Chapter 82: Something’s Up with Little Ma
Everything unfolded just as Chen Xue Wen predicted—an uneventful night with no movement from Snake’s side.
The next morning, Chen Xue Wen arrived at the arcade and spotted Lai Hou chatting with Wang Zhen Dong from afar.
“What are you two talking about?” he asked casually.
Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong grinned. “Snake,” Lai Hou said.
Chen Xue Wen raised an eyebrow. “What about him?”
Lai Hou smirked. “Word is, Snake spent last night with Boss Hu’s Little Wife and never went home.”
Wang Zhen Dong chuckled. “Yeah, I heard that too. He took her straight to a hotel.”
“Man, even the hotel staff could hear them all night. That woman was screaming like a pig being slaughtered! Her voice carried down the hallway—totally wild.”
Lai Hou nodded. “Yep, heard the same.”
“This morning, when she left the hotel, she could barely walk straight.”
“Damn, that bastard Snake is built like an ox. He must’ve gone hard on her.”
Wang Zhen Dong laughed. “Imagine Boss Hu seeing his little wife all wrecked like that in the morning—he must’ve been pissed off to hell, hahaha…”
Chen Xue Wen sighed, shaking his head. “Can’t you two do something useful? Enough gossiping!”
Lai Hou grinned. “Hey, we’ve got nothing else to do, just killing time.”
Ignoring them, Chen Xue Wen walked into the arcade, which was more crowded than ever. Many of the competitors from the tournament had returned to play, and even those who lost had made a habit of hanging around. Even in the morning, the place was lively.
He stayed in the arcade until past ten when a man arrived at the entrance.
The man approached him and spoke respectfully, “Brother Wen, right? Boss Hu sent me. Here’s a check for you.”
Chen Xue Wen took the check and nodded in satisfaction. “Thank Boss Hu for me.”
With the check in hand, he headed straight to the bank and transferred the three million into his account. Watching his balance rise to three and a half million, he muttered, “Everything is in place. Now, I just need the right opportunity.”
He pulled out his phone and sent a message to Li Er Yong: “We move in ten days.”
A short response came back: “Got it.”
Smirking, Chen Xue Wen deleted the message and strolled back to the arcade.
After the competition, business at the arcade had been booming. Even the slot machines were starting to see some action, though most players were small-time gamblers. The daily revenue from slot machines was still nowhere near what the regular arcade machines brought in. Compared to Snake’s side, which raked in over 100,000 a day, Chen Xue Wen’s slot machines were practically decorative.
Meanwhile, Snake remained indifferent toward Chen Xue Wen. With Chinese New Year approaching in a little over a month, his focus was on maximizing profits. During that holiday period, Electronic Dynasty was expected to bring in at least a million per day. If things went well, Snake could walk away with a minimum of ten million by the end of the season. Naturally, he had no time to worry about minor arcade earnings.
Unlike Snake, who was busy securing his fortune, Chen Xue Wen was occupied with preparing for the second competition, which would focus on level-based arcade games—titles like Journey to the West, Three Kingdoms, and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. He spent his time drafting rules, allocating prizes, and handling promotions, seemingly unbothered by the slot machine business.
During this period, Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong had also been busy, spending most of their time outside the arcade. Following Chen Xue Wen’s orders, they were covertly investigating Snake and Zhou Jing Hui’s trusted subordinates.
Every night over dinner, they would report their findings to Chen Xue Wen, who would analyze everything.
One evening, Chen Xue Wen frowned as he examined the latest report from Lai Hou.
“Little Ma is still unmarried?” he asked.
Lai Hou nodded. “Yeah, and that guy is weird as hell.”
“He’s thirty-five and never married.”
“More importantly, he doesn’t even have a girlfriend. Never chases after women, never visits brothels—doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
Chen Xue Wen narrowed his eyes. “No marriage, no girlfriend, no interest in women?”
“Is he… gay?”
Lai Hou shook his head. “No, I haven’t heard anything like that.”
“Maybe he just has no interest in women.”
Chen Xue Wen glanced at Lai Hou. “Have you ever met a man who’s genuinely not interested in women?”
Lai Hou scratched his head. “Uh… Liu Xia Hui?”
Chen Xue Wen rolled his eyes. “Come on, don’t bring up some mythical figure. I mean real people—anyone around you who’s actually like that?”
Lai Hou thought for a moment and shook his head. “Nope, never met one.”
“Well, Brother Wen, you’re kind of like that, aren’t you?”
From the back room, Wu Li Hong let out a derisive snort. Ever since Chen Xue Wen had his first taste, he hadn’t let a single night go by without keeping her busy.
Unfazed, Chen Xue Wen replied calmly, “I’m not uninterested in women. I just know what I should and shouldn’t do.”
“There are some women you just don’t touch.”
Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong exchanged glances, their brows furrowed with confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
Chen Xue Wen waved his hand dismissively. “You two wouldn’t understand.”
“Let me put it this way.” He leaned forward slightly, his voice steady but laced with certainty. “If Little Ma isn’t into men, then the fact that he keeps away from women means there’s something else going on.”
“I want you to dig deep into his background, along with those in his inner circle. Check their records, their relationships, everything.”
Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong both nodded without hesitation.
For the next few days, the two men poured all their efforts into investigating Little Ma. It wasn’t an easy task, but persistence paid off. Two days later, they finally uncovered a crucial lead.
They even made a special trip outside the city to verify the information. When they returned, they brought with them a revelation that could change everything.
Lai Hou smirked, his voice carrying a hint of mystery. “Brother Wen, we’ve found something you would never believe.”
Chen Xue Wen glanced at him, deep in thought. Then, as if struck by sudden insight, he said, “Is it about Little Ma and a woman?”
“And this woman… she’s someone important, isn’t she?”
Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong’s eyes widened in shock. “Brother Wen, how did you guess that?!”
Chen Xue Wen chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t believe that a man like Little Ma, constantly surrounded by temptation in places of indulgence, would voluntarily stay away from women.”
“The only explanation is that there’s a woman of high status keeping an eye on him. He doesn’t dare touch anyone else.”
Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong gasped. “Brother Wen, you’re incredible!”
“Not only did you guess it right, but you were spot on!”
Chen Xue Wen smiled knowingly. He had suspected this from the beginning, which was why he sent Lai Hou and Wang Zhen Dong to investigate. The results only confirmed his intuition—Little Ma was hiding something.
“So, what exactly did you find out?” he asked.
Lai Hou leaned in, lowering his voice. “We found out that Zhou Jing Hui’s wife and Little Ma come from the same county.”
“Not only that, but they’re the same age and were classmates back in school.”
“It was actually this woman who introduced Little Ma to Zhou Jing Hui, helping him rise through the ranks.”
“We suspected there was something unusual about their connection, so we went to their hometown to dig deeper.”
“And what we found was shocking!” Lai Hou took a deep breath before continuing in a hushed tone. “Zhou Jing Hui’s wife… was actually Little Ma’s first love!”
Chen Xue Wen’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint. A slow, amused smile curled his lips.
He clapped Lai Hou on the shoulder. “Hou, Dong, excellent work.”
“With this information in hand, our chances of dealing with them just doubled.”
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation