Chapter 1093 — Debt Collectors at the Door

In the past, though the family was poor and every day wore them out, however bitter and exhausting life was, the evenings when they all sat down together for dinner, with Father sipping a little wine and watching television, were the happiest hours of the day. But now, when he drank, he only sighed and drowned his sorrows, with none of the old pleasure left in it.

"Alas!" Yu Ren sighed again. He did not know how to tell his daughter.

"Dad, what is the matter with you? If something is on your mind, just say it. I am your daughter. Whatever trouble there is, we will bear it together!" Yu Yuanyuan sat down sensibly beside her father.

"Yuanyuan, I have wronged you, and I have wronged your mother!" Yu Ren could hold back no longer and was ready to tell the truth. Today was the final deadline, and tonight Little Mule would likely bring his men to collect the debt. By then, even if he wanted to hide it, he could hide it no longer.

"Dad, why are you suddenly saying this? How have you wronged me and Mom?" Yu Yuanyuan froze for a moment and looked at her father in confusion.

Yu Ren's wife worked by the hour, and tonight she had gone to a rich family's house to work as a nanny, so she was not at home. Only father and daughter, Yu Ren and Yu Yuanyuan, were in the house.

"Yuanyuan, I was tricked into betting on fights and lost five hundred thousand..." Yu Ren lowered his head and said gloomily.

"What? Dad, what did you say? You lost five hundred thousand?" Yu Yuanyuan stared with wide eyes and looked at her father in disbelief. "Dad, you must be joking? Where would our family ever get five hundred thousand?"

"Our family does not have five hundred thousand. If we did, I would not be so worried! That five hundred thousand was a high-interest loan I borrowed from the fight club..." Yu Ren said with a bitter face, utterly dejected.

"Dad, what exactly happened? How could you go and borrow from loan sharks?" Yu Yuanyuan was astonished. In her eyes, her father had always been an honest, good man with no gambling habit. How could he have lost five hundred thousand all at once? There had to be something hidden behind it.

"Alas... it is a long story..." Since Yu Ren had opened his mouth, he did not mean to conceal anything, so he told his daughter Yu Yuanyuan the whole story from beginning to end, how he had gone to the underground boxing ring, how he had been tempted into borrowing money to place bets, and how he had lost everything down to his last coin.

"Dad, these people running underground black boxing are breaking the law! And betting on fights is illegal too. We can call the police. Once we report them, I am sure the police will round them all up in one sweep, and then you will not have to pay the money back!" Although Yu Yuanyuan was only a working girl, she understood the law and knew that both underground black boxing and organizing gambling were illegal.

"Yuanyuan, that idea of yours is far too naive!" Yu Ren waved his hand and shook his head. "If I dared to call the police, would I still be sighing like this? They are an organization, not one man. They are ruthless, they kill without blinking! When someone dies, the body is dragged straight out to feed the crocodiles. There is nothing they will not do. If we report them, yes, the police could smash their underground ring, but what about us? Their organization would never let our whole family go!"

"But..." Young as Yu Yuanyuan was, hearing her father's words she understood the sense of it. This underground ring did not exist on its own. Behind it stood an even larger organization. Even if the ring were wiped out, as long as that organization remained, her family would never know peace again.

Moreover, from her father's words she could tell that these men were all cold-blooded demons who would surely come for revenge.

"Yuanyuan, what do you think I should do? I truly regret it now. I listened to what others said, and now I have no way out at all!" Yu Ren sighed helplessly.

Just as father and daughter were talking, a fierce pounding suddenly came from outside the door.

Yu Ren jumped in fright. It had to be Little Mule come to collect the debt, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Dad... is that Mom back..." Yu Yuanyuan grew worried too.

"No, it must be the gambling den's men!" Yu Ren hesitated a moment, then said, "Yuanyuan, do not make a sound. We will pretend no one is home, get through today first, and think of a way later!"

Yu Yuanyuan nodded in terror and said nothing more.

"Bang bang bang!" The knocking outside grew louder with each blow. "Old Yu, open the door! I know you are in there!"

"Dad, what should we do? I am so scared..." When she had spoken just now, Yu Yuanyuan had sounded righteous and certain that evil could never conquer good, but now that the crooked gang had really come to her door, she was frightened.

"Do not talk. If we hide inside, there is nothing they can do. We have a security door. They cannot get in!" Yu Ren lowered his voice and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Oh..." Yu Yuanyuan nodded.

But Yu Ren had barely finished speaking when a tremendous crash rang out, followed by the clatter of snapping metal, and the next moment the voices outside became all too clear.

"Old Yu, since you will not open the door, we will come in ourselves! A mere security door means nothing to our Boxer Li!" Little Mule shouted arrogantly as he strode into the house.

Yu Ren was stunned on the spot. He had never imagined that his own security door could be so flimsy as to be smashed open by that Boxer Li with a single punch. Now there was no point in pretending no one was home. They were already inside.

"Dad... what are we going to do?" Yu Yuanyuan was dazed too. In her mind she simply could not understand how a man could smash through a security door with his bare hands. What terrible strength was that!

"We can only take it one step at a time..." Yu Ren sighed helplessly. If he had known it would come to this, why had he done it in the first place? He should never have listened to those men, or he would never have owed so much money all at once.

"Old Yu, did you think hiding inside and keeping quiet would save you? Today is the last deadline for repayment. Past midnight, if you do not pay up, tsk tsk, we will have no choice but to take compulsory measures!"

"Little Mule, my family really has no money to give..." Yu Ren said with a mournful face as he cautiously stepped out of the room, only to see Little Mule and a burly man standing right in his doorway.

"Whether you have money or not is your problem. I only care about collecting!" Little Mule snorted coldly. "If you have no money, then your whole family can get in the ring and fight to pay off the debt! Make your choice, and make it quick!"