The night quietly passed.

Early the next morning, Benny arrived at the office once again.

Standing downstairs, he took a deep breath before looking up at the rented commercial space belonging to Autumn Investment Company and then walked inside.

As expected, Lucy was already there.

She sat behind her desk with documents spread around her while typing on the computer.

The office itself was still mostly empty, making her lone figure appear especially diligent in the quiet morning atmosphere.

Benny nodded inwardly in satisfaction.

She’s really hardworking, looks like I’ll have to raise her salary.

Almost instantly, the cold mechanical notification rang out inside his mind.

[Being diligent does not qualify as a valid reason for salary increase.]

Benny paused mid-step.

"...Oh."

What a pity.

Benny walked over casually before leaning slightly against the desk.

"Hello there, beautiful lady," he greeted lightly. "Why do you look so down this early in the morning?"

Lucy visibly startled, clearly, she hadn’t noticed him entering at all.

And the moment she recognized Benny, the source of almost all her recent stress, she immediately stood up straight.

"G-Good morning, Boss!" she greeted hurriedly.

"Good morning to you too," Benny replied cheerfully. "So, what has you thinking so hard this early in the morning?"

He casually pulled a chair over and sat down across from her.

"How did the loan go?" he asked with a chuckle. "Did they approve it?"

Lucy sighed deeply.

"Yes," she answered weakly. "He approved the full amount."

Benny immediately brightened.

"Great!" he laughed. "I knew that Zhang Qiang fellow was a great lad."

Lucy opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again.

"Umm... Boss..."

"What is it?" Benny asked, clearly still in an excellent mood.

Lucy bit her lip before finally speaking.

"About that... He asked for a very high interest rate."

Benny’s eyes instantly lit up, however, his facial muscles immediately entered a life-and-death struggle to remain calm and neutral.

"Oh?"

"How high?" he asked steadily.

Lucy took a deep breath before reading directly from the agreement.

"12% compound interest per month and there’s no touch on the café equity," she continued quietly, "but the company’s office equipment remains listed as financing liability."

Benny instantly frowned, not because the interest sounded terrifying but because he genuinely couldn’t tell whether this was considered good or bad.

After all, if Zhang Qiang was truly the type of ruthless loan shark Benny imagined him to be... then wasn’t twelve percent strangely low?

At least lower than he expected.

Benny immediately began trying to calculate things mentally.

Twelve percent every month... compounded...

Wait.

How much money is that exactly?

Unfortunately, mathematics had never been his strongest subject.

Especially not finance mathematics.

In the end, he decided to directly ask the professional.

"...What’s compound interest?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Lucy froze completely.

She slowly sank back into her chair as her soul left her body.

All hope vanished from her eyes in that exact second.

Because until now, some small part of her had still desperately believed her boss was secretly some hidden business genius.

But hearing the owner of an investment company ask what compound interest was...

That final illusion shattered completely.

Benny frowned thoughtfully before suddenly pulling out his phone.

"If I don’t understand something," he declared seriously, "then the internet shall guide me."

Lucy stared blankly as Benny opened Yoogle and typed:

What is compound interest?

A moment later, he began reading the explanation aloud straight from the screen.

"’Compound interest refers to interest calculated on both the initial principal and the accumulated interest from previous periods...’"

Benny’s brows slowly furrowed tighter and tighter as he read further.

Several seconds later, he finally lowered the phone.

Then he looked toward Lucy with complete seriousness.

"...Assistant Lucy."

"Y-Yes, Boss?"

"Explain it to me in human language."

Lucy nearly choked yet she still forced herself to calm down before carefully organizing her thoughts.

"Normal interest," she began cautiously, "is fixed based only on the principal amount."

"For example, if we borrow one hundred thousand yuan at twelve percent normal interest, then every month the interest would simply remain twelve thousand yuan."

Benny nodded slowly as that sounded reasonable.

"But compound interest is different," Lucy continued weakly. "The unpaid interest gets added back into the total debt."

"And then... next month’s interest gets calculated on the new amount."

Benny blinked.

"...Meaning?"

Lucy swallowed nervously before giving the simplest explanation possible.

"If we don’t pay the loan back this month," she said quietly, "then the debt becomes one hundred and twelve thousand yuan."

"And if we still don’t pay next month..."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"...then the twelve percent interest won’t be calculated from one hundred thousand anymore."

"It’ll be calculated from one hundred and twelve thousand."

Benny stared at the numbers with a blank expression.

"Wait."

He pointed at the screen.

"So just by waiting one extra month... we somehow owe an extra thirteen thousand four hundred and forty yuan?"

Lucy swallowed nervously.

"Y-yes."

She then continued weakly.

"And if this continues every month.....the debt keeps growing exponentially."

Benny’s pupils shook.

He immediately grabbed the mouse and scrolled further down the page.