SBCEJM -Chapter 118 Debt Collectors Come Knocking! Is This Cross-Dressing Family of Three Finished?

Tie Zhu’s face turned deathly pale.

“Mom, what nonsense are you talking about?!”

He forced himself to stay calm.

“My recovery was a miracle from heaven!”

“My ass it was!”

A furious roar exploded from outside the door.

The innkeeper’s fat head squeezed into the room, his face full of disdain.

“Heaven made you wear women’s clothes?”

“Then heaven’s taste is really something special!”

“Pfft—”

“Hahahahaha!”

The crowd peeking from outside finally burst into laughter.

“Exactly! Instead of working after getting better, he learned to paint his brows like a woman!”

“If heaven saw this, it’d probably strike him right back into bed with lightning!”

But Feng Zexuan didn’t laugh.

She walked to the bedside, her gaze sweeping over the neatly folded bedding.

“The sheets are clean. The blankets are tidy. There isn’t even a trace of sweat.”

Her voice was terrifyingly calm.

“Looks like your ‘bedridden’ days were quite comfortable.”

Before the words even finished, her figure flashed behind Tie Zhu.

“Riiip—!”

A sharp tearing sound rang out.

She had yanked open the back collar of the pink ruqun dress in one motion!

“Hiss—!”

The crowd collectively sucked in a breath.

The back that should have been shriveled and slack from years of illness was instead packed with bulging muscles and defined lines.

Bronze skin gleamed with healthy vitality under the light.

How could this possibly be the body of someone paralyzed for ten years?

He looked sturdier than laborers hauling heavy loads every day!

“A real paralyzed patient who stays bedridden for years suffers muscle atrophy.”

Feng Zexuan punched him squarely in the chest.

The pain made Tie Zhu double over instantly.

“The skin on their back would also show bedsores and pressure marks.”

She let go, leaving the torn ruqun hanging crookedly off his body.

“With a body like yours, you could probably punch a cow to death.”

Then she walked over to the crude dressing table.

Her fingertip picked up a dab of bright rouge and rubbed it thoughtfully.

“Top-grade rouge from Drunken Spring House. ‘One Dot Red.’”

“One tiny box costs two taels of silver.”

She turned to the weathered old couple.

“You two work at the inn for a whole month and only earn one tael, right?”

The elderly couple nodded through clenched teeth.

Her eyes locked onto Tie Zhu’s pale face again.

“So this is where the money your parents gave you for medicine went?”

“I…”

Cold sweat poured down Tie Zhu’s forehead.

His mind spun wildly as he stammered out excuses.

“I don’t have bedsores because my wife—!”

“She tirelessly turns me over and massages me every day, so my flesh never rotted!”

“And the rouge… it—it was part of her dowry! Brought from her maiden family!”

His wife finally snapped back to her senses.

Hands planted on her hips, she took on the posture of a street shrew ready for battle.

“That’s right! My own belongings are none of your damn business!”

Her triangular eyes glared viciously at Feng Zexuan.

“What the hell are you anyway, barging into our home trying to sow discord?”

“I think you’re just some swindler trying to extort money! Get out!”

【Your maiden family? Did they own a gold mine or something?】

【Specialized in raising lazy daughters like you?】

【And a dowry? Rouge from ten years ago would still work? Is that some excavated antique?】

Seeing Feng Zexuan stay silent, the woman assumed she was intimidated.

Her arrogance swelled further.

Then, to everyone’s shock, she actually stretched out a greasy hand and shoved hard toward Feng Zexuan’s chest!

【Holy crap! She’s groping me?!】

Feng Zexuan was just about to punch her into the sky.

But a thin figure moved even faster.

“SMACK—!”

A loud, crisp slap exploded through the courtyard.

The one who struck her was none other than the frail old woman who had been kneeling on the ground moments ago.

“Y-you…”

The wife spun halfway around from the force.

Clutching her instantly swollen cheek, she stared in disbelief.

“You… you dared to hit me?!”

The old woman trembled all over.

Not from fear—

But from ten years of pent-up rage.

Flames burned in her cloudy eyes like never before.

“Hit you?”

Her voice was hoarse, but every word rang with force.

“That’s right!”

“Today I’m going to beat you to death, you plague upon this family!”

“Ten years! A whole ten years!”

“The old man and I pinched pennies and gave you two the best of everything!”

“We wouldn’t even buy decent clothes for ourselves!”

“We worked ourselves to death outside while you lounged around at home enjoying life!”

As she spoke, the old woman raised her hand and slapped her again.

This time the wife had learned her lesson and shrieked while dodging away.

“Have you gone crazy?! I’ve taken care of your son for ten years! Even if I didn’t earn merit, I still worked hard!”

“Taken care of him? Bullshit!”

The silent old man finally exploded.

His eyes bloodshot, he grabbed the broom from the yard.

Without hesitation, he swung it at Tie Zhu with full force.

“I’m beating you to death today, you unfilial beast!”

“AOOOW!”

Tie Zhu clutched his head and fled in panic from the sudden beating.

The ridiculous pink ruqun fluttered wildly around the courtyard as he ran.

“Dad! Dad, listen to my explanation! I really just recovered recently!”

“Explain my ass!”

The old man’s eyes were red with fury, his broom whistling through the air.

“I’d have been better off raising a dog than raising you!”

The surrounding spectators watched with boiling excitement and cheered loudly.

“Well done! That’s exactly how you deal with an ungrateful bastard like him!”

“Don’t just beat the son—beat the wife too!”

The old woman seemed enlightened by the suggestion.

She grabbed another broom and started chasing her daughter-in-law around the courtyard.

A long-overdue family lesson, delayed by ten years, erupted into full force.

Feng Zexuan stood to the side watching, in an excellent mood.

【See that, System?】

【When honest people finally snap, their combat power skyrockets.】

【Host, at this rate they might tear the roof off!】

【Serves them right! Let’s see them keep pretending now!】

Just as the courtyard descended into complete chaos—

BANG!

The courtyard gate was violently kicked open.

“Move aside! We’re here for Tie Zhu!”

Several burly, vicious-looking men stormed in.

Leading them was a bald man carrying a broadsword over his shoulder.

In one hand he dragged along a bruised and battered teenage boy.

“Where’s Tie Zhu?”

The bald man swept his gaze around, then casually tossed the boy to the ground.

“Ow!”

The boy curled up in pain.

It was Tie Zhu’s son!

“Huzi!”

Seeing his son in such a state, Tie Zhu panicked instantly.

Forgetting all about dodging the broom, he rushed over to help him up.

“What happened to you?”

Huzi wailed miserably.

“Dad… I lost again.”

“This time… how much did you lose?”

Tie Zhu’s voice trembled.

The bald man sneered.

From his robe, he pulled out a wrinkled IOU and unfolded it in front of Tie Zhu.

“Not much.”

He paused, a cruel smile curling across his lips.

“Just fifty taels.”

“What?!”

Not only Tie Zhu, but even the elderly couple and the watching crowd sucked in sharp breaths.

Fifty taels!

Enough for an ordinary family to live on for ten years!

The brooms slipped from the old couple’s hands and clattered to the ground.

Their legs gave out as they collapsed weakly.

After struggling their entire lives, they had only managed to save less than thirty taels for retirement!

“We don’t have money!” Tie Zhu’s wife shrieked.

The bald man’s eyes turned cold.

CLANG!

His blade stabbed straight into the stone pavement.

“No money?”

He planted a foot on Huzi’s back.

“This brat personally said his father Tie Zhu has plenty of money.”

The bald man’s gaze swept mockingly over Tie Zhu’s absurd women’s clothing.

“Healing from illness? Looks to me like you’ve been living pretty comfortably.”

“You even have the leisure to wear dresses.”

“Hahahahaha!”

The surrounding laughter exploded even louder than before.

Tie Zhu’s face turned the color of pig liver, humiliated beyond measure.

The bald man lost patience.

“Enough crap. Pay up!”

“If we don’t see money today, we’ll handle this according to the rules of the underworld!”

“We… we really don’t have money!”

Tie Zhu and his wife looked ready to kneel.

“Please, give us a few more days!”

Hearing this, Feng Zexuan’s eyes lit up.

【System, these debt collectors arrived at the perfect time!】

【Host… what big scheme are you plotting now?】

【Heh heh. Since this family loves each other sooo much—】

【Then let’s help them keep ‘loving’ each other.】

She cleared her throat and walked toward the bald man.

“Big brother, I have a proposal.”