Chapter 97: Xier Used to Settle a Debt

Trouble was coming.

Xiao Cheng needed to assess how big the trouble really was.

In summer, there weren't many clothes on anyone, and the exposed parts of the body were enough to judge a person's build clearly. A person's strength was always proportional to the quality and density of their muscles; a bony old man could never lift a stone lion with one hand—that was just fantasy novel nonsense. There was no such thing as internal energy in this world. Strength could only be stored in muscles as chemical energy.

One man of force beats ten men of skill. In a world with no martial arts masters, fighting techniques belonged only to professional athletes, and street brawls were mostly decided by brute strength. Xiao Cheng sized up the five hoodlums in front of him. Aside from the one called Lei Yang who had a bit of bulk, the tattooed one, the bleached-hair one, the earring guy, and the dark-circles-under-the-eyes one were all basically trash in a fight. They might be able to bully middle schoolers, but facing someone like him whose body had already awakened—let alone him, even Lü Qi could probably throw every one of them into the river single-handedly.

With opponents like that, even if they came with bad intentions, there was nothing to worry about. The conclusion was: the trouble wasn't that big.

"What's going on?" Xiao Cheng turned and stared at Ding Sina's face, asking in a low voice.

Fighting was fine, but he wouldn't be used as somebody's pawn.

Ding Sina's face was pale, her lips trembling, unable to speak. Judging by her expression, she was genuinely scared.

By now Lei Yang had walked up to the three of them. He tilted his head, looked at Lü Qi and Wen Xiao Cheng, and lazily raised one hand—too lazy to even straighten his fingers when pointing—and said impatiently, "This ain't got nothing to do with you two. You two, get lost!"

Xiao Cheng was about to speak when Lü Qi stepped in front of him first. "What do you want?"

Lei Yang was only about five foot nine; he had to look up to see Lü Qi, but he really didn't take this big dumb kid seriously. After all, he was just a middle schooler.

"I told you to get lost, didn't you hear? You looking for a beating?"

Xiao Cheng's eyes were locked onto Ding Sina's face as he ran endless calculations in his head. He wouldn't let his guard down just because of a few sweet words from Ding Sina—after all, strictly speaking, this girl was an enemy, not a lover. He didn't have much of a bond with Lü Qi either; it's just that after settling the grudge between their fathers, there was no bad blood left between them. The five men across from them were aggressive, but they had no real quarrel with him. Whether this muddy water was worth wading into remained to be seen.

Without realizing it, Xiao Cheng had started thinking in terms of self-interest...

It was obvious that Ding Sina had tagged along today with a purpose—including her earlier soft pleas and putting up with his excessive behavior. Judging from her expression, it didn't seem like she had set up some scheme with those guys to harm him. She was genuinely being threatened and was looking for protection. Of course, stepping in wasn't out of the question, but the situation needed to be made clear first.

"Brother Lei Yang, you come storming over here all fierce like this, I'm scared. Better to make things clear first. Otherwise, if there's some misunderstanding, we get lost and then casually call the cops or something—that wouldn't be good either, right?"

Lei Yang hadn't wanted to bother with these two little brats, but at the mention of calling the cops, he frowned and pointed at Ding Sina. "Ask her!"

That one sentence drew everyone's attention. Even Lü Qi turned to look at her. Ding Sina bit her lip, steeled herself, and pointed at Lei Yang. "He wants me to sleep with him!"

What a scumbag! Just telling a girl straight to her face, "I want to sleep with you"—shouldn't he have said "I want to wake up with you in the morning"!

Lei Yang shook his head and laughed. "Sleeping with me works too, then you don't have to pay the money back. Helping you out was already doing you a favor. Don't bite the hand that feeds you!"

Ding Sina's eyes reddened slightly. "I don't owe you any money!"

One said she owed, the other said she didn't—each had their own story. As they went back and forth arguing, Xiao Cheng managed to piece together the gist of it.

It started with Cripple Ding. He'd been gambling at Old Wei's joint, lost his head, and borrowed two thousand yuan. The casino's money wasn't so easy to take. He borrowed two thousand, and by the next day it'd become twenty-five hundred. That usury-roller interest could drive a man to death. A month later, even bringing twenty thousand wouldn't settle it.

Cripple Ding was long past his days of strutting around town. His old friendships and face had all vanished along with his status. Because of this debt, he'd been cornered more than once, hiding everywhere, not even daring to go home. Ding Sina had no choice. She heard that Lei Yang could put in a word with Old Wei, so she took two thousand yuan and went to beg Brother Lei Yang for help, which settled the matter.

Ding Sina said she didn't owe anything, because she'd already given Lei Yang the two thousand in principal. But Lei Yang said she did, claiming that with interest the total was eighteen thousand, and that he himself had plugged the sixteen-thousand hole. Without any evidence, Ding Sina naturally wouldn't accept that. They'd torn up whatever pretense of being honorary siblings there was. Lei Yang's position was: either pay up, or be my girl.

Being in a relationship with a guy like that wasn't as simple as a few phone calls asking how she was doing—which was why Ding Sina had brought up sleeping with him.

Wen Xiao Cheng, who'd been silent the whole time, turned to Ding Sina and asked, "Do you want to sleep with him?"

Ding Sina's eyes went wide. Being asked that question at all was itself an insult.

"Of course not!"

"You heard that, right? Brother Yang? She doesn't want to. If you insist on forcing it, that's fine too—three years minimum, ten years max, provided you don't use cruel violence, like tying her up or gagging her, and you can't do it in public. It has to be just you, alone, one time. Otherwise it's ten years minimum, up to the death penalty. If you've got that kind of hobby, I won't stop you!"

Lei Yang didn't dare force it. But with the debt as his excuse, he could work patiently and slowly—he was sure an inexperienced young girl would eventually give in. Now that Wen Xiao Cheng had called it out openly, he felt a bit embarrassed.

"She doesn't want to? That's fine. Then pay the money back! You think you're really worth sixteen thousand? With sixteen thousand, what kind of woman can't I get in bed?"

Before Ding Sina could respond, Xiao Cheng cut in again. "A debt must be repaid—that's only natural. She owes you money, so you can sue her in court. Not only would she have to pay back what she owes, you'd get the late fees too!"

Nobody had ever heard of loan sharks going to court, let alone when Lei Yang didn't even hold an IOU. Hearing this, Ding Sina felt reassured—usury wasn't recognized by the law.

Two seemingly unrelated remarks had blocked off every excuse Lei Yang had, which just made him angrier. He pointed at Xiao Cheng and Lü Qi. "You two, get the hell out of here!"

Hiding behind them, Ding Sina felt that Xiao Cheng didn't seem inclined to jump in and help her out of righteousness. It was Lü Qi who kept stubbornly standing in front, not giving an inch. She'd been hiding behind Xiao Cheng, but now she secretly shifted her body closer to Lü Qi, even grabbing the strap of his schoolbag with one small hand.

"Na Na, ten or twenty thousand yuan is nothing to me, brother. But you've got to show some attitude! You owe money and don't say a word of thanks, and on top of that you've been avoiding me at every turn! That's not very proper, is it? It's not like I'm insisting you pay me back. If you date me, we'll be family, and money is a trivial matter. So make a decision: pay up, or be my girl?"

Xiao Cheng laughed inwardly. No wonder she was willing to throw herself at him—it was the Diao Chan strategy. But at this point, no real man could just slink off. So even knowing it was a trap, he'd have to grit his teeth and go in. He could only hope that little minx Ding Sina wouldn't forget his kindness!

"Brother Lei Yang, the money was borrowed by Cripple Ding. Ding Sina was just the one handling it. Since their family can't pay it back now, why don't you date Cripple Ding instead?"

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Cripple Ding and Brother Lei Yang are the true loves. Let's all wish them well!