ECG -Chapter 155 National Sanda Champion

As soon as Lin Hao entered the room, he heard Zuo Yao shouting. Since she was speaking in Shanghai dialect, and speaking both quickly and anxiously, he couldn’t understand what she was saying.

He only saw Zuo Yao standing in front of Old An, while the man called Mao Tong stood by the table with a mocking expression on his face.

“Miss Zuo, don’t interfere!” Old An’s left cheek was bright red. He reached out and tried to push Zuo Yao away.

Lin Hao hurried over.

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Mao Tong said a string of Shanghai dialect. Lin Hao could only make out a few sounds and roughly understood that he meant telling Zuo Yao not to meddle.

Zuo Yao also started arguing back. Her little mouth moved incredibly fast, but Lin Hao didn’t understand a single word.

After that, Mao Tong would finish speaking, then Zuo Yao would speak, with Old An’s words mixed in between. Listening to it all made Lin Hao’s head spin.

After arguing for a while, the voices grew louder, and Mao Tong started reaching out to shove Zuo Yao.

Seeing this, Lin Hao couldn’t just stand by anymore. He stepped forward, grabbed Zuo Yao, and pulled her behind him. At that exact moment, Mao Tong’s large hand came pushing toward him.

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The current Lin Hao was no longer as weak and skinny as he had been right after his rebirth. He shot out his hand as fast as lightning and grabbed Mao Tong’s thumb, then forcefully bent it upward.

“Ah!”

Mao Tong let out a scream, and his body bent forward.

Everyone in the room froze. No one had expected the refined-looking Lin Hao to act so fiercely, subduing someone in just one move.

The other two young men who had come with Mao Tong had been sitting in the booth the entire time. Seeing Mao Tong being restrained, they quickly stood up.

“Sit down!”

Lin Hao’s thick brows rose as he shouted. Then he increased the pressure on his hand.

Mao Tong screamed again, and the two young men hurriedly sat back down.

Lin Hao secretly shook his head.

With this level of fighting ability, they still wanted to come out and act tough?

“Tell me, what are you trying to do?” Lin Hao looked at Mao Tong, whose forehead had already begun sweating.

“Let go a little…”

Lin Hao applied more force and said unhappily, “Speak Mandarin!”

“Okay, okay, go easy on me!”

He loosened his grip slightly.

“Speak!”

“An De Lie’s son owes me 150,000 yuan. I’ve come to collect several times already!” Mao Tong said resentfully.

“This person is awful! He deliberately lured Andre’s son into gambling, then lent him money afterward! His goal was that if the boy couldn’t pay it back, he could take Old An’s beloved guitar!” Zuo Yao shouted loudly from behind him.

Lin Hao was stunned. He hadn’t expected the situation to be so complicated.

Wasn’t this Mao Tong a guitarist? How did he end up involved in something like this?

“Hey, let me ask you—aren’t you a guitarist? Do you have a side business too?” Lin Hao asked him.

“Let go of me! We can talk properly, it hurts like hell!”

Mao Tong’s voice trembled. He hadn’t expected that the other person could make him unable to move just by bending one of his thumbs.

Of course, Lin Hao wasn’t going to let go.

He wasn’t some martial arts expert either. Just now, he had only succeeded because he caught him off guard. That was the only way he could make the other two people hesitate and not dare to act recklessly.

But if he let go now and the three of them attacked him together, whether he could win or not was truly uncertain.

“Speak!”

Lin Hao increased the pressure again.

“There’s nothing to say. If he can’t pay the money back, then he uses something to cover the debt!”

Although Mao Tong’s teeth were already chattering from the pain, his tone had become firm.

Hearing this, Lin Hao immediately understood. It seemed that this Old An had a guitar that Mao Tong liked, so he had framed his son. His goal was simply to get his hands on that guitar.

Thinking about it, it was only 150,000 yuan. Old An owned a restaurant and had reportedly been running it for decades. Could he really not come up with that much money?

He really shouldn’t have gotten involved in this kind of matter in the first place. If it weren’t for Zuo Yao, why would he have bothered with this?

“I can let go of you, but I want to warn you. When I was sixteen, I was the national sanda champion. If you don’t believe me, you can try me!”

After saying that, Lin Hao released his hand.

When Lin Hao said this, Zuo Yao’s eyes lit up.

She thought to herself: Brother Hao is simply too amazing! Not only is he incredible at playing the piano, but he was actually a national sanda champion too. He’s just too cool!

Lin Hao didn’t notice Zuo Yao’s admiring gaze. He knew that continuing like this wasn’t a way to solve the problem. He could only say something impressive first to scare these three people into backing down, then figure out what to do afterward.

Mao Tong kept rubbing his thumb. Hearing Lin Hao say this, he indeed didn’t dare act recklessly again.

He slowly sat back down in the booth, spat on the ground, and cursed angrily, “Damn! Paying back debts is only right and proper!”

Lin Hao looked at Old An. “Old An, tell me what exactly happened.”

Old An then explained everything from beginning to end. Sure enough, it was almost exactly what Lin Hao had guessed.

Old An’s son sang at a nightclub, and after spending time together, he became quite familiar with the members of the band.

Once, he brought those band members home for a meal. Old An liked to occasionally sing for customers at the restaurant. That day, he was happy to see his son’s friends visiting, so he took his guitar and sang a few songs for them.

Unexpectedly, Mao Tong took a liking to the guitar at first glance. He insisted on paying money to buy it, but that guitar had a story behind it. How could Old An possibly be willing to sell it?

Back then, Old An was still a young man. Once, he went treasure hunting at a second-hand market on East Street inside the old city walls, and he immediately fell in love with this old guitar.

But he didn’t expect that at the same time, a Chinese girl also had her eyes on it. The two of them started competing by offering higher prices to buy it.

However, as time went on, Old An’s attention shifted from the guitar to the girl. In the end, he bought it and gave it to her on the spot.

Because of this guitar, Old An and his wife met, came to know each other, and eventually got married.

This old guitar was the token of love between the two of them. Old An’s wife had loved playing guitar since she was young, but unfortunately, she passed away from illness nine years ago.

Mao Tong kept pestering Old An, offering to pay for it, but how could Old An possibly sell it?

This guitar held extraordinary meaning. It was not only a symbol of their love, but also his wife’s keepsake. Keeping it was a way to preserve his memories of her. Whenever the restaurant had no customers, he would often take it out and play.

In the quiet little courtyard, the sound of the guitar was love, memories, and his way of remembering his beloved wife.

Seeing that negotiation was impossible, Mao Tong became angry out of embarrassment. So he began plotting against Old An’s son.

First, he slowly lured him into gambling, then lent him money.

As the saying goes, there are no winners in gambling for long. Little by little, the debt accumulated, and Old An’s son had already borrowed 150,000 yuan from him!

Mao Tong was very scheming. Every time he lent money, he made sure to keep a written IOU.

When he finally demanded repayment, Old An’s son realized that the amount had unknowingly become so huge. Terrified, that guy actually ran away. Up until today, he had already been gone from home for three days.

After hearing Old An finish, Lin Hao became interested in the guitar.

What kind of guitar was it that made this guy go to such lengths to scheme for it?

“Old An, can you let me take a look at the guitar?” he asked.

Old An nodded. He walked behind the counter and took down the dark-colored guitar case hanging on the wall. He placed it on the counter, opened the two latches, and took out the guitar.

It was a folk guitar with a pale yellow top. Old An held it carefully with both hands and handed it to Lin Hao.

The moment Lin Hao took it, he was stunned…