Based on Zhou Shixian's "suggestion," the small foreign trade company that Meng Xuejun founded and mortgaged himself was eventually used as part of the gambling debts to pay off the casino at a relatively low price.

The company, along with its few old desks and an old computer, couldn't possibly fill the 100,000 yuan hole.

Meng Zihan naturally wouldn't help with the remaining huge debts, leaving them all to Meng Xuejun to bear himself.

After being brought back from the casino in Macau by the police, Meng Xuejun stayed huddled in his rented room, fearing that Meng Zihan would come and lash out at him.

But to his surprise, Meng Zihan never showed up, and it was he who couldn't sit still any longer.

He lost all his money in Macau and had no money left. When he returned to Hong Kong, he ate the leftover food from before he left.

But he had already eaten it all in the past two days, and even went hungry for two meals.

Meng Xuejun felt that continuing to starve like this was not a solution, and he had to go to Meng Zihan to ask for money.

When Meng Xuejun came to his door, Meng Zihan was flipping through a fashion magazine in a frustrated mood. Hearing the sound, her brows furrowed even more.

She opened the door, and a sour smell mixed with cheap tobacco and sweat hit her.

Meng Xuejun's once handsome face was now covered in oil and looked haggard, with sunken eyes and hair as messy as a clump of withered grass.

"Zihan..." he began, his voice hoarse like a broken gong, "Help Dad! Those people... those people want my life!"

He tried to grab Meng Zihan's hand, but she dodged it with disgust.

Meng Zihan looked at him coldly, without a trace of sympathy in her eyes.

She felt nothing but endless contempt for this nominal father.

A gambler and swindler who can't even live his own life, and now he wants to drag her down with him?

"How can I help you?" She raised her head, staring down at him. "The company is gone. That was our only way to make money, and now you've gambled it all away. I'm just a helpless outsider, penniless. What can I do to help you?"

"You...you can go to Director Zhou!" Meng Xuejun was sweating profusely. "Aren't you two in that kind of relationship? He's so rich, if he's willing to ask, this amount of money is nothing to him!"

Meng Zihan scoffed, her contempt deepening.

"Director Zhou? Meng Xuejun, have you lost your mind from gambling? Why should he help me? Just because I've had a few meals with him? Who do you think you are? Now that the company is gone, I'm no longer of any use to him. He'd rather avoid me than let me get away with this!"

Her words were half true and half false.

Factory Director Zhou has indeed stopped contacting her, but that's because of his wife's situation.

There was no need to tell Meng Xuejun about Zhou Shixian's matter, lest he get entangled with him again.

She deliberately spoke so resolutely in order to completely extinguish Meng Xuejun's hopes.

Meng Xuejun was completely dumbfounded. He stared blankly at his daughter's cold face, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Meng Zihan was too lazy to waste any more words with him. She slammed the door shut, shutting out his despair and stench.

Outside the door, Meng Xuejun, unwilling to give up, secretly observed for several more days.

He discovered that Meng Zihan had never ridden in Director Zhou's car again, and now relied on public transportation every day, her life seemingly returning to its initial state of hardship.

The pressure from the casino is mounting daily, with debt collection calls becoming increasingly aggressive.

Finally, on a dark and stormy night, Meng Xuejun once again chose to pack up and run away.

As soon as he ran away, trouble immediately fell on Meng Zihan's head.

"It is only natural for children to pay for their parents' debts."

Two men wearing floral shirts and thick gold chains around their necks blocked Meng Zihan's apartment building. They spoke in broken Mandarin, and although their tone was polite, the menacing look in their eyes was undisguised.

Meng Zihan looked at the two men without saying a word, but then looked at Zhou Shixian, who was sitting to the side, slowly drinking coffee.

The café played soothing old Cantonese songs, and the air was filled with the rich aroma of coffee.

Zhou Shixian didn't even raise his head. He simply put down his coffee cup, took out a clean white handkerchief from his suit pocket, and slowly wiped the corner of his mouth.

Then, he lazily raised his eyelids and glanced at the two men.

Does she owe you money?

"Her dad owes..."

“I’m asking about her,” Zhou Shixian interrupted, his eyes turning cold. “Legally, is she obligated to pay back her gambling-addicted father’s debts?”

The two men were taken aback by his question, and their momentum immediately weakened.

Zhou Shixian chuckled, took out a few hundred-yuan bills from his wallet, and threw them on the table as if he were giving money away to a beggar.

"Get out." He only said one word.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like an ice pick, making the two burly men shiver.

They exchanged a glance, seemingly recognizing Zhou Shixian's identity, and didn't dare utter another word. They picked up the money on the table, turned around, and slunk away.

The entire process takes no more than one minute.

Meng Zihan stared in disbelief at everything until the two people disappeared through the door, at which point she finally came to her senses.

Then, the way she looked at the man in front of her completely changed.

It was a complex gaze, a mixture of worship, fear, and dependence.

“Your place is no good; all sorts of shady characters come knocking on your door.” Zhou Shixian picked up his coffee, took a sip, and said casually, as if commenting on something unrelated to himself. “If you’re with me, you can’t live like this.”

He stood up and looked down at Meng Zihan: "This outfit you're wearing isn't high-quality enough, throw it away."

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