Chapter Two: The Creditor's Choice

The first name in the ledger was Chen Jianguo, the boy's father. Dates beside it began eighteen years ago and renewed every six years. At eight, they reached the repair shop. Red paint stained its shutter. Chen Jianguo sat beside a jack holding a transfer agreement. His intimidation restored, Biao blocked the door with four men. “Sign by noon. The shop clears four hundred thousand. Your son works off the remaining seventy.” Chen Man lunged, but Zhou Lin stopped him. The creditor was Haiyue Consulting, controlled through three nominee layers. Its registered address matched Mingchuan Capital, a Zhou subsidiary. Zhou Jiming was using underground debt to harvest old-city property. This shop was only one of the ledger's forty-seven names.