Chapter 5

Yuan Lingling couldn’t suppress the fear gnawing at her heart.

The moment she met Shen Caisheng’s gaze, she felt like a venomous snake had coiled itself around her throat, choking her.

She was terrified of being locked up!

“Well… Xie Guanglian said he’s ready to repay the money he owes us,” Yuan Lingling finally blurted out what she thought was the perfect excuse.

“Yuan Lingling,” Xie Guanglian didn’t even have time to feel scared. This lunatic woman—when did he ever owe her money?

“Where did I...”

At this moment, Yuan Lingling couldn’t possibly give him a chance to speak. She cut him off before he could finish.

“A few days ago, you said Xie Dage was going to be promoted to director, and all the family’s money was spent on activities. Your porridge bowl at home was so empty it could double as a mirror.”

“Last month, you said Xie Dage took the money you spent on buying a job to butter up the boss, and you got so angry you broke Xie Shu’s radio.”

“And...”

Xie Guanglian stared at her like he’d seen a ghost.

So what?

Wasn’t it her who felt sorry for him and wanted to give him money to make up for it?

Yuan Lingling feigned hesitation, and at the right moment, she showed a look of disdain, while hesitatingly extending her slender, pale wrist, and took out a few pieces of paper from the pocket of her cotton-padded jacket.

“Xie Erge, these are all IOUs. We’re all neighbours on Hongmin Road, and I won’t charge you interest. I’m not great with numbers, so you and Caisheng can figure it out,” she said, and without waiting for a response, she shoved the notes into Shen Caisheng’s hand.

As their fingers touched, Shen Caisheng felt the icy chill of Yuan Lingling’s fingers. He looked up at her, but before he could speak, she looked away guiltily, like a thief caught in the act.

“I’m going to cook,” she said, and then she ran off, as if she were being chased by a pack of dogs.

Watching her figure disappear, Shen Caisheng then turned his gaze to those notes. The notes looked freshly written, it was clear that the owner had kept them well. There were more than ten of them, all Xie Guanglian’s IOUs, ranging from thirty or forty yuan to a few yuan and a few cents, all unfolded in Shen Caisheng’s hand.

He looked at them one by one, his face unreadable.

“Caisheng, these... these...”

Could he say that these were just to keep Yuan Lingling happy?

Yuan Lingling had promised back then that she didn’t need him to repay this money, and she didn’t need him to write any damn IOUs. But who could tell him why these IOUs were still kept by her?

Shen Caisheng tightened his grip on the stack of IOUs and looked up at the person in front of him, but what the other person said made Xie Guanglian’s heart skip a beat.

“It all adds up to two hundred twenty-eight yuan and sixty-five cents. Hand it over.”

“What! How could there be so much!” How could that idiot have given him so much cash!

Shen Caisheng let out a derisive snort, making Xie Guanglian’s heart skip a beat.

“You don’t know how much you borrowed? With this little, would I really cheat you over this?”

Listen, are you even serious right now?

This little? Two hundred is this little? If it’s this little, then don’t fucking ask for it!

Xie Guanglian had always been intimidated by Shen Caisheng since childhood. They were less like brothers and more like Shen Caisheng and his little follower. Later, when Shen Caisheng no longer wanted a follower, Xie Guanglian couldn’t get close to him anymore, but his fear of Shen Caisheng remained.

"No way," Xie Guanglian said, though he was cursing inside, he kept his tone polite. "It’s just that I’m a little short on cash right now. Could you give me a couple more days?"

Even if he were given twenty days, or two hundred days, he wouldn’t be able to come up with over two hundred yuan, but he would definitely try to stall for as long as he could.

"Two days. If I don’t see the money by then, I’ll be at your brother’s workplace."

Shen Caisheng’s expression didn’t change; he just looked over at his smoking chimney. He said indifferently, "I doubt your brother wants to see me."

Who the hell wants to see you? Xie Guanglian thought.

Shen Caisheng wasn’t the type to get along with people. If you left him alone, he’d ignore you, but if you crossed him, he’d make life hard for you.

He had tried to pull a fast one, but instead of coming out ahead, he ended up owing over two hundred yuan. Xie Guanglian was fuming.

He tried to negotiate, but Shen Caisheng shut him down.

"Don’t go bothering my wife; people might get the wrong idea."

Xie Guanglian froze, his words caught in his throat. Only after Shen Caisheng shut the gate did he wipe the imaginary sweat from his brow, suddenly feeling like a complete coward.

"Shit!"

Frustrated, he spun around and kicked the tree as hard as he could.

"Ah…" A sharp pain shot through him, and he let out a muffled cry, biting down to keep quiet. He crouched there, clutching his foot until the pain finally subsided.

Damn it!

He’d chop that damn tree down and burn it for firewood!

Limping home, Xie Guanglian spotted Xie Aihe peeking out from their courtyard gate.

"What happened to you, Second Brother? Why are you limping? Did Yuan Lingling refuse to give you what you wanted? I think she’s just looking down on you!"

Xie Aihe, Xie Guanglian’s younger sister, had always clashed with Yuan Lingling since they were kids. Now that Yuan Lingling had married the man she wanted, Xie Aihe couldn’t stand to see her thriving.

When she found out that the woman had hooked up with her second brother, while she despised Xie Guanglian, she also felt a secret delight. It would be best if Yuan Lingling could quickly divorce Shen Caisheng and marry her second brother—then she’d have the chance to deal with her!

But Yuan Lingling, who had always been at her second brother’s beck and call, seemed to be getting out of control recently. Seeing her second brother like this, he must have been humiliated in front of that woman.

What a loser.

She thought this in her heart, and her emotions were hard to conceal, which Xie Guanglian noticed.

Xie Guanglian’s face darkened, and his tone wasn’t very pleasant either. "Can’t you see I hurt my foot? Get out of the way!"

Xie Aihe was inexplicably yelled at and felt a bit at a loss, but then she felt anger rising. Why was he taking it out on her when he was the one who was useless?

She hid the disdain in her eyes, forced a smile, and went forward to support him. "What happened? Could it be that Shen Caisheng hit you?"

Xie Aihe knew that her second brother usually hated it when people said he was inferior to Shen Caisheng. She took advantage of this and brought him up in front of Xie Guanglian every day, always managing to provoke his anger.

As she expected, as soon as Shen Caisheng’s name was mentioned, Xie Guanglian exploded like a firecracker.

"Him? You think he could hit me?"

"If it wasn’t him, then was it Yuan Lingling?" Xie Aihe undoubtedly understood Xie Guanglian. If he had really been hit, he would be clamouring for revenge right now, but since he didn’t say anything, it was probably that he had taken a bad fall and was too embarrassed to admit it.

But by the look of him, he must not have gotten anywhere with Yuan Lingling just now.

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