Chapter 40

Chapter 40

“That’s good.” Pei Yuming put his arm around his brother’s shoulder and walked toward the living room, asking as they went, “How did you persuade Dad to mortgage the house for a loan?”

Pei Yucheng, who had been pushed along in a daze, was so startled by his brother’s words that he stumbled. He looked at his unusually calm elder brother with horror and couldn’t help taking a couple of steps back.

“You… what are you talking about?”

“You lied to Dad, saying you’d help him pay off the remaining loan. What did you say? How did he believe it? Mortgaging the house requires the owner to sign at the bank in person. How did you trick him into going?”

“Big… big brother, what are you saying? I don’t understand.”

“You don’t understand?” Pei Yuming was both amused and angered by his brother’s blatant lies. He reminded him spitefully, “Why don’t you check that ‘Galaxy Esports’ app on your phone? Is it not opening? Customer service told you it’ll be available next Monday? I suggest you call that ‘Brother Zhi’ you mentioned right now-”

At this, he deliberately paused to gauge his brother’s reaction, and indeed saw a look of utter shock on his face.

“You… how do you know…”

Pei Yuming didn’t let his brother finish. “Oh, right, his phone won’t connect at all. He’s probably sitting in the police station right now. You’d better report it directly. The police solved this fraud case last week and even recovered two sums for you: one of 100,000, one of 36,000. The remaining over 800,000 has already been transferred abroad by the scammers, and the police can’t get it back.”

His brother was stunned by this rapid-fire barrage of words, completely dumbfounded. It took him a while to remember to take out his phone and make a call. Judging by how proficiently he dialed the number, he was probably calling that Brother Zhi.

He made three calls in a row without getting through. His blank expression finally showed a trace of anxiety. Knowing his elder brother, he certainly wouldn’t joke about something like this; if he could state it so confidently, it was very likely true.

“Big brother, that…”

“Want to borrow my phone?” Pei Yuming continued to be prescient, handing over his own phone.

“Ah… yes,” Pei Yucheng quickly took it, not caring what his brother thought, and dialed the number he knew by heart again.

But it still wouldn’t connect.

“This…” Pei Yucheng panicked completely, “How can it not connect?”

Pei Yuming didn’t answer, instead suggesting, “Why don’t you call the police and ask?”

“No!” Pei Yucheng shook his head firmly. “I can’t call the police. I… I’ll just wait until next Monday.”

Although his brother spoke so confidently, he still didn’t want to believe from the bottom of his heart that he had been scammed. He’d rather bury his head in the sand and let the final outcome come a little slower.

Pei Yuming took his phone back and didn’t let his brother off the hook. “Now tell me how you convinced Dad! What exactly did you say to him? And what do you plan to do next? If the bank repossesses the house, where will you and Dad live? Have you thought about any of this?”

“Oh, big brother!” Pei Yucheng was a bit impatient, fiddling with his phone. “We’ll talk about this later. Let’s just go to your place and eat first!”

“You still have an appetite?” Pei Yuming didn’t know if his brother was truly stupid or just pretending. “How are you going to explain this to Dad? You know Dad has a heart condition. What if he finds out you took out a loan on his house and it triggers something?”

Pei Yucheng was extremely agitated. “How would that trigger him? I didn’t lie to him. Yes, I coaxed him into transferring the house to my name, but I really did intend to help him pay off his loan. It’s only a bit over a hundred thousand, right? Once I withdraw the money from the platform, I’ll pay it all off at once. Then I’ll just transfer it back to his name. It’s just a transfer of title. It’s not as serious as you make it sound.”
Seeing him in such a state of self-deception, Pei Yuming was furious. “Fine, I’ll call the police for you. You don’t believe it, right?” he said, taking out his phone to dial.

“Don’t! No!” Pei Yucheng saw his oldest brother was serious, immediately became anxious, and lunged forward to snatch it, but Pei Yuming dodged.

“What are you doing!” Pei Yuming glared at his younger brother, “Are you going to fight me?!”

“No, no,” Pei Yucheng was so anxious he stomped his feet, “Can you stop meddling? This is my own business.”

“You even lost Dad’s house, and you still dare to brazenly say it’s your own business?”

While Pei Yuming was speaking, his hands didn’t stop moving either. His younger brother, trying to stop him, kept reaching to grab his phone.

The two tussled like this, and in a few steps they were at the door.

Pei Yuming was so annoyed by his brother that he felt a fire rising in his heart. Just as he was about to explode, he saw the door open a crack. He frowned, pushed his brother, and muttered, “…I closed the door just now… Dad!”

Through the narrow gap, he saw that his father had collapsed by the door at some unknown time. The key was still in the lock, clearly indicating he had just returned and was about to open the door to come in.

But as for why he had collapsed at the door, Pei Yuming immediately understood when he thought about the last time his father had passed away.

It must have been that the two of them were arguing so intensely that they didn’t notice Dad had returned. They hadn’t deliberately lowered their voices. From the living room to outside the door was at most five meters-even a person with poor hearing could hear, let alone Dad, who had always been sharp-eared and sharp-eyed.

“Quick, call an ambulance!” Pei Yuming turned and shouted at his younger brother.

But this time his brother was more quick-witted, and immediately dialed 120.

Pei Yuming didn’t dare waste time, and started performing CPR on his father with the same steps. Whether it was because this time the condition wasn’t as severe as last time, or because the ambulance arrived relatively promptly, in any case, before being wheeled into the operating room, the old man still had a breath.

Pei Yuming looked at the “Surgery in Progress” sign, and suddenly his legs gave out. He slumped against the wall and sat on the floor, which frightened his brother so much that he hurried over to help him up.

“Get lost!” he cursed with his last bit of strength.

A heart bypass surgery took at least three hours. It was a while before Pei Yuming recovered enough to get up from the floor. He picked up the cloth bag that had fallen on the ground, wanting to take the opportunity to go and pay the surgery deposit first.

The situation just now had been too urgent. The one performing the surgery on his father was a junior fellow from his alma mater, and he had been present during the preoperative consultation, so he hadn’t had time to go pay the money yet.

He carried his father’s cloth bag, which contained his health insurance card and savings card. The password had been changed with his help last year; his dad was afraid of forgetting it and not being able to withdraw money, so he probably hadn’t changed the password on his own.

Logically, as a son, he should have paid for today’s surgery and hospitalization expenses. But even Pei Yuming’s salary card was with Bai Xue. He normally only kept less than a thousand yuan on him, so the surgery fee was definitely not enough.

Of course, as for his younger brother, he was even more unreliable. When he saw him silently following behind, looking completely lost and bewildered, a surge of anger rose up in him again.

“You stay here obediently and keep watch. I’ll go pay the fee and come back shortly. If anything happens, call me immediately.”

“Okay.” Pei Yucheng indeed obediently turned around and went back.