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Since the end of last month, business at the tavern had improved significantly compared to when Xu Ye first arrived.
Today was no different.
Starting from eight o’clock, groups of customers had come in one after another. Xu Ye and Zhou Ying were run off their feet. Fortunately, things finally settled down a bit after half past ten. Just as Xu Ye was about to take a breather, Qin Zhiwei walked in from outside.
“Zhiwei-ge, what the hell are you doing here?”
Qin Zhiwei replied with an exasperated look, “I’m here to spend money. Is that not allowed? Get me a cold beer.”
Xu Ye said, “There’s some in the fridge. Grab one yourself.”
“You’re the server, I’m the customer. Ever heard of ‘the customer is god’?”
Xu Ye threw an arm around Qin Zhiwei and, with a quick move, locked him under his armpit. “Yeah? Try barking again, you mutt!”
Zhou Ying, seeing how they were horsing around, immediately guessed they were classmates. While the two of them were roughhousing, she went to the fridge and fetched a cold beer, handing it to Qin Zhiwei.
Qin Zhiwei gave a sheepish thank you. Once Zhou Ying walked away, he leaned over and asked in a hushed voice, “Which one’s your boss lady?”
When Xu Ye first came to look for a job, he’d already told Qin Zhiwei that the boss lady was stunning—and that little detail had been etched in Qin Zhiwei’s mind ever since.
He’d been dying to come by and see for himself whether Xu Ye’s claim that she had “a voluptuous figure, a slim waist, a perky butt, gorgeous looks, a sweet voice, and long legs” was the real deal.
Xu Ye chuckled. “The boss lady was here all the time until recently. Today’s the only day she didn’t show up. Guess you just weren’t meant to be so lucky.”
“For real?”
“If I’m lying, I’ll call you Grandpa.”
Qin Zhiwei immediately lost all interest. He slumped into a seat. Since the tavern had quieted down, Xu Ye grabbed two glasses and joined him for a drink.
“You’re out this late—your mom doesn’t say anything?”
“My mom went to visit my grandma, and my dad’s pulling an all-nighter.”
“All-nighter?”
“There’s a football match at dawn,” Qin Zhiwei explained. “You know my dad—he doesn’t care about much, just obsessed with football.”
Xu Ye laughed. “It’s been kind of hectic at the tavern lately. I probably won’t get off till around eleven. Wanna wait and walk back together?”
“Sure. My mom’s not home anyway, so no one’s on my case.”
Grinning, Qin Zhiwei pulled out his phone. “I just joined our school’s new student group chat. Someone dropped a photo of our campus beauty in there. Here, judge for yourself.”
He opened his gallery and handed the phone over to Xu Ye.
Xu Ye glanced at it. “This is it?”
“What do you mean, ‘this is it’?! She’s not good-looking to you?”
“She’s just average. Can’t compare to my girlfriend.”
“Oh, give me a break.”
Xu Ye didn’t bother to argue. He changed the subject. “When did you get a new phone? What brand is that?”
“Vivo! Just launched this May! Snapdragon 801 flagship processor! Cool, right?!”
“It’s alright.”
“You get a new phone?”
“Nope.”
Qin Zhiwei looked puzzled. “You did so well on the exams and your parents didn’t give you money for a new phone?”
“They did. I just didn’t buy one. As long as this one still works, it’s good enough. Anyway, if you ask me, all the phones these days are junk.”
“You damn dog, all you do is brag now. When have you ever used a high-end phone?”
A 120Hz high refresh rate display, a battery that fully charges in 15 minutes, plus 5G speeds reaching hundreds of megabytes per second… Once you’ve used a phone like that, going back to a phone from 2014—what else can you call it but trash?
Xu Ye just smiled and didn’t respond.
The two of them kept boasting and daydreaming about university life as they drank. Time slipped by without them even noticing.
Around eleven, the last two customers in the shop stood up to leave. Xu Ye was just about to go clear the table, but then he froze when he overheard their conversation.
“Germany’s playing Brazil today. Who do you think will win?”
“Definitely Brazil. They’re so strong this year, and they’ve got the home-field advantage. How can Germany compete?”
“Not necessarily. Germany’s looking solid too. They beat France in the quarter-finals.”
“……”
Germany versus Brazil.
2014!
The 2014 World Cup!
How the hell did I forget about this golden opportunity to get rich?!
It suddenly hit Xu Ye—during the 2014 World Cup, the semi-final between Germany and host nation Brazil had ended with a shocking 7–1 scoreline.
Before the match, hardly anyone could have predicted such an outcome.
After all, Brazil was incredibly strong and had the home-field advantage. Even if Germany were to win, no one imagined the score would be so lopsided!
Back then, across all of Europe, only one drunken Dutchman placed a 200-euro bet on that exact score. Thanks to the 6500-to-1 odds, he ended up winning 11 million yuan!
That story had made headlines at the time.
How the hell could I forget something like that?!
Xu Ye stood stunned for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Qin Zhiwei by the shoulders and asked, “How did you get here?”
“Rode my electric scooter.”
“Give me your keys!”
“What for?”
“I need to go out—hurry, give them to me!”
Qin Zhiwei had no idea why Xu Ye was suddenly so worked up, but he still handed over the scooter keys. Xu Ye immediately turned to Zhang Xiaonuan and Zhou Ying, saying, “Xiaonuan-jie, Zhou Ying-jie, I need to head out for a bit. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
Xu Ye dashed out in a hurry, jumped on the electric scooter, and sped straight to the sports lottery outlet.
Luckily, because of the World Cup, the lottery shop’s hours had been extended to midnight. As soon as Xu Ye got off the scooter, he rushed into the shop.
“Boss, can I still place a bet on the Germany vs. Brazil World Cup match?”
The shopkeeper replied slowly, “Yes, you can.”
“What about the score? Can I bet on the final score?”
“Yes, betting on the exact score gives you higher odds. What score are you going with?”
“7 to 1!”
The shopkeeper glanced at him. “You haven’t bet before, have you? In official sports lotteries, scores with a single-side total over 5 are lumped into an ‘Other’ category. It’s different here compared to overseas. Unless you’re placing an underground bet, but those are illegal.”
“Huh?” Xu Ye was completely clueless about this stuff.
“Do you want to bet on something else? The odds are pretty high for other options too.”
“I’ll take it!”
“Brazil to win?”
“Germany.”
“You want to bet on Germany beating Brazil?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? For Germany to win, they’d have to score more than five goals. That’s almost impossible.”
Xu Ye nodded firmly. “That’s what I’ll bet on. What are the odds?”
“One hundred fifty times.”
Only 150 times? Damn!
If I could put all my money into this, I’d be rich.
But all his cash was already tied up in the stock market. He only had the 3,300 yuan salary Zhang Xiaonuan gave him that night. And to take it out, he’d have to get his card and withdraw the money—there’s no way he had enough time.
Xu Ye took out all the money and handed it to the shop owner. “Here’s 3,300 yuan. Help me place a bet on Germany beating Brazil, with Germany scoring more than five goals.”
“3,300 yuan? Young man, are you sure about this? Don’t be impulsive just because you’ve had a bit to drink.” The owner had already smelled the alcohol on Xu Ye and thought he was drunk.
“I’ve thought it through.”
“All right, I’ll place the bet, but this money is non-refundable.”
“Go ahead.”
The owner printed out a ticket according to Xu Ye’s request and handed it over. After making sure the bet was correct, Xu Ye carefully put the ticket away and quickly left the lottery shop.
No sooner had he left than the owner shook his head, muttering to himself, “So young, yet drinking makes him so reckless. Betting on Germany scoring over five goals to beat Brazil? That’s just crazy!”