Fields of Gold

"Your Highness, Your Highness, are you sure you want to personally race this time? You have an ill.u.s.trious and prominent background, so there's no need for you to fight with a parvenu, right? If a single hair on your head gets hurt, how could this lowly one possibly explain this to Their Highnesses?" Zhu Yunxuan's personal servant, Dong Ming, was so anxious that his forehead was dotted with sweat.

The thirteen year old Zhu Yunxuan had inherited his father's tall and lofty stature and looked to be around sixteen to seventeen years old. He coldly snorted and said, "My lady mother has already been insulted in such a poor manner by that person. If I endure this, am I still human ah? Would I still have the gall to call myself a man ah? Or be able to call myself the heir of Imperial Prince Xu's Estate ah? That being said, isn't he just flaunting the fact that his family has some stinky money? He wants to strut and show off his stuff on my domain, so just watch as I bankrupt his pockets in one go and make him have to leave this place completely n.a.k.e.d!"

Apparently, a man who called himself the richest person in Jiangnan had burst into the 'Celestial World Entertainment Facility' that was in the suburbs of the capital and had been causing trouble. This Celestial World wasn't the same as a certain not fit to be seen by place of entertainment. This place had elevated eating, drinking and entertainment to a whole other level.

This place not only congregated the most famous dishes in the capital, but it was also the place where people could taste the fine wines personally brewed by Princess Consort Xu. There were all sorts of games and entertainments that people had never seen or played. Those who came here were able to relax and enjoy themselves to the utmost, relieving themselves of pressure and forgetting their worries. They could indulge in pleasure and forget about the outside world.

This so-called richest man in Jiangnan was in the silk business in Jiangnan. After the Chen Family fell, he rapidly overtook all of the silk business that the Chen Family had and, overnight, became the richest individual in Jiangnan. The silk business in Jiangnan gradually wasn't enough to hold his ambitions and he wanted to expand his business into the capital. It was said that he had latched onto a high-ranked official at court and had gifted a large amount of money to that person.

Many successful merchants had a couple of worthless sons that only caused trouble for them. Jiangnan's richest man, Long Yikui's, youngest son, Long Tianba, was one of those sons.

Long Tianba flaunted the fact that his mother was in favor with his father and had begged his mother to say a few words to his father to allow him to come to the capital to gain some experience. In a moment of madness, Long Yikui had agreed to allow him to come along. However, he also knew that his son had a worthless personality and had warned his son many times before they entered the capital to not cause any trouble.

Long Tianba had originally promised he would be good. However, after they arrived at the capital, his father was so busy that his feet almost never touched the ground. He often didn't even have the time to eat a proper meal, let alone have the time to keep his son in check.

Thus, Long Tianba was like a wild horse that was freed from its restraints and became an arrogant young master in the capital. He was very generous in spending money and didn't know how to be subdued. Consequently, a group of wastrels in the capital had their eyes on him. Wasn't the sole purpose of dumb fools with lots of money to spend money on them ah?

These wastrels also had decent background and the lowest ranked out of all of them was still the grandson of a fourth-ranked official. They had deliberately leaked their identities to Long Tianba and this idiot immediately took the bait. Long Tianba had heard his father saying that they needed to get a firm footing in the capital by finding a powerful backer.

Thus, his thought process was quite simple. If he was able to get a good relationship with these young noble masters, then wouldn't he be able to help his family business? Then, his father wouldn't dislike him for only knowing how to spend money and not knowing how to make money.

Once he did something great for the family, perhaps the position of the head of the family would then become his. After all, wasn't the head of the imperial merchant family, the Zhou's, now their previous third young master? Didn't he get that position by working extremely hard and expanding the family's business? By doing so, didn't he manage to surpass the legitimate son of the first branch, cementing his status as the next family head?

In order to get into the good graces of these young masters, Long Tianba spent money like it was water. The pocket money that he had saved up had all been invested into these new friends of his. Every day he accompanied them to eat, drink, and play around. Although it was 'accompanying' them, in actuality, he was mostly just paying their bills like a foolish spendthrift.

Long Tianba's saved up pocket money was actually quite large and was equivalent to a middle-sized family's entire savings. However, it also couldn't survive being spent like water! Before long, the money he had brought along with him was all gone.

Naturally, these wastrels would give him a taste of sweet in order to get more money out of him. They introduced a few merchants in the capital to him and Long Tianba had actually managed to make a few deals with them. Even his own father complimented him after that!

Since he had just gotten the sweet taste of success, Long Tianba naturally wouldn't let go of such a good opportunity to show off in front of his father. Once he ran out of money, he asked his father for more. Using the excuse that he was furthering the family's connections and not spending money recklessly, he was able to confidently hold his hand out.

Long Yikui had also gotten the news that his youngest son was quite close to these young masters who liked to play around. After asking around a bit, he discovered that these young fellows all had very good backgrounds in the capital. In the future, they really might be able to ask these families for help. Thus, when his son asked for money, he gave a few thousand taels to him.

Long Tianba had somehow gotten the information that the best place for women to go to in the capital was 'Blossoming Beauty', whereas the best place for men to go was 'Celestial World'. Those who hadn't been to the entertainment facility weren't considered true wastrels. Thus, he was easily convinced by his group of friends and arrived at the entertainment facility with all of his money in his pockets.

The wastrels very quickly regretted their decision to bring him along. Long Tianba was the type of person who liked to claim he looked down on things even when he was shocked by what he saw. It was as if he was trying to boast and show off how experienced and cosmopolitan he was.

In actuality, how could he know that he was overreaching himself? Everyone who heard his boasts all looked at him with disdain, as if he was the biggest fool they had ever seen. Even the wastrels who brought him along felt as if they had lost all face.

As soon as Long Tianba entered the gambling facility, he began strutting around as if he was a high and mighty lord. How could he know that the people who played around here all had ill.u.s.trious backgrounds? They were either astoundingly wealthy or incredibly powerful, so how could he, as the son of a merchant outside of the capital, possibly afford to offend them?

While they were eating, Long Tianba continuously looked down on the food they were eating, claiming that the taste was ordinary or the food was not crafted finely enough. The waiter, who had a good temper, almost couldn't keep the polite smile on his face. At this time, Long Tianba began to claim that the waitstaff weren't satisfactory in their service.

The wastrels who brought him along were almost ready to blow their tops and continuously gave him looks to shut him up. Unfortunately, Long Tianba acted as if he was blind and never received the hints that they were giving him.

They were screwed, completely screwed! Although the staff at the facility looked very ordinary, all of them could be spies of Imperial Prince Xu. If Imperial Prince Xu found out that they had brought along such a foolish and crazy guest, they didn't know what might happen to them. Seeing Imperial Prince Xu's cold and icy eyes made them want to pee in their pants.

They hastily finished their lunch and pulled Long Tianba to the racetrack to bet on horses. They had originally thought that betting on racehorses was a novel event and this greenhorn wouldn't have much to say. All they had to do was buy their tickets and then wait for the result of the race. Who would have expected that this idiot would talk big and claim that he had gambled a lot on racehorses before and such a thing was boring for him now? He even stated that whoever came up with this idea was only plagiarizing others and not creative at all.

Unfortunately, the heir of Imperial Prince Xu's Estate had heard these insulting words. Who in the capital didn't know that this Celestial World Entertainment Facility was the work of Imperial Prince Xu and that many of the fun activities were the ideas of Princess Consort Xu? Someone who continuously looked down on these facilities was also someone who belittled Princess Consort Xu, right? Imperial Prince Xu was infamous in the capital for loving and coddling his wife. Insulting her was the same thing as insulting him as well as the entire estate!

When they thought of how much the prince loved his wife and how much the heir loved and respected his mother, the wastrels all felt their faces turn gray. They looked at each other silently and began to surreptitiously distance themselves from Long Tianba. When he wasn't aware, they disappeared…

Zhu Yunxuan, who had heard the insults and boasts from Long Tianba, was like his father. He always fiercely protected his family members, especially his lady mother. Whoever touched her was destined to experience a calamity!

Naturally, Zhu Yunxuan wasn't as direct as his father in his ways of obtaining revenge. When he decided to act, he could torment a person until they were begging to die but there'd be no clues leading back to him. The people who faced him could only bite their tongues and admit defeat. Although the heir to Imperial Prince Xu's Estate was only thirteen years old, he had already obtained the nickname, 'The Smiling Asura', and was quite powerful and famous in the capital.

The gambling tickets for the racetrack were all printed in advance and the numbers on the racehorses were all fixed. The only thing that could possibly change was the jockey on the horses. Good jockeys often could turn a defeat into a victory, creating a miracle.

This was the first time this wealthy fool had been to the racetrack, so he wasn't at all familiar with the horses there. Thus, he could only pick without knowing anything——basically blind. However, who would have thought that this fellow actually had decent luck? The ticket that he bought was on a very vigorous colt named Thunder and this horse was favored to win the race. In the past half year, Thunder had obtained eight first places and five second places.

The only horse that could possibly beat Thunder was a white horse called Swift Wind. However, it wasn't optimistic. This was because Swift Wind had once lost to Thunder in the past. However, Zhu Yunxuan had confidence that his consummate equestrian skills would allow Swift Wind to produce an upset at this race!

The manager of the horse track saw that the young master was personally going to ride in this race, so he hurriedly came up to ask, "Your Highness, how about...we switch the jockey on Thunder?"

"No need! The vast majority of gamblers in this crowd are all old customers. If we switched the jockeys now, it'd be hard to avoid people complaining! Could it be...that Manager Fang doesn't believe in my equestrian skills?" All of the regular customers at the racetrack knew that the horses who had the best odds of getting the championship had regular jockeys that rode them.

In the gambler's eyes, Thunder had the best odds of winning this race. If a jockey was switched at the last minute, it was likely that the customers would cry foul play. Zhu Yunxuan wanted to win this beautifully and without any doubts!

The result of this race was completely in the bag now. Zhu Junyang had personally taught Zhu Yunxuan's equestrian's skills. It was very likely that one day he'd surpass his father's skills. Thus, the jockey on Thunder was a mere joke in his eyes.

However, for the first few circles, he stayed half a horse's length behind Thunder. He could hear the crowds cheering for Thunder, especially during the first half of the last circle around the track. Thunder was still in the first place and the crowds in the racetrack were almost ecstatic with glee.

Long Tianba was so excited that he was about to do flips in his seat! Although the odds on Thunder were only 1 to 3, he had bet all of the money he brought along with him on the horse. If he won, the eight thousand taels he had bet would become twenty-four thousand. That'd surpass the amount of money that his father made from a business deal! Hah! The people in the capital were truly stupid with money. It was too easy to make money here!