Chapter 5: Family Ruin

  When Ma Tong walked out of the police station, it was already the next afternoon.

  In the absence of direct evidence to prove that Ma Teng was the perpetrator, and with the company also claiming not to pursue the matter further, the police finally released him after detaining him for twenty-four hours.

  As for how much of this is due to Lü Da Hai's efforts in going up and down to make connections, it is temporarily unknown.

  "Thanks, Officer Sun!" Ma Tong expressed his gratitude to the police officer with the surname Sun as he was about to leave. In the past 24 hours at the bureau, this level-one police chief with the surname Sun had taken care of him relatively well, and hadn't skimped on food or drink either. Even if it was just because of the money, it was still better than those who only took money but didn't do their job!

  "Ma Tong!" Ma Tong was greeted with a warm bear hug from Lü Dahai. After releasing Ma Tong, Lü Dahai grasped his shoulders and looked him up and down, as if afraid he had lost some part of himself. "You're out, that's good! Didn't suffer too much, did you?"

  Ma Tong pushed away Lü Dahai's hand, pretending to be annoyed and said: "Get out of the way, I'm not a girl, why are you being so mushy? I'm fine, all my parts are intact, it's just that this time my face is lost!"

  Lü Dahai didn't mind at all, and laughed loudly: "As long as the inside is still intact, that's fine! Come on, get in my car, I'll treat you to a drink, let's go dispel the bad luck!"

  Ma Tong sat in the bright yellow QQ's passenger seat of Lü Dahai, looking at Lü Dahai who was fastening his seatbelt on the driver's seat, and said in a low voice: "Thanks, brother!"

  Lü Dahai's face was filled with a "can't take it" expression: "Cut that out!"

  Ma Tong smiled and said sincerely: "How much did you spend on me this time? Later, you'll find a way to get the money back from me!"

  Lv Dahai drove the car and only said after it got on the main road: "It's just a little money, don't bother with me about it!"

  "Absolutely not! Don't think I don't know about that little matter of yours? The money is all managed by your sister-in-law, and if you can't account for it later, just wait and see how she'll deal with you!"

  Lü Dahai said with a bit of arrogance: "She dares! For minor matters, I listen to her, but for major ones, she has to listen to me!"

  "Is this a big deal?" Ma Tong asked curiously.

  "Of course!"

  Ma Tong fell silent for a moment before saying, "No way, this money still has to be given to you, one code returns one code!"

  Lü Dahai also fell silent, and after a long while, he said: "Don't worry about the money for now. Do you know why you were able to get out so quickly?"

  Ma Tong asked curiously: "I'm also wondering, how can the company just give up so easily? You're just a small security manager, you shouldn't have such great power!"

  "Get out!" Lü Dahai burst into loud laughter and gave Ma Tong a punch, but then his expression turned serious: "Don't joke around, the company won't pursue this further because I helped you agree to something."

  "What's wrong?" Ma Tong had a somewhat indistinct premonition.

  "Compensate the company for its losses, then fire you." Lü Dahai said with some guilt: "I was also in a hurry at that time. None of those police connections were reliable. They said this case was a major one assigned by the city, and I was afraid you'd go to jail, so I agreed to it!"

  Ma Tong calmly said: "Don't be anxious, I know you're doing it for my own good, how much?"

  Lü Dahai's face turned even uglier: "One hundred thousand!"

  Ma Tong's heart skipped a beat: 100,000! He had only saved 60,000 to 70,000 yuan from working until now, which was less than half of that amount! Compared to this, being fired was expected. How could the company continue to use him after something like this happened? Thinking about these things, Ma Tong's face-saving words were: "It's not a lot!"

  It's really not that much, just that golden toilet alone costs over 90,000, let alone the messy warehouse.

  Lü Dahai stopped the car by the side of the road, took a handbag from the back seat, unzipped it and handed it to Ma Tong: "Here's 50,000 yuan, you take it first, I'll think of a way for the rest!"

  Ma Tong pushed it back without even looking at it: "No way! I can't take this money, if I did, your wife would divorce you!"

  "Take it from me!" Lü Dahai was furious: "I'm the one who agreed to this on your behalf, so I have to pay for it with you! Otherwise, my conscience won't be at peace! Because I know you absolutely didn't do this!"

  Ma Tong's nose turned sour, and he almost shed male tears, but he still forcibly endured it, and forcibly pushed the money back: "No way, you're doing this for my own good, I understand, I've also saved some money over the past few years, it's almost enough!"

  "Come on!" Lü Dahai said disbelievingly, "How much money do you make in a month? I don't know. Even if you didn't eat or drink for these years, you couldn't have saved 100,000! I know your temper, you definitely wouldn't ask Auntie for help. Who would help you if I didn't? Take it! Consider it a loan from me!"

  "Uh..."

  "What's all this then! Take it!" Lü Dahai stuffed the handbag into Ma Tong's arms without hesitation.

  Ma Tong had no choice, he knew that if he didn't accept it, Lü Dahai would really turn against him: "Alright, let's just say I'm borrowing from you, and later I'll give you an IOU, so you can explain to your wife!" Seeing Lü Dahai wanting to say something else, Ma Tong hastily said: "You have to agree to this, otherwise I won't take the money!"

  Lü Dahai didn't say anything more, started the car and muttered to himself: "This is ridiculous, my own brother still wants a loan receipt, it's laughable, this guy is so concerned about saving face that he's suffering..."

  "What are you muttering about? They say even close brothers have to settle accounts clearly!" Ma Tong chuckled and said, "Not to mention we're not even biological brothers!"

  "We're not biological brothers, but we're closer than biological brothers! If it weren't for your mother, my aunt, asking you to bring me food every day back then, would I have grown up so sturdy? On the other hand, you kept all the meat and eggs for yourself and only ate vegetables and tofu. Now look at you, you're as thin as a chick! I can knock you down with one hand!

  Lü Dahai was a stout and robust man, a typical rough and straightforward Northwestern Chinese, but only Ma Tong could see his talkative side. "Speak up, where do you want to eat? Today, brother will take you out for a big feast!"

  Ma Tong laughed and said: "Eat P ah eat! Now if I eat a meal, can I grow up like you? Besides, it's only 10:30 now, what kind of rice are we eating? You go find a bank to stop for a while, I'll go get the money, let's first pay back the company's money, you know, I'm not used to owing others!"

  "Alright!" Lü Dahai stopped talking and focused on driving, the carriage fell silent again, and the warm sunlight outside shone in through the window.

  Today is a good weather!

  Ma Tong stared out of the car window, lost in thought.

  After passing through the intersection of Weiyang Road, Lü Dahai found a Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, parked his car in a roadside parking space and said to Ma Tongdao: "How about this one? Do you want me to go with you?"

  "Alright! In broad daylight, are you afraid someone will snatch me away or something?" Ma Tong pushed open the car door with a look of disdain and got out carrying his luggage.

  "It's hard to say, last time..." Lü Dahai was still speaking when Ma Tong slammed the car door shut.

  "This kid!" Lü Dahai shook his head with a bitter smile.

  Ma Tong entered the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, lined up for a while, and then came to the counter. He handed over his ICBC card: "Withdraw money!"

  "How much would you like to withdraw?"

  "Take it all, about 670,000 yuan!" Ma Tong said with an extremely calm expression, but his heart ached, this was his entire savings! He had gone bankrupt this time!

  Bitter struggles for decades, overnight back to before liberation!

  The bank staff was a pretty short-haired girl, who politely said: "Sorry sir, if you want to withdraw so much money with this card, it needs to be booked in advance!"

  "What's the maximum amount that doesn't require an appointment?" Ma Tong didn't have the habit of making things difficult for girls, let alone such a lovely girl.

  "Under 50,000!"

  "Then take 49,000 yuan!" Ma Tong nodded and said: "I'll go to the ATM to withdraw the rest!"

  The ATM can withdraw up to 20,000 yuan per day, which is enough.

  "Thank you for your understanding, I'll go ahead and process it for you!" The little girl smiled sweetly.