Chapter 178 He always offends some people he can't afford to offend.

Jiang Wang had just caught up when Qin Ce stopped him with a look. He awkwardly stopped in his tracks, chuckling.

"Where are the others?" Qin Ce asked.

"Oh, them? They're probably in the hospital right now. Don't worry, Brother Ce, once they're discharged, we'll make them kneel down in front of your wife and apologize!"

Qin Ce pondered for a moment and said, "Don't scare her."

Before Jiang Wang could react, he got into the car. Jiang Wang stood there stunned for a moment, but the car had already driven away.

"Brother Ce, can you give me a ride? I don't want to ride in that lawyer Yang's car!!"

Jiang Wang chased after it for a few steps but couldn't catch up. He was panting heavily, supporting himself on his knees as he watched the car disappear from sight.

"Depend on!"

Qiao Xing sat in the car, staring at him expectantly. The car was really soundproof; she hadn't heard a word they were saying.

"Um, what did you guys talk about?" Qiao Xing asked.

Qin Ce spoke nonsense with a straight face, "I thanked them."

"Oh." Qiao Xing nodded. "We should thank him, but why is Jiang Wang helping us like this? Didn't you two have a falling out before?"

Qin Ce remained unfazed, saying, "Because I'm handsome."

"..."

Qiao Xing twitched the corner of her mouth. She wasn't a three-year-old child who would believe such a bizarre reason.

Qin Ce glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and said again, "He had a limited edition game console that broke, and I fixed it for him."

Is that so?

"Um."

Qiao Xing couldn't find a word to say when her phone rang. It was a payment reminder text message. She opened it and saw that she had to pay 6,083 this month!

She checked the bank card app for the loan, which showed yesterday as the repayment date, but she hadn't made the payment, and today she received a collection notice.

It's only been one day overdue, so why is there an extra 1,500?

Qiao Xing frowned, scratching his head, no matter how he calculated it, it didn't make sense.

Qin Ce sensed something was wrong and asked, "What's wrong?"

Qiao Xing stared at the repayment amount on her phone and said, "I forgot to pay yesterday, so I have to pay an extra 1,500 today. Are late payment penalties this high now?"

Qin Ce glanced at her. "How much did you borrow? The penalty interest is already 1,500 a day?"

"Really? Look, I was supposed to pay back 4583 every month."

Qin Ce parked the car on the side of the road, took her phone and glanced at it; it really was true.

"Do you have a phone? Let's ask."

Qiao Xing nodded, quickly found the manager's number and dialed it. She then glanced at Qin Ce, "What should I say?"

Qin Ce extended his hand.

Qiao Xing quickly placed the phone in his palm, and the call was answered as soon as he put it down.

Qin Ce pressed the speakerphone button, and a man's voice came from the other end, "Miss Qiao, it's been a long time. I was just about to call you."

"How do you calculate this interest rate?"

Upon hearing a man's voice, the manager immediately smiled and said, "Are you talking about the loan interest rate? Ten percent."

Qin Ce gripped the phone with one hand and rubbed the steering wheel with the other. "What about the overdue interest?"

The person on the other end paused for a moment, then smiled somewhat reluctantly, "Three percent."

Which three percent?

"Isn't it written in the contract that it's three percent of the principal?"

Qin Ce frowned. "Shouldn't it be three percent of the principal due in the current period?"

"Hey bro, every loan company has different rules. Miss Qiao read the contract when she signed it. If she makes payments on time, there won't be any problems, right?"

“She’s overdue now, but we’re just following the contract.”

Qin Ce sneered, "Is that so? Then let me ask you, is your three percent penalty interest calculated on a daily basis, or based on the maximum penalty interest for overdue payments?"

"This, this is of course calculated by the day..."

"Okay, I've recorded it. That's all for now."

"Hey, wait, wait..." The man on the other end was clearly flustered and wanted to say something, but Qin Ce had already hung up.

Qiao Xing, who was listening nearby, looked completely bewildered. She awkwardly took the phone and asked, "What he just said means that if I'm late for even one more day, I'll have to pay an extra 1,500 yuan per day?"

Qin Ce looked at her indifferently and said two words coldly, "Yes."

"But I really forgot, why didn't they call or text yesterday?"

Qin Ce restarted the car and drove off. "I sent you a message yesterday, how are they still making money?"

Qiao Xing's heart skipped a beat. "That's even more outrageous than loan sharking! If I can't pay it back, won't I end up owing tens of thousands of yuan after just one month?"

"Yes."

"..."

He remained remarkably calm, while Qiao Xing was frantic, "What, what do we do?"

"It's okay, I recorded it. They're the ones who should be nervous now."

Qiao Xing suddenly grabbed his sleeve and said worriedly, "Qin Ce, I know you're smart, but these people who dare to take out loans like this must have some influence. We shouldn't offend them."

"It's just 1,500. I'll pay it back now, and I'll set an alarm every month to make sure I pay on time."

Qin Ce reduced the car speed to the minimum and turned to look at Qiao Xing.

Seeing the worry and fear in her eyes, he paused for a moment, then freed one hand to hold hers. "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Qiao Xing finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was no longer afraid of the 1,500 yuan, but was worried about Qin Ce.

His personality makes him too prone to offending people, and those he offends are all people she can't afford to mess with.

For example, there was Jiang Wang at the beginning, Fang Ya later, and that group of rich kids this morning, and now there's a loan company.

What are we going to do now...?

Qiao Xing was just an ordinary office worker who had never seen much of the world. He didn't even dare to offend the company's leaders, let alone these powerful and influential people.

How could she not be afraid?

She had heard from other colleagues that a friend of hers had excellent grades and even studied abroad, but he had become a bookworm because of his studies.

I always felt that justice could prevail over evil, and that the world was a wonderful place, as depicted in the news—a place of light and harmony.

As a result, I offended someone, and now I don't even know where that person is.

The more Qiao Xing looked at Qin Ce, the more he felt that he was just like his colleague had said, a bookworm who had become obsessed with studying.

There's a kind of fearless, naive stupidity about it.

Qin Ce was unaware that he had been perceived as a simple-minded bookworm in Qiao Xing's mind. He was currently figuring out where to drop Qiao Xing off so he could get down to business.

The manager who had just finished the call was extremely anxious and immediately contacted his supervisor to report the matter.

The man on the phone said, "What are you worried about? It's not the first time something like this has happened. Calm down, we'll find a few people to scare them, and these petty citizens will back down."

The manager, recalling the man's tone, was still a little worried. "Boss, won't this backfire?"

"Flip my ass! How come you're getting worse as you get older? I've told you so many times, I have connections, so don't worry about it!"

"Yes, yes, yes." The manager wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly smiled apologetically.