Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Gambling on Stones

“What does this mean?”

Si Jin Nan looked dead inside.

Qiao Qing Yan had dragged him out from under the covers like she was collecting a debt and tossed a bank card at him as if she were throwing down a challenge.

“Don’t tell me you want to keep me,” he said, squinting at the card. “Miss Qiao, I’m expensive.”

Qiao Qing Yan swept him with a calm, indifferent glance. “There’s no money in it.”

Si Jin Nan choked. “…What?”

She leaned back in the chair, tapping her fingertips against the tabletop—slow, patient, like a countdown. “Do you have any way to make money fast?”

Si Jin Nan looked her up and down. “Aren’t you already a way to make money fast?”

If she could casually pull out a grandmother-green gemstone necklace worth 800 million, who dared claim she was broke?

Qiao Qing Yan’s eyes didn’t change. She kept tapping the table, once… twice… three times.

“Doesn’t your circle have some kind of entertainment that burns money quickly?” she asked. “Big gambling. That sort of thing.”

Between rich young masters, there were always those games.

Si Jin Nan understood instantly. He stood the card upright on the table like a marker.

“You mean racing? Gambling on stones? Horse racing?”

He counted on his fingers. “There aren’t any races these next two days. There’s a black-market one, but it’s not in Cloud City—night after tomorrow. The horse track competition is next month.”

Qiao Qing Yan didn’t hesitate. “Then we’ll go look at stones.”

Decision made. No discussion.

—

A little after nine in the morning, Cloud City’s stone yard was already crowded. Most of the people there were older men—retirees with time to burn and eyes trained to stare.

Young people were rarer.

“This is one of the larger yards in Cloud City,” Si Jin Nan said as he led Qiao Qing Yan through the front. “Most of these are old folks out on their morning walk, killing time. After eleven, there’ll be more young people.”

There was a reason he’d brought her here instead of some smaller yard.

A familiar voice called out before they’d gone far.

“Yo! Isn’t this Young Master Si?”

A middle-aged man walked over grinning, the kind of grin that suggested he’d made a fortune off other people’s confidence.

“How do you have time to come play?” he teased. “Not afraid your old man will break your legs?”

It sounded harsh, but there was no real malice—pure familiarity.

Then his eyes caught the woman beside Si Jin Nan.

Sunglasses. Stunning face. A keep-your-distance aura so sharp it could slice a room in half.

The man’s grin widened. “Changed to a new flavor?”

He leaned in, voice lowering conspiratorially. “Can you handle this one?”

Si Jin Nan patted the man’s arm with a warning smile. “She’s my honored guest. She wants to pick a few pieces.”

He didn’t state her identity, and the words honored guest neatly cut off the man’s wandering imagination.

The middle-aged man blinked, then immediately understood. He lifted both hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. You two look around. Later, I’ll give you twenty percent off.”

“No need.” Qiao Qing Yan spoke, and the man froze for a heartbeat.

Her presence was distant and icy, yet her voice was surprisingly gentle—soft enough to make people second-guess their own assumptions.

“Ten percent off is fine,” she said. “We shouldn’t make you lose too much.”

Si Jin Nan followed her lead smoothly. “Brother Hong, ten percent is enough.”

Brother Hong studied Qiao Qing Yan again, thought for a moment, then laughed. “All right. Ten percent it is.”

Si Jin Nan came here often. Most of the time, he half won and half lost. Giving a discount was a favor, not a sacrifice.

Anyway, he’d earn it back soon enough.