The power of money and connections (Part 1)

Bai Feng wasn't that curious about the amount of money he made. He skipped towards the restaurant first as he wanted to talk a little bit with Mo Pian before he went to his new house.

He wanted to tell Mo Pian how his day went and make sure that he knew that he was doing well at his new job.

It didn't take much time for Bai Feng to arrive at the open restaurant.

He entered the building and found Mo Pian cooking in the kitchen by himself. There were no customers, so that meant he was making some food for himself.

However, Mo Pian smiled the moment he saw Bai Feng and said:

"Come, come, I was waiting for you to get off your shift and made some good food for your first successful day at work."

Bai Feng nodded and watched as Mo Pian finished cooking then put the food on some plates. They both ate quietly and finished the food in little time.

Now that the food was gone, Bai Feng started to talk about how his day went and how he went in overtime.

Mo Pian listened for a short while before he said:

"It seems that you have got a decent first day, but you shouldn't always win, or else people won't come to play at your table even if it's their last option."

Bai Feng understood the logic behind that. People came to the casino for both fun and multiplying their cash.

If they came to a table that had a 100% chance of losing, of course, they wouldn't want to play at it, as they won't have either fun or cash.

This was something that Bai Feng understood, but he couldn't meddle with the cards making the patrons win from time to time. It was a fully luck-based system if what Elder Chitong said was true.

Mo Pian sighed as he said:

"Chitong wasn't really truthful with you, of course, he wouldn't say the secrets of the casino to a newbie dealer, but I have played at that casino for a lot of time and learned some things."

Bai Feng cocked his head to the side. He learned somewhat about Mo Pian's past through the interactions and words at the casino, but the man didn't seem to want to dwell on it, so it was surprising he brought it up by himself. While Bai Feng was quite lacking in social skills, he knew that if someone was uncomfortable with something, they would rather not talk about it.

But now it seemed that Mo Pian wanted to open up for Bai Feng, for his sake.

"You see, back when I was going through this gambling craze, I realized the difference between the dealer's enormous lucks compared to the patrons. Every dealer under elder Chitong's Red Dragon casino 3 has immense luck, to the point that most patrons wouldn't be able to win even one hand if the system Chitong had said it was placed actually worked."

"The thing is, they still need to give some money back. If the house won every time, no one would come to their casino anymore."

"I learned that they will suppress the dealer's luck, from time to time, to keep things even between dealers and patrons."

"However, that's a technique they teach to the dealers to suppress their luck, I'm not sure when they will teach it to you, but considering your first successful day, it won't be much time before it happens. I just wanted to give you a heads up before it happened so you won't be confused."

Bai Feng nodded and then decided to come with a question of his own:

"Well, I have gotten a house from them and the pay for today, so I was wondering where can I actually use the money? and how should I use it to further my cultivation. You said you have some knowledge of the human body, so do you know what food would be better to buy to increase my cultivation furthermore?"

Mo Pian nodded and said:

"What you have eaten previously was a very cheap spirit ostrich meat, it was even of a lower quality compared to the chicken that you used to eat back at your village, but it did create a resonance with the chicken you ate and allowed you to cultivate after you used the basic Qi training technique."

"From what I gathered along with the information given by Elder's chitong analysis, you will need to eat the most expensive food that we can get our hands-on with our current position in the sect, which is the crocodile elf rib-eye steak."

Bai Feng was puzzled as he asked:

"Wait, we can't actually buy anything we want if we have the money?"

Mo Pian nodded and decided to explain:

"Well, with the current cultivation levels, we could be considered as outer disciples so we can buy around 40% of the total items in the sect. As a base, we are a mercantile sect, but we sell services and not goods that make us not have unique or rare goods. However, we have most premium goods."

"In this situation, we are allowed to buy around 10% of those premium food goods which should be useable for you."

"But even then, I don't think we even have enough money to get two hundred grams of crocodile elf rib-eye steak with our current funds. You said you were paid, right? How much did you get from that old man and those punks that went to your table?"

Bai Feng took out the brown pouch from his clothes and opened it up. A glittering light cascaded out of the opened pouch showing 10 red coins that had the mark of their sect imprinted on them.

Mo Pian's eyes widened as he stuttered:

"10 red GoGo coins?"

Bai Feng cocked his head to the side in wonder. This was a high amount? Or was it too little?

Seeing Bai Feng's visible confusion made Mo Pian control himself as he said:

"It seems your luck extends to the patrons that went to your table as well, some upstarts must have thought that as a new dealer, you would be easy pickings, so they have thrown quite a lot of chips on your table, right?"

Bai Feng shook his head. If he remembered correctly, the number of chips wasn't high. But the numbers of it were.

Clarifying how things went down made Mo Pian continue:

"10 red GoGo coins are quite a bit. You remember when that guy came and asked you for the salad, right? He gave you some bronze coins, which are the lowest level of currency for our sect."

"Red coins are above silver and gold coins, but they aren't the highest level of currency. You currently have a small amount of wealth in your hands right now, and you should be able to buy 1 kilogram of crocodile elf rib-eye steak. Considering you don't have to worry about rent, and cultivating is your foremost objective right now. I can go with you to buy that steak if you want to."

Bai Feng did want to increase his cultivation. God knows what level of cultivation his sister arrived at already. She was supposed to be so talented that the higher-ups were involved, so that meant she must have surpassed him by now.

Bai Feng still felt quite tired, but he could endure, for now, he patted Mo Pian's small and emaciated shoulder before saying:

"I will rely on you Pian. Let's get the best crocodile elf rib-eye steak we can get with those 10 coins."

Mo Pian nodded and closed the restaurant before pointing towards the north of the sect, which looked a little bit more calm compared to the southern and eastern sides. That had the entertainment environment going on.

"The market is to the south of the sect, compared to the big buildings which house the brothels, casinos and strip clubs along with a variety of restaurant and bars, the market has smaller and compact buildings which are filled with tons of goods, there are also stalls that sell fresh premium ingredients at a steep price."

"I usually don't go to the market as all the ingredients my 3-star restaurant need are in the back garden. However, the more premium restaurants usually get their ingredients from the market and buy them in bulk under a contract."

"This would make it harder for us to acquire the rib eye steak, but considering it's one of the most premium ingredients, it's both in low need and supply, the steak is full of concentrated Qi, but its taste is rather horrendous, so most people don't buy it from our market as they come to the sect for entertainment, not shopping, but there is also a high chance we will return with empty hands, so don't get discouraged if we don't get one from the first try."

Bai Feng and Mo Pian started to travel through the roads that lead to the northern side of the sect. They went by more casinos and other entertainment places before arriving at the market, which was less bustling at this time of the day.

Other patrons that visited the sect went by them into the market, but they were very few.

"Ok, if my memory serves me right, the crocodile rib-eye steak is sold around here at the entrance at the foremost stall."

Bai Feng looked around and saw a few stalls that sold meat and fish, the smell of the meat was quite fresh, and some fish even moved while Bai Feng and Mo Pian were looking around.

Bai Feng wasn't really familiar with fish, but Mo Pian taught him a little bit about every ingredient and the animal it came from.

Mo Pian took a few steps towards one of the nearby stalls and nodded as he looked at the seller there before saying:

"1 kilogram of your best crocodile rib-eye steak."

The seller was a middle-aged man with a sun-dried face, thin lips, and a big bulbous nose. He wore a blue cloth robe, and he had a small straw hat on his head.

"Sonny, don't mess with me. By your looks, you don't seem to be able to afford one kilogram of such premium meat."

"I have a business to run, so go by."

Bai Feng went forward and dropped 10 red coins on the stall near the meat, making the middle-aged man eat his words as he smiled at the duo and said:

"These two young masters dressed quite frugally for today, sorry for the words. I will get one kilogram and pack it nicely for you two immediately. Actually, you two are quite in some luck as I only have one kilogram left."

Bai Feng nodded, and Mo Pian waited for the man to pack the meat before putting it into his pouch. Which was specifically made to handle food and ingredients.

But before the middle-aged man could finish packing it. A sudden laugh was heard coming from the entrance of the market.

Bai Feng's eyes trailed back to the entrance, but Mo Pian was too concentrated on the rib-eye steak to look back to the source of the laughter.

Bai Feng's eyes narrowed as he saw who appeared. It was Chen Lingxi and her cronies!

Her laughter was rather distinct, and Bai Feng recognized her voice. That was also the reason he looked back to confirm. As he wouldn't really care if some random guy or girl laughed.

Chen Lingxi's waist swayed from side to side as she made her way to the stall. The middle-aged man's hands stopped packing the meat, as he gulped audibly, and cold sweat started to drip from his forehead, he recognized Chen Lingxi at first glance.

The middle-aged man bowed while stuttering:

"Wha, wha, what is her highness Chen Lingxi doing at the market at this time of the day?"

Chen Lingxi flicked her hair while she glanced at Bai Feng and Mo Pian before saying:

"I was looking for some crocodile rib-eye steak for my little sister's cultivation. You don't have any at your stall right now, do you, Bashon?"

The old man's hands trembled as he looked at Bai Feng and Mo Pian... The rule was, first come first served. But in this situation, he didn't know what to do. The two young men's payment was right then and there. He was packing the meat for them, but could he go against the daughters of the second most important man in the lower and middle levels of the sect?