Chapter 184 - Zhang Naipao Asking For Help
“Get up first, Pao! What the hell’s with the kneeling?!” Pinliang said. He was taking Naipao seriously at this point, but the guy shouldn’t be kneeling in school field like that..?!
“Liang Bro, please, promise you’ll help… Promise me and I’ll get up……” Zhong Pinliang was Naipao’s last hope- his family would still be able to get through this if Pinliang was willing to help…
“Fine, I promise! Just get up!” Pinliang said, pulling Naipao up. “Pao, just speak next time, alright? What do you think other people will think if they saw you kneeling like that in school?”
“I’m sorry, Liang Bro… it’s extremely urgent!” Naipao said, realizing that he might’ve went overboard with the kneeling.
“Even so!” Pinliang said. “Alright, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Liang Bro, my dad’s business… got sabotaged……” Naipao explained. “He can’t pay his loans back, and he’s getting charged for fraud… He’s gonna get sent to jail soon!”
“Oh?” Pinliang frowned. He knew what kind of family Naipao was from, they were pretty well off- the dad was a businessman, and the mom was a full time housewife. He wasn’t expecting something like this to have happened out of nowhere.
“Alright, but what’s this got to do with your brother?” Pinliang asked.
“They’re forcing my dad to pay them back, telling my brother to do it by selling a kidney……” Naipao explained.
“Selling a kidney?” Pinliang blinked at the statement. “Why not you?”
“I would if I could, it’d never be my brother if I could!” Naipao said. “I’ve went through a checkup before, they said there’s something wrong with my kidney, something about the blood or something- I don’t really know myself, but basically people with my blood type are in really low demand, it’s hard to sell!”
“I see..” Pinliang nodded. “So how do you want me to help?”
“Liang Bro, can you lend my family money for us to get through this first?” Naipao said. “I’ll work my ass off for you, I’ll always remember your kindness and generosity if you help……”
“How much?” Pinliang wasn’t a very good person, but Naipao was someone who had followed him for along time, as his follower and fighter… He couldn’t just ignore his pleads.
“Seven hundred thousand……” Naipao said carefully.
“What? Seven hundred thousand?! That much?” Pinliang stunned, not expecting the sum- he’d be able to put together eighty or a hundred thousand from his own red packet money savings, but seven hundred thousand wasn’t a number he could just pull out of nowhere.
(red packets have money in them, Chinese relatives give each other’s children red packets every Chinese New Year)
“Yeah… I wouldn’t be begging you for help if it wasn’t that big a number!” Naipao said bitterly. “Come on, Liang Bro, you gotta help me… I’ll do anything after this, I’ll work for you full time! I’ll kill myself without blinking if you ask me to!”
“Alright, Naipao, calm down first- this is pretty serious. You know I don’t have that much money with me.” Pinliang said. “I’ll have to call my dad about this- you go back to class first. Lemme think about how I should approach the issue.”
“You have to help me… Liang Bro……” Naipao said, worried that Pinliang was saying that to put him off.
“Listen to me, Naipao- you’ve followed me for three years. I’ll help you to the best of my ability, okay? Don’t think too much, I’m just thinking how to talk to my dad about this.” Pinliang consoled as he patted Naipao on the shoulder.
“Alright, Liang Bro… I’ll go back first. You have to help me……” Naipao nodded.
Back at the classroom, Zhong Pinliang was deep in thought. While seven hundred thousand was but a small sum to his family, it was enough money for a luxury car- Pinliang had to think about this seriously.
Naipao had been following him for three years- he’d been his lackey for three years! He’d never complained about anything, always fighting for him… This fact alone was enough to touch Pinliang.
Yet Pinliang still had to take into consideration the things he’d get in return for the seven hundred thousand.
Pinliang believed that Naipao would owe him a huge favor if he did get seven hundred thousand for him, a massive favor- he could get Naipao whenever he needed him for anything at all in the future, and Naipao wasn’t one who’d try to run instead of repaying him…
But was seven hundred thousand worth that? Pinliang couldn’t help but run the profit and investment on a balancing scale.
From how worried for his brother Naipao looked, Pinliang could tell that the guy had honor… But did Pinliang himself need that? He decided to ask for advice from his father.
With that, Pinliang went out the study hall and into the washroom, only pulling out his phone after making sure no one was in there with him.
“Pinliang?” Zhong Fabai was just reaching his company when his son called- his heart dropped instantly. There were enough problems he had to deal with already, and he’d just settled the whole deal with Heibao, too. A new problem to add to his plate was the last thing he wanted.
After all, Pinliang wouldn’t call him like this under normal circumstances- something was up. “Did something happen?”
“Dad, I have something I wanna discuss with you……” Pinliang said.
“Oh? What’s that?” Fabai sighed in relief upon hearing the words- he hoped it wasn’t something too important.
“It’s like this... do you know about Zhang Naipao, from my class?” Pinliang said testingly.
“Zhang Naipao…… Hm… Your follower, right? What about him?” Fabai said. Naipao always came to their house along with a Gao Xiaofu.
“Okay, so… Something bad happened to Zhang Naipao’s family- his dad’s business got sabotaged and now he owes money to people… They said they’ll press charges on him for fraud if he doesn’t pay up……” Pinliang said. Summarizing the problem. “And Zhang Naipao asked me for help, he wants me to lend him some money to get through this……”
“Ahh… So that’s what this is about!” Fabai said, understanding the situation immediately. “What are your thoughts, son?”
“Well, dad…… Zhang Naipao’s my bro, and he’s been following me all these years… I can’t just not help him when he’s in trouble now.” Pinliang said. “But… The amount he’s asking for is a little too big!”
“How much?” Fabai asked.
“Seven hundred thousand. I’m thinking that we won’t be getting this money back if we do lend it out to him……” Pinliang said.