TF01 90

What Chen Cheng was doing behind the scenes wasn’t meant to take Shi Yi down. It was meant to make things hard.

He had already made himself clear the last time they spoke, and there was no way he would let Shi Yi drag things out indefinitely. The fact that nothing had happened for a while only meant it was a matter of time before he made a move, and Shi Yi had been mentally prepared for that from the start.

Because he was prepared, he had already mapped out a plan for the company.

Losing those ties to the government would definitely have some impact, but most of the ongoing projects didn’t involve much official involvement. The areas that were affected could be managed, and the disruption wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

And when something really did need greasing, they weren’t without options.

If Ou Yang was capable of going into business with him, he clearly had a network of his own. Shi Yi trusted him to handle things. Whatever pressure was coming down on them, if they could talk their way through it, they would. If they couldn’t, they would set it aside and move on.

Shi Yi knew very well that trying to muscle through right now would only backfire. Better to wait it out and conserve energy. As long as the forest was still standing, there would always be firewood to burn.

So later, when Ying Ming asked if something had really happened to the company, Shi Yi answered, “The disaster zone is under control. The Party can rest easy.”

That one line was enough to keep Ying Ming from asking again.

He had assumed Chen Cheng would come to him eventually. What he didn’t expect was that someone entirely different would show up first.

The call from Mao Yu came from an unfamiliar number.

When he picked up and heard Mao Yu’s voice, it took a second to register. The man on the other end sounded nothing like the one in his memory. His voice was shaking, and before Ying Ming could say a word, he blurted, “Ying Ming, help me!”

Ying Ming froze.

He quickly motioned to Dong Xiao and the others that he was stepping out to take the call. Only after reaching the door did he speak more clearly. “What happened?”

“Ying Ming, please, hurry. I’m in a warehouse off Gouzi Road. Can you come here?”

“What’s going on?”

Mao Yu didn’t sound like he was joking, and it didn’t feel like an act. But Ying Ming didn’t know the place he was talking about, and judging from his voice, it really did sound serious. There was no way he was going to head over without knowing what he was walking into.

Mao Yu seemed to realize what kind of person he was dealing with. He forced himself to calm down and said, “Ying Ming, I’ve been kidnapped. I’m tied up in a warehouse. If you’re driving, go north on Ring Road until the end, then take the highway exit at Gouzi Road. From there, drive another ten minutes north and you’ll see it. They want money. If you’ve got it, bring fifty thousand in cash. I’ll explain everything later.”

Ying Ming’s frown deepened as he listened, but after thinking it over, he gave a short reply. “Got it. I’m on my way.”

Once he hung up, he turned back to Dong Xiao and Si Ji and quickly filled them in. He added, “If I don’t call you in forty-five minutes, call the cops for me. I’ll write down the exact location. I’ve got two phones on me. One’s in my inside pocket. It’s on silent but still on. If anything happens, you can trace me with that one.”

He jotted down the address and both phone numbers for them. Si Ji, worried something might go wrong, urged him to wait, but Ying Ming thought it over and ultimately decided to go on his own. “I don’t think it’s that serious. If all they want is money, they’ll take it and let him go. I’ll contact you after.”

With that, he headed to the bank to withdraw cash. According to Mao Yu’s directions, the drive took just over half an hour. The place wasn’t hard to find. After taking the highway exit, he spotted the warehouse not long after. He grabbed the bag with the money, made a quick call to Dong Xiao, turned the volume all the way down, and left the call active. Then he locked the screen and slipped the phone into his coat pocket. He exhaled slowly and started walking toward the warehouse.

It wasn’t exactly the middle of nowhere, but it was isolated enough. All around, there were barely any buildings in sight. When he reached the entrance, he hesitated for a second. Just as he got close, the door was yanked open. A man grabbed him and dragged him inside. The door slammed shut behind them with a loud clang, the sound echoing through the warehouse like a heavy drumbeat.

Mao Yu was up ahead, tied up just as he said. There were two men standing beside him, and with the one who had opened the door, that made three in total. Ying Ming gave them a quick assessment. Unless one of them was carrying a weapon, getting out of here wouldn’t be too difficult, even if things went south.

“I brought the money. Let him go.”

He got straight to the point.

One of the men, sitting lazily on a rusted oil drum, glanced at him, then shifted his eyes back to Mao Yu. “Didn’t think a loser like you would actually find some sucker to come pay your debt.” He gave Ying Ming a long look, then nodded at one of his guys to go take the bag.

Ying Ming stayed quiet and handed it over. Mao Yu’s face was bruised. He had clearly taken a beating, and he looked like hell. The man checked the contents, seemed satisfied, then waved to have Mao Yu untied. Only when Mao Yu finally stumbled over to stand beside him did Ying Ming let out a breath and turn to leave.

But they were blocked.

He frowned and turned around. “You’ve got your money. What’s this supposed to be?”

The man on the oil drum grinned. “You think that’s all he owes?”

He jumped down slowly, winding a length of chain around his hand, and began walking toward them with a cold smirk. “That fifty grand barely covers a bit of the interest. What he owes is several times that. You walk out of here with him today? I’ll be coming to you for the rest.”

He pointed straight at Ying Ming, eyes full of nasty delight, reeking of thug energy.

And just like that, Ying Ming understood why Mao Yu had been so vague on the phone.

He glanced back at the man he had once considered a friend, then frowned. “His debt is his problem. I came here with the money as a loan, not to cover for him. You’re the lender, I’m a lender too. If you want, I can leave him here, but don’t come looking for me for the rest.”

He had come today out of old loyalty, not to let anyone slap a leash on him and drag him around.

As soon as Ying Ming turned to leave, Mao Yu grabbed his arm. His face twisted like he’d seen a ghost. “Ying Ming! If you leave me here, they’ll beat me to death! You can’t just walk away!”

His features hadn’t changed, but everything else had. There was almost nothing left of the person he used to be.

Ying Ming frowned. “Why do you owe them money?”

There were only a few people in the warehouse. Mao Yu shrank back, but it was the thug in charge who answered. “He borrowed from me. Promised to pay it back on time, then broke his word and disappeared. I got no patience for scumbags who don’t keep their word.”

So it was loan sharking. That explained everything.

No sooner had the man finished speaking than Mao Yu clutched Ying Ming’s arm again. “No! I borrowed it to pay you back!”

The amount he took from Ying Ming had been more than this. He’d scraped together what he could, and when it still wasn’t enough, he borrowed from loan sharks. He never thought it would spiral like this.

“To pay me back?” Ying Ming raised a brow, remembering that check. “I don’t recall ever taking that money.”

Back then, it had taken all his self-control not to rip up the check and throw it in Mao Yu’s face. And now here he was, using it as an excuse to drag him into this mess.

Ying Ming’s mouth curled into a cold smile.

He couldn’t believe how far gone Mao Yu had become.

He really must have been out of his mind back then.

Mao Yu caught the sarcasm in that smile and turned his face away in shame. But he still didn’t let go of Ying Ming’s arm. “After you had Shi Yi beat me up, I knew we weren’t gonna be friends again. So I took the money and tried to make a deal. Thought I could flip it in one night. But I got played… and lost everything.”

Not just everything. He’d been threatened, blackmailed afterward too. Truth was, he wouldn’t have come crawling back if he had any other option. He was flat broke. He’d already gone to everyone he could think of. Ying Ming was the only one left who might have the money, and might still help him.

Seeing the complete mess Mao Yu had become, Ying Ming swallowed his anger and turned to the men hovering behind him. “He’s already given you fifty thousand. That alone should count for something, even if it’s just interest. Keeping him here isn’t gonna get you any further. Let him go, let him figure it out. If you found him once, you’ll find him again. We’re all just trying to make money here. You really think killing him’s gonna help you with that? Dead men don’t pay.”

One of the men raised his eyebrows and sneered. “So what, you’re saying… you’re not covering the rest?”

Ying Ming gave a cold tug at the corner of his lips, but didn’t say a word.

They weren’t family, they weren’t even friends anymore. Money was money. No matter the amount, it came with its own terms. If he bailed Mao Yu out now, there’d just be a next time. What was he supposed to be, a walking ATM?

Whatever they’d once been, it had ended the moment Mao Yu took the money and disappeared without so much as a word. Whatever old friendship they had, it had been cleanly severed. At this point, Mao Yu was just someone he happened to know. Ying Ming owed him nothing. He had no reason, let alone obligation, to carry this weight for him.

His message could not have been clearer.

Ying Ming turned and pulled the warehouse door open. He didn’t look back. He walked out and left Mao Yu behind.

Behind him, one of the thugs kicked over an oil drum in frustration. Mao Yu gave a desperate, trembling shout after him. But Ying Ming didn’t stop walking. Not even when he got to his car. Only after getting in did he pull out his phone and speak to Dong Xiao, who had stayed on the other end of the open call.

“Call the police.”

Dong Xiao hung up. Ying Ming didn’t wait for the aftermath. He drove off. As he neared the highway ramp, he faintly heard the sound of sirens in the distance. He raised an eyebrow and silently lit a cigarette.

Later, Mao Yu seemed to be fine. At least there was no news of any band singer hacked to death over loan shark debt. That night, when Shi Yi came home, Ying Ming told him what had happened. Shi Yi’s reaction was exactly what he expected.

“That fifty thousand goes on the books. Be sure to collect it along with the rest.”

Debts were debts. Paying them back was only right.

The first time, Ying Ming chose not to take the money, and Shi Yi hadn’t objected. But after this stunt, he figured even tossing it to charity would be better than throwing it away on someone like Mao Yu.

Ying Ming just laughed without replying. He had a stack of script drafts spread across his lap, a coat thrown loosely over his shoulders. Shi Yi leaned in, plucked the cigarette from his mouth, kissed him lightly, and stubbed it out.

A moment passed before Shi Yi abruptly asked, “Hey, Ying Ming, back then, what exactly was your…”

Taste in men.

He never finished the sentence. Ying Ming shot him such a sharp look it was practically a warning blade.

“If you don’t want tonight to end badly for you, don’t finish that sentence.” He had been holding that threat in ever since he told Shi Yi about the Mao Yu mess. Of course Shi Yi had to take his sweet time building up to the punchline.

Knowing full well this was Ying Ming’s sore spot, Shi Yi grinned, all malice and mischief, and swallowed the last two words. He didn’t say them, but the smug teasing in his eyes said it all.

And then, just to really push it, he started to sing.

“Men cry, cry, cry—it’s not a crime… even the strongest get to feel tired sometimes…”

He purposely sang off-key, full drama mode, exaggerated as hell. Ying Ming’s eye twitched the whole way through.

He lasted about fifty seconds before grabbing a throw pillow and chucking it at him. “Shut the fuck up, you bastard!”

The next moment, their carefully prepared dinner for two was officially ruined.

Ying Ming looked at the mess on the table and cursed under his breath. “Fuck.”