Chapter 602: The Small Boy Rival
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As it was the first time Li Du had to deal with such a situation, he was unclear about what he needed to do. Luckily, Hans was by his side.
Hans used the tip of his elbow to gently nudge him, which implied that he could go up and interact with the other party.
“Hello, Mr. Ferrari. I am Li, Akkalou’s friend.”
With that, Li Du shook hands with Knight Ferrari. As this person’s surname and style were exalted, it seemed possible that he could be related to Enzo Ferrari, the creator of Ferrari.
Ferrari seemed like a very gentle person. Even though his expression was rather cold, he was very gracious in the way he invited Li Du and his company to sit down and have coffee—just like his nickname, Knight.
Despite that, the others were not as friendly. One of them, who was a middle-aged white man with reddish-brown hair and a large face, sneered, “Are you today’s challenger?”
As Li Du had no idea who he was and did not want to show his ignorance, he gave him a stern smile without saying anything.
Although he wanted to hide his ignorance about such a setting, people from the opposite side were clearly experienced and were able to read him like a book.
As such, the middle-aged white man laughed at him mockingly and said, “It’s your first time at a top floor casino, right? I have to remind you, Mr. Benidito, not all Chinese are Jeff Ma.”
The Playboy replied in a cold manner, “He is not Jeff Ma, nor is he anyone you guys are familiar with. He is just a loyal friend who will be taking part in the gamble on my behalf. Once we leave the gambling table, he has nothing to do with any of this.”
Knight looked at him. “You’re still the same, Akkalou, you really can’t change from your accursed old self.”
He shook his head as he spoke, a disappointed look on his face.
Li Du was unaware of the disputes between the two of them and was also not concerned with them.
The Playboy was right—he was here to help out and none of this had anything to do with him once he left the table.
It was not that he was apathetic—instead, he knew his own worth. Seeing Knight’s group, he knew that Knight was not from a normal background and could possibly be the boss of Las Vegas.
The Playboy’s identity was more mysterious. However, being a rival of Knight showed that he was also not ordinary.
What about Li Du? Truth be told, he was also not an ordinary person as he was possibly the world’s only person with a little bug.
Despite that, when comparing only backgrounds, his was very ordinary. These people would not need to spend any effort to do away with him.
With his status, he was completely unable to intervene in the disputes between Knight and the Playboy.
Nonetheless, he tried his best to understand the current situation and the opponent. After hearing the words of the middle-aged white man with a large plump face, he asked in a soft voice, “Who is Jeff Ma?”
Hans whispered in his ear, “Your Chinese people’s gambling god. He is called Jeffrey Ma, a genius who graduated from MIT and a prodigy of quantitative analysis.”
Jeffrey Ma possessed unbelievable mental calculation and prediction skills. At the age of 23, he and his team laid waste to the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
Generally speaking, he brought along 100,000 dollars during the weekends and was able to bring back a few hundred thousand—or even millions—of dollars every time. His record for one night was 4,900,000 dollars.
Subsequently, a casino found out about Jeffrey Ma and his team and placed him on the Blackjack’s Hall of Fame and the casino’s blacklist.
However, they were too naive to think that they could stop this valiant Chinese gambling god with such a method. Fellow countryman Ma was well-versed in both Chinese and Western cultures, intensively studied blackjack and probability at MIT and even learned how to disguise himself in his parent’s old home.
Of course, the disguise mentioned was just a simple change in his appearance through makeup techniques and prosthetics to hide his identity.
After putting on makeup, he continued to freely roam around America’s casinos and won unknown amounts of money. It was estimated that Las Vegas alone had lost at least twenty million dollars from this.
Later, Hollywood released a film titled “21” that was based on Jeffrey Ma.
As both of them were talking very softly, the big-faced white man ended up looking at them with an expression of disdain, curling his lips and murmuring to himself.
Li Du was puzzled by this. Lu Guan rushed over and in an even softer voice said, “He said ‘how dare he enter without even knowing who Jeffrey Ma is, stupid.’ This is most likely what he said. As he spoke too soft, I couldn’t hear clearly.”
Li Du was a little shocked that the man has an extraordinary hearing ability like Lu Guan.
After Knight and the Playboy said some muffled words, it was finally time for the main event, which was the game, to start.
The big-faced white man, who was displeased with Li Du, walked to the back of the blackjack table and donned white gloves. He was the banker and would be facilitating the game.
Li Du suddenly caught on and said, “So you are my opponent? No wonder you’ve disliked me the whole time.”
The big-faced man sneered, “What did you think?”
Embarrassed, Li Du replied, “I thought that you had rabies and bit whoever you caught.”
The Playboy started laughing; Hans and Lu Guan laughed too.
The big-faced white man suddenly turned pale and ground his teeth. “Hey, fast-talking Chinese, let’s see if you still speak so freely without any teeth.”
Li Du asked Hans, “That’s Small Boy Kim? He doesn’t look small at all?”
Hans gave a hollow laugh. “The nickname “Small Boy” came from his temperament. This fella is like a child. He becomes angry once he gets agitated or loses.”
Seeing them whispering made Small Boy Kim unhappy. He frowned and impatiently said, “If you want to gamble then be quick about it, stop wasting time.”
Knight grabbed his shoulder and gently said, “Patience, friend.”
After hearing his words, Small Boy Kim immediately calmed down and obediently focused on shuffling the cards in front of him.
A tall, beautiful lady brought forward a plate of chips and split them into two portions in front of Small Boy Kim and Li Du. Whoever was first to lose all their chips would lose the game.
There were a few empty chairs next to where Li Du was seated. This game could be played with more than two people at the same time, usually three to six people.
This time around, as anticipated, there was no one else participating in the game and Li Du was competing one on one with Small Boy Kim. With one banker and one challenger, the result would be more clear-cut.
While shuffling the cards with a swish sound, Small Boy Kim gave Li Du a provocative look. “Hey, Chinese, want to place multiple bets?”
Players in blackjack were allowed to place multiple bets, which was one person occupying many seats and placing a bet on each of the seats. In this way, the cards on the seats all belonged to the person.
It was more exciting when placing multiple bets with the chances of winning and losing money increased proportionally.
However, as Li Du was unclear of the situation, it was still naturally safer to place one bet.
At the moment, he had the power to decide even though Small Boy Kim was the banker.
From this, the confidence of Knight’s group could be seen. They believed that Small Boy Kim could win by just giving out the cards.
After Li Du had sat down, the Playboy went forward to check the cards. The game started after everything was in order.
