Chapter 56: He and Gu Xinglan Are Now Inextricably Linked
Gu Xinglan answered the phone.
Sun Liming’s voice came through, sounding anxious, exasperated, yet dejected and helpless.
“President Gu!”
“I am truly sorry. Regarding yesterday’s matter, I thought about it all night. I think what you said makes sense—everything must follow the principle of ‘first come, first served’!”
“Like this, I’ll contact the hospital right now. That kidney source—I don’t want it anymore, it’s yours! I… I’ll wait a bit longer!”
Gu Xinglan gave a light chuckle: “That wouldn’t be appropriate, would it? I can’t very well take something someone else loves.”
“No, no, no, it’s appropriate! President Gu’s mother-in-law is more important! President Gu, please don’t be polite with me!”
From early this morning until now, Sun Liming hadn’t had a moment of peace.
That video was like a precision-guided missile, chasing him with the intent to blow him to smithereens.
He didn’t know which god-forsaken person had doxxed him in just an hour.
Following that, not only did people from the organ bank personally come to his door to discuss the kidney matter, but the two major deals Sun Corporation was currently negotiating suddenly had their partners suggest that the cooperation needed to be reconsidered.
Sun Liming had been in a state of utter distress all morning.
He understood that all of this was orchestrated by Gu Xinglan.
If he didn’t hurry up and get on his knees to beg for mercy, who knew what even more sinister moves the man would make next.
So, Sun Liming made this call, begging Gu Xinglan to be merciful and let him off the hook.
Gu Xinglan sat in his chair, his long legs crossed, and leaned his back against the chair.
His voice was somewhat lazy: “Fine, since President Sun is sincere, then I will accept your kindness.”
“Good, good! Thank you, President Gu!” Sun Liming finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Gu Xinglan hung up and called Tan Feng.
He told him that the donor issue had been resolved and instructed him to immediately contact Sheng’an Hospital to finalize the arrangements for Zhou Rong’s surgery as quickly as possible.
Tan Feng nodded and withdrew.
After Qin Wan hung up the call with Gu Xinglan, he curled up on the sofa and sulked for a while.
However, he was best at reconciling with himself, and before long, he had comforted himself.
Gu Xinglan was tyrannical and overbearing; it wasn’t the first day he had experienced it.
He had deleted his brother’s phone number, but that number had long been etched into his brain, so whether it was deleted or not made no difference.
The only sad thing was that the WeChat chat history with his brother was gone.
Fortunately, they mainly used text messages to communicate.
He opened his SMS page.
Luckily, Gu Xinglan hadn’t raided this place; he hadn’t deleted his text message history.
It was likely because he hadn’t expected that in this day and age, someone would still use SMS as their primary chat tool.
Because when he was at the Sheng family, they only gave him an eighth-hand burner phone that couldn’t install WeChat.
Therefore, his online chats with Sheng Siyue had always been via text.
Not long before his planned escape, his brother had secretly bought him a new phone.
Thus, there weren’t many messages in their WeChat history.
Like locking the stable door after the horse had bolted, Qin Wan quickly took screenshots of his text conversations with Sheng Siyue page by page.
Just in case Gu Xinglan had a “bestial” outburst one day and cleared out his SMS content too.
It was a lot of work, and after finishing, he took a deep breath, feeling at peace.
Qin Wan scrambled up from the sofa, changed into clothes suitable for going out, tucked his phone away, and went downstairs.
He wanted to go out for a stroll; he needed to find a suitable job and earn some money to be self-reliant.
Even if it was just a little, as long as it covered his daily expenses.
Gu Xinglan’s money—he didn’t want to touch it.
He already owed the man so much, and now he was relying on him to solve Auntie Rong’s surgery. Qin Wan knew that he and Gu Xinglan were now inextricably linked.
But he still wanted to do what he could to draw a line between them as much as possible.
Qin Wan greeted Uncle Wang and left the house.
He used his new phone to scan a bike and rode out of the villa complex onto the main street.
Unconsciously, he rode back to the vicinity of the food stalls on the snack street.
He locked the bike and began to wander forward.
Just as he was about to reach the entrance of the food stalls, he heard a burst of hurried and chaotic footsteps behind him, along with a familiar voice.
Qin Wan’s heart instantly leaped into his throat.
Turning around, as expected, the debt collectors from the loan shark company were walking toward him.
The leader was still that bald Hao Ge, though the one whose hand Gu Xinglan had cut off was missing.
Qin Wan was about to run when he changed his mind—he now had enough change in his phone to pay off the debt.
Rather than constantly hiding from these people, it was better to pay off the debt first so he wouldn’t have to live in fear.
Owing Gu Xinglan was better than owing this bunch of desperate outlaws.
With this thought, he stood his ground firmly, his posture straight.
“You guys…”
Before Qin Wan could finish, the bald Hao Ge saw him, and his expression flickered with panic.
“Oh, Mr. Qin!” Hao Ge bowed slightly and grinned at him.
“Are you busy?”
Qin Wan: “…”
This opening line felt like it had the wrong script.
“Hao Ge, the money I owe you…”
Hao Ge interrupted him again: “Aiyoh, Mr. Qin, please don’t tease us brothers! You don’t owe us any money!”
“Your account was cleared long ago. Besides, you’re friends with our big boss. Even if you owed us, we wouldn’t dare collect it from you!”
“Mr. Qin, please carry on. We’ll get back to work! See you later! Bye-bye!”
Hao Ge was extremely respectful and cautious. He nodded, waved, and then led his men away.
It was only then that Qin Wan realized Gu Xinglan had already paid off his debt for him.
Another 450,000.
Qin Wan didn’t know whether to be happy or troubled.
He rubbed his face.
He tried not to think about it for now.
He was a practical person; since he couldn’t solve the problem at hand, it was better to spend his energy on things he could do.
He walked forward a bit further and reached the entrance of the food stall.
He heard noisy sounds coming from inside.
Peeking in, he saw Hao Ge’s group was in the shop.
They were grabbing Chen Ming, hitting and cursing him.
“You damn bastard, how long has it been? You’re just refusing to pay, aren’t you?”
“Hu Ge said that if you don’t pay today, we’re taking an arm!”
Chen Ming was being hauled by several people, clutching his head and howling.
“Hao Ge, Hao Ge! I beg you, give me a few more days! I’ll get the money soon, I’ll pay it back immediately, okay?”
In the struggle and scuffle, the small, cramped shop’s tables and chairs were overturned, and dishes and chopsticks were smashed—a total mess.
Qin Wan frowned and walked in.
“Hao Ge,” he called out.
Hao Ge turned his head, and his angry face immediately broke into a smile.
“Mr. Qin! You’ve arrived!”
Qin Wan spoke: “Look, can you take the talk outside? Don’t destroy someone’s shop.”
Hao Ge blinked and quickly nodded: “Understood!”
“Brothers, let’s go, let’s go! Let’s fight outside!”
After saying that, he dragged Chen Ming toward the door.
Seeing Qin Wan, Chen Ming acted as if he had caught a life-saving straw.
He remembered that Qin Wan had given him two thousand yuan last time and figured he must have struck it rich.
He shouted: “Qin Wan! Qin Wan, lend me some money! You have money now, don’t you? Lend me some, okay?”
Qin Wan folded his arms and looked at him coldly.
Hao Ge had become smarter. He frowned: “Mr. Qin, do you… know him?”
Qin Wan shook his head: “Not well.”
Hao Ge breathed a sigh of relief, kicked Chen Ming in the butt again, and the group walked out of the shop cursing.
Qin Wan closed the shop door.
At this point, the owner, Brother Liu, and Xiao Linzi poked their heads out from the kitchen curtain.
“They… they left?” the owner asked.
Qin Wan nodded: “They went outside to talk.”
The three came out from behind the curtain, all sighing in relief.
While Brother Liu knelt to pick up the broken cups and bowls, he muttered, “That guy Chen Ming is a real curse. He gambles and gets into debt, dragging everyone down with him!”
The owner sighed: “Fine, anyway, this shop is going to close down soon. Whatever.”
Qin Wan frowned slightly: “Boss, what do you mean? You’re not doing it anymore?”
The owner nodded: “I’ve been losing money for several months. I can’t keep it going. I’m planning to find someone to take it over.”
Xiao Linzi rubbed his nose while sweeping the floor and let out a deep sigh.
Brother Liu was also full of worry and stopped talking.
Qin Wan pursed his lips and thought for a moment, then looked up at the owner.
“Boss, how much are you looking for to sell this place?”
The owner looked around: “Given this location, this spot, and the decor, it would be at least 150,000, and then the monthly rent is 20,000.”
Qin Wan considered it for a moment and said, “Boss, I’ll take it. Is that okay?”
Translator’s Note: In Chinese business, “taking over a shop” (盘 – pán) usually involves a transfer fee for the location and equipment. Let’s see if our “little bitter melon” can turn this food stall around!
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