Back to the teenage years

Chapter 589 Fat Sheep
Seeing this, Zhang Yunqi frankly had no interest in playing the hero and rescuing a damsel in distress, let alone saving such a pot-bellied bastard. Moreover, Liu Mingde wouldn't feel any gratitude for his help, but this guy was still useful to him for now, and he couldn't afford to let him get beaten to death or crippled.

Zhang Yunqi thought for a moment, told Ji Ling about the situation, and then led Ji Ling over. He pushed through the crowd and went inside, then shouted loudly like a fool, "The police are here! Stop! Stop it!"

Upon hearing the sound, the burly men instinctively stopped beating him. Turning around, they saw a young man dressed plainly with a youthful face. The leader of the burly men spat and said, "Where did this little brat come from? You want to die? Get the hell away from me!"

Zhang Yunqi had neither the strength nor the interest to fight these thugs. His gaze swept over the shouting thugs and landed on Liu Mingde, who was surrounded in the middle: "Mr. Liu, do you need any help?"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Liu Mingde broke free and scrambled behind Zhang Yunqi. His expensive suit was wrinkled and covered in dust, and his mouth was cracked and bleeding. His movements were somewhat like a dog whose tail had been stepped on.

When Lin Lin saw Zhang Yunqi appear, a hint of embarrassment flashed across her pale face as she looked flustered in front of an acquaintance. But she still called out to Yunqi and immediately went to his side, tidying her disheveled hair and clothes, still shaken.

Zhang Yunqi took a pack of tissues from Ji Ling and handed it to her: "President Liu, who are these people?"

Liu Mingde took the tissue, wiped his mouth, and, panting heavily, gritted his teeth and said, "Qiao Zhiwu sent them!"

Enraged at being ignored, the leader of the thugs raised his stick and pointed it at Zhang Yunqi: "Damn it, you're asking for it! I'll cripple you first!"

As he spoke, the thug raised his stick and was about to step forward.

Zhang Yunqi glanced at him: "Before you make a move, I suggest you call Qiao Zhiwu and ask him what happened to him when he blocked me on the Orange Isle Bridge last year."

The gang leader froze instantly. The incident on the Orange Isle Bridge last year had shocked the entire city of Lijin. The Orange Isle Bridge was the most important passage on the east-west artery. That night, traffic in half of the city was paralyzed for an hour or so because of this incident. He was also Qiao Zhiwu's henchman, so how could he not know? A look of surprise and hesitation flashed across his face: "You are... that General Manager Zhang Yunqi?"

Zhang Yunqi immediately took out his phone and dialed a number: "I'm at the intersection of Huangxing South Road and Zhiji Street. I've run into a little trouble. It's Qiao Zhiwu's men. Tell them to get out of here."

Hearing the young man's tone, the thugs dared not move. A moment later, the pager on the leader's waist rang sharply.

He looked down, and when he looked up at Zhang Yunqi again, his eyes were filled with fear: "Let's go!"

With a wave of his hand, he led a group of his men back into the van, and the engine roared as they hurriedly drove away.

Zhang Yunqi put away his phone, glanced at Ji Ling beside him, and then turned to Liu Mingde and said, "Mr. Liu, it's alright now. Do you want to go to the hospital to get checked out?"

Liu Mingde dusted off his suit, waved his hand, and said, "It's nothing, just a minor injury. No need to go to the hospital."

Zhang Yunqi nodded and asked, "President Liu, how did things get to this point between you and Qiao Zhiwu?"

Liu Mingde looked at him, his eyes seemingly a little complicated, then sighed: "This is a long story."

Zhang Yun nodded: "Qiao Zhiwu is indeed not someone to be trifled with in Lijin. You know about the bridge blockade incident at the end of last year, right? Because of the large-scale lotus and shrimp farming base project in Qiaokou Town, we had a big conflict. At that time, he sent more than ten cars to block me in the middle of the bridge."

"I've heard about this too. It's caused quite a stir in the whole of Lijin City." Liu Mingde seemed to have let his guard down, sharing Zhang Yunqi's sentiment: "That bastard Qiao Zhiwu is a complete scoundrel."

He paused, then snorted and said, "I'll kill him when I get back!"

This statement seemed more like it was being said to Lin Lin, who was standing next to him.

Men, after all, care about their pride in front of women.

Lin Lin had recovered her senses and then looked at Ji Ling standing next to Zhang Yunqi. Her appearance was completely different from Li Yufei's. Compared to her school beauty classmate, this girl had a casual, spiritual, and carefree feeling. She didn't say a word from beginning to end, but her expression clearly showed that she had a close relationship with Zhang Yunqi.

She thought of all this, and her expression became complicated, but only for a moment. Then she smiled slightly at Zhang Yunqi: "Yunqi, thank you, it's been a long time."

"It's alright." Zhang Yunqi said with a smile, "This is Ji Ling, and this is Lin Lin. You two are actually classmates, both art students at the Normal University."

After the two girls greeted each other, they started chatting.

Zhang Yunqi said to Liu Mingde, "Mr. Liu, would you like to find a tea room to rest for a while?"

Liu Ming's facial muscles twitched slightly from the pain and lingering fear. He nodded, then took out a bank card from his purse and handed it to Lin Lin, saying with a smile, "Why don't you two girls go shopping? We'll go for tea; you girls aren't interested. The bank PIN is your birthday."

Lin Lin was a smart girl, and it was obvious that she had something to discuss with Zhang Yunqi privately, but she didn't care. She took the bank card and then looked at Ji Ling meaningfully.

Zhang Yunqi didn't bring his bank card. He coughed and said to Ji Ling, "Buy whatever you want, put it on President Liu's account."

Liu Mingde's facial muscles twitched again: "That's right, that's right, hehe... use that card however you like."

Ji Ling rolled her eyes, though she actually wanted to laugh. She said to Zhang Yunqi, "Alright, when are you going to finish? I'll wait for you to have dinner together."

Zhang Yunqi laughed, "About an hour or so. I'll call you later and take you to eat your favorite Yan Die sweet wine." Ji Ling smiled and agreed, waving her hand, and walked with Lin Lin towards the nearby commercial street. The two figures quickly blended into the bustling evening crowd.

Liu Mingde let the two injured bodyguards take taxis and leave, while he and Zhang Yunqi found a quiet teahouse nearby.

Once the door to the private room was closed, the noise from the outside world was shut out.

Liu Mingde slumped into the rattan chair, letting out a long breath. At this moment, he had completely let go of the pretense he had put on in front of Lin Lin, leaving only exhaustion and lingering fear.

Zhang Yunqi remained silent and slowly sipped his tea.

After a while, Liu Mingde coughed and said, "Zhang Sheng, you were the one who introduced Qiao Zhiwu to me back then..."

Zhang Yunqi poured him a cup of tea and said with a smile, "I remember this. You told me that you were short of funds and wanted to borrow some money to tide you over. I had just arrived in Lijin and my business was expanding rapidly, and my cash flow was also tight, so I introduced Qiao Zhiwu to you. I met Qiao Zhiwu because of the Qiaokou Town project, but at that time my relationship with him was okay. I never expected him to be such a scoundrel."

Liu Mingde sighed. At this moment, he no longer had the energy to put on a brave face in front of Lin Lin: "As you know, my business has encountered some financial difficulties. At the end of last year, the Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road also needed 50 million yuan to start up. It would take about 60 million yuan to solve the problem. So, through your introduction, I approached Qiao Zhiwu to borrow 60 million yuan. At that time, Qiao Zhiwu readily agreed."

However, Liu Mingde did not expect that this would be the beginning of his nightmare: "After receiving this life-saving money, I quickly solved the company's problems. About last month, I raised some money to pay back Qiao Zhiwu."

Zhang Yunqi timely displayed just the right amount of doubt: "Isn't that..."

Liu Mingde shook his head: "When I handed the money to Qiao Zhiwu, do you know what he said?"

Zhang Yunqi asked, "What did you say?"

Liu Mingde said, "He said that the 60 million was the principal I borrowed, and there is still 130 million in interest to be repaid!"

Zhang Yunqi remained silent.

Liu Mingde said angrily, "When he said that, I was dumbfounded! 130 million! I only borrowed 60 million, and the interest is 130 million. What's the difference between this and robbery!"

Zhang Yunqi nodded.

Liu Mingde said, "At the time, Qiao Zhiwu was very unhappy. He had his men beat me up and then told me to return the 90 million to him immediately, or else he would make me wish I were dead!"

He swallowed hard and didn't say anything more.

Zhang Yunqi said, "I remember that President Liu has quite a few bodyguards. I still remember what happened on Jiangxinzhou last year. How could he let Qiao Zhiwu bully him like this?"

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Liu Mingde's fat face. Last year, in Jiangxinzhou, in order to get Lin Lin, he had his gang of men beat up Song Junxian, Zhang Yunqi's classmate. It was Zhang Yunqi who came to the rescue, so they became friends after the fight: "Mr. Zhang, don't laugh at me. There's an old saying that even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. My bodyguards are no match for Qiao Zhiwu and his gang of thugs. He probably has hundreds of henchmen."

Zhang Yunqi nodded, picked up his teacup, and took a slow sip: "So, what are your plans for the next step, Mr. Liu?"

Liu Mingde glanced at Zhang Yunqi, then hesitated, "Zhang Sheng, would you be willing to lend me a hand?"

Zhang Yunqi put down his teacup: "How can I help?"

Liu Mingde immediately came over and said, "Zhang Sheng, I know you have a lot of connections in Lijin City. I know there's nothing in Lijin that Zhang Sheng can't handle. The blockage of the Orange Isle Bridge last year is a prime example!"

Zhang Yunqi laughed: "President Liu really overestimates me. But speaking of which, as a pioneer of reform and opening up in southern Hunan, President Liu must have a lot of connections, right? If he didn't, how could he have secured such a large project as the Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Mingde's expression suddenly turned bitter: "It seems you have no idea what Lu Yuanzhou and Xu Kai have done to me these past two months—it's been utterly inhumane!"

Zhang Yunqi looked somewhat surprised: "What's going on now?"

Seeing Zhang Yunqi's expression, Liu Mingde immediately realized he had been a bit too talkative and gave a dry laugh: "Well, it's really nothing, nothing at all."

Zhang Yun nodded: "Okay."

He glanced at his watch, stood up, and said, "It's getting late, Mr. Liu. Shall we stop here?"

Liu Mingde's expression froze for a moment, then he immediately stood up and said, "Mr. Zhang, please sit down again. We can talk again. This is something that only you can help me with."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "President Liu, we're all businessmen. You can't be that naive, can you? You know how much you'll have to pay for getting involved in this mess."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and left.

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