Chapter 592: Chapter 159: Evaluation Rewards, Acquaintances Visit (Daily Goal of 10,000 Monthly Tickets)_4
But it was four days overdue.
It was one day late.
Just within this short day, Mrs. Zhou thought giving a little more interest wouldn’t matter, so she brought the money.
She took all 200,000 to pay it back, but after they did the calculations, they told her she still owed 110,000.
Why?
The lender told her, “You borrowed this as a ‘bridge fee.’ You were one day late in repayment, and oh, what a disaster, our boss lost 300,000. You’ll have to cover that, right?”
And that wasn’t all! The lender added:
“At Cao Gang, we always play by the rules! According to the rules, the remaining money accrues 20% interest per day. If you can’t pay, it’ll just keep accumulating. Don’t go thinking we don’t follow rules.”
Naturally, Mrs. Zhou disagreed. She went to the local patrol and reported it, and both parties confronted each other in front of the patrol officer.
The lender pulled out the loan agreement, where everything was clearly written in black and white, including Mrs. Zhou’s handprint.
There were three copies of the contract, and the Zhou Family had one too. When they looked at it, sure enough, it was just as said.
The clause was tucked in the middle of page 17 in a dense, 24-page contract using a small font.
But it was legal and above board, and they weren’t at fault.
“Don’t borrow such money if you can’t return it, and if you borrow, don’t dispute it! Even if you take this to the Judgement Department, they’ll find it justified too! Hurry and gather some money to pay it off.”
Several of the local patrol were old pros. They scolded Father Zhou and Mrs. Zhou and admonished them, “As people, we must abide by the law and remain honest and trustworthy.
If a person loses their credibility, are they even human anymore?”
When things reached this point, who would dare not listen? No one dared.
Mrs. Zhou didn’t know where she had gone wrong.
She was uneducated; all the clauses had been explained to her by kindly souls, and she never looked closely. How could she have known it contained such unreasonable terms?
When she went to confront these supposed kind-hearted people, she found they had moved and were untraceable.
Mrs. Zhou cried all night; had she been aware of this, she would never have borrowed the money.
But now, whatever was said was too late. Father Zhou smoked all night and realized something through the haze of smoke.
“Let’s find a way to gather the money. They recognize the debt but not the righteousness. We’ve been duped,” Father Zhou said.
Mrs. Zhou cried, but with Old Zhou around, she still felt hopeful.
The couple didn’t dare tell their daughter, Zhou Si Yu, and each sought help from their contacts, asking everywhere for a loan.
Who would lend them money?
No one.
As soon as people heard they needed to borrow money, all ties were cut.
In fact, during the years of Old Zhou’s illness, relations with friends and family had already been severed; now, it was just being severed again.
It was now the ninth day.
The debt with interest had ballooned to over 470,000. （注1）
With the sky darkening, by tomorrow morning, it would amount to 560,000.
Their only hope was their son.
But their son hadn’t been home for a long time… after asking some capable elders in the neighborhood, they said, “Don’t think a Transcendent behaves normally in the city. Once out of the safety zone, he’s like a stray dog on the streets, monsters can strike him down in a minute.”
Transcendents leave the city for pioneering, and those who don’t return for a week, don’t expect them to come back. They’re likely dead.
Mrs. Zhou checked the calendar, how long had Ashu been gone? Two weeks? Three?
She couldn’t remember, and she didn’t dare to think about it.
Since these people had been making ‘polite demands’ for repayment at her door, she had been trembling in fear.
Her worst fear was them seeing her daughter and threatening to traffic her to settle the debts.
She was really overthinking it.
Cao Gang played by the rules; how much could a woman earn them by selling herself?
They were after something else.
The person from Cao Gang who came yesterday was a woman with a kinder heart than those so-called good Samaritans.
She confided in Mrs. Zhou, “Auntie, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but repaying debts is morally right! However, our boss mentioned that providing a kidney will cover 100,000 of the debt!”
Mrs. Zhou thought, between me and Old Zhou, one each, that’s 200,000… no, my health is good, I have two kidneys, I could cover 200,000 by myself…
But that still wasn’t enough…
But the woman from Cao Gang also mentioned, if she was willing to sign a special agreement to help them with a surgery, something involving a medical experiment.
She was upfront, admitting there was a risk of death, maybe a fifty-fifty chance, but regardless of whether the surgery succeeded or not, the debt would be wiped clean!
Mrs. Zhou was very tempted.
Just one person, sacrificing myself could… this mess was my doing… and I might not even die…
Ding ding ding ding!
Mrs. Zhou’s knife moved faster as she chopped vegetables, her gaze becoming more intense.
In fact, she had agreed yesterday and had arranged a time with those people.
Tonight, those folks would come to take her to a secret hospital, saying if she underwent that experiment, her debt would be cleared.
That’s why she had deliberately picked a fight with Old Zhou today, scolding him for being useless, for not being able to support both of them. Old Zhou, who had never faced such insults in all his years, skipped dinner and left to look for work.
Bang bang bang!
The door sounded continuously, interrupting Mrs. Zhou’s reminiscing.
They’ve come!
Her whole body shuddered, her pupils dilating briefly before returning to focus.
The inevitable couldn’t be escaped!
‘Old Zhou, this might be the last meal I make for you, you can’t complain it tastes bad…’
Her tears fell steadily as she approached the door and turned the handle.
Outside stood a pretty young mother with two little girls, shyly nodding at her.
Another change of people?
Mrs. Zhou felt numb; Cao Gang often changed the people who came to collect the debt, today’s visit from a mother with children wasn’t surprising.
Then, a familiar young man’s voice spoke from behind:
“Mom, you’re home? I lost my keys, thought you weren’t in, I was about to go to a hotel.”
“Why are your eyes red? Did you slice onions? What shall we eat tonight?”