8: Chapter 8 An Old Friend Visits

No matter how difficult things had been before, he had never once thought about selling this engagement ring.

Because he always believed that the beautiful times he spent with Chen Ling weren't fake.

But now, his mind had changed.

Some things, once they're in the past, are simply gone.

There was no need to keep old things around just to reminisce about the past.

The most important thing now was for him to earn enough money to cure his younger sister, Shen Ya!

After the shop owner finished weighing it, he typed a price into a calculator.

“Three thousand six hundred yuan. This is the highest price I can offer.”

Shen Yan knew the owner was definitely lowballing him, but he didn't haggle.

“Fine, give me the money now.”

Seeing how straightforward he was, the owner didn't dawdle either and directly scanned a code to transfer the money to Shen Yan.

Next, Shen Yan ran back to the sports lottery shop.

Only this time, he wasn't the only customer in the shop.

Over a dozen young people who had just finished work were crowded in front of the transparent display case.

It took Shen Yan a fair amount of effort to squeeze inside.

Fortunately, that stack of 'kylin king' tickets he had his eye on hadn't been sold yet.

“I'll take this stack!”

Hearing the voice, the old man looked up.

“You actually borrowed money and came back to buy lottery tickets?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the other young people in the shop immediately focused their gaze on Shen Yan.

“Borrowing money to scratch lottery tickets? Does he have nothing better to do?”

“My god, he's already broke and still wants to scratch cards...”

“How old is he, and he's still dreaming of getting rich overnight?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, such a handsome young man, why can't he just go earn money properly?”

The voices of doubt around him grew more and more numerous.

Shen Yan didn't explain; he firmly pointed at that stack of kylin king and said:

“I want this one, thank you.”

Seeing that he couldn't be dissuaded, the old man didn't say anything more.

After all, no one would turn away money.

“Fine, then scan the code. I'll give it to you once you've paid.”

Shen Yan nodded and scanned the code to pay six hundred yuan.

As soon as the money arrived, he immediately took that stack of kylin king to the side to scratch them.

Because everyone just now thought he had borrowed money to scratch tickets, as soon as he started, they all crowded around him.

Shen Yan ignored them and began scratching the tickets with a small metal plate.

The first one, nothing.

The second one, nothing.

The third one, still nothing.

...

He scratched a full fifteen tickets—half the stack—and only managed to get one fifty-yuan prize.

Seeing this, the crowd shook their heads one after another.

“Looking at him, I bet he won't even scratch out the guaranteed minimum.”

“It's looking pretty grim...”

“Is the guaranteed minimum three hundred?”

“Yeah, if he doesn't hit three hundred, the owner will make up the difference for him...”

Just as everyone was betting on whether the owner would need to make up the guaranteed prize money, Shen Yan threw down the small metal plate, stood up abruptly, and screamed:

“It's out! It's out!”

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly stood on their tiptoes to lean in and look.

“What's up? Did he really win?”

“Could it be a million?!”

Shen Yan blocked their view and slapped the lottery ticket in his hand down in front of the owner.

“Nine thousand five hundred yuan! Redeem it!”

The owner swallowed hard and picked up the ticket from the counter.

“Oh! You really did win. Young man, you have great luck! Are you going to scratch the rest of the tickets?”

Of course he would!

Shen Yan snatched up the remaining few tickets and scratched them one by one.

The prize money on those remaining tickets was quite high.

They were either a hundred or fifty.

Adding up the prize amounts from before...

The total prize money for the entire stack was exactly ten thousand yuan, which happened to be just under the threshold for personal income tax.

The others began to feel envious after seeing this.

“Tsk tsk tsk, although it's not a million, but... ten thousand is also very good!”

“No way, I want to try scratching two stacks too.”

“Hey, brother, why don't you help me pick a stack? I think your luck is pretty good.”

Shen Yan gave a slight smile and ignored the person.

When they were betting on the guaranteed prize, this person was the one bad-mouthing him the loudest.

There was no way in hell he was going to pay them any mind...

After redeeming the prizes, Shen Yan left the lottery shop looking radiant.

An income of ten thousand yuan in one day.

A week ago, he wouldn't have even dared to dream this in his wildest dreams.

Shen Yan felt he had already figured out the difference between advanced wealth intelligence and ordinary wealth intelligence.

ordinary wealth intelligence provided clues.

For example, where one could obtain money and the like.

advanced wealth intelligence provided money-making opportunities, such as where there were chances to earn money.

After analyzing it, Shen Yan felt he still preferred ordinary wealth intelligence more.

After all, to him, it was like picking up money from the ground.

But he also knew that it was definitely impossible to build a fortune and get rich relying solely on ordinary wealth intelligence.

Shen Ya's condition hadn't completely stabilized yet.

To cure his sister, he had to make big money as quickly as possible and find the best doctors.

Moreover, he also wanted to know what the major wealth intelligence and confidential wealth intelligence in the tycoon system were all about.

Thinking this, he took a rare taxi home.

Just as he reached the second-floor stairwell, he saw a suspicious-looking person crouching at his front door.

“Who are you?!”

The other person was startled and instantly turned around.

“Chen Guangke?!”

Chen Guangke stood up, wiped the sweat from his palms onto his pants, and gave Shen Yan a sheepish, haggard smile.

Shen Yan took one look and knew the other party had come to find him with something on his mind.

He took out his keys to open the door and said to Chen Guangke:

“Old Chen, wait for me to change my clothes, then we'll go out and chat.”

Chen Guangke nodded and poked his head in to take a look inside the room.

“Isn't this place a bit too small?”

Shen Yan shook his head and said:

“It's just me and Xiao Ya living here; we don't need much space.”

Chen Guangke frowned but didn't respond.

Shen Yan didn't dawdle either; he closed the door and began changing his clothes.

The suit he was wearing was custom-made back when he still had money, and it was quite expensive.

Unless it was an important occasion, he would absolutely never wear it out.

When he finished changing and walked out, Chen Guangke's expression had already shifted.

“It's been a long time since we last met. Come on, I'll take you for coffee and we can catch up!”

Shen Yan broke into a smile and put his arm around Chen Guangke's shoulders.

“Let's go!”

At the café, the two of them sat by the window chatting idly.

“How is Xiao Ya doing now?”

“Still the same, no real improvement. What about you? How have you been since I left?”

Chen Guangke rubbed his hands together and forced a smile:

“I'm doing okay...”

Shen Yan didn't believe him.

Chen Guangke was his best friend from university; to put it bluntly, they were 'partners in crime' back then, the kind who were thick as thieves.

Even though they hadn't seen each other for several months, as soon as Chen Guangke shifted in his seat, Shen Yan knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Alright, why are you still lying to me? Tell me, what's happened?”

Chen Guangke's eyes turned red, and he picked up his coffee, gulping it down.

“My mom is sick. Cancer.”

Shen Yan froze; he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“Cancer? Since when? Could it be a misdiagnosis? When we met last time, your mom still looked very healthy...”