CHAPTER 107: NANCY HITTING WALL

These novels were bestsellers on other major platforms. The 200,000 dollars was the post-tax royalty share, with all types of taxes already deducted. There was even a tax payment certificate, meaning not even a ghost could find fault with it.

The System stated that all big data had been pre-processed, and all contracts were recorded in black and white, so the money was especially clean.

"Not even beggars would write online novels!!!"

Luis slept soundly. The next morning, Lily went out carefully so as not to wake her husband. When he woke up, it was already noon, and no one was home.

The Mother In Law had probably left early because she was acting coy again after sobering up. Luis was curious about his sister in law Nancy’s lazy nature—how could she, who loved sleeping until noon, be up so early?

Luis lay lazily in bed, took out his phone, and saw that some information had been updated.

"Daniel, you bastard, what’s wrong with me using the car? My name is on the license too."

"Nancy, stop making such a fuss. It’s true your name is on it, but did you pay for it?"

"You took my BMW to let your mom practice driving. Are you insane? Now it’s all scratched up. Do you even have the money to fix it?"

"And what’s with the paint on the door yesterday? ’Repay your debts’? What’s that about?"

"How should I know? I owe credit card debt, and credit card companies don’t do this. Maybe you’ve incurred gambling debts somewhere else?"

Nancy clearly said this out of guilt and probably had a guess about who did it.

"Don’t play dumb. Those online loan companies have been calling me nonstop, several times a day. What are you going to do about all the money you owe?"

"Bullshit! You enjoyed spending it too. Where do you think that PS4 came from?"

"Give me a break. Your cosmetics, beauty memberships, and gym cards—did I use any of that?"

"Nancy, I’m telling you, the calls have reached my dad. You’d better explain yourself. I don’t have the money to cover your losses if you keep spending like this."

"I have no money. At most, I can sell my gold jewelry."

"Are you kidding me? You already sold it once! What you have left isn’t even worth 5,000 dollars??"

Wow, it seemed Nancy was no ordinary spendthrift. When she used to show off, a set of cosmetics could easily cost thousands, and a lipstick costing over a thousand was normal.

As for the gold jewelry, when she got married, all of Daniel’s relatives gave gold as gifts. Luis remembered her saying it was worth at least over 10,000 dollars, but she had already sold most of it, leaving only about 5,000 dollars’ worth.

"I don’t care. You go get it back for me."

"You tell my mom yourself. I can’t bring myself to ask. Also, tell those debt collectors to stop calling me."

The conversation ended there. After looking at the information collected by the System, Luis understood the general situation.

The high-end apartment they used as their wedding home was bought a long time ago and was registered under Daniel’s name alone. The renovation was paid for by Daniel’s parents, and the mortgage was also being repaid by his parents.

This couple, who lived off their parents, were idle and spent money lavishly. They were utterly wasteful.

Daniel’s wedding was a grand affair that drained his family’s savings. But the gold jewelry given was so meager because Daniel was heavily in debt from gambling at the time.

Even though his parents worked hard to fill the hole of tens of thousands of dollars, it was still very difficult for the young couple to rely on their parents after marriage. They lived a carefree life using credit cards.

At the beginning of the year, there was a wave of thefts in their apartment building, so the couple decided to store the remaining gold jewelry in the safe of Daniel’s parents.

In other words, Nancy, who appeared to be living a prosperous life, now only had gold jewelry worth 5,000 dollars and half of a second-hand domestic BMW left...

God’s perspective was so satisfying. After Luis’s analysis, he realized his sister in law was almost at her wit’s end.

The pile of debts was already in a terrible state, and now, with the involvement of the Nova Media contract, it immediately became a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Luis was mentally jolted awake and immediately looked at the other information collected by the System.

Among it was material related to Nova Media, likely a call intercepted from the boss’s phone:

"This Nancy, damn it, the more I think about it, the more unwilling I feel to let it go. With her looks and figure, once I drag her into this, I dare to quote over ten thousand per night."

"These days, married women are still very popular."

"Notify the lawyer, speed up the prosecution. The moment the lawsuit is filed, enforce it immediately."

"If she gives me attitude, this time I will definitely make her life miserable and ruin her reputation completely."

With this information, Luis felt even more confident. He had no idea what Nancy was up to. She couldn’t possibly have the guts to ask her parents-in-law for those gold jewelry pieces back, could she?

Before, she had always complained about them being gifts from elders, calling them old-fashioned and tacky. Now, she probably couldn’t even explain the fact that she was buried in debt.

Birds of a feather flock together—this couple was constantly drowning in debt. Daniel’s parents probably couldn’t take it anymore.

He continued playing dumb, waiting for her to come to him on her own. Luis quickly formulated a strategy: make Nancy crack under the pressure until she had no choice but to ask him for help.

"Ten Thousand dollars? Nancy, why do you..."

"Sister Minnie, I really need it for something urgent."

"How could I possibly have that much money? I just bought a new bag and I’m still in debt myself."

As soon as that call ended, another recording played.

"Dexter..."

Luis was puzzled, wondering who this bastard was. But then he seemed to recall Lily mentioning that he might be the sister-in-law’s first love.

"Nancy, you’re finally paying attention to me. I told you, no matter whether you’re married or not, I will always love you the most."

"I don’t love her—it was an arranged marriage by my family. As long as you’re willing, I still love you the most."

Damn it, this guy sounded like a seasoned player, probably looking to fool around with someone else’s wife without taking any responsibility. What a legend among men.

Nancy Yao’s voice trembled with emotion as she spoke again, "Dexter, I... I have something I need to ask for your help with."

"As long as it’s your matter, no matter how small, I would go through fire and water for you..."

His tone was overflowing with righteous passion.

"I want to borrow Ten thousand dollars from you. I’ve recently..."

Before she could even finish, Dexter cut her off, "Nancy, I want to help you, but my hands are tied."

"I just bought a house and have no money left. My salary card is with my wife. I’m struggling myself right now..."

"Then could you try to think of a way..."

"My kid is crying, that’s it!!"

Nancy made several calls but failed to borrow any money. Even at this point, she still didn’t dare ask her in-laws for the jewelry back, nor did she dare borrow from other relatives or friends for fear of being laughed at.

Of course, the main reason was that she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to borrow anything at all. After all, she knew exactly what kind of relatives she had.

"Dad!!"

What Luis hadn’t expected was that she even called her father-in-law, Arthur, cautiously explaining that she was short on money recently and wanted to borrow some.

"I am still begging left and right for this year’s project payments. I’m even planning to sell my car—how could I have any spare cash? I was actually hoping you could talk to your parents-in-law about it."

"You’re already married. If you’re facing difficulties, you should discuss it with them."

"They’re salaried workers with savings. They don’t even spend their own money on food and drinks."

"Please do Dad a favor and ask them about this. When you got married, we didn’t ask for any betrothal gifts. They should remember that."

This phone call would absolutely crush Nancy’s hopes, because Arthur worked in construction engineering. His life had been comfortable in previous years, but now it was clear he was also struggling financially.

He had always been old-fashioned and biased toward sons over daughters, believing that a married daughter was like water spilled on the ground, gone forever. He believed Nancy should take her problems to her in-laws.

Most importantly, he was also a man who cared deeply about face. The fact that he had resorted to asking his daughter’s in-laws for money proved that his own situation was dire.

Luis couldn’t help but feel a sense of schadenfreude. His sister-in-law was probably at the end of her rope now. It all depended on how that Anglo would choose to kick her while she was down.

After thinking for a moment, Luis called Nancy Yao and asked, "Elder Sister, where are you?"

"Drinking coffee at the mall!!"

Nancy’s voice sounded weak and utterly dejected.

"I’m coming to see you. There’s something I need your cooperation with."