Chapter 3

“I didn’t get the money. Mr. Darwin is the one who signed the rental contract back then, and he called today saying that he’s not renting the place anymore.

“If you want to continue staying here, you need to pay the deposit by tomorrow and sign another contract.”

My bank card was with Lina, so I could only beg for the landlord to give me some leeway. “Mr. Lande, could you give me a few more days?”

“No. If you can’t pay up, move out.”

I called Lina. “What’s with the rent, Lina? Didn’t I transfer my salary from last month to you?”

“I told you: I spent it all.”

“You couldn’t fork out eighty thousand dollars to save my mom, and you couldn’t even pay a few thousand dollars in rent? Curse you!”

“I. Spent. It. All. Can’t you understand?!

“You’re never home, and I have to take care of the place. When I go out shopping, I need money!

“Over the past year, I went traveling to Matthew, and I needed money for plane tickets and hotels. I used up everything.”

“What? You used my money to travel with Matthew?”

“Since things have already ended up this way, I don’t want to argue with you. We don’t have any shared assets, so we don’t need to split anything. I’ve already gotten the divorce agreement ready instead of waiting for you.

“Come over here to sign it tomorrow.”

With that said, Lina hung up. I could only hear beeping sounds from my phone.

Mr. Lande gave me the side eye.

“You don’t have any money, do you? Move out now. I need to rent the place to someone else. Even if you don’t rent it, plenty of other people will.”

I said nothing else and just packed up. I did not have a lot of belongings, so I could pack up really fast. After working hard for one year, in the end, all my belongings only fit into one plastic bag.

…

One week later, I finally finished settling my mom’s funeral and returned to the city that had caused me to lose everything.

When I stepped out of the bus station, I started wandering around aimlessly. I could only think about taking revenge.

“Mr. York?” Suddenly, someone called out to me. It was Gary from Matthew’s shop.

“Mr. York, I heard about what had happened! Matthew is a piece of trash!”

“I was blind as well and trusted him.”

“That’s not your fault. He’s the one who’s blind.” Gary was so angry that his face was red, and he looked murderous. “Why do you think our customers came to us?

“Because of your reputation! Aside from convincing them to change their parts, Matthew knows nothing else! What are you going to do from now on, Mr. York?”

“They scammed me of all my money. Right now, I need to find a place to settle down and find a job.”

“If you don’t mind, why don’t you stay at my place? You can stay as long as you want.”

“That won’t do. I can’t just stay at your place without paying.”

“What on earth are you saying? I’m not a backstabber like Matthew. You taught me, and you’re like a father to me.”

I had not cried when Matthew deceived me and my wife betrayed me. Despite having no money left and nowhere to go, I had simply gritted my teeth and carried on.

But Gary’s words made me tear up, and I patted his shoulder. “You’re a good kid.”

Gary sniffled as well.

“I’ll be frank with you, Mr. York. I’ve long since wanted to stop working with Matthew. If not for my desire to continue learning under you, I would have left.”

I stared at him and asked, “Want to earn big, Gary?”

“Of course. My mom is waiting for me to get married and give her grandkids.” Gary laughed.

“Do you know any person who’s waiting to sell their car repair shop?”

“Yeah. There’s one at the eastern side of the city. It’s not as big as ours.

“Because business in our shop has been good, the shop’s business went down, and it’s about to go bankrupt.”

Gary looked at me with sparkling eyes. “But if you go there, even a shop that’s on its last legs can make a comeback!”

“Alright. Once I finish signing the divorce papers tomorrow, bring me over to take a look.”

I needed to seize this chance and make Matthew pay.