If we use a modern term, it basically means “the other man.” George Harris is the third son in his family and also the youngest, so he’s called Scott Harris; some people also call him Sammy Harris. The meaning is that this person is black-hearted, ruthless, even his guts are black. Of course, “Sammy Harris” is only used behind his back—very few dare to call him that to his face. Edward Brooks is one of the few, but with so many people present, he doesn’t want to go too far. Calling him “Scott Harris” is about the same.

George Harris’s expression changed, and his arrogance suddenly flared up.

“Little Edward, I’m here today to collect a debt.”

Collect a debt?

Nancy Johnson looked puzzled and turned to Edward Brooks. Her look clearly asked: You owe him money?

Edward Brooks himself had no idea what was going on.

But seeing how confident George Harris looked, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Could this bastard really owe George Harris money? It’s possible… just not sure how much.

“What debt?”

Edward Brooks decided he needed to get to the bottom of this.

George Harris immediately burst out laughing, pointing at Edward Brooks’s nose. “Little Edward, are you trying to deny your debt?”

His spit landed on Edward Brooks’s face, making Edward Brooks furious. He reached out, grabbed George Harris’s wrist, and twisted it upward. Edward Brooks was strong—just a little force, and George Harris cried out in pain, falling to his knees with a thud at Edward Brooks’s feet.

Volume One, Sixth Year of Xuanhe, Chapter 004: Yannu (Part 2)

Edward Brooks let go, stepped back, and sneered, “Stay away from me. You have bad breath, you know that?”

“You…”

Beside them, Nancy couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

That laugh was like a spring blossom, beautiful and enchanting.

George Harris’s face turned bright red as he got up from the ground.

Maybe he felt he’d lost face just now, so he was a bit angry and embarrassed. He pulled out a promissory note from his chest and threw it in front of Edward Brooks. “Black and white, written clearly—if we go to the Kaifeng Prefecture, I can explain everything. What, Little Edward, are you trying to deny your debt? Three hundred guan—when are you going to pay?”

Three hundred guan?

The smile on Nancy’s face vanished instantly.

She quickly bent down to pick up the note, scanned it quickly, and her face turned ugly.

Edward Brooks’s heart skipped a beat. He snatched the note from Nancy’s hand.

The note was written thirteen days ago. The gist was that George Harris and Edward Brooks had a wrestling match, each putting up three hundred guan as a wager. The loser had to pay the winner three hundred guan within two months, or else use their property as collateral.

Wrestling here basically meant sumo wrestling by agreement.

Gambling was rampant in the Song Dynasty, and in Kaifeng Prefecture, everyone loved to gamble.

The ways to gamble were endless, all sorts of things. You could even bet on a cart of oranges. Wrestling was also a very common form of gambling. Edward Brooks didn’t have any memories of this, but looking at the note—black and white, written clearly—it was probably not a fake. In other words, this note was from the match he had with Benjamin Thompson ten days ago. At the time, Edward Brooks hadn’t expected George Harris to bring in Benjamin Thompson, and caught off guard, he was accidentally killed by Benjamin Thompson, which led to the current Edward Brooks’s rebirth.

“Three hundred guan? Little Ethan, are you crazy?”

“Yeah, three hundred guan is a lot. What are you going to do?”

He could hear the whispers of onlookers outside the door. Nancy’s face looked terrible, her bright eyes fixed on Edward Brooks.

She never imagined Edward Brooks would gamble so big. She knew he sometimes placed small bets, but it was usually just a few dozen wen, never more than a hundred. But now—three hundred guan!

Nancy was furious!

Edward Brooks was also a bit dazed.

His butcher shop was on Ma Xing Street, right next to the Alum Tower, so business was great—one of the best butcher shops in Kaifeng Prefecture. But even so, a full-grown pig weighing 150 jin was worth only thirty-eight guan at most. And the net profit was less than one guan. On a really good day, he could sell three to five hundred jin of fresh and cooked meat, but the net profit was only about three guan.

In a month, making twenty or thirty guan was already amazing.

Three hundred guan was almost a year’s profit for the butcher shop.

Even if he started working day and night from now on, there was no way he could make three hundred guan in two months.

Seeing Nancy’s anger rising, Edward Brooks felt a headache coming on.

He wasn’t George Harris, and he wasn’t in the habit of dodging debts. This was probably a trap George Harris set for Edward Brooks, which led to this situation.

Thinking of this, Edward Brooks said, “Sammy Harris, the note clearly says two months. It’s only been ten days—there’s still plenty of time. Why are you in such a hurry to come to my house?”

With the note in hand, black and white, there was no denying it.

Although this matter had nothing to do with Edward Brooks, now that he occupied this body, he couldn’t escape responsibility. So, he might as well admit it straightforwardly and get rid of George Harris first.

However, in his words, Edward Brooks wouldn’t give George Harris any face.

Since this guy came looking for trouble, he might as well tear off all pretense. Sammy Harris is Sammy Harris—what, is he going to get physical?

There was a burst of snickering from the crowd, making George Harris furious.