possibly located this place?
It was worth nearly two hundred million, and he had bought the mansion in Li Shuru’s name.
In other words,
The property title was in Li Shuru’s name, and it had nothing to do with him.
Could it be Luo Peng?
Only a few roommates knew the inside story.
No, that’s not right.
If it were Luo Peng and the others, Li Shuru wouldn’t use the term “guest.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there,”
Jiang Chen hung up and stepped on the gas pedal, speeding up.
When he parked the car and entered the house, Jiang Chen saw two women chatting.
“Miss Lan…?”
Indeed.
It was Lan Peizhi.
Wasn’t she supposed to be busy with the Great Wall affairs in Capital City?
“This house isn’t bad,”
Jiang Chen almost laughed as he walked over.
No wonder Li Shuru had hurried him; schmoozing with such a dignitary must have been quite a task for her.
However, judging by the atmosphere, the two women seemed to have been chatting amicably.
“What brought you back to East Sea all of a sudden?
The Great Wall over there…”
“The basic framework has been set up, the rest of the details, with Jiuding there, won’t be a problem.”
“You two chat.”
Li Shuru cleverly stood up and went upstairs the moment she saw Jiang Chen return.
Jiang Chen sat down.
Lan Peizhi picked up what must have been a glass of water served by Li Shuru.
“Isn’t it cold?
Do you want me to get you a warm one?”
Even though he was caught “hiding a beauty in the golden house,” Jiang Chen behaved nonchalantly.
He knew full well that Lan Peizhi was not an ordinary person; she wouldn’t concern herself with such matters.
Their relationship was, after all, incomparable; Lan Peizhi did not neglect his offer and shook her head.
“Why didn’t you tell me in advance?
I could have come to you, there was no need for you to come here personally.”
Although this mansion had nothing to do with him on the surface, Lan Peizhi was a person of extraordinary stature.
It was not at all surprising that she could be sitting here.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Lan Peizhi set down her glass.
Jiang Chen wasn’t surprised in the slightest; the fact that she had left everything in Capital City to come find him surely wasn’t due to missing him.
A person like Lan Peizhi would not express such emotions even if she missed someone.
Jiang Chen lightly coughed and prepared to speak seriously when he suddenly thought of Li Shuru.
“Shall we start with the good news or the bad news?”
He borrowed Li Shuru’s approach.
Lan Peizhi was silent for a moment before responding cryptically, “Whether it’s good or bad depends on how you see it.”
Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow; intrigued.
Something described by Lan Peizhi in such a way was bound to be no small matter.
“Go on.”
Lan Peizhi looked at him intently, “The He Family from Haojiang has three casino licenses set to expire soon.”
Jiang Chen was puzzled, “Casino licenses?”
“You don’t know?”
Lan Peizhi seemed surprised by his reaction.
Jiang Chen shook his head, still confused.
Lan Peizhi was silent again for a moment, “Casino licenses, you can understand them as a type of business permit.
In Haojiang, even though gambling is a legal industry, it’s based on the premise that you own a casino license.”
Jiang Chen instantly got it.
Like everyone else, he knew that Haojiang was The East’s Las Vegas, but he didn’t really know the specifics of how the gambling industry operated.
“Can anyone apply for this casino license?”
Jiang Chen asked instinctively.
“…”
Lan Peizhi paused before replying, “No, there are only six casino licenses in total in Haojiang.”
Jiang Chen was at a loss for words; he immediately realized he had asked an almost foolish question.
Lan Peizhi had used an analogy, and he had naively taken the casino license as just a “business permit.”
Indeed, any person could apply for a business permit, but gambling was a unique industry.
If everyone could participate, Haojiang would not have only a few players competing against each other as it does now.
“The He Family you mentioned is…”
Jiang Chen ventured to ask, pausing mid-sentence as Lan Peizhi nodded her head.
Of course.
There were likely many people surnamed He in Haojiang, but those who Lan Peizhi mentioned were probably from the well-known family.
“How many casino licenses are there in total in Haojiang?”
“Six.”
Jiang Chen was startled and confirmed, “And the He Family owns three?”
Lan Peizhi nodded.
Jiang Chen grinned wryly.
No wonder they were known as the Casino King family.
With three out of six licenses, the power structure of Haojiang could be glimpsed just from the number of casino licenses owned.
“So half of Casino City belongs to the He Family.”
“It used to be the case,” Lan Peizhi said flatly, “but now the He Family’s licenses are about to expire.”
Jiang Chen didn’t miss the implication.
Once the licenses expired, it meant losing the status of legal operation, and without that, the He Family’s glamorous casinos would become worthless concrete and steel.
For a family that relied on the gambling industry as their pillar, this was an absolute disaster, perhaps even unbearable.
“…Are you interested in the three casino licenses that the He Family is about to lose?”