The Villain's Wife

The Peak

When Qin Yuanfeng received the signal, he immediately checked the location of Zhou Jingren's phone. After realizing that he was already inside the house in Shanghai, he tried to access the camera's inside. The fact that the camera's were now pointing at the walls immediately made him frown. When he tried to access the past recordings, the only thing that he could find was that someone had moved the cameras, after that there was nothing. He immediately dialed Bei Tian's number. No answer.

He then dialed Secretary Go's number. No answer.

With a dark look on his face, he started to check the nearby CCTV's footage only to discover that they too had been moved and some of them were even destroyed. Something must have happened! He pursed his lips before he continued to find ways to access the previous recordings of the footage. After a few seconds of deliberation, Qin Yuanfeng tried to hack the satellite so he could use it to access and watch the bungalow where Zhou Jingren was currently at.

......….

Shanghai, China

"Eh?" Harringfort raised an eyebrow when he saw that Zhou Jingren wanted to change two cards. The thing was… this is not just some two cards. Zhou Jingren actually exchanged a pair of eights. He widened his eyes as he stared at Zhou Jingren's stern face. Smiling, he immediately thought that Zhou Jingren decided to discard the pair of eights because he thought that Harringfort had a low set of cards.

Too bad.

Harringfort eyed his set of cards and beamed inwardly. He did not have low cards. In fact, he had a pair of nines, an ace, a three of spades and a five of diamonds. A while ago, he wanted to trick Zhou Jingren into thinking that he discarded his queen of hearts and ten of diamonds because he was aiming to have a hand of cards with a lower value. Guess it worked, he thought.

Now Zhou Jingren immediately discarded his pairs so he could have a low number of cards too.

"How bold," Harringfort pretended to turn serious at the sight of the pairs. He felt his hands sweat, his heartbeat racing as he thought about Zhou Jingren's reaction once he found out that Harrington was going to choose, 'higher' instead of 'lower'.

"You can bet now." The dealer uttered.

"President Zhou… why don't you make the first bet."

"Two chips." Zhou Jingren laid two of the chips.

"Just a million? Really?" he smirked. "Raise. Let's make it twenty chips. For ten million."

As expected, his bold move changed Zhou Jingren's face. "What? Scared now?" Harringfort taunted with the same smug smile on his face. His hand then made its way into the chips, "President Zhou… Really, both of us know that this is not a game of chance." He gave a small shrug before he started playing with two of the chips using his fingers.

"Call." Zhou Jingren said. "And raise, total of eleven million."

"Really? What makes you think that you can win against me, President Zhou?" Sarcasm laced his voice. "I remember Zhou Capital just opened a branch in France. Isn't that too… wonderful? I was originally planning to send some flowers to congratulate you. Then I realized… you only succeeded because of your wife. Of course I could not really send her some flowers without … making you angry right?"

"You talk too much." Zhou Jingren's words made Harringfort frowned.

"And you are too arrogant." He hissed. "Don't forget— "

"Are you going to kill me despite signing your so-called game contract?" When Harringfort did not respond, Zhou Jingren continued, "I thought so. You really should stop talking too much and focus on the game."

Harringfort scoffed in response. He hated the fact that he could not hurt this man. No matter what happened, no matter how much this Zhou Jingren antagonized him, he could not hurt him simply because he was one of them. Just like Lily, Harringfort could not hurt Zhou Jingren because he was already considered a member of the organization after old man Yu passed away. He gritted his teeth in silence. "I call and raise. Thirty million."

"Thirty one million."

"Forty million!" Harringfort immediately responded. He knew that he would win. There was no way that Zhou Jingren could beat him in his own game. "I told you… you are not winning this game."

Zhou Jingren only stared at him in response. His blank eyes only made Harringfort confirm his initial suspicion. Zhou Jingren must have realized that he had been wrong in his judgment. "So?" Harringfort asked. "Are you going to raise?"

"No." Zhou Jingren shook his head. "I call."

Hearing this, a smile full of victory bloomed in his face. Does this mean that Zhou Jingren is not very knowledgeable in these types of games? But that would be impossible, right? Zhou Jingren grew up with the Yakuza. He was exposed to this type of gambling. "Good. I choose…" he made a deliberate pause, trying to prolong the anticipation that he felt inside. "Higher." He said before he showed his card. Pair of nine.

"Now… show me your cards." He demanded. He almost could not hear his own words as his heartbeat increased. He could feel his heart jump in anticipation and excitement.

When Zhou Jingren finally opened his card, Harringfort was not able to stop himself from yelling. He jumped off his seat, eyes wide as he laughed.

He was right! He was right after all! Zhou Jingren might not have any idea how to play the game.

Zhou Jingren lost!

No pairs or straights. His cards were all small numbers. He must have thought that Harringfort would choose 'Lower' instead of 'Higher'.

This made Harringfort laugh a cold ominous laughter. He held his stomach, his shoulders trembling from glee. This man… this Zhou Jingren is only a good actor. Harringfort easily fooled him after all. "I won!" he beamed, chin raised. How could he miss the opportunity to irritate his opponent. "President Zhou…" he leaned forward. "Be honest with me… do you really know how to play this game?" he asked.

In response, Zhou Jingren rested his elbows on the table. He leaned forward, meeting Harringfort's gaze that was full of mockery. "Mr. Harringfort… as a gambler… you really should know that winning one game does not really guarantee your victory right?"