“How much do I have? Heh!”

Mary Foster arrogantly crossed her long legs and counted on her fingers: “My dad gives me three thousand yuan in pocket money every month, and all the red envelopes I get during Chinese New Year are deposited in my bank account. Conservatively speaking, I should have about three to four hundred thousand.”

“……”

William Brooks didn’t want to say anything. Comparing people really makes you mad. While he was still struggling for his first pot of gold, her savings alone had already surpassed him. This must be what people in the future call those who are born at the finish line.

“Then lend me a thousand.”

A thousand, with forty times the odds, would be forty thousand. William Brooks felt that the bookies wouldn’t refuse to pay out that amount, but if it was any more, he couldn’t be sure. After all, he was still just a student.

“You want to use this thousand to bet on a lottery number? Are you really that confident?”

Mary Foster was a bit curious. Where did this guy get his confidence from? And if he was really so sure, why not borrow more from her, especially since she’d already told him she was a rich girl with hundreds of thousands in savings.

“I’d like to bet more, but I’m afraid the bookies won’t pay up.” As if knowing what Mary Foster was thinking, William Brooks rolled his eyes and answered directly.

“If the bookies wouldn’t cheat, how much would you bet?” Mary Foster’s eyes spun as she asked.

“Then I’d ask you to lend me all the money in your bank account.”

……

This time, it was Mary Foster’s turn to fall silent.

“Of course it’s impossible to lend you everything, but I know a bookie who definitely won’t renege on anything under two hundred thousand.”

“That’s great! In that case, lend me five thousand, and I’ll pay you back ten thousand tomorrow.” William Brooks was delighted. If that worked, his first pot of gold would be two hundred thousand.

“You wish.” Mary Foster rolled her beautiful eyes. “The most I can lend you is two thousand.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to bet three thousand myself.” Mary Foster looked at William Brooks as if he were an idiot, answering as if it were only natural.

“Uh… Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose? Do you trust me that much?”

William Brooks was unwilling to give up and tried one last time. Two thousand would only be eighty thousand, which was less than half of two hundred thousand.

“Heh, that’s what I was about to say. If we lose, you’ll owe me five thousand. Of course, I can give you more time to pay it back. If we win, you just pay me back the principal, no interest needed.”

Listening to Mary Foster, William Brooks felt the cruelty of capital at this moment. Sure enough, capital is the root of all evil, and capitalists are ruthless.

But, a man under the eaves has to bow his head. She was sure he couldn’t borrow the money elsewhere. It made sense—where could a student borrow two thousand yuan, especially just to buy lottery tickets?

“Fine, I agree.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of surprise on Mary Foster’s pretty face. She nodded, put down her milk tea, picked up her flip phone, and made a call. After hanging up, she spread her hands toward William Brooks and said:

“They want to give cash. Wait for me here after school this afternoon.”

Watching Mary Foster close her extremely popular Motorola flip phone, William Brooks made up his mind: once he got the lottery money, he’d buy himself a phone too. Hmm, the Nokia 230 sounded pretty good.

……

With the lottery matter settled, William Brooks felt much more at ease. He listened carefully in class that afternoon, and as he paid attention, he noticed something: his mind seemed to work even better, because he actually understood everything the teacher was saying.

“Could this be a perk of being reborn? If so, as long as I study hard, even if I can’t get into a top university, getting into a good first-tier one shouldn’t be a problem.”

Resting his chin and pondering, William Brooks soon started daydreaming again.

As soon as the bell rang at the end of the day, William Brooks packed his bag and left the classroom. According to his agreement with Mary Foster, he went to the milk tea shop. But after waiting about ten minutes, Mary Foster finally appeared at the door.

“Let’s go.”

Mary Foster didn’t come in, but called out to William Brooks, then hailed a rickshaw and gestured for him to get in.

“Ride together?”

“Duh, what, you want to walk? If you really want to walk, I guess that’s fine too.”

Mary Foster rolled her eyes at William Brooks and, with her long legs, got into the rickshaw. William Brooks rubbed his nose—since the girl wasn’t being shy, why should he be?

The rickshaw wasn’t very spacious, and at this time, rickshaws weren’t electric like in later years—they were powered purely by foot. Usually, they only carried two people. Mary Foster wasn’t exactly petite, and William Brooks was 1.75 meters tall. With both of them inside, some physical contact was inevitable.

Girls at this age didn’t wear perfume yet, but sitting so close, William Brooks could still smell the scent of shampoo from Mary Foster’s hair.