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Damn it!
I actually forgot about the football match!
Xu Ye was filled with regret.
But to be fair, it wasn’t really his fault. He wasn’t a football fan, and he never watched matches. If that particular game hadn’t trended at the top of the hot search back in 2014, he wouldn’t have remembered it at all.
“Three thousand three, multiplied by a hundred and fifty… the prize isn’t even half a million. After 20% tax, I’m only getting four hundred thousand.”
Sitting on his electric scooter, Xu Ye saw that the owner of the lottery shop by the roadside had already pulled the shutter door halfway down. Letting out a long sigh, he muttered, “Forget it, I should be content. At least I made it in time. Throw that four hundred thousand into the stock market, and if I’m lucky, with this bull market, I might see it grow tenfold, even a hundredfold.”
Xu Ye consoled himself with those words, then rode his electric scooter back.
Inside the tavern—
Zhang Xiaonuan and Zhou Ying had already finished cleaning up the place. When Qin Zhiwei saw Xu Ye return, he hurried over and asked, “Where did you go?”
“Secret.”
“Screw you!”
Of course, Xu Ye wasn’t going to tell Qin Zhiwei that he’d gone to the lottery shop. That had to stay under wraps. When the match results came out tomorrow, he couldn’t exactly admit he had some kind of foresight.
Come to think of it, spending three thousand three on that lottery ticket wasn’t so unreasonable. If he’d really spent ten or twenty thousand and actually won tomorrow, he’d probably be famous nationwide by now.
“Zhou Ying-jie, I’ll handle the cleanup tomorrow night. Thanks for covering today.”
Zhou Ying waved her hand with a smile and said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s getting late—why don’t you and your classmate head home first? I’ll catch a ride with Xiaonuan-jie later.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
When Xu Ye got home, the first thing he did was tuck the lottery ticket inside a book, then went to take a shower. Lying on his bed afterward, just thinking about how his savings were about to skyrocket from twenty thousand to over four hundred thousand made him genuinely excited.
That night, Xu Ye fell asleep with a mix of anticipation and unease.
Early the next morning—
Xu Ye had just woken up when he heard his phone buzzing nonstop. He grabbed it and checked the screen.
Autism Patient: “Holy crap! Xu Ye! That Germany vs. Brazil match early this morning ended 7–1!”
Autism Patient: “Do you even realize what that means?”
Autism Patient: “It’s like a wildcard team from League of Legends beating a Korean team—and giving them a clean sweep.”
Autism Patient: “My dad said things are a mess in Brazil. Some criminal groups over there have already made threats to hunt down the Brazilian players.”
Autism Patient: “Forget it. Why am I even telling you all this? You wouldn’t get it anyway.”
Autism Patient: “Are you going to practice Driving Test Part Three today?”
Xu Ye quickly typed back: “Not going. You go ahead without me—I’ve got something to do today.”
Autism Patient: “Alright then.”
Xu Ye jumped out of bed, opened the book, and checked the lottery ticket tucked inside. It was still there. He dashed into the bathroom to wash up.
Wang Yuxin looked at him curiously. “Xu Ye-ge, why are you up so early today?”
Xu Ye, toothbrush in mouth, poked his head out of the bathroom and said, “Yuxin, I’ve got something to do this morning. Stay home by yourself for a bit—I probably won’t be back until noon. Do you know how to rinse rice?”
“I do.”
“Then around eleven, rinse some yourself. Use the scoop in the container—just one scoop is enough. Don’t add too much water, just enough to cover your finger joint.”
Wang Yuxin nodded sweetly. “Okay.”
Xu Ye quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face, grabbed the lottery ticket and his ID documents, put on a mask, slipped on his shoes, and headed straight to the lottery center.
For single winnings above 500,000, one had to go to the provincial lottery center.
Yesterday, Xu Ye had spent 3,300 yuan, and with a 150x multiplier, the prize totaled exactly 495,000. So he only needed to go to the municipal lottery center to claim it.
He took a taxi to the lottery center. As soon as he entered, a staff member came to guide him. Xu Ye had expected that claiming such a large prize might attract a crowd or at least some curious onlookers, but the staff at the prize counter remained calm and composed…
“Sign your name, phone number, and ID number on the back.”
“Write a declaration on the photocopy of your ID, following this format.”
“Fill out this form.”
“Please wait a moment.”
“Check your bank messages—your winnings should have arrived.”
Xu Ye pulled out his phone, and right on cue, the message popped up.
He double-checked the amount before nodding and smiling. “I got the message. Thank you.”
By the time Xu Ye left the lottery center, it was nearly eleven.
He stretched with a deep breath, feeling completely refreshed. At that moment, the future felt full of promise.
Life was really starting to look up.
On his way home, he stopped by Ziyan Baiwei Chicken and bought a poached chicken as a little reward for himself.
When Wang Yuxin saw him return carrying a box of white-cut chicken, she looked surprised and asked, “Gege, did you strike it rich?”
“You can tell I got rich just from a single chicken?”
“You’re so stingy—there’s no way you’d buy this unless you struck it rich.”
Xu Ye was speechless. “Go clear the table and wash your hands. Time to eat.”
“Okay~”
That afternoon, Xu Ye didn’t go anywhere. He stayed home and transferred the entire 400,000 into his stock trading account. Relying on his instincts, he picked a few promising stocks and went all in.
By this time, the A-shares market was already showing signs of an upward trend.
For those who kept an eye on the stock market, it was well-known that starting from the third quarter of 2014, the market would begin to surge rapidly, climbing steadily for four consecutive quarters!
Getting his hands on that 400,000 at this exact moment was, for Xu Ye, like receiving charcoal in the snow, finding a boat in a desperate crossing, a light in the darkness, sweet rain after a long drought!
…
At Hongye Villa—
Chen Qingqing sat on the sofa, flipping through a manga with a bored expression. Usually, being home alone didn’t bother her, but today she couldn’t even get through a few pages before deciding the comic was unbearably dull.
Chen Qingqing simply closed the manga and took out her phone, opening WeChat.
She only had a handful of contacts on WeChat. After thinking for a moment, she tapped on her chat with Wang Yuxin and sent a message:
Chen Qingqing: “Are you home?”
Wang Yuxin replied quickly:
Wang Yuxin: “Yeah, I’m home.”
Chen Qingqing: “Are you alone?”
Wang Yuxin: “Xu Ye-ge is here too.”
Chen Qingqing: “What’s he doing?”
Wang Yuxin: “Not sure. He went out this morning, came back for lunch, and ever since then he’s just been staring at his phone, grinning like an idiot. I think he might’ve found money on the street.”
Wang Yuxin: (image)
Wang Yuxin: “Qingqing-jiejie, doesn’t he look like a total fool?”
Chen Qingqing opened the photo Wang Yuxin had sneakily taken of Xu Ye. He was sitting on the sofa, grinning like an idiot. She couldn’t help but chuckle.
Chen Qingqing: “He does!”
Wang Yuxin: “Qingqing-jiejie, my ge is going to University in Modu at the end of August. Where are you going for University?”
Chen Qingqing felt a little embarrassed to answer. But ignoring the message completely didn’t feel right either, so after a moment’s hesitation, she replied nervously:
Chen Qingqing: “I’m going to Modu too.”
Wang Yuxin: “You’re both going to Modu for University?!”
Wang Yuxin: “That’s amazing!”
Chen Qingqing: “Actually… I’m really scared of going to University.”
Wang Yuxin: “Why?”
Chen Qingqing: “Going to university means dealing with a lot of people. And I saw online that relationships in college dorms can be really complicated.”
Wang Yuxin: “Don’t worry. If you run into any problems, just go to my ge. He’s actually pretty reliable.”
Wang Yuxin: “Also, I have a secret to tell you.”
Chen Qingqing: “What secret?”
Wang Yuxin: “My brother pinned your WeChat chat to the top—like the ‘Special Concern’ feature on QQ.”
Chen Qingqing’s heart started pounding wildly.
…