Li Guangtao’s home was located in a small alleyway.
As they drove all the way through, a group of children followed curiously behind the car, running after it. By the time they arrived at the entrance, the two of them realized something was amiss. A crowd of people had gathered outside the house, whispering and discussing something among themselves.
Li Yan and An Chutang exchanged glances, parked the motorcycle by the side of the road, and stepped off.
“There are too many people. Stay close to me later and don’t wander off.”
An Chutang nodded, dodging a passing middle-aged man who reeked of alcohol with a look of mild disgust, and pressed closely against Li Yan’s side. Li Yan glanced sideways at him and simply reached out to hold his hand.
[Ding! Holding hands increases life value by one hour.]
An Chutang started slightly, then immediately gripped the other’s hand back tightly, feeling quite pleased inside. Although two men holding hands like this out in public seemed a bit unusual, given the difference in build and age, plus Li Yan’s utterly natural expression, outsiders would likely just assume it was an older brother holding onto a spoiled younger brother. Not many people paid it any mind.
Just as the two approached the edge of the crowd, they heard a woman’s sharp, screeching scolding echoing from inside the courtyard.
Li Yan parted the crowd, firmly pulling An Chutang along as they walked inward, taking care not to let anyone bump into him. Inside the courtyard, a forty-something middle-aged woman with her hands on her hips and a middle-aged man nervously rubbing his hands together were confronting Li Guangtao, who wore a gloomy expression.
The middle-aged woman had a rather plump build and unusually high cheekbones. At that moment, she was huffing and puffing, as if exhausted from all the shouting.
Li Guangtao turned his head with a softened expression and said to another thin, middle-aged woman behind him, “Mom, stay out of this. Go inside.”
Mother Li, however, wore a face full of anxiety and tried to say something, only to be interrupted by the woman who had just been shouting. “Go inside? Go where! If you people don’t fork over the money today, nobody gets to go anywhere!”
With that, she instantly dropped her acid expression, flailed her arms, and burst into a loud wailing cry. “Everyone come and look at this… this family borrowed money and refuses to pay it back, just bullying my old man for being honest! That’s a full two hundred yuan right there! It’s money for my son’s wedding, aiyou, how am I supposed to live…”
An Chutang’s mouth twitched. He rarely encountered this type of person in his daily life; anyone listening would think they had been defrauded out of two hundred million.
Li Guangtao’s face darkened instantly. If he weren’t worried about upsetting his grandmother lying paralyzed in the inner room, he would have thrown punches already.
“Wang Guiqin, get your facts straight! It was your family who caught wind from somewhere that I was going to do business and forced two hundred yuan on me, insisting on getting a piece of the action. I told you right then that I wasn’t bringing partners along, and warned you that doing business carries risks and could easily result in losing everything. It was you who refused to care about my grandmother being sick, crying and pleading in front of her until you forced me to include your share, promising you would accept the losses if it failed. Now look at you—I haven’t even said I wouldn’t return your money, yet you come running here to make a scene. Have you no shame at all?”
Wang Guiqin acted like firecrackers being lit, her voice brimming with vigor as she retorted, “Then pay it back right now! You talk big, but what fool makes a losing investment? I bet you were just trying to scam us out of our money from the start!”
With that, she turned to beat her husband beside her. “You coward, say something! Listen to how he’s addressing me? I’m his own aunt, yet he’s calling me by my full first name without an ounce of respect for his elders. If you don’t get this money back today, I’m not letting this rest! My life is so miserable… with an old piece of trash sick in bed all day who can’t help us out at all, and a junior bullying me like this as an elder, I can’t go on living…”
“Who are you calling an old piece of trash!” Hearing her insult his grandmother like that, Li Guangtao immediately moved to lunge at her, only to be yanked back firmly by his mother. “Taozi, don’t!”
“So noisy,” An Chutang frowned and complained.
Li Yan let go of his hand and gave his head a ruffle. “Come with me.”
The two of them ignored the screaming Wang Guiqin, walking past her straight toward Li Guangtao.
A fuming Li Guangtao finally noticed that Li Yan and An Chutang had arrived. Pausing slightly, he stepped forward with a somewhat sheepish expression. “Brother Yan, Brother Tang.”
An Chutang found it amusing. He curved the corners of his lips in a tease. “Did you really end up calling me older brother? Brother Tao.”
Li Guangtao rubbed the back of his head with an honest grin. “Why did you guys come over?”
Li Yan didn’t answer him, instead offering a polite greeting to the person standing behind him. “Auntie Lan.”
An Chutang knew this was Li Guangtao’s mother, so he smoothly followed Li Yan’s lead and addressed her. “Hello, Auntie.”
Li Meilan finally revealed her first faint smile of the day. “Hello, hello. Did you come to play with Taozi? Today…” She glanced toward Wang Guiqin’s direction with a troubled expression.
Acting as if he had no idea what was going on, An Chutang turned his head to survey the surroundings and asked casually, “What’s going on here? It’s so lively.”
Wang Guiqin knew that Li Guangtao had wealthy friends from the military residential compound. Seeing the quality and tailoring of Li Yan and An Chutang’s clothing, she instantly realized these two were not ordinary kids from typical families. Her eyes darted around, and she seized the opportunity to chime in. “You must be Taozi’s friends, right? I heard he’s been dabbling in business with friends—perfect timing. He owes my family two hundred yuan, so why don’t you guys just pay it back on his behalf?”
She spoke as if it were only natural, her shrewd gaze drawing a wave of quiet disdain from An Chutang.
“This matter has nothing to do with them. If you still want your two hundred yuan, get the hell out right now. I, Li Guangtao, am not going to renege on a debt!”
Wang Guiqin was hardly going to let slip such an opportunity. Relying on a drifter like Li Guangtao meant she had no idea when she would ever see that money back. “What do you mean it has nothing to do with them? You think I don’t know? I’ve already heard people talking—aren’t you spending all your time running around with your friends scheming to do business? If you say they have nothing to do with it, then who are your business partners?! Since you lost my money, none of you are getting away!”
“Brother Yan had family matters these past few days, so I brought the cassette tapes into the city alone. This has nothing to do with anyone else! Wang Guiqin, if you keep making a scene, you won’t get a single coin back! Don’t assume I won’t hit a woman!”
Wang Guiqin wasn’t intimidated by his threats in the slightest. With so many people watching and Li Meilan right there, she genuinely didn’t believe the guy would dare strike her. Plopping straight down onto the ground, she began slapping her thighs and wailing at the top of her lungs, “Oh, I can’t go on living… Everyone come see this! A nephew is trying to beat his aunt…”
The veins on Li Guangtao’s forehead throbbed violently. Thinking of his grandmother, currently paralyzed in bed, who was undoubtedly wiping away tears right now, he felt an urge to throttle the woman.
At that moment, a young woman in her early twenties squeezed into the crowd. Her features bore a slight resemblance to Wang Guiqin’s, but she looked far more striking. Rushing over to Wang Guiqin, she tried to pull her up. “Mom, what are you doing? Get up quickly.”
Though her hands were busy pulling her mother, her eyes kept darting sideways toward Li Yan with a bashful, coy gaze. An Chutang’s alarm bells rang instantly. Accustomed to seeing people fawn and latch on for status among men and women alike, he understood immediately that this woman’s intentions were anything but innocent!
Li Chunli hadn’t come for her mother at all; she had accidentally caught wind of the identity of her cousin’s friend, Li Yan. When she arrived back home earlier and spotted the car parked in the alleyway, she figured it must be Li Yan coming to find Li Guangtao, but she hadn’t expected him to actually be right here. If she could manage to latch onto this high branch…
She looked toward Li Guangtao with a troubled expression, then shifted her gaze to Li Yan, putting on an utterly pitiful appearance. “Brother…”
Not giving her a chance to speak, An Chutang stepped abruptly to the left to block Li Yan from view. “I understand the situation now. I thought it was some massive issue—is it really just two hundred yuan that’s making your family treat your own flesh and blood like this?”
He lifted his chin slightly, his voice cool and aloof. The easygoing aura he usually carried vanished instantly, replaced by an aloof, noble, and deeply oppressive presence.
Li Yan raised an eyebrow, lowering his gaze to look at the young master blocking his path. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, making his heart itch unbearably.
(Life Countdown: 20 hours.)