"Mom, they've already taken the order. They'll be going to press Jiang Chen for the loan repayment tomorrow. He definitely won't be able to pay it back then."
At the Li family's, Li Liyun hung up the phone, excitedly reporting to her mother, Xu Yan.
"Good, he won't be able to pay back! Those guys will definitely beat him to a pulp. Humph, I want to make him suffer a hundred times more than I did today!" Xu Yan gently touched the swelling on her face, saying through gritted teeth.
But Li Liyun seemed a bit worried, "But Mom, are those people up to it? You saw today, Jiang Chen somehow became really tough."
"Tough my ass!" Xu Yan spat, "That's because those bodyguards of mine were all trash. But the Si Ge you contacted is no ordinary person; he's a loan shark. His men have seen blood; they'll have no problem dealing with Jiang Chen."
Li Liyun nodded. She knew that these loan sharks, despite operating under the guise of a financial company, were indeed former thugs, ruthless and malicious. As long as the money was right, they'd even kill. Jiang Chen definitely couldn't handle them.
At this moment, Xu Yan added, "Daughter, we'll go too. I must see Jiang Chen getting beaten with my own eyes. I'll make him kneel before us, begging for mercy."
"Okay!"
A tinge of excited flush appeared on Li Liyun's face, as if she had already seen Jiang Chen bleeding from the head, kneeling in front of her begging for mercy.
Only then would she be able to vent today's frustration.
...
Early the next morning, Jiang Chen made sure his mother was settled before leaving the rental house.
As soon as he reached a narrow alley, he suddenly heard a whistle.
Then, "whoosh—" seven or eight thuggish-looking men started to approach him from the alley entrance.
Jiang Chen was startled and, turning his head, realized that he was also being followed by another seven or eight ruffians.
He was surrounded.
A feeling of dread hit Jiang Chen's heart, but he quickly calmed down and began to look around.
"Are you Jiang Chen?"
At this point, a clearly dominant brute sneered as he walked out from among the crowd of thugs.
This brute was a big, tall man dressed in a mismatched suit, with a loosely tied necktie hanging sloppily at his chest, which, coupled with his rough features, made it clear he was not a kind character.
This was Si Ge.
Jiang Chen frowned, "And you are?"
Si Ge came up in front of Jiang Chen, with a crooked grin, "Who I am isn't important. What's important is that you owe me money."
Jiang Chen's frown deepened, "I owe you money?"
"Hah, can't remember?" Si Ge smirked triumphantly, mentioned a name, "Yihe Financial Company. Does that ring a bell?"
Jiang Chen nodded slightly, eyes narrowing slightly, "I remember. But as far as I remember, I have a month before the due date on what I borrowed from you."
"That's right. But that was the old due date."
Si Ge gave a mocking smile, "Blame your wife for that. She spent 150,000 last night, prompting me to collect the debt today. Tsk tsk, what a lovely wife, driving her own husband to his death. Haha, it's the first time I've seen such a thing. I like it."
After that, he burst into laughter.
His henchmen joined in the laughter, looking at Jiang Chen with a mix of pity and mockery in their eyes.
Was it Li Liyun?
Jiang Chen clenched his teeth, his fists tightening.
He could not have imagined that Li Liyun could be so venomous.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," indeed!
Glancing around once more, he then saw two familiar female figures appearing at the mouth of the alley.
Li Liyun and Xu Yan.
Even from this distance, he could feel the deep hatred and utter contempt in their eyes.
At this moment, they were probably gloating, eager to watch him get beaten up by these men, then kneeling and begging them for mercy, right?
Heh heh, truly ruthless!
Unfortunately for them, they still underestimated themselves.
Seeing that Jiang Chen remained silent at this moment, Fourth Brother thought he had scared him, and coughed with a snide smirk, "But, don't be afraid, I am a civilized man, I won't be unreasonable. The payment's been short by a month, so I won't make you pay the contract's 180,000, just give me 150,000 and I'll immediately walk away."
Jiang Chen took a deep breath and unclenched his fists, "I don't have it now, but give me a few days, a week at most, and I will pay you back principal and interest."
Unless absolutely necessary, Jiang Chen still didn't want to resort to violence; he tried to persuade the other side.
"So you're saying, you don't have it?"
A weird expression suddenly appeared on Fourth Brother's face as he shook his head: "Then you can only blame your bad luck."
While speaking, he pointed at the brothers by his side,
"See them? They've all come today to 'greet' you. If you know what's good for you and don't resist, I'll just have the brothers break one of your legs, and you can go kowtow and apologize to your wife, then this matter will be over for today, and I'll come back to ask for the money in a month.
But if you're being difficult, heh heh, I will cripple your limbs today and make it so that even your mother won't recognize you."
After saying this, his face already revealed a viciousness, as he glared at Jiang Chen intently.
Jiang Chen didn't shrink back but also stared at Fourth Brother: "Don't you think that what you're doing is excessive?"
"Haha, you're right, I am excessive!"
Fourth Brother laughed loudly, pointing at Jiang Chen, "Like a loser like you, if I don't pick on you, whom would I pick on? You deserve it!"
"Sigh..."
Jiang Chen suddenly sighed, shaking his head, "You're forcing me."
"What did you say?"
Fourth Brother was stunned, staring at Jiang Chen for a while before suddenly pointing at him, turning to his underlings and shouting in a weird tone, "Did you hear that? He says I'm forcing him? Haha, are there still such foolish people?"
After speaking, he turned his head toward Jiang Chen and yelled, "So what if I'm forcing you, what are you going to do about it? Ha ha ha ha."
He laughed madly again, his voice filled with triumph and wild arrogance.
His underlings joined in the laughter.
Amid the laughter, Li Lihua and Xu Yan, the two women in the distance, couldn't help getting excited.
Jiang Chen was finished, how dare he provoke Fourth Brother? He was done for!
They just waited to watch Jiang Chen get beaten like a dog.
But amidst Fourth Brother's laughter, Jiang Chen suddenly took a step, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Fourth Brother, swinging out a fierce punch.
"Bang—"
The punch was fierce and accurate.
It hit Fourth Brother right on the bridge of his nose, sending stars into his eyes and blood spraying from his nose, as he tumbled to the ground with a thud.
Before the others could react, Jiang Chen had already broken into the crowd behind Fourth Brother, lifting a foot and "crack," kicked someone's leg bone, causing them to scream in agony as they clutched their shin and fell over.
Jiang Chen smoothly sidestepped to the left, driving his shoulder forward, and with a hard shoulder bump, another one was sent flying.
Then, Jiang Chen turned around, his left leg whipped up, "whoosh," a gust of wind followed by a vicious kick that landed on the necks and faces of two others nearby, instantly knocking over another two.
As his left foot hit the ground, Jiang Chen took the momentum to leap into the air, flicking his right foot up to the chin of the sixth person.
Taking advantage of the spin in the air, Jiang Chen executed a hawk-reversing kick, "smack," stomping it onto the top of the head of the last person nearby.
With a thud, the person's head slammed hard onto the ground, letting out a grunt, and promptly passed out.
It was too fast, indeed way too fast!
So fast that before everyone could react, the seven men who had just been flaunting their arrogance in front of Jiang Chen were all screaming on the ground, the scene terribly wretched.
In an instant, the surroundings fell silent except for the cries of pain.
Everyone stared at the towering Jiang Chen, dumbfounded.