Chapter 94

094

Every time Mo Qianyi goes out, they always end up at some peculiar places.

The first time, they went to a gangster company; the second time, to a bustling night market. This third time, Yang Chen had already mentally prepared himself, but when they arrived at the destination, he was still stunned for a moment.

"Zhongnan Engineering Construction Co., Ltd."... This was a company, but the place where the two of them were was not the company's office, but a construction site contracted by the company.

Rusty brown steel bars, dusty cement, and various piles of rock fragments were scattered around, with dust filling the air, making everything look hazy under the sunlight.

Around them were construction workers wearing yellow helmets, many of whom were working bare-chested, revealing lean, tanned muscles. Their sticky sweat had soaked their pants, and their faces were covered in mud and dust. Even if they smiled at you, it looked like they were crying.

People often say that farmers' sweat waters the crops, but isn't it also true that the sweat of construction workers builds skyscrapers?

"Miss Mo, are you sure you haven't come to the wrong place?" Yang Chen looked at Mo Qianyi, who was dressed in bright clothes, carefully walking on the bumpy gravel road, and doubted how long her high heels could last.

Mo Qianyi wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and said irritably, "Just follow me, no nonsense!"

Yang Chen smiled awkwardly but didn't take it to heart.

Mo Qianyi ignored him and continued walking forward. She encountered a middle-aged man who looked like a supervisor, wearing a blue work uniform from Zhongnan Company, directing a few workers to move cement.

"Sir, could you tell me where the office of this construction site is?" Mo Qianyi asked politely.

The supervisor looked at her in surprise, wondering why such a beautiful lady would come to a dirty construction site and look for the company office. He guessed she might be a civil servant from a government department, so he greeted her with a smile and readily told her the location of the office.

The so-called office was a temporary prefabricated house, but such a large construction company naturally had decent facilities. Apart from being a bit spacious, it was not much different from a real office, with air conditioning and a TV.

Inside the office was a large wooden desk, and a middle-aged man with a big belly, wearing a cheap gray suit, was shouting in a dialect on the phone. When he saw Mo Qianyi and Yang Chen enter, he was momentarily stunned by Mo Qianyi's appearance, then looked at the two of them thoughtfully.

He quickly hung up the phone and showed a somewhat cheerful smile, extending his hand to Mo Qianyi, "May I ask what Miss needs help with?"

Mo Qianyi naturally ignored the man's extended hand and said coolly, "Where is Zhang Fugui? I've come to take him back."

The fat man's attempt to shake hands failed, but he wasn't embarrassed. Hearing the name "Zhang Fugui," his beady eyes narrowed almost to the point of disappearing, "You're Zhang Fugui's daughter?"

Mo Qianyi frowned but nodded, "Yes."

Yang Chen, standing behind, watched this scene with some curiosity, not expecting Mo Qianyi's father to be here, and apparently, something had happened. He remembered that Mo Qianyi had told him her biological father had died long ago, which meant this Zhang Fugui was likely her stepfather.

Yang Chen didn't say anything, just watched the situation develop, lighting a cigarette and smoking it quietly.

"Did you bring the money?" The fat man seemed to change his demeanor, looking somewhat arrogant at Mo Qianyi, as if he had suddenly become superior.

Mo Qianyi silently took out a stack of red bills from her small leather bag, which looked quite substantial, and said, "This is five thousand Chinese yuan. Release him."

"Five thousand?" The fat man burst into laughter, "Five thousand was the amount when your gambling-addict father called you. It's been a while since then, and now it's not just five thousand!"

"What!?" Mo Qianyi's face turned even more grim, and she forced herself to ask, "He lost again!?"

The fat man grunted a few times, lit a long cigarette, and pointed to the next room, "Go in and see for yourself how much he lost."

Mo Qianyi turned and left the office like the wind, walked to the next room, and pushed the door open forcefully.

A mix of cigarette and alcohol smells hit her, making her cough a few times. Then she saw the situation inside the room.

The room contained only a few tables and long benches, with scattered poker cards, dominoes, and mahjong tiles. The cement floor was littered with cigarette butts and empty beer bottles, and two flickering light bulbs provided weak illumination.

At that moment, seven or eight casually dressed men were gathered around the largest table, with one person sitting at each end.

A long-faced man in an open-buttoned white shirt, with his hair standing up, was smoking and exhaling smoke, with one foot on a bench, looking very relaxed.

On the other side, another figure was trembling, wearing a wax-yellow short-sleeved shirt, with a dirty face, wrinkles around his eyes and forehead, and a thin face that made his cheeks stand out, looking very dejected.

When the people in the room saw the door open, they all turned to look. Upon seeing a beautiful woman, their eyes all lit up.

Only the middle-aged man, hunched over with lifeless eyes, upon seeing Mo Qianyi, showed a look of wild joy, as if he had suddenly risen from the mud to the clouds. He rushed to Mo Qianyi, grabbed her shoulders with both hands, and shouted, "Nizi! Give me the money! Give me the money! I need to turn the tide!! Give it to me!!"

Mo Qianyi's shoulders ached from the grip, but she didn't struggle, just her eyes reddened, and she said with a bitter smile, "How much do you need?"

"Give me all you have! I need to turn the tide!!" The man shouted, as if he had been injected with a stimulant.

At this moment, the other men also understood. The man with the standing hair sneered, "Girl, you must be the daughter Zhang Fugui mentioned. Your father Zhang Fugui owes me 20,000 yuan in gambling debts. Help him pay it off, and then we can continue the game."

Zhang Fugui's face turned red, and he turned to shout, "Dajun, don't be so smug! I'll take the money and play again! I'll make you owe me 20,000!"

"Twenty thousand..." Mo Qianyi's face turned pale, looking at Zhang Fugui's frenzied back, and said, "In just half an hour, you went from 5,000 to 20,000? Do you even know what you're doing!?"

"I..." Zhang Fugui turned around and saw that Mo Qianyi's eyes were already misty with tears. He finally realized something was wrong and gritted his teeth, "I just had a momentary slip, Nizi. Don't worry, I'll win it all back in a moment!"

"A momentary slip? How long have you been making slips? How many years? How much money have I given you? Do you even know that the money could have bought a house in Zhonghai!?" Mo Qianyi finally couldn't hold back and shouted.

Zhang Fugui wanted to get angry, but thinking of his lack of money and his need to rely on this nominal daughter, he had to lower his head and smile, "Nizi, you can't say that. Everyone has bad luck sometimes. Don't cry, it won't help! If you lose money, you have to win it back!"

"You told me you came to Zhonghai to work! You said you came to the construction site to be a mason! But you started gambling the very next day!!" Mo Qianyi screamed, tears streaming down her face, and she gasped for breath, "Money is earned, not won. When will you understand!?"

Zhang Fugui had nothing to say in his defense and could only roar, "Stop nagging! Give me the money!!"

"No! If I give it to you, you'll just gamble again. You decide what to do!" Mo Qianyi, in a fit of anger, forcefully shook off Zhang Fugui and turned to leave.

Zhang Fugui panicked, grabbed Mo Qianyi's hand forcefully, and started to snatch the leather bag from her, shouting wildly, "Give it to me!"

"You! Let go!!" Mo Qianyi, being a woman, couldn't match the strength of a man and felt her leather bag being pulled away inch by inch.

The men in the room saw this and laughed, shouting in delight.

"Zhang Fugui, you really can't do it, even your daughter won't listen to you!"

"Your daughter doesn't even want to save you, you old gambler! Ha ha..."

Zhang Fugui's anger flared up, losing both money and face. His head heated up, and he raised his hand to slap Mo Qianyi!

Mo Qianyi saw Zhang Fugui about to hit her but couldn't let go of the leather bag. She turned her head to avoid the hit as much as possible, closing her eyes in shock, her face full of pain and bitterness.

At that moment, Zhang Fugui's hand was caught mid-air by another hand, preventing it from moving any further.

"Hey, it's not your daughter who took your money, why are you hitting her?" Yang Chen stood in front of Mo Qianyi, having suddenly intervened to stop Zhang Fugui's action.

Zhang Fugui was stunned, panting heavily, and asked, "Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that you can't hit her or take her money," Yang Chen said.

"This is my family matter. I need to take money from my daughter, what's it to you!? Why can't I hit my daughter!?" Zhang Fugui shouted arrogantly.

"If you're so tough, why don't you go fight those guys? And from what I know, Mo Qianyi isn't your biological daughter; you're just a nominal father. Don't think too highly of yourself," Yang Chen said coldly, then squeezed Zhang Fugui's hand, forcing him to step back several steps.

Mo Qianyi, who had been preparing to be hit, looked up and saw Yang Chen standing in front of her. This not-so-broad back made her feel a bit relieved, and a warm current flowed through her heart.

But thinking of how this gambling-addicted stepfather had been so rude to the daughter who came to save him, and even tried to hit her, Mo Qianyi felt a deep sorrow. Her heart felt as if it was being gnawed by countless insects, and the accumulated grievances of the past burst forth, making her sob uncontrollably.

Yang Chen looked at the woman who was already sobbing and wiping her tears, finally understanding why Mo Qianyi had brought him along. No woman would dare to come here alone!