Chapter 39: The Debt Collection Show

Going after these great families with just two people knocking on their doors? As if they’d get anything back!

Lin Yaoyao had a feeling that Lin Feiyuan’s use of the warehouse goods wasn’t a coincidence. Someone was behind it, stirring the pot and plotting everything.

Lin Feiyuan got angry just thinking about his experiences earlier that day. He had visited so many households and not recovered a single item.

They had agreed before that those things could be taken back at any time. Now everyone was making excuses.

“These people are bastards. They promised so nicely before, and now they won’t own up to it!”

This was already Lin Feiyuan’s second visit asking for those treasures back.

The first time was right after Lin Xuanzhong discovered the warehouse issue. Lin Feiyuan had gone looking for them then.

Back then, the families thought the IOUs had been burned, that there was no proof. So they flat-out denied everything.

Today Lin Feiyuan brought the IOUs. Those people never expected him to have kept them.

With the IOUs in hand, they could no longer deny it. So they made excuse after excuse.

It all came down to one word: wait!

They didn’t say they wouldn’t return anything. They smiled and welcomed him, saying they didn’t have the treasures at the moment. But they’d pour him as much tea as he wanted.

He went from one house to the next, drinking pot after pot of tea.

Every family seemed to have agreed on the same script: they’d return everything someday, but they wouldn’t give a date.

Lin Feiyuan and Gu Mingchun drank from the Tang family in the west of town to the Li family in the north. They must have run to the toilet who knows how many times, and still didn’t get a single item back.

“Senior Brother Gu?”

Lin Yaoyao saw that only Lin Feiyuan had come, without Gu Mingchun.

Gu Mingchun had drunk too much tea. He had just entered the courtyard when he went to the toilet again. He only showed up now.

After hearing their story, Lin Yaoyao and Chunyu burst into laughter.

It was both infuriating and funny.

Lin Feiyuan was simple-minded and easy to fool; Gu Mingchun was thin-skinned and not good with words. It really was tough for those two to collect debts.

“Third Brother, Senior Brother Gu, I’ll accompany you to collect the debts tomorrow. You’ll follow my lead then.”

For some reason, as long as Lin Yaoyao was around, Lin Feiyuan felt at ease.

At noon, the streets in the western part of the city were at their busiest, with people coming and going.

A group of ragged people stopped in front of the Tang residence. Slowly, they unfurled a white cloth with several lines of large words written on it.

“Killers must pay with their lives, and debtors must pay their debts!”

“If you have money and won’t repay, it’s as bad as killing someone’s parents!”

“Returning what you borrow makes borrowing easy again!”

Passersby turned their heads. Quite a few curious onlookers gathered in front of the Tang residence, buzzing with discussion.

“The Tang family is a century-old great house. How could they owe money?”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s just a hollow shell.”

The guards at the Tang residence gate saw the crowd growing and drew their swords, ready to drive people away.

The crowd refused to leave. This street wasn’t the Tang family’s private property. They could stand wherever they liked.

They were all unarmed commoners, and they hadn’t done anything out of line.

Under the public eye, the Tang guards didn’t dare use violence. They could only brandish their swords to scare people and make them step back a foot or two.

The people weren’t frightened off. Instead, word spread, one telling two, two telling three, and the rumors grew wilder. All sorts of stories were going around, and more and more people came over.

“Make way! Make way!”

A young woman, escorted by two handsome young men on either side, stepped to the front.

She wore a light green dress. She was fair and refined, with an extraordinary air.

The two young men beside her had excellent bearing. One look at their clothes told you they weren’t from ordinary families.

Behind them followed a few people, who were actually carrying a table and chairs.

When the table and chairs were set up, delicate snacks and tea were placed on top. The young woman calmly invited the two young men to sit down.

“What are they doing?”

Drinking tea at the Tang residence gate?

As more people gathered, the guards hurried inside to report to the family head.

The Tang residence’s main door opened. A dark-faced middle-aged man, followed by a young man in his twenties, came out furiously with a group of people.

They were uniformly dressed and carried swords in their hands. They must be the Tang family guards.

“Who dares to make trouble at the Tang family’s gate? Do you think we’re easy to bully?!”

The middle-aged man roared, about to continue.

Then he suddenly spotted the three people sitting at the table in front of the gate, drinking tea. His expression changed instantly. He put on a smile and stepped forward to greet them.

“Third Young Master Lin, Young Master Gu, Miss Lin, why are you drinking tea outside the gate? Do come inside. I have some high-grade Lingxi tea, perfect for entertaining distinguished guests.”

Lin Feiyuan waved his hand and said loudly, “Tang Family Head, the view outside your gate is nice, and the air is good too. We’ll just enjoy the scenery and tea here, and while we’re at it, think about when you’ll return my things.”

The Tang family head’s face changed, cold sweat breaking out.

For the sake of getting those treasures back, this Lin Feiyuan had actually thrown all shame to the wind.

“Third Brother, Senior Brother Gu, drinking tea alone is boring. Let me treat you to some music.”

Lin Yaoyao clapped her hands. A group of children joined hands and sang a ditty.

“Tang family owes debts and won’t repay, hiding and dodging, playing sly. Paying debts is heaven’s justice; dragging it out is simply wrong!”

The children sang it over and over as they handed slips of paper to the onlookers.

After reading the papers, the crowd began shouting, “Pay up, Tang family! Pay up, Tang family!”

The crowd’s shouts grew louder and louder, an imposing force.

Lin Feiyuan leaned over to Lin Yaoyao and whispered, “Yaoyao, you’re amazing.”

Lin Yaoyao smiled without saying a word. This was the power of the masses.

The Tang family head was taken aback. What was going on? He gave a few instructions to the young man behind him.

The young man snatched one of the children’s slips from a bystander. His face turned pale.

The slip was an IOU written by the Tang family’s third young master to Lin Feiyuan, clearly stamped with his private seal.

The young man beside the Tang family head was none other than the Tang family’s third young master.

“Brother Lin, why are you being so aggressive? I never said I wouldn’t return your treasures.”

Lin Yaoyao shot a glare at Tang San Shao. This guy didn’t pay his debts and still thought he was in the right. He looked decent on the outside but had the heart of a wolf.

Lin Yaoyao wasn’t about to indulge this hypocrite. She shot back with a sharp question.

“Third Young Master Tang, are you illiterate, or have you gone deaf at such a young age?”

The girl pointed a snow-white, slender finger at the line on the white cloth, her face serious. Tang San Shao was cowed by her imposing aura.

“If you have money and won’t repay, it’s as bad as killing someone’s parents!”

Lin Yaoyao turned her head and said to Lin Feiyuan with feigned surprise, “Third Brother, could it be that the Tang family has gone bankrupt, so they have no money to return our things?”

Tang San Shao hadn’t expected Lin Yaoyao to be so difficult, so sharp-tongued.

This was Gu Mingchun’s first time seeing debt collection done this way.

Now the Tang family was stuck between a rock and a hard place. They couldn’t publicly admit they had no money, nor could they take the reputation of having money and refusing to return it.

The Tang family head’s face was already dark, and now it turned uglier still.

Slap!

Tang San Shao received a solid slap.

“Wretched thing! So you borrowed things from Third Young Master Lin behind my back and never returned them!”

A classic move: sacrifice the rook to save the king.

The Tang family head was preparing to make Tang San Shao take the blame for the family.

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