The Card Apprentice

The scene was pandemonium. The bombshell that the Aminia Group had tossed out clearly knocked dizzy the mixed but generally not so well-off crowd of low-grade card masters. The rest of the company leads were just then looking at Wu Tuan with a mixture of admiration and jealousy, since they all knew that they were destined to fall into a supporting role that day.

The lead for the Victoria Company, Pei Hang, was also feeling very unfortunate. His experience was much richer than that of Wu Tuan, and he knew that those there were the most professional low-level card masters if you were considering the ability levels of low-grade card masters. The card masters among the firms may have been able to make higher level fantasy cards, but if you wanted to make the most gorgeous, dazzling, and inexpensive fantasy card, that place was the best choice.

What he hadn’t considered was that Aminia, which had never come there looking for partners, would have run over this time to put forth such a terrifyingly high offer. Aminia might make a lot of noise with their wealth, but even they couldn’t have that kind of budget.

But he could imagine why he would be so ruthlessly crushed by his mortal rival like that. He had already decided to wait until he could meet personally with the director of the low-grade fantasy card club, Wang Hao, with whom he had a pretty good personal relationship. He would have to seek his help to recommend one or two good card masters this time. Wang Hao was sitting in a corner of the stage, quietly discussing things with Lan Feng.

Wu Tuan was raising his voice just then on the stage to stress again, “The best! We only want the best!” This immediately started to calm down the meeting place, which had gotten noisy.

Silence, a little bit of silence, until it was deadly still.

From the platform, Wu Tuan found that the gazes of all the card masters below were gathering on one person.

Sitting right in the middle was an unattractive youth.

Could it be that the youth was the most awesome card master there? Wu Tuan was a little disappointed, since he wouldn’t have been spending five million if he weren’t inviting someone dependable. His chest tightened.

WuTuan didn’t let his discouragement show on his face. On the contrary, he maintained his smile, “And is this gentleman the most awesome card master here?”

The looks on all the other company leads looking at Wang Tuan shifted. They could tell his style of operation from what he said, which was to get results by any means necessary.

He was afraid that this young fellow would have a hard time, since with what he’d said he didn’t know how many people’s jealousy he had provoked below, and he presumed that someone would jump up right away. But those guys all had a lot of ability, and they could guess what Wu Tuan was going to do next.

The rather large venue remained quiet, without anyone saying anything. For things to become so spooky-quiet on an occasion like that was unspeakably weird.

What was so strange about everyone’s gaze concentrating on that one young person was that he was keeping such an unperturbed look, without any hint of embarrassment.

Pei Hang flashed a look of surprise, as he had never seen that youth before! He understood that the significance of that kind of silence was that all of the card masters in the room had already consented to the words “most awesome card master” which had come from Wu Tuan’s mouth.

No matter the profession, the person who would be crowned ‘best’ was generally a well-known ace, and if his crowning was recognized by all, it would really illustrate the person’s ability. He could see from the situation in front of them that the youth had a lot of prestige in the club.

Too bad that the guy was going to be recruited by Aminia. Really too bad. Pei Hang sighed to himself, with his thin looking face, elegant demeanor, and his two lively eyes. Despite his inward sigh, his face maintained its unruffled faint smile.

His gaze fell on Chen Mu. He couldn’t quite understand how such a furry-headed kid could make such an impression on so many low-grade card masters.

Wu Tuan responded quickly, since he also immediately understood what that kind of silence implied.

“And I wonder whether this gentleman would be interested to join this project of ours?”

Wu Tuan was sufficiently convinced that it would be trivial. Whether by prestige or price, there was no other firm who could compete with them. The insignia of the Zuo family was golden in Eastern Shang-Wei City.

For him to throw such weight on behalf of the Zuo household into what was merely a low-grade card master, and looking around at all the other firms’ leads, he was feeling pretty awesome just then. His glance deliberately lingered on Pei Hang from the Victoria Group for a moment.

Pei Hang didn’t evade his glance, but paid tribute with grace.

Under everyone’s view, Chen Mu slowly stood up and very simply refused, “Me? Not interested!”

This caused a brief exclamation in the room, since Chen Mu’s response hadn’t been expected by anyone.

Wu Tuan’s face turned abruptly grey just as Pei Hang’s gaze hit him, having never imagined that anyone would be so unexpectedly indiscreet. His plight had all at once turned awkward, and he caught a glimpse of Pei Hang turning up his mouth in a sarcastic sneer from the corner of his eye.

Damn! He was furious. That damned kid, preventing him from coming down from the stage in front of so many people!

He dropped his gaze, and the smile that he had maintained the whole time turned stiff. But he knew that it wasn’t the time to attack, and he managed to squeeze out a smile, “Could it be that the gentleman is not sufficiently pleased with our offer?”

Chen Mu remained calm under everyone’s gaze, and he looked at Pei Hang, and said very evenly, “Is the Victoria Group’s opening also in two months?”

Overjoyed, while still maintaining his composure such that only a sharp eye could notice the excitement, he stood up, “Correct! Our opening is also in two months.” He paused to glance at Wu Tuan’s ashen face, and added, “It’s the same day as Aminia’s!” Which turned Wu Tuan’s expression a little uglier.

Pei Hang signaled a salute to Chen Mu, “I don’t know if the gentleman would want to accept our company’s commission, since at two million Oudi, our compensation might not be considered so high.”

Chen Mu paused a bit, and nodded, “I’ll accept the commission, although I have a requirement!”

Requirement? Everyone in the room perked up their ears, wanting to know what Chen Mu’s so-called ‘requirement’ was. They didn’t understand why Chen Mu would not accept a five million Oudi commission, but would accept a two-million Oudi commission. And it was never wise to so publicly offend the Zuo family.

Pei Hang was thrilled, and quickly said, “If the gentleman has any requirements, don’t hesitate to ask.”