Chapter Twenty-Two: A Triangular Debt [Bonus Chapter Added for a 10,000 Starting-Coin Reward]

Kang Ge took the phone and, without a word, sent the photograph to his own device first. Only then did he and Yan Xue enlarge it together to study the two people in the picture.

Just as Lu Xiaodong had said, the shot had been taken secretly in a shopping mall. Lin Zhen had dressed with great care, her face heavily made up. Whoever saw that radiant smile would think at once of a woman immersed in love.

The man walking beside her, whom she held by the arm in an intimate way, shared one thing with Li Jialong: they were both tall, long-legged men. But beyond that, their looks, temperament, and even the way they dressed were entirely different.

If Li Jialong, being young to begin with, and dressed deliberately in a soft, cute, almost milk-fed style, still looked, setting aside his bizarre outlook on life, like a clean, fresh young man—

then the man Lin Zhen had taken up with after breaking up with Li Jialong was a completely different breed.

Just from his clothes alone, one could tell: a fitted black shirt, a narrow strip of something that could hardly be called a tie hanging loose at the collar, the waistband of his black suit trousers marked by a conspicuous belt buckle, and on his feet, black leather shoes of a somewhat exaggerated length.

How should one put it? Yan Xue pondered a moment and felt that merely looking at the photo, one could almost smell a heavy wave of cologne rushing forward, mixed even with the acrid bite of tobacco.

In short, those who liked this sort of thing would probably find him mature, unruly, and imposing; those who did not would find him greasy, vulgar, and hard on the eyes.

As for Lin Zhen's boyfriend, Lu Xiaodong's description was remarkably apt: he gave off a very streetwise impression.

At this point, it seemed Li Jialong truly had no chance of getting back together with her. Clearly, Lin Zhen was the kind of woman who could not sustain warmth and interest for long toward the same type of man; what she pursued was likely the thrill of constant novelty.

As for that outlook on love, or the moral question of it, Yan Xue and the others naturally would not go around preaching. For them, it was enough to identify the man's appearance and further confirm his identity.

"Xiaodong, tell me the truth. After this, did you have any more contact with Lin Zhen? Have you ever met this man face-to-face?" When Kang Ge asked his sister this, his expression was somewhat grave. There was still no clear lead as to who was targeting Lin Zhen, and he could not help worrying that his sister might have dragged herself into danger through prior contact. He was even more concerned that Lu Xiaodong, fearing blame, might have concealed part of the truth and not been completely honest with him.

"No! I said no, so of course there wasn't! Since when have I ever lied to you? There are plenty of things I might hide from Mom and Dad, but when have I ever hidden anything from you?" Lu Xiaodong protested in a coquettish tone.

Hearing this, Kang Ge finally relaxed and handed the phone back to her. "If anything comes up, contact me at once. Understand?"

"Got it, got it! Big brother, you're so naggy!" Lu Xiaodong nodded carelessly. "All right then, if there's nothing else, I'm heading back. One of my classmates is taking me to play games today, and she's helping me level up a few ranks. I need to hurry back!"

With that, she turned to leave, but before she had taken even two steps, Kang Ge, taking advantage of his height, reached out with his long arm and caught her by the collar.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let go, big brother! What are you doing? I'm not a child anymore—why are you still grabbing me by the collar?" Lu Xiaodong found herself unable to move and had no choice but to step back. "Didn't you ask everything you wanted to ask already? Oh, are you upset that I left without saying goodbye? Sister Yan Xue, sorry about that. Let's talk again another time—I’ll definitely come find you! I'm leaving now!"

"Don't go yet. I've transferred the money to you, but shouldn't you at least tell me the truth?" Kang Ge said with a smile, still holding her collar and showing no intention of letting go. "If you brush me off with one flimsy excuse, then I've really been your big brother for all these years for nothing. I know roughly how much spending money Mom gives you each month. Blown through? Is that really possible?

"And besides, if you truly spent it all by accident on something, then what exactly did you buy that you wouldn't even dare report to Mom? For ordinary expenses, when has she ever failed to top you up? So where did the money go that you don't want the family to know about?"

Lu Xiaodong grinned awkwardly and patted Kang Ge ingratiatingly. "Big brother, you're amazing! Nothing ever gets past you..."

"Just tell me what happened." Seeing that she had relented, Kang Ge let go and folded his arms, watching her and waiting for the rest.

Lu Xiaodong gave a sheepish laugh, dragging the soles of her shoes against the floor as if they had gum stuck to them. "Well... it wasn't really anything major... just... just... I got cheated out of the money by someone!"

"What happened? Did you run into a telecom scam?" Yan Xue's first thought was exactly that.

"No, no, Sister Yan Xue, I'm not that stupid!" Lu Xiaodong waved her hands in a hurry. "It was a classmate who tricked me! Honestly, when I think about it, it still makes me mad. There's a girl in our major who I wasn't even that familiar with before, but this semester she suddenly became really close to me. I had a pretty good impression of her too, so we got along fairly well.

"Last month, after my allowance came in, before I'd even had time to let it sit warm in my own card, she came looking for me, crying. She said her boyfriend was at another school and had run into some trouble, and needed some money, otherwise there might be serious trouble.

"She was crying so hard at the time, really upset, saying she'd asked several people to lend her money, but they were all from out of town or their situations were only average. Their living expenses were just enough to get by, with not a cent to spare, so they couldn't help. Then she thought of me. Our family is local to W City, and usually... well, maybe I am not very careful with money, so she figured I must have some extra."

"And you lent her all of it?"

"No! I kept five hundred yuan for myself. I figured she'd only need it temporarily and would pay me back soon. During that time I just wouldn't spend recklessly. Five hundred yuan was enough to eat at the cafeteria, freeload a few meals off friends, and sponge off home for meals too. It would have lasted more than half a month, no problem! If I could help, why not? Otherwise, seeing her so worried and anxious over her boyfriend, I felt pretty sorry for her."

"What exactly did that girl's boyfriend need that made her borrow nearly all of your allowance?" Yan Xue did not know how much Lu Xiaodong received each month and felt awkward asking outright, but from Kang Ge's words just now, and from Lu Xiaodong's clothes from head to toe, it should have been a considerable sum.

Lu Xiaodong shot a sidelong glance at Kang Ge. "I was too embarrassed to ask... I thought that was other people's private business, and it wouldn't be right to pry..."

"Go on. What happened next? How did that girl shamelessly refuse to pay you back?" Kang Ge had basically guessed the outcome by this point.

Lu Xiaodong said dejectedly, "After I'd spent the five hundred, I asked her roughly when she could return the money. Actually, at that point I wasn't even in a hurry to demand it—I was just asking so I could figure out how long I had until she paid me back. I needed to know whether I should keep freeloading meals off friends for a few more days or wait a bit longer, so I could ask you for some support.

"Unexpectedly, that girl turned on me. She said her boyfriend had broken up with her, that they weren't a couple anymore. The money had been used by her boyfriend—no, her ex-boyfriend—and if I wanted the debt repaid, I should go ask him. It had nothing to do with her. She'd already been dumped, she was already heartbroken, and here I was, pushing her for money and bullying her!

"After she said that, she started crying. Then other people began smoothing things over, telling me that my family was rich anyway, and that I didn't lack a bit of money for meals, so why insist on making things difficult for her when she was so upset over being dumped? They said once she calmed down, she'd definitely go ask her ex-boyfriend to repay me.

"Hearing that already made me feel awful, but then she said she and her boyfriend had broken up on terrible terms, that she never wanted anything to do with her ex again, and that she could send me his chat account so I could figure it out myself!

"I tried adding her ex-boyfriend. The guy didn't accept my request at all. No matter how many times I tried, nobody responded, so I had no other choice. I just had to accept my bad luck!"

"That's absurd!" Yan Xue frowned at once. "If you ask me, this is nothing but a trap your classmate and her boyfriend set for you. Whether they even broke up is questionable.

"When you lent her the money, did you keep an IOU or anything else proving that she was the one who asked you for it?"

"No IOU. I said I wanted one, but she said we were classmates and already knew each other so well, that there was no need. I was too embarrassed to insist." Lu Xiaodong pouted, her face full of grievance. She thought hard for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. "Sister Yan Xue, I transferred the money to her. She had texted me before, urging me to send it. After I transferred it, she even texted me again to say thank you for lending them the money and that it had helped her boyfriend a great deal and all that."

"In that case, she was the one who borrowed the money directly from you. In other words, she borrowed it from you and then lent it on to her boyfriend. Put aside for the moment whether they actually broke up or not—between you and her, and her and her boyfriend, there are two separate creditor-debtor relationships. Don't let it turn into a triangular debt. You only need her to repay you. She borrowed from you, so she herself should pay it back. As for how she later goes after her boyfriend for repayment, that has nothing to do with you."

"Oh... I think I understand what you mean! I was fooled into going in circles by her before, wasn't I? She must have guessed I couldn't find her boyfriend, so she deliberately shifted the responsibility that way!" Lu Xiaodong brightened with sudden understanding at Yan Xue's words, but then quickly began to worry again. "But what if I keep pressing her and she still won't pay? What then?"