Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Eight: Chasing Memories (1/2)

“S-sir, I, I promise I’ll change my ways. I-I won’t gamble anymore, I swear,” Xiao Zihao stammered.

“Compared to your own life, it seems that you don’t care about your mother’s life at all,” Yan Jin said.

Cold sweat immediately began rolling off of Xiao Zihao. Shivering, he slid off the chair with a pom and knelt on the ground.

He was so scared that he couldn’t meet the gaze of the person in front of him.

If he looked into Yan Jin’s eyes, Yan Jin would be able to see all of his innermost thoughts from beginning to end. Xiao Zihao didn’t feel like he was talking to a human, but rather making a deal with the devil, a demon, or some other inhuman creature.

In all of the days his debt collectors had been chasing him for repayments, he had never been this scared.

Yan Jin continued to sip his coffee and didn’t pursue the previous topic. Instead, he said to the youth kneeling before his feet, “Whatever amount you owed the gambling dens has been transferred to me. How do you plan to repay me?”

“M-my mother will pay you back for me.”

“This card contains all of her remaining assets.” Yan Jin tapped the bank card on the table. “Unless you think that aside from her apartment, she still has another hidden stash of money?”

Xiao Zihao understood clearly that his tricks for dealing with debt collectors were useless before Yan Jin. Every lie he said would be instantly seen through. There was nothing he could do except silently await Yan Jin’s judgment.

Actually, Fang Wanqing wasn’t the first person Xiao Zihao thought of. Despite all his years overseas, he knew exactly how much money his mother had. Earlier, when he’d overheard that his mother was giving Yan Jin the money from selling the apartment, his heart had shattered. He’d almost rushed out of the neighboring booth to stop his mother.

Indeed, the first person he had thought of was his half-brother, the person who had acted as his moving ATM over the past four years, Xiao Yu.

But, unless he didn’t want his life anymore, he couldn’t bring up Xiao Yu’s name. The creditor in front of him was his brother’s fiance.

When he’d first heard of this news, Xiao Zihao had been elated at the thought of a never-ending source of wealth. However, he quickly realized he’d been too naive. He’d been treating this… monster as a regular person.

“Thought of your brother? You still think pretty quickly,” Yan Jin sneered.

Xiao Zihao trembled like a sieve.

I’ve been seen through. I’ve been seen through again.

I’ve been seen through by this monster.

This monster knows everything. He’s not human. He’s not human!

Xiao Zihao was already on the edge of collapsing.

“Would you like to guess what happened to the last person I fished out of a gambling den?”

“I’m willing to do anything. I’ll do anything. Please spare me!” Xiao Zihao heavily knocked his forehead to the ground. The cold ceramic tiling brought him a moment of clarity, but he was just as quickly submerged by his enveloping dread.

“I hope you can keep your promise. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee anything.” Yan Jin’s lips curled upwards.

……

Far away, Shao Yue sneezed.

“Caught a cold?” Chu Ge asked. He was sitting in the same office.

“No, maybe someone is badmouthing me.” Shao Yue’s intuition was scarily accurate. “It must be Yan Jin. Who knows what trouble he’s up to now.”

Chu Ge suddenly felt that his own nose began to itch.

“*Sigh*, I used to be one of the bigshots at University N. How could I have fallen so far as to be pushed around by this guy? It’s really too unfortunate.”

“I remember that. Yan Jin told me he found a very useful friend when he went to University N as an exchange student. Then, as expected, he got this person to work for him.”

“Hey, are you really saying this in front of the person himself? What very useful friend? That’s too much. Isn’t the Nan Family normally very polite? Mind your manners.”

“I renounced the name Nan a long time ago.” Chu Ge didn’t mind talking about his identity with people he already knew.

“*Sigh*, Why didn’t I think of changing names back then? It would have been such a good idea. Instead, I’ve been stuck with Yan Jin for such a long time because of a single mistake. I can’t even leave.” Shao Yue was extremely annoyed.

“It’s not too late to leave. If you go back to your family to claim your successorship, you’ll have access to millions of yuan. You can pay back your debt then,” Chu Ge said.

Shao Yue waved his hands. “You of all people are telling me this? If it were so easy to return home, what are you still doing here helping Yan Jin to clean up this mess?”

Chu Ge received a critical strike.

Avoiding Shao Yue’s eyes, he said untruthfully, “Well, I’m the kind of person who would take a knife for my friends.”

“… Can you repeat that while looking at me?”

“My problems are more complicated. It’s hard to explain.” Chu Ge forcefully changed the topic. “There’s something I’ve always been very curious about. How did you end up owing Yan Jin so much money?”

“Let’s not talk about this. Whenever I remember what happened, I always feel scammed.” Shao Yue’s face warped in distaste just from thinking about it. “My original intention had been to not fight over the inheritance so that everyone would still get along. I hadn’t expected that giving it up so easily would provoke those two old bastards to unleash their own secret scheme. Not only was I forced to accept my cousin’s debt, I was also expelled from the family. You know the rest. Yan Jin was the only one who quickly reached out to help me. I was forced to sell myself into slavery and work endlessly for him.”

“Did you really need his help though? Couldn’t you have settled that amount on your own? Perhaps you would have needed to limit any expenses for a while, but at least you wouldn’t still be in debt right now then, right?” Chu Ge said.

“Settle the debt on my own? How? By crawling back home like an obedient dog after repaying my cousin’s debt?” Shao Yue laughed. “Those debt collectors chased me around for half a month. Even my own mother didn’t want to save me and instead was probably hoping I’d die. My last semblance of dignity had been stripped away; who would I be pretending to be friendly for? And, why should I have to repay other people’s debts? Those people wanted me dead anyways.”

“So then you decided to break off from the Shao Family?”