Gu Yu Sheng really was in Gold Jade Splendour, but he wasn’t playing mah-jong[1].
Amidst the rowdy noise and sounds of mah-jong games, he sat on the sofa in front of the French window, legs crossed. He stared at the cloudy sky outside the window, not looking at anyone, not paying attention to anyone, merely minding his own business as he smoked.
When the tiles were being shuffled, one of the people playing at the table noticed Gu Yu Sheng was sitting on the platform[2] and hadn’t said a single word the entire time. He couldn’t help but ask, “President Gu, wanna play two rounds?”
As soon as he finished talking, Lu Ban Cheng kicked him under the table, made a shus.h.i.+ng gesture, and then said in a lowered voice, “Haven’t you noticed that he hasn’t stopped smoking all afternoon? He’s clearly in a super bad mood.”
When the person, who just tried inviting Gu Yu Sheng, heard those words, he couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. Unable to suppress his curiosity, he asked, “What’s up with President Gu? Didn’t he just sign a big contract this morning? Why is he in such a bad mood?”
“Dunno.” After tossing the dice, Lu Ban Cheng moved close to that man’s ear, and whispered, “He’s been really short-tempered since morning. When the contract was signed this morning, you weren’t present but, that wasn’t the att.i.tude of a person negotiating a business deal. It was practically like he had gone there to kill the deal. He threw the contract on the table, and in total, only said thirteen words.”
“What thirteen words?”
Liu Ban Cheng drew a tile, and tilted his head slightly. “40/60 percent split. I’m sixty, you’re forty. Take it or leave it.”
“s.h.i.+t, and it still worked ou-……” Before that man finished saying the last word, there was suddenly a gigantic boom of thunder. The people in the room were so alarmed they turned to look outside the window. Rain heavily poured down from the sky, bringing about the sound of gurgling water.
Only Gu Yu Sheng seemed to have not heard any sound at all, and was still in his original pose on the sofa, smoking.
At six o’clock, not only did the rain show no signs of stopping, it steadily worsened. The water on the window was like a waterfall, endlessly streaming down.
At ten past six, a person retired early as they had a matter to take care of.
As they were missing one person, there was no way to continue playing. Under the instigation of the other remaining two, Lu Ban Cheng attempted to invite Gu Yu Sheng, “Sheng-ge, want to play two rounds?”
Around half a minute later, Gu Yu Sheng finally slowly moved his gaze from the heavy rain outside the window to Liu Ban Cheng’s face. He took one drag, continued sitting on the sofa for a little longer, and then stood up and walked towards the mah-jong table.
There was going to be a dinner party at seven thirty. When it was six thirty, one after another, people braved the elements and arrived.
President Zhang of Beiting Conglomerate had brought his wife with him. Gu Yu Sheng had met her several times, and could vaguely remember that her maiden name was Lu. But when they came over to greet him, Gu Yu Sheng merely nodded his head slightly, and didn’t say a word.
When Chief Zhang’s wife saw Gu Yu Sheng, she looked a bit startled and then looked all around the place, as if she was searching for someone. She must have failed to find that person in the end, and asked, puzzled, “Mrs Gu didn’t come with you?”
For a short while, it didn’t click in Gu Yu Sheng’s head whom Ms Lu was referring to when she said ‘Mrs Gu.’ Thus, he didn’t react, and with a cigarette in his mouth, he drew tiles and discarded tiles, his face aloof and indifferent.
[1]打牌(dǎpái) can mean either play cards or play mah-jong. Based on the context, they’re playing mah-jong.
[2] Something like this probably:
