Meanwhile, in Xincheng.
Mei Mengcheng was at home, anxious and restless. He had talked about starting a business with those "fair-weather friends," investing money into it, but months had passed without any sign of profit. He was frustrated and angry. Worse, because he lacked the necessary funds, he had taken out multiple loans. The repayment period for these loans had long since passed, yet he was still unable to pay them back.
The phone calls from lenders were incessant, hounding him like the Grim Reaper, and Mei Mengcheng had no choice but to turn off his phone to avoid them.
But the lenders weren’t going to let it go that easily; after all, they had his address from when he borrowed the money. So, they sent someone directly to Mei Mengcheng’s home.
’Knock knock knock’
This light knocking on the door was much softer than his mother’s usual banging.
Mei Yongan was watching TV in the living room when he heard the knocking and quickly went to answer it. Opening the door, he saw two men in suits and ties, nodding politely at him.
"Who are you looking for?" Mei Yongan asked curiously.
The two men cautiously inquired, "Excuse me, does Mr. Mei Mengcheng live here?"
Mei Yongan looked the men over and nodded, then turned and called into the room, "Mengcheng, there are two people here for you."
Without a second thought, Mei Mengcheng hurried out of bed and came to the door. At first taken aback, he asked, "I’m Mei Mengcheng, who are you? I don’t think I know you."
The two men nodded, still wearing professional smiles, and said, "We’re from XX Guarantee Company. You took out a loan of XX million yuan with us on XX date, and it has been overdue for XX days. Including interest, the total amount due as of today is just over 800,000 yuan. Since we couldn’t reach you by phone, we had to pay you a visit."
A chill ran down Mei Mengcheng’s spine upon hearing their words.
It had come.
It was over.
However, Mei Yongan was oblivious to the situation. He only heard about the loan and anxiously asked his son, "Mengcheng, what’s this about? Loans? Since when did you take out a loan?"
Mei Mengcheng had no idea how to resolve the situation, especially since the visitors were there to demand money and would not leave without a definite answer. Under Mei Yongan’s pressing, Mei Mengcheng revealed the truth. In short, he had been scammed; not only was all his money swindled, but he had also borrowed... now he owed a total of 860,000 yuan.
The two lenders had heard Mei Mengcheng’s explanation and sympathized with his predicament. But the debt still had to be repaid. They were just employees, after all, "Mr. Mei, we deeply sympathize with your situation, but please don’t make things difficult for us. We came here today to inform you about this issue. Of course, we will give you sufficient time to arrange the money. Let us know when it would be convenient for us to come back, or if you prefer, you can come to us. However, the longer you delay, the higher the interest will accrue. Naturally, our advice would be to pay it off as soon as possible."
After saying their piece, the two men left, but their departure caused an uproar in the Mei Family.
Today was a workday, and under normal circumstances, Mei Yongan should have been at work. But since he believed his son was now financially well-off and had also given him some money, he no longer wished to continue working. He had spent money and pulled some strings to take early retirement on medical grounds. At 50, he had officially retired just last month and hadn’t even received his first pension payment before this debacle unfolded, making it impossible for him to accept the situation peacefully.
The more Mei Yongan learned about the matter, the angrier he became, to the point that he wanted to lash out at his son. Scared, Mei Mengcheng fled from the house.
As he ran downstairs, he encountered Mei Yinan, who had just picked up Mei Mengchen from kindergarten.
Mei Mengcheng was relieved; his life had been saved for the moment.
The Fan Family had seen the Mei Family buying a house here when they came to buy their property. Mei Yinan didn’t believe it at first, but after moving in, she was convinced by Fan Tianyu’s words. She never inquired about where the money came from, but the fact remained that the two families lived in the same community and were bound to run into each other.
Mei Mengcheng cleverly hid behind Mei Yinan, "Aunt, you have to save me. My dad’s going to kill me."
Mei Yinan didn’t believe this. Knowing Mei Mengcheng’s character, how could Mei Yongan, who treated him like a treasure, ever want to kill him?
However, when she turned and saw the furiously approaching Mei Yongan, she was truly taken aback; it seemed he really wanted to kill his son. She hurriedly asked, "What have you done to make your dad so angry?"
As Mei Yongan caught up, he heard Mei Yinan’s question and immediately replied, "This boy, this boy took out a loan behind our backs—860,000 yuan! What am I supposed to use to pay it back?"
"What?" Mei Yinan exploded, shocked as she looked at Mei Mengcheng.
860,000 yuan wasn’t 86,000, nor 8,600, and certainly not 86. How could she not be shocked?
Fan Tianyu knew how to make money, with the largest expense being their current home. Mei Mengcheng didn’t know how to earn a cent, so where did he borrow such a huge amount? And more importantly, where did the money go? Surely there must be some explanation.
Mei Yinan really didn’t want to get involved, knowing that doing so would mean dipping into her own pocket to help out. But encountering such bad luck that she couldn’t simply turn a blind eye, and she couldn’t just watch Mei Yongan beat Mei Mengcheng to death. Reluctantly, she said, "Let’s go to my place and talk about this properly."
...
At the same time, Mei Yifan was called by the school to discuss an early romance problem with the parents of the involved parties.
Mei Yifan naturally thought her daughter was too precious for those local boys and believed the other side was at fault.
Coincidentally, the other parent thought the same.
Both sides believed it was the other’s child who had seduced their son (or daughter), leading to an endless argument in the principal’s office.
But Mei Yifan was not someone who would stand to be at a disadvantage. "Look here, Zhang Jun’s mother," she said, "what kind of character does your son have that he would be worthy of my daughter? It must be your son seducing my daughter. Stop lying."
Zhang Jun was the suspected early romantic partner of Wang Qiuhe, and Zhang Jun’s mother naturally wouldn’t let Mei Yifan get away with such accusations. "It’s your daughter who seduced my son. At such a young age, if she’s not learning anything good, it’s anyone’s guess who she’s been picking things up from."
Zhang Jun’s mother’s disdainful glare scanned Mei Yifan from head to toe, and neither woman was willing to back down. However, when it came to verbal spats, no one could best Mei Yifan except for Mei Yinan. Gradually, Zhang Jun’s mother found herself at a disadvantage and immediately switched tactics, lunging at Mei Yifan.
Mei Yifan, always ready to stir trouble, took a step back just as Zhang Jun’s mother reached out, causing her to miss. But Mei Yifan was not one to let an offense slide. If Zhang Jun’s mother dared to take a swing, she was ready to swing back.