The Card Apprentice

Chapter 185: What Will it Be?

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A girl off to the side who was good at reading tone and body language hastily said, “If you require a high-level card, we can have one custom made for you. Our affiliated card masters are all mid-grade and above, so you can rest assured about anything they make.”

“Can I sell on consignment here?”

A look of disappointment flashed across the young lady’s eyes, though she still presented a professional enough appearance. “You can, though you must pay ten percent of the price in commission. But, if you were to become a card master affiliated with this shop, you would only have to pay a six percent commission.”

Chen Mu nodded that he understood, bade his farewell to the card salesgirl, and then left with Wei-ah. He’d only wanted to check out the situation since he didn’t have any suitable cards on hand for sale.

They had returned to Heaven’s Wings by midday.

Bu Qiangdong had been waiting for a while, having very handily completed the responsibilities Chen Mu had turned over to him. Public service commissions were easy to get since their fee was so low—mostly not done for any pay at all. The employees had all started talking among themselves when they found out Bu Qiangdong had gotten so many public service commissions.

They felt like the new boss had gone mad! Although public service commissions all required an outlay of materials, their meager rewards could be considered negligible. They had originally thought the new boss would get most of his orders from the young master’s people in order to maintain the company’s operations. They hadn’t thought the new boss would actually want to do public service work. Good lord, could he want to be a philanthropist?

There was a hubbub in Heaven’s Wings with all of the employees wearing worried expressions. If the company’s operations didn’t do well, they would lose the work they then had. They weren’t anything more than low-grade card masters—the sort that could be gotten for a dime a dozen anywhere. They wouldn’t be offering many advantages if they were to apply at some other business. To expect to make such a high salary for the work they did then was basically impossible. That was also why no one was leaving rashly, even though they had a dim view of the future of the company.

It wasn’t easy to find work those days!

Once Chen Mu and Wei-ah entered the office, all the talking abruptly stopped. While the new boss might not have been good at operations, in those employees’ hearts no one dared to go against his orders. To put it another way, Chen Mu had established his authority very successfully at Heaven’s Wings. Of course, as Chen Mu saw it, that wasn’t anything to boast about.

Once Bu Qiangdong saw Chen Mu, he became immediately submissive, bowed, and entered Chen Mu’s office after the two of them.

“How have you been managing?” Chen Mu signaled for Bu Qiangdong to sit.

Bu Qiangdong very cautiously said, “According to your instructions, I’ve already brought in a large amount of public service work, including 300 sets of fantasy card instructional material and 150 fantasy card advertisements for the city. In addition…” he then went on after a pause, “there is also a public service announcement for one of the broadcast platforms, although our counterpart says he wants to see the quality of our work before he finally decides if he will use it.” Bu Qiangdong couldn’t help but be a little upset when he thought of that, wondering when Heaven’s Wings had been so taken advantage of all year.

While others may actually have considered it appropriate to help others for free, Bu Qiangdong felt it was plain insulting.

Carefully weighing his words and watching his expression, he hadn’t expected the boss not to have any drastic reaction when he heard the news. That puzzled him a little since the new boss seemed to have a hot temper; if even he had felt humiliated by it, how could the boss remain indifferent?

Still, it turned out Chen Mu really didn’t have any response.

Chen Mu took the material from Bu Qiangdong and looked it over, nodding. “Nice work.”

Bu Qiangdong’s heart immediately relaxed as he lowered his head to await further instructions from the boss. After a long time without hearing the boss say anything, he couldn’t help but lift his head out of curiosity. As soon as he did, he saw the young boss engrossed in the materials in his hands. That struck him as strange since what was in the materials was all very specialized. Card masters would have to carry out their fantasy card making according to those materials. If one wasn’t a card master, there wouldn’t be any way to understand such professional terminology.

After five minutes, Chen Mu gave Bu Qiangdong a list and said, “Go to the warehouse and bring me one of each of these materials.”

Full of puzzlement, he took the list from the boss. When he saw the materials listed on it, he was dumbfounded in an instant.

This, isn’t this…?

The dull-faced Bu Qiangdong didn’t come back to life again for a few minutes, his blank stare suddenly making contact with Chen Mu’s raised eyebrows. He then felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. Damn! How could he let his mind wander at such a time? He hurriedly stood up and blurted out, “Right away! I’ll get them right away!” Before he had finished speaking, he had rushed off like a puff of smoke.

He very quickly came puffing back carrying a bag in his hand. All of the other colleagues along the way had regarded him with puzzlement.

* * *

Qian Mingyi was showing his annoyance, which made him look as though nothing could please him, and he wanted to curse at whatever he saw. He felt he would soon go mad; the signal that had appeared last time hadn’t reappeared, and he hadn’t made any progress with his investigations yet. The northwest corner of Pomelo was really too big. His adversary had vanished without a trace and left them with no way to do anything.

Moreover, as the director general’s confidant, he had to know about the crisis the Central Island Firm was facing just then. It was just that he didn’t have any better recommendations about the issue and could only look on helplessly as the director general wore himself out. Under the influence of that affair, he had to keep his signal investigations on a small scale and carry them out in secret, which undoubtedly made the investigations a lot more difficult.

When he saw Farley, he couldn’t help but be startled. Was that still Farley?

For those few years, Farley had been living well. Although he was rather old, he actually kept himself up quite well. But, the Farley in front of him looked like a completely different person. His previously gray hair had turned snow-white, his eyes were sunken and bloodshot, and the creases on his face seemed to deepen overnight.

Seeing Qian Mingyi, Farley brightened and hurriedly grabbed him by the arm, asking urgently, “How is it going? Have you found out anything?”

Qian Mingyi gave a bitter smile, saying, “No. The signals haven’t appeared again, and we have no way to determine their specific location. And, there has been limited manpower in the firm lately, so we can’t conduct a large-scale investigation of the matter.” Once he spoke, he jumped, not having realized how hoarse and dry his voice had become.

Farley was suddenly aroused. He released Qian Mingyi’s arm as he waved his hands and snarled, “Limited manpower? What has the f***ing manpower gone off to do? What is more important than this? What are these people thinking? Could they not know how important this is for us? Once we get this technology, we can advance into the jungle! What can this gang of rotten eggs be thinking?”

The bitter smile on Qian Mingyi’s face deepened. Of course he knew what that technology meant for the firm, but he also knew what kind of crisis the firm was facing just then. But, he just couldn’t reveal the secret information to Farley. He could only bear Farley’s anger in silence, having only his bitter smile.

Farley was exhausted after his venting, and he became silent.

“How is your progress over there?” Qian Mingyi broke the silence.

Farley despondently shook his head. “Not so well. Very unstable. I wonder how these people resolved signal stability. We did everything we could think of and still have no way to resolve the issue of stability.”

Having followed the entire course of the research, Qian Mingyi knew the problem Farley was talking about, though he was bewildered by such professional matters.

Patting Farley’s shoulder, Qian Mingyi consoled him. “Keep up your spirits, old man. Once they show up again and I can narrow the scope a little, I’ll certainly ferret them out for you.”

* * *

Chen Mu wasn’t entirely satisfied to look at what he’d made in his hands. It had been too long since he’d practiced, and he felt a little raw. Raising his head, he saw Bu Qiangdong’s dumbfounded expression.

He couldn’t help but wonder what was worth making a fuss about. It wasn’t anything more than a one-star fantasy card of the most ordinary kind. What was there to make such an expression about? But, Chen Mu was also too lazy to ask, and he just casually handed the card to Bu Qiangdong. “This is the model for the instructional card. Carry on according to it. Get them to finish up the remaining 299 sets quickly.”

When Bu Qiangdong emerged from Chen Mu’s office with a dull face, all the employees roused around him. They were quite curious, and in case the boss could hear from inside his office, they kept their voices down. “Qiangdong, what’s up?””Yeah, what’s up?”

Bu Qiangdong felt as though his brain had short-circuited, and he couldn’t regain his poise. He just dumbly gave the card in his hands to the crowd and said, “Take a look yourselves.”

“Who made this?”

“The boss,” Bu Qiangdong blurted out without thinking.

It was suddenly quiet all around. The employees were all looking at one another, and no one spoke for a while.

After a long time, someone finally slowly and haltingly asked, “Are you saying the boss made this, Qiangdong?”

“Yep.” The stunned Bu Qiangdong remained wooden as he answered.

Everyone was thrown into silence again—a very strange kind of silence.

“And…and what did the boss say?” someone stuttered to ask.

The boss said the remaining 299 should be completed according to this model.” Having finally been somewhat restored to clarity, Bu Qiangdong spoke a little more smoothly.

Finally, some brave person swallowed hard while asking probingly, “So…unless, let’s take a look first?” That proposal immediately got the assent of all the gathered employees, though everyone’s gaze was on Bu Qiangdong. By that time, he had returned to normal. He had seen the entire process of the boss making the card with his own eyes. So, what was inside the card the boss had made? He was as curious as anyone and nodded his agreement.

Very carefully, as though what he was holding in his hand were some precious treasure, Bu Qiangdong and the line of people went in front of the display apparatus.

They still slid the fantasy card into the apparatus more carefully, and everyone’s gaze converged onto the projector, watching it intently. No one could help but hold their breath as they waited for the image to appear.