"Pay up now or... we will make you regret it!"
Hearing the threatening words, Su Rui shook his consciousness, looked around the room painted both familiar and foreign, along with the four burly men who came knocking for debt, feeling like it was all a dream.
Just half a minute ago, he died lonely in a car accident, after a lifetime lived alone.
At his last moment, he heard someone asking for his family's contact information. He recalled his long-estranged family, his wife, and daughter he most regretted not treating right. As he wept, his consciousness fell into chaos, and all his past experiences played back rapidly, until he opened his eyes again.
"This is the debt your man owes. If your man can't pay it, then you're going to have to... "
Four muscular men came out of the bedroom, one of them waved a piece of paper in front of Su Rui, crawling on the ground: "This IOU is signed by your wife. If you can't pay up in three days, I'll take this IOU and come to collect the house."
Su Rui shook his consciousness, looking at the incredibly familiar scene before him. Although he didn't know what had exactly happened, he was sure he had been reborn, reborn to that day he regretted for the rest of his life.
"You bad men... don't hit my daddy..."
At this moment, a four-year-old girl ran out of the bedroom.
"Qi Qi..."
Tears filled Su Rui's eyes instantly, and his entire body started to tremble with emotion.
He could never imagine the day to see his daughter Qi Qi again. In his memory, which also happens to be five days in the future, his wife jumped off the balcony with their daughter. It was the greatest pain in his heart. No matter how successful he was later in the business world, it could never wash away his guilt.
Qi Qi hit one of the men with the doll in her hand. Seeing the man about to hit her, Su Rui quickly got up from the ground and in one stride, held Qi Qi in his arms, "If you dare hurt my daughter, I will make you regret being born!"
His murderous eyes made the man pause for a moment, and Su Rui, holding his daughter, tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry... in this lifetime... I will never leave you again..."
The longing for his daughter had utterly broken this man who would one day possess absolute power and incredible wealth, to the point where he would rather give up everything just to see his wife and daughter one more time.
Little Qi Qi stretched out her small hand, gently rubbing the bruise on Su Rui's forehead. "Daddy...Qi Qi hates to see you hurt. Qi Qi doesn't want any more dolls...Don't quarrel with mommy...Don't let these bad men into our house..."
This naïve toddler voice made Su Rui tear up once more. Qi Qi simplistically believed that the four 'bad uncles' disrupted their home because she bought a doll, never once thinking she had a bad father.
"My sweet Qi Qi, Daddy will no longer argue with Mommy. Daddy will work hard to earn money, to buy you many more dolls, the prettiest dresses, and the sweetest cakes."
As he said this, Su Rui broke into sobs. These were his daughter's wishes, none of which had been fulfilled. He hated his former self always drinking and gambling away money, to the extent he couldn’t afford to buy Qi Qi toys, or even to provide for her kindergarten fees or fresh fruits. All she had were hand-me-down clothes. Just half an hour earlier, he had fought with his wife because she had bought a doll for Qi Qi.
"Really? Daddy is the best!"
The moment Qi Qi's small, soft lips touched his face, it felt as if his heart would shatter.
"Do you find it amusing to lie to a child?"
Just then, an icy voice shattered this brief moment of father-daughter reunion. Following the sound of the voice, Su Rui couldn’t prevent a shudder.
Out of the bedroom briskly walked a woman, her long hair tied into a simple bun. Clad in a white T-shirt and tight jeans, her mundane outfit accentuated her stunningly beautiful face. However, her icy demeanor, combined with the signs of hardship and despair she carried, eroded much of her beauty.
This woman, Ye Xinxue, was Su Rui's wife.
Overflowing with endless longing and guilt for Ye Xinxue, and upon seeing her again, Su Rui had an intense desire to rush forward, hold her in his arms, and tell her just how much he was sorry, and how much he missed her.
Facing Ye Xinxue's icy gaze, however, he repressed his impulses. His heart filled with bitterness, all distilled into three words: "I'm sorry."
Facing those three words, Ye Xinxue was clearly taken aback.
She had never heard the words "I'm sorry" from Su Rui's mouth before. In her memory, the three words Su Rui had said most to her were "give me money."
"Is an apology useful?"
"If you apologize, can they just forfeit the money and rip up the IOU?"
Su Rui was speechless, he didn't want to explain anything and looked at Ye Xinxue: "Take Qiqi inside the house, let me talk to them!"
Ye Xinxue's face remained expressionless. She just looked at Su Rui coldly and without saying a word, picked up Qiqi and headed for the bedroom.
She must feel absolutely devastated now, right?
He often wondered just how desperate his wife must have felt and how much she must have blamed him to chose jumping from the building with their daughter in her arms.
"Stop playing the fucking agony in front of me!"
"I warn you, gather up my money in three days, next visit won't be so simple."
Su Rui turned a deaf ear until the door closed, then looked at the four strong men again.
In his previous life, he dealt with these four men himself, because they forced his wife to sign an IOU. This time they came to collect the debt, which led to the mother and daughter jumping from the building. After his success, he revisited to take revenge.
But he knew well that he was the real murderer.
After that day, he did something he could never forgive himself for.
Thinking back, he couldn't help but clench his fist.
How cruel he was back then!
"A month's time, three hundred thousand principal and interest, I will pay back all the money, now...please leave immediately!" Su Rui tried to calm himself down, looked coldly at the leader, and continued: "Don't contradict me, one 'no' and I'll make you regret."
"Is your brain filled with shit?" The leading man slammed the IOU onto the table, pointed at Su Rui, and bragged, "Believe it or not, I can sue you right now and have you thrown out of this house within minutes!"
The man who was speaking was named Du Zikang, specialized in lending money at interest. However, he was very cautious in his dealings, taking advantage of legal loopholes. He always required a written pledge when lending money, using property rights as collateral.
The IOU was personally written by Ye Xinxue, stating that she owed three hundred thousand and if she did not repay it on time, the house would be transferred to the name of the creditor...
Su Rui picked up the IOU on the table, wrote a sentence on the back and handed it over to Du Zikang, "I just need one month, I won't shortchange you in the repayment..."
What Su Rui wrote was simply 'Building 3, Unit 2, Room 302, Green Mountain Beautiful Garden' and a string of phone numbers.
Upon receiving the note, Du Zikang's face turned deathly pale with shock!
Wasn't Green Mountain Beautiful Garden where his mistress lived? And wasn't this string of phone numbers his wife's number! How on earth did Su Rui know this?
The more Du Zikang thought about it, the more frightened he became. It felt like a threat! Wiping the cold sweat trickling down his forehead, he nervously stuffed the IOU in his pocket. Looking up, he saw Su Rui standing steadily in front of him, staring at him intently!
