"Brother Qiang, my wife is about to give birth. I need to go back first. You guys have fun."
"Qiangzi, I suddenly remembered that there's still pork ribs stewing at home..."
Wang Qiang watched as his 'friends' made various absurd excuses to leave, and in his daze, he finally remembered that these guys hadn't paid for the girls they ordered.
Just as he was about to chase them out the door, he was blocked by the manager who had rushed over. The manager said with a fake smile, "Brother Wang, where are you in such a hurry to go?"
"No... nowhere."
Wang Qiang became timid, but still mustered his courage and sat back down. "Bring another round of drinks, I'm not done having fun yet."
"Alright."
The manager followed him in and handed him a bill. "Brother Wang, please settle the bill first. The private room, drinks, and girls... it's a total of twenty-two thousand eight hundred."
"More than twenty thousand?!"
Wang Qiang shot up instantly. "And why are you putting their consumption on my tab? I'll only pay for my own."
"You booked this private room, so of course, I'm coming to you."
The manager's tone also became increasingly impolite.
He was already certain that if he didn't use some tactics, Wang Qiang wouldn't be able to pay.
"This is truly something new. Someone actually dares to default on a bill at our Bilang Pavilion."
The manager said, exchanging a smile with two burly men who had walked in. That smile, to Wang Qiang, looked terrifying. He stiffened his neck and said, "Who said I'm defaulting? I just don't want to be the scapegoat."
He was indeed a bit wronged.
So, the manager gave him time to raise money, waiting as Wang Qiang called his 'friends' one by one.
Undoubtedly, no one answered the phone.
"I don't care about the issues between you and your friends, but you must settle this bill today. Otherwise, don't even think about leaving here in one piece!"
The manager threatened.
Wang Qiang shivered. He knew what these people were capable of.
But as he was now, even after deducting the others' expenses, he couldn't come up with more than ten thousand yuan to pay the bill.
So, he plucked up his courage and called his elderly mother: "Mom, I've run into some trouble here and need twenty-three thousand yuan..."
Before he could finish, his elderly mother shouted, "Where would the family have money? We still owe your second uncle one hundred and fifty thousand, and your eldest uncle ninety thousand..."
All in all, even with Xu Zimo's savings, the family still owed over four hundred thousand yuan to get Wang Qiang married.
Actually, it wasn't Tang Xinyi's side that made demands; rather, Wang Qiang's family, to save face, pooled money to buy him an apartment in Star City.
Betrothal gift?
Tang Xinyi knew Wang Qiang's family situation, after all, they were from a rural county town, so she directly waived it. After all, she valued Wang Qiang himself: his honesty, kindness, and ambition.
Beep beep beep... The call was disconnected. Seeing that he hadn't gotten the money, the manager's already limited patience was almost gone, and he decided to apply some pressure.
"You, what do you want to do? I'm telling you, this is a society governed by law..."
Although he said this, Wang Qiang kept backing away.
Just then, his phone rang. He picked it up and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
[Tang Xinyi Darling]
It was his fiancée, Tang Xinyi.
He had been smitten with this vibrant and beautiful girl since his freshman year, and he pursued her for four years, even without holding hands, he had no complaints.
Now that they were finally so close to the finish line... Wang Qiang, of course, didn't dare to answer.
Just as he was about to put his phone back in his pocket, the manager snatched it from his hand.
"My phone... give me back my phone!"
He tried to grab it back from the manager's hand, but he was directly pressed to the ground by two burly men. No matter how much he howled, he couldn't move.
Under Wang Qiang's terrified gaze, the manager answered the phone and put it on speaker: "Hello."
"Who are you?"
Tang Xinyi on the other end was startled.
She had called because of Xu Zimo's reminder. With the wedding approaching, she was worried something might happen to him. Who knew the call would be answered by a stranger's voice.
"This is Bilang Pavilion. Wang Qiang spent twenty-three thousand here. Please transfer the money."
Hearing this, Wang Qiang immediately deflated completely, letting the two burly men hold him down, not even whimpering.
"Twenty-three thousand?"
Tang Xinyi didn't understand. She knew the Wang family's situation, and she had even contributed a lot of money to the preparations. And now Wang Qiang had turned around and spent twenty-three thousand?
After the manager clarified the consumption items, the other end of the phone fell into a long silence.
The sunny, upright image Wang Qiang had always cultivated in front of Tang Xinyi suddenly collapsed.
"Let him pay for his own actions!"
The call was disconnected again.
Before long, Wang Qiang's screams echoed from the private room.
Finally, under the manager's coercion, Wang Qiang called Wang Pingping.
She was discussing with Huang Yuqing how to make Xu Zimo leave with nothing when she received a call from her younger brother.
"Sister, come save me!"
After learning what happened, Wang Pingping initially wanted to hang up. "Sister, if you don't bring the money, they're going to kill me, ah ah ah..."
Listening to Wang Qiang's screams, she still couldn't bear it.
"Pingping, what's wrong?" Huang Yuqing was curious why her expression changed so quickly.
"Nothing."
Family shame should not be aired. Wang Pingping didn't tell the truth, but she still had to save her brother. After much hesitation, she said to Huang Yuqing, "Yuqing, can you lend me some money first?"
Although she was divorced, she hadn't received any money.
Who told her to give all her savings to Wang Qiang?
A hint of hesitation flashed across Huang Yuqing's face, but she still asked, "How much?"
"Twenty-three thousand."
"That much?"
To maintain her Socialite persona, Huang Yuqing appeared glamorous, but in reality, she had no savings at all.
"Yuqing, it's really urgent. I'll give it back to you immediately after I get my share from Xu Zimo."
Huang Yuqing didn't think Wang Pingping wouldn't pay her back, but she simply couldn't produce the money right now. So she said, "Pingping, you know me. I just bought the 'immortal water' a few days ago..."
"However, even though I don't have money, you can borrow from Ma Baba first."
Although she would have to pay some interest, considering her brother was suffering, Wang Pingping gritted her teeth... and borrowed it!
Xu Zimo, of course, didn't know any of this.
After paying the bill, he chose to take a taxi home.
Looking at the almost empty house, he felt no despondency. Once the Binjiang Bay apartment was fully furnished, he planned to move in.
He would sell this apartment.
Soon, it was twelve o'clock, and the magnate/tycoon system's task refreshed.
[Task loading...]
[I'm an accountant. Those women online were too exciting. I couldn't resist and deposited over thirteen million from the company account onto various platforms. The matter was quickly exposed, and I was sentenced to ten years.]
[It was worth it. How could a short, ugly, poor guy like me ever sleep with those women, and it wasn't even my money I spent.]
[But now I regret it. Life in prison is truly unbearable—boring, monotonous, and I have to endure my cellmates' tempers...]
[But gradually, I've gotten used to it. It's just that life is too dull. If only someone could give me a novel to pass the time, that would be great. I still have some diamonds on my Mouyin (a short video/live-streaming platform) alt account. I'm willing to exchange one million diamonds for a novel!]
"One million diamonds for a novel?"
Xu Zimo found it uninteresting.
Mouyin (a short video/live-streaming platform) diamonds were useless to him. Although one million diamonds was equivalent to one hundred thousand yuan, which was quite a lot.
But were this accountant's diamonds safe?
So he inquired with the system, and the system replied: [All rewards have been processed by this system and are safe and reliable!]