Shameless

The two people before him were none other than his predecessor's second uncle, Shen Hong, and his wife, Second Aunt Li Ling.

After merging with the predecessor's memories, Shen Mu felt no affection for these two; in fact, a faint sense of disgust lingered in his heart.

His predecessor's father, Shen Ning, had been a constable at the yamen who died in the line of duty.

The yamen offered two forms of compensation: either a pension of fifty taels of silver or a recommendation for a family member to take up the position of constable.

The predecessor's mother, Lin Wan, had originally intended to take the fifty taels; after all, Shen Mu was only three years old at the time, and they could hardly send him to the yamen to serve as a constable.

Unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, Shen Hong and the predecessor's grandfather, Shen Yuan, came knocking, expressing their willingness to pay sixty taels of silver to buy the opportunity to become a constable.

The requirement to be recruited as a constable was to reach the Ninth Grade of the Yi Jing realm, but at the time, Shen Hong was only at the Fifth Level of Boiling Blood and did not meet the criteria.

However, because of Shen Ning's death in the line of duty, the yamen felt guilty toward the widow and orphan, and thus offered those two choices.

Faced with the choice between fifty taels of pension or sixty taels of silver, Lin Wan naturally chose the latter.

Who would have thought that after Shen Hong successfully became a constable, he would never mention the sixty taels again.

Lin Wan went to ask for the money several times, but each time, Shen Hong made excuses, claiming he had spent the money on bribes and social connections, that he had no cash on hand, and that he would pay it back once he had earned enough salary as a constable.

This wait lasted ten years, until Lin Wan passed away from illness, and that sixty taels of silver never saw the light of day.

In Shen Mu's view, if they had possessed that sixty taels, Lin Wan would not have needed to take on heavy laundry work, which led to her overworking herself and dying young.

Shen Mu knew that his disgust for the two people before him was likely an inheritance from the predecessor's memories.

Judging by their appearance today, they certainly didn't look like they were here to pay back any money.

"Xiao Mu, I heard you're planning to sell this house?"

Shen Hong asked with a warm, enthusiastic smile.

"That's right!"

Shen Mu nodded, finally understanding their true intentions; they were eyeing his property.

"Xiao Mu, look, we're all family. Since you're going to sell it to someone else anyway, why not sell it to your second uncle?"

Shen Hong chuckled and said, "I heard you're selling it for sixty taels. How about this? Your second uncle will pay eighty taels to buy your house. What do you think?"

"Fine."

Shen Mu did not lower his guard just because the other party had raised the price, and continued, "However, does Second Uncle have eighty taels of ready cash on hand? If you have the money, we can go to the yamen tomorrow to handle the transfer of ownership."

"Xiao Mu, eighty taels is not a small sum."

Li Ling, standing to the side, immediately chimed in to persuade him, "You're still young. If you get such a large sum of money all at once, what will you do if it attracts the attention of evildoers?"

"Why don't you let your second uncle keep the money for you, and he can give it back to you in full when you get married later? Let's just go handle the deed transfer tomorrow. How does that sound?"

The corner of Shen Mu's mouth twitched.

He had expected the other party to spend ten or twenty taels to trick him into transferring the deed first.

He hadn't expected to still underestimate the shamelessness of these two; they actually wanted to get the deed transferred without paying a single copper.

It was enough to make him laugh out of pure anger.

These two really were determined to bleed the family dry to the very end.

Shen Mu swept a glance at them and sneered, "Second Uncle, Second Aunt, do you take me for a three-year-old child?"

"Xiao Mu, what—what do you mean by that?"

The smile on Li Ling's face stiffened, and she said with dissatisfaction, "We are doing this for your own good. You, of all people, why are you being so stubborn?"

"Heh."

Shen Mu sneered, "If I weren't short on money, why would I be selling this house?"

Seeing this, Shen Hong hurriedly changed his tactics, "Xiao Mu, how about this? Second Uncle will give you twenty taels first, and we'll go transfer the deed tomorrow. As for the remaining sixty taels, I'll pay you over the next five years."

"Your father was my older brother. Now that your parents are gone, I am your only remaining relative, so I naturally have an obligation to take good care of you."

"The reason I'm not giving you the full eighty taels at once is that I'm worried you'll spend it recklessly. Don't worry, I'm just keeping it safe for you. With twenty taels, you should be able to solve your immediate needs. What do you think?"

It seemed these two had already discussed this before coming.

If the first method didn't work, they would just keep raising the stakes until Shen Mu fell into the trap.

Buying a hundred-square-meter property for only twenty taels—if sold slowly, it could fetch up to a hundred taels...

No matter how you looked at it, it was a massive profit!

"Sixty taels again?"

Hearing this number, an inexplicable fire rose in Shen Mu's heart.

If these two shameless people hadn't shown up, he had almost forgotten about the sixty taels they owed.

Since these two were so ungrateful, he would have to reclaim that debt for his predecessor and for his mother, Lin Wan.

That was his father Shen Ning's pension; it could absolutely not be written off just like that.

Of course, he certainly couldn't get that money back right now.

However, as long as he remained alive and grew stronger in the future, he would inevitably seek out Shen Hong to reclaim the pension money he was owed, even if he no longer lacked those sixty taels of silver by then!

"It is getting late, Second Uncle. If you cannot produce the sixty taels in cash, then you should head back early."

Shen Mu took a deep breath to suppress the anger in his heart and smiled with a friendly expression.

According to his knowledge, Shen Hong had still not stepped into the Ninth Grade of the Meridian Tempering Realm.

But ten years ago, Shen Hong was already at the Fifth Level of the Boiling Blood Realm; now, he must have the strength of at least the seventh or eighth level, which was definitely not something he could afford to provoke.

Without sufficient strength, there was no need to use old debts to offend the other party; doing so would only create an enemy for no reason, and Shen Mu was naturally not foolish enough to go that far.

"Xiao Mu, why won't you listen to reason, child?"

Seeing that Shen Mu still would not budge, Li Ling, standing to the side, said with dissatisfaction, "Do you really think your Second Uncle would lie to you? We have been waiting here for several hours after hearing you wanted to sell the house."

"He is your own uncle; would he ever harm you? It is all for your own good."

"Why are you so unable to understand what is good for you?"

Shen Mu did not take the bait, simply smiling as he said, "Second Uncle, Second Aunt, I am tired today, so I will head back to rest first."

After speaking, Shen Mu walked straight inside and pushed the door open. Shen Hong and Li Ling wanted to follow him in to continue their persuasion, but Shen Mu had already closed the courtyard gate, showing no intention of inviting the two of them inside.

Seeing this, Shen Hong and Li Ling could not help but look awkward.

"Shen Hong, let's go. He doesn't even treat you like an uncle at all. From now on, let's just pretend we don't have a relative like this; we won't care whether he lives or dies."

Li Ling was still unwilling to give up, intentionally shouting toward the courtyard before pulling Shen Hong to turn and leave.

Once they had walked a distance away, Li Ling could not help but frown and say, "That brat is quite cunning; he didn't fall for it at all."

"The kid is already eighteen; how could he be fooled by a few words from us?"

Shen Hong glanced at her with dissatisfaction and said with a guilty conscience, "We never paid back a single cent of the sixty taels we owed him back then, and now we want to scheme for his house—how could he possibly trust us?"

Li Ling glared at him and sneered, "What do you know? I call this 'taking a swing at the tree regardless of whether there are dates or not'; it costs us nothing anyway."

Then, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she said excitedly, "By the way, what if this kid were to die accidentally? He isn't married and has no heirs; wouldn't this house be ours then?"

Shen Hong's expression changed, and he hurriedly lowered his voice, saying, "What is going on in your head? Are you asking me to kill him in secret?"

"A young man of only eighteen suddenly dying at home—do you really think Constable Wang and Constable Wu at the yamen are just sitting around doing nothing?"

"If he dies, we, as the sole beneficiaries, would be the first ones suspected."

"I can earn these few dozen taels in a year; why would you think about killing someone for such a small amount of money?"

Li Ling shrank her head and said, "I was just saying it casually. It hasn't been peaceful in the city lately; maybe he'll just get caught in the crossfire of some martial artist?"

Shen Hong said, "Let's end this here. If he truly dies suddenly, then we can treat it as a windfall from the heavens, but if he lives well, there is no need to covet these few dozen taels."

"Hmph."

Li Ling let out a cold snort and said with dissatisfaction, "You make it sound so easy. Ming will be eighteen next year; enrolling him in martial arts training will cost a fortune, and the following years will require dozens of taels more. That adds up to several hundred taels..."

The two discussed in low voices, quickly disappearing at the end of Mist Glow Lane.

Shen Mu naturally did not know that by selling this house, he had nearly brought a lethal disaster upon himself.

The conversation he just had with Shen Hong and his wife truly showed him the disparity in this world.

As a constable, Shen Hong's annual salary, combined with his illicit gains, amounted to at least fifty or sixty taels of silver.

In fact, the only reason he became a constable was because of the pension earned by his father, Shen Ning, who died in the line of duty; he was truly eating the bread of human blood and still remained unsatisfied.

Now, hearing the news that he was selling his house, the two had immediately swarmed like cats smelling fish, truly demonstrating greed to the extreme.

"Second Uncle, I will reclaim the sixty taels you owe me sooner or later!"

Shen Mu's gaze was deep as he muttered to himself.

"Bang, bang, bang~"

Just as Shen Mu finished taking a cold shower, the courtyard gate was knocked on once again.

"Who is it?"

Shen Mu's tone was slightly impatient, mistakenly thinking that Shen Hong and Li Ling had thought of some new rhetoric and returned.

"Customer, I am the clerk from the agency, here to bring a buyer to see your house."

The voice of the shop clerk came from outside the door.