Card Room

Chapter 431 - Charity Dinner

Tang Ci soon found out the time, place and guest list of the charity dinner.

The dinner was a charity dinner hosted by Xiao Rou in her own name. All the guests were well-known local businessmen. Not many government officials were coming and her husband, Prince Herman also wouldn’t attend. Even so, she was a princess and the security at the dinner would still be very strict. The Azure Empire had royal guards and it wouldn’t be easy to get close to the princess.

Xiao Lou was worried. “Even if Chief Shao wants to give the sapphire necklace, he has to find an intermediary to introduce him. Otherwise, the princess won’t meet an unknown businessman rashly.”

This wasn’t a problem for Shao Qingge. He thought carefully and remembered a name. “My company has a long-term cooperation with a pharmaceutical company here. Their boss is Kevin Roman.”

Tang Ci looked over the list of people invited to the charity dinner. “It just so happens that Kevin Roman is going to attend this dinner. Chief Shao can try and ask him for an introduction.”

Shao Qingge said, “It should be fine. In my memory, I have worked with him for many years. He is an old friend. I’ll contact him early tomorrow morning.”

Lu Jiuchuan opened his mouth. “There are two ways for us to enter the dinner. One is to pretend to be a security guard for the charity dinner. The other is to replace a rich businessman attending the dinner.”

Yu Hanjiang seriously said, “Previously, at Xiao Lou’s birthday party, I could pretend to be a guard because I was the captain of the guards. I knew the detailed arrangement of the guard team and understood enough about the people under me. Now we are in the Azure Empire and we don’t know any of the guards in charge of protecting the princess, much less their habits. If we just impersonate them with the mask, we might be caught instantly.”

The rules of each nation’s guards were different. Yu Hanjiang didn’t know this place at all. If he rashly pretended to be a guard of the princess then it would be a careless move.

Lu Jiuchuan touched his chin. “So it is easier to pretend to be a rich businessman?”

“Yes.” Yu Hanjiang went forward and looked at the list found by Tang Ci. “We have to find a rich man who isn’t bringing a close family member and who hasn’t met the princess many times. This way, we won’t be easily found out.”

Tang Ci screened through it and suddenly said, “What a coincidence. There happens to be one in the Ferris Wheel hotel.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Just choose him. I will pretend to be him.”

Xiao Lou thought carefully. “Not all of us can go to the banquet. It is better for someone to stay behind.”

If they all went and were destroyed, there really was no way out.

Tang Ci volunteered. “I’ll stay.”

Lu Jiuchuan wasn’t reassured about Tang Ci and decisively said, “I’ll stay with you. Before the dinner, we will open the Peach Blossom Spring in the hotel. If the situation goes wrong then we will directly pull everyone over.” He looked at his brother. “Hanjiang, take Xiao Lou with you and protect His Highness.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “I know.”

Xiao Lou suggested, “How about this? We will first control the rich man in the Ferris Wheel hotel. Hanjiang will pretend to be him and I will pretend to be the rich man’s assistant. We will sneak into the dinner together. Chief Shao and Ye Qi will explore the princess’ attitude. Then I will meet her.”

The group had no objection to this decision.

The next morning, Shao Qingge changed his clothes and set out to visit Kevin Roman with Ye Qi.

He and Kevin had worked together for many years. In his memory, he met this person every year and knew him as a good business partner. After hearing that Shao Qingge and his son were travelling to Azure Planet, Kevin warmly greeted them and entertained them in his private manor.

He was a man with blond hair and blue eyes that were like the deep ocean. He wore a white shirt and sat lazily on the sofa while joking, “Mr Shao, it is rare to see you come out with your son.”

Shao Qingge smiled and said, “The child has grown up so it is necessary to take him out and see the world.”

Ye Qi was uncomfortable listening to the tone of an ‘old father’ from Shao Qingge. He had to say, “Hello, Uncle.”

Kevin nodded at him and looked at Shao Qingge. “Did you come here this time just because you are taking your son to travel?”

Shao Qingge spoke bluntly, “In fact, I wanted to take this opportunity to visit the princess. As you know, the princess is from our Locke Empire. She seldom returned home after marrying Prince Herman many years ago. My father had some connections with the princess. Just a while ago, I happened to get a very precious sapphire necklace by chance. I heard that the princess likes all types of jewelry. I want to give this necklace to her.”

Kevin was slightly stunned. “The princess has a noble status. What jewelry hasn’t she seen before? Is the necklace that amazing?”

Shao Qingge took out the necklace and showed it to him.

A heart-shaped natural sapphire surrounded by a circle of diamonds glowed brightly in the light.

Sapphires in this world were a rare jewel, let alone such a large, pure and natural heart-shaped sapphire. The color was extremely pure and it was indeed rare.

Shao Qingge closed the jewelry box and smiled. “You should be more familiar with the princess. Can you help introduce me? I would like to visit the princess of our empire.”

Kevin readily agreed. “Okay, I will put you in touch.”

Shao Qingge suggested, “I heard there will be a charity dinner tomorrow evening. Why don’t you take me to meet her then?”

Kevin hesitated. “Tomorrow’s dinner is privately hosted by the princess and people without an invitation can’t go in. The palace is no longer issuing invitations... Why don’t you go in with me and I’ll find a chance to introduce you to the princess?”

Shao Qingge naturally agreed. He raised his glass and said, “Thank you.”

The two of them had a glass of red wine before Kevin had the chef serve the food.

The business cooperation between the Shao family and the Roman family had started from their father’s generation and had lasted over 30 years. Shao Qingge wanted to ask the other person if he knew about the Noah’s Ark Plan. However, if Kevin was an insider then this inquiry was likely to alert the enemy. He had to restrain the impulse and instead chatted with Kevin about some recent cooperation projects.

After dinner, Shao Qingge returned to the hotel with Ye Qi.

He took out the Rich and Willful card and copied the sapphire necklace.

This necklace was worth a lot of money, whether it was given away or auctioned off. Unfortunately, it was a consumable card and was gone once it was given away. He would copy it so if necessary it could still be used again in the future.

Then he copied the Mask card from Lu Jiuchuan.

This card was similar to Liu Qiao’s Twin card, except that Liu Qiao’s card allowed her to transform into any creature she had seen within 30 minutes, including humans, plants and animals. Meanwhile, “Fake Face” only allowed them to transform themselves into the appearance of a human being. The user could change the face like when playing games and the appearance could be changed arbitrarily.

Immediately after, Xiao Lou had Ye Qi take out the Bug card and hand it to Tang Ci. “Mr Tang, can this bug be placed on the sapphire necklace?”

Tang Ci took Shao Qingge’s sapphire necklace. He carefully observed it for a while before stuffing the bug into the middle of a few diamonds at the back of the gemstone necklace. The diamonds blocked the appearance of the bug and it wasn’t obvious from the surface that there was a problem with this necklace.

After making these preparations, Tang Ci invaded the Ferris Wheel hotel’s system and disrupted the monitoring on the top floor. Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan pretended to be waiters and knocked on the door of VIP room 11 of the Ferris Wheel hotel.

Zhou Sheng, the rich man who had just taken a shower, looked into the peephole and wondered, “Waiters? I didn’t call for service, did I?”

Yu Hanjiang, who was dressed as a waiter in a black vest and bowtie, spoke respectfully. “Sir, this is a gift presented by the hotel to guests of VIP suites. It is a fruit platter and a bottle of red wine. I wish you a happy stay at the hotel.”

The hotel often gave gifts when he stayed here in the past. Zhou Sheng opened the door without any doubts.

Yu Hanjiang pushed the cart into the room. The moment he turned around, his left hand suddenly lifted, aimed at Zhou Sheng’s neck and sharply fell.

Before the man had time to react, he was knocked out.

Lu Jiuchuan gave his brother a thumbs up. Then he quickly walked into the room and tied Zhou Sheng up. Yu Hanjiang disguised himself as Zhou Sheng using the Fake Face card and he unlocked the communicator with Zhou Sheng’s fingerprint. He found the assistant’s information and sent a message to the assistant. “You don’t have to come tomorrow. I will give you three days off.”

The assistant asked doubtfully, “President Zhou? I don’t have to accompany you to the dinner party?”

Yu Hanjiang quickly typed. “No, I have my own arrangements.”

The assistant had to reply, “I understand.”

Yu Hanjiang looked at Lu Jiuchuan. Lu Jiuchuan carried President Zhou back to their suite, threw him into a spare room, tied him up and joked, “It is getting easier for us to do bad things. It only took five minutes to kidnap a person.”

Tang Ci blocked the hotel’s surveillance while Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan teamed up to take the person away. They were more professional than many kidnappers.

Xiao Lou felt helpless. “This is also a last resort. Brother Jiu, take good care of this President Zhou.”

Yu Hanjiang showed the assistant’s photo to Xiao Lou. “Tomorrow, you will dress up as the assistant and we will go to the charity dinner.”

Xiao Lou nodded and took the other Fake Face card copied by Shao Qingge.

At midnight, the card skills refreshed.

Xiao Lou and Ye Qi linked to each other with Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings. The other one was used to establish a connection between Shao Qingge and Lu Jiuchuan. This way, they could evacuate on the spot if there was an accident.

After finishing all the preparations, everyone slept and refreshed themselves.

The next evening, Shao Qingge and Ye Qi set off to meet Kevin. Meanwhile, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou pretended to be the rich businessman Zhou Sheng and his assistant and headed to the Royal Double Sails Hotel where Xiao Rou was hosting the charity dinner.

This hotel was a royal seven star hotel that was shaped like a sailboat.

The royal guards surrounded the entire hotel in an impenetrable manner. Prince Herman attached great importance to the safety of the princess.

At 6 p.m., the guests entered the hotel in twos and threes. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou walked to the door and showed the invitation letter they found from President Zhou. Once the invitation letter was checked and their identities confirmed, they were allowed to enter the scene.

The long red carpet stretched all the way from the entrance of the banquet hall.

The guests attending the dinner were all dressed up, especially the women. Each one had exquisite makeup and was holding a beautiful clutch. They wore dazzling evening dresses of various colors like hundreds of flowers.

There were many female guests today. Many of them were the princess’ friends while others were wealthy ladies invited to participate. After all, the theme of the charity dinner was the auctioning of the jewelry. Women were far more interested in jewelry than men.

The boss and assistant Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were disguised as both wore suits and looked unremarkable in the crowd.

The two of them entered the hall and found a corner to minimize their sense of presence.

They soon saw Chief Shao and Ye Qi entering with Kevin.

Ye Qi wore a white suit that Shao Qingge had bought him to wear temporarily for this event. His figure was short and he had a baby face. He didn’t look mature when wearing a suit. On the contrary, he gave off a youthful feeling. In particular, he was like a clear stream at the banquet filled with bald and big-bellied middle-aged rich men.

Many girls cast curious glances at Ye Qi. Ye Qi’s ears turned red and he followed Shao Qingge like an obedient little duckling. Shao Qingge was used to these types of occasions. At Kevin’s introduction, he quickly met a few wealthy businessmen and smiled at these people.

At 7 o’clock, the banquet officially began.

Xiao Rou came to the start of the red carpet.

A few maids and guards followed her as her entourage. She was a woman who looked to be in her 30s with fair and delicate skin and exquisite features. Her hair was arranged in an elegant bun and she wore a light gold fishtail dress. There were a few pieces of jewelry on her body and she gave off an elegant and luxurious air.

Xiao Lou stared at her and some messy images flashed through his mind.

He suddenly remembered that his mother seemed to look like this?

His older sister looked like his dead mother.

Everyone around him was bowing. Xiao Lou hurriedly lowered his head and buried his face in the crowd.

He had disguised himself with the Fake Face card and his sister had married when he was 5 years old. The woman in front of him was very different from the girl in his memory who was getting married. If they met on the road then he might not recognize her.

The strange thing was that the moment he saw this woman, he inexplicably felt a sense of intimacy in his heart. They seemed to have known each other for a long time and were very close family members.

Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality