Chapter 13

She remembered that in her past life, Father Lin had already saved some money by this time, borrowed some from relatives, and gathered a few hundred thousand to build a house. However, the house was a standard rural brick house—one floor with two large rooms, whitewashed walls, and a one-meter-high tiled base at the corners. There were only two rooms.

She didn’t quite understand.

The living room had only one occupied space, so why build two? The other room was left empty, wasted for no reason. In winter, the house felt especially cold because it was too spacious.

Now that she had money, she didn’t want a house like that anymore.

With that thought, she no longer hesitated.

She moved closer to Father Lin, prepared her words in her mind, and then spoke:
“Dad, didn’t I tell you before? I bought a computer, wrote stories, and earned some money.”

“Mhm, so what? You didn’t earn much, right? You’re still young. It’s fine even if you don’t make anything.”

“That’s not it.” Her novel was actually quite popular, and she had earned a decent amount.

She was briefly distracted by Father Lin’s response but quickly refocused.
“That’s not what I wanted to say. When I bought the computer, there was a promotion, and they gave me a lottery ticket. I won.”

Father Lin didn’t know much about the lottery, so he didn’t react much. He just asked casually, “Oh? How much did you win? Five yuan? A hundred? A few hundred? You can keep it for yourself, no need to tell me.”

Now that Lin Nanzhi had her own ideas and was responsible, Father Lin wasn’t worried about her. Besides, thinking about the past still made him feel guilty, so he had no intention of interfering.

Lin Nanzhi pursed her lips. The road was slippery, and since they had reached the village, she didn’t say anything else.
“I’ll tell you when we get home.”

Father Lin nodded, not taking it to heart.

Once they got home, Father Lin sat on the couch, turned on the TV, and started watching a spy drama. Lin Nanxun had also returned and was munching on sunflower seeds he brought back.

Lin Nanzhi slowly sat down next to Father Lin and held up five fingers.
“I won this much!”

At first, Father Lin didn’t react. After two seconds, he recalled their conversation about the lottery earlier. His response was still lukewarm:
“Five hundred? Just keep it.”

How much could you possibly win in a small town like theirs?

“No.”

“Then how much? Five thousand? Fifty thousand?”

Father Lin thought five hundred was already a lot. Could she really have won five thousand? Fifty thousand? As for five million, he thought about it and felt that if it was that much, she wouldn’t have waited until now to tell him.

“What are you guys talking about?” Lin Nanxun was confused.

Won something?

What five hundred?

What five thousand? Fifty thousand?

“The lottery.”

“You won?”

Lin Nanzhi nodded. Lin Nanxun became interested and leaned in boldly.
“Fifty million?”

Silence fell over the room.

Father Lin: “……”

You sure dare to dream!

I didn’t even dare to guess fifty thousand, and you went straight to fifty million!

Not even in my dreams!

Lin Nanzhi: “!!!”

Holy crap, does my little brother have mind-reading powers? How did he guess so accurately?

Seeing the two of them staring at him, Lin Nanxun suddenly felt nervous.
“I was just saying whatever.”

It’s the lottery, after all. Might as well dream big!

If it weren’t too ridiculous, he would’ve said five billion!

Who doesn’t want to become the world’s richest person overnight?

But he never expected Lin Nanzhi to give him a thumbs-up and smile.
“You guessed right.”

“Pfft.”

Lin Nanxun scoffed, clearly not believing her. He thought she was joking and shifted away to continue watching TV. Even Father Lin assumed she was playing around and ignored her, focusing on the TV.

Lin Nanzhi: “……”

Is it impossible for people to believe the truth these days?

But she could understand.

When she first found out she had won more than fifty million, she thought she was dreaming too. She even slapped herself twice, felt the pain, and then counted the numbers over and over before finally believing it.

—-

After all, in a rural town like theirs, even having fifty thousand was impressive. Five hundred thousand was considered a fortune. Fifty million… Ha, it was unimaginable.

With no other choice, Lin Nanzhi took out the check from her storage space.

At first, she thought the storage ability was useless. But now, she suddenly felt it was incredible. With this much money inside, even if she got kidnapped, at least the money wouldn’t be lost.

“Dad, see for yourself.”

She handed the check to Father Lin. Since she had never lied as a child, let alone joked with him, her serious expression made him a little suspicious. He hesitantly took the check and examined it.

He had never seen a check before and couldn’t tell if it was real, but the official stamp on it didn’t look fake. Then he counted the digits—
Ones, tens, hundreds… millions, ten millions!

It was really fifty million!!!

Father Lin shot to his feet in shock and counted again. It was still fifty-two million.

“Is… is this real?”

“Mhm. I used your ID to buy it, and the registered phone number is also yours. In a few days, the bank will call you, or you can take the check to the bank to confirm.”

Father Lin was speechless.

Lin Nanxun, seeing his father’s reaction, was also confused. He moved closer to check. He couldn’t tell if the check was real, but he could confirm that the number written on it was fifty million—both in digits and words.

“Holy crap… Lin Nanzhi, you’re amazing! Our family—” Lin Nanxun’s voice rose several decibels in excitement. Lin Nanzhi quickly covered his mouth.

“Shut up.

Are you an idiot?

No one can know our family won fifty million. Otherwise, someone might come after us. If it’s just a thief, that’s one thing. If someone with evil intentions wants to kill for the money, then what?”

She actually wanted to say that if anyone in the village found out, the whole village would know. If the whole village knew, then the entire county would know. Then the whole city, the whole country.

By then, not just reporters and charity organizations would come knocking—every possible relative, no matter how distant, would show up asking for money.

And once you lend it out, you’ll never get it back.

If you ask for repayment, people will call you stingy, saying you have so much money, why be petty over such a small amount?

Charity organizations would be the same.

Lin Nanzhi wasn’t against donating and helping those in need. She just didn’t want to do it through charities, most of which were just money-grabbing scams disguised as philanthropy.

She explained this reasoning to the two of them.

Lin Nanxun immediately thought of a story his mother had told him.

A distant relative had once won five million in the lottery. After taxes, they got four million. Word spread within a hundred miles. Relatives came asking for money, thieves stole part of it, and the borrowed money was never returned.

Worse, when journalists interviewed him, they pressured him to donate. When he refused, they painted him as heartless in newspapers and news reports. He was criticized by countless people, had eggs thrown at his house, and in the end, he was driven to suicide.

Remembering this, Lin Nanxun’s eyes widened in terror. He quickly covered his own mouth, looked around cautiously, and whispered,
“I heard Mom mention this. Someone from Grandma’s hometown won and then…”

Father Lin, overwhelmed by the shock, hadn’t thought that far. But after hearing Lin Nanzhi’s analysis and Lin Nanxun’s story, his scalp tingled with fear.