Chapter 61 Working to Pay Off Debts
At noon on the first day after Zhan Li came back, Lin Ruoyan called Hua Mengmeng and Zhan Li to go out for lunch together. In order to find out what method was used, she also asked for a private room with better privacy.
Zhan Li didn't refuse, but Hua Mengmeng insisted on treating him to a meal to thank him. Lin Ruoyan naturally wouldn't allow anyone else to pay. Even a small amount is still meat. She gave the restaurant the four or five hundred yuan for the private room lunch, claiming she'd refund any excess and pay any shortfall.
During the meal, Zhan Li did not hide anything and talked about how he did it.
Zhan Li enlisted the help of a friend and dragged the scumbag dad to the casino they "opened" to play for money. After a few rounds of winnings, the guy was immediately hooked and demanded to play big. Playing cards and mahjong for a few cents wasn't considered gambling in the era of the book; there were plenty of decent card rooms on the street, just for fun. But when it comes to big games, it's easy to get out of control.
In just three days, not seven, the scumbag father had lost everything but his underwear and even brought the deed to a loan shark. A menacing friend of Zhan Li's took the deed, lent the money, and threatened him. The scumbag father pretended to stop gambling and work to pay off his debts, but in reality, he couldn't help himself.
We had originally agreed that if he handed over the house, repented, or reported the place to the police, they would stop bothering us. But this jerk dad is such a coward, he refuses to change. We won't call the police. He hasn't even warmed up his money, hasn't found a decent job, and now he's back.
In order to convince his scumbag father that this was a real place, Zhan Li also played the role of another unlucky guy. He won at first, but later lost, and even took out the property deed to exchange for money to borrow money. When he saw that scumbag father come again, the next plot had to start.
Zhan Li played a gambler who couldn't pay his debts, so his vicious creditor forced him to chop off his leg to pay off the debt. His left leg was already prosthetic below the knee, and that day, the special effects crew had several packets of prop blood, and several people acted out the leg-chopping scene.
The scumbag fainted in terror. Upon waking, the creditor offered him two choices: send him abroad to work and repay the debt, or chop off one of his legs. Learning from the previous experience, blood splattered on the ground, the coward chose to work abroad. He obediently handed over all his identification documents and voluntarily signed a labor contract, allowing him to complete the entire process of going abroad. He was now on board a ship, bound for a Chinese-owned enterprise camp in an African country.
"Is there really such a place?" Hua Mengmeng actually still cared a little about her father.
Zhan Li gave Hua Mengmeng the Hua family's property deed and a brand new bank card, and comforted her:
"Of course, they established diplomatic ties with my country a long time ago. We provided them with aid in building hospitals and infrastructure. There were many projects. After the hospital, we built a railway. After the railway, we also built roads and large dams. There was work to do until old age.
To ensure the safety of Chinese workers and protect them from local armed conflicts, recruited workers are subject to unified military management, living and eating in state-owned enterprise camps and having no contact with the outside world. Workers receive formal technical training, their safety is guaranteed, and they adhere to domestic laws. Forced labor is not permitted. Aside from being unable to return to China at will, all other conditions are the same as those on domestic construction sites.
Oh, and by the way, wages are paid on time every month, into bank cards opened in China. Workers have corresponding passbooks, which can print the amount, but they can't withdraw money. This is the card. The PIN is six eights, which you can change at the ATM. This is his ID card.
Hua Mengmeng had never been abroad and wondered, "Don't we need to take our ID card with us when we go abroad?"
"No, a passport is enough. He didn't sign a contract directly with a state-owned enterprise, but with a labor dispatch company. That is a formal labor company run by my friend. Others sign contracts for varying years according to their personal wishes. If they don't want to work, they can terminate the contract and return home smoothly. But your father, we signed a 20-year contract with him. During the contract period, the company will send him to work abroad with food and accommodation provided. The only condition is that he cannot come back before the expiration of the contract. If he wants to terminate the contract early, he will have to pay more money." Zhan Li said lightly.
Hua Mengmeng asked curiously, "Won't he flee back to China? After all, he has a passport..."
"The local officials speak Portuguese, and the natives speak various dialects. None of them speak Chinese. Unless your father learns the local language in a few years, there might be a chance for communication. However, our camp management is very strict, and the engineering projects are all in remote areas with poor mountains and bad waters and few people. There may be various war-torn and disease-stricken areas nearby, and the locals dare not wander around without guns.
If he dared to leave the camp unarmed, it would likely take him ten days to half a month to cross the desert and Gobi desert to reach a populated city. However, not every city in that area has direct access to Chinese ships and planes. He has no local currency and can't speak the language, but if he managed to return home alive, I respect him as a man.
Hua Mengmeng considered her father's uneducated mind. Even if he studied every day for ten years without doing anything else, he might not be able to learn the local language. He was usually lazy and had almost no ability to survive in the wild. If he stayed in the camp, he might have a chance of survival, but if he dared to run, he would be dead.
She would check her bank account every month. If her salary was paid normally, her scumbag father would live well. If it suddenly stopped one day, she would go to the labor company to inquire about the aftermath.
Lin Ruoyan was stunned by this clever idea. It was far more clever than the twenty-year prison meal package Li Yiqi gave the scumbag father in the original book. After all, a father imprisoned would bring shame to the immediate family. How would Hua Mengmeng explain herself to people asking about her future partner? Even if the father-daughter relationship was severed, some would still look down on her.
But if Hua Mengmeng's father went overseas to support Africa's construction, worked there for many years without coming back to cause trouble, and still transferred money to the family card every month, how noble and likable would that be?
Even if that scumbag father didn't work hard at the camp, his wages would be docked, and the debt would continue to pile up. A smart move would be to work hard and pay back the debt sooner rather than later, so at least he could learn some real skills. If he really couldn't bear it anymore, he'd run away. He'd probably die outside the camp, his body untouched. It was his own fault, and no one else could be blamed.
Thinking of this, Lin Ruoyan quickly said, "Hua Mengmeng, buy your father a high-value death insurance policy, and the company will reimburse you. It's the kind that costs a few thousand dollars to insure, but pays out hundreds of thousands of dollars after his death. I remember there's a special type of insurance for overseas workers..."
Zhan Li gave a knowing smile.
Hua Mengmeng was filled with gratitude and thanked the two of them repeatedly.
After dinner, Lin Ruoyan asked Zhan Li privately, "Don't your friends need labor fees? Acting is also very time-consuming and energy-consuming."
Zhan Li explained, "They are all my old comrades. We used to be special forces soldiers, and we used to disguise ourselves as bad guys and so on. It's just a small trick, not a big deal."
"Oh, are they short of jobs? Why don't they all come to the company to be drivers?" Lin Ruoyan blurted out.
Zhan Li said seriously, "Did I neglect anything at work recently?"
"Old Zhan, that's not the case. I just see that you are too tired and too busy."
Zhan Li said, "After retiring, my comrades all got regular jobs. I'm disabled, so I don't want to be idle. My family doesn't really need this little money, I just like driving and can't sit still."
"Then you can't drive two cars by yourself. I plan to equip the marketing department with a luxury car to make it easier to visit clients." Lin Ruoyan explained seriously.
Zhan Li realized he had misunderstood his boss, and quickly lowered his head, saying embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lin, but can I recommend one of my sons or nephews to apply for the driver position?"
Such a good job should be kept within the family, so of course he wants to help the younger generation.
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