“Hmm...” I hung up the phone, feeling that even breathing was diffi cult for me.
When the night was sharpening, during a group dinner with some old friends of mine, an unexpected call from father rang like a fi re alarm. Once I picked it up, interminably, he just shouted down the phone at me.
“Lotus! Don’t lend money to Mei! I just knew you already more than once gave her 10,000 behind my back last year.
“I have spent 40,000 on your education. You and Long should pay me back fi rst instead of lending more to her. Bing is a fucking gambler, a gambler with no hope, a ghost that just asks for money from anyone when he loses. Even if he wins, he never pays his debt. Why?