Chapter 18 I'm Going to Find Lu Chong
"I'll hang up with Yan Yan now, I have to go buy groceries. I promised Jia Jia I'd make her pancakes today, do you want to come over for dinner?"
Mu Yan's brother's relaxed tone gave him the illusion that the 150,000 yuan was really not a big deal and that he would take care of it, just like when Mu Yan was bullied as a child, his brother, who was three years older and much taller than him, pulled him behind him.
"I...I'll be there in a bit."
The older brother laughed and scolded, "Just wait for me to make it for you, you're too lazy to do anything else."
Mu Juanhua is not a native of City A; her brother grew up with her in Province B, which is next to City A. Thin pancakes are a specialty of Province B, and are also called spring pancakes in other places.
The pancakes themselves aren't anything special; they're just thin sheets of dough rolled with vegetables. However, making a pancake dish requires a lot of vegetables, making it quite a hassle.
Mu Yan and Lu Chong live together, and Lu Chong doesn't like to eat this, so Mu Yan can't possibly cook a whole table of dishes for himself.
"Yeah, I'm lazy. My brother is the best to me."
Lin Yi noticed that Mu Yan's voice sounded a little nasal on the other end of the phone: "What's wrong? Do you have a cold? If you have a cold, you're not allowed to come, don't infect Jiajia."
"I don't have a cold."
Lin Yi smiled wryly: "You even cried from being touched? Why are you suddenly being so sentimental... It's just a pancake, I can make it for you every week if you want. What's wrong? Why are you so aggrieved? Is it because Lu Chong is not good to you?"
"You've always been the most decisive, and I've never interfered in your relationship with him. If you're unhappy, just break up. Don't overthink it. All those years together, all those feelings, all those things he did for you before—it's all meaningless now. He's treating you badly; do you really expect him to change? You're not married and don't have children..."
"No." After a long while, Mu Yan gently interrupted her brother, "The two of us... are fine."
After hanging up the phone, Mu Yan did not get up immediately.
He held his phone, opened an online loan app, entered Lin Yi's phone number, and tried the password several times.
My brother's birthday, my brother's initials plus his birthday, Xiang Zhuo's birthday, Jiajia's birthday...
Incorrect password. I don't know if it's because I didn't register or because Mu Yan guessed the password wrong.
Mu Yan sat on the cold chair in the hospital and, using the hospital's WiFi, downloaded almost every online loan app on the market, then tried all the possible passwords one by one.
He shouldn't have suspected his brother like that, but his brother already knew about the 150,000. If he had other options, why would he have accompanied the client to Liuguang?
Mu Yan and Xiang Zhuo may not know what Liuguang is, but Lin Yi himself works in sales. Didn't his colleagues and clients tell him? Can't you tell what Liuguang is from the amount on the expense reports submitted to the company?
He knew his brother's personality best. His brother was timid and hesitant, and he would never do anything risky unless he was desperate.
Logging in...
Mu Yan stared nervously at his phone, praying that another incorrect password message would pop up.
Login successful.
Suddenly, a taut string in Mu Yan's mind snapped.
Maybe not. Maybe Lin Yi's friend was helping to recruit new users, and he was kind-hearted enough to help register.
When I was in college, my brother would always tell me on the phone that if I needed money, I had to ask for it and never take out online loans.
Brother won't do it, brother won't do it.
He knows what he's doing.
Mu Yan gasped and tapped the interface with his slightly trembling fingertips.
"Loan application for 150,000 yuan is in progress. Interest rate..."
Mu Yan had never believed in karma or retribution, but now he felt bewildered. He and his brother had never done anything wrong in their lives, nor had they ever wronged anyone.
Why did it have to be him and his brother who encountered this?
It felt like all the blood in his body was flowing backwards. Mu Yan felt as if he had been forced into the red paint bucket brought by the four alphas, and his breathing suddenly became extremely difficult.
After a long while, he finally mustered the courage to open the loan details again.
...The loan application is in progress, it's just in progress.
Thinking of this, Mu Yan seemed to catch his breath. Fortunately, there was still a withdrawal application available.
Mu Yan clicked "confirm" to withdraw the application without hesitation.
The app slowly and choppy before jumping to the next screen. This kind of application has almost no user experience to speak of. The front end is basically outsourced for a few thousand dollars, and it is so laggy that it looks like it was written with software that has been outdated for twenty years.
Please wait, facial recognition in progress.
Facial recognition failed.
Seeing the notification that the approval would be successful in three days at the latest, Mu Yan rushed to Lin Yi's house in a hurry.
"You're here so soon?" Mu Yan knocked on her brother's door. Lin Yi smiled gently, but his eyes betrayed his exhaustion. "There's no food if you arrive this early. Go to the living room and watch cartoons with Jiajia."
It felt like ages since Mu Yan last saw her brother. She put down the box of sweetened milk she had bought near the hospital and tried to recall if her brother had looked this tired when they last met.
Jiajia was very excited to see him. She stopped watching TV, jumped off the sofa, and happily wanted to show Mu Yan her building block castle.
She had no idea what kind of changes had happened to her family, nor did she know that a few years later she might have to leave her parents and go to study at her grandparents' house in the countryside.
Mu Yan was preoccupied and, unusually, lost his patience with Jiajia. He gave her a few perfunctory replies and went into the kitchen, where Lin Yi and Xiang Zhuo were.
"Brother," he got straight to the point, tossing his phone, which had the online loan interface open, in front of Lin Yi, "what's going on?"
Lin Yi stiffened, and his eyes drooped unnaturally.
The last time Mu Yan spoke to him in this tone was when he dropped out of school to work.
Mu Yan was mature and opinionated from a young age. When he spoke in that tone, Lin Yi was actually a little afraid of him.
"You said you had a way, is this the way you meant?"
"I..." After a long pause, Lin Yi finally managed to squeeze out a sound from his throat, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep it from you. I discussed it with Xiang Zhuo, and we figured you definitely wouldn't agree, so I didn't tell you..."
Why are you doing something you think I wouldn't agree to?
Mu Yan opened the facial recognition interface that appeared after the cancellation request, and handed the phone to Lin Yi without saying a word: "Cancel it for me."
Lin Yi turned slightly to the side, avoiding him.
“Yan Yan,” he said softly, “money can be earned and paid off slowly, it’s not a big deal. As long as you’re alive, nothing is a big deal.”
That's how omegas are. When they look at people with that gentle gaze, even if the other person hasn't done anything wrong, they can't help but wonder if it's their own problem.
However, Mu Yan was not among them.
"Go ahead and do it." Mu Yan remained unmoved. "You're married and have a child. This isn't just your problem. You're in debt. What will happen to Jiajia? She'll be starting elementary school next year. With your bad credit, which elementary school in City A will want her?"
Lin Yi lowered his head, and Mu Yan couldn't see his brother's expression. He seemed to have been touched on the most troubling part of his heart by Mu Yan, and he couldn't speak for a long time.
The only sounds in the kitchen were the chopping of vegetables, and every now and then the laughter of the little pig from the cartoon could be heard from outside the door.
The eggs in the pan absorbed the oil and gradually emitted a fragrant aroma. The three people in the kitchen, however, paid no attention.
"If you're in debt, take on more jobs and save money. If Jiajia has nowhere to study, go back to the countryside. A good student can study anywhere. You got into A University from the countryside, how many city people can get into A University? Whether she can study or not depends on herself. At worst, she can find a job early and learn hairdressing and nail art. I think that can make a good living."
“Yan Yan, I think… your brother is right.” Xiang Zhuo hadn’t spoken until now. Mu Yan had assumed he was on her side, but when he suddenly spoke, Mu Yan felt even more isolated and helpless.
"It's indeed our responsibility that Lin Guojun guessed the password. Besides, we didn't use the money for anything else. In the face of life and death, everything else is trivial. As long as we have a clear conscience, that's enough."
Mu Yan bit her lower lip, speechless for a moment.
Beyond life and death, no one is inherently unable to live no matter what. City A may appear glamorous, filled with skyscrapers, but out of its more than 20 million inhabitants, how many truly live with dignity, both outwardly and inwardly?
But Mu Yan happens to understand Lin Yi and Xiang Zhuo. He knows that Xiang Zhuo is the kind of person who would repay even a little bit of soy sauce from his neighbor by picking a melon, and he knows how much Lin Yi has hated Lin Guojun's creditors since he was a child, and he knows how much he longs for an easy and stable life.
"Brother, can we cancel this first?" Mu Yan's voice was dry and choked with emotion, his tone shifting from forceful to pleading. "There are other ways."
“There is no other way,” Xiang Zhuo said in a low voice. “My dad fell down last year while helping to move heavy objects. The surgery and follow-up treatment cost tens of thousands of yuan. We have only recently paid off the debts we owed to our relatives back home.”
Lin Yi scooped the eggs out of the pan, cut them into strips that were easy to wrap in a thin pancake, and called out to Jiajia in the living room, telling her to quickly turn off the cartoon and come eat.
"Wait a minute—" Jiajia drawled out in a coquettish voice, "Let's finish watching this episode."
“There’s a way,” Mu Yan whispered. “I’ll go ask Lu Chong for some money; he’ll have a solution…”
"No!" Lin Yi instinctively raised her voice. "You're not married yet. If you borrow money from him now, people will look down on you. Besides, didn't you say his family already..."
"I'm here to eat!"
Just as the three were arguing, Jiajia happily pushed open the door and walked in. Seeing the pancakes and dishes on the table, she excitedly reached for the pancakes.
"Have you washed your hands?" Lin Yi gently patted her little hand. "Go wash your hands."
Jiajia looked at him with a pitiful expression, as if she had really been scolded. Xiang Zhuo picked her up and took her to wash her hands.
Only Mu Yan and Lin Yi remained in the room.
“Brother,” Mu Yan called him softly, “If I marry him in the future, he will be considered part of our family, right?”
"If I don't marry him, it's not a big deal to borrow money from him, right?"
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