"Lingchen, thank you." Zhang Yunxi looked at Ye Lingchen as she thanked him.

"It's nothing." Ye Lingchen brushed it off with a smile. "Let's eat."

"Right, let's eat!" Zhang Yunxi's mother followed along. The way she looked at Ye Lingchen had changed, now filled with a sense hospitality. "Lingchen must be hungry after rushing all the way here. I'll go make something immediately!"

"Oh Lingchen, please don't mind those words aunty said to you in the past. I have long realized that you're a cut above the others. It's Yunxi's fortune to have you as a friend. You both should spend more time together."

During their meal, Zhang Yunxi's mother was constantly ingratiating herself with Ye Lingchen. "I'm good friends with your mother. Our family should interact more in the future."

However, Zhang Yunxi and her father were feeling helpless, their faces lined with worry.

"Yunxi, I has failed you and your mother," Mr. Zhang sighed with a guilty expression.

"Uncle, why did you owe so much money?" asked Ye Lingchen.

"Sigh…"

Mr. Zhang sighed deeply, feeling frustrated. "At first I was only gambling occasionally to try my luck. There were wins and losses. However, last time I got carried away when I lost and was goaded into borrowing some money. After that, I lost even more money and had to borrow up to RMB100,000. In about a month, it had compounded to RMB500,000!"

"To lend you money while you're gambling, that is obviously a trap," explained Ye Lingchen.

Zhang Yunxi's father could not be considered as a good father.

He had heard Zhang Yunxi mention him in passing. Mr. Zhang had long been a gambling addict. It was inevitable for him to get in trouble.

"Lingchen, you've beaten those thugs. Do you think they will drop it?" Zhang Yunxi's eyes were full of worry. She said apologetically, "I'm sorry to have involved you in this situation."

"Relax, I will settle this," said Ye Lingchen with a smile.

"But… I heard that they are a gang with a lot of members. Furthermore, someone mentioned that if we drag the payment for too long, to be able to get off with dismembered limbs would be considered lucky." Zhang Yunxi was still worried. "Why don't… Why don't we call the cops!?"

"What's the use of calling the cops?" Ye Lingchen shook his head. "When the cops come, the thugs will run. When the cops leave, those thugs will be back. You will still be on the short end of the stick."

"Stop worrying for now. Let's eat. I'll handle the rest!"

After a moment, there was a ruckus outside the house.

"This is the place. Smash everything!" Li Si's voice was filled with a grudge that could be heard.

Following that was crashing sounds.

Ye Lingchen exited the house and his face turned dark immediately.

The people in the village had a small plot of land for vegetables that were fenced up. Moreover, Zhang Yunxi's family also kept some chickens around.

At that moment, the fence was ruined, the chickens were dead, and the plot of land was wrecked.

There were a total of fifteen people including Li Si.

Each had a baseball bat in hand. They looked terrifying and smashed everything in sight.

"Hehe, finally, you're out!"

Li Si placed the baseball bat on his shoulder and walked over. He stared at Ye Lingchen with his knife-like gaze.

"Little b*stard, how dare you hit me. I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in regret!"

He waved and his underlings quickly came forward, surrounding Ye Lingchen and the rest with murderous intent.

Mr. and Mrs. Zhang were scared speechless, their bodies trembling in fear.

Zhang Yunxi's smooth hand held tightly onto Ye Lingchen, also trembling in fear. She never thought that these scenes that only happened on TV would happen to her. "Lingchen, what do we do?"

Ye Lingchen looked around, his eyes calm as water. He spoke calmly, "How much money do they still owe you?"

"RMB100,000 to go!" Li Si sneered. He thought that Ye Lingchen would cower away, laughing proudly. "However, this matter can no longer be settled with just money!"

"I, Li Si, will never go back on my word. Spend the rest of your days in regret! Not only will I get the money, I will also turn you into a cripple!"

He gave a wave and ordered coldly, "Break his limbs!"

The next moment, Ye Lingchen showed his phone to Li Si's face. "Can you see this?"

In an instant, Li Si's expression turned excited and breathed heavily. The greed in his eyes was almost pouring out of his sockets.

His eyes blurred by the string of numbers displayed on Ye Lingchen's phone.

"Stop!" He shouted, then looked toward Ye Lingchen. His face turned into a smile. "We're all businessmen. Why do we need to resort to violence when we can talk it out?"

Twenty over millions!

It was twenty over millions!

This was his god of fortune! He must swindle Ye Lingchen's money at all costs!

Li Si looked toward Ye Lingchen, his eyeballs spinning as though seeing a big fat sheep.

"Sure. If that's the case we can talk it out slowly. Bring me to your place."

"Of course. We'll be going now." At first Li Si was still wondering how to persuade Ye Lingchen to head over, but this lamb unexpectedly sent itself to the slaughterhouse, causing him to almost lose his composure. With that, he immediately led the way passionately.

Zhang Yunxi tugged at Ye Lingchen multiple times to no avail. In the end, she could only grit her teeth and go along nervously.

"Can I know this little brother's name?"

"I'm Ye Lingchen!"

"So it's Young Master Ye. You sure look presentable. Nice to meet you." Li Si responded courteously, "I, Li Si, loves to befriend others. It takes a fight for people to know each other well. From now on you will be a friend of mine."

Ye Lingchen responded with a laugh, then gave a comforting look to Zhang Yunxi.

This village was already rural to start with. Following Li Si along a windy path, the surroundings turned even more desolate with no other people in sight.

As they ventured deeper, Li Si's smile deepened. Meanwhile, Zhang Yunxi's anxiety just got worse.

Continuing along, they finally saw a double-story villa. It was not huge, but the outlook was fancy. It did not look too different from other villas in the village.

When Li Si led them inside, they were surprised to find an underground basement hidden within.

No wonder they dared to run such a trap over here. They were well prepared.

Entering the basement, it was rowdy. There were many tables for gambling, and each of them was surrounded by people. Some were playing cards, some were playing dice, and some were even playing Mahjong. There was an ample variety of games.

The winners' faces were flushed with excitement while the losers' faces lined with resentment. The majority of them were just shouting aloud.

All in all, it could be summarized into one word—Chaotic

This was Zhang Yunxi's first time here. Her brows tightly knit, both hands clutching onto Ye Lingchen's arm in a death grip. She desperately wanted to stick close to him. Her head was lowered as her heart pounded nervously.

Ye Lingchen evaluated the situation, then calmly stated, "Your place is well equipped."

"Hehe, of course! We are well equipped from Golden Flower[1] to the slot machines from Hong Kong and Macau. As long as it can be gambled, I will have it!" Li Si laughed heartily. "How about it? Care to try a game or two?"

—

TN

[1] Golden Flower is a card game that consists of 2-6 players. Each player will be given three cards, after which they are allowed to challenge one another. The player that is challenged may fold or accept the challenge. Through the challenging process, only the challenger and the challenged will see each other's cards to determine a winner. Only when there are two players remaining will they reveal the bottom 2 cards to the opponent. Those with the better card combination wins.