Originally, Chen Feng had come over to Shen City this time to see if there were any good properties, but in the end he gave up.

He felt the pace of life here was too fast, everyone seemed very busy, this wasn't what he wanted. Plus he wasn't familiar with this place; buying a place didn't mean it was over once you signed, there'd still be follow‑up maintenance and looking after it.

Chen Feng was afraid of trouble; after thinking it over, he decided to forget it. At worst, he'd just buy a few more places back in Xiu Zhou.

After listening, Cheng Yuhuan thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Your suggestion is actually pretty reasonable. I've thought about it too, but there aren't any particularly good apartments or shopfronts over in Le City. And I'm not familiar with Xiu Zhou or Shanghai, I don't have anyone I know there, I can't just muddle along and buy blindly. How about this, could I trouble you to keep an eye out for me in Xiu Zhou? If there are any good apartments or shopfronts, you can let me know."

Chen Feng thought about it, then agreed. "Sure, I'll have someone help keep an eye out. But if you only have five or six million on hand, the apartments and shopfronts you can buy in Xiu Zhou won't be very big, and they won't be very new either."

"I know that."

"Then it's fine. When I get back, I'll find someone to watch the market. As soon as there's any news, I'll let you know."

This kind of thing was tailor‑made for Jin Xinyan, his local assistant from Xiu Zhou.

"Thanks." Cheng Yuhuan smiled to show her thanks.

Chen Feng laughed and said, "No need to thank me yet. Now you can help me make that phone call and plead my case, right? Let's see how much your 'face' is worth."

After hesitating for a moment, Cheng Yuhuan nodded decisively. "Okay, I'll call him now."

She picked up her phone, found Ma Guowang's number, and dialed.

Not long after, Ma Guowang answered. His voice boomed through the line: "Yuhan, what made you think of calling me today?"

Cheng Yuhuan went straight to the point. "Brother Liu, I'm only coming to you because I've got something to ask."

"Fuck, you really are still like this—only come to me when you need something. When you don't, you toss me to the side. You really break my heart, you know that?"

"Alright, enough, let's talk business. I've got a classmate who borrowed high‑interest money from you, his name is Chen Guoxiang, do you remember? He originally only owed you five hundred thousand, but you forced it up to one million. Later he found someone to plead with you, and you knocked off two hundred thousand. Now I'm here to plead with you too—how much can you knock off for me?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"That fucker Chen Guoxiang, does he really know that many people? I've already gotten two calls in a row today, all speaking up for him. Is he really your classmate?"

Without so much as blinking, Cheng Yuhuan said, "Yeah, his hometown is also Lin Nan, we're classmates. See if you can stop adding interest on him. If he can give you two million, you've already made plenty."

"Girl, it's not like you don't know my money is all borrowed and re‑lent too; I've gotta pay interest to other people. I may earn a spread in the middle, but it's all hard‑earned money. I've got a big bunch of people under me to feed…"

Cheng Yuhuan cut him off and asked, "I'm just asking you this: can you waive those extra charges or not?"

Ma Guowang smacked his lips a couple of times. After a long while, he finally spoke in a troubled tone: "How about this, I'll knock off another hundred thousand for him. How's that? I really can't go any lower."

"My 'face' is only worth a hundred thousand? Brother Liu, looks like in your heart I'm really not worth much, huh, heh."

"Yuhan, listen to me, I run a company, I've got so many people under me to support, I can't break the rules…"

"Enough, I'm done talking to you. Just pretend I never made this call."

After saying that, Cheng Yuhuan very neatly hung up the phone, then gave Chen Feng a self‑mocking smile and said, "You saw it yourself. My 'face' isn't worth much—turns out that's all it amounts to."

Chen Feng really wanted to say, at least you're self‑aware, but what he actually said was to comfort her: "Your face being worth a hundred thousand is already pretty good. Didn't you just say maybe he'd shave off a few tens of thousands? Now he's given a hundred thousand; hasn't he already exceeded your expectations?"

Annoyed, Cheng Yuhuan said, "That's just talk. Who knew he'd really only give me that little."

By the end, Cheng Yuhuan was practically grinding her teeth.

Chen Feng raised his brows and asked with a smile, "You and he have some kind of story, don't you?"

Rolling her eyes at him, Cheng Yuhuan said bluntly, "Two or three years ago, I was with him for a while."

Fuck, so it really was like that!

No wonder she'd been hemming and hawing earlier. Sure enough, her "network" was extensive.

Chen Feng laughed and said, "You do trust me, telling me even this."

With an open expression, Cheng Yuhuan said, "You've been pretty straightforward with me too, you don't pretend to be some righteous gentleman in front of me, so I've no reason to pretend to be some demure lady in front of you. Besides, what happened before I got married—plenty of our classmates know about it."

"Alright then, I owe you one this time. This Ma Laoliu really is a tough nut to crack, but he's got a point too—he can't break his own rules. Don't hold it against him."

"Whose side are you on? How come you're speaking up for him instead?"

"Haha, I'm just calling it like I see it. But anyway, he's got his so‑called rules, and those rules are clearly unreasonable and immoral. I figure sooner or later he'll reap what he sowed; he's not going to have a good end."

Unimpressed, Cheng Yuhuan said, "He hasn't been lending for just a day or two, it's been at least ten years. If he were going to reap what he sowed, it wouldn't take this long. You can only say the man's background runs deep."

"Oh? How deep?" Chen Feng asked, looking curious.

In a faint tone, Cheng Yuhuan said, "All I know is that a lot of the money his company lends out is funneled in from those powerful rich families. He's basically a middleman, earning the spread and the hard‑work fee. Of course, he's made plenty over the years too, but the ones who really earn the big money are still those noble families' relatives or dependents—the high interest is all eaten by them. You get what that means, right? With that kind of capital backing him, you think anything's going to happen to him? He's sitting pretty. Even if something does happen, there'll be a whole crowd lining up to protect him."

Chen Feng more or less understood. It was like Wang Xifeng lending out "stamp‑interest" money in Dream of the Red Chamber. With Wang Xifeng's status, she certainly couldn't personally run the usury business; she'd have people under her go out of Duke Mansion to find people in the outside world to cooperate with.

Or simply those socially powerful and well‑connected people would use high interest rates to absorb idle funds from relatives and dependents inside the duke's compound as lending capital.

Of course, Ma Laoliu's situation might not be exactly the same, but it was similar in nature.

No wonder he'd never gone under all these years.

But Chen Feng still said with absolute certainty, "This kind of business is extremely damaging to your karma, there's no way he can keep doing it forever. If you don't believe me, just wait and see."