The creditor

He got up and out of bed.

Shen Heng scrolled through his phone as he walked out of the hospital.

He had no choice. The moment his mind went idle, the surrounding noise would start up in his head like an electric drill, making the veins on his forehead throb.

Along the way, an elderly man watched Shen Heng walking with his eyes on his phone and shook his head, disappointed that iron would not turn to steel.

"Honestly! Young people these days!"

Shen Heng turned a deaf ear to him and, following his phone's navigation, successfully boarded the number 72 bus.

During the ride, he kept scrolling through his phone to avoid being harassed by the sounds. Even so, whenever his attention slipped, a sound would occasionally worm its way into his head.

There was nothing Shen Heng could do about it except focus even harder on his phone.

Almost another half hour passed before he finally made it back to the residential complex where he lived.

Emerald Garden Residential Complex.

It was an old, shabby complex of small apartments built after 1990, with no property management and buildings no taller than six stories.

Perhaps its only redeeming feature was that, having been built early, it was not far from the city center, making it fairly convenient to get anywhere.

Shen Heng lived in apartment 201 of Building 3 in Emerald Garden Residential Complex.

Click!

The front door opened, and Shen Heng walked in.

It was a three-bedroom apartment with a living room, measuring sixty or seventy square meters. All sorts of things lay scattered around the living room, making the already small space even smaller.

Shen Heng's ears twitched slightly. Without opening the three closed bedroom doors, he knew no one was home, just as he had expected.

His mother had gone to work. To help pay off the original owner's debts, she worked two jobs a day, leaving at four or five in the morning and not returning until after ten at night.

His older sister had gone to school. She was in her final year of high school. Since it was Saturday, she would probably be back around five or six; normally, she would not get home until after ten either.

Glancing at the three tightly shut bedroom doors, Shen Heng headed toward one of them-his room.

Click!

The bedroom door opened.

A stench immediately hit him.

Balls of paper and takeout containers littered the floor. Some of the containers had even bred maggots.

At the sight before him, Shen Heng frowned slightly and raised a hand to loosely cover his nose.

"Good thing I didn't awaken an enhanced sense of smell. Otherwise, I'd really be in for some suffering!"

The original owner had forbidden his mother from entering his room because every time she went in to clean, she would tidy everything up and put it all in one place, seriously disrupting his habits.

So whenever his mother went in to clean, the original owner would give her a vicious tongue-lashing. Over time, she had rarely come in to clean anymore.

Shen Heng turned around, picked up the cleaning supplies, and began cleaning the entire apartment.

Well, he did not go into the two bedrooms with their doors shut.

More than two hours later, after draping the bedsheet outside the window, Shen Heng finally let out a long breath.

He glanced at the sun, which was already preparing to sink below the horizon, thought about dinner, and sighed.

"I really don't get a moment's rest!"

He went out and headed toward the produce market he remembered, scrolling through his phone as he walked.

Half an hour later, Shen Heng returned downstairs carrying a large bag of groceries.

His steps paused briefly at the foot of the building before he continued upstairs.

Soon, as he rounded the turn in the stairs, two figures appeared before him.

One wore a blue-and-white school uniform and had shoulder-length hair and an aloof face. Shen Heng recognized her.

She was the original owner's older sister, Shen Shuning!

The other was a young man in his twenties whom Shen Heng also recognized.

Huang Shaohua, the son of an illegal casino's owner. A considerable portion of the money the original owner owed had been lost at their casino.

Shen Heng stood at the turn in the stairs, looking at the two of them.

As he appeared, both turned their eyes toward him.

"He's back now. Take his business up with him!" Shen Shuning gave Shen Heng a cold glance, then turned to go inside.

"Hey! Pretty girl, what's the rush? Stay and chat some more. We were getting along so well!" Huang Shaohua was all smiles as he tried to keep Shen Shuning there. "Besides, aren't you and Shen Heng family? His business is your business!"

Shen Shuning stopped abruptly in the doorway. She turned back and fixed Huang Shaohua with a gaze cold enough to freeze someone to death.

"First, I'm not your pretty girl, so don't call me that!"

"Second, I only asked in passing how much he owes you. There was no 'getting along so well.'"

"Finally, he's him, and I'm me. His mess has nothing to do with me!"

"Hey, if I can't call you pretty girl, at least tell me your name!"

Huang Shaohua tried to raise a hand to stop Shen Shuning, but she had no intention of paying him any attention and walked inside without looking back.

With a bang, the door slammed shut, and Shen Shuning disappeared from the stairwell.

Throughout the whole exchange, Shen Shuning had only glanced at Shen Heng when he came upstairs. After that, she had not looked him in the eye again.

Shen Heng was not surprised by this outcome.

After all, anyone saddled with a younger brother who had gambled his family into a mountain of debt would hardly greet him with a smile.

Less than two seconds after Shen Shuning went inside, Shen Heng reached the door as well. He turned toward Huang Shaohua and asked, "What are you here for?"

Huang Shaohua looked at the closed door and clicked his tongue regretfully before turning to Shen Heng.

"Well, Young Master Shen hasn't graced us with his presence lately, so I came to see how you were doing! And to remind you that the money you borrowed from us will be due soon. Make sure you remember to pay it back!"

Though he addressed him as Young Master Shen, his words were full of mockery.

Shen Heng paid that no mind, however. He frowned slightly. "The money I owe you?"

Earlier, he had only given the original owner's memories a cursory review. He knew there were debts, but he had not looked closely at whom he owed or how much.

Huang Shaohua had been about to ask about Shen Shuning, but at Shen Heng's questioning tone, his expression instantly changed.

"Hey, you're not trying to weasel out of paying, are you?"

"No. Tell me how much I owe you first!" Shen Heng said.

With a rather ugly expression, Huang Shaohua took out his phone and began searching through it.

He felt that Shen Heng was trying to dodge the debt. Although people in their line of work were not afraid of that sort of thing, it would still make things troublesome.

Soon, he held out his phone.

"See for yourself!"

Shen Heng took the phone. The screen displayed a photograph of a contract.

The contract showed that on October 27 of the previous year, Shen Heng had purchased a study-abroad service from an agency called Navigating the Future Study Abroad.

The service included the following fees: consultation, 8,000 yuan; language training, 30,000 yuan; research and competitions, 20,000 yuan; other services, 5,000 yuan. The total came to 63,000 yuan.

He had currently paid 3,000 yuan, leaving 60,000 yuan outstanding, with the full remaining balance to be settled on May 5.

In the event of default, a penalty of 1% was payable each day.

At the bottom were the agency's official seal, along with Shen Heng's signature and fingerprint.