The Rise of the Urban God

CHAPTER 17

“Gold card customer…” one of the workers offered lemon juice to Henry. “Please be seated, sir. I’ll check the balance right away.”

Henry took the lemon water and then came and sat down next to Ayana because there was an empty chair. He sipped on lemon water and then offered her, “Want some?”

Ayana shook her head.

“Too bad. Why are you two here anyway?” Henry asked. “Are you trying to open a bank account for that nobody sitting next to you?”

“He’s not a nobody. He’s Ulmer,” Ayana quickly said.

“Ulmer… how big is he?” Henry asked, making Ayana frown.

Ulmer was getting up, but Ayana grabbed his hand and told him to sit down.

Ulmer coldly looked at Henry, but Henry found it amusing.

Ayana then looked at Henry. “You should just mind your business, Senior. That’s better for everyone.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Henry sucked in a deep breath and then purposely blew air in her face.

The veins in Ulmer’s arm bulged from his hand all the way up to his shoulder. Even though he looked like a slim man, when he clenched his hand, the muscles that were hiding underneath his slim arm now bulked up.

Henry saw that and was a little surprised. After all, he also worked out a lot, so he knew that one wouldn’t gain such a definition in the arm without doing a lot of pull ups and push ups.

“Senior, I checked the balance,” the worker said loudly. “It’s 17 gold, 68 silver and 99 copper coins.”

“As expected our Senior Henry!” The other two lower-ranked officers praised him right away. “Our bank balance always wavers between one and two gold coins, but his bank balance is over seventeen gold! One can easily build a decent double bedroom house with that much money. He already has so much bank balance even though he’s so young.”

Their words were like music to Henry’s ears.

“I don’t spend on useless things,” Henry said proudly. “My salary is 44 silver per month. And I make sure to save at least 30 to 35 silver every month. That’s why I managed to save so much money. It’s all the money I earned. None of it is my father’s.” He looked at Ayana. “But what about you Ayana? How much money do you have in your bank account?”

Ayana didn’t reply, or rather she couldn’t because she had the bare minimum required to keep her bank account alive, which was 10 copper coins for her copper bank card.

“What’s the point of getting fifth rank in juvenile scholar exams when you don’t know how to use that rank and achieve great things?” Henry added. “Sending letters to the emperor won’t solve anything for you, as they don’t care about people like us. They only do so when they gain something from it. At any rate, it’s still not too late for you. You should shake the right hands and be friends with the right people, and you’ll rise in ranks and stature automatically.”

“Husband,” Ayana looked at Ulmer. “Let’s go. We’ll come back tomorrow.” She got up.

“Leaving already?” Henry teased her. “Weren’t you gonna open a bank account for your ‘husband?’ Oh wait, maybe, you don’t have 10 copper coins with you right now. Do you want me to lend you some?”

Ayana felt greatly humiliated, so much so that she didn’t want to be there.

Ulmer stood and walked over to the table and took out his bank card. Seeing the gold card, everyone’s expressions changed.

“A gold card?” one of the officers stepped forward. “Who did you steal it from?”

“I didn’t steal it from anyone,” Ulmer replied. “It’s my card.” He put his thumb on the card, and it glowed, suggesting that he was the owner of the card.

And so the officers stopped in their tracks.

“Hmph,” Henry snorted. “So what if it’s a gold card? All kinds of posers these days show off with gold cards, when in truth their accounts don’t even have ten silver coins in them. I’m sure you’re also the same case!”

“This looks like a new card,” the bank employee said and then went over to the machine that looked similar to a computer, but it looked more like a mirror than a computer. The type machine was also old-fashioned but was working efficiently.

“How much money do you think your ‘husband’ has in his bank account, Ayana?” Henry asked her. “I think he’ll have a few silver coins. With those coins, you and your family can’t survive for long, can you? After all, you will be forced to close your restaurant. And you will have no source of income. I can’t help but feel bad for you.”

Just then, the worker saw the data on the machine screen, and he removed his spectacles in shock. He quickly stood and shouted, “Guard, go and bring fresh apple juice! Right now!”

The guard heard his words and ran out in a hurry. He didn’t care if he was abandoning his guard’s position to do so because he was just doing what he was told to.

The employee, on the other hand, ran over to Ulmer, wiped the card clean, and carefully handed it back to him.

As Ayana and the low-ranked officers watched silently with semi-widened eyes, and Henry was drinking the lemon juice nonchalantly, the bank employee uttered, “Sir Ulmer King. Y-Your bank balance is… 850 gold coins.”

“Pfft,” Henry ended up half-swallowing and half-spitting the lemon juice hurriedly, and some of the juice went into his nose, making him cough a lot.