Chapter 2 Give Me Another Week
"Who are you guys?"
Chen Yinou asked with a frown. She immediately pulled Ye Youyou behind her as she eyed those imposing figures.
"Do you believe me if I tell you we are here to distribute wealth and bring you prosperity?"
The head honcho sized up Chen Yinou and grinned slyly.
"You are here for Ye Chen?"
Chen Yinou took a step back unconsciously as the head honcho stared at her without replying her.
Smiling coldly, he looked towards Ye Chen, "Mr. Outstanding, did you think that if you don't answer the phone, we wouldn't be able to find you? You are one whole week past your payment. The overdue amount is two hundred and seventy thousand dollars with interest. Isn't it time to pay your dues?"
"He owes you two hundred and seventy thousand dollars?"
Chen Yinou interjected while pointing at Ye Chen. She was in disbelief.
"That's right. You're his wife, right? How about it? As his wife, shouldn't you be sharing your husband's burden?"
The head honcho looked at Chen Yinou with a wicked expression and started to approach her.
"Don't you dare drag my wife into this! I alone will bear the consequences of my actions. If you dare lift a finger against her, I will kill you even if it costs me my life!"
Ye Chen hissed furiously when he saw the head honcho moving towards Chen Yinou. He grabbed a beer bottle from the ground.
At that moment, fragments of the memories of his past came flooding back. They came together to form a clear picture in his mind.
When he was alive, that very same moment where the debt collectors came knocking at his door was the trigger that kickstarted the dark chapter in his life.
It was on that same day back then, where he watched helplessly as they molested Chen Yinou. Like a scared puppy, he did not dare utter a single word throughout the ordeal.
In the end, he was also beaten to a bloody pulp on the ground. He finally managed to get another week's extension to settle his debts after he begged ceaselessly.
After the debt collectors had left, only then did he finally relented and signed the divorce papers that Chen Yinou produced. Up until then, he was adamant about not divorcing despite all the threats and pleadings he received.
However, when faced with a debt of two hundred and seventy thousand dollars, there was no way he could have paid it all off, even if he was given a hundred weeks, not to mention only a week.
One week passed by in a flash, and he was ready to make a getaway and disappear. But before he could even pack his things, the debt collectors found him.
They beat him up severely and then they just left. Even after half a year, he was left puzzled as to why they decided to just let him off the hook.
Shortly after that, Chen Yinou took Ye Youyou and got married to a bald middle-aged general manager of a company.
That was the reason Ye Chen resented Chen Yinou bitterly. He believed that she was insistent on a divorce because she was cheating on him. She even managed to hook up with a rich man!
It was not until six months after Chen Yinou took her life together with Ye Youyou and that bald middle-aged general manager, that he found out the truth.
He finally realised the reason he was spared by the debt collectors. It was because they called Chen Yinou back then, threatening to kill him if the debt was not settled.
To save Ye Chen, Chen Yinou had no choice but to borrow money from that bald middle-aged general manager to help settle his debts. The bald general manager, who has been wooing her for the longest time, agreed to help, but with the condition that she would marry him!
After she remarried, the bald general manager slowly began to show his true colors. He was a control freak and a violent man. He would beat her often at the drop of a hat. Eventually, even the four or five-year-old Ye Youyou was not spared from the violent beatings.
One night, Chen Yinou spiked the cup of water he was drinking with sleeping pills, and then she set fire to the house. She, along with Ye Youyou and the bald man, died in a sea of flames that night.
It was only six months after that incident that Ye Chen found out the truth.
Only then did he realise that he was the one who had caused Chen Yinou's and Ye Youyou's death. It was him all along, a failure of a husband and father, a murderer.
If she did not try to save him, Chen Yinou would not have needed to borrow money from that bald general manager.
If she did not borrow money from him, Chen Yinou would not have married him.
If she did not marry the bald general manager, this tragedy would not have happened in the first place!
It was him, Ye Chen himself had murdered his wife and daughter!
Now, God had given him another chance by bringing him back to the past, to a time before that tragedy happened.
He would not let it happen again, absolutely not!
"Who are you trying to threaten with a beer bottle? Do you really think you, the debtor, is now the boss here?"
The head honcho stopped approaching Chen Yinou, and instead, strode towards Ye Chen in a fit of rage.
"Beat him up! Teach this bastard how to be a fucking man! Then we will collect his debts."
At the furious command of the head honcho, the group of thugs immediately descended upon Ye Chen, punching and kicking him.
It was said that after Ye Chen made his fortune during his lifetime, he trained hard and became quite an adept fighter. A group of ordinary folks was no match for him. Word was that even veteran military personnel had trouble getting close to him in a fight.
But all his skills were useless here, as his weak body could not perform any of his tricks. His current body was a frail empty husk after he let himself be consumed by his grief and self-loathing.
"Don't hit my daddy, waaa! You bad guys, you are not allowed to hit my daddy!"
Seeing Ye Chen being beaten up badly, Youyou cried her heart out.
The little girl would have run over to him if she was not held tightly by her mother. Chen Yinou, on the other hand, had a cold smile on her face.
Instead of being heartbroken by Ye Chen's severe beating, she felt a huge sense of satisfaction!
"Scum like him deserved this! He deserved it! He deserved it all!", she thought.
Ka-chow-!
Clang!!!
While under attack, Ye Chen swiftly broke the glass bottle that was in his hand.
With the broken glass bottle raised in his hand, Ye Chen gritted his teeth and pounced at the head honcho with all his might.
With one hand, Ye Chen grabbed the head honcho's neck, while with the other, he pressed the broken bottle firmly against the man's carotid artery.
"Stop, everyone, fucking stop!"
The head honcho shouted in terror while Ye Chen held the broken bottle against his neck.
"Mr. Outstanding, Ye Chen, brother Ye, can we have a proper chat? Don't be reckless, you mustn't be reckless. We live in a society under the rule of law, an eye for an eye. You will pay with your life if you kill me. Calm down, just calm down, okay?"
"Like a cornered beast, a desperate man with nothing to lose is capable of anything", this saying was all too familiar to those that have been in the underworld for some time.
The head honcho was terrified. He was extremely terrified that a desperate Ye Chen would stab him without hesitation.
The so-called rule of law, an eye for an eye, and a life for a life. These things hardly mattered to Ye Chen at that point.
Ye Chen was also not fazed by the blood flowing down from his head down his eyes.
He said, "Give me one more week! After one week, I will pay you every cent I owed, interest included!"
"Put the bottle down first. Put it down and we'll talk it over, okay? Okay?", said the head honcho who was on the verge of being stabbed.
"I will say it again, give me one more week!" Ye Chen's hand gave a slight push and the broken glass bottle immediately pierced through the man's skin, causing a small amount of blood to flow out.
"Fine, fine, one week! I will give you another week, I promise! I promise!" The head honcho yelled.
After hearing those words, Ye Chen finally loosened his grip and let go of the other party.
It was only a verbal promise, but knowing these underworld types, Ye Chen chose to trust in the promise.
"Brother Biao!"
"Brother Biao!"
"Brother Biao!"
Within seconds, the thugs surrounded the head honcho.
"Get lost!"
He beckoned the thugs to stay away with one hand, while he pressed his other hand on the wound on his neck. The wound was oozing blood lightly, but it was not a grave wound.
The head honcho pointed at Ye Chen and gritted his teeth, "You've got guts, you've got fucking guts, I was wrong about you! One week, just one more week, if you don't have the money by then, even god will not be able to save you!"
"Let's go!!!"
He waved his hand.
These thugs left as quickly as they came.
Only three of them remained in the house. Ye Chen was bleeding from the head. Chen Yinou had a cold and distant expression on her face. Meanwhile, Ye Youyou was still crying non-stop.