255: Fraud

On the morning of the next day, a group of debt-collecting employees gathered at the door of Wang Ningkai's house. As previously agreed, they had not bothered them in the past few days. Now three days have passed.

Dozens of workers blocked the entire road, all shouting ‘repay the money’ in unison. It was a spectacular scene. Wang Hongwei did not appear for fifteen minutes, and when he finally showed up, attempted to act pathetic.

As written on the script they made last night, Wang Hongwei told the dozens of workers that the money they had prepared was stolen yesterday. Because such a thing had suddenly happened, they weren’t able to repay even a penny now. He hoped that everyone could give them a grace period. When they found the thief who ran away with the money, they would definitely return their money to them.

The workers did not agree. They had been waiting for a long time; it had been over a month since Wang Ningkai defaulted on the wages. He and his family originally said they would repay their wages in three days, and now that the time was up, continued to make excuses. It was unknown if they were telling the truth, but even if the money being stolen was true, they were unable to wait any longer.

It was only right for them to pay off their debts. They should have thought of this situation when they first defaulted on wages. Did they want them to wait a few more days? Previously, when their family had run away, where could they ask for grace from? They would never give up until this debt was repaid.

Wang Hongwei was sprayed* very badly by them, and Wang Ningkai was also sprayed when he appeared.

[T/N: modern slang, meaning when someone is accused, cursed at, insulted, etc. usually online by haters/trollers]

Secretary Wang also came forward to say a few words. The two parties had already discussed this agreement three days ago. Now it was the father and son who broke their side of the agreement. They must bear their own weight, otherwise, it would make things quite difficult.

Having said that, Wang Hongwei and Wang Ningkai had to put their hope in Wang Cheng. At this point, he was the only one who could help them through this difficult situation. However, before they could find Wang Cheng, a man suddenly appeared and squeezed through the crowd to launch a fist towards Wang Ningkai, without giving a word of warning.

Wang Ningkai couldn't react quick enough, and was slugged in the eye.

Wang Hongwei was taken aback. He had thought it was an angry lunatic, but when he saw the man's appearance, his expression immediately changed.

"Damn, which bastard dared to hit me?" Wang Ningkai covered his eye, in so much pain that he couldn't even raise his eyelid. He blinked in order to see the man before him. When he did, his legs almost collapsed. "It’s you, you, you- how did you..."

"How did I know that you lived here? Wang Ningkai, Wang Hongwei, you two scammers dared to cheat me out of five hundred thousand and then ran away as soon as possible afterwards. I’m telling you, I’ve collected all the evidence necessary. If you don’t return my money today, I will go to the police station and sue you for fraud.”

This man was Jiang Jiarong. Now that the scammers he had been looking for for so many days were finally in front of him, even the blue veins on his forehead were bulging.

Everyone was blinded.

What drama was this now?

How did Wang Ningkai and Wang Hongwei suddenly become scammers, who even cheated someone of 500,000?

"You are just spewing blood*! Who are you who dares to slander my husband and my son." Li, who had been secretly watching this scene from behind the door, immediately reacted by rushing out and yelling at Jiang Jiarong. She absolutely did not believe that her husband and son could be scammers.

[T/N: to viciously slander]

Jiang Jiarong sneered, "I'm slandering? Just ask your husband and son to see if I really have slandered them. I have evidence right here in my hand, written on white paper with black ink*. I searched for them for four days, and made hundreds of calls, none of which they answered. Unexpectedly, they ran back and hid back in their hometown. Let’s see how they can run this time."

[T/N: clear, undeniable documentation]

Of course, Wang Hongwei and Wang Ningkai did not dare to admit to it. If they were convicted for fraud, they would go to jail.

Wang Hongwei hurriedly stood up to appease Jiang Jiarong. "It’s a misunderstanding, this really is a misunderstanding. Mr. Jiang, it was my fault for suddenly disappearing without time to notify you. I also later forgot to charge my phone for a while. However, I definitely wasn’t intending to cheat you of your 500,000. It’s just that too many things have happened during this period and our family is exhausted of money. Give me three days, and I promise to return the 500,000. Does this work?"

"Three days? I don’t trust you anymore. I must receive my 500,000 yuan today, or I will go to the police station to sue you." After finally finding them, Jiang Jiarong was afraid that they would run away from him again. Who would help him if that happened?

Wang Hongwei smiled bitterly: "Mr. Jiang, you also see that my family still lacks so many employees’ money, and the money I had finally collected yesterday had been stolen. If I had money, I would pay it back to you. However, rest assured, my family has an extra house, I will sell it for 500,000 and return it to you. However, I still need to go through the procedures of finding a buyer, so can you give me another two days?"

"No!" Jiang Jiarong refused without giving it an extra thought. "I’m telling you, my patience is limited."

"Okay, don't get too agitated." Wang Hongwei was afraid that he would truly go to the police station to sue them, so finally promised to return the money to him today.

Five hundred thousand, plus the two hundred thousand owed to workers, and the two hundred thousand that was stolen. They had lost nearly one million all at once. Wang Ningkai couldn’t stand it; how could things turn out this way? Just the day before yesterday, they were planning on starting a new business with the one million they would receive from selling the house.

Inside the house, Granny Wang was dealt too hard a blow, and fainted for real this time.

A few minutes later, the Wang Ningkai father and son went out to find Wang Cheng. Among all the people they knew, only Wang Cheng had the ability to lend a million at a time.

Wang Cheng had been waiting for them. It had indeed been the right decision to let his parents temporarily stay in Chengping. The new year had just begun and Wang Ningkai and his family were already staging an annual drama. If his parents were here, they might not be able to help feeling soft; the old lady and her husband were still his father's parents in name.

As soon as the Wang Ningkai father and son came to Wang Cheng’s, they directly explained their intentions, hoping that Wang Cheng could help them pass this obstacle because of their relation.

"The excuses you give to others are of no use to me. Others might not know whether or not this so-called stolen 200,000 is really what you had recently been sent. However, when it comes to myself, I only need to check to see if what you are saying is true. I already know that you’ve been lying from the start, so do you think I’ll be fooled again now?”

The Wang Ningkai father and son were stunned by his words.

Wang Cheng smiled slightly. "But I might still be able to lend you money."

Wang Ningkai asked: "What do you want?"

"It's very simple. I am no longer interested in mortgaging your house now. I am afraid that you will grow shameless and choose to live in it just because the property is under your name. I already have a deep impression of Granny Wang’s shamelessness,” Wang Cheng said mockingly.

The Wang Ningkai father and son looked embarrassed. "So you mean you want to buy the house?"

Wang Cheng said, "You can also not sell it, it doesn’t make a difference to me."

Wang Cheng’s request hit their sore spot. Selling and mortgaging were indeed two separate things. As he said, the house would no longer be under their name if it was sold, and they would no longer be able to justifiably stay there. If it was a mortgage, it would only be temporary, and more importantly, Wang Cheng's parents were blood relatives, so if they did do something about the house, Papa Wang would definitely be too thin-skinned to say anything about it.

"My time is precious. Quick, to sell or not to sell?"

Wang Hongwei and Wang Ningkai discussed it, and finally decided to sell it. If they didn’t, the large group of people outside would still put pressure on them.

Wang Ningkai went home to pick up the property ownership certificate of the house and other materials. When they heard that the house was going to be sold, Granny Wang, who had just woken up, and Li, disagreed. But when Wang Ningkai said that he and his father would go to jail if they didn't sell the house, no matter how reluctant they were, they had to agree.

Wang Cheng checked the documents that Wang Ningkai had brought and added, "That's right, there is one more I have to inform you."

“What is it?"

"Originally, based on the market value, this house would be worth one million. However, it can only sell for about 850,000 at most," Wang Cheng calmly said. Although the land was over 100 square meters, the location was not great. Giving them eight hundred and fifty thousand could be considered conscientious.

Wang Ningkai disbelievingly said, "Wang Cheng, don't go that far, who are you fooling? We had long estimated the house value, it can at least sell for around one million. You clearly think that just because you’re our last chance, you can deliberately lower the price."

Although Wang Hongwei did not speak, one could see through his expression that he was obviously very upset.

Wang Cheng laughed: "It seems that you haven’t read yesterday’s news. It reported on the real estate situation in Shanhai City, saying that due to the over-development of local real estate in recent years, the purchasing power of residents is unable to keep up, and many houses can not be sold. Because of this, the price of housing in Shanhai City has generally been reduced. If you don’t believe me, you can check online."

Of course they wouldn’t believe it. Wang Ningkai immediately took out his mobile phone to check the news. He input a few keywords into the search engine, and immediately scanned the rows of information below. He clicked on one and looked at it, and was shocked to find that the news was true.

"How about it, did I lie to you?" Wang Cheng said cheerfully.

The father and son suddenly felt that the sky was about to fall. In just a few days, the house’s value dropped so fast. 150,000 was not a small sum to them. When they were particularly short on money, God even decided to play this kind of joke on them?

Wang Cheng leisurely said: "Okay, now that you know why, let’s keep the price at 850,000 yuan. If you sell, I will transfer the money to your account as soon as the procedures are completed."

The two gritted their teeth and agreed.

Time waited for no one, and life had to move on, unless they wanted to go to jail.

***

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