Chapter 20: Severing All Ties
Su Lingyun was completely immersed in the cozy atmosphere Tang Xiu had created, so she didn’t expect someone to pay them a visit at this time and in such an unusual way.
After clearly seeing the three men’s faces, Su Lingyun’s heart skipped a beat, and her immersion was shattered.
Because she was in a trance, Su Lingyun didn’t even notice as the buzz-cut man kicked over the table.
Su Lingyun didn’t react until the guy was grinning and was about to slap her face. When she finally caught up, she screamed and wanted to escape.
However, Su Lingyun was still seated. If she wanted to escape from the slap of the buzz-cut man, she would have to stand up before she could start running. And since the man would not wait to let her escape, Su Lingyun could not dodge that slap.
Watching as the palm closed in on her face, Su Lingyun desperately closed her eyes.
At the next moment, Su Lingyun heard the sound of someone groaning. Su Lingyun thought she recognized the voice as it came from the buzz cut man.
Su Lingyun was stunned when she opened her eyes. She found that the vicious-looking man with spiky hair, who was so ferocious just now, was already squatting on the ground. A chicken bone was stuck in his forehead, blood was flowing out of the wound along the bone before dripping to the ground.
“You dare attack him!?”
“Are you an idiot!?”
“Do you want to die!?”
The other two men in suits looked at their companion on the ground and then looked at Tang Xiu who was sitting on the chair, motionless. After a long time, they finally realized that their companion was hurt by Tang Xiu with a chicken bone. Seething with rage, the two shouted and rushed towards the youth.
“No, please don’t hurt my son! He didn’t mean to hurt your companion, we are willing to compensate for it!” Su Lingyun hysterically shouted whilst rushing towards Tang Xiu. She also understood what had happened and tried to bare the pain.
Seeing his mother’s frightened expression, Tang Xiu’s cold expression lightened. He stretched out his arms and embraced his mother. At the same time, he lifted his legs and readied for an attack. Two pieces of shattered porcelain from a bowl flew up from the ground and were cast towards the two men’s forehead.
The two pitiful men had only just raised their thighs, and had not even moved a step, but they had received the same result as their companion. Then fell to the floor, howling in pain.
“They… they… Xiu’er, what’s going on?” Su Lingyun had thought that they must have been brutally humiliated. Realizing that everything had happened so abruptly, she was completely shocked.
“Mom, it’s ok, don’t worry, just let me handle this.” Tang Xiu pinched his mother’s palm and comforted her softly.
This time, Tang Xiu did not make his mother blackout.
Tang Xiu was not willing to let his mother live in fear, so he wanted to show off his strength and capabilities, letting her know that he had the ability to protect his family.
To appease his mother’s emotions, Tang Xiu went to the three suited men and coldly asking, “If I am right, my mother has already repaid you including interest, why do you have to harass us?”
Tang Xiu was familiar with the three men in front of him.
His mother was short of money when she opened the restaurant, and even after borrowing money from relatives, she was still short of 50,000 yuan. Therefore, she had to get money from a small loan company.
They thought that if it was only a loan of 50,000 yuan, they could repay the debt if they worked hard.
However, they did not think this small loan company was a loan shark. They changed the loan contract. The original interest was 3.3%, but as time progressed, the final loan had stunningly increased to 7.33%.
The plan was to repay by dividing the 50,000 yuan loan into six months, but due to the change of interest, the actual price repaid every month was 12,000 yuan. (ED: I don’t think the person writing the story does maths or knows how loans work… if they had to pay with 7.33% interest, they would be paying back 51k, not 72k… this makes me angry)
Tang Xiu and his mother could only painfully and helplessly endure the debt. They tried to put up some fierce resistance, but it ended in failure.
They did not think that the loan shark with high interest was only the beginning of their nightmare. In the times to come, they almost always lived in a waking nightmare.
In the first month, the restaurant was operating at a loss, Tang Xiu and his mother were unable to repay the loan. As a result, the small loan company ignored their pleas and ransacked their home. The loan shark company also threatened them to repay the principal money and interest, otherwise, they would start to attack the restaurant.
There was no way to plead their case, their only option was to borrow money from relatives and friends. In three days, they finally gathered enough money to pay off the debt.
The loan sharks seemed to think that they were easy to bully. So within the next few months, the loan sharks pushed them for more money every month, and harassed Tang Xiu and his mother for pleasure.
In order to avoid the bullying, Su Lingyun would prepare the payments. Even in cases where the restaurant’s profit wasn’t enough.
Su Lingyun’s restaurant is situated on Old RiverRiver Street Old Street. Their neighbors also had similar businesses. This made for tough competition and prevented Su Lingyun from earning a lot each month.
After half a year, Su Lingyun was finally able to repay the entire debt to the loan sharks. However, after repaying all the money, Tang Xiu and his mother had no savings left. There was no money left to pay for Tang’s tuition. Su Lingyun was also losing weight due to this.
That is why when Su Lingyun saw the three suited men, she looked pale, which was also a reason why Tang Xiu was this merciless.
“Tang Xiu, you son of a bitch, you dare attack us? We are members of the Tianlang Society. Do you think that we can’t kill you and your mother whenever we want?” The buzz cut man cursed and clenched his jaws as he pulled the chicken bone out of his head.
“We have been in contact for half a year, you should know there are some problems with my brain. Are you saying that killing you three would be illegal?” Tang Xiu grinned as he grabbed a chair and started to strike the buzz cut man with it.
There was a crisp “crack” as the shoulder bone of the buzz cut man broke. He was in far too much pain to talk.
“I will ask you again, we have already repaid the debt, why are you still harassing us?” Tang Xiu, this time, directed the question to the two other people.
“Err… Tang Xiu, you did repay your debt, but someone signed a debt transfer contract with us last month, so you have to create a new loan relation with our business.” Under the sharp eyes of Tang Xiu, another man was about to call Tang Xiu a son of a bitch but swiftly stopped.
“Xiu’er, it is your younger uncle. We borrowed 50,000 yuan from your uncle. Maybe what happened last month made him angry out of shame, so maybe he went to Eternal Growth Trading Co. and made a transfer to them.” Su Lingyun added when she noticed that the suited man could not fully explain the situation.
After hearing what Su Lingyun had to say, Tang Xiu became silent.
Reminded by the words said by Ban Shou and Ding Zi in the restaurant, his anger was ignited.
Tang Xiu didn’t understand why his younger uncle would act so heartlessly because they were family.
“Mom, why did you only tell me this after all that has happened?” Tang Xiu complained after a moment of silence.
Su Lingyun only touched Tang Xiu’s forehead indulgently but did not speak. However, Tang Xiu got the answer from his mother’s eyes.
His mother did not tell him about the harassment in the restaurant and at home. The reason was that she didn’t want it to affect his performance at school. Another reason was that it would only make Tang Xiu worry more.
For a moment, Tang Xiu slightly hated himself for not showing his strength earlier. That way, perhaps his mother would have discussed the difficulties she faced, rather than bearing it in silence.
“This card has 50,000 yuan. Take it and get out. If you dare to continue harassing my mother, I will make sure your business will have no future in Star City!” Tang Xiu shouted.
While he was thinking about how to solve the problem with Eternal Growth Trading Co., a muffled voice came from outside the house. Moments later, Yuan Chuling’s obese body squeezed into the house.
“Fatty, why are you here?” Tang Xiu asked in surprise.
Even though he had known Yuan Chuling for a long time, Tang Xiu did not think about letting Yuan Chuling visit his home because of his low self-esteem. So he didn’t expect that Yuan Chuling would come here of his own volition.
“Brother, you didn’t even tell me about the problems you have with your own family. It seems you don’t see me as your brother.” Yuan Chuling grinned, punching Tang Xiu lightly on the chest.
“Mom, let me introduce him to you, this is my classmate, Yuan Chuling. He is my only buddy in school. When I shifted from Class 5 to Class 10, he also followed me and transferred to Class 10.” Tang Xiu explained with a smile as he noticed his mother’s eyes were full of questions.
“Oh, it is Tang Xiu’s classmate. Welcome to our family.” After listening to the introduction, Su Ling Yun’s face showed a warm smile, but when she saw the bodies of the three suited men lying on the floor, her complexion turned gloomy as the smile on her face faded slightly.
“You’re still not leaving yet? Are you waiting for me to send you back?” Yuan Chuling snapped at the three suited men when he noticed the reaction in Su Lingyun’s eyes.
“Young Master Yuan, I am sorry, I didn’t know Master Tang was your friend. If we knew Master Tang was your friend, we would not have harassed him.”
“Young master Yuan, this is your card, please take it back. We had accidentally ruined Boss Su and Young Master Tang’s dinner. This way, the 50,000 yuan debt will be paid off. We also wish Young Master Yuan to put in some good words for us to Boss Yuan, so that we may still work in the company.”
The two remaining suited men fearfully said. They then fled the scene as fast as possible, carrying the unconscious buzz cut man with them.
Su Lingyun and Tang Xiu originally thought that Yuan Chuling’s hot temper would provoke contradictions and stir up more troubles, and had already planned to stop his impulses. They would have never thought that after he spoke, the things that happened next would make them stunned.
Tang Xiu and his mother could only stand there for a long time.