Divorce Only Makes a Son-in-Law Stronger-Chapter 19: I, Lin Fan, will repay a thousandfold!
"What’s the matter? You want to start something?"
"Lin Fan, you lay a finger on us and see if we don’t make you pay until you’re bankrupt!"
"You have the damn nerve to yell at us? Don’t act like we’re ganging up on you; you’re the one who turned shameless first!"
Having come to their senses, the dozen or so men and women all grew furious. Their faces flushed red as they surrounded Lin Fan and loudly berated him. Many rolled up their sleeves, looking ready to get physical.
"Heh, these days, the debtors are the loudest ones. What a joke."
Just then, Zhang Qiang, who had been enjoying the show for a while, smirked. He pushed through the crowd and pulled a list out of his small leather bag.
"Lin Fan, seeing as we used to be relatives, I went ahead and tallied everything up for you."
RUSTLE!
Zhang Qiang unfolded the paper and began reading it aloud, word by word. It was all trivial stuff, mostly gifts these neighbors had brought when they visited Lin Suxin in the hospital: fruit baskets, milk, or a few homemade boxed lunches. Some had given a little money—fifty yuan here, a hundred there. It was all bits and pieces.
"I calculated the value of everything. The total comes to 835 yuan and 70 cents." After finishing the list, Zhang Qiang peeked into the clinic with a sly grin. "If we clear out everything inside, we should be about square."
"Square?"
Hearing this, Lin Fan laughed out of sheer rage. Perhaps this is what they mean by ’a kind man is always bullied, just as a gentle horse is always ridden.’ Right now, he felt only that his mother’s past kindness had been utterly wasted!
"Why don’t you all take a look at this account book first?"
SLAP!
He turned, went to the consultation desk, pulled out a thick notebook, and slammed it down in front of everyone.
"This contains all the unpaid medical bills from you beasts! And here are the IOUs for when you borrowed money from my mom to get by!"
Flipping open the yellowed pages, he stared at the familiar, neat handwriting, and his eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Every single stroke was a testament to his mother’s kindness toward these people over the last seven years. In return, they had come to her mourning hall to brazenly demand repayment for the trivial things they had once given her.
"Hmph, so we were right to come. Your mother really wasn’t a good person!"
"This is from years ago! She remembered every single cent. How stingy!"
"Lin Fan, who says I owe your family money? You got proof? Why don’t you call your mom out and ask her?"
Facing Lin Fan’s furious gaze, some turned their heads away in disdain. Others looked uncomfortable and started shouting loudly. A few simply dug in their heels, shamelessly denying any debt.
Zhang Qiang tossed his list in front of Lin Fan and jutted his chin at him. "See? I told you this family was no good. And here some of you were, hesitant to even come. Lin Fan, are you going to pay up or not? Don’t tell me that after being kicked out of the Su Family, you can’t even scrape together a thousand yuan?"
He glanced around, and his eyes suddenly fell on a large pile in the corner covered by a black plastic sheet.
"Tsk tsk, what kind of junk needs to be covered up? How ridic— HISS!"
WHOOSH!
Zhang Qiang yanked off the black plastic sheet. The mocking sneer on his face froze, and his eyes flew wide open.
Money! It was all money!
A mountain built from bundles of cash, piled so high it nearly touched the ceiling!
The cramped mourning hall plunged into dead silence.
Zhang Qiang was dumbstruck. The neighbors, their faces unsightly, were so shocked their mouths hung open and wouldn’t close for a long time.
"You want money, right? Fine! I, Lin Fan, repay kindness ten thousandfold and avenge any grievance ten thousandfold!"
SLAP!
Lin Fan slammed the account book shut, his heart clenching painfully. These animals before me are utterly unworthy of my mother’s kindness! They don’t even deserve to cause a scene in her mourning hall!
He grabbed the list from the table and walked over to the pile of cash. Then, he snatched five bundles of banknotes and hurled them at a bald man.
This was the cash Yuan Youwei had left last night, a hundred million yuan in total. Lin Fan had thought it was too ostentatious, so he covered it with the plastic sheet, planning to find time to deposit it in the bank. Each bundle was one hundred thousand yuan, wrapped tightly with bank straps, making it as heavy as an oversized brick.
"You, Ma! This is for the box of milk you gave my mom. It was forty-nine ninety, so I’ll pay you back five hundred thousand!"
THUD! THUD!
The brick-like bundles of cash landed at the man’s feet. The bald man was so stunned he didn’t dare pick them up.
"And you! For the boxed lunch you brought my mom, I’ll round it up for you. Four hundred thousand!"
"And you, Liu! For the fruit and the fifty yuan cash you gave. I’ll pay you back nine hundred thousand!"
Lin Fan threw bundle after bundle of cash, which piled up at everyone’s feet. It was nearly ten million yuan in total, yet it had barely made a dent in the mountain of cash.
"Take the money and get out!" Lin Fan roared, his eyes red as he pointed at the stunned and uncertain crowd. "And remember this: it is you who will forever be indebted to my mother! She lived a blameless life and could face anyone in the world with a clear conscience! If I ever hear any of you slander my mother again, don’t blame me for severing all ties!"
His thunderous words exploded in their ears. For a moment, no one dared to move an inch, completely stunned by the sheer power of a man who could toss away millions without a second thought.
"It can’t be real, can it?"
"Impossible! If that was real, it would be like he’d emptied an entire bank vault!"
"But... but those bank straps on the bundles look exactly like the ones I’ve seen at the bank!"
As they slowly came to their senses, the crowd members looked at one another, their faces filled with disbelief.
"Are you all stupid? How could this good-for-nothing have so much money? He couldn’t get this much even if he robbed ten banks!"
Just then, Zhang Qiang snapped out of his shock. He slapped his thigh and started laughing so hard he doubled over.
"Oh, Lin Fan, you’re hilarious! Trying to save face with a pile of Cultivation Coupons? Too bad for you, you ran into me, a man of the world!"
He bent down, picked up a "brick" of money, and tore off the bank strap. He pulled out a few banknotes to examine them, clicking his tongue. "The feel, the printing... it’s quite realistic, heh!"
CLICK!
Zhang Qiang took out a lighter and lit the banknotes. Then, with a provocative look, he threw the burning money at Lin Fan’s feet.
"Hey, hey, don’t burn it! What if it’s real?"
The bald man, addressed as Ma the Third, instinctively reached for the money.
"Ma the Third, are you an idiot?" Zhang Qiang shot him a look of contempt. "You poor saps really are clueless!"
"I already told you, they’re just the bank’s Cultivation Coupons! They look like real money, but they’re fake!"
Hearing this, Ma the Third’s face turned red, and he quickly pulled his hand back. Amid the jeers of the others, his embarrassment turned to rage as he glared at Lin Fan. "Hmph! You dare try to fool us with fake money? I’ll burn it all to a crisp!"
When Zhang Qiang saw that Lin Fan remained indifferent, not provoked in the slightest, He felt an unsatisfying sense of futility, like punching cotton.
RIP! RIP!
He tore open several more bundles of cash and lit them on fire one after another. In moments, nearly ten million yuan in banknotes had become a blazing bonfire.
"That’s right, burn it! Fake money is fake money! Does he really think we’re idiots?"
"Exactly! If you really had a pile of money like this, would you still be putting up with the Su Family’s crap?"
The other men and women clearly believed Zhang Qiang. They even started helping, tearing the straps off the remaining "Cultivation Banknotes" and tossing them all into the fire.
Having done their part, they stood back and sneered at Lin Fan from across the bonfire, their faces full of contempt. They were completely unaware that they had just personally destroyed a fortune of a lifetime, watching it turn to ash right before their very eyes.
