America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

“Catherine?”

Li Xiaoen took a deep breath, opened his eyes groggily, and just as he opened his mouth, his lips were covered again, and he could only make a muffled sound.

The familiar scent of Catherine's perfume filled his nostrils, and he felt her soft body pressing against him. Li Xiaoen subconsciously responded a few times before quickly shaking his head to calm himself down and pushing her away.

"Catherine, you're not pretending to be drunk, are you?"

Panting heavily, Catherine opened her large, dazed eyes and looked over carefully. She shook her head listlessly and chuckled softly.

"I'm not drunk."

"..."

"Is he having another drunken outburst?"

After silently watching Catherine for a while, Sean Lee shrugged, half-laughing and half-crying. "For the sake of world peace, I think you should stop drinking in the future."

Although he had taken care of Catherine on the few occasions she had gotten drunk, based on previous experience, she wouldn't get drunk in an uncertain environment, and when she got drunk she would grab him and bite him—it seemed like he had taken advantage of her—but since she was a woman, Li Xiaoen still disdained to take advantage of her in such situations.

What's the use of world peace?

Catherine's flushed face was so close to his, making her look even more alluring. She gave a nonchalant hum and raised her hand from her body to caress the young man's face. "When you're drunk, having a handsome guy to hug and kiss is the most comfortable thing."

As she spoke, desire rapidly rose in her eyes. She stared blankly at the young man before lowering her head again.

"Humph……"

Li Xiaoen couldn't help but scoff, "I didn't realize you had the potential to be a tyrant."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Catherine covered his mouth with hers again. Before he could catch his breath, Catherine's arms, which were wrapped around him, immediately snaked up and wrapped around his head.

As their tongues clashed, their bodies pressed tightly together, the alluring softness pressing against every part of Li Xiaoen's body.

"..."

“Catherine, you asked for this.”

Li Xiaoen took a deep breath, responded passionately, and finally couldn't resist letting his hands roam over Catherine's body.

Just from that touch, a raging fire ignited in Li Xiaoen's heart, and his breathing became heavier and heavier involuntarily.

……

The next day.

Under the bright summer sun, the vast blue sea reflects the shimmering light. As the first rays of sunlight appear in the morning, the noise that had gradually subsided overnight slowly rises again. In the water park, the cool seawater falls from above, each drop bringing with it a burst of laughter and playful shouts.

In a spacious cabin in a corner of the upper deck of the cruise ship, the two were still awakened by the sound of their cell phone alarms on the soft bed.

Taking a deep, groggy breath, the two opened their sleepy eyes and instinctively bumped into each other.

"..."

Good morning, Catherine.

The two looked at each other in silence for a while before Li Xiaoen finally spoke up to greet him.

Quickly regaining her senses, Catherine opened her eyes wide, hurriedly released her limbs from the young man's body, and sat up abruptly from his embrace.

"You bastard, I was drunk last night, what did you do to me?"

Despite being dressed in pajamas, Catherine grabbed the bedsheets and covered herself with them, immediately questioning him.

"You saw it yourself just now; it was you who was clinging to me."

Li Xiaoen rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Are you trying to turn the tables on me? No wonder you're a young lady from America."

As he spoke, he got up and turned off the alarm on his phone.

She opened her mouth, but realizing she was in the wrong, Catherine straightened her face and asked, "I'm asking you, did you do anything to me?"

"It's done. Except for the last step, everything that needed to be done has been done. Are you satisfied?"

Li Xiaoen nodded and said calmly, "So, you might as well not get married and just stay with me."

"Bastard...scumbag!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Catherine threw a pillow at her.

"Hey……"

Li Xiaoen quickly caught it, tossed it back, and dashed towards the washroom. "Hurry up and wash up, we need to go talk to Mr. Hobart about the cooperation."

Upon arriving at the bathroom, Li Xiaoen was relieved to find that Catherine was not following him and instead heard rustling sounds of someone changing clothes coming from the bedside.

No, I wonder if Catherine took what I just said as a perfunctory or dismissive remark.

Suddenly realizing this, Li Xiaoen, who was brushing her teeth, paused for a moment.

After everything that had happened between them, he truly couldn't bear to see Catherine getting close to other men.

His mind was racing when the bathroom door suddenly opened. Catherine, already dressed in her usual office lady uniform, looked up at him with a resentful expression.

"go away."

As she moved closer, Catherine bumped into her without any politeness.

"..."

Never mind, I'll talk to her another time when I have the chance.

Li Xiaoen shook her head, deciding to temporarily abandon the idea of ​​being honest with the other party.

After a quick wash, under Catherine's watchful gaze, Li Xiaoen used hair wax to style her hair, adjusting it to the way Catherine had styled it for her yesterday—finally, Catherine couldn't stand it anymore and helped her tidy it up.

With everything prepared, the two first had breakfast at the cruise ship's à la carte restaurant before meeting with Hobart's assistant, who had picked them up the previous night.

"It's already 10:00 AM, Mr. Hobart, are you still unavailable?"

After hearing her assistant's repeated apologies, Catherine finally couldn't help but speak up, "If your company really has no intention of cooperating with BanYan, you can just say so. We can have another opportunity to cooperate. There's no need to waste our time here."

"It's really not, it's really not."

The assistant looked distressed, helpless, and resigned, but quickly tried to soothe her, saying, "From the very beginning, we at Adil have always valued our partnership with BanYan. This is a development strategy that the board of directors decided on long ago, and it won't change..."

"It's okay, we understand."

Knowing that the other party was caught in the middle and not pleasing either side, Li Xiaoen patted his assistant's arm helplessly and offered a word of comfort, "Catherine, since Mr. Hobart is busy right now, how about we go to the casino in the middle and take a look?"

"Why go to a casino so early in the morning?"

Catherine frowned in confusion. "Besides, casinos are usually only open at night..."

Halfway through her sentence, Catherine noticed a change in the expression on her assistant's face and snapped back to reality, nodding quickly.

"sure."

"This……"

Looking at the two men, the assistant realized he couldn't hide it any longer and decided to be frank, asking with a wry smile, "How did you know Mr. Hobart was at the casino?" Even as a member of the Adil family, he found it difficult to say the words.

As the chairman of the prestigious Qatar Adil Group, it would be a disgrace for any partner company to engage in something as merry as gambling all night long.

Fortunately, Mr. Hobart's position as chairman will soon be removed by the board of directors.

Is Mr. Hobart in the casino?

Li Xiaoen asked in surprise, receiving a helpless look from his assistant. He then exchanged a glance with Catherine, earning her an amused eye roll.

Ignoring other people's questions and not answering them is not polite behavior.

Li Xiaoen smiled and teased the two of them, then, without needing his assistant to lead the way, headed towards the casino.

Contrary to expectations, it was only morning when Li Xiaoen entered the room and looked down to see a bustling crowd already gathered around a gambling table on the red carpet. From a distance, two people sat on either side of the table, seemingly at odds with each other.

This is a real-life version of the plot from "God of Gamblers".

Li Xiaoen thought to himself, then stepped down the stairs, the loud and energetic music involuntarily echoing in his mind.

"Mr. Hobart, you're not losing too much, are you blinded by greed?"

After watching silently for a while, he saw Hobart pounding his chest in despair after losing, and Sean Lee leaned over to ask his assistant a question.

With this attitude of not showing any emotion outwardly, it would be a miracle if he could win.

He still finds it hard to believe that the slightly overweight man not far away, whose clothes, made of excellent quality and clearly expensive, clung tightly to his body as if he had just been pulled out of the water, was the chairman of the Adil Group.

“Mr. Hobart, he wouldn’t have done this before.”

The assistant's face turned distressed again, and he managed to utter a word of reassurance.

Li Xiaoen was already used to it, shook his head, and exchanged a glance with Catherine.

"Sean, you don't want to get involved too, do you?"

Noticing the young man's meaningful look, Catherine quickly spoke up to stop him, "We're here to discuss cooperation, not to waste money on entertainment."

Can gambling be called entertainment?

Li Xiaoen's expression turned strange for a moment before he suddenly realized what Catherine meant—the money intended for entertainment was already prepared to be completely lost.

She has to be an American heiress.

Li Xiaoen thought to himself, but smiled and held up one finger to Catherine, "Trust me, this is my entertainment fee this time, five million US dollars is the maximum, how about it?"

"..."

"You've practiced before?"

Catherine couldn't help but ask with suspicion; she didn't believe that Sean Lee would be a gambling addict.

"I've seen a few movies."

"..."

"Okay, trust me."

Seeing the disbelief on Catherine's face, Sean Lee chuckled and patted her arm. "Don't worry, this time it's with my savings."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

Catherine rolled her eyes, and then she saw the young man turn around and walk toward the gambling table in the middle.

Under the spotlight, the handsome young man remained calm and composed, a faint smile on his face, as if the world had shone a spotlight on him, quickly attracting everyone's attention.

As he approached the gambling table, a round had just ended. Sean Lee looked at Hobart and greeted him with a smile.

Good morning, Mr. Hobart.

"Oh……"

Hobart, with his stubble and looking rather unwell, finally brightened up a little when he saw Sean Lee. "Mr. Lee, what brings you here?"

After he finished speaking, he realized what he had said, his face turned somewhat embarrassed, and he gave an awkward laugh, "I'm sorry to have taken up your time."

"Don't worry, we can sign the contract now. The board of directors has already held a meeting and informed me."

"No rush. I came here mainly because I wanted to have some fun too."

Since he was already there, Li Xiaoen shook his head and gestured with his chin toward the pretty female dealer standing in the middle, "Can we add someone else?"

"Rules can be added, but..."

The dealer's eyes widened slightly as he looked at Li Xiaoen, but he still looked uncertainly in the direction of his supervisor.

"Of course, of course."

A middle-aged man in a suit walked over with a big smile and laughed twice. "It is an honor for us at Las Vegas at sea for Mr. Li to participate."

"you know me?"

Li Xiaoen raised his eyebrows.

"Of course, Mr. Li is young, yet he has risen to prominence on the internet and is now very famous."

"okay."

Li Xiaoen nodded, only now realizing her fame both online and in real life.

"Mr. Li, it's a pleasure to meet you."

On the other side, Hobart's rival, a middle-aged man with graying hair, also stood up with a smile, came over and greeted him, "I am Frederick Daly."

"Mr. Li, you're so young, yet you're interested in getting involved?"

"It's just for fun, I didn't prepare much money."

Li Xiaoen smiled and shook his head. Relying on his superhuman sense of smell, the strange smell he had just caught on Hobart was even stronger on the other person. Suspicious, he silently held his breath.

"Could you please bring me a glass of lemonade, please?"

Li Xiaoen called out to the waiter who was standing to one side and had just brought him a chair, and sat down between the two of them. "Let's not delay, let's deal the cards first."

The game at the three-person gambling table is the same as in the movie, a show hand game where five cards are compared. First, each person is dealt one face-up card and one face-down card. Then, they take turns raising the bet based on the size of the face-up card dealt each time. Li Xiaoen is not familiar with other gambling games, but he is very familiar with this one.

After receiving the first two cards, Li Xiaoen glanced at them. The bottom card was the Jack of Hearts, and the top card was the 4 of Hearts. After confirming this, he couldn't help but look up at the other two.

Hobart's face-up card is the Ace of Hearts, and Frederick's face-up card is the Ten of Spades.

"..."

Activate the Eye of Insight.

Sean Lee glanced at the two men again, absorbing everything into his mind, especially Frederick's pretentious demeanor. He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and forcibly controlled the uncontrollable upward curve of his lips. (End of Chapter)