Killing, Serena Feng Cursed by Heaven and Men

It may be gambling, but once you put up the banner of 'helping the poor and easing the court’s burdens,' even betting becomes something sacred.

With a righteous cause, it was much easier for Vincent Summers to recruit partners. He wouldn’t let big houses like the Wang–Hsieh Alliance slip by, and he included several other influential minor families as well.

It’s said the king is easy to deal with, but the little devils are tricky—either way, the profits have to be split. Whether you get more or less, it’s still a share.

Whether by design or coincidence, every family whose sons or daughters once mocked Serena Feng at the Poetry Salon was excluded by Vincent. Among the nobility, he personally visited three of the Four Great Dukedoms—leaving out only the House of Duke Zhen.

At first, the House of Duke Ning refused to participate. They’ve always kept a low profile; though they hold a ducal title, they never get involved in factional struggles or prince politics. But once they heard that the gambling board was Serena Feng’s idea and that neither the Crown Prince nor any princes were involved, they dropped their objections.

Like they say, in times like these, nobody can afford not to care about money. Even a huge ducal house needs to feed its people and maintain relationships—that all takes silver. Besides, this gambling board is pure profit; all they have to do is put in a little effort.

The gambling board was set up with great fanfare. As soon as the official announcement of the Serena Feng versus Wendy Summers contest went out, Vincent launched the Capital’s number one betting board.

So, even before Serena Feng and Wendy Summers started competing, the city was already buzzing. If you were still worrying about grain prices dropping, or debating how low they might go, you were totally out of touch.

The Serena versus Wendy contest instantly became the hottest gossip in the Imperial City, completely overshadowing all talk of falling grain prices.

When Vincent saw how opening the betting board had this effect, he couldn’t stop grinning. Suddenly, everything seemed off to him—except for Bella Qin, who was the only thing that annoyed him.