Swinder in Action (1)

"I've already paid two thousand taels. When will I receive my membership?" asked Young Master Wei.

Seeing the teen hovering creepily behind Young Master Wei shake his head slowly while glaring at him, Manager Song gulped quietly and replied, "Actually, two thousand  taels is just the deposit."

Young Master Wei looked enraged, but calmed down when the manager added, "We have a limited amount of memberships, and each one has to be renewed at the end of every month. If not, the members will always be the same right?"

"Alright. Then how much will an official membership cost, another two thousand?"

"That depends on what type you want. The one-time usage, privilege, exclusive, diamond or VIP membership?"

"How much is the privilege one?"

Manager Song was about to give an honest answer until he glanced at the teen extending five fingers at him. "Four... I mean, five thousand!" He hastily changed his sentence halfway when the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. 

Young Master Wei's expression soured. "Manager Song, is this the lowest price?"

The room temperature kept dropping and a few beads of cold sweat rolled down Manager Song's forehead and he subconsciously shivered. "Yes. In fact, this is already the discounted price as a token of appreciation for General Wei's bravery." A one thousand tael increase in price was technically a discount... on Young Master Wei's savings.

"What about the exclusive membership, then?"

Poor Manager Song. He tried to focus, he really did. But it was near impossible with a teenage boy behind the targeted customer holding a scale with one silver tael on one end and two silver taels on the other end while pointing at the side with two silver taels.

"Ah... exclusive membership. Um... Er..." Manager Song stuttered as his eyes drifted back and forth between the two people.

"Manager Song, are you alright?" Young Master Wei waved a hand in front of him. "What are you looking at?" He turned around, and the manager sighed in relief when he saw the teen clasping his hands behind his back, admiring the golden scale he was holding previously.

He blinked innocently. "Oh. Are you done?" He proceeded to add more silver taels to the side of the scale with two taels while saying, "If I remember correctly, it costs two thousand taels to upgrade each membership tier from privilege to diamond, and the VIP membership has a one year expiry date, so it costs more. Am I right, Manager Song?"

"Yes, yes. Absolutely correct."

Young Master Wei dug out his purse and placed the whole thing on the table. "I'll buy the privilege membership and send a servant with the rest of the money within today."

"Good. We just need to sign a contract."

When the contract was brought out and set on the table, the teen sat down beside Young Master Wei and asked him a lot of menial questions from his birthday to his favourite dish and even the colour of his curtains.

Whether it was due to excitement or to get away from the incessant chatter next to him, Young Master Wei barely skimmed through the parchment before biting his thumb and sealing the contract in blood. 

The teen smiled.

And so, the customer gladly flaunted his membership all the way out the hall and down the street, blissfully unaware that in the near future, he would look back to this day and wish he had paid more attention to the contract after all. 

The teen looked out the window and saw the arrogant attendant who had let them in earlier 'trip' and fall into Young Master Wei's chest while escorting him out. She then blushed like an innocent maiden and apologised for her mistake. Without getting out of her compromising position.

The teen clicked his tongue and withdrew his gaze. He turned to Manager Song and said, "Bring me that attendant. It's time to teach her her place."

Manager Song cupped his fists and left the room. While he was gone, the teen whipped out an exquisite silver mask, put on a purple outer robe and sat on the fanciest chair in the room. 

Soon, the manager came back with a girl in a silver uniform who had a delicate sort of beauty vibe, one that made men subconsciously want to protect her. She obviously knew that, and played up her strong points by disguising her awe, shyly lowering her head, and softly saying, "Su Xuan greets Pavilion Master. Is there anything Pavilion Master needs from this humble servant?"

'Pfft. Another white lotus. Has Manager Song gone blind to even hire her?' the teen thought.

He said, "Humble servant? Tsk. What happened to your high and mighty attitude just now?"

Su Xuan's face paled and tear droplets gathered at the corner of her eyes. "This— This servant has no idea what Pavilion Master is talking about."

'She truly knows how to play the game, but too bad for her, I make the rules.'