The gambling den was built, but a disagreement arose over whose name it should be opened under. I tried to goad the Crown Prince into opening it himself, but he seemed to realize that such an establishment might tarnish his reputation, so he flatly refused.
How could I possibly give up on such a perfect opportunity to ruin his image? I immediately suggested opening it in my name instead. "After all," I told him, "I’m not a citizen of your Feng Imperial Dynasty. If any trouble breaks out later, I can just play the fool and distance myself. But if it’s opened under my name, you’ll have to give me a cut of the profits. Otherwise, why would I bother doing all this work for nothing?"
The two of us haggled back and forth. After my relentless badgering, I secured twenty percent of the net profits and sat in the seat of the public-facing owner. I picked an auspicious date, and we opened for business. We didn’t send out formal invitations this time; instead, I hired a group of beauties to lure young scions into the place. Business was sluggish at first, but I told the Crown Prince not to worry. "Give it a month, and our business will boom. After all, nobody really knows how to handle this sort of thing yet." When it came to business, the Crown Prince trusted me quite a bit.
Chapter 179