Chapter 66 Can Just Slack Off Now

Chapter 66: Can Finally Settle Down

When Meng Shu was fifteen, he found out something.

His dad had fallen off a cliff a year before, and by the time they found him, he had already rotted.

People started to curse Meng Shu, saying he caused his dad's death and drove his mom away, that it was all his fault the family had fallen apart.

Technically, that wasn't wrong. It was true that Meng Shu drove his mother away, and his father had slipped and fallen off the cliff while chasing after them after discovering their escape.

Meng Shu earned the nickname "Jinx."

He didn't care at all.

Like he always said, if you take their insults seriously, you're the real fool.

Later, their gang leader proposed moving to a bigger place to expand, and a bunch of teenagers followed him eagerly, leaving the small county town for a remote city.

Meng Shu was always smiling, easygoing, and reliable at work, which made him quite popular with the gang leader.

If he had been willing to spend his whole life working for the gang leader, he might have made a fortune before times changed.

But Meng Shu had a fatal flaw: he was soft-hearted.

In their line of work, they lived on the edge of life and death every moment. They could be targeted for revenge, had to harden their hearts against enemies, and put their own interests first.

Their gang gradually transformed into a loan sharking business, and Meng Shu often had to collect debts.

Their methods were brutal—not just beatings, but also threatening the debtors' families, including women and children. As for the debtors themselves, they would strip them naked, humiliate them, parade them through the streets, and in severe cases, cut off their fingers... Meng Shu once told himself that since he was working for them, he had to follow their rules.

He forced himself to do it, but he couldn't accept it.

Meng Shu could only be a tool for fighting: if someone hit him, he hit back. But he couldn't bring himself to randomly humiliate others.

The last time he collected a debt, the debtor was a forty-year-old man who had borrowed from loan sharks to treat his wife's illness. In the end, his wife still died of the illness, and he couldn't repay the loan.

Meng Shu brought his men to the door, and the man knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for a few more days.

The others burst into laughter. They had heard these words countless times. Who cared why you owed money? Paying back a debt was only right; if you didn't pay, they would go after your whole family.

They rushed into the room and dragged out the man's young daughter. The girl was only nine years old, sobbing in terror.

"If you don't pay the debt, we'll take your daughter as payment."

They reached for the little girl. As a father, the man broke down crying, repeatedly kowtowing to them, begging them to spare his daughter, saying he would definitely repay... He sobbed and wiped his nose, but who cared about a debtor's words?

Meng Shu watched from the side. He had grown numb; he'd seen this kind of thing many times before.

Before, he'd tried to stop it, but ended up taking all the blame.

A lot of people said they'd pay, and Meng Shu gritted his teeth and helped them out, convincing his brothers to wait. But those people would just flee overnight, leaving Meng Shu as the scapegoat. He got beaten for it, had his wages cut many times, and spent many nights in pain, unable to sleep.

Meng Shu didn't know what was the right thing to do. He was a mess himself.

The girl's piercing screams filled the room. Cold sweat broke out on Meng Shu's forehead, his vision went dark. Unable to bear it any longer, he turned and left the room.

A minute later, he heard a loud thud.

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

He rushed back in and saw his brothers standing by the window, white as ghosts. The little girl was on her knees, sobbing, her clothes torn, and her father had disappeared.

To keep his daughter from being hurt, the father jumped out the window.

The girl stared blankly at Meng Shu.

Her eyes were so desperate, like a deep, silent ocean—one look and you couldn't breathe.

Meng Shu dropped to his knees and threw up uncontrollably.

He wasn't cut out for this kind of work, but he had no choice.

The group started pointing fingers, each saying it wasn't their fault. The father's death brought public attention to this gang. Within a week, the entire gang was wiped out.

The brothers fled overnight. If they ran fast enough, they could avoid prison.

Meng Shu didn't run. He walked into the police station and turned himself in.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that girl's eyes. Like a vengeful ghost, always staring at him, demanding atonement.

Meng Shu was nineteen that year. He got sentenced to five years and three months. With good behavior, he got out early in the spring of his fourth year.

After getting out, Meng Shu secretly went to see the girl. She had been taken in by relatives and seemed to be doing well now.

He slipped some cash to her family, didn't say anything, and left quickly.

Meng Shu moved to a different city. He started with the toughest jobs—construction, food delivery, valet parking. He was steady, hardworking, never complained, and saved up money diligently.

At twenty-five, Meng Shu met a man named Xu Qingfeng. As his name "clear breeze" suggested, he was educated and as elusive as a gust of wind—completely different from the illiterate Meng Shu.

Xu Qingfeng treated him well. They became sworn brothers, and he guided Meng Shu in making money, talked to him about dreams, and provided a lot of help when Meng Shu was in trouble.

He often took Meng Shu out for meals and always picked up the tab.

He told Meng Shu, "Brother doesn't need your money."

Meng Shu trusted him completely. Whenever Xu Qingfeng talked about his dreams, Meng Shu would smile and offer him a toast.

At that time, Meng Shu thought he could finally settle down. He had been floating in midair for so long, and Xu Qingfeng might be the one to pull him back down to earth.

When Meng Shu was twenty-seven, Xu Qingfeng said he wanted to start a business together.

Meng Shu agreed and put in his life savings.

They opened a restaurant. Xu Qingfeng went around getting investors, and to save on wages, Meng Shu learned to cook and became the restaurant's first chef.

Meng Shu, who had been unlucky all his life, suddenly hit the jackpot. The restaurant was booming. In just half a year, they cleared over 500,000 yuan. They expanded, used the internet to market themselves, and grew from one staff member to thirty.

Things seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Then, at twenty-eight, after Xu Qingfeng raised a million yuan in investment, he disappeared.

He left Meng Shu a message: "Brother, don't be mad. Everyone's got it hard. I need this money."

Meng Shu lost all ways to reach him. Reality came crashing down on him.

He knew it. How could he be so lucky?

Why would anyone treat him well?

Meng Shu paid all his employees their final wages, sold everything he could, and worked hard to pay off his debts. After selling the restaurant as well, he had only a hundred thousand yuan left to his name.

He had originally planned to start over with that hundred thousand.

It was then that he was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Meng Shu thought, "Well, I guess I don't have to work hard anymore. Finally, I can just kick back and do nothing.

Hee hee!"