Sweetheart, It's Time To Pay Your Debt - Chapter 10

Outside the car, a group of tall men carrying long clubs searched the alleyway. The leader had a prominent scar across his face, clearly a gang of desperados who valued money over life.

Inside the rear of the vehicle, Bo Liye knelt on the seat, curled up as tightly as she could. Her arched back trembled uncontrollably. She gripped a corner of Qin Mingyan’s trailing trouser leg tightly, as if clutching a life-saving straw.

A cold fountain pen pressed against Bo Liye’s chin. She obediently lifted her head, but the moment her eyes met Qin Mingyan’s, they trembled and dropped away again.

“The place where you attended the event had plenty of security. Why did you have to run toward Qin Sheng?” Qin Mingyan’s icy voice rang out from above. “Bo Liye, I never believe in coincidences.”

Bo Liye swallowed through her sobs and said, “I couldn’t be photographed having any connection to them.”

Qin Mingyan replied, “There are no reporters outside now. You can get lost.”

Terrified, Bo Liye grabbed Qin Mingyan’s hand. “No, please, don’t.”

Looking into Qin Mingyan’s eyes, Bo Liye pleaded, “According to the requirements of the last court judgment, I have to give them two million every month, otherwise they will sue my father or come directly for me. But I’ve already given them twenty million, and they still won’t let me go. They think… they think…”

“They think you have my help?”

Qin Mingyan used the pen to tilt Bo Liye’s face even higher, as if judging the truth of her words.

Sweat involuntarily broke out on Bo Liye’s neck, making her look fragile and teetering. There was a metal clip on the pen’s cap, and Qin Mingyan’s grip was heavy, it would be easy to break the skin.

Bo Liye didn’t dare agree, nor did she dare disagree.

Her clothes were wrinkled and covered in dust, making it clear the journey hadn’t been easy. She looked miserable and disheveled. Yet, the gaze she directed at Qin Mingyan remained soft and full of attachment, even Qin Mingyan’s harsh words failed to drive her away.

Qin Mingyan curled her lips. “You really take me for a philanthropist.”

Bo Liye opened her mouth and whispered, “I really didn’t know who else to turn to.”

“After meeting me, you’ve been hurt so many times, yet you never learn.” A flicker of interest flashed in Qin Mingyan’s deep eyes. “Are you really not afraid I’ll play with you until you’re dead?”

Bo Liye took two shallow breaths and said, “You won’t.”

Qin Mingyan laughed.

She had just signed a contract with Qiao Jinyuan and was in an excellent mood. Her usually cold face held a hint of warmth, but the words she spoke were like those of a demon.

“There are too many eyes and ears on the Xihe. Many things couldn’t be done there. Just as well, I have many accounts to settle with you, Bo Liye. You delivered yourself right to my door.”

Qin Mingyan pulled out a contract from beside her; the paper still smelled of fresh ink.

However, in the next second, the contract was slapped against Bo Liye’s face. “Two million a month. Everything about you will belong to me, including who you sleep with, and including your life.”

Bo Liye’s head hit the back of the front seat. The contract blocked out all light, and combined with Qin Mingyan’s words, it caused her face to turn deathly pale in an instant.

She reached out with trembling hands to take the papers. On the first page, she saw: Party A voluntarily requests…

The cold text described every possible fate for her future, legal human rights seemed to lose all meaning within this agreement.

If she chose the law… what awaited her might only be repeated cycles of violent debt collection and watching her father be subjected to one short term detention after another.

Bo Liye heard herself ask, “If… you want to give me to someone else…”

Qin Mingyan absentmindedly twirled the fountain pen. The cold metal clip reflected an eerie light in the dim cabin.

“That depends on whether you have any trade value.”

Qin Mingyan lifted Bo Liye’s chin once more, studying her seriously before saying, “You’re… acceptable.”

As if struck by a massive fright, Bo Liye instantly threw the contract away. “No, no way… I, I won’t sign.”

The contract fell at Qin Mingyan’s feet. Her smile vanished, and her gaze turned incredibly cold.

She looked down at Bo Liye from a height and spoke flatly: “If you don’t want your father to go back to prison, sign it on your knees.”

Bo Liye remained desperately resistant. She tried to explain, attempting to evoke Qin Mingyan’s sympathy: “The money I used to pay the debt before was given to me by Su Ningshang… it’s money I owe the company. I haven’t… I haven’t been involved with anyone else. I didn’t participate in those events before. I’m not that kind of person. I know I wronged you back then, but you returned to the Qin family and gained everything you have now, while I have already suffered my retribution. Can’t you stop treating me like this?”

Qin Mingyan said expressionlessly, “Don’t mention ‘back then.’ Bo Liye, you might have misunderstood something. The reason I’m seeking revenge, toying with you, or even sleeping with you isn’t because I’m still attached to old feelings. It’s because you were once Qin Zixu’s fiancée.”

Bo Liye’s body froze.

Qin Mingyan continued, “I won’t let anyone from the Qin family off the hook and that includes you.”

Bo Liye stared at Qin Mingyan in disbelief. “But I never got engaged to him.”

Qin Mingyan’s tone grew colder. She had no intention of further explaining her motives for revenge. She simply asked, “Are you signing or not?”

Silence spread through the car.

Qin Mingyan played with the pen, tapping it against the armrest, once, twice… until the thirtieth tap. Then, she raised her voice: “Open the door. Throw her out.”

The bodyguard in the front seat pushed the door open almost instantly.

Outside, the debt collectors hadn’t left, they were still searching back and forth around the alley.

Crying, Bo Liye scrambled to grab the contract at Qin Mingyan’s feet. “I’ll sign! I’ll sign!”

The bodyguard opened the rear door, waiting for Qin Mingyan’s command.

Qin Mingyan merely gave Bo Liye a faint look. Her grip on the pen seemed to loosen, and it fell against Bo Liye’s chest.

Frantically, Bo Liye caught the pen and flipped to the last page. In the space for “Party A,” she signed her name.

This contract, which seemingly put her in the lead by “requesting” help, was finalized.

“Is this… enough?”

Qin Mingyan looked at the bodyguard and said, “Go clear those people out. Find out who is behind them.”

Bo Liye’s heart sank heavily. She closed her eyes, letting a long string of tears fall.

Qin Mingyan’s subordinates moved quickly. Within three hours, the identities of the debt collectors were uncovered: they were Zhao Yang’s men.

When the Bo family collapsed due to a broken capital chain, many partners took the opportunity to kick them while they were down. Even though it was a corporate partnership, they sued the Bo family individually, demanding astronomical compensation.

The Zhao family was one of them, an insignificant creditor in the grand scheme of the Bo family’s debts, but a creditor nonetheless.

After being threatened by Bo Liye on the Xihe, Zhao Yang had been trembling for days. Sure enough, news came from Qin Sheng that he wanted to cut ties with the Zhao family. Furious, Zhao Yang went to seek revenge on Bo Liye.

When the phone call reached Qin Mingyan’s mobile, Bo Liye was being pressed into the bathtub. Her eyes were filled with a pitiful mist of tears, yet she gritted her teeth, not daring to make a sound.

The sensation of near-suffocation made her feel like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

Even during their adolescence, Qin Mingyan had never been a gentle person. When pushed by Bo Liye, she always knew how to make her cry until she was breathless.

The quiet, top-tier student of the day became like a mad dog at night, biting every inch of Bo Liye’s body. Even if she was hit or kicked, she refused to let go.

And now, she had become Bo Liye’s creditor, possessing the power to dictate everything about her.