money player

Click.

Ma Liu took a picture of Chen Atai, then quickly returned to the waiting car outside the hotel, took out the film, and began developing the photos in the portable darkroom set up in the car.

Thanks to thorough preparation, the photos were developed in less than half an hour. Although they were still wet and hadn't had time to dry, they were still legible.

The car sped off for a mile, just enough to turn a corner and leave the Peninsula Hotel's main entrance area, where it passed an oncoming car and stopped, the photo being thrown into the other car.

A moment later, the photo was thrown back, accompanied by a sentence—Chen Atai of 14K.

Inside the car sat Ah Ye, formerly the human identification engine, now an entertainment tycoon and a background check manager at HK Consulting who was not on the list.

Soon, Qi Longdao received the message and rushed to the Xian family to report the matter to Cen Peipei.

Upon hearing the report, Cen Peipei felt no joy at the unexpected windfall; instead, she frowned.

"Don't move, just watch."

"Madam, putting aside the jade, this is a great opportunity to secure the Peninsula Hotel security contract."

"Don't you find it strange that the 14K robbed a British jeweler of jade from the Peninsula Hotel's underground vault?" Cen Peipei said calmly. "It's unlikely that a British jeweler wouldn't have connections with several wives of high-ranking British officials. The owners of the Peninsula Hotel are the Kadoorie family; are they easy to get along with?"
Ge Zhaohuang was not a desperate criminal; he had a family and a business. If he did such a thing once or twice, the 14K might have a chance to stay in Hong Kong, but even if he wasn't shot to death, the lightest punishment would be deportation.

"You might get the jade, but not live to enjoy it." Ge Zhaohuang couldn't possibly be unaware of this. The 14K was a dog Taiwan had kept here, deeply involved in intelligence operations. Perhaps Ge Zhaohuang was powerless to act, or perhaps it was the work of his subordinates whom he was unaware of. But regardless, this incident was unlikely to be as simple as a robbery.

Upon hearing this, Qi Longdao felt it made sense and quickly said, "Madam, I was rash."

"Unexpected windfalls are best encountered when they happen by chance, rather than actively creating opportunities. If you encounter one, you are lucky; if you don't, there's no need to force it."

"That's what Madam taught you."

Cen Peipei smiled and said, "The family's pharmaceutical company has completed clinical trials of isoniazid for the treatment of tuberculosis. The cure rate is good, far exceeding that of streptomycin. Auntie will be able to take the medicine in a few days. Once Auntie recovers, your marriage with Shiying should be put on the agenda."

Qi Longdao said shyly, "I will follow Madam's arrangements."

"Have someone follow them; I want to see who's behind them."

"clear."

After Qi Longdao left, Cen Peipei went to the window where Xian Yaowen often stood, her face gloomy.

The master had never wanted to get involved with intelligence agencies, but since the Yuzhen incident, and now with the unwelcome guests coming to their door, the Xian family could no longer remain uninvolved. She couldn't figure out the situation, let alone come up with a solution, and she felt powerless.

……

At four o'clock in the morning, the bedroom door was opened, and a dark figure walked out of the bedroom.

Wearing a shirt, bare thighs, and bare feet.

Xie Tingyun, who was lying in bed with her eyes closed, was startled awake. She quietly got out of bed and walked to the door. She gently pressed down on the poster hanging on the door and lifted it to the side. Through a small peek into the living room, she saw a woman standing by the sofa, silently watching Xian Yaowen sleeping on the sofa.

Judging from the silhouette, it is undoubtedly Li Youwen.

In this situation, Xie Tingyun knew that her husband had incurred another romantic debt, and she could imagine what would happen next.

With a flick of his wrist, an M1911 appeared in his hand. He quietly removed the magazine, ejected a bullet, and its heavy weight told him it was an armor-piercing round.

He reloaded the bullets, chambered a round, and rested the muzzle against the door, finding a low-to-high angle. He calculated the impact of the door on the trajectory of the bullet and aimed at Li Youwen's torso.

Li Youwen leaned down and, using the dim light of a table lamp placed on the floor behind the sofa, carefully examined Xian Yaowen's face. His thoughts wandered, wondering what the purpose of such a low-light illumination was—was it to make it easier for others to see his face?

She listened to the man's steady breathing, reached out and gently stroked his face, murmuring, "If I go back and apologize, I will lose a lot. I won't be able to be with the person I love, and I will have to obey my family's arrangements and marry someone I don't like. You understand, but... I probably won't care. A man like you would definitely only treat feelings as a diversion."

Just then, the man on the sofa turned over slightly, and the thin blanket covering him slipped to the floor, revealing his naked upper body. He was muscular with broad shoulders.

Li Youwen's breathing quickened involuntarily. "This guy actually sleeps naked!"

She was attracted to the man's strong, slender physique.

Sin Yiu-man's muscles weren't exaggerated, but they were perfectly proportioned, seemingly brimming with explosive power and overflowing with male hormones. Moreover, he had rolled over and was now lying on his back.

Li Youwen's eyes widened, his cheeks flushed, and he muttered again, "Damn it, you got off easy... Ah!"

Before she could finish her murmur, she suddenly screamed and leaned back to avoid it.

Sin Yiu-man opened his eyes.

At this moment, at this inopportune time, it is both eerie and shameful.

For Sin Yiu-man, lying on the sofa and sharing a room with a strange woman was a constant source of insecurity, so how could he possibly fall into a deep sleep? He was a light sleeper, and the sound of the bedroom door opening had already woken him up.

He straightened up with lightning speed, grabbed Li Youwen's arm which was flailing wildly in fright, and steadied her.

Then, he sarcastically remarked, "Aren't you sleeping at night? Are you trying to take advantage of me?"

Li Youwen shook off Xian Yaowen's hand and said in a fierce but weak voice, "Why did you suddenly wake up? You scared me."

“It’s not like it’s a zombie, what’s there to be afraid of?” Xian Yaowen picked up a vest from the coffee table and put it on. “Have you been reading too much of the new Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School and yearning for love and hate, or do you admire Ding Ling’s revolutionary style of abandoning progressive ideas and stubbornly upholding the feudal custom of having three thousand male concubines?”

It seems to have something to do with it, yet it seems completely unrelated. Staying up late at night, unable to suppress your lust, are you thinking of forcing yourself on someone like Yu Ji?

“Fuck.” Li Youwen spat lightly, “I wanted to leave myself with a beautiful memory, but you ruined it all.”

Xian Yaowen wrapped his arms around Li Youwen's neck and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's obvious that you've made up your mind to go back to being a victim of traditional morality. Since that's the case, don't dwell on any fond memories."

"It's my own stuff, I can give it to whomever I want."

"why me?"

"I wanted to do this because of you, and you were the only one by my side when I wanted to do it."

"Wow, looks like I 'brought it on myself,' looks like I'm pretty lucky."

"What do you mean?"

"Que?"

"Face the music."

Sin Yiu-man switched to Chinese and said, "It's an old slang term. In the 18th century, when new recruits in the British army were training, those who made mistakes would be punished in public to the sound of the military band's drums. You can understand it as 'you got what you deserve' or 'you're just reaping what you sow,' and it's suitable for teasing others."

"uh-huh."

"You and your classmates rarely use slang when communicating?"

Li Youwen also switched to Chinese and joked, "They rarely make grammatical mistakes when they talk to me."

Do you think "unparalleled in the world" is a good phrase?

"Unique and unparalleled, isn't that a good phrase?"

Sin Yiu-man tapped Li Yau-man's shoulder twice as if waving his hand, "I don't think it's a good word. It's not good because it emphasizes uniqueness, that is, difference. Confucius said, 'A gentleman is harmonious but not the same; a petty person is the same but not harmonious.' Zhuangzi said, 'The great sameness is different from the small sameness; this is called small sameness and difference. All things are completely the same and completely different; this is called great sameness and difference.' Laozi said, 'A mouse doesn't seek out a cat's bride.'"

Did Lao Tzu ever say such a thing?

"I'm talking about myself."

"You dare to compare yourself to Confucius and Zhuangzi?"

"It's hard to say about other people, but it's definitely appropriate for you. Back then, when Confucius traveled around the states preaching, he always carried a ceremonial sword with him. When he got tired from traveling, he would draw the sword and put it on the coachman's shoulder: 'Sir, let me tell you a principle. If you think it makes sense, give me a ride. If you think it doesn't, I'll demonstrate how to cut someone's neck with a sword.'"

Li Youwen chuckled, "Was this how Confucius reasoned?"

"Though not perfect, it's not far off. What do you think is the most important aspect of reasoning?"

Li Youwen chuckled and said, "According to the line of thinking you're guiding, you want me to answer that someone is willing to listen."

"You really don't know how to have a conversation. You should have answered that it makes sense, and then I would have refuted you."

Li Youwen laughed loudly and said, "I'm not going to follow your plan, just to annoy you."

"childish."

Sin Yiu-man embraced Lee Yau-man and lay down on the sofa, their embrace turning into a close embrace.

"You're a smart girl, you understand things immediately, so I won't explain the reasons to you. Let me tell you what I've discovered."

"What discovery?"

“The current state of male-female relationships in the United States,” Sin Yiu-man said after briefly organizing his thoughts. “The current state of male-female relationships in the United States is undercurrents beneath a conservative facade. Marriage is being sanctified, with 90% of adults getting married. The average age of marriage is 20 for women and 22 for men, the lowest in American history.”

Gender roles are rigidly defined, with men providing for the family and women staying at home. Society generally considers a happy housewife to be the ideal female figure.

Twenty-nine states have criminal laws against extramarital sex, which can result in imprisonment or fines.

Under McCarthyism, thousands of government employees were forced to voluntarily resign.

"McCarthy sparked an anti-communist wave, and the US government launched a large-scale investigation into subversives."

"Oh."

Are you familiar with the book "Male Sexual Behavior"?

"Kinsey's?"

"Have you seen it?"

"No."

"If you haven't seen it, there's no need to watch it; you might be misled."

"Why do you say that? Was Kinsey's writing really that bad?"

"The report 'Male Sexual Behavior' is similar to a survey report, but the sample size is not large enough. It's like surveying passengers on a train to see if they have bought tickets. The conclusions drawn are unreliable."

Li Youwen chuckled and said, "So you can use that metaphor?"

"From a rigorous statistical perspective, it is indeed possible that none of the passengers were able to buy tickets."

"what."

"To put it bluntly, 50% of women in the United States have had premarital sex, and prostitution is common among men. Some motels offer hourly rooms to couples and non-couples, and some jazz bars tolerate interracial dating—these are the undercurrents."

There was also Hollywood's resistance to the Hays Code, which forbade kissing scenes to last more than 3 seconds. Instead, they would let the male and female leads kiss for 2 seconds, pause, and then continue kissing.

Playboy boldly published sexually suggestive photos, remaining fearless despite lawsuits in multiple states, employing a team of lawyers to fight the cases, and refusing to give the courts a chance to convict them of moral crimes.

"I saw a report about the Flower Society in the newspaper. The president, 'Chêng Hui-hsien,' is Chinese, and a woman. Is she related to you?"

"I'm the boss."

"I was wondering how you knew so much about the Flower Society."

"That reporter had malicious intentions and wanted to cause trouble for the Flower Society."

"Race?"

"Well, unfortunately, he's gay and he encountered a righteous and incorruptible lawyer who launched an investigation into him and pushed the court to prosecute him under sodomy laws, determined to sentence him to a maximum of 20 years in prison."

"Did the lawyer charge you a lot of money?"

"Don't talk nonsense, I haven't given you a single cent."

"You paid in pounds?"

"Jewelry".

"Oh." Li Youwen paused for a moment, then asked, "Why did you bring this up?"

"To make you understand that there is room for monetizing chastity in the United States today, if you are going to back down, don't trap yourself in a cocoon and waste something of high value. Chastity is a powerful weapon in the traditional social order. Hold it and you can thrive."

"Are you driven by self-interest? How can you analyze emotions with such a calm and mercenary attitude?"

“We are just passersby in each other’s lives, what’s the point of talking about feelings?” Sin Yiu-man stroked Lee Yu-man’s hair. “You slept with me, but you’re just one of the women I’ve slept with, a casual fling. You think you can use this to heal your future? That’s a bit stupid.”

Li Youwen retorted, "Are you belittling me, or are you belittling yourself?"

Sin Yiu-man chuckled and said, "I am a narcissistic man."

Li Youwen spat lightly.

Have you ever heard of pheromones?

"My chemistry teacher mentioned in class that these are informational chemicals found in animals."

“In the countryside, there is a profession called ‘pig herder,’ or what you call ‘pig herder’ in your area. Some people raise boars with very obvious male characteristics. They are very capable, and the pig farmers will hire a pig herder to drive the boar to their house to mate with the sows.”

When I was a child, I especially loved watching pigs mate, and I would follow any pig-mating enthusiasts to join in.

When I grew up and read a few books, I learned about the existence of pheromones. With these questions in mind, I went to observe pig mating again. I felt that boars should carry a sex pheromone, and sows in estrus would want to mate as soon as they smelled it.

When I first came to the United States, I read a lot of research materials on pheromones, and because of business, I also talked with researchers in this field a few times.

Some say that during puberty, a surge in estrogen in a few girls promotes the secretion of unsaturated fatty acids from the sebaceous glands, which, after interacting with the skin's microbiome, produce a light body odor. Others say that apocrine sweat glands secrete a pheromone that some people perceive as a sweet scent.

These two things are probably what some people refer to as the natural scent of a young girl.

Xian Yaowen brought his nose close to Li Youwen's neck and sniffed, "You have a milky scent and a sweet scent. It's your body's sex pheromones that attract men to complete the mission of reproduction with you."

Once that's done, you're no longer useful for the little mission of mating. It won't waste sex pheromones on you anymore, and your body odor will fade. The next little mission, nurturing, will help you produce milk.

"You're making it sound like I'm just a tool."

Sin Yiu-man sneered, "You actually dare to doubt that you're not a tool? What each of us should do at what time is predetermined by a set of rules. When the time comes, an instinct is awakened, reminding you what to do."

"instinct?"

"For example, you are currently at the age of rebellion, and your mission is to anger your parents to death. Of course, most people can't actually anger someone to death, but they can cause hidden illnesses. Your parents will more or less shorten their lifespan and not live to the age they should have lived. In this way, we can accelerate the optimization of the population structure and further ensure the reproduction of the human race."

Li Youwen gasped and said helplessly, "You went through all this trouble just to say I'm rebellious?"

"You're wrong this time. It just so happens that the topic has come up here. Actually, I admire rebellious people. The reason why humanity can continue to progress is because a few rebellious people do not listen to the elders, are unwilling to stick to the old ways, and innovate."

However, note the 'minority': progress is driven by rebellious geniuses; other rebels are merely statistically significant, or rather, sacrifices. It takes the sacrifice of countless others to produce even one genius.

"You mean many people ruin themselves because of rebellion?"

Sin Yiu-man stroked Lee Yau-man's cheek with his fingers. "That's just how it is. Only a few people can imitate and benefit from the growth trajectory of a genius. Most people will become failures."

Fortunately, the world is a mountain, and most people only need to fulfill the function of folds, faults, or tectonic plates, colliding and destroying themselves, presenting mountain-shaped structures, fault mountains, and other forms. They are the price to pay to achieve their goals.

Stupidity resides at the foot of the mountain, mediocrity in its belly, while genius lies atop, groveling at the feet of adventurers, licking Benjamin's favorite cookies.

Li Youwen tentatively asked, "Is Benjamin a dog?"

"Hmm, I have a black dog that I call Xiaobai. It usually eats leftovers, but I occasionally give it Winalot, a dog biscuit from Spillers in the UK, which used to be for racing dogs."

Li Youwen seemed to understand something. Xian Yaowen was actually telling her a philosophy of survival. She didn't quite agree with it, but she couldn't deny that this philosophy of survival was very clever.

After a moment of silence, she said, "You also have a pleasant body odor, why hasn't it disappeared?"

Sin Yiu-man chuckled and said, “The rules assign different roles to men and women, and also to each individual. Some are soldiers, some are workers. My role has an unpleasant nickname: ‘pig cop,’ a pig cop who drives himself to work.”

"You're really annoying," Li Youwen spat lightly.

“You’re pretty much the same, disturbing other people’s sleep in the middle of the night…” Before Xian Yaowen could finish speaking, the phone rang. He pointed to the phone and said, “You’re not the only one I hate.”

As he spoke, he reached out, picked up the microphone, and held it to his ear, saying, "You better not have dialed the wrong number."

"Boss, I'm Clay."

“I smelled alcohol on your breath, so you drank…” Xian Yaowen picked up his watch and glanced at it, “…1:20 a.m. Do you know what time it is in New York right now?”

"I'm so sorry, boss, I've had quite a bit to drink and can't wait until after 6 p.m. in New York to call again."

"Alright, what's up?"

"Charlie invites you to a special party tonight, which will begin at 7 p.m. Los Angeles time."

"Which Charlie?"

Charlie Chaplin.

"Special party?"

"Yes."

"Is it the kind I'm thinking of?"

"I think so."

"Damn it," Sin Yiu-man muttered to himself, then said, "Can he even handle a female companion?"

"If the boss can arrive earlier, we can choose."

"The earliest flight has passed." After hanging up the phone, Sin Yiu-man said to Lee Yau-man, "Bad girl, welcome to this dirty world."

"Are you going to another state?"

"Hollywood, attend a party, and make a business deal."

Even without Simpson's explanation, Sin Yiu-man could guess why Chaplin, that old lecher, wanted to see him. United Artists was the distributor of "High Noon," and the Carl Forman affair also involved Chaplin's interests, so it was necessary for everyone to sit down and have a chat.

But beneath Chaplin's reputation as a comedy master, he was notoriously wild and dirty-minded. He was widely recognized within the industry as the initiator of Hollywood's "Seven-for-One" parties—special parties, damn it! (End of Chapter)