Chapter 9: The Gamble (Part 1)

Xie Junyan saw Ning Lingyu turn her head back and finally had a good look at her delicate face that resembled a flower in the rain. His pupils contracted and her stunning beauty took his breath away!

This fresh and beautiful vibe, resembling the atmosphere after a rain, emanated by Ning Lingyu was definitely unique to her. It was something that the beautiful Cao Shanshan and seductive Zhuang Meina did not possess!

This was also the biggest reason why Xie Junyan was so attracted to Ning Lingyu and swore to never give up until he made her his girlfriend.

Xie Junyan hid away the greed in his eyes without a trace and put on a kind smile in the blink of an eye before he spoke to Ning Lingyu. "Lingyu, why are you crying? Meina isn't good with her words, please don't mind her..."

The key to pleasing someone was more than just words.

Initially, Zhuang Meina was hoping for Xie Junyan to side her and insult Ning Lingyu along with her. After seeing how Xie Junyan spoke to Ning Lingyu, she was so furious that she withdrew her hand from Xie Junyan's arm.

"Hmph, that idiot is your brother? I'm sorry, I didn't know that."

She intentionally raised her chin towards Ning Lingyu with an annoying look on her heavily powdered face as she stated nonchalantly. Regardless, Zhuang Meina still achieved her goal of hurting Ning Lingyu and was very glad about it.

"Zhuang Meina, I never wanted to go against you, but don't assume that I'm afraid of you! I'm going to say it again, my brother isn't a useless piece of junk. Please respect yourself in the future!"

Zhuang Meina's face was filled with disdain after she heard that and responded mockingly, "Your brother isn't a useless piece of junk? Isn't he the bottom of the cohort for the most recent exam again? Isn't he always bullied by others? Always mocked by others? And he still wants to go after Cao Shanshan? Does he even know how to take a good look at himself in the mirror? Please, if he isn't a useless piece of junk, I really don't know who else is!"

Zhuang Meina had the upper hand and spared no mercy towards her while addressing him as "her brother" instead of using his name, Ling Yun. Obviously, she finally caught on Ning Lingyu's weakness and used it to embarrass and insult her as much as she could.

Ning Lingyu was enraged, "You!" As much as she wanted to defend Ling Yun, she didn't know how to.

This was because Zhuang Meina had truly exploited her weakness and it made her incapable of defending herself.

"Alright alright, can't you keep your mouth shut, Zhuang Meina? Since we're all classmates, you have to be considerate of Lingyu's feelings too..."

Xie Junyan noticed that all their classmates looked unhappy as they crowded over. He was afraid that Zhuang Meina was going to anger everyone, thus he quickly stopped her from escalating things.

Even though Ning Lingyu came from a poor family, she was extremely hardworking. Apart from her good looks, she was also part of the studying committee in class, consistently helping out her classmates who were underperforming in their exams. Therefore, she was extremely popular and influential among her classmates.

It would be fair to say that Ning Lingyu was the dream girl for most of the boys from her class. They were all equally irritated when they all saw how Zhuang Meina was madly insulting her then.

However, Zhuang Meina did not see it this way. She relied on her filthy rich family background and was conceited enough to believe that she was more charming than anyone else. She assumed these classmates would not dare to land a finger on her, therefore she started acting more arrogant instead.

"Xie Junyan, are you my boyfriend or her boyfriend? Are you going to help her or me? So what if I call her brother a useless piece of junk! Hmph, useless piece of junk, ugly toad!"

Ning Lingyu was so angry her eyes turned red as she bit hard on her lower lip and her breathing rate accelerated. Her body was trembling violently as she pointed her finger at that smug-looking Zhuang Meina. She was too angry to even say anything!

Xie Junyan's heart was welled up with a perverted thrill when he saw how Ning Lingyu looked when she was angry. Hmph, I'm only allowing you to act like a saint before me because I want you to fall head over heels for me. Otherwise, I would've raped you for ten times in a row even if you looked like that!

However, Xie Junyan still had his mask on, looking all concerned for Ning Lingyu. As for Zhuang Meina who had a helpless expression on, he furrowed his brows heartbrokenly and was about to say something. However, he was interrupted by a wave of noises that came from Grade 12 Class 2, the classroom right beside!

"Place your bets, place your bets, as the Little Gambling God, I, Tang Meng, shall be the banker. Bet on how many laps that dumb fatty can run, going off at 1 to 1 for 1 lap, 2 to 2 for two laps... 5 to 1 for five to ten laps, 20 to 1 for ten laps and above! There will be no payouts for wrong guesses!"

That was the 'Little Gambling God', Tang Meng, from Grade 12 Class 2. He was the son of the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, one of the Big Four Bullies of Qingshui High. He had been obsessed with gambling since young and worshipped the Gambling God character played by Chow Yun Fat. Hence, he gave himself the nickname "Little Gambling God".

Ever since he came to high school, he had turned every single competitive event into a gambling opportunity.

That included all sorts of examination results, the competition between champion and runner-up for the annual sports meet, or interclass football and basketball matches. He would never let go of any gambling opportunity as soon as one arose.

This guy was tall and muscular, dressed in a floral shirt and denim jeans. He had a flowy hairstyle similar to Chan Ho-Nam's from the Young and Dangerous film series. He was rebellious and defiant. But even though he had done many bad things, which included truancy to visit internet cafes, getting into fights, gambling and wooing girls, he rarely bullied the weak.

Since Tang Meng worshipped the gambling god, he would obviously place the most emphasis on gambling ethics. Of course, he would get a large sum of money every time he won. However, if he did lose, he would always pay up fair and square.

Even though many students were not fond of his dandiness, they all found his gambling ethics admirable.

After class was dismissed, he saw Ling Yun running madly on the school field while carrying a sandbag with no signs of stopping. He instantly felt like there was an itch that had to be scratched, which pushed him to start the gambling event and promote it loudly!

His voice was very loud, and all the Grade 12 students caught wind of it in no time. Soon enough, every nosy student from each class started streaming towards him.

"Brother Tang Meng, I'm betting 50 on one lap..."

"I'm betting 100 on two laps..."

"80, one lap..." "200, one lap..." "150, two laps..."

...

As a class monitor, Xie Junyan was already having a splitting headache on how to settle the fight between the two campus belles from his class. He instantly felt relieved the moment Tang Meng opened up a gambling event since it made everyone flood there instead.

He dragged Zhuang Meina who was pleased with herself as he casually said, "Let's go have a look."

Like a rooster that had just won a fight, Zhuang Meina glanced over at Ning Lingyu with a smug look on her face as she said with intentional disdain, "What's there to bet about? That useless piece of junk hasn't even completed half a lap, he'll probably finish one lap at best!"

Xie Junyan was back facing Ning Lingyu as he put on a smile that emitted a hint of evil and said softly, "Exactly. Tang Meng won my ten thousand dollars during the last round and since he had the guts to start this gambling event, I'll make him pay it all back with additional interest!"

The word "Exactly" seemed to be meant for Ning Lingyu to hear, the loudness of his voice was just nice for her to catch what he said.

Ning Lingyu had already been attacked by Zhuang Meina's insults previously. Therefore, the "unintentional" disdain from Xie Junyan's words drove her absolutely mad!

The brilliant Ning Lingyu, who had rejected Xie Junyan countless of times, knew that there were the Big Four Bullies in school. However, the sum of all four of them would still be nothing compared to the top of the list of Qingshui High's spoiled brats, the son of Qingshui City's deputy mayor!

This was because the Big Four Bullies' kind of evil was merely superficial. On the other hand, Xie Junyan was a smiling tiger who was evil to the bones, a ruthless and two-faced character who was capable of murder even without a weapon!

She hesitated a little and looked at the shadow on the field that was moving steadily. A hint of determination flashed through her eyes before she walked towards Tang Meng.

She wanted to bet that her brother could run more than ten laps. Even though she knew she was definitely going to lose, she was still strong-willed and wanted to use this special kind of method to encourage her brother who suddenly made such a huge change!

As long as that stubborn, loving, and protective brother of hers could pick himself up, she would be more than willing to pour out her entire savings to motivate him.

No one would believe that Ning Lingyu, whose appearance resembled a peaceful orchid from the mountains, would be so passionate!

"That b*stard Tang Meng used our classmate Ling Yun to start another gambling event. Shanshan, do you want to go join in on the fun?" The peculiar Zhang Ling immediately started to disturb Cao Shanshan the moment she saw a bunch of her classmates running towards Class 2.

Even though Cao Shanshan looked calm and collected on the outside, her mind was a complete mess and her heart was pounding like mad. It was as if huge endless waves kept crashing directly into her heart.

She knew that with her identity, she could not have any association with Ling Yun. Therefore, she felt no feelings towards him at all, just like how she felt about most guys.

She had definitely been enraged this morning when she got randomly dragged into a whirlwind of chaos with Ling Yun. Later on, she realized that it was probably some gimmick started by a bunch of lowlifes and thus, she felt less agitated.

Whereas her stubbornness when the class was dismissed was just her maintaining her ego before Zhang Ling.

However, when she saw Ling Yun on the school field, running with all his might while carrying the sandbag, she was reminded of her brother, Cao Tianlong.

The determination on Ling Yun's face and the perseverance in his eyes, along with his indomitable fighting spirit and strong willpower exhibited by his body were eerily similar to the outstanding brother that she was extremely proud of!

"Let's go have a look!" Zhang Ling had initially been afraid that Cao Shanshan would not join in the fun and was already planning on using her silver tongue to convince her. Instead, she was surprised by what Cao Shanshan said!

She could not quite wrap her head around it... Why was Cao Shanshan acting so differently? Could it be? Was there really something going on between them?

"Ah, to what do I owe the honor for the presence of all three campus belles at my little gambling event? I say, would the three beauties be interested in placing a bet?"

Tang Meng did not expect the event to attract all three campus belles, even someone as shameless as him was shocked and almost blacked out.

"Why is that so, Tang Meng? Since you're willing to start this gambling event, are we not invited to place bets?"

Cao Shanshan had a bright smile that resembled hundreds of peonies blooming, which made all the guys watching her disoriented and lose their senses.

"Welcome, welcome. Of course, you're welcome, I didn't expect the prettiest girl in school to be paying this much attention to this fatty..."

A playful grin danced across Tang Meng's lips as he referenced this morning's rumor, intentionally or unintentionally.

"Save your nonsense Tang Meng, I'm betting 2000 dollars. I'm betting that that loser runs one lap at best!" Zhuang Meina was losing her patience ever since Cao Shanshan came over and stole her spotlight.

Tang Meng cocked his head and looked at Zhuang Meina before calmly replying, "Alright alright alright, the prettiest campus belle Ms. Zhuang bets 2000 on one lap, if she gets it right, she wins a profit of 2000 dollars!"

Soon after, he shifted his gaze from Zhuang Meina towards Xie Junyan and shot him a fierce look. "So? Mr. Xie, do you want to place a bet and win back all that you have lost the last round?"

Tang Meng's stare was overbearing and fierce. Xie Junyan raised his eyebrows slightly and his eyes twinkled as he shrugged and said, "Alright, I guess I'll play with you this time!"