Chapter 34 She went into the next room!
When Hua Cheng and Liu Zhuang came out of the hotel arm in arm, their clothes were already soaked and looked quite shabby.
Even after getting into the car, Liu Zhuang was still marveling, "That kid looks skinny, but he's such a good fighter. The two of us teamed up and still couldn't gain the upper hand."
"He must have been a swindler too many times and got beaten up a lot. He just got used to it." Hua Cheng loosened his tie, and the movement was so big that two buttons on his shirt popped off. He immediately felt that he could breathe more easily.
Liu Zhuang looked at his face in the mirror and noticed several scratches: "He's so uncivilized, scratching and pinching like that, he doesn't look like a hermit master at all... By the way, did you get the money back?"
"No."
Liu Zhuang glared: "Why didn't you bring it back?!"
"We were too busy running for our lives to ask for money. If you want it, go back and ask for it yourself. I'm not going."
Hua Cheng felt a pang of embarrassment whenever he recalled the scene of his attempt to beat up the Native American savage, only to be beaten up by him instead.
Liu Zhuang's face stung, but the thought of the money still made him resentful: "Two hundred thousand!"
“Four hundred thousand,” Hua Cheng corrected, “I had already given you two hundred thousand before you went.”
Liu Zhuang felt a pang of jealousy: "No... how could you be so generous? You gave me the money before even confirming if he was a scammer?!"
"How dare you say that?" Hua Cheng glanced at him sideways. "If you hadn't given me his contact information, would I have trusted him so much?"
"I gave you my contact information so you could get treatment, not so you could catch your lover cheating!" Liu Zhuang was speechless.
Hua Cheng let out an exaggerated "Ha!": "He can't even catch a mistress, how can he cure my illness?"
"Perhaps everyone has their own area of expertise?"
"Go to hell with you."
The carriage fell silent.
After a long pause, Liu Zhuang suddenly spoke up: "Far away, yet right before our eyes."
Hua Cheng: "Pfft."
Liu Zhuang: "Pfft."
As soon as Hua Cheng spoke, Liu Zhuang immediately followed suit, and the two of them started puffing like two deflated balloons, bursting into laughter after they finished.
"So close yet so far, how could he say that? He practically called me the other woman, it's hilarious," Liu Zhuang laughed until tears streamed down his face. "With our relationship, do you think we'd let him try to sow discord?"
"Whether you're susceptible to provocation or not is another matter, but Yun Jin doesn't like your type either," Hua Cheng laughed. "Although that little piece of trash isn't a good person, he must be quite good-looking."
Liu Zhuang: "..."
Something about this sentence feels off.
Before he could think about it, Hua Cheng suddenly sighed: "I was hoping to find a medium to find out that kid's identity, but it was all for nothing."
Liu Zhuang immediately asked, "So what should we do now, continue the stakeout?"
OK, the topic was successfully changed. Hua Cheng silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Faced with Liu Zhuang's question, Hua Cheng pondered for a moment and said, "We've been waiting for so many days and haven't gotten anything. What else is there to wait for... It's time to change our strategy."
Liu Zhuang: "?"
Yun Jin suddenly felt a chill down her back.
The last time this happened was when Hua Cheng refused to come back from the same county.
So... he's going to cause trouble again?
Yun Jin put down her phone and looked at Xiao Wu, who was still rambling on across from her.
When I took him upstairs just now, he asked her why she knew the convenience store clerk. She asked him in return why he didn't know why she was investigating those people after he had been looking them up for so long.
"I know, wasn't it to help a friend?" Xiao Wu said innocently.
Yun Jin: "That convenience store clerk is my friend."
Xiao Wu gradually opened his mouth wide.
Yun Jin ignored him and swiped her card to enter.
Xiao Wu immediately chased after him: "I didn't know! I was only responsible for investigating the origins and whereabouts of those people. I didn't know the person you were helping was that shop assistant. Oh my god, Sister Yun, so he's one of us! Then why didn't you... Waaaaah! Is this a palace?! Why are hotel rooms divided into living rooms and bedrooms? Shouldn't it be a small room that can only fit a bed?!"
Then began the exclamation and observation of the hotel suite.
He's been babbling on for five minutes now.
Sister Yun ordered a pot of herbal tea from room service. When the tea was delivered, Xiao Wu also said he was tired.
She pushed the perfectly warm tea towards him, and Xiao Wu drank it all in one gulp, feeling as if his pores were refreshed.
"Can we get down to business now?" Yun Jin asked.
"Yes, yes," Xiao Wu chuckled. "Sister Yun, may I ask you a question first?"
Yun Jin: "Ask away."
"I remember you said before that your friend's debt was a gambling debt left by his father before he died?"
"Yes." Yun Jin put down the photo.
Xiao Wu: "But I checked, and the IOU is for construction debts, and it has an official seal. I can't find any fault with it."
“Those people are professionals at this,” Yun Jin leaned back on the sofa. “They collude with casinos, tricking gamblers who have lost everything into signing contracts. The interest is already written into the principal, and the accounts they make are reasonable and legal.”
Xiao Wu suddenly realized: "Oh, I see. That's really shady... But then again, the law doesn't support children paying their father's debts. Your friend's father is a gambling addict, so he probably doesn't have any assets left to him. If he just gives up his inheritance, then this debt won't fall on his head, right?"
Yun Jin paused for two seconds, then said, "His father left behind a house, which he sold."
"Ah..." Xiao Wu didn't know what to say.
The IOU procedure was correct, and he inherited the estate, so the debt should naturally also be inherited.
"I originally wanted to try to find a solution through debt inheritance, but it seems that won't work now." Xiao Wu sighed, took out a photo and handed it to her, "Sister Yun, do you remember this person?"
In the photo, a thin man wearing glasses stands in front of a pancake stall, looking warily at the camera, as if he has noticed that he has been secretly photographed.
Yun Jin frowned and voiced her doubts.
"Impossible. We're using the latest camera. It looks like we're shooting up close, but we're actually quite far away. There's no way he could have spotted us," Xiao Wu immediately denied.
Yun Jin still felt something was off, but she suppressed her emotions and asked, "What's wrong with him?"
"The debt collection company that keeps harassing your friend is owned by Qiu Sheng. The man in glasses is his brother-in-law. He injured someone a while ago, and that family is demanding 500,000 yuan in compensation. If they don't pay, they'll send him to jail. Qiu Sheng's wife dotes on her brother and insists that Qiu Sheng pay the debt for him."
Yun Jin stared at the photo for a moment, then asked, "Was he in any of the photos you gave me yesterday?"
“Yes, not only him, Qiu Sheng came this time too,” Xiao Wu hurriedly said. “It seems that his company is in trouble, and he himself is heavily in debt. He doesn’t have an extra 500,000 to help his brother-in-law, so as soon as he discovered your friend’s whereabouts, he immediately brought people here. He probably wants to squeeze that money out of your friend.”
“If paying back the money would make them leave, then I’ll just give them the money. I can afford to pay them several million,” Yun Jin said calmly. “The problem is that they’re greedy and will never stop.”
Xiao Wu: "That's what our boss said too. Those people who do loans and debt collection are incredibly cunning. They probably split the original IOU into countless parts. Once they see that we have the ability to repay, they'll definitely keep biting like leeches. So we can't give them the money easily, but... we can't not give them a single penny either. After all, it's not good for anyone if a cornered dog will do something rash."
“It sounds like your boss already has a solution.” Yun Jin raised her chin, signaling him to continue.
Xiao Wu scratched his head: "Our boss's idea is that these debt collection companies are definitely not clean. As long as we continue to investigate, we will definitely find something on them, and then we can use that to negotiate, give them some money, and maybe that will solve the problem."
Using sticks and large pancakes is both efficient and reliable.
Yun Jin knew this was the best solution at the moment, and after thinking for a moment, she said, "Two days."
"Hmm?" Xiao Wu looked up.
Yun Jin: "At most two days. No matter what the investigation reveals, I have to meet with them."
Xiao Wu looked distressed: "Sister Yun, two days is too short, not even enough time for the journey..."
“I will also send people to investigate, and it may not even take two days,” Yun Jin interrupted him. “In any case, keep your phone on. I will contact you as soon as I find anything useful, and we can go to them to negotiate at any time.”
That group of people was like a time bomb, posing a constant risk of exploding. She had to compress the time as much as possible and resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
Seeing that she had made up her mind, Xiao Wu had no choice but to nod in agreement.
After finishing their business, Xiao Wu left, and Yun Jin sat alone on the sofa, lost in thought.
A few minutes later, the phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a message from Xiao Wu.
Yun Jin clicked on it and saw a photo. Even if the person in the photo was only seen from behind, she could recognize them at a glance.
Why hasn't he left yet?
Why haven't they left yet? Hua Yu wanted to know too.
After the elevator doors closed, his mind went blank for a long time. When he came to his senses, he was already outside the hotel.
But they didn't go any further.
He sat on the steps next to the side entrance of the hotel, watching the people and cars coming and going on the street, seemingly thinking a lot, yet also seemingly thinking nothing at all.
Then that person came out. Although he didn't turn around, he could tell that the other person was secretly taking pictures of him and seemed to have sent them to Yun Jin.
Then what?
Hua Yu glanced at her phone; there were no new messages on her chat page with Yun Jin.
How long has that not-so-young, not-so-handsome guy been gone? Even with such a bad signal, the photos should have been sent by now, so why is she still not responding?
If it were in the past...
What past? There's no past between them!
Hua Yu stood up abruptly, her face cold as she prepared to leave.
Where are you going?
A familiar voice sounded behind him, and by the time Hua Yu realized what was happening, he had already stopped.
Yun Jin walked around to him and handed him a cup of milk tea.
Hua Yu's gaze fell on her hand holding the milk tea; the watch and the ring were still there.
She remained calm, as if bringing a man back to the hotel in broad daylight was a perfectly normal thing.
Too many emotions were churning in her heart, but there was no suitable outlet. Hua Yu tried to speak several times, but each time the words were on the tip of her tongue, she swallowed them back down.
After a long pause, he suddenly said, "Your watch is broken."
Yun Jin glanced at her watch: "It's like this."
"You're so rich, yet you can't even afford a decent watch?" Unable to voice the real reason for her displeasure, Hua Yu could only dwell on this trivial matter.
Knowing he was being unreasonable, Yun Jin still responded to every single one of his points: "This one is different."
"Heh, what's different? Your husband gave it to you? It's not some kind of proof that you relied on each other when you had nothing, is it?" Hua Yu fired off, then realized the words sounded familiar.
...Did he say that before?
Yun Jin stared at him for a few seconds, and just as he was about to look away, she slowly raised the corners of her lips.
She was still smiling.
Hua Yu's breathing suddenly became rapid, and her eyes almost turned red.
Knowing she had upset someone, Yun Jin changed the subject: "The milk tea will get cold if we don't drink it soon."
Hua snorted dejectedly.
"You really won't drink? Then I'll drink it." Yun Jin said deliberately.
Hua Yu turned her face away and refused to speak.
Yun Jin raised an eyebrow, actually took out a straw, stuck it in, and started drinking.
Unexpectedly, she actually drank it. Hua Yu was furious and snatched it away, defiantly taking a sip right in front of her...
"With ice?" The sweet, cool taste hit his throat, and his eyes widened slightly.
Yun Jin said calmly, "Hmm, I think you need something cold to drink."
...Just now you were saying that it would get cold if you didn't drink it soon.
Hua Yu was speechless, but her emotions were strangely soothed.
Perhaps it's because the milk tea is full of sugar, which overpowers all the sour, bitter, and spicy flavors.
Hua Yu sat back down on the steps, and Yun Jin sat with him until he finished his whole cup of milk tea before saying, "Xiao Wu has been helping me with some things lately."
“…Who asked you?” Hua Yu turned her face away.
Yun Jin: "Don't you want to ask?"
Hua Yu: "..."
Seeing that he was silent again, Yun Jin smiled and stood up.
Hua Yu immediately grabbed her sleeve: "Where are you going?!"
"Hmm?" Yun Jin lowered her head.
Hua Yu realized she had overreacted, so she let go of her and said calmly, "Haven't you been being watched lately? Don't wander off."
Yun Jin didn't respond to his excessive emotions, but simply explained, "I didn't wander around. The security at this hotel is very good, and I'm safe here."
Hua Yu frowned: "Are you planning to stay in hotels all the time lately?"
Yun Jin: "No, I'm leaving in a bit. I'll come back after I've finished my business."
She answered every question and explained things in great detail, but Hua Yu still felt that she was hiding something from her.
He wanted to ask a few more questions, but Yun Jin suddenly stepped up and looked him straight in the eye: "Can you take a few days off?"
Hua Yu snapped out of her daze: "Why?"
“I want you to stay at home and not go anywhere.” Yun Jin looked directly into his eyes.
Hua Yu's Adam's apple bobbed, and after a long pause, she said, "No, I have to go to work."
“Okay,” Yun Jin didn’t dwell on it too much, “Then can you promise me that you won’t go anywhere else for the next few days, except for home and the convenience store?”
"What exactly happened? Are you hiding something from me?" Hua Yu sensed the unusual atmosphere and frowned.
Yun Jin smiled and reached out to pat his head: "You'll know later."
“…I’m not a child.” Hua Yu wanted to be serious when she said this, but her hand was still on his head, and he softened his voice despite his reluctance.
Yun Jin didn't argue, waved her hand, and went back to the hotel.
As she watched her figure gradually disappear into the distance, Hua Yu thought about the ten-year age difference between them and suddenly felt a pang of hatred for her own age.
He didn't want to be only twenty years old. If he could, he would prefer to be thirty, or even a little older than thirty, so that he wouldn't feel so powerless.
"I wish I could go back to being twenty!"
Hua Cheng sighed for the Nth time.
Liu Zhuang picked at his ear, pretending not to hear.
But Hua Cheng wouldn't let him off the hook: "Why didn't you react? After seeing those male escorts, don't you want to be as young as them?"
"I don't want to." Liu Zhuang texted his wife, looking down at his phone.
Hua Cheng threw herself at him: "Why don't you want to? Twenty years old, such a wonderful age, why don't you want to?"
“Because I was just as ugly as I am now when I was twenty, and I had no money.” Liu Zhuang tore him off his body and continued texting his wife.
Hua Cheng glanced at the message and saw that he had already sent more than a dozen messages, but his sister-in-law had only replied with a single word.
roll.
“How pitiful,” Hua Cheng said with sympathy. “Yun Jin would never treat me like this.”
Liu Zhuang rolled his eyes at him: "Right, right, she'll just send you a bunch of '1's."
“No, no, no,” Hua Cheng shook his finger, speaking seriously, “she only sends me a '1'.”
Liu Zhuang: "..."
nerve.
He put down his phone and looked his friend, who had a terminal illness, in the eye: "When are you leaving?"
"We'll leave once Feng Wan replies," Hua Cheng replied.
Liu Zhuang: "Then hurry up, I don't want to go home smelling like smoke."
"This is a high-end club, not the Royal Bar where we used to work. Where is this smell of smoke coming from?" Hua Cheng complained.
Liu Zhuang sneered.
The place they were in was a newly opened money pit in Pingcheng in the last two years, where the service was all male, from waiters to bartenders. You could throw a brick and hit a handsome guy who was 185cm tall.
Hua Cheng's previously mentioned change in strategy was to abandon ambushing and instead take the initiative.
...Well, his proactive approach was to introduce Yun Jin to several high-quality men, broadening her horizons and preventing her from being deceived by unscrupulous people.
“The male escorts here are young, handsome, have clean backgrounds, are sweet-talking, and most importantly, they offer a sense of novelty,” Hua Cheng gritted his teeth. “I refuse to believe they can’t compare to that scumbag who only delivers rotten watches and fruit.”
Liu Zhuang said expressionlessly, "Whatever makes you happy."
"Why hasn't Feng Wan replied yet? Could she have changed her mind?" Hua Cheng shook his phone, as if hoping to pull Feng Wan out of the phone. "That shouldn't be the case. Isn't she the one who most wants Yun Jin to have a harem?"
Liu Zhuang snatched the phone away: "Have some decency, stop harassing pregnant women."
Just as Hua Cheng was about to speak, his phone vibrated, and the two of them immediately unlocked it, heads touching.
Feng Wan: Room number.
Hua Cheng immediately sent her the house number of the house next door.
Feng Wan: I'll be there in 20 minutes. My sister will be there in about half an hour. Lawyer Lan will be with her.
Liu Zhuang clicked his tongue: "How did you convince her?"
"I told her that Yun Jin has been under a lot of pressure lately, and she's been upset because of my illness. I suggested she bring her here to relax. It would be even better if there were some guys she likes who could distract her." Hua Cheng replied to Feng Wan with an OK.
Liu Zhuang: "...That's it?"
"Isn't that enough?" Hua Cheng retorted.
When a master like him spars with Feng Wan, he doesn't need to say much to understand what the other person means.
Liu Zhuang remained silent for a moment, then raised his hands in surrender: "I give up. Feng Wan has replied now, can we leave?"
“Uh… I want to wait until they all arrive before I leave.” Hua Cheng silently looked at Liu Zhuang.
Liu Zhuang took a deep breath and endured it.
Feng Wan arrived quickly. Although she was dressed very elegantly, she looked very tired as she walked with her hands on her back.
Liu Zhuang peered through the crack in the door and watched her go inside before sighing, "Hua Cheng, Hua Cheng, you really know how to make things difficult for people."
Hua Cheng ignored him and just stared at his phone with a melancholy look on his face.
On his phone was a message from Yun Jin, sent ten minutes earlier, saying she was having a get-together with friends and couldn't have dinner with him.
While his heart ached, he replied that he had fun. The moment the message was successfully sent, he felt as if he were advising the emperor to take more empresses into his harem.
"Yun Jin and Lan Li have arrived too!" Liu Zhuang announced in a low voice.
No one answered.
He turned around in confusion and saw a resentful husband with a face full of pain and grief.
Liu Zhuang's lips twitched: "You're the one who orchestrated Yun Jin's visit, and now that she's actually here, you're the one who's unhappy. What do you want?"
"I want to live to be a hundred years old, and I want her to love only me." Hua Cheng said sadly, but then realized it was impossible, so he changed his words to, "I want her to love only me, but she won't be sad if I die."
After explaining, I still felt it was a bit difficult.
He changed his tune for the third time: "I think she doesn't want to love me anymore, but she shouldn't love that little piece of trash either. If she's going to love someone, she should love someone who treats her well... at least someone similar to me?"
“You’re making a wish,” Liu Zhuang said, closing the door and walking towards him with a smile. “Alright, stop complaining. If you regret it, I’ll find a way to get them together.”
"No," Hua Cheng stopped him, "Let her have fun. What if she meets someone she likes... If she doesn't, it's okay. With Feng Wan and Lan Li with her, she'll definitely have a great time tonight."
Liu Zhuang raised an eyebrow: "So generous?"
Hua Cheng hugged his knees, looking pitiful: "Fatty..."
"Alright, alright," Liu Zhuang put his arm around his shoulder. "I know you're upset, but try to look on the bright side. If Yun Jin really takes a liking to someone, then that little piece of trash will be out of the running, right?"
Hua Cheng: "What if she doesn't like it?"
"That means she still likes you the most." Liu Zhuang said sincerely.
Hua Cheng disagreed: "They might also be the ones who like small trash the most."
“Dude, be confident,” Liu Zhuang cupped his face, forcing him to look him in the eye. “Have you forgotten what that fake Native American savage said? That guy is just like you in every way. He’s your double, you know? Yun Jin liking him is the same as liking him, you know?”
Hua Cheng: "But wasn't that savage a fraud?"
Liu Zhuang paused, then widened his eyes: "With such a big reputation, he must have some extraordinary abilities!"
Hua Cheng thought it made sense, and his mood improved a little.
"Fatty, thank goodness you're here with me, otherwise I would have been devastated tonight." Hua Cheng said sincerely.
Liu Zhuang clicked his tongue: "You young people are so narrow-minded. Yun Jin hasn't even done anything yet, and you're already complaining. If it were me, it's just my wife coming to a private club full of handsome men to drink and chat. What's so unacceptable about that?"
"Really? Fatty, you're so generous?"
"That's just how generous I am. If you don't believe me, you can ask your sister-in-law. See if I've ever interfered when she goes out with her friends."
No sooner had Liu Zhuang finished speaking than Chen Yueqin sent a message saying that she had something to do and wouldn't be home that night, asking him to go back and keep Beibei company.
“Look, I can totally accept that she’s not coming home tonight. I won’t ask her where she’s going.” Liu Zhuang held up his phone to show her.
Hua Cheng gave a thumbs up: "Brother Pang is generous."
Liu Zhuang accepted the praise and stood up gracefully: "Alright, it's getting late, I need to go back and be with my child."
“Staying here is also unbearable. I’ll go back with you.” Hua Cheng sighed and followed.
Liu Zhuang opened the door and walked out, but as soon as he stepped out, he suddenly stepped back.
Hua Cheng was caught off guard and bumped directly into his back, being bounced back two steps by his flesh.
"What's wrong?" Hua Cheng looked up, puzzled.
Liu Zhuang stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly collapsed to the ground in grief: "Chen Yueqin went into the next room!"
Hua Cheng: "..."
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Author's Note: Big Flower: Fatty Big Belly
Little Flower's progress: 95%
Win a 50 RMB red envelope! [Loud-eared rabbit head]
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