Supreme Heir Son-in-law

Chapter 872: Stepping Inside

With this person’s assurance, the young man relaxed a lot. "I’ll leave this matter in your capable hands."

"Just smoothing things out a bit, but why are you targeting him? I think this guy is pretty decent." The man in the floral shirt had a good impression of Xu Ke, so he couldn’t quite understand why the young man was targeting him. The others also had a decent impression of Xu Ke and were curious about the reason.

"I just find him annoying, no other reason." The young man said grimly, and seeing his bad mood, the others chose to remain silent. They weren’t very close to Xu Ke, so there was no need to offend Brother Zhao over him.

Thus, the group of people tacitly ignored the topic, with those who had been playing mahjong all day going to sleep. Those who were well-rested continued to play, and the small mahjong table seemed to never stop.

Xu Ke left the young man’s house and went to the hotel. Taking a brief look, it seemed the small hotel had been almost entirely renovated, looking clean and tidy, though the front door remained unfixed.

The owner overseeing the renovation was a bit taken aback seeing Xu Ke arriving with food. It wasn’t until Xu Ke stood before him that he was certain he wasn’t mistaken. Suddenly overwhelmed with guilt, he found it hard to meet Xu Ke’s frank gaze.

"Why was the hotel renovated?" Xu Ke asked casually, glancing around.

"The hotel was smashed up before, and it was in a terrible state. Plus, it’s been quite a few years since it opened, always looking old and shabby. I thought I might as well take this opportunity to fix it up, so I wouldn’t have to find someone again later."

The owner’s words flowed as if they had been pre-rehearsed, spoken effortlessly without a second thought. Xu Ke simply nodded, bypassing the topic entirely, leaving the owner tongue-tied, as if all his prepared defenses were rendered useless. He felt like he had geared up for a big battle only to have Xu Ke casually brush it off, leaving him bottled up and almost sick with frustration.

Xu Ke took only a cursory look around the hotel before taking out the meal box he had been holding. "It’s getting late, and I thought you might not have eaten. Not knowing what you like, I just picked up something." As he spoke, Xu Ke laid out a clean piece of newspaper and placed the meal box on it.

The owner was genuinely touched by Xu Ke’s gesture; he hadn’t felt such warmth in a long time. For a moment, he almost couldn’t suppress the urge to spill the truth and urge Xu Ke to leave quickly, but he held back when the words reached his mouth. Xu Ke’s well-being wasn’t more important than his own.

The owner silently mouthed an apology to Xu Ke as he began to eat with a clear conscience, without a hint of guilt. Meanwhile, Xu Ke’s gaze turned cold as he watched him.

Their encounter didn’t last long before Xu Ke returned to the young man’s house. Since the other party wanted to dig a pit for him, Xu Ke felt it would almost be disrespectful not to fall in.

For the following days, the sound of mahjong was continuously heard from the young man’s house, and Xu Ke lost nearly two hundred thousand over that time. As Xu Ke’s condition worsened, the people playing cards with him exchanged glances, knowing it was time to reel him in.

"We’ve been playing for quite some time now. Isn’t it time to settle the debt you owe us?" After playing another round, they looked at Xu Ke, who had just lost two thousand, and spoke up.

"Yeah, you’ve lost nearly two hundred thousand to us by now. It’s not a small amount. You should settle it, so we can continue playing with you once it’s cleared."

Having played cards all these days, they were fine since they took turns playing against Xu Ke. But Xu Ke was on his own the entire time, becoming increasingly haggard, nothing like the clean and tidy person they first met. He now resembled more of a tramp.

"What?" Xu Ke stared blankly at the cards in his hand, eventually realizing what they were saying.

"Oh, money? I’ll transfer it to you." Xu Ke said, taking out his phone and attempting to transfer funds via one of their Alipay accounts, only to see an insufficient balance message. After trying three different cards, all showed insufficient funds, and finally, his slow-moving brain started to work.

The person next to Xu Ke glanced at his screen, noting the insufficient balance notification, and signaled to his companions with a gesture. A smug smile appeared on their faces, and they made sure to keep these exchanges hidden from Xu Ke’s eyes.

"Why haven’t we received the transfer yet? Could it be that you’re out of money?" One of them said, a malicious look on his face.

Xu Ke’s demeanor shifted — a typical guilty reaction — but he quickly regained his composure, "I might not have the cash right now, but I can write you an IOU. Once I make some money, I’ll pay you back. I’ll write you the IOU now."

"Don’t worry, I’m in photography, and in our line of work, making money isn’t hard. You don’t need to worry about me not paying back." Xu Ke assured them, thumping his chest with conviction.

"Writing an IOU is doable, but there needs to be a repayment deadline. It’s not that we’re being unreasonable; we’ve just seen too many people who think they can avoid debts. Honestly, we think you’re a decent guy, and Brother Zhao even likes you; he even wants you to join him. Not many smart people in our town get Brother Zhao’s favor — you must have done a lot of good in your past life." Someone said, eyeing Xu Ke enviously, yet Xu Ke didn’t care.

"I appreciate Brother Zhao’s admiration, but I prefer photography. I just want to earn money through it, nothing else." At this point, Xu Ke appeared stubborn as a mule, refusing to heed any advice, firmly believing he could earn money from photography. This inflexible attitude irritated the people around him.

Though irritated, none of them said anything, merely watching Xu Ke like spectators, waiting for his inevitable downfall.

"You say you can repay us through photography — really? We just don’t believe it. They’re just a bunch of lousy photos." One of them spoke dismissively.