Chapter 39: Borrowed Trouble

Beside the cafeteria stood a row of bungalows serving as staff dormitories.

On the small patch of ground in front of the bungalows, a dozen or two students crouched together, fiddling with something on the ground.

Xu Chen spotted Li Rui among them.

He also saw Zhao Feng, who’d shared soy milk and fried dough sticks with Xie Bingran last time.

Silently, Xu Chen edged closer and peered in.

Li Rui and Zhao Feng were huddled around a pile of crumpled banknotes spread on the ground.

There were fives, tens, twenties, fifties, hundreds—even some coins.

Thrown together in a heap, it was impossible to tell how much money was there.

Xu Chen frowned in confusion. Were they collecting money for something?

Startled, Li Rui spun around and jumped to his feet.

“Chen—bro…”

He’d even dropped the cigarette he’d been holding between his lips.

The other juniors noticed Xu Chen too and sprang up, calling out, “Big Brother Chen!”

“What are you all doing crouched out here?” Xu Chen asked.

Li Rui bent down to pick up the cigarette butt, tapped it off, and slipped it back between his teeth, then hesitated before speaking.

“Nothing… we’re just killing time after lunch.”

Li Rui squinted. The bruise on his cheekbone looked worse than it had this morning.

Xu Chen leaned in closer.

“What’s with all this money on the ground?”

Li Rui glanced around nervously. “Money? What money?”

His juniors closed ranks behind him, shielding the scattered bills.

Xu Chen scowled.

He was about to turn away, but thought better of it and spoke up.

“Does this have anything to do with Xie Bingran?”

Li Rui paused, smoked deeply, and said nothing.

“What’s going on?” Xu Chen asked coldly.

Li Rui scratched his head, clearly unwilling to answer.

Beside him, the burly Zhao Feng forced a smile. “Big Brother Chen, don’t worry about this. We’ve got it handled.”

Xu Chen’s heart sank. So there really was trouble.

He looked at Li Rui and Zhao Feng. His tone was icy.

“Not everything can be fixed by you guys alone.

If it’s serious and you can’t handle it—yet you keep it from me—you’re just wasting time.”

Li Rui took another drag, embers glowing at the tip of his cigarette.

Zhao Feng spoke again. “Chen, Bingran wouldn’t want you involved in this.”

Xu Chen said nothing, staring at Li Rui.

Li Rui fell silent but couldn’t help recalling what happened at the Old Department Store.

Back then, Xu Chen had saved him and the others from serious harm…

He crushed out his cigarette with one boot and said,

“Bingran owes money, and the people chasing her are tough… We’re trying to work something out.

Bingran told us not to interfere,

but we can’t just stand by if she’s in danger.”

Zhao Feng sighed and looked away.

“How much does she owe?” Xu Chen asked.

“Over thirty thousand yuan,” Li Rui replied.

Thirty thousand—an enormous sum for a high schooler, especially in 2006.

Even many working adults would struggle with that debt.

Xu Chen glanced at the dozen or so students before him—all hometown kids like Xie Bingran—none could possibly scrape together that much.

Maybe there was a thousand yuan in loose change here at best.

“Do you know why she owes so much?” Xu Chen pressed.

Li Rui lit another cigarette and explained,

“We only found out in the last couple of days.

Bingran’s grandmother fell ill and she had no choice but to borrow money.

Now the lenders are demanding repayment.”

Xu Chen sighed inwardly.

He knew something of Xie Bingran’s family situation.

Her father had been jailed for years, her mother remarried long ago. She’d lived with her aging grandmother while distant relatives kept their distance.

With her grandmother’s illness, she truly had no other option but to borrow money.

Though she had plenty of juniors backing her, they were just high schoolers from poor towns.

And knowing Bingran’s stubborn pride, she’d never ask them for help directly.

Li Rui inhaled deeply and added,

“That incident at the department store happened because Bingran went looking for her dad to ask him for money… ”

Xu Chen fell silent.

He’d wondered why Bingran risked herself to find her biological father—a man who’d clearly been a deadbeat.

He’d ignored his family for years, driven Bingran’s mother away, then vanished after prison.

She had every reason to shun him. Yet she’d gone after him, risking her life.

All for her grandmother’s medical bills.

Xu Chen felt helpless.

I could’ve been her way out… Why won’t that stubborn old teammate ask me for help?

“Where did she borrow the money from?” Xu Chen asked.

Li Rui hesitated. “An outsider a friend introduced. Someone Bingran knew.”

“A loan shark,” Zhao Feng muttered.

Xu Chen was quiet.

Who lends thirty thousand to a high school girl through normal channels?

Li Rui spilled the rest. “They came to collect yesterday. I bumped into them and we got into a fight…”

So that was how Li Rui had gotten that bruise.

“Is Bingran okay?” Xu Chen asked.

“She’s fine,” Li Rui said.

“Where is she now?”

“Bingran’s out looking for a way to fix this… but we don’t know where she’s gone.

You know her personality, Chen.

She never lets anyone else shoulder her burdens.”

Xu Chen frowned.

That stubborn girl always swallowed her pain alone…

“Where are the lenders? Can you reach them?”

Li Rui hesitated, then said,

“I know where they are and even recognize one of them.”

Xu Chen fell silent, weighing his options.

Thirty thousand yuan wasn’t a lot to him.

Helping Xie Bingran clear this debt was an easy decision.

Beyond their friendship, her future as a promising athlete was at stake.

He couldn’t stand by and do nothing.