Chapter Twenty: Usury

When Ding Mulan heard Lu Ji’s words, it was as if someone had suddenly grabbed her throat. Her mouth remained slightly open, but not a single sound emerged from her throat.

“Loan sharks? What’s going on?” Upon hearing those three words, An Changpu’s expression grew even more serious. He knew well that loan sharking was illegal, and he’d come across countless cases where people had suffered after borrowing from such places. If Lu Min had gotten himself into trouble because of this, An Changpu wouldn’t be surprised in the least.

But Lu Ji didn’t answer An Changpu’s question. He seemed merely intent on exposing the fact that Lu Min had borrowed from loan sharks, yet unwilling to divulge all the details himself. When An Changpu pressed him, Lu Ji merely turned his face toward Ding Mulan, making it clear that she was the one who knew most about the matter, and that any questions should be directed to her.

An Changpu and Qin Ruonan both fixed their gazes on Ding Mulan, whose complexion looked increasingly troubled. The flush on Ding Mulan’s face finally faded somewhat. She cast a slightly reproachful glance at her eldest son-in-law, who sat beside her with Ru Anju between them. She spoke haltingly to the two detectives: “I know about Lu Min borrowing money, but I’d asked him about it before. He told me he’d already paid it back, a long time ago. I didn’t mean to hide anything; I just thought since it was all over, there was no point bringing it up. It’s not exactly something to be proud of either.”

“Who says Dad paid it all back! As far as I know, he hasn’t finished repaying it yet!” Lu Ji cut Ding Mulan off impatiently, addressing An Changpu and Qin Ruonan. “My father-in-law still owes them about thirty to fifty thousand! The deadline’s next month, and if he can’t pay, the amount will just keep rising!”

Ru Anju kept sobbing quietly to herself, paying no heed to her husband or mother’s words. Ding Mulan, on the other hand, seemed utterly stunned by Lu Ji’s revelation, staring at him as though petrified, unable to move.

“Sister Ding, do you know who Lu Min borrowed the money from?” An Changpu asked.

Ding Mulan shook her head slowly. She seemed completely flustered now, and Lu Ji’s statement that Lu Min hadn’t finished repaying the debt struck her harder than any misfortune yet. “I don’t know. He never let me ask about these things. If I pressed him, he’d get upset and storm out, sometimes gone for days. So I rarely dared ask. I only found out he’d borrowed from loan sharks because he came home to ask how much savings we had left. That’s when I learned from his own mouth.” As she spoke, her body trembled visibly. Yet she did not cry. Whether she was desperately holding back, or simply too shell-shocked by the succession of disasters to even react, it was hard to say.

“Did you ask Lu Min why he needed the money?”

“I did. He said it was for surgery.”

“Wasn’t the surgery paid for with the money from selling his parents’ burial plot? Why did he need to borrow from loan sharks too?”

Ding Mulan couldn’t answer that. “I don’t know. He never told me how much he got from selling the land, nor how much the surgery cost. He wouldn’t even tell me how much he borrowed. He just asked about our savings once and left. When he came back later, I asked if he’d sorted out the money, and he said it was all settled, that I didn’t need to worry. So I thought he’d paid it all off.” By the end, Ding Mulan’s voice was almost choked with tears.

“Officer, I actually heard my father-in-law mention who he borrowed the money from!” Lu Ji, who’d been listening for a while, couldn’t wait any longer and interrupted.

“Oh? Go on then,” An Changpu replied, willing to accept any clues.

Lu Ji cleared his throat and spoke eagerly: “As far as I know, the man who lent my father-in-law the money is called Yao Chang. He’s a small-time thug who makes a living off loan sharking. My father-in-law didn’t have enough for the surgery, so he went to Yao Chang and borrowed money. The interest is calculated as borrowing one hundred, repaying one hundred thirty. I heard he borrowed a total of one hundred thousand. He should have been able to pay it back, but for some reason he missed the deadline, and the interest doubled.”

“Have any of you met Yao Chang? Do you know him?” Qin Ruonan quickly asked.

All three shook their heads in unison.

An Changpu reconfirmed the information with Lu Ji: “So, to sum up: your father-in-law Lu Min, short on surgery funds, borrowed one hundred thousand from a loan shark named Yao Chang, who makes a living from this. The agreed interest was thirty percent within the deadline, doubled if overdue. Lu Min repaid some, but missed the deadline on the rest, so the interest doubled. Now there’s still forty or fifty thousand outstanding, and the repayment date is approaching. If it isn’t paid in time, the amount will keep growing. Is that correct?”

“That’s right! That’s right!” Lu Ji affirmed immediately, then pleaded urgently: “Officer, please, you must find that man quickly. We’ve already lost a loved one; we can’t let our family be harassed by this loan shark any longer!”

Hearing this, Ru Anju let out a loud sob and cried even harder.

An Changpu listened to Lu Ji without immediately responding. Instead, he studied Lu Ji with a look of keen interest, saying nothing. Qin Ruonan glanced at him several times, intending to say something to Ding Mulan, but seeing An Changpu’s expression, she thought better of it and didn’t break the silence.

Lu Ji grew increasingly uncomfortable under An Changpu’s gaze. At first he met it, but then looked away, sneaking glances back several times. When he saw An Changpu still staring at him, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He tried to force a smile, but halfway through remembered that his father-in-law had just been confirmed dead; it was hardly appropriate to smile now, so he quickly stopped.

“Officer, what does that look mean? You’re making me nervous!” he said to An Changpu.

An Changpu smiled back. “Ah, my apologies. That’s my fault. But really, there’s no need to feel uneasy. As a son-in-law, your active cooperation with the police and your help in finding your father-in-law’s killer is commendable.”

Lu Ji scratched the back of his head, about to demur, when An Changpu continued: “I was just thinking that your relationship with your father-in-law must have been very close. After all, you know details about the loan sharking that even your mother-in-law didn’t.”

Lu Ji paused, blinking, then slapped his thigh. “Oh, you mean that! Let me explain—it’s like this. My father-in-law didn’t have enough money to repay, so he came to me and Anju for help. We weren’t well off either, but we lent him twenty or thirty thousand for emergencies. That’s how we found out about the loan sharking. If he hadn’t borrowed from us, we wouldn’t have known a thing! Isn’t that right, Anju?” He nudged his wife with his shoulder, and Ru Anju nodded quickly.

“I see. I thought so. With such a considerate son-in-law, your father-in-law can rest in peace,” An Changpu said, nodding in understanding and not pressing further. He turned to Qin Ruonan, “Did you have anything else you wanted to ask Sister Ding?”

Qin Ruonan nodded slightly, fixed her gaze on Ding Mulan, and asked: “Why did Lu Min want to undergo surgery to become a woman?”