Chapter 163: A Petty Punk or a Wealthy Man?

Hua Tianyu let out a cold snort. "We’ve reached this point, and you still haven't realized that this is a trap?"

Wang Ming continued, "The first time, I borrowed one hundred thousand. As soon as I got it, I won a hand. I thought I had a chance to win my money back, but I ended up losing it all again very quickly. Then, I went to borrow another one hundred thousand..."

"How much did you borrow in total?" Hua Tianyu asked.

"Back and forth, I borrowed five times, one hundred thousand each time, making a total of five hundred thousand." Wang Ming's voice grew softer and softer.

"What! You bastard! An absolute bastard! How many years have I been working, and my total salary doesn't even add up to five hundred thousand? You went to gamble, and you actually dared to borrow five hundred thousand?"

When Wang Hong heard that Wang Ming had borrowed five hundred thousand, she completely exploded.

"I think the casino must have cheated! They saw my God of Gamblers persona awaken and started rigging the game! Besides, when I borrowed the money, they didn't say that the twenty percent interest was daily interest!" Wang Ming said, feeling extremely aggrieved.

"Wang Ming, do you still not understand? This isn't a matter of the casino cheating at all. From beginning to end, you walked right into a trap without even knowing it!"

"A trap? Whose trap?"

"Zhang Yue. When he first approached you, his intentions were already malicious. Then, when he played cards with you, he deliberately let you win money, and only in the end did he lead you to the casino!"

"Brother Tian, this... this can't be, right? Zhang Yue is still very loyal. That ten thousand I borrowed from him at the start, he still hasn't asked me to pay it back." Wang Ming still found it hard to believe that Zhang Yue had harmed him.

"You borrowed five hundred thousand from the casino, and now they've come to your door demanding one million. Who cares about that ten thousand anymore?!"

"This..."

"What was that ten thousand? It was just bait, don't you get it?"

Wang Ming's face drained of color. Now that he had calmed down after the fact and listened to Hua Tianyu's analysis, he finally sensed that something was terribly wrong.

"Brother Tian, what should I do then? This is a setup to screw me over! I can't give them this money!" Wang Ming finally woke up to reality and asked.

"Brother Tian, let's call the police!" Wang Hong chimed in from the side.

"Call the police? First of all, we don't have any concrete evidence on hand. Second, they likely have proof that you borrowed the money. Third, your younger brother participated in gambling as well; if we call the police, your brother will definitely be locked up too... So, do not call the police for now. We'll report it once we have solid evidence," Hua Tianyu analyzed slowly.

"Son-in-law, why don't you just help pay back this money then?" Hearing Hua Tianyu's analysis, Hu Dongmei figured there was no other way out besides paying.

"Mom! Brother Tian is not a wealthy man! Where on earth would he get one million? Stop always staring at his wallet!" Wang Hong defended Hua Tianyu indignantly.

"Not a wealthy man? Then why did he buy you a ten-thousand-dollar wallet? And drive that kind of luxury car?" Hu Dongmei retorted.

"Mom, that wallet is a high-end replica; I just never wanted to say it. And that car belongs to our company's president! Brother Tian is just moonlighting as the president's chauffeur!" Wang Hong said with bitterness in her voice.

"What? A fake? Just a driver?" Hu Dongmei's eyes widened to the size of lightbulbs.

"Daughter! Stay away from him!" Hu Dongmei yanked Wang Hong over to her side. "With conditions as good as yours, how could you marry such a loser?!"

"Mom! How is Brother Tian not a wealthy man?" Wang Ming, who had been listening to the mother and daughter's conversation for half the day, was completely confused.

Hua Tianyu had casually shaken down four million from the Yongxing Hall and handed a huge chunk of it right to Lin Lin. Then Lin Lin had distributed tens of thousands to everyone present, and that money was actually in their hands, solid and real.

If Brother Tian wasn't a rich man, then who was?

"Mom, I saw with my own eyes someone giving Brother Tian four million!" Wang Ming said with absolute certainty.

"Ah? Really?" Hu Dongmei let go of her daughter's arm, suddenly at a loss as to whether she should believe her daughter or her son.

"Ahem!" Hua Tianyu cleared his throat. "Listen up, everyone. Can we put this discussion aside for a moment? Let's talk about the usurers outside first, shall we?"

"Let me warn you, if you dare pretend to be a rich man to trick my daughter, you'd better watch out..." Hu Dongmei was still relentless on that point.

Hua Tianyu rolled his eyes. At a time like this, you're still obsessing over whether I'm rich or not?

"Mom! Will you please shut up?!" Wang Hong raised her voice a notch; she was truly angry.

She then pointed at Wang Ming and said, "Clean up your own mess. Whether Brother Tian has money or not has nothing to do with you!"

"Sis! I..."

"Hey! How much longer are you four going to chat in there? Damn it, do you want me to brew you another cup of tea? Get your asses out here!" After finishing a cigarette and seeing that the people inside still hadn't come out, the scarred man walked in and cursed loudly.

"What are you acting so fierce for? What do you..."

This time, the one who stepped forward bravely wasn't Wang Ming, but Wang Hong. However, before she could finish her sentence, Hua Tianyu interrupted her.

"Wang Hong, let me handle them."

Hua Tianyu could never bring himself to let his own woman deal with a bunch of low-life thugs over loan shark debts. Seeing Wang Hong speak up, he took the matter entirely upon himself.

Wang Hong gave him a deep, lingering look and instructed, "Be careful!"

Hua Tianyu smiled faintly, giving her a reassuring look that said *leave it to me*, then turned to the scarred man and said, "Let's go outside to talk."

Once in the outer room, the scarred man squinted at Hua Tianyu and said, "Kid, one million. Spit it out, how do you plan to pay?"

"Haha, with money, of course! I can just transfer it to you via phone!" Hua Tianyu said indifferently, his eyes darting around the room, searching for something.

"Haha! Straightforward! You really live up to being a rich man. Let me tell you, as long as you pay off that one million cleanly today, I'll consider you a friend!"

The scarred man laughed heartily, reaching out to pat Hua Tianyu's shoulder while harboring certain expectations for this foolish, wealthy sap.

Hua Tianyu gently blocked the scarred man's hand with his own and said coldly, "There's no need to talk about being friends."

He then pointed with his other hand at a shattered goldfish tank on the floor and asked, "Aunty, how did this fish tank get broken?"

"How else? These thugs smashed it the second they barged in!" Hu Dongmei said angrily.

That cyan goldfish tank was made of porcelain. Even though, according to Wang Ming, it looked old-fashioned, Hu Dongmei loved it.

She had gone to the flower and bird market last time, haggling with the vendor for half a day before finally buying it for several dozen yuan.

Looking at the shattered pieces all over the floor now, Hu Dongmei's heart ached!

"Oh dear!" Hua Tianyu gasped dramatically, carefully picking up a piece of the broken porcelain from the floor and cupping it in his palms with an expression of profound heartache. "You people! Sigh... This is a Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain piece! This is an absolute top-tier treasure, and you just went ahead and smashed it like this?"