Chen Lin didnât get the money, but he got a living hell instead.
He heard from his Second Brother that Jia Xiufang had become rich, not knowing who she was involved with specifically, just that she was very successful now and had contracted the recycling of building materials in a demolition project. It was said she made a fortune from it.
Xiaoqian didnât allow Jia Xiufang to get close to the previous relatives, so Second Uncle also didnât know who Jia Xiufang had connections with, just that she had money now.
Chen Lin had been down on his luck ever since the divorce. His mistress left, the house was taken over by Xiaoqian and given to Jia Xiufang. Having been idle his whole life, he suddenly was left with nothing and unwilling to find a stable job to support himself.
Jia Xiufang had been too good to him before. When they had the laundry shop, she took care of everything inside and outside the shop, leaving him free to play with money and act like a young boss with small mistresses.
He fell from heaven to earth, and before he had recovered from the shock of being left with nothing, he heard that his ex-wife had become rich.
This was simply unbearable for his pride. It was already a severe blow to Chen Lin that the old houses were demolished. After all, he had lived there for so many years but never seen any real action being taken. The moment he got divorced, the demolition took place, and he had no share in the money or the new houses.
Living hand to mouth without a steady source of income, his old home had been sold by him, but the money from it was running out. He had opened a gambling room, but he didnât know who reported him and he couldnât go on. Later he set up a fruit stand to sell fruits, but he felt it was too tiring to work so hard and only worked a few days and took many days off. The less fresh the fruits, the fewer customers he had, and he finally had to give up that too.
Chen Lin was used to spending lavishly and lazy, unwilling to work for others and see their faces. So he wanted to be the boss and rely on gambling to make a living. But he was not welcomed in any big games and settled for small ones such as mahjong. The money from those wasnât enough to maintain a dignified life, let alone always winning at gambling. His days became harder as he won less and lost more.
Chen Lin went to his brothersâ houses for meals and borrowed money. He would insist on getting at least two or three hundred each time. Whoever gave him the money, he would immediately gamble it away, a complete old rascal.
Although his brothers and their families were all double-income retired workers and not short of money, nobody could tolerate someone like him. Other than Fourth Uncle who valued brotherhood, the others were not good people either.
Chen Lin really had no courage to look for Fourth Uncle, although he was a good person and still had contact with Xiaoqian and Jia Xiufang. The mother who lived in Fourth uncleâs house had a heart condition, and if she happened to see Chen Lin in his hooligan outfit, it might frighten her to death. Chen Lin would bypass Fourth Uncle and bother the other houses instead, annoying them several times until they couldnât take it anymore.
Second Uncleâs daughter-in-law instigated Second Uncle, telling Chen Lin about Jia Xiufang making money while deliberately concealing the fact that her connections were probably very powerful.
After learning about it, Chen Lin lay in bed for days without sleeping. As soon as he closed his eyes and thought about Jia Xiufang having everything while he lived from meal to meal, he couldnât swallow his pride.
He began to feel crazy jealousy, unable to accept that a yellow-faced woman who used to be beaten by him suddenly became rich.
After the crazy jealousy, all that was left in him were a sense of injustice and bad intentions. After pondering for a long time, he finally came up with what he thought was a foolproof plan.
He had heard before that moneylenders were very intimidating, breaking limbs and taking all sorts of disturbing photos, evenâ¦that kind!
Chen Lin thought that Jia Xiufang was still the same foolish woman from back in the day, thinking of him as her sky. He planned to take advantage of this situation to scare her and and make her give him money. If he could use this opportunity to reconcile with her, it would be even better.
They had two children together, and he didnât believe Jia Xiufang could live without him. When the time came, all he had to do was kneel down and say how pitiful he was, and he was not afraid of failing to win back Jia Xiufang.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
When Chen Lin did this, the only person he feared in his heart was not anyone else, but his eldest daughter Chen Xiaoqian, whose temperament had suddenly changed.
Xiaoqianâs personality seemed to have changed overnight, making her difficult to fathom. It felt like she was in control of everything, and Chen Lin was very afraid of her.
Despite his fear, Chen Lin still gambled this time, thinking that no matter what, he was still Xiaoqianâs nominal father. He had been called âDadâ by her for so many years, so how could she ignore their father-daughter relationship completely?
Even if Xiaoqian disregarded their relationship and he couldnât gain anything, he could still go around badmouthing her, saying that the child had a wolf heart dog lung and didnât care about her father. If it came to that, he could have his old mother come forward. If Xiaoqian angered her mother to the point of illness, he could use that as the moral high ground to suppress her and not let her live too comfortably.
But Chen Lin never expected that the local tyrants he hired hadnât even been gone for an hour before someone came to his door.
But it wasnât money that was delivered, it was a scare.
Chen Lin had just bought two meat buns at home and hadnât even had a chance to take a bite when he heard a commotion outside the courtyard. He thought the thugs he had hired had returned, so he stood up in joy, not expecting to see another group of people.
These people entered the courtyard and drove everyone else out. The other tenants in the courtyard were so scared they didnât know what to do, as it was apparent that these people were not here for anything good.
Chen Lin also wanted to follow them out, but was spotted by the leader and pulled back directly, his collar grabbed and thrown into the room. There was someone outside the door who wouldnât let him out.
Chen Lin dared to ask about their origins, but was coldly replied, âYouâll know when the time comes, donât ask what you shouldnât.â
These people didnât hit, curse or destroy things, they just didnât let Chen Lin escape. But the process was torturous, Chen Lin was so scared his soul was about to leave his body.
If these people had said what they were here for, Chen Lin might not have felt so frightened. But they didnât say anything, didnât hit or scold or destroy anything, and no matter how many times he asked, they wouldnât speak. When he asked urgently, they would look at him with cold and sharp eyes. This was scarier than confronting their identity head-on.
Just when Chen Lin was about to die from the torture of his imagination, the door opened.
âYoung Master Lang!â
The leader of the group greeted Yu Minglang respectfully as soon as he saw him, admiration on his face.
Yu Minglang asked, âXiao Wu, howâs your leg injury recovering?â
âThank you for your concern, Young Master Lang! It still hurts when it rains or during cloudy days, but it doesnât affect my main job. I was really excited when you called today.â
âDo a good job! Having someone as outstanding as you working for me gives me face.â
Yu Minglang patted his shoulder, and Xiao Wu was very happy to be praised by him.
âDo you need my help with anything else?â
âNo need, you can go on. Iâll handle it alone.â
Yu Minglang let everyone leave, changed to a cold face, and pushed open Chen Linâs door to enter.
He intended to meet this trash dad and see why this man kept hurting his little treasureâs heart.
Hurting Xiaoqian was hurting him, and he couldnât endure this anger.