Chapter 151: The Promise

Seeing Chang Yu grow increasingly agitated, almost on the verge of tears like a cuckoo crying blood, a group of thugs stood dumbfounded.

“Hold on!” Big Gold Chain waved his hand to stop the eager Chang Yu, looking puzzled as he said, “When did I ever say we were loan sharks?”

“Aren’t you?” Chang Yu winced in pain.

It was like a chivalrous hero roaming the world who suddenly encounters an injustice and is about to draw his sword to help, only to be told by the victim that no help is needed.

That was a very awkward moment...

“Look at this yourself.” Big Gold Chain shoved the contract into Chang Yu’s hand. “Our small loans are all legal and compliant. We’re not loan sharks, and the interest rates aren’t that high. Everything is recognized by law.”

“With the government cracking down so hard on organized crime and this area being so strictly regulated, even if we wanted to, we don’t dare lend at usurious rates. If anything goes wrong, we’d definitely be reported!”

Chang Yu opened the contract, still half in doubt, and froze after a quick glance.

The contract clearly stated that the orphanage director borrowed 400,000 yuan from them ten years ago and now owed 500,000 yuan in principal and interest.

In other words, the director only needed to pay 100,000 yuan in interest over ten years.

Ten thousand yuan interest over ten years equaled a 25% interest rate for the decade, or 2.5% per year.

This interest rate was hardly usury; it was comparable to a normal bank loan.

Chang Yu carefully examined the contract several times and found it was an ordinary loan agreement without any traps or exploitative clauses.

There were none of those tiny illegible notes filling blank spaces, no deceptive wording to trick innocent people, as often seen in movies.

“Have I really wronged you all?” Chang Yu put down the contract, momentarily bewildered.

So after all this fuss, he was the one bullying the powerless?

These people hadn’t physically attacked the director or anyone else; at most, their words had been harsh, but there was no real way to accuse them.

“We really are not loan sharks,” Big Gold Chain rubbed his hands, clearly uncomfortable.

Even the director finally spoke up, “Chang Yu, you must have misunderstood. I never took out a loan shark’s money. They are a legitimate lending company.”

“So it was all a misunderstanding.” Chang Yu scratched his head awkwardly and said sheepishly, “By the way, Director, why did you borrow so much money?”

At this, the director gave a bitter smile. “Of course, it was to make sure all the children in our orphanage had enough to eat. Back then, we were so poor we couldn’t even afford a proper meal.”

“To keep the orphanage running and prevent the children from starving, I had no choice but to use our ancestral home as collateral to borrow money from a lending company.”

“But this orphanage is your ancestral home, the foundation of your life! How could you mortgage it?” Chang Yu’s expression grew anxious and sorrowful.

“It’s true that poverty can bring down even a hero.” The director grasped Chang Yu’s hand tremblingly, voice laden with guilt and self-reproach.

“At that time, we couldn’t even afford meals. What else could I do? Watching you children cry from hunger, I had no other choice.”

---

“It’s all my fault that you went hungry,” the director continued. “I’m a man of little ability and no success. I couldn’t give you a good life, and I didn’t even have money to support your education.”

“Our town is small, and our orphanage has little reputation. So long ago, the outside benefactors stopped sponsoring us.”

“As income shrank and expenses rose, I was forced to come up with this desperate solution.”

Hearing this, Chang Yu recalled that during his childhood, the orphanage faced financial hardship once, and all the children could only have a tiny bowl of rice water daily with the director.

Back then, the children frequently cried out for proper meals—delicious rice, fluffy steamed buns, tasty noodles.

The director would sigh heavily upon hearing their hunger and had many sleepless nights, losing clumps of hair.

This hardship lasted three days until one morning when the director returned with a cart full of rice and flour.

That noon, Chang Yu and the others finally ate the white noodles they had longed for.

What thrilled them most was that each child’s bowl had a fried egg on top.

Everyone ate until their bellies were full and heavy, barely able to move.

While all rejoiced over the taste of the noodles, no one noticed that the director ate his bowl with red, tear-filled eyes.

At that time, young Chang Yu was too naive to question why the orphanage had suddenly become affluent after days of poverty.

All he knew was that after eating well, he ran and played in the yard without care.

The adult world was too distant for him.

Now, looking back, the loan application coincided exactly with that difficult period.

In other words, the food they ate then was bought with borrowed money, and that money was secured by mortgaging the orphanage.

That was the director’s ancestral estate, the foundation of his life!

“Grandpa, you sacrificed so much to raise us.” Chang Yu’s eyes reddened, nearly shedding tears.

In this world, besides your parents, no one loves you unconditionally.

If someone does, cherish them, because you might never meet such kindness again in your next life.

“Time passed so fast, and before we knew it, the repayment date arrived,” the director sighed helplessly.

“Well, since I can’t repay it now, I might as well give them the estate.”

“I’m half-buried in the earth anyway; I can’t take anything with me when I die. Keeping the estate is useless. When I mortgaged it, I had already prepared myself. It’s just come sooner than expected.”

“It’s just that I feel sorry for Little Balloon and Little Bean...” The director gently stroked the heads of the two children hiding behind him, eyes moist.

---

“They are the youngest among your group and the only two children left in the orphanage.”

“Without a home, they must fend for themselves in society, but they are still minors!”

“If only they could wait two more years, just hold on two more years, they’d be adults then, and I could rest easy.”

“But fate likes to play tricks. It seems Little Balloon and Little Bean won’t make it to that time.”

“I’m so sorry, Little Balloon and Little Bean. Grandpa has failed you. I can’t give you a good life.” The director patted their heads tenderly, tears welling in his eyes, filled with remorse and shame.

“Grandpa, you can’t mortgage the estate!” Chang Yu was sweating with anxiety. “This estate is where you were going to live out your old age. Without it, where will you live? You can’t just sleep on the streets!”

“I’m old now and don’t have many years left. If I must sleep on the streets, so be it. As long as every one of you children lives well, I’m content. I’ve been poor all my life; even begging on the streets, I could survive.”

The director clearly did not care about his own fate.

Compared to himself, he worried more about what would become of Little Balloon and Little Bean without the orphanage. Yet he never considered that he himself might soon live as a homeless wanderer.

Chang Yu bowed his head deeply.

At that moment, he finally felt helplessness and the bitter futility of life.

He wanted to help the director clear the debt, resolve the orphanage’s crisis, and ensure Little Balloon and Little Bean grew up happy and healthy, but... he was powerless.

No matter how much he searched his pockets, he could only scrape together a little over ten thousand yuan, which was a mere fraction of the 500,000 yuan debt — utterly insufficient.

Maybe he could borrow some from Fat Wang?

In times of trouble, the first person Chang Yu thought of was his old colleague and friend.

After all, that guy never seemed short of money!

Fat Wang wasn’t heartless; Chang Yu had helped him before, so surely he would lend him the money.

With this thought, Chang Yu turned to Big Gold Chain and said, “The contract says there are still seven days before repayment is due. Come back after seven days.”

“What are you trying to do?” Big Gold Chain asked instinctively.

“I’ll raise the money within those seven days,” Chang Yu said seriously and solemnly. “I will repay all the orphanage’s debts.”

“All these years, the orphanage has raised me without asking for anything in return. Without it, there would be no Chang Yu today! Now, it’s finally my turn to help the orphanage.”

“Director, I promise, I will raise this money. You can rest assured your estate won’t be taken, and Little Balloon and Little Bean won’t be left homeless.”

“I won’t allow this place, which carries everyone’s dreams since childhood, to fall into others’ hands. Nor will I allow you to sleep on the streets! Now that I’m back, you won’t have to fight this battle alone anymore!”

(The End of This Chapter)

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