A song from Chengdu revived a closed-down pub.

Pan Wengang quickly begged for mercy: "Dad, please stop hitting me. I'm telling the truth."

At this moment, Su Fan asked, "Gangzi, which bar did you get set up at?"

Pan Wengang said, "Originally, I had arranged to meet that little bar on Yulin Road, the one that's really popular online. But when I got there, it was packed with people, and I couldn't even squeeze in. So the woman took me to a place not far away called Fan Hua Bar."

Su Fan asked in surprise, "It can't be such a coincidence, can it? The little bar you mentioned is owned by Brother Cheng."

"Holy crap!" Pan Wengang exclaimed excitedly, "That little bar you're talking about, is it owned by Brother Cheng?"

Before Su Fan could say anything, Pan Wengang exclaimed in surprise, "Holy crap, so you mean Su Fan, the one who sang 'Chengdu,' is you?"

"Otherwise what?"

Pan Wengang grabbed Su Fan's hand: "Why didn't you say so sooner! Brother Fan, do you need an agent? I'll be your agent!"

Su Fan refused outright: "No way."

Pan Wengang panicked: "Why? Brother Fan, I'm capable of handling things, you can trust me!"

Su Fan replied, "I'm afraid that when you're taking out online loans, you'll put me as your emergency contact."

"Don't worry, I wrote it was my dad."

Pan Lei, standing to the side, looked completely exasperated.

"You really are your father's best son!" Su Fan exclaimed, then asked, "Gangzi, what are your plans to resolve the online loan issue?"

Pan Wengang said, "What else can we do but pay it back every month?"

Are you sure?

"Otherwise what?"

"Come on, let me do the math for you." Su Fan took out his phone, opened the calculator, and said as he calculated, "The annual interest rate for online loans is generally around 24%, and some are even higher. Let's use 24%. If you borrowed 180,000, the interest for a year would be 43,200, and you would have to pay 3,600 in interest every month."

Pan Wengang's expression began to change.

Su Fan continued, "That's not the worst part. The worst part is the way online lending calculates interest. Every month you pay back a portion of the principal and a portion of the interest, but many platforms still calculate the interest based on your initial loan amount even after you've paid back part of the principal."

Pan Wengang was completely dumbfounded. His eyes widened and his lips trembled slightly. He had never thought of any of this.

Su Fan continued, "Do you think you can afford to pay back more than 18,000 yuan every month right now? Won't you end up with a cycle of borrowing to pay off other loans?"

"No wonder I couldn't save any money before, it turns out I've been paying off interest all the way down." After lamenting, Pan Wengang said in a defiant tone, "Then I won't pay it back. Anyway, you all know, and I've already lost face, so what's a little more loss?"

Pan Lei slammed his hand on the table: "You dare! You're not afraid of losing face, but I am! I've been the village secretary for so many years, if people find out my son is drowning in online loans and can't pay them back, where will I put my face?"

Pan Wengang retorted, "With the little money I've earned, plus our family's, how many months can we last? It's better to cut our losses now than to risk a collapse later! Anyway, I borrowed it through my own abilities, why should I pay it back?"

Pan Lei was speechless, choked by his words. He sighed, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, took a deep drag, and then asked, "Xiao Fan, can you help me figure out what to do about this?"

Su Fan thought for a moment and said, "There are two solutions. The first is what Gangzi said: just don't pay it back, and then negotiate with the platform to repay it when you have the money later."

Pan's mother, standing nearby, was wringing her hands anxiously: "Won't that cause interest to snowball? Won't it just keep increasing?"

Su Fan shook his head: "Auntie, no, usually these online lending platforms, when it comes to the negotiation stage, the final result is to repay the principal, or even a discounted amount of the principal. There is no situation of interest compounding."

Pan Wengang's eyes lit up: "Okay! I won't return it! We'll discuss it further when they come to me!"

Su Fan added, "But the cost of doing this is that your credit score will be ruined. In the future, if you want to get a loan to buy a house, a car, or start a business, the bank won't approve it. Also, the platform will expose your contact list; your relatives, friends, classmates, and colleagues will all receive collection calls. At that point, the whole village will know you owe money and can't pay it back. Can you handle that?"

Pan Wengang said nonchalantly, "I can handle it."

Pan Lei retorted angrily, "You can handle it, but I can't. My position is what it is. If things get out of hand, how can I carry out my work in the village? This money must be returned immediately, not even a day can be delayed."

Su Fan nodded, indicating his understanding: "Uncle Pan is right. And no matter what, this money has to be paid back sooner or later. To put it bluntly, the essence of solving this problem is still money."

Pan Lei said, "Xiao Fan, didn't you say there were two solutions? Tell me the second one."

"Uncle Pan, isn't the village going to implement a company + farmer model? Gangzi works on construction sites, so why don't we have him set up a construction team in the village and take on jobs there?"

In response to Su Fan's suggestion, Pan Wengang said, "There are several families in the village doing this. Besides, my cousin has a construction team in the village. Wouldn't I be competing with my own family for business?"

Pan Lei also agreed with his son's point: "Yes, if this worked, I would have sent him back long ago."

Su Fan smiled and said, "The construction team I'm talking about isn't the kind that does ordinary construction; I mean, the kind that specializes in traditional construction."

Pan Wengang asked, "What's the difference? It's just building a house and doing renovations, why differentiate between ordinary and traditional?"

Pan Lei glared at him: "Shut up! Let him finish speaking!"

Su Fan explained, "Nowadays, city dwellers live in concrete jungles every day, working in office buildings and returning home in high-rises. They're surrounded by paved roads and overhead power lines. After a while, everyone gets tired of it. Look at why so many scenic spots are building replicas of ancient architecture! Why are so many people willing to spend money on guesthouses and ancient towns? Isn't it because they want to experience different environments? People always yearn for things they haven't experienced before. If scenic spots build replicas of ancient architecture, and tourists can spend a day there, and then stay in a quaint, old-fashioned courtyard at night, do you think they'd be willing?"

Pan Lei seemed to be deep in thought.

Su Fan continued, "We're going to develop tourism in Mawei Post Station, which will create a huge demand for antique-style buildings, such as guesthouses, teahouses, restaurants, and theaters. These are not projects that ordinary construction teams can handle."

Pan Wengang scratched his head, looking troubled: "But I don't know anything about traditional architecture. I don't even know what mortise and tenon joints look like."

Su Fan said, "You don't understand, but others do. In our village, there are many old craftsmen, old carpenters, old stonemasons, and old bricklayers. They have spent their whole lives dealing with traditional architecture. If you bring them together, you can take care of getting jobs, managing people, and running errands, while they are responsible for doing the work and passing on their skills. First, it gives them a way to make a living, and second, it prevents these old skills from being lost."

Pan Lei's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh: "This is great! This is the right approach!"