Border Prisoner: The Mad Boss Seduces Her Every Night

When Sheng Kun finished speaking, the entire table fell silent for a moment.

Those who were holding their drinks, holding their chips, and watching from the sidelines suddenly seemed to have their throats grabbed, and even their breathing became shallow.

The lights were still on, the chips on the gambling table were still piled up beautifully, and the dealer was still standing straight, but the atmosphere had changed.

The previous glitz and glamour were torn apart by Sheng Kun's few light words.

Revealing the cold and sharp truth beneath.

All eyes turned to Xu Yuanjia.

Even Shi Luyu herself could clearly feel that there was an added layer of probing in the gazes around her.

Some watched the show, some held their breath, and some were secretly terrified.

She sat down next to Xu Yuanjia, her fingertips unconsciously gripping the glass. The cool glass pressed against her palm, gradually suppressing her restlessness.

She knew very well that Sheng Kun's purpose in saying those words was not to joke about her.

He was testing Xu Yuanjia.

To test how much she was worth in Xu Yuanjia's heart.

They were also testing this new head of the family to see if he would break the rules in public because of a woman.

The area around the table was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Xu Yuanjia's expression didn't even change.

He didn't even look at Sheng Kun right away, but lazily lowered his eyes and glanced at Shi Luyu.

The light cast a deep shadow between his brow bone and the bridge of his nose, making his light-colored eyes appear particularly cold in the dim light.

"Lulu," he called to her.

His voice wasn't loud; it sounded like he was just saying something casually.

"Want to play?"

Shi Luyu's back stiffened.

She knew, of course, that this wasn't asking her if she wanted to gamble.

They were asking her if she was willing to take on this dangerous situation. Her heart tightened, her throat went dry, and her gaze fell on the stacks of black gold chips in the center of the gambling table. She didn't answer for a moment.

Xu Yuanjia looked at her for two seconds, then suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint, almost a mere twitch of the lips, offering not a trace of emotion. Then, he raised his eyes and finally looked at Sheng Kun.

"She doesn't play on dirty tables."

These five simple words, spoken lightly, are like a knife, slicing open the skin of this table tonight.

Dirty table.

As soon as those two words were uttered, the expressions of several people in the room changed simultaneously.

Even the croupier standing not far away froze for a moment.

The smile that had been firmly on Sheng Kun's lips froze slightly for a second.

He quickly steered the conversation back on track, seemingly oblivious to the chill in his words, and chuckled softly, "What are you saying, sir? The place belongs to the Xu family, the tables belong to the Xu family, how can it be dirty?"

The smile on Sheng Kun's face had barely settled when Xu Yuanjia finally lifted his eyelids and gave him a brief, indifferent glance.

That gaze was so light it was almost perfunctory, yet it inexplicably sent a chill down one's spine.

"Do you think—" He tapped the edge of the table slowly with his fingertips, a faint smile playing on his lips, "that you're worthy of the Xu family's table?"

The smile on Sheng Kun's face froze for a moment.

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, but he still forced himself to continue, "What...do you mean by that, sir?"

Xu Yuanjia looked at him, as if he suddenly found it amusing. He lazily raised an eyebrow, and the coldness he had shown earlier disappeared, as if he had just made a casual, light joke.

"It doesn't mean anything."

He leaned back, tapped the cards with his fingertips, and said casually, "Let's continue."

Sheng Kun's smile finally began to falter.

Xu Yuanjia stopped looking at him and gestured for Zhou Ji to hand over the items.

Zhou Ji placed a black ledger on the table from behind him.

Xu Yuanjia's slender fingers pressed against the edge of the ledger, slowly turning the pages one by one.

The casino's overhead lights were so bright that the numbers on the papers appeared to glow with a cold, white light.

He flipped through the pages slowly, as if testing people's patience, or as if deliberately giving some people a little time to defend themselves.

"Boss Sheng isn't having a good time tonight." He looked down at the accounts, his tone lazy and nonchalant.

"What we lost was exactly the amount that went missing from the port's accounts."

Sheng Kun's expression finally changed.

The smile lines at the corners of his eyes froze, followed by a tense jawline.

He sat there, already rather thin, the suit wrapped around his body, making him look like a taut steel wire.

"Master—" He opened his mouth as if to explain something.

Xu Yuanjia didn't even have the patience to let him finish speaking. He raised his hand, signaling the dealer to continue dealing the cards.

"Finish the betting first," he said casually, stopping him from speaking.

The dealer lowered his head, his hand trembled almost imperceptibly, but he still quickly shuffled and dealt the cards.

The cards were laid out one by one, their edges gleaming faintly under the light.

Everyone at the table was watching this game closely; everyone knew that this was no longer just a card game.

With the ledgers set aside, the lost payments at the port, the lost chips at the casino, and the seemingly impressive numbers on the table all weighed heavily on Sheng Kun's shoulders at this moment.

Xu Yuanjia closed the last page of the ledger, looked up, and a faint smile appeared on his lips:

"You win. I'll listen to your explanation."

He paused, his gaze lingering on Sheng Kun's face, his expression casual yet gentle.

"We lost—"

"Leave your life behind."

The entire table of people didn't dare to breathe loudly.

Sheng Kun's temple throbbed slightly, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his fingers moved noticeably slower when picking up the cards compared to the previous two rounds.

He's a smooth talker, always ready with a smile on his face, and knows exactly how to smooth things over.

But when it comes to actually drawing blood, that little bit of tact isn't enough.

The game is pushed forward.

As the dealer dealt the cards and the chips were pushed onto the table, Sheng Kun's smile grew increasingly stiff.

Shi Luyu sat to the side, motionless, but her eyes remained fixed on the table. She didn't really understand all the intricacies of the situation, but she could see how people's hearts were gradually pushed to the edge of a precipice.

Xu Yuanjia, on the other hand, seemed as carefree as ever, like a relaxed young master who never took anything to heart.

While waiting for his turn to play cards, he casually took the cup from her hand and replaced it with a warm cup of fruit tea, pushing it towards her. The action was so natural, as if he were just helping her out, but this nonchalant attitude was all the more chilling.

Shi Luyu's eyelashes trembled slightly. Her fingers did not immediately touch the cup of tea. She felt something pressing on her chest, making her feel a little stuffy.

This game was slower than the previous ones.

Sheng Kun tried to remain steady at first, but in the latter half, his fingertips began to tremble. The tremor was very subtle, almost imperceptible unless you were watching closely, but he himself was aware of it, and so were those around him.

Xu Yuanjia leaned back in his chair, his posture relaxed, as if watching a not-so-interesting play.

"It's time to place your bets, Boss Sheng," he reminded him calmly.

Sheng Kun gritted his teeth and pushed out the last stack of chips.

The table was deathly silent.

When the last card was turned over, the last glimmer of light in Sheng Kun's eyes finally went out.

He lost.

Thoroughly.

Even without the dealer saying a word, everyone at the table already understood.

At that moment, Shi Luyu suddenly had a very strange feeling.

It wasn't a feeling of satisfaction or sympathy, but rather a sense that the situation had suddenly become fully realized before my eyes.

All the previous betting, probing, delaying, and stubbornness became utterly absurd in that final second.

Sheng Kun stared at the cards, his lips moved, and after a long while he finally managed to squeeze out, "Sir, I—"

"Hold him down," Xu Yuanjia interrupted him.

It can be summed up in two words: settled.

Immediately, men in black stepped forward, grabbed Sheng Kun's shoulders from both sides, and pressed him firmly against the back of the chair.

The chair leg scraped against the ground with a screeching sound, and Sheng Kun's previously decent face finally turned pale.

The veins on his neck bulged, and he subconsciously struggled twice, causing his suit collar to become disheveled and revealing his thin collarbone. He looked quite disheveled.

"Sir, I'm doing this for Third Uncle!"

He finally lost his temper, speaking rapidly, his smile completely shattered, "This isn't just my idea, you can't—"

"Can't what?"

Xu Yuanjia raised his eyes and his gaze fell indifferently over there.

After a long pause, a light command floated out: "Dislocate the hands."

When it landed, it sent chills down the spines of everyone at the table.

Two men in black stepped forward in response.

Sheng Kun's pupils contracted, and his whole body tensed up.

Shi Luyu's gaze fell on that side, and her heart skipped a beat. She didn't think Sheng Kun was an innocent person.

None of those sitting at this table are truly clean.

When he used her as an example and said those probing words, she couldn't help but feel disgusted.

Despite her disgust, witnessing Xu Yuanjia's cruel violence and his decision to cripple or destroy a person's hand still gave her an indescribable sense of oppression.

Just like the game of cards we just played.

It seems that in Xu Yuanjia's world, human lives and hands and feet, money and loyalty are nothing more than numbers that can be crossed off at any time on a ledger.

She watched as Sheng Kun was pinned down, watched as the smile on the young man's face completely vanished, and watched as the ends of his wolf-tail hair became disheveled from struggling. For the first time, she felt that all the shrewdness and worldliness she had displayed earlier had become an empty shell.

When they are actually forced onto the table, everyone will show the same pathetic expression.

The man in black reached out and grabbed Sheng Kun's wrist.

Sheng Kun finally broke down in tears: "Sir! I can make up the debt, I—"

The words were stuck in my throat.

It was only at this moment that he suddenly realized that Xu Yuanjia had not been listening to him at all from beginning to end.

Half of his attention was on the gambling table, but the other half was always devoted to the woman beside him.

This kind of disdain is more chilling than outright rage.

As Shi Luyu watched this scene, she suddenly felt that something was wrong.

The fault lies not with Xu Yuanjia, nor with Sheng Kun.

It was that betting game that had just ended.

She had been sitting very tightly with her mind focused the whole time, and only now did she belatedly realize...

That hand of cards was actually quite interesting.

Xu Yuanjia staked everything on the accounts, the game, and the people, using a seemingly straightforward win or loss to determine life and death in the real world.

It's like hiding an invisible knife in the busiest place.

She stared at the several cards that had already been turned over on the table, and suddenly spoke softly:

"Wait a moment."