In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

Only Zhang Yong's family of three remained in the living room, along with the man in the jacket who had been slumped in the corner without daring to utter a sound, and Liu Jianguo who stood by the wall looking like he had been paralyzed.

Liu Jianguo wiped the sweat from his forehead and plopped down on a stool.

"Oh my god..."

He let out a long breath, as if he had just surfaced from the bottom of the water.

"You have no idea, I was terrified on my way here!"

He looked up at Zhang Yong, his eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions and something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Hey Zhang Yong! Why didn't you say you knew such an important person sooner! Don't you consider me one of your own?"

Zhang Yong smiled and continued cleaning the living room with Li Guilan, glancing at the system panel in the process.

[Writing Lv.4: Progress 37% (AFK efficiency +10%) 33x]

[Driving Lv.6: Progress 6% (fixed)]

[Auto Repair Lv.5: Progress 13% (AFK... 30x speed)]

He looked away from the panel and shook his head at Liu Jianguo.

"This is also the first time I've met him."

"Editor Liu, I won't lie to you, I was waiting for someone, but I didn't expect to meet such an important person."

He was telling the truth.

The phone number on the note belonged to Tan Xingguo. He planned to have Tan Xingguo come as a witness, or even trick Lin Xuechang into leaving if necessary.

At least don't make a mess of your own home.

Director Tao's appearance is likely a result of Tan Xingguo's influence.

But the result was better than he had predicted. Much better.

"Editor Liu." Zhang Yong looked at him.

Liu Jianguo shuddered.

"Thank you for today. I know you meant well, and I'll remember it."

Liu Jianguo swallowed hard and nodded vigorously.

"If you need anything from the magazine in the future, I won't hesitate to help if I can."

Liu Jianguo stood up, took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Okay, that's good to hear. I'm going back now."

He walked to the door and glanced back at Zhang Yong.

"When Editor-in-Chief Zhou comes back the day after tomorrow, I'll definitely have to write another self-criticism."

I'll call you again when I have news.

Liu Jianguo went out.

……

It's getting late; the moon is already up.

The man in the jacket was dragged from the seventh floor to the first floor by Zhang Defa, who grabbed him by the back of his collar.

Calling him arrogant is being too polite.

Zhang Defa grabbed the back of the jacket-wearing man's collar with his left hand and pulled it down layer by layer.

The man in the jacket made a screeching sound as his leather shoes scraped against the concrete stairs, struggling all the way and even trying to grab onto the handrail.

"You—you let go! I can walk by myself!"

Zhang Defa ignored him, and Zhang Yong followed behind, giving the man a few blows with his elbow.

"Stop hitting! Stop hitting!! This is outrageous!"

When we arrived at the courtyard on the first floor, the lights in the guardhouse were on.

Grandpa Chen was standing at the door, an enamel mug on the windowsill, holding a small notebook in his hand with a few lines of crooked writing on it.

"Yongzi, I called! Xiao Li on duty said he'll be there in ten minutes!"

Grandpa Chen waved the small notebook.

"I remember it all—out-of-town accent, carrying IOUs, going to other people's houses to threaten and intimidate them! I'll read it all aloud to the police station later!"

Zhang Defa pushed the man in the jacket to the middle of the yard and tied the rope tighter. Sister Zhao poked her head out of the second-floor window.

"Oh dear, did the Zhang family catch a thief?"

"It's not even midnight yet, it's not a thief! I just heard that debt collectors have come to the wrong door!" Aunt Liu had been waiting on the first floor, cracking sunflower seeds and making a lot of noise.

At the corner on the first floor, Sun Jian's wife had also slipped down at some point, leaning against the flower bed, muttering to herself as if she were chewing peppercorns.

"The Zhang family is full of thugs and officials today; they must have done something wrong. Otherwise, why would the police come?"

Grandpa Chen clicked his tongue, his tone a bit impolite.

"People who gossip a lot have crooked mouths. Why do you care so much? Just take care of your own Sun Lei."

Sun Jian's wife's mouth did indeed twitch slightly. She wiped her hands on her clothes and turned back into the building.

Ten minutes later, the local police officer arrived on a bicycle.

After Zhang Defa explained the situation, Grandpa Chen embellished it three times. The police officer looked at the IOU and the so-called "letter of authorization" on the man in the jacket that had no official seal, and took the man away without saying a word.

"Don't worry, people who come to your door to extort money will be detained for at least three days."

As the police officer was leaving, he patted Zhang Defa on the shoulder and said, "We'll let you know if there are any follow-ups."

Zhang Yong stood in the courtyard watching the taillights of the local policeman's car disappear into the alley. He turned around and saw Zhang Defa already walking upstairs with his hands behind his back.

When the father and son went upstairs and back to their room, the living room had already been cleaned up.

The dining table was set up properly, the teacups were washed, and the floor was mopped.

But Li Guilan wasn't in the living room. The bedroom door was ajar.

"Wife? Are you in the inner room?"

Zhang Defa shouted, and then his expression immediately turned sour.

There was a faint smell of mothballs in the room.

He stood in the middle of the living room, one hand gripping the edge of the dining table, and cold sweat began to pour from his forehead.

Zhang Yong glanced at his father's expression and was about to speak when the bedroom door opened from the inside.

Li Guilan stood at the bedroom door.

She was angry, her eyes were red, and she was clutching a stack of papers in her right hand.

It is a postal money order stub.

The pink sheets with copy paper were stacked one on top of another, some with curled corners, and there were notes written in ballpoint pen on them.

Li Guilan slammed the stack of receipts onto the dining table.

"Zhang Defa".

She called out her full name.

The last time Zhang Yong heard her call Zhang Defa by his full name was a vague fragment deep in his memory. It seemed to be during the Spring Festival one year when Zhang Defa drank too much and kicked and broke a thermos.

"Tell me. What are all these?"

Zhang Defa's gaze fell on the stack of pink papers, and he almost lost his balance.

He didn't dare to make a sound.

Li Guilan's voice was trembling.

"Zhang Defa!"

"I've been married to you for almost twenty years. I think you're amazing because you served in the military, and I listen to you in everything at home!"

"Your military shoes are in the closet. I told you to throw them away, but you wouldn't let me. I offered to help you clean them, but you wouldn't let me either. Every time I reached out my hand, you blocked me."

"I thought you were reluctant to part with it and wanted to keep it as a memento."

"If that guy hadn't come to collect a debt today and you hadn't been so timid that you didn't dare utter a sound, I would have realized something was wrong and never even considered this possibility!"

Her voice trailed off.

"So... they hid these things inside the insoles."

Zhang Defa stood rooted to the spot, not daring to move.

Li Guilan wiped away her tears and spread the receipts one by one on the table.

"This single bet has already netted several thousand dollars!"

"The recipient is Zhang Dewang, Zhang Dewang, Zhang Dewang. These all belong to your elder brother."

She flipped to the last few pages.

"And your third sister Zhang Cuifen's. And your fifth brother Zhang Desheng's."

Her fingers stopped on the last remittance slip, her nails digging a white mark into the paper.

"August. Two hundred yuan. Recipient: Zhang Desheng. Note: Donation for a wedding."

Li Guilan raised her head.

"Last month you told me that the factory gave you a subsidy of forty yuan, and asked me to give you some of it so you could buy a new electric fan for Yongzi to use at night."

"I gave you 160 without saying a word!"

"Where's the fan? Did you buy it? You didn't. You said the department store was out of stock and you'd talk about it later."

"Tell me! Did you send my money along with the package?!"

"Is this how you run a household?!"

......