HCB Chapter 239 Killing the Cuckoo (54)
Chapter 239 Killing the Cuckoo (54)
After listening to Gao Heng's rambling account of the whole story, Yan Zhen struggled to suppress the upward curve of his lips.
It turns out that the "pig butchering scam" that Gao Heng encountered in his previous life was actually Xu Chuan.
In this life, Gao Heng not only repeated his mistakes, but also attracted the attention of his relatives by making his relationship public, leading them astray as well.
Yan Zhen couldn't help but laugh at the thought of her father, Gao, who was always concerned about his image and loved to boast, being unable to hold his head up in front of relatives.
"Sister, what should I do? I really didn't know Xu Chuan was that kind of person." Gao Heng cried with snot and tears streaming down her face. "Please help me."
Yan Zhen frowned: "How can I help you?"
“I need money,” Gao Heng said immediately. “Our house is mortgaged, and I need 700,000 yuan to get it back. Otherwise, my parents and I will have to sleep on the streets.”
Yan Zhen scoffed lightly, "They're sleeping on the streets, not her."
She hadn't forgotten how Gao Li's father had suppressed and humiliated her when she begged her parents and family for a divorce in her previous life, and how Gao Li's mother and Gao Heng had stood by and watched coldly.
“Seven hundred thousand…” Yan Zhen frowned even more deeply and said worriedly, “As you know, I opened a new branch store and invested all the money I had on hand. I can’t come up with that much money right now.”
Gao Heng asked expectantly, "How much do you have left?"
Yan Zhen held up three fingers.
Gao Heng paused: "Three hundred thousand?"
"Thirty thousand."
Gao Heng: "..."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Gao, who had been lying on the sofa pretending to be dead, sat up: "Thirty thousand? How could you say that!"
Yan Zhen turned his head: "What, isn't 30,000 a lot of money? If you don't like it, then forget it."
As she spoke, she got up to leave.
Mr. Gao immediately shouted, "Stop right there!"
Yan Zhen paused, meeting his gaze without fear.
The father and daughter were locked in a stalemate for more than ten seconds. After all, Mr. Gao needed something from her, so his momentum weakened first, and when he spoke again, his attitude was much more polite.
“We’re family. Such a big thing has happened to our family. Are you going to just stand by and do nothing?” Mr. Gao started to appeal to people’s emotions. “Not to mention your brother, what about your mother and me? Are you going to watch us get so old and end up homeless?”
Yan Zhen looked completely innocent: "I didn't stand idly by. Didn't I just say that I could give you 30,000?"
"...Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar?" Gao's father's temper was about to burst. "Don't try to fool me. You got a lot of money from the divorce with Fang Yihe, and your cake shop is doing so well, earning six figures a month. I don't believe you can't even come up with 700,000."
“Fang Yihe’s car and house are premarital property, so I won’t get any of them in the divorce. The little savings I got from him were all used to expand the new store.” Yan Zhen spread his hands: “As for the cake shop, the funds for opening the new store haven’t been recovered yet. I only have 40,000 yuan left. If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do.”
Seeing that she was unyielding, Gao's father clenched his fists secretly: "Then you should transfer the new store as soon as possible."
Yan Zhen paused, thinking he had misheard: "What?"
“I’ve asked around. The location of your new store, the store decoration and equipment, and the promotional accounts you’ve established—if you sell them all together, they could fetch at least a million.”
Yan Zhen narrowed his eyes: "You've already found out everything for me."
Mr. Gao sensed the sarcasm in her words and felt a pang of guilt, but he maintained a self-righteous demeanor: "We're family, and we should get through this together. Besides, I'm not taking this money for nothing. You can write an IOU and have your brother pay it back in installments later."
"Do you even believe that yourself?" Yan Zhen mercilessly exposed his ulterior motives. "What if the shop gets sold off, and the money is used to cover your losses? What will Gao Heng do when he has no money left? Am I supposed to hang myself at your doorstep?"
When her words hit the nail on the head, Gao's father became furious and said, "Money, money, money! All you ever talk about is money. You never mention the bond you share with your brother, or how your mother and I raised you and supported your education. I'm just asking you one question today: are you going to pay or not?"
Yan Zhen said decisively, "I won't pay. Don't overestimate yourself. Your kindness and favors aren't worth this price."
Gao's father: "..."
His temples throbbed with anger, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "If you don't pay this money, I'll make sure your business goes out of business. If we're not doing well, neither will you."
Yan Zhen wasn't angry when she heard this. Instead, she calmly took out her phone, turned on the video recording function, and started filming Gao's father.
Mr. Gao was taken aback by her actions: "What are you doing?"
"Speak up, are you going to bring people to my shop to put up banners and cause trouble, or are you going to secretly poison my kitchen?" Yan Zhen said. "Organize your thoughts before you speak, don't be like Gao Heng, repeating the same thing three times without getting to the point, it'll be hard for me to edit later."
Mr. Gao was even more confused: "What do you want to do?"
"You couldn't fill the hole your son created by sucking your daughter's blood, so you got angry and threatened your daughter on TikTok."
Yan Zhen said calmly, "Don't be angry. I'm just trying to help you. Maybe if the hype gets high, it will attract the attention of the police, and Aheng's case will be solved first."
The only problem is that the whole internet will know you have a son who is male and likes men, that you got scammed in a dating scam, and that you'll be so humiliated that you'll have to avoid people when you go out.
Mr. Gao: "...You dare!"
"Are you betting on whether I have the guts, or testing whether my marketing skills are good enough to spread the buzz across the entire internet?"
Gao's father stared intently at Yan Zhen, feeling a sense of powerlessness as if he had kicked a steel plate.
When did his daughter, who had always been so afraid of him and would turn pale at the mere sound of his shout, become so sharp and mean?
I couldn't do anything about her at all.
Mr. Gao remained silent for a long time, his straight back slowly slumped, he rubbed his face vigorously, and when he spoke again, his voice was completely devoid of its previous imperiousness.
“I know you have money, but what do you want from me to help your brother? He’s only in his twenties, you can’t just watch his life be ruined like this.”
“I can’t help him,” Yan Zhen said. “However, this matter is not entirely without a solution.”
Mr. Gao immediately looked up, and Mr. Gao Heng and Mrs. Gao also cast hopeful glances at Yan Zhen.
Meeting their gazes, Yan Zhen smiled slightly and said to Gao's father, "You've worked at the same company for over twenty years, and you've paid your social security and housing provident fund on time. You also have a car, good credit, and collateral. These are perfect conditions for borrowing money from the bank. You and Mom should each take out a loan from the bank to plug the hole that Aheng created, and then pay it back slowly later."
Upon hearing this, Gao Heng muttered in disappointment, "Pay it back slowly...where will we get the money to pay it back?"
Yan Zhen turned to look at him, her eyes full of mockery: "If you have any backbone, go to work and earn money to pay it off. There are three people in your family, and you can save up at least ten thousand yuan a month to pay off the loan. It will take at most six or seven years to pay it off. If you don't have any backbone, then take advantage of your youth and find a rich man to be your mistress."
Gao Heng: "..."