After Song Cheng brought home the books for her first year of high school, she began studying the high school curriculum in advance. Since she had never studied it before, the material was indeed difficult, but fortunately, Song Cheng’s intelligence had improved. Otherwise, she would have had to look up explanations of the lessons. Even so, she was making slower progress than she had with her middle-school courses.
That evening, Dad Song called ahead to say he wouldn’t be home for dinner. He was going out to eat with an elementary-school classmate. The moment Song Cheng heard “elementary-school classmate,” alarm bells went off in her head. In her previous life, the person who tricked Dad Song into guaranteeing a loan had also been someone who claimed to be a friend from way back. And judging by the timing, the loan company had come knocking around the time Song Cheng was about to start school. Back then, No. 2 High School had a ten-day military training period.
After dinner with Mom Song, Song Cheng asked, “Mom, have you ever met Dad’s classmate?”
“I have. When you were little, your dad and I went to his wedding. His wife was quite pretty. Your dad said his classmate’s business was booming, and that he was a decent person who didn’t look down on others just because he had money. They’ve kept in touch all these years, and your dad thinks highly of him.”
Hearing that, Song Cheng understood why her dad had signed the guarantee without hesitation back then.
Many people think that guaranteeing a loan for a friend or acquaintance won’t cause any trouble. After all, they aren’t the ones borrowing the money; they’re only signing as an intermediary to provide security, so it has nothing to do with them. But in fact, signing a contract means taking on legal responsibility. With an ordinary guarantee, if the borrower can’t repay the loan, the borrower’s assets are frozen first. The guarantor is held responsible only if those assets aren’t enough. But if the guarantee carries joint liability, things are much worse: the creditor can pursue the guarantor at the same time.
Song Cheng’s father had signed a joint-liability guarantee. He’d been careless: when he signed, he neither checked his friend’s financial situation nor read the contract carefully. As a result, the debt collectors went after Dad alone. The law eventually helped recover a little money, but the Song family was left completely destitute.
Dad Song didn’t get home until after ten. He seemed very happy to have seen his old friend, and he’d had a little to drink. He was surprised to see that neither mother nor daughter had gone to bed. Usually, they’d be getting ready to turn in by then, but tonight they were both sitting on the sofa watching TV, as if they’d been waiting for him.
“Why are you still up?” Dad Song asked curiously. “Especially you, Chengcheng. Don’t you get your beauty sleep every night?”
Every evening, Song Cheng shut her bedroom door a little after eight, studied, then told her parents she was going to get her beauty sleep. So Dad Song was surprised to see her awake at this hour.
“Your daughter said she wanted to wait for you because she had something to ask you,” Mom Song said crossly. “When I asked what it was, she wouldn’t tell me. She’s closer to you, that’s all.”
Normally, Song Cheng would have coaxed her mother, but right now her attention was on Dad Song. She poured him a glass of water, then sat beside him and asked, “Dad, what did your friend want with you?”
Dad Song took a sip of the hot water and glanced at Song Cheng in surprise. “We’re just old friends catching up. What important thing could there be?”
Then he turned to Mom Song. “You know, Jianguo’s gotten a lot older. We talked about how the city’s developed over the past few years. He’s planning to open a branch factory here, so it sounds like business is going really well. I invited him over for dinner, but he said he’d come by sometime later.”
Song Cheng said, “Dad, are you sure he really didn’t want anything from you? Or maybe you thought it was too trivial to take seriously?”
Now Dad Song was genuinely puzzled. “You’re making it sound like you know something. Why are you so suspicious, kid?”
Song Cheng sighed. “Books say that when someone you haven’t seen in a long time suddenly shows up, it means they need something from you.”
“Oh?” Dad Song laughed. “What have you been reading lately, to make you such an expert?”
“Come on, Dad, don’t worry about what I’ve been reading. Just tell me about your friend.”
Seeing how curious Song Cheng was, Dad Song didn’t hide anything. He explained to Mom Song and Song Cheng, “It’s nothing major. Sun Jianguo’s furniture business in Yang City has been doing really well these past couple of years, and now he’s planning to expand into this city, so he came to look over the local market. He says he wants to build a branch factory in the industrial district, but he’s short on cash. Bank loans have had pretty strict requirements these past couple of years, so he wants to borrow from a loan company he knows. They require a local resident to guarantee the loan, so he thought of me.”
“So he really did have something to ask,” Mom Song said. “I thought you two were just having dinner because you hadn’t seen each other in ages. Chengcheng really did call it.”
Dad Song laughed. “We were catching up, too. And at our age, we mostly keep in touch by phone. We’re not exactly idle, with nothing to do but run around visiting people. It’s perfectly normal to talk business while we’re at it.”
“Dad, you didn’t agree to it, did you?” Song Cheng asked hurriedly.
“No. I said I’d come home and talk to your mother first. Your Uncle Sun even teased me about it.”
“Dad, don’t go guaranteeing loans for people without thinking it through. Don’t assume guaranteeing a loan is as simple as signing a piece of paper to help someone out. It carries legal responsibility. Lots of people sign without understanding what they’re getting into, and end up saddled with debt, paying off someone else’s loan until they lose everything.”
“It’s not as serious as you’re making it sound. Besides, those are people who sign blindly without knowing the situation. I’ve known your Uncle Sun for years, and his business is huge. He’s only having a temporary cash-flow problem. If he really couldn’t pay, he still has a big operation in Yang City.”
Song Cheng was even more at a loss for words. No wonder her dad had been careless. Who could have expected an old friend of so many years to deceive him? And Sun really did have a company and property in Yang City. But no one had known that Uncle Sun would develop a gambling addiction. He had already gambled away the company and most of his properties. The people there mostly knew what had happened. His wife had argued and fought with him when he first started gambling, but after he lost the company, she took one of their houses and left with their son, divorcing him. Song Cheng’s parents had learned this from his ex-wife after everything came to light. She had told them herself.
Seeing how much Dad Song trusted Uncle Sun made Song Cheng even more frustrated. She felt sorry for her father. How could she make him take this seriously?
Song Cheng thought it over, then calmed her voice. “Dad, I know you and Uncle Sun are friends, but you haven’t seen each other in years. You still think of him the way he used to be. A guarantee is a really serious matter. Yaozhi told me something just the other day. She went to visit her grandmother, and her grandmother told her that the owner of the house next door had guaranteed a loan for a relative. When the relative couldn’t repay it, the guarantor had to pay, and the house was mortgaged to the creditor. That family also had an older daughter who was supposed to go to university, but now she can’t afford to study. She’s already married after a match arranged by her family, just because the bride price was high.”
“Oh? That happened? How come your Eldest Uncle never told me?” Dad Song asked.
Song Cheng’s Eldest Uncle and grandmother both lived in the countryside, in the eastern suburbs of the city. That area would develop in the future, but for now the government was only developing the eastern part of the city.
“It’s not even the same village. And it’s so embarrassing—who would talk about it outside their circle of acquaintances?”
In reality, it hadn’t happened that way at all. The family had indeed guaranteed a loan for a relative, but the borrower had repaid it, so the guarantor had nothing to worry about. As for the mortgage and the older daughter’s marriage, the daughter hadn’t gotten into university and had found a boyfriend from the city. Her family planned to buy a house there, so they mortgaged their old one. But none of that stopped Song Cheng from making up a story to dissuade her father.
“And Dad, even if you’re going to guarantee a loan for Uncle Sun, shouldn’t you find out what’s going on first? He says he’s opening a branch here, but what if that’s just a smokescreen and he’s actually planning to expand in Yang City?”
“Couldn’t be. Our family isn’t exactly wealthy. What would he get out of cheating me?” Dad Song still thought Song Cheng was worrying over nothing.
Song Cheng smiled to herself. He did know their family’s situation, which was why he hadn’t approached Dad Song first. The first person he asked had been cautious and refused, so he’d settled for Dad Song instead. Later, he’d even complained that borrowing just over a million wasn’t enough for him. The loan company’s employees had told them all this afterward.
“Dad, scammers don’t care whether you have money or not. Think about it: if you guarantee the loan and Uncle Sun goes bankrupt or something happens to him, the loan company will come after you. Would our family really be able to repay it? You only have a fixed salary, and Mom just has a clothing store. Our car isn’t worth much either. The most valuable thing we own is probably this house, and even this old place wouldn’t sell for much. If they demolish this neighborhood someday, we’ll lose even more.”
That was exactly what had happened. In less than half a month, everything had blown up. With no other way out, her parents spent all their savings, sold the store, and sold the house for a few hundred thousand before they could repay the loan. But a few months later, the whole street where the Song family lived was demolished, and the residents received three times the compensation. Because of this, Grandma Song had berated her parents until they were black and blue. In the end, their relatives scraped together some money so they could make a down payment on a house in the suburbs. But whenever the subject came up, her parents would start arguing, and the atmosphere at home would turn tense. Song Cheng was terrified of going through something like that again, so she had to stop Dad Song, whatever it took.
At last, Song Cheng added in a coaxing voice, “Dad, if anything happens, your beautiful wife and adorable daughter will be left homeless. Then I won’t be able to wear pretty clothes or eat delicious food. Could you bear that?”
Hearing this, Mom Song grew worried too. “Old Song, Chengcheng has a point. If you’re going to guarantee a loan for someone, find out what’s going on first. You can’t be careless about this.”
Dad Song thought about it. He hadn’t felt anything was wrong while eating and drinking at the dinner table, but after hearing Song Cheng out, he realized he really did need to be careful. He turned to her and said, “You’re right. I’ll call the other classmates and ask about him. If I have to, I’ll go to Yang City myself. All right, it’s late. You should get some rest. I promise I’ll tell you, no matter what happens, so don’t worry too much, okay?”
Hearing him say that at last, Song Cheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Dad, you have to tell me. Don’t treat me like a little kid. I’m in high school now, so I have a right to know what’s going on in the family, too.”
Dad Song smiled and patted Song Cheng’s head. “All right, all right, Little Housekeeper. I promise I’ll tell you once I’ve looked into it.” Then they all went to bed.
Over the next two days, Dad Song kept contacting his old classmates to ask about Sun Jianguo, but he couldn’t find out anything useful. He realized that among his classmates, he was the only one close to Sun Jianguo. And Sun Jianguo was pressing him to hurry. The moment he heard that Dad Song wanted to look into things, he got upset, saying they’d been friends for so many years and that Dad Song didn’t trust his friends. He even accused Dad Song of being afraid of his wife and said that since his wife earned more than he did, he couldn’t even make a decision about this little matter. The more Sun Jianguo said, the more suspicious Dad Song became.
After thinking it over, Dad Song decided to take leave and go to Yang City himself. Before he set out, he hadn’t really taken the matter seriously. After all, just two days earlier Sun Jianguo had taken him to see the site of the branch factory he was opening in the city. They were already getting ready to renovate it, and he’d even had dinner with the partner companies. Dad Song had thought, Surely it couldn’t all be an act. But when he remembered how anxious Sun Jianguo had seemed, something still felt wrong, so he decided to make the trip in person.
The train ride to Yang City took seven or eight hours, and Dad Song arrived in the evening. The next day, he took a taxi straight to Sun’s home. He’d last visited the Sun family ten years ago. Sun Jianguo had lived in a villa back then, so Dad Song went straight there. To his surprise, a stranger opened the door. When he asked what had happened, the person told him the house had been sold six months ago and that the wife had divorced her husband. Dad Song then went straight to Sun Jianguo’s company, where he found the same situation.
Dad Song returned on the third day. After he got home, he shut himself in the study and spent an hour on the phone. He hadn’t imagined that an old friend of so many years would really deceive him, or that Sun Jianguo would develop a gambling addiction. Dad Song told the family that Sun Jianguo’s company and villa had been auctioned off by the court, and his wife had divorced him and left with their son long ago. He could no longer borrow money in Yang City, so he’d come here instead. The so-called major clients and branch factory were just a show put on to trick people into lending him money. Sun Jianguo had even taken Dad Song to see the branch factory’s address himself. If Song Cheng hadn’t warned him, Dad Song probably would never have thought to go straight to Yang City.
Dad Song was deeply disappointed. He felt he was a poor judge of character. Mom Song patted her chest repeatedly and said, “Thank goodness Chengcheng warned us. I’d never have thought Sun Jianguo would deceive us either. Who would expect someone who seemed perfectly decent to develop a gambling addiction? He’s ruined his own life and hurt everyone around him.”
Then she turned to Dad Song. “From now on, come home and talk things over with us. Chengcheng’s grown up, too. She might think of things we don’t. If it weren’t for her this time, all our years of hard work would have gone to waste.”
Dad Song nodded quickly, his face full of relief.