Chapter 361: 357. She is my own sister!

"Stop shouting, they aren't home." The door opposite actually opened, and a middle-aged woman came out.

Zhang Siyan and Qian Li immediately looked over, then asked anxiously, "Big sister, what happened to Li Mingli's family?"

"Did Lili borrow money from you?" the woman didn't answer, but asked instead.

Zhang Siyan nodded subconsciously; Li Mingli had indeed borrowed money from her before, about three hundred thousand.

To the current Zhang Siyan, this money was just a drop in the bucket, so she didn't care at all.

She hadn't even thought about having Li Mingli pay it back; she just considered it a gift for her future wedding.

At the time, Zhang Siyan thought Li Mingli needed it for her wedding, so she hadn't even asked about it.

"Did Lili borrow money from you too?" Zhou Min asked in surprise.

Zhang Siyan looked at her and said, "She borrowed money from you too?"

"Yeah, she borrowed one hundred thousand from me. I thought she needed it for her wedding. How much did you lend her?" Zhou Min said.

Zhang Siyan didn't answer, just frowned. That was already four hundred thousand; had the debt not been paid off yet?

The woman across the hall heard the two of them and sighed, "You can forget about getting that money back. Lili and her family don't live here anymore."

As she spoke, she prepared to close the door.

Zhang Siyan hurriedly grabbed the woman and said, "Big sister, we aren't here to collect money. We don't want that money back. We are Lili's friends, and we came here this time just to visit her."

As she spoke, she gestured to the gifts in her hands.

The woman looked at the things in the three women's hands, estimated their value slightly, and then looked at them again. She believed them a little, but still said, "You'd better not look for them. Nobody knows where their family went now."

"Big sister, can you tell us what exactly happened? I'm really worried. Lili is our good friend, and if possible, I want to help her," Zhang Siyan said anxiously.

Seeing her like this, the woman thought for a moment and said, "The situation is actually quite simple. Lili's father, Li Daliang, owes money, and people came to collect the debt."

"How much does he owe?" Zhang Siyan asked.

"I'm not sure about the specifics, but it should be several million by now," the woman shook her head.

"That much?" Zhang Siyan and Zhou Min were both in disbelief.

"How could he suddenly owe so much money? I remember Uncle Li being a very honest person before," Zhou Min said.

"Honest? Heh, that was in the past." There was a trace of mockery in the woman's eyes.

"Let me be blunt with you. Li Daliang started learning to gamble last year. Before, it was just small stakes, and generally, the family could still get by.

But since four months ago, Li Daliang's gambling grew larger and larger. Even if they sold the house, they couldn't pay off the debt.

Now, never mind you two, even our family lent them quite a bit of money, and I don't expect to get it back," the woman sighed.

"This person, once he gets hooked on gambling, it's like he's been brainwashed. Daliang used to be such an honest person.

Look at him now; for money, he'll do anything—cheating, swindling, anything. If you saw him now, you probably wouldn't even recognize him."

"Their family is finished. Even Lili has been dragged down terribly; her boyfriend broke up with her too."

Hearing this, Zhang Siyan and Zhou Min both frowned deeply. They really hadn't expected the situation to be like this.

"Big sister, do you know where Lili is now?" Zhang Siyan asked.

The woman immediately shook her head and said, "Don't ask me that; I really don't know."

Seeing that she didn't seem to be lying, Zhang Siyan thanked her and was about to leave, but after thinking for a moment, she turned back and said, "Um, big sister, how much money does Lili owe you?"

"What? You want to pay her debts? Girl, I don't mean to nag, but you can forget about getting that money back from their family. Just consider it money down the drain," the woman said helplessly.

Zhang Siyan said, "I'm not paying for their family; I'm paying for Lili. It's different. Big sister, how much does Lili owe you? By the way, I mean the kind with an IOU."

The woman was stunned, "You really want to pay for her?"

"Yes!" Zhang Siyan said earnestly.

The woman looked Zhang Siyan over carefully, then said, "Then come inside, I'll show you the IOU."

She let Zhang Siyan and the others in, and not long after, she brought out three IOUs.

"It's fifty-three thousand in total. I thought Daliang was borrowing money for his daughter's wedding, but who would have thought he was taking the money to gamble?" the woman said.

Zhang Siyan looked at the IOUs, then without another word, she transferred fifty-three thousand directly and finally said, "Thank you, big sister."

"Sigh, it's really Lili's luck to have a friend like you. But girl, don't blame me for being blunt, but you should probably give up on this friend, Lili.

It's not that Lili isn't good—I've watched that girl grow up, and she really is a very good daughter—but who told her to end up with a father like that?

Even if you pay off the money now, I expect this kind of situation will happen again later," the woman advised.

What she said was indeed harsh, but it was also the truth! Her intentions were truly for the sake of Zhang Siyan and the others.

Zhang Siyan didn't even turn her head as she said, "Thank you, big sister, but I can't just ignore Lili. She is my good friend, and even more, my good sister."

After finishing, she left the woman's home directly.

Once downstairs, Zhang Siyan took out her phone and called Li Mingli. The call went through, but just like before, no one answered.

Zhang Siyan knew it would be like this.

"What should we do?" Zhang Siyan asked.

At this moment, she suddenly thought of her father. She wondered if her father had a way?

Zhou Min said, "I'll send her a message and see. She replied to my messages before."

As she spoke, she sent a message to Li Mingli, but she didn't mention anything else, just saying: "Lili, Siyan and I have arrived in Harbin. Hurry up and come greet us!"

Although Zhou Min is a girl, her personality is similar to a boy's, otherwise she wouldn't be called "Brother Min" by Zhang Siyan and the others.

She understood that if Li Mingli knew they were aware of these things, she probably wouldn't come out.

It wasn't that she was worried about them asking for money, but that she was worried about dragging them into this.

If she wanted money, Li Mingli would have started asking long ago. To say nothing else, given Zhang Siyan's situation, Li Mingli could definitely have asked for a million even without giving a reason, but after asking once, she never opened her mouth again.

The three of them began an anxious wait. About half an hour later, Li Mingli replied to the message.

"Okay, where are you? I'll come pick you up."

Seeing this message, Zhang Siyan and the others were immediately overjoyed, "Don't come pick us up. We're already in a taxi. We know where you live, just wait for us at home."