Pay Me Back!

"Little Baozi!"

Like a merry little swallow, Meng Hongchen rushed over in three strides that should have taken five and plunged headfirst into Bao Liang's arms. She threw her arms around his neck and rubbed her little face vigorously against his cheek, making him stagger.

"Sister Meng! Let, let go!" Bao Liang's eyes rolled back as she squeezed him. "I can't breathe!"

Only then did Meng Hongchen reluctantly let go. She tilted her head and looked at him, her eyes sparkling. "Little Baozi, it's only been a few days, and you've grown so tall!"

Bao Liang rubbed his nose, which had been rubbed red, and looked her up and down.

The little girl from three years ago, with messy hair, dust on her clothes, and eyes red from crying, looked like a different person now. She had shot up, and her long silver-white hair was tied in a high ponytail that hung over her right side. Her once-round cheeks had lost their childish fullness, and her features had grown more delicate. She already showed hints of the dazzling beauty she would become.

Only her ice-blue eyes remained as strikingly bright as they had been back then.

"You too, Sister Meng..." Bao Liang muttered. "And your grip's still just as strong."

Three years ago, she had picked him up and spun him around. Now, she had nearly strangled him.

Three years had passed, and the girl hadn't gotten any weaker.

"My brother and I heard you were coming, so we stood at the gate waiting for you early this morning!" Meng Hongchen gestured excitedly. "Brother even changed into a new outfit specially for you!"

Bao Liang: "..."

Bao Liang glanced at the young man over there, who was adjusting his collar and trying hard to look nonchalant. His shoulder-length white-and-blue hair was impeccably groomed, his uniform with its silver edging and gold patterns was spotless, and the metal Soul Tool ornament at his waist glimmered in the sunlight.

He silently made a note of what she had said.

Before he could reply, Xiao Hongchen came strolling over at an unhurried pace.

Xiao Hongchen folded his arms and raised his chin slightly, putting on an air that said, It's a blessing you earned over eight lifetimes that this young master came to welcome you. He was just about to say something to show off his status and bearing when-

Bao Liang spoke.

"Pay me back!"

Xiao Hongchen's carefully maintained cool expression cracked on the spot.

"I, I'll pay you back my ass! I'm not paying!" Xiao Hongchen pointed at Bao Liang's nose, his voice shooting up eight octaves. "You can have my life, but you won't get my money!"

Bao Liang remained perfectly calm. "I don't care about any of that. Pay me back! Two thousand!"

"You-!"

"Twenty meat buns three years ago, two Copper Soul Coins each. That's forty in principal." Bao Liang counted on his fingers for him. "Three years of compound interest. It doubles in the first year, doubles twice in the second, and doubles four times in the third. Forty times four, one hundred and sixty..."

"Is that how you do the math?!"

"What do you care how I do the math?! Add my damages for the mental anguish of holding a grudge for three years, and it's two thousand, not a coin more or less!" Bao Liang looked up at Xiao Hongchen. "Sister Meng's share was my treat. Yours, principal and interest, won't be a coin less."

"You! You!" Xiao Hongchen's face turned green with anger. "That's loan sharking! It's against the law! You're-"

"Pay me back!"

"I won't!"

Just then, the inner doors of the Hongchen residence swung open, and a hale and hearty old man walked out at a leisurely pace.

He had wanted to see just who this Little Baozi was, the one his grandchildren had been talking about for so long, the one Xiao had described as "only a little worse than this young master."

But before he had even stepped over the threshold, he heard his grandson's earth-shattering declaration-

"You can have my life, but you won't get my money!"

Jing Hongchen stood dumbfounded in the doorway.

He was the illustrious master of Mingde Hall, the Duke of Hongchen, one of the Sun Moon Empire's few Titled Douluo, and a Level 9 Soul Engineer. Yet his own grandson was shouting, "You can have my life, but you won't get my money," at a six-year-old right outside their front gate?

Was this some kind of joke?

"Xiao, what's going on with you?" Jing Hongchen frowned as he walked over. "How could you owe someone money? Has our family gone bankrupt?"

"Grandpa, it's not what you think!" Xiao Hongchen stamped his feet in frustration. "The main thing is, this kid's being ridiculous! Three years ago, he treated Meng and me to twenty buns, but now he won't admit it! He's been compounding the interest on me, and now he wants two thousand!"

"I treated Sister Meng, not you," Bao Liang added quietly from the side.

"Then why are you putting the part Meng ate on my bill?!"

"So what? Pay me back!"

"I won't!"

The racket made Jing Hongchen's head ache. He rubbed his temples. "All right, all right, Xiao. It's only two thousand Copper Soul Coins, isn't it? It's been three years, so it's about time you paid him back..."

"Gold!"

Jing Hongchen: "..."

Jing Hongchen was shocked. Jing Hongchen was dumbfounded. Jing Hongchen suspected there was something wrong with his ears.

He slowly turned to his grandson, his voice a little unsteady. "Wait... Xiao, say that again? How much?"

Xiao Hongchen's face flushed red. He stiffened his neck and roared, "Big meat buns that cost two Copper Soul Coins apiece! Compounded until they came to two thousand Gold Soul Coins! Even the blackest loan sharks over on the neighboring Douluo Continent aren't that blackhearted!"

Jing Hongchen: "..."

Jing Hongchen fell silent for a long time. At last, he slowly turned to look at the tiny three-heads-tall kid standing there with his hands on his hips and a look of utter confidence.

"Child... isn't that a little ridiculous?"

Bao Liang blinked his big, innocent eyes, utterly unashamed. "Back then, he was a five-year-old bullying a bunch of us three-year-olds. What's wrong with asking for a little extra in damages for mental anguish?"

Jing Hongchen looked at his own "five-year-old," then at the "three-year-old" before him, then at his granddaughter, who was happily hugging the boy and refusing to let go. After a long while, he let out a long sigh.

"All right, Grandpa will handle this." Jing Hongchen rubbed the spot between his brows. "Come inside first. What kind of sight is this, standing at the gate?"

"But the money..."

"Inside first!"

"...Oh."

Truth be told, the so-called two thousand Gold Soul Coins were purely Bao Liang's way of messing with Xiao Hongchen.

If some fool really dared to pay two thousand for a few buns that had cost a handful of Copper Soul Coins, compounded with interest, Bao Liang would weld the title of "Fortune-Delivering Boy" onto that person's head.

Even so, as Bao Liang obediently followed them inside and passed Xiao Hongchen, he didn't forget to add quietly in his ear, "Don't forget, two thousand."

Xiao Hongchen: "..."

Xiao Hongchen suddenly felt that inviting such a jinx into his home was probably the stupidest decision he had ever made in his life.

What a sin!