Chapter 211: A Loan That Cuts Off All Descendants

Jiang Cheng walked along the road for a short while, then saw a man covered in filth, sleeping on the ground.

Someone came over from the opposite side, couldn't bear it, and tossed two coins.

The man, however, lay still as if dead.

"Alas, what a hard‑luck person."

"Yeah, I heard that a couple of days ago someone gave him money, but he refused, saying he wasn't a beggar; yet he's in this state, isn't he still a beggar?"

Jiang Cheng brushed past them and came up to the man.

He squatted down and looked at him.

The man sensed something, opened his eyes, and stared at Jiang Cheng expressionlessly.

"I heard you were scammed; could you tell me about it? Perhaps I can help."

The man seemed not to have heard and closed his eyes again.

"Are you content to watch the one who swindled you live carefree there, while you are homeless, your leg broken, sleeping on the street?"

As the words fell, the man suddenly opened his eyes and glared at Jiang Cheng viciously.

After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "Even the Enforcement Squad can't help me; can you?"

"You don't tell me how you know I can't help you?"

The man gave a wretched smile at the remark.

In his heart he certainly didn't believe the stranger could help him.

But at present he indeed needed an outlet.

Planting his hands on the ground, he struggled to pull himself up, glared fiercely toward the direction of the loan company, and said, "The biggest regret of my life is borrowing from them!"

As he spoke, his eyes reddened.

"A year ago, my mother fell gravely ill; after taking many medicines she showed no improvement. The doctor said surgery offered a chance of recovery, though the probability was only thirty percent, and the operation cost twenty thousand."

"People around me urged me to give up, and I entertained that thought, but when I thought of my mother—the one who gave birth to and raised me—if I gave up, would I still be human? Yet unless I sold my house, I couldn't raise the money."

"Until one day, standing at the hospital entrance, I saw their loan advertisement, saw their interest rate, was tempted, hesitated repeatedly, and then called them."

Jiang Cheng felt a pang in his heart upon hearing this.

The man before him was still a filial son.

"After hearing I wanted to borrow money, they gave me the address of their branch, asked me to come sign a contract; the interest was a bit high, twenty percent, but I thought as long as I could repay within a year, there'd be no problem."

"I thought it acceptable then; at worst I'd work a bit harder, sell some belongings, borrow a little more, and surely could repay the over two hundred thousand, so I agreed. They brought the contract for me to sign; I knew there might be traps, so I didn't take it lightly, and upon inspection, indeed there was a problem."

"What problem?"

Jiang Cheng asked.

"The loan amount doesn't match."

The man gritted his teeth and said, "I clearly only borrowed 200,000 from them, but the contract states 800,000. I told them about this then, how infuriating!" At this point, his tears burst forth like a dam breaking, and his voice grew hoarse.

"I had already noticed the problem, but I listened to them, signed my name on the contract, stamped my hand, and that led to everything that followed. Had I been more cautious and not so hasty, this wouldn't have happened."

"What did they tell you?"

Jiang Cheng also felt surprised.

Such a huge issue, logically, no one should fall for it.

"They said this was just written on paper to meet their Assessment, for the company's use, so I didn't need to worry about the details; the real calculation was still based on 200,000, and they repeatedly assured me that as long as I repaid the 200,000 within a year, along with an additional 40,000 interest, the contract would be void."

"You believed them?"

"Yes."

The man nodded regretfully.

"At that time my mother was lying on a hospital bed, urgently needing surgery. I was short of the money; their interest wasn't too high, and several people nearby kept urging me, saying that once I signed I could get the money and go back for the operation. In the end I believed them and signed the contract."

Yin‑Yang Contract.

The four words sprang to Jiang Cheng's mind.

"The surgery was relatively successful; my mother got out of danger, but after discharge her health deteriorated day by day, and she died within half a year."

"I forced myself to endure the grief, rose early and worked late to earn money, and finally before the deadline I saved over a hundred thousand, sold some belongings, borrowed a bit from relatives and friends, and repaid the 200,000 principal plus the 40,000 interest,"

"just when I thought everything had settled and I breathed a sigh of relief, that woman told me I still owed 720,000 unpaid, because the deadline had passed, and each day incurred an additional 1% penalty!"

At this point, the man trembled with anger.

"So that means, if I can't pay that 720,000 in a single day, I have to add 7,200 yuan each day! I work myself to death for a month just to earn this much, and it's only enough to cover one day's penalty? It's utterly absurd!"

Jiang Cheng, hearing this, also gasped sharply.

This is no ordinary usury.

This is literally a cut‑offs‑all‑descendants loan.

"I argued with them, saying I only borrowed 200,000, how could I possibly still owe 720,000? That woman then produced the contract I signed, showing that I had borrowed 800,000, written in black and white, and I couldn't deny it."

"I was so angry I laughed, saying that at the time you didn't say that; the 800,000 was only to meet the Assessment. What I actually repaid was 200,000 plus 20% interest, yet they wouldn't acknowledge it, claiming it never existed. I originally borrowed 800,000, principal and interest, which totals 960,000 in a year."

"Subtracting the 240,000 I just repaid, there remains 720,000; if I don't clear it in a day, I must pay additional daily penalties until it's fully paid."

The man's eyes were bloodshot.

"Of course I wouldn't listen to them, be the sucker and pay the remaining 720,000, especially since I don't even have the means to try, so I turned and left."

"I never imagined that the day after I returned, the Judicial Yuan sent people to seize my house and evict me. I wanted to argue with them, only to learn the house no longer belonged to me but to Dingshi Loan Company, and if I caused more trouble they'd arrest me."

At this point, the man gave a wretched smile and said, "So two days ago I came to argue with them and told the people around me how I was scammed; they immediately assaulted me, even breaking one of my legs. If no one had called the police, I might have been killed on the spot. When the Enforcement Squad arrived, they sided with them, saying I owed money and wouldn't pay. Now I have nowhere to go and can only wait here for death."

(End of Chapter)