ZS | Chapter 2

Zhuo Hang's car key had a guzheng tied to it.

The exquisitely carved huanghuali piece was small but still kept its essence, every curve of the guzheng was just right, and the delicate carving technique showed masterful craftsmanship. The guzheng's antique bearing did not fit the luxurious Cayenne key at all, but that did not stop the owner from carrying it for many years.

Because the scent of the huanghuali had already faded.

In the dead of night, Zhuo Hang started the car.

The bidding site was in Bei City, about an 8-hour drive from Zhuo Hang's usual residence in Yu City, so the middleman booked a room for the two of them.

The late-summer weather was muggy, and Zhuo Hang turned off the air conditioner and rolled down the window, taking a deep breath to calm his restless mood.

Just now, when they were deadlocked, Zhuo Hang had wanted to tempt him with profit, but he had not expected Gu Zheng to play by no one's rules, and the two parted on bad terms.

The bid loss had no impact on Gu Zheng's father's path to office, so why did Gu Zheng act like a dog whose tail had been stepped on, insisting on barking at him?

Why should he bear the consequences of Gu Zheng getting drunk and throwing a drunken fit?

The hotel had many empty rooms, and after Zhuo Hang slammed the door and left, he could have opened another one.

But he did not want to.

Right now, he only wanted to stay far away from the mad dog.

The Cayenne raced aimlessly around the ring road, and in just a short while it reached the highway entrance.

Was he really going to drive back to Yu City through the night?

Was he really only able to live a worthless life under his father's umbrella of protection?

His parents had raised him for 25 years, yet he could not do anything for the family?

Zhuo Hang pulled over.

Wisp after wisp of white smoke drifted from the car window, slender fingers rested on the window frame, the cigarette bobbed twice, ash fell outside.

As it turned out, driving a luxury car did not necessarily mean having manners.

The crisp sound cut through the silent night, and Zhuo Hang checked WeChat. It was a message from his mother.

「Anzhitinglan: Xiao Hang, those people came again【crying.jpg】」

Last week they had already talked things through with the other side, so why were they suddenly coming to collect debt again?

Zhuo Hang opened his mother's profile picture and looked through her Moments, and sure enough.

This morning, Cheng Zhi had posted a boastful photo with her best friend, with the background being a live image of a new Hermès bag.

It looked low-key and casual, but in fact it was flashy and brainless.

The Zhuo family was buried in debt, and Cheng Zhi had to show off her wealth at this critical moment. The debt collectors were not idiots, so how could they not come to the door.

「Anzhitinglan: Where are you, Mom is so scared!【crying rabbit hugging pillow.jpg】」

Cheng Zhi, a net-famous car model, a Yu City society lady, Zhuo Youzhi's wife, Zhuo Hang's own mother.

Twenty-five years ago, Zhuo Hang had indeed come out of the belly of this 18-year-old young girl.

His father, born in the 1960s, doted on his mother, born in the 1980s, so much that if she wanted stars, he would have wanted to pluck them for her. These years, when his mother ran into something, she only asked him and his father, never had much of an idea, and seemed like she would never grow up.

「Anzhitinglan: 【video】」

The video was of the Yu City villa surveillance. Several big, rough men were banging on the door, their mouths constantly sending regards to the Zhuo family's relatives. The nanny stood with a broom in front of the door, his father paced back and forth in the living room with his hands behind his back, and the mother filming kept crying out, “Help, murder, is there still any law……”

The internet-famous mother was not panicking when something happened, she first posted on her Moments.

The men outside the door had really come to collect debt, but Cheng Zhi's shouting sounded like she was acting.

「Rimu: How much do they want」

Cheng Zhi replied in seconds, a 5-second voice message, completely unlike her usual gentle, virtuous self.

「Anzhitinglan: Lao Zhuo owed 82.6, the other side wants 100! Did they think our money came blowing in from the wind, why don't they go rob it?」

The Zhuo family's money did not come blowing in from the wind, it was earned by Zhuo Youzhi. Cheng Zhi had money and still would not pay back the debt, and she still went to buy bags. A foul breath clogged Zhuo Hang's throat, and other than curses, he did not know what else he could say.

Although Cheng Zhi had no brains and loved vanity, she was his mother, the person who gave him life.

He did not want to have meaningless arguments with his mother, just as he did not want to argue over a bid with Gu Zheng that would not end well.

He could only stay silent.

Zhuo Hang's dislike of talking was not directed at Gu Zheng, but was caused by his upbringing, and was toward everyone.

Zhuoshi Real Estate owed 1.2 billion in construction payments, creditors confronted them in court, the court enforced execution, and the company's funding chain broke, and the taciturn Zhuo Youzhi had only told the family two months ago.

From this, it could be seen that Zhuo Hang's few words came from his father.

All of the money in commercial real estate was tied up in inventory, and after the cash had been divided up by several construction companies that sued first, the court had no enforceable funds, and Zhuoshi Real Estate immediately went from a dazzling group enterprise to a defaulting company that the banks refused to lend to.

In the first month of debt, the creditors could still talk and laugh with Old Gu in keeping with business etiquette. This month, many creditors saw the wind shift, and had the debt collectors come to the door.

The debt-collection big brothers stood at the Zhuo family door every day, knocking every few days to get under people's skin. The police came, and it was useless, because these experienced debt-collection big brothers never hit anyone, had a very good attitude about admitting fault, and after the police left they continued knocking.

Back and forth like that, even the neighbors knew the Zhuo family had debt.

His father was strong-willed and thin-skinned, and from an outstanding entrepreneur in Yu City he became a deadbeat overnight, his hair turned white in one night. His mother had a strong vanity and was good at making trouble, and from a virtuous wife and good mother she became a menopausal woman who went into intermittent fits of madness, able only to vent her feelings by filming videos.

It was said that debtors were the bosses, but Zhuo Hang did not experience any of the pleasure of being the boss. For many things, his father could not step in, and his mother was not one to take responsibility, so Zhuo Hang ran around inside and out, playing underling for two months.

These years, all of Zhuo Hang's food, clothes, and daily expenses were given by the family. He enjoyed his family's gifts with peace of mind, but he did not have the ability to protect his family.

He was unwilling.

He had to think of a way for the family.

Repaying debt was only natural, but the Zhuo family had no money, all of it was tied up in inventory.

If there was no money, he had to make money.

A freshly graduated overseas student was unfamiliar with the place, and even if he had a project, he could not find investors, so starting a business would not work. The Zhuo family had no assets that could be used as collateral again, so taking out a loan would not work. He did have several hundred thousand shares of A-shares that he had speculated on with pocket money, but a few million could not solve the problem for Zhuoshi Real Estate......

Zhuo Hang perfectly inherited his mother's looks and his father's nerve.

When the straight road of paying back the money did not work, he started thinking about crooked methods, taking an unconventional path.

He had had enough of the days when the debt-collection big brothers blocked the door every day, and he did not want to keep being a groveling underling to the other side.

So, he wanted to escape the debt.

The most effective way to escape debt was bankruptcy.

The group company Zhuoshi Real Estate had more than 50 branch offices, and a limited liability company filing for bankruptcy only needed to pay the registered capital. Beyond the paid-in capital, it still needed almost another hundred million.

As long as that hundred million could be produced, it would be useless even if the other side sued in court, insolvent and that was that.

Zhuo Hang needed a hundred million.

So, he came to bid.

Some people were usually quiet, looked pretty normal, but were actually brewing huge madness in silence.

A cool, aloof good student, an obedient good son, the polite, refined returnee from overseas...... as long as Zhuo Hang wanted to act, he could act as anything.

The gloomy, taciturn Zhuo Hang had madness in his bones, and to achieve his goal, he could stop at nothing and defy the law.

He knew this was wrong, but he still had to do it.

Just like a patient in the late stage of cancer, clearly knowing that no medicine could cure it, yet still sparing no effort to search everywhere for folk remedies.

What they were all thinking was: one more day was one more day.

But now the debt collectors were smashing the door in the middle of the night, and his parents could not even live normally. How could they drag it out?

He had to get money as soon as possible.

So, he was determined to win this bid!

Just now Gu Zheng had said he had connections up top and could definitely see the reserve price. If the lowest bid won and they fought it out to the end, the other side would definitely win.

Zhuo Hang quickly analyzed the predicament before him and sorted out the underlying logic.

The urgent task was to handle Gu Zheng.

Zhuo Hang looked through the photos of him and his parents. His father's broad shoulders were no longer sturdy, and his mother's fair cheeks were covered with wrinkles.

He did not want to live a worthless life under his father's umbrella of protection for his whole life, he wanted to stand up and hold up a sky for his family.

Zhuo Hang sent his mother a reply——

「Rimu: I'll think of a way」

The Cayenne turned around at the highway entrance.

Zhuo Hang took the guzheng off the key ring.

*

After driving off the nuisance, Gu Zheng hugged a pillow and rolled around on the bed several times, smiling so hard his mouth would not close.

Touching someone and taking advantage, then leaving them speechless, this round was a complete victory!

Since the brother still would not bend, and he could not sleep in the middle of the night, Gu Zheng hummed a little tune and went into the bathroom to shower.

Halfway through the shower, he heard the door open.

Gu Zheng frowned.

He had not even ordered special service, so why were the bed-climbers coming one after another?

He threw on a bathrobe and came out of the bathroom, only to see——

The nuisance had returned and was lying on his bed with the collar half open.

Gu Zheng was dumbfounded again.

A bottle of lubricant was thrown at Gu Zheng's forehead, and Zhuo Hang said: "Top me."