The Villain's Wife

Harringfort squinted his eyes as he held his breath, hoping it would be enough to stop him from raising his hands against Zhou Jingren. But then again, he was sure that this man would be able to avoid his fist. After all, Zhou Jingren was obviously better than him in martial arts. "It was luck." Again, he could only blame luck for what had happened. Zhou Jingren just got lucky and nothing will convince him otherwise. "You got lucky." He convinced himself. There was no way that Zhou Jingren could have beaten him in a game that he had been playing against everyone that he met — a game that he always won.     

"Did I?" Zhou Jingren smiled. "Lucky or not. I won. That means you lose."     

Harringfort gritted his teeth before he gestured for his people to leave. One of them walked towards them and put the black case in front of them. "Five hundred million in cash," Harrington uttered. A gambler like him… would always have money on him. Of course, this was another way to establish how powerful the order was. For him to carry billions of cash on him. That was something that only the queen of the UK would do. "Serve this as compensation for the hassle." He said.     

"Compensation?" Zhou Jingren lifted an eyebrow. "You lost. That is the payment for losing the game. You can use other words, but at the end of the day, we both know the truth." Zhou Jingren taunted.     

In response, Harringfort scoffed. "Six months." This was not against any laws of the Order. After all, this was akin to Zhou Jingren's request. "I will see you in six months. Ready or not… you will serve the Order." He turned his back against Zhou Jingren and walked out of the living room. "Bei Tian and your people are alive. But… I injected something into his system. It will start to show symptoms after seven months. I have the antidote. You shall see me in this place six months from now… or your friend will die." He said this as he continued walking without looking at Zhou Jingren again.     

The moment Zhou Jingren heard his words, he froze. For a few seconds, he stood as still as a statue as he thought about his words. Was it a virus? Was it even true? Without another word, Zhou Jingren eyed Secretary Go who was sitting in a chair, chained. He then eyed the key on the table. Harringfort must have placed it there earlier. He thought as he started to unchain Secretary Go. "Where is he?" he asked.     

"Inside the master's bedroom."     

He nodded and together, the two went to the master's bedroom. Both had a dark look on their faces. "Don't tell anyone about what he said." He instructed before he went inside the room. Just as Harringfort had mentioned, every person guarding the place as well as Bei Tian were indeed inside, bound by chains. He nodded at Secretary Go, silently instructing him to check if they were still breathing.     

Meanwhile, he immediately approached Bei Tian, who was lying on the bed. However, before he could check if he was breathing, Bei Tian's snore reached his ears. For a few seconds, relief washed over him. Closing his eyes, he sat next to Bei Tian, and let out a sigh.     

The Order of the Spectre.     

The Order of Ghosts.     

Six months.     

"Everyone is alive." Secretary Go uttered as he stood next to Zhou Jingren. "They seem to be… sleeping."     

He responded with a low hum. "Call the doctor. Have him check everyone here."     

"Understood." Secretary Go replied as he immediately called their medical personnel in China. "Done, the doctor will be here soon." Said Secretary Go the moment he finished the call.     

Both men fell into deep silence for a few minutes until the Doctor arrived.     

.......     

The Doctor's words were simple. A specific type of gas was used to make them fall asleep. Because of this, everyone would sleep for the next twelve hours or so. However, the doctor also assured them that Bei Tian and the others were all safe. Of course, further tests need to be done once they wake up to be completely sure.     

However, for now, the doctor assured them that their condition was not life-threatening.     

"President…." Secretary Go hesitated for a few seconds. "Our new people are standing on guard outside. Are we going to— "     

"Yes. Transfer them to a medical facility." Zhou Jingren uttered.     

Secretary Go nodded. "What… what are we going to tell the madam?"     

"They encountered an accident." Which was partly true. "I will talk to Lily about this myself. But moving forward, everyone will know that this was nothing but an accident."     

Secretary Go pursed his lips, his face stern as he repeatedly nodded his head. "President." He hesitated for a few seconds. "May… May I know how you won?"     

"I didn't," Zhou Jingren answered monotonously. He never won against that man. "I cheated." As someone who did not like gambling, he was not very good at it. But… he knew some ways to cheat.     

Secretary Go nodded. Of course, Zhou Jingren would cheat. The rules didn't actually say anything against cheating. If his guess was right, Zhou Jingren must have hidden all the two's he got and used it to have a four of a kind. As to how he did it, Secretary Go had no idea at all. But he knew that this was not the first time Zhou Jingren cheated in a game of poker like this.     

…..     

Meanwhile, Harringfort was in an extremely bad mood. His face was grim, and his hands clenched, balled into fists as he struggled to throw a tantrum inside his own car. "Yi," he forced the words out of his mouth.     

"Master," the man next to him answered.     

"Kill them. Everyone who witnessed what happened earlier. Kill them all."     

"Understood."     

"Burn them! Whatever you do just… don't let them tell anyone about this embarrassment."     

"Understood."     

Harringfort narrowed his eyes at the road that would lead them to his private jet. He would never forget such an embarrassment. And he would never stop until he paid the man back for the embarrassment that he made Harringfort endure tonight.     

"Master, I believe the man… might have cheated."     

"Cheated or not… I lost." Harringfort uttered. If Zhou Jingren cheated, then Harringfort still lost for not even seeing through the man's tricks. Did this mean he was too stupid to detect that Zhou Jingren was cheating? Now that he thought about this, Harringfort became more irritated.