Chapter 37
Chapter 37
“Confess to what?” Pei Yucheng was also getting irritated. “Didn’t I already tell you everything?!”
Pei Yuming took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that was about to erupt. “Keep denying it! Let me ask you: did you take money from Bai Xue and Lu Dong? How much debt do you have in total? Why did the bank approve a six-hundred-thousand loan for you? And what did you put up as collateral?”
Hearing his older brother lay out all his secrets in one breath, Pei Yucheng looked at him as if he’d seen a ghost. What had his brother done? How did he know so clearly? Even their father, who lived with him, didn’t know about these things.
Seeing the terror in his younger brother’s eyes, Pei Yuming couldn’t help but snort inwardly. This guy wouldn’t cry until he saw the coffin!
“Fine, I won’t look at your phone. We’ll go over it bit by bit!” Pei Yuming strode over, grabbed his brother by the collar, and dragged him out. “Let’s go. First, to my place. Lu Dong should be there by now. Let’s ask Bai Xue and him: how much money did they transfer to you in total?”
“Big brother! Bro!” Pei Yucheng was no match for his brother physically. The floor was slippery, and before he could struggle, he was dragged to the door, just like the countless times his big brother had hauled him home as a child.
“Bro,” Pei Yucheng grabbed his brother’s wrist, almost ready to kneel on the ground. “Don’t go. I’ll talk. I’ll talk, okay?”
Pei Yuming, disappointed that his brother hadn’t become the man he hoped, threw him down and tapped his head with the spatula, as if scolding a child. “Talk!”
Pei Yucheng pouted, shook out his pajama collar and straightened it, then reluctantly began to speak.
“It was sister-in-law. She knew I’ve been short of money lately. To keep me from telling you, she agreed to transfer an extra two thousand a week on top of my original allowance-”
“Two thousand? Weekly!” Pei Yuming was taken aback. Two thousand a week, eight thousand a month, plus the allowance, that was nearly ten thousand.
“Yeah,” Pei Yucheng didn’t dare look at his brother. “You know I’ve been in a rush for money lately. Sister-in-law didn’t give much…”
“Not much!” Pei Yuming slapped his brother’s back with the spatula again, making Pei Yucheng yelp in pain.
“Big brother! I’m telling you, so why are you hitting me again!”
“My monthly salary after taxes is just over thirty thousand. After your sister-in-law covers household expenses, what Xiaobei spends, and what she spends on herself, there’s not much left. She gives you eight thousand and you think that’s too little? Are you even human?”
Pei Yucheng curled his lip. “Yeah, eight thousand isn’t a small amount, but for me it’s just a drop in the bucket. I had no choice but to go to Dean Lu separately. He’s loaded. I figured if he gave me more, I’d take less from sister-in-law. I was thinking of our family too!”
For the first time, Pei Yuming realized that his brother could say such shameless things so calmly. He was so angry his lungs felt like they were about to burst. His face red, he roared, “You think you did the right thing? How can you be so shameless!”
Pei Yucheng wasn’t happy being scolded. He had taken money, but he hadn’t said he wouldn’t pay it back. His brother had never cared about money like this before. What was going on today?
“Big brother! How can you say that about me?” Pei Yucheng sighed. “I know, borrowing money like this isn’t honorable, but I’ll definitely pay it back to sister-in-law later, and to Lu Dong too. I’m not taking it for free.”
“Pay it back? With what?” Pei Yuming found it unbelievable.
Pei Yucheng said confidently, “To be honest with you, I’ve been working on a project with some friends recently. It’s not gambling. The returns are really high. I won… I mean, I earned nearly four million. But the platform only lets you withdraw when the amount reaches a round figure. I’m about two hundred thousand short. As long as I scrape together the money and transfer it in, I can withdraw five million immediately. Then not only can I pay you all back, I could even give each of you a hundred thousand. You know I’ve never really cared about money, just having enough to spend. But speaking of which, since you already know, can you lend me two hundred thousand first?”
Pei Yuming felt a buzzing in his head, as if a giant fan were spinning inside. His blood pressure had never been high, but he was sure it would be off the charts if measured now.
He covered his forehead with one hand, the bulging veins throbbing beneath his palm. After taking a few deep breaths, he managed to ask with restraint, “What platform? Is it that app called ‘Galaxy Esports’?”
“Ah, yes… you know about it too?”
Pei Yuming glared at him. He remembered that just a moment ago in the interrogation room, Cao Lei had said they cracked the case a week ago. So why hadn’t his brother realized he’d been scammed? Had Cao Lei gotten it wrong?
“Pull it up, let me see.” Pei Yuming ordered.
Pei Yucheng moved his lips reluctantly but finally didn’t object. There was no point in hiding it now, and besides, he was still thinking about how to get his big brother to agree to lend him two hundred thousand.
“Fine,” he said, unlocking his phone. “But the platform’s been under maintenance these past few days. I asked customer service last Friday, and they said the interface should be back by next Monday at the latest. Don’t worry about the money being swallowed up, though; this platform is officially certified, with qualification certificates. I checked them on the website they provided, and they’re absolutely genuine.”
Pei Yucheng found the red app icon and showed it to his older brother. “Here, this is it. But looks like it’s still under maintenance, so it won’t open. Next Monday, I’ll show you then.”
“You’ve been scammed,” Pei Yuming told him bluntly. “The money can’t be withdrawn at all. The police cracked this case a week ago. Ah Cheng, tell me, how exactly did you get a six hundred thousand loan from the bank? Did you mortgage that spare apartment of yours?”
Pei Yucheng clearly hadn’t processed his brother’s first sentence yet. He anxiously poked at the red icon on his phone, but his tone was falsely casual. “Big brother, don’t talk nonsense. If the police really got involved, why haven’t I heard anything? Besides, you’re always working overtime; how would you know about this?”
“Don’t worry about that. If you don’t believe me, dial 110 right now and ask.” Pei Yuming said, pulling out his brother’s phone as if to call the police.
“Hey, don’t!” That move scared Pei Yucheng badly. “You can’t call the police! My friend warned me repeatedly-although this isn’t illegal, the returns are too high, so it might attract the attention of the authorities!”
“You! Fool!” Pei Yuming said, frustrated by his brother’s foolishness, but he didn’t push it. Since the police had already cracked the case, asking now was surely too late. He didn’t dwell on that point and pressed on. “How exactly did you get that six hundred thousand loan?”
Pei Yucheng’s fingers paused on his phone, and his words came out as if squeezed through clenched teeth. “Just my place, you know…”
Pei Yuming looked at him suspiciously. “At most, the bank would lend you two hundred thousand against that apartment. Six hundred thousand? You might not even get that if you sold it outright. Be honest-did you trick Dad into taking out a loan for you?”