Chapter 55 – Listening to Your Wife Really Does Lead to “Prosperity”

The driver parked the car outside the Xiao family estate, and Tu Shanju got out.

She looked at the large front gate.

The golden trim on the characters embossed across the gate perfectly embodied the Xiao family’s sense of grandeur.

There was a designated visitor reception area at the entrance. A security guard came out to greet her.
“Hello, may I ask who you’re here to see?”

“I’m here for Xiao Yingwei. I’m his creditor.”

The guard froze.
“Creditor?”

Tu Shanju nodded.

The guard gave her a once-over—actually, several times over—and couldn’t help but internally mutter in disbelief.

This girl looked like she had just come of age. She didn’t even seem as old as the young ladies and young masters of the house.

She was claiming to be President Xiao’s creditor?

What kind of joke was this?

Still, he kept his thoughts to himself. No matter who someone was, if they came asking for the master of the house, it wasn’t his place to make comments. Losing his job over a few snide words wasn’t worth it.

These days, the most dangerous thing was running your mouth. His wife reminded him constantly: “The secret to a peaceful life is keeping your mouth shut.”

“Alright, please wait a moment. There are some chairs here—you may take a seat while I notify the steward.”

Tu Shanju nodded politely. “Thank you.”

The guard quickly went back to his post and dialed the internal line.

Inside, as soon as they heard that the visitor claimed to be a creditor—and was just a young girl barely of age—they immediately denied any connection.

The guard let out a breath.
He knew he wasn’t mistaken. How could President Xiao owe money to some little girl?

He hung up and stepped out to tell the young woman, who was still waiting at the gate.
“I’m sorry, the steward says he doesn’t recognize you, so we can’t let you in. Please leave.”

He didn’t say anything rude, nor did he sneer or mock her. Just polite rejection.

Tu Shanju remained unbothered. “It’s alright. You’ll get a call back from inside any moment now.”

“What?”

Just as the words left her lips, the phone inside the security booth rang.

The guard, now doubtful, ran back and picked up the receiver.

As soon as he answered, the old steward’s breathless voice came through—clearly out of breath from running.
“Hurry! That girl you just mentioned—she didn’t leave, right? Stop her! Don’t let her go! She’s a VIP guest of President Xiao!”

“Ah, these damned old legs, why can’t I run faster!”

“Stop her! If she leaves, we’ll all be packing up and getting fired!”

The guard looked outside—and met Tu Shanju’s gaze as she smiled lightly at him. His heart skipped a beat.

See? Listening to your wife really does lead to ‘prosperity.’

Thank goodness he hadn’t said anything nasty or been disrespectful.

The golden-trimmed electric gate slowly opened, and an elderly man—probably in his sixties—ran out.

Apparently winded, he bent over, hands on knees, panting heavily.
“May… may I ask, miss, are you from the Tu Shan family?”

Tu Shanju took two steps forward.
“Mm, Tu Shanju. I’m here to collect on a ten-year-old debt.”

This old steward had been with the Xiao family since they first became wealthy. He was also a distant relative of Xiao Yingwei, so he naturally knew about the “old matter” from a decade ago.

Since March this year, Xiao Yingwei had been constantly reminding him to watch for incoming visitors—especially fearing they might accidentally slight the Knife-Creditor Clan.

When he first got the call from the security booth describing a young girl just barely out of her teens, he hadn’t made the connection.

Once it hit him, he dropped everything and ran like hell.

Tu Shanju was used to this kind of thing. She stepped forward and helped the steward up.

“Thank you, Miss Tu Shan. I’ve already informed President Xiao. He just left the office and is on his way back. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable.”

Tu Shanju nodded. She had calculated the timing; they’d arrive almost simultaneously.

Sure enough, she had just been invited into the sitting room when a chubby man hurried in through the front door.

The moment Xiao Yingwei stepped inside, his eyes landed on Tu Shanju sitting in the living room.

He froze at first—but quickly recalled what someone had once told him:

“The one who comes to collect the debt in the future will be one of our juniors—our most outstanding one.”

He hadn’t expected her to be even younger than his own daughter.

His daze lasted only a second before he quickly replaced it with a warm and enthusiastic smile.

“Miss Tu Shan, hello! I’m Xiao Yingwei. Ten years ago, I credited a knife from Mr. Tu Shanliang. I’ve been awaiting the arrival of the Tu Shan clan ever since. I’m honored you’re finally here.”

Anyone who owed a Knife-Creditor lived with constant anxiety—terrified they’d be forgotten… until something terrible happened.

What they didn’t know was: as long as the debtor didn’t deliberately try to renege, nothing serious would happen.

But that little “secret” of the trade was never shared with outsiders. It was a convenient way to keep them on edge.

Of course, if someone really did try to escape or deny the debt, the backlash they’d suffer would be unbearable.

There had been such a case before.

In a village at the foot of Tu Shan mountain, a child fell into a river. His soul was seized by a water ghost as a substitute death. The family’s elder begged Tu Shantu for help—and credited a knife.

Once the problem was resolved, Tu Shantu only accepted 200 yuan symbolically as payment.

But when the boy’s parents came back from working in the city, they refused to acknowledge the incident. They called it superstitious nonsense and even tried to report Tu Shantu to the police.

Tu Shantu only asked them one thing:

“You really want that 200 yuan back?”

They insisted.

That same night, the elderly man who had originally credited the knife went to the kitchen to serve food. He accidentally knocked over a cleaver from the counter, which fell and cleanly severed his foot.

It was the same cleaver they used for chopping meat—dull as a brick.

But the wound was perfectly clean, as if cut by a brand-new razor-sharp blade.

The story spread through the village like wildfire. Everyone said the family had broken their promise—and been punished by the heavens for reneging on a knife-credit.

The old man’s foot was never reattached. To this day, he walks with a limp.

That was just one kind of backlash for reneging on a knife-credit.

As time went on, the family’s fortune declined drastically.

Which is why, whether human, ghost, demon, or god—anyone who owed a knife-debt was desperate to repay once the prophecy came true. They’d happily hand over a generous reward.

Tu Shanju responded with a calm nod and directly stated the purpose of her visit:
“Five hundred jin of gold—half in jewelry, half in gold bars.”

Five hundred jin—five hundred pounds of gold.

Xiao Yingwei didn’t bat an eye and nodded right away.
“Of course, Miss Tu Shan. I assumed the payment would be via bank transfer, so I don’t have that much gold on hand. I’ll need a day to arrange everything. Would it be alright if I personally deliver it to you tomorrow?”

Tu Shanju didn’t make things difficult. She had only come today to give notice anyway.

Even as a major gold and jewelry tycoon, it wasn’t like he could produce 500 jin of gold on the spot. She understood that.

She nodded and was about to agree—when suddenly a voice interrupted—

“What?! Five hundred jin of gold? Are you robbing us?!”