Chapter 1193 — Borrowing Money Again

"You came here specifically to look for me?" Er Gou Dan had assumed it was pure chance — that Yu Xiaoke had turned up to run some swindle here. He had never dreamed she would say she had come looking for him. And so, somewhat baffled, he frowned.

"Yes... I really must thank you for what happened last time! But... but I've run into trouble again. A friend of mine is hurt, and I need money for the medicine... Could you lend me a little more? Don't worry — the moment I earn anything, I'll pay you back double, the very first thing!" Yu Xiaoke thumped her own chest in solemn promise.

"What? You want to borrow more?" Er Gou Dan's eyes went wide. Inwardly he seethed: You little fraud, do you take me for a fool? I've already been taken in once, and now you come asking me for money? If I lend to you again, I'd be the number-one idiot in all the world!

"I truly have nowhere else to turn... I know you're a good person — couldn't you lend me a little more..." Yu Xiaoke pleaded, all but in tears.

"Er Gou Dan — you just said she's the one who swindled your money? It can't be that much of a coincidence?" Shen Yushu had caught the drift of their exchange: the two of them had known each other all along, and the money had been taken from Er Gou Dan by this very girl.

"I... I'm not a swindler! I really will pay you back — I've kept your address all along! How else could I have found you?" Yu Xiaoke blinked at Shen Yushu's words; then, thinking of the way Er Gou Dan had been speaking to her, she understood — he had taken her for a swindler. No wonder his tone had been so sour this time. She hurried to explain.

"Address?" Er Gou Dan stared blankly. "You mean to say you tracked me down using the address I put in with the money?"

He had still taken it for a coincidence, but once Yu Xiaoke explained, he saw that it was no such thing. Even so, he found it hard to believe her. Over these days in Yu Yuanyuan's company she had lectured him at length on how the world worked, and pulled back the curtain on a hundred swindlers' tricks — all the more so because of what had happened to Yu Ren. Day after day, at home, Yu Yuanyuan held lessons in fraud prevention for her father and Er Gou Dan alike, and that instruction had quietly made him warier, less ready to take people at their word.

"Here — isn't it right here?" Yu Xiaoke drew out the slip of paper and waved it in front of his face.

"So let me get this straight: you have another friend who's been hurt, and you need money for the medicine — is that it?" Er Gou Dan shot back.

"Yes." Yu Xiaoke nodded.

"Swindler! Do you take me for a fool? Is someone in your family sick every single day? If you're going to cheat people out of money, couldn't you at least bother with a different excuse?" Er Gou Dan jabbed a finger at her and loudly exposed her.

"I..." Yu Xiaoke did not know whether to laugh or cry, and had no idea how to explain herself... Still, it was plain enough now that she would not get a single coin out of him. Disappointed, she sighed. "Since you don't believe me, then never mind... I'll think of some other way. But the money I owe you — I will pay it back, that much I promise!"

"Hold on! You think you can just run off like that? I'm taking you to the police — they'll deal with you according to the law!" Toward a delicate, pretty young thing like Yu Xiaoke, Er Gou Dan could not bring himself to lay a hand on her; the only way left to punish her was to hand her over to the authorities.

"That... that won't do..." Yu Xiaoke jumped. If she were locked up, what would become of Xiao Yan? How could the orphanage keep running without her? This was the orphanage's darkest hour — she could not afford any mishap now!

So she spun around on instinct and bolted — only to have Er Gou Dan seize her by the arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

For Yu Xiaoke to break free of Er Gou Dan's strength was the stuff of madmen's dreams. She struggled twice, found his grip clamped on her like a pair of iron tongs, and deflated at once. "Not now — I can't go to prison, I really can't! Can't you wait a while? Let me get everything arranged first, and if you still want to hand me over then, I'll go with you..."

"And if you run off, where am I supposed to find you?" Er Gou Dan was not about to trust her word.

"I can find you — I have your address..." Yu Xiaoke said cautiously.

"Do you take me for a fool?" Er Gou Dan flared into a fury and slipped back into his coarse tongue: "You little wench, sharp as a fox — a vixen through and through! I'm not letting you slip away!"

Wei Zhao changed his clothes, took up two bottles of wound medicine, and stepped out of the villa. The moment he cleared the door he heard Er Gou Dan's big voice bellowing about something; he looked up and saw a familiar face — Yu Xiaoke. Er Gou Dan had her by the arm and would not let go.

"What's going on — do you two know each other?" Wei Zhao came over, smiling, and asked.

Yu Xiaoke had never expected to see Wei Zhao here. He was like a savior dropping out of the sky. Her face creased in appeal as she cried, "Wei Zhao, please help — talk to him! He wants to send me to the police..."

"Send you to the police?" Wei Zhao was mildly taken aback, but a thought struck him at once, and he turned to Er Gou Dan: "Er Gou Dan — that female swindler you mentioned earlier... she wouldn't happen to be her, would she?"

"That's exactly her! Leader, do you know her?" Er Gou Dan was confused, too — Yu Xiaoke had called out Wei Zhao's name outright, which meant the two of them plainly knew each other.

Wei Zhao, however, had frowned. From what he knew of Yu Xiaoke, this business might not be what Er Gou Dan supposed — that he had been swindled by her. Who was Yu Xiaoke? A thief, that was who; stealing was her stock in trade. As for cheating people, it was entirely unnecessary to her.

If she had wanted Er Gou Dan's money, she could have quietly helped herself to it — why resort to deception? And given her circumstances, a child at the orphanage lying hurt and her going about raising funds was only natural.

Besides, even if Yu Xiaoke really had swindled Er Gou Dan the first time, there was no sense in coming back to his door to cheat him a second time. So he asked: "Yu Xiaoke, what are you doing here?"

She had staked all her hopes on Wei Zhao, and so she told him again, in full and careful detail, what had brought her.

Hearing her out, Wei Zhao rather thought she was not lying. He had seen Yu Xiaoke's orphanage with his own eyes, so what she said now was, give or take, nine parts in ten true — the child at the orphanage really had been hurt!

Tetanus, if not treated in time, could bring very grave consequences. So Wei Zhao decided to deal first with that Xiao Yan's wound at the orphanage, and only then go and see Mother Yu — after all, Mother Yu's injury had already stabilized, and it would keep for a while yet.

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