Chapter 9 Playing the Fool

• The crowd held their breath as the dealer opened the chest. “Double Fours and a Five! Thirteen betters win the odds of one to eight! Big betters win the odds of one to one…” The dealer rang his bell and hollered. Steven and Peter both took a step back in astonishment. Damn! It was really a Thirteen! The one hundred thousand that they put down gave them eight hundred thousand. Anthony now had 2.4 million!
• Steven and Peter looked at Anthony suspiciously. The other gamblers at the table stared at Anthony like he was an alien. How lucky could this boy be?
• Anthony guffawed and said, “I told you, handsome men always win!” He lugged his haul of plaques towards him with a ravenous look. Steven and Peter sneaked a look of disgust at him.
• “Steven, let’s go!” Anthony held his haul to his chest and took a step away from the table. Steven put a hand on Anthony’s arm and encouraged him to stay, “Anthony, you’ve been lucky… Why not place a few more bets here?” Sic Bo is a game of luck. If this lucky boy stayed, he would surely win big, right? Steven thought.
• With his Carnelian vision, Anthony would always win if he were to stay at the Sic Bo table. However, this would draw unwanted attention to him. His Carnelian vision might even be revealed if he kept winning. “We should quit while we’re ahead. Let’s bet somewhere else.”
• Steven nodded to himself. It seemed that Anthony was not as shallow as he appeared to be.
• Anthony, Steven, and Peter continued to roam the gambling hall. After watching Anthony bet, they learned to trust his judgment and placed their bets on whatever Anthony did. Anthony, too, was careful to lose strategically. Whenever he chose to lose, he would place smaller bets of a few thousand; when he chose to win, he placed bigger bets.
• After an hour, Anthony’s plaques grew from three hundred thousand to five million. Peter and Steven’s plaques grew to more than ten million. Although they did not need the money, Steven and Peter felt a rush of pleasure when they saw their winnings.
• The three men dropped by the service counter to exchange their plaques for money before taking a seat at a table. Peter and Steven were still high from the endorphin rush and looked at Anthony in wonder.
• Suddenly, Justin charged to their table with ten bodyguards. “Anthony Stewart, do you take me as a fool?”
• Justin received information from his people that Anthony was not some elusive millionaire but a poor and jobless student. After verifying the information, he gathered his bodyguards to give Anthony a lesson. It was a piece of cake for the influential Hammel family to squash a poor student!
• “Oh yes, I do take you as a fool. You don’t like it? Bite me!” With his bet winnings, Anthony was not cowered by the Hammel family’s old money.
• Steven and Peter knew that Anthony was putting on a show previously. Steven tried to appease Justin and said, “Mister Hammel, Anthony is a friend of mine. Let’s talk it out chivalrously, shall we?” Upon hearing Steven’s words, Justin felt his heart bleed and exhaled painfully. The three of them won big today. The 20 million they took were his money!