Qu City once experienced a period of major demolition and construction. At that time, Uncle Fang Jian demolished the old house but didn't want a new house; instead, he insisted on using the money from the old house for business.
He thought he could achieve great success, but unexpectedly, it ended in total failure.
This also led to the subsequent family breakdown.
If he had bought a new house back then, whether the marriage could have lasted is debatable, but the increased property value over the years would have exceeded all his hardworking efforts.
Now,
there is no house, no home, and even the arriving relatives and friends are few and far between. The funeral has to be arranged at the funeral parlor, truly a sign of fate and destiny!
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*
*
After the funeral, the taxi rushed from the funeral parlor toward Seven Miles.
"Fang Zheng, I heard your uncle passed away?"
The "class monitor" retracted a message.
The group message dinged, and the sender seemed to realize something was wrong, retracting the message and sending a private message instead.
"Fang Zheng, I heard your uncle passed away. I'm also in Qu City now. Do you need help?"
"No need." Fang Zheng replied:
"It's already been handled properly."
"That's good." The class monitor was as enthusiastic as ever:
"Let me know if you need anything, I'll be there anytime."
"Thanks a lot!"
Fang Zheng rubbed his aching facial muscles, then saw messages of condolences and even private messages with red packets in the group, evidently prompted by the class monitor's retracted message.
Art schools are different from others; if you wish to continue in this direction after graduation and don't have connections, classmates often have to support each other.
They introduce, connect with businesses, exchange industry information, etc...
Ordinary people can't fight alone.
Therefore, classmates maintain a good surface relationship.
For the condolence messages, Fang Zheng thanked them one by one, politely declining the private message red packets, and finally managed to find some peace after a busy half-day.
"Xiao Fang."
Elder Lu, who was in the same car, happened to put down his elderly mobile phone and frowned looking aside:
"Manager Sun just called me, asking if you want to continue renting the storefront at Seven Miles as the rent payment day is approaching."
"That guy sure knows when to call!"
He shook his head, visibly displeased.
The storefront at Seven Miles isn't privately owned; it's managed by the district's finance department and entrusted to a property management company where Manager Sun is responsible.
Fang Jian's demise, no one besides his family cared about the murderer, but a decision needed to be made about the storefront lease renewal.
If not renewed,
the property management will look for new tenants.
"Hmm..." Fang Zheng hesitated for a moment:
"Elder Lu, I haven't decided yet. Can I have a few more days?"
"Of course, that's no problem." Elder Lu grinned:
"As long as you let us know this month, it's not too late. Think carefully. If you decide to renew, I'll talk to Xiao Sun, and we'll renew at your uncle's rental rate without any increase."
"Thank you, Elder Lu!"
"No need to be polite; I've been neighbors with your uncle for many years, who would have thought... hey..."
Mid-sentence, he switched to a long sigh.
Seven Miles was developed as an antique street in Qu City during the national antique craze twenty years ago. It's located in the suburbs, near the scenic Celestial Plate Mountain.
The two storefronts Fang Jian rented are over a hundred square meters each, with the same area upstairs, with an annual rent of fifty thousand.
Fifty thousand!
By market rates, it's not expensive.
Fang Zheng could muster the amount if he tried, but he knew little about antiques and collectibles, except for some knowledge of porcelain from constant exposure.
Taking over, he'd most likely fail to run it.
But...
"Xiao Fang, your uncle's lifetime business is here. It will definitely be handed over to you in the future. Don't ruin it!"
Recalling his uncle's previous advice, Fang Zheng shook his head helplessly.
He was just a street musician, not cut out for business. The key point is, his uncle left too suddenly, without any instructions.
Speaking of which, they arrived at Seven Miles.
It's not like it was back then.
The current Seven Miles has declined significantly; though called an antique street, most sell low-cost crafts, attracting tourists visiting Celestial Plate Mountain, with hardly any genuine antique business.
If Fang Zheng wants to renew, the rent shouldn't be hard to negotiate.
Square Porcelain,
the name Uncle Fang Jian gave his storefront, has a vintage-style design.
The storefront door was tightly shut, and three men in sportswear crouched at the entrance, puffing on cigarettes, cigarette butts littered the ground.
They seemed to have been waiting for a while.
"Here they come!"
Seeing Fang Zheng and Elder Lu approaching, one of the three straightened up, lightly patted his numb legs, and greeted with a grin:
"Elder Lu, we meet again."
"Da Wei." Seeing him, Elder Lu instinctively frowned, his attitude very unfriendly:
"What are you doing here?"
"Hey!" Da Wei shrugged, sighed:
"The Fang guy borrowed two hundred thousand from our boss, said he'd repay it upon maturity, but the moment he got the money, he's gone. Who do we turn to for reasoning?"
He said, tilting his head towards Fang Zheng.
Hearing this, Fang Zheng's heart fluttered with confusion.
He had just come out of university not long ago, never having encountered such characters before, and had no idea how to handle this.
"When a person dies, the debt vanishes." Elder Lu murmured:
"Besides, Fang Jian had no offspring..."
"No offspring, but he has an inheritor." Da Wei stepped forward, standing in front of Fang Zheng, eyeing him with a cheeky gaze:
"As the saying goes, 'The father's debt is the child's responsibility.' It doesn't make sense to inherit assets but not the debts, right?"
"What do you say, Brother Fang?"
Da Wei kept a buzz cut, his short hair standing upright, and seemed barely twenty, possibly even younger than Fang Zheng, yet acted very cockily.
"We're not unreasonable."
He patted Fang Zheng's shoulder and continued:
"After all, the person's dead, let's waive the interest, but I need two hundred thousand within ten days for cross-offs. Otherwise, it's difficult."
"Brother Fang, today we just had an encounter, I'll come again tomorrow."
He gestured to those behind him:
"Let's go!"
"Brother Wei." One person approached, whispering:
"Just like that, no interest?"
"The Fang guy was hacked to death with knives." Da Wei glanced at him, speaking as they walked:
"And he bought a large batch of contraband. Who knows what exactly it was? We lend money, not fight to death."
"Let's feel it out first, discuss the rest later."
Watching the three leave, Elder Lu withdrew his gaze and looked at Fang Zheng:
"You..."
"These small-time thugs aren't worth worrying about; they won't dare do anything to you, but still..., it's best to be cautious."
"Mm." Fang Zheng's face was bitter.
Two hundred thousand!
He couldn't gather it even if he sold everything. Would he have to sell off all his uncle's assets? In that case, renewing the lease for the storefront wouldn't be possible.
As for bank savings.
If Fang Jian had any, he wouldn't have needed to borrow from loan sharks.
......
Night.
After a hectic day, Fang Zheng finally sat down.
He contemplated, then rose to take a package from the table, intending to sort through his uncle's inheritance, as he hadn't had time these past few days.
"Bus card, electric card, mobile phone..."
"What's this?"
In his hand was a bracelet with a rusted surface, very light in weight, definitely not a metal, probably some kind of plastic.
alert
Items like this would be ignored even if tossed into a trash heap.
"Sizzle..."
Fang Zheng rubbed the bracelet's surface, intending to put it aside when he suddenly paused.
"Huh!"
He lifted the bracelet, examining it closely under the light. The rust on its surface seemed to form a monster with claws extended.
Strange, abstract, twisted...
"Odd."
Muttering softly, Fang Zheng instinctively slipped the bracelet onto his wrist.
"The size fits perfectly."
Next moment.
His body vanished on the spot.