The Card Apprentice

Butchie went back to Dongxing Township, only being able to feel truly relaxed at Sister Mei’s. Her spirits had taken a hit during the recent battle, and she needed to relax and recuperate for a while. A person’s nerves would be stretched like a bowstring after being in a high state of agitation for such a long time. If she weren’t able to relax from time to time, the bowstring would snap.

Ace card artisans especially needed that kind of calibration. The difference between aces and lower-level card artisans was that the aces would deliberately calibrate themselves. Their resolve was more tenacious.

So, when Hugo recommended Butchie rest for a while, she accepted it on the spot.

“Sister Mei!”

Seeing the apron, and Sister Mei’s utterly matronly appearance, Butchie felt a nameless warmth in her heart. The smile returned to her face.

A look of surprise surfaced on Sister Mei’s face as she put down the vegetables she was just washing. “How can you spare the time today? What would you like to eat tonight? Paxy will be out of school soon. There’s a lot of fresh food in the cupboard. If you’re hungry, you can eat a little something first to tide you over.”

Butchie gave Sister Mei a full-body hug and took in a deep breath. She then lifted her head and smiled tenderly as she said, “I’m not hungry, and we can eat any old thing this evening. I’ll help you wash the veggies!” She wouldn’t brook any opposition after she spoke, and she casually took off her jacket. Underneath, she was wearing a skin-tight black sweater, which really showed off her beguiling curves.

Sister Mei couldn’t help but smile and couldn’t stop looking at her, only able to say, “Ok, ok, come on. Put on an apron first, so you don’t get your clothes dirty.”

After a while, Paxy got home from school. He immediately called out in delight, “Sister Butchie!”

Sister Mei gave Paxy a look. “How many times have I told you to call her Aunt Butchie?” As she saw it, since she called her Sister Butchie, of course Paxy should call her Auntie.

Paxy wasn’t afraid of his mom and laughed. “Sister Butchie wouldn’t be very happy if I call her Aunt Butchie.”

“That’s right!” Butchie smiled sweetly. “I don’t want to be called old!”

Paxy’s eyes were bugging out as he stared at Butchie. He overstated, “God, you are beautiful! How would you like to come to our school to teach, Sister Butchie? You could totally bowl over the principal! The old bugger says he’ll pull off the second bloom that’s said to be impossible.”

Sister Mei to his side became enraged, and she came over to box him on the head. “You get more and more outrageous. I don’t know where you learned such smarmy talk. It looks like I’ll have to give you a good fixing.”

Butchie was secretly delighted. There wasn’t any woman who didn’t like being found beautiful. She felt that praise from such a kid as Paxy really expressed what he thought without any hypocrisy or designs. Seeing the grimace on Paxy, who’d just been conked, she rushed to rub his head and asked solicitously, “Does it hurt?”

Paxy shook his head repeatedly. “It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt. But, Sister Butchie’s rubbing is nice.”

There was a smile in the corner of Butchie’s eyes as she lightly patted his head. “You really are getting more and more smarmy. I wonder how many girls you’ll be bowling over. Come on, tell Sister Butchie what’s been happening lately at your school.”

Paxy brightened up as he started to enumerate all the interesting things that had happened at the school recently. He was frequently amused by Butchie’s giggling. In the middle of cooking, Sister Mei would sometimes turn around to look at the two of them, unable to hide her heartfelt delight.

Paxy suddenly remembered something and said very excitedly, “I’m going to show you something, Sister Butchie.”

“What is it?” Butchie asked, rather interested.

“Hey, this was really hard for me to borrow!” Paxy was waving the fantasy cards in his hand, very pleased with himself. “These are the hottest educational materials! They’re the hugely famous publication of Heaven’s Wings. You don’t know how hard these are to get. They’re all sold out on the market. There are only three in my section who’ve managed to buy them, and it was really hard for me to borrow them.”

“Educational materials?” Butchie smiled to herself. Such a child. She didn’t want to destroy Paxy’s interest, so she kept her overtly interested expression.

The set of fantasy cards was placed in a really elaborate card case, and if Paxy hadn’t clarified earlier, she would never have guessed it was actually a set of educational materials that was so well-presented. She felt inwardly how much people those days really knew how to do business. Even educational materials were exquisitely packaged. At first glance, it looked like it was some kind of high-grade card.

Opening the case, a neatly stacked deck of cards come into her field of view, freezing her gaze.

There was a large letter “C” on one corner of the card that caught her eye!

* * *

The Central Island Firm didn’t default on any of its obligations with the first period falling due. Qian Mingyi was extremely pleased with the fantasy card advertisement. Even in such a tense situation as that one, he had specifically invited Bu Qiangdong to eat. The flattered Bu Qiangdong could be said to have eaten well. All of the people at the table had been blown away by that set of fantasy card ads, which made the guy swell up even more. He felt like he was walking on air when he returned to Heaven’s Wings.

Chen Mu was rather content after he’d gotten the money. Now that he had the proverbial food in his hands, he was no longer panicked. Getting 7 million meant he didn’t need to worry about money issues. Making a card making studio would be a drop from the bucket of that 7 million; if all it was were his living, it would be enough for himself and Wei-ah to spend for a very long time. At that time, he thought he was someone who could live on a few hundred Oudi a month.

Lu Xiaoru didn’t make much of it. Given the power of her position, a few million Oudi naturally wouldn’t make any waves in her mind. In the whole company, only Chen Mu, Wei-ah and Lu Xiaoru looked calm. All the other employees looked excited. Such a big order would hardly ever be seen, especially considering this piece of business paid twice. They could expect when Heaven’s Wings’ reputation went sky-high throughout Pomelo, the direct result would be their great future destiny. How could they not be excited?

Lu Xiaoru’s ever placid look was inscrutable to those employees. Everyone could understand why neither the boss nor Wei-ah was excited. They had always been inscrutable to the employees, and now that breathtakingly gorgeous secretary was just as inscrutable. Everyone unwittingly felt that the person beside the boss was no ordinary person at all.

Wei-ah walked over to Chen Mu. “I need money.”

Chen Mu was stunned. He wondered if he had heard wrong. Did Wei-ah actually ask him for money? To Chen Mu, Wei-ah had no concept of money; if he were to give him money, he wouldn’t know how to spend it. It would inevitably take Chen Mu aback for such a person to so suddenly tell him he needed money.

But, Chen Mu didn’t ask Wei-ah to do anything. Given Wei-ah’s temperament, since he’d actually opened his mouth, there must have been some urgency.

Chen Mu asked, “How much do you want?”

Wei-ah hesitated before saying calmly, “Give me half.”

Half of 7 million was 3,500,000, which wasn’t any small amount. However, Chen Mu didn’t hesitate and gave Wei-ah 4 million. He still asked, “Do you know how to spend it?” That statement nearly put black lines onto Lu Xiaoru’s head.

“I do.” Wei-ah responded very directly and walked out without turning back, adding, “I’ll be going out for a while.”

He left behind a stunned Chen Mu and Lu Xiaoru.

Chen Mu watched helplessly as Wei-ah disappeared through the door without ever having responded. It was pretty certain Wei-ah had something to do. To look for a big chunk of money from him and then to run off would be strange if he didn’t have something he had to do. But, Wei-ah didn’t have anything else to say before disappearing. If Chen Mu had wanted to find him, there was already no trace of him.

He smirked to himself; Wei-ah’s style really was the same as the demonic woman’s, except Wei-ah seemed a little more peaceful. Of course, Alfonso and those folks would never acknowledge Wei-ah as peaceful. If that were so, then the whole world was peaceful.

Chen Mu didn’t consider he could interfere with Wei-ah’s conduct. Fortunately, he didn’t need to worry about Wei-ah’s safety. The possibility of someone so inhuman as Wei-ah running into danger was a lot lower than the likelihood of him causing danger to others. He was certain if the guy wearing the half-mask that day were to battle against Wei-ah, the winner could only be Wei-ah.

Although the man with the half-mask had a lot of power, Chen Mu considered it only a single battle’s worth. Facing Wei-ah, Chen Mu had never felt he had any chance to win. There was an absolute difference in power. On that point, there was no difference from running into the demonic woman previously.

Since he didn’t need to worry about Wei-ah, Chen Mu got busy with his own things. Lu Xiaoru went calmly along right behind Chen Mu like a professional secretary.

Just then, someone came flying in out of breath.

“Who’s the boss of Heaven’s Wings?”

Everyone dropped what they’d been doing and looked at the door in surprise. A gorgeous woman dressed in a purple jacket was standing outside the door.

Chen Mu’s pupils shrunk a little and then returned to normal. Behind him, Lu Xiaoru’s breathing had become coarse, but it then returned to normal the next second.

It’s her! Chen Mu’s heart skipped a beat. The pretty woman was none other than the female card artisan who’d wrestled with Lu Xiaoru at the end of the battle. Chen Mu had a deep impression of that female card artisan since her power was so outstanding.

She had finally found Heaven’s Wings! Could they have discovered him? That was the first thought that crossed Chen Mu’s mind.

That female card artisan was the partner of the superbly powerful half-masked man. They clearly had an organization. What Chen Mu liked least then was to be concerned with such large organizations.

But, the adversary had found his door!

The first thing Chen Mu did was prepare for battle.