The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu and Wei-ah looked at each other, both knowing intuitively. After walking for about a minute, they heard the distant sound of voices in front of them. Even though he’d long since settled on the feeling, Chen Mu still couldn’t help but look admiringly at Wei-ah. The guy’s perception was so sensitive. He didn’t know how it had gotten that way, but probably only the demonic woman could be measured against Wei-ah among the aces Chen Mu had come into contact with.

Cleo seemed to have sensed the tacit understanding between Chen Mu and Wei-ah, while the bodyguard up ahead was oblivious.

Only after a few more minutes did the bodyguard detect movement in front of him. His spirits were stirred as he yelled, “Young Master. They’ve arrived!”

Cleo’s relaxed expression passed in an instant, though he didn’t show too much joy. “Oh,” he blandly responded.

A gang of people crashed out of the forest in front of them, and they were all excited when they saw Cleo.

“Young Master!””Young Master Cleo!””Nothing’s happened to you. I’m so glad!” There was a lot of commotion for a while.

“What about Li Siben?” Cleo asked with a darkened face.

“Young Master…” A small man drilled out from the crowd. His bean-sized eyes were shifting around, though his panicked look disappeared in a flash when he rushed up, patting his chest and looking very aroused. “Excellent! Excellent! Nothing has happened to you, Young Master! You’ve scared Li Siben to death!”

Cleo looked at Li Siben, seeming to smile without smiling. “Not bad, not bad. Just in time. Your contributions are many, Li Siben.”

The people calmed down, though some were still at a loss, and some seemed to have something on their mind.

With beads of sweat seeping out, Li Siben looked a little flustered, constantly wiping the sweat from his brow. He said with terror, “Calm down, Young Master. Don’t be angry. Your servant encountered something along the way…”

“No need to mention it.” With his spirits back to normal, Cleo waved him off, cutting off Li Siben’s explanations. Looking at him without looking, he said, “Let’s go; we can talk about it after we get home.”

The Lewin family’s house, which could be seen from their courtyard, wouldn’t be considered one of the great houses. As compared with the Ning family pavilion Chen Mu had seen, there certainly wasn’t anyplace there to light up a person’s eyes. It still wouldn’t be described as impoverished, nor would Cleo’s father, Clive Lewin.

Clive comforted his son for a bit and admonished him not to run off to the jungle like that. Off to the side, Chen Mu was watching Cleo listen to his father’s lecture with a face full of respect and couldn’t help but heave a deep sigh of regret. The offspring of the wealthy were all profound schemers. That was probably the only way they could survive in the clan. Then, he looked at the expressionless Mose Lewin to the side, and Chen Mu felt glad he didn’t need to face such nauseating affairs.

Mose looked a lot more mature than Cleo, and his physique looked a lot more developed. He was dressed very properly and had refined manners, exuding the temperament of an adult.

“Father, I have these two friends to thank this time. If it weren’t for them, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be seeing father just now.” At that point, Cleo’s eyes turned red, and his voice choked.

Clive dearly loved that son of his, and he immediately rose to show Chen Mu and Wei-ah courtesy. “Many thanks to the two of you,” he said. “Clive truly appreciates it. If the two of you have any need of Clive, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

He continued on with much self-assurance, “In Pomelo, what Clive says can sometimes take care of things.”

“Father, I want to give these two gentlemen the Baidoa Garden.” Cleo had taken his father into a room to whisper to him, and Mose had also gone with him.

Clive was hesitant; the Baidoa Garden had been built 100 years prior and had been a symbol of the Lewin family for a long time—right up until a few decades ago when they had moved to Pomelo, and the house there went vacant. Clive wasn’t too eager, but they had saved his son’s life.

“I’m afraid that would be inappropriate. The Baidoa Garden was handed down from our ancestors. While it’s too late to keep it up for those who come after us, how could we give it away?”

Mose had stood up by then. Clive hastily added, “What do you think, Mose?”

There was a glint in Mose’s eyes, though he said with a mild laugh, “We have a number of businesses on our hands. Why don’t we give them one of those? We can’t let people think the Lewin family doesn’t know how to return a favor. Plus, a card artisan who can travel deep into the jungle must have a lot of power and would be worth our cultivating.”

“You are right.” Clive approved of what Mose was saying. “But, which business should we give them?”

“We can’t give the ones that are too underperforming. And, we can’t toss off the good ones. I recall that we have a small firm under us called Heaven’s Wings. Why don’t we give them that one?” Mose drew out his response.

Clive furrowed his brow. “Heaven’s Wings always takes a loss. Apart from our own internal business, it hasn’t been able to get anything else profitable.”

Mose lightly laughed. “I’m only afraid they won’t want it. We can put some capital into the accounts, so it won’t seem so shabby when we present it. Besides, Heaven’s Wings has no outside business at all. The more they depend on us, the easier it will be for us to control. Once they get used to the money, it won’t be so easy for them to stop.”

Clive smoothed his brow and laughed. “You’ve grown a lot these last few years, Mose. Not bad, not bad.” He turned to Cleo to chide, “Cleo, you should learn from your older brother, and stop fooling around all day.”

“Yes, sir.” Cleo answered submissively.

“So, that issue has been taken care of.” Clive settled the matter.

Cleo looked up to say, “Father, let me take care of the Heaven’s Wings matter. Cleo agrees these last few days of fooling around have really been too wild. I want to learn how to do things, so I can become like my big brother and make my own contribution to the family.”

Clive looked gratified. “My little Cleo has finally grown up.” After thinking about it, he nodded his head, saying, “Ok. You can be responsible for this matter. If there is anything you don’t understand, you can ask your brother, or you can ask me.” Clive had greatly encouraged Cleo.

Mose remained smiling, also seeming gratified to see his little brother growing up. However, there seemed to be a little note of chill behind his smile.

Pomelo was a big city—bigger than Eastern Shang-Wei City, and it was a lot more developed. There were people all over the streets, and shuttle cars would whoosh by in the sky. There were tall buildings everywhere, giving it the rich style of a very modern city. The fantasy card billboards everywhere gave Chen Mu a feeling of déjà vu.

Copper…Uncle Hua…

The people and things that had been sealed away for so long all came bubbling up into his heart, and he wasn’t in the mood to listen to Cleo’s commentary. Flashes from the past flitted by as he sighed. When Chen Mu finally returned to the present from his memories, the aftereffect was hard to talk about.

“And this is Heaven’s Wings.” Cleo was pointing ahead to a silver-gray building. It was situated in the northwest corner of the city, and it could be seen from the surrounding buildings that it was a rather ordinary district. The buildings weren’t so new, and that 11-story building didn’t stand out among them.

Chen Mu didn’t have much hope of getting any returns from those people and that so-called Heaven’s Wings place, so he didn’t do much more than take a look. He and Wei-ah were penniless, and since that Heaven’s something-or-other still had some capital on its books, he was naturally willing to go ahead. Although he still hadn’t quite figured out which district Pomelo was in, he still understood he couldn’t do anything without money.

So, what was Heaven’s Wings? How did it make money? He wasn’t so interested. He never thought of himself as any kind of business guru. That would have been Copper, not him.

But, he wasn’t afraid of not finding work. Given his current abilities, whether it was making fantasy cards or repairing them, he could do it easily. Chen Mu trusted that Wei-ah could take on any burden, so maybe they could get rich.

Their only issue was they didn’t even have emergency funds. If they didn’t find any reliable source, maybe Chen Mu could take Wei-ah to rob some mobsters in the many places he had seen along the way. Looting was Wei-ah’s specialty. And, wherever there were mobsters, there would be a concentration of underworld power, which Chen Mu was an authority in.

Chen Mu was keeping up his guard about the Lewin Clan. He wouldn’t be looking to Cleo and the rest for any help if he ran into bigger issues.

That didn’t bother Chen Mu; there wasn’t one among the grand aristocratic households he’d come across that had left a good impression on him. In Chen Mu’s mind, they gave the impression of being the bad guys. The scheming of such hot stuff as Bo Wen was scary to Chen Mu, and he’d rather not have any dealings with them.

“I’d originally wanted to get my father to give the two of you the Baidoa Garden since only such a valuable thing as that could express my gratitude.” Cleo looked angry. “I never thought my big brother wouldn’t agree. My words don’t count, and there wasn’t much I could do about you having been wronged. Although it’s small, the amount of money on the books of Heaven’s Wings isn’t trivial. And, I’ll try to get as much inside business as I can for the two of you.”

Cleo’s face was full of sincerity, though seeing the two of them remaining indifferent discouraged him. He quickly arranged his expression as he led them into the building.

* * *

Mose was relaxing on the soft sofa in his apartment, where the warm, soft lighting would make anyone sleepy. Mose was drinking red wine in his comfort, and there was a thin middle-aged man sitting in front of him.

“We’ve lost track of Li Siben and his whole family, First Master, and Fen Ni has just been sent to the hospital, apparently with food poisoning. Two hours prior, her family discovered a fire, and none of the household was spared. It looks like it has to do with Second Master finding the sachet.”

Mose took a sip of red wine and narrowed his eyes. “My beloved little brother is finally growing up, and his moves are starting to be like Mose’s.”

“Might we have applied too much pressure?” The middle-aged man hesitated before he spoke.

Mose shook his head with a shrug. “It’s a little more interesting this way. Wouldn’t it be boring otherwise?”

“We still haven’t dug up the identity of those two. But, it so happens that those eight West Nile wolves were all killed in one blow, pierced through the skulls. The one who acted was apparently that card artisan, Cao Dong. The other one didn’t make any moves, and we don’t know anything about his strength. It looks as though Second Master wants to take advantage of their strength.” The middle-aged man was very tidy in what he said.

“Ha, ha.” Mose was gazing at the clear red wine in his hand and after a while said lightly, “Ai, he’s so young after all, and he doesn’t understand patience.

“Could it be that he doesn’t know all of his anger is in vain when facing decisive power?” Having finished speaking, Mose self-indulgently finished off all the wine in his glass.