At this point, Fang Pingying couldn’t deny it, so she nodded, "Yes, I’m his wife. What is it you need to talk to him about?"
The man leading the group glanced at Fang Pingying and, seeing that she didn’t seem to be lying, spoke up, "He owes us money, we’re here to collect."
Fang Pingying was startled, and with eyes wide open, she said in disbelief, "He owes you money? How much?"
Their family wasn’t exactly wealthy, but they certainly didn’t need to borrow money from others, and the men in front of her looked like high-interest lenders.
And Luo Zhiyong usually barely used any money, so why would he borrow?
The man stretched out two fingers towards Fang Pingying, "Interest on interest, the total is two thousand yuan."
Fang Pingying really couldn’t believe it now, "Could you have made a mistake? Luo Zhiyong would never borrow so much money."
"We know what we’re doing; we won’t make mistakes." The man took a piece of paper out of his pocket and waved it in front of Fang Pingying, "It wasn’t Luo Zhiyong who borrowed the money, but he guaranteed it. It’s clearly written in the contract."
"A guarantor?" Fang Pingying frowned and reached out to take the contract, "Let me have a look."
The man stepped back, holding the contract away, and pointed to it, "Just look from there."
Fang Pingying leaned closer and scrutinized it carefully. Indeed, the guarantor’s name was Luo Zhiyong, but the handwriting was crooked, nothing like Luo Zhiyong’s neat penmanship.
Fang Pingying moved her gaze down and, upon seeing the borrower’s name, she gritted her teeth in anger.
The borrower was actually Luo Zhiming, the principal amount borrowed was US$500, probably borrowed before the new year; it’s been several months now, and they have been piling up interest, so now the total with interest was over two thousand yuan.
Fang Pingying was immediately annoyed and couldn’t hold back, yelling at the men, "The borrower listed here is clearly Luo Zhiming. What are you doing asking us for money? We’re not the ones who borrowed it."
The man seemed to have anticipated Fang Pingying’s reaction. He curled his lips in a dismissive manner and said, "Just tell me, Luo Zhiming and Luo Zhiyong are brothers, right?" ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ ⓝovelFire.net
Fang Pingying glared, "So what if they are? I’ve heard of sons paying off their father’s debts, but never that brothers should pay each other’s debts."
The man choked and, eventually, without bothering to reason with Fang Pingying, spoke brazenly, "I don’t care about that. When Luo Zhiming was borrowing the money, he said his older brother was in the army and would never default on the debt, so we lent him the money without any collateral. Now he’s gone missing, and after looking for him all over the provincial city without success, we had no choice but to find Luo Zhiyong."
Fang Pingying wanted to speak, but the man disdainfully said, "Where’s Luo Zhiyong? Have him come talk to me in person. You’re just a woman, you can’t decide on this. What’s there to talk about?"
Just then, Luo Zhiyong hurried back. He quickly approached and asked Fang Pingying, "Pingying, what’s going on? Who are these people?"
"It’s trouble caused by Luo Zhiming, you ask them yourself." After saying this, Fang Pingying, thinking of the good days that were interrupted by such nuisances, impatiently left the matter with Luo Zhiyong and walked aside.
Luo Zhiyong, back in his military uniform, caught the lenders’ attention; people with secure jobs and some status were always easier to pressure for money.
The leader handed the contract to Luo Zhiyong, "You can read, right? Take a look yourself."
Luo Zhiyong took the contract and read it carefully. After understanding what was written, he immediately knew the trouble was caused by Luo Zhiming.
His face darkened with anger, and he was not about to deal with Luo Zhiming’s mess, simply pointing to the signature saying, "This isn’t my signature at all; I’m not responsible for this."
The leader pointed to the place where Luo Zhiming’s signature was, "Take a closer look then, is this handwriting your brother’s?"
"I don’t know, I don’t recognize his handwriting." Luo Zhiyong naturally could recognize it as Luo Zhiming’s handwriting but denied it, saying, "Anyway, I’m telling you the money wasn’t borrowed by me, and I’m not going to pay it back. If you insist, then report it to the police and let them deal with it."
As soon as they heard ’report to the police’, the group’s faces changed, and one of them warned Luo Zhiyong, "Be sensible, the money was borrowed by Luo Zhiming, and I lent it to him on your account."
Luo Zhiyong narrowed his eyes and with a quick move flipped the man onto the ground.
After all, he was well-trained, and these low-level thugs were no match for him.
The others refused to take this lying down, rallied by the leader, they immediately charged intending to fight Luo Zhiyong.
Fang Pingying, seeing this, yelled, "Wait, big brother, let’s discuss this reasonably."
The man motioned for the others to stop and sneering at Fang Pingying said, "Speak then, and if I don’t like what I hear, I won’t take it easy on you."
Luo Zhiyong overheard and pointed at the man, shouting, "Watch your mouth."
Fang Pingying stopped Luo Zhiyong, telling him not to stoop to their level over a matter that had nothing to do with them.
She said to the man, "Bare minimum, you lending money and charging interest is a business transaction, isn’t it? Is your business always done so sloppily?"
After a brief pause, she continued, "You’re asking Luo Zhiyong to be a guarantor, but there’s no evidence of his presence or any actual handwriting to prove he’s the guarantor. You blindly believed Luo Zhiming and came asking him for money. By that logic, if anyone borrows money claiming they know Luo Zhiyong, you would agree to lend it, then you’d be ruined."
The man sneered and rolled up his sleeves, "You think we do this kind of work ignorantly? I lent money to Luo Zhiming because I’ve thoroughly checked out his background. I’m sure about his relation to Luo Zhiyong before I lent him the money, and I know your family isn’t short of cash, two thousand is nothing but a trifle for you."
Fang Pingying was taken aback; she hadn’t expected these people to have such resources to make such a clear investigation.
After getting a grip, she bluntly cleared up the relationship with Luo Zhiming, "But the problem is, we have no relationship with Luo Zhiming now, and I’m certainly not going to pay this debt."
The lenders seemed not to expect Fang Pingying to dismiss it so outright. They glanced at each other, and then one bald man stepped forward, looking at Luo Zhiyong with a somewhat threatening tone, "If you won’t pay, if I find Luo Zhiming, I’ll make sure to break his arms and legs, can you bear that as a brother?"