“I really don’t get what’s so great about smoking.”

Mary Foster waved her hand in front of her nose in disgust. Seeing this, John Smith and William Brooks both awkwardly stubbed out their cigarettes.

“Uncle Smith, I’ve been studying the lottery for a while recently, and today I want to buy four numbers.”

Mary Foster took a piece of paper out of her pocket, with four numbers written on it, and handed it to John Smith.

John Smith glanced at it and asked with a smile, “Molly, did you run out of pocket money again, and your dad is keeping a close eye on you? Just tell uncle directly, I can still give you ten thousand or so, but if it’s more, I’m afraid your dad will scold me if he finds out.”

Hearing John Smith’s words, William Brooks silently rolled his eyes in his heart. This is class difference, right here in this small county. In 2008, the average salary in GF County was less than two thousand, and ten thousand yuan was even a whole year’s income for some families.

“Uncle Smith, I don’t want your pocket money. I want to earn it myself. For these four numbers, I’ll bet ten thousand on each.”

“Ahem…”

“Little brother, are you okay?”

Seeing William Brooks choking, John Smith asked with concern.

“No… I’m fine. The cigarette wasn’t completely out, I just got choked.”

William Brooks twisted out the cigarette butt in the ashtray that hadn’t been fully extinguished. Of course, only he knew that it wasn’t the cigarette that choked him, but Mary Foster’s words.

On the way here, the two had agreed to bet five thousand each, but in the blink of an eye, Mary Foster had doubled it on her own to ten thousand each, which meant a payout of forty thousand.

At this moment, William Brooks felt a bit sorry for Boss Smith in front of him. It was obvious that Boss Smith wanted to curry favor with Mary Foster’s father, so he would definitely pay the forty thousand if it came to that. And forty thousand in 2008 was no small sum.

“Uncle Smith, here’s forty thousand. Do you want to count it?”

Mary Foster took out the prepared money bag. Since it was withdrawn from the ATM, it wasn’t bundled, just stacked together.

“No need to count, uncle trusts you.”

John Smith shook his head, then took out his phone and sent a text message. Not long after, a young man walked in at the door, carrying a box.

“Molly, there’s three hundred and sixty thousand in here. Uncle hopes you win, so you can just take the box and go.”

Three hundred and sixty thousand in cash was placed right on the table. Mary Foster’s expression didn’t change, since she’d seen even more cash than this before, but William Brooks’s reaction surprised both Mary Foster and John Smith.

Mary Foster knew that William Brooks’s family was average, and he definitely hadn’t seen this much cash before. Normally, his expression should have changed, but William Brooks looked even calmer than her, just glanced at the cash and looked away.

John Smith was no ordinary person. To rise from a street punk to where he was now, his greatest skill was reading people. His sharp eyes could tell that William Brooks’s clothes showed his family background, but for a boy from an ordinary family to not even glance at such a huge sum of money was truly rare.

Neither of them knew that William Brooks was someone who had been reborn. Before his rebirth, not to mention three hundred and sixty thousand in cash, he’d even seen millions in cash.

In 2018, William Brooks decided to buy a house, but because of his job, he didn’t have social insurance or a housing fund, so the bank wouldn’t give him a loan. In a fit of anger, he withdrew three million in cash and bought the house outright, not even keeping his money in that bank anymore.

“Molly, uncle still has things to do, so I won’t keep you company. You and your little boyfriend have fun.”

John Smith didn’t stay in the room any longer. After he left, William Brooks locked the door and kept his eyes fixed on Mary Foster.

“Aiya, there’s still some time before the lottery draw. I’ll play a game first.”

In 2008, whether a hotel was expensive or not depended on whether it had a computer, at least in a small county. Mary Foster turned on the computer next to her and immediately opened QQ Dance.

“I think before you play games, you owe me an explanation, don’t you?” Noticing that Mary Foster was deliberately avoiding him, William Brooks spoke in a deep voice.

“Explanation? What’s there to explain? According to our agreement, if we win, your eighty thousand won’t be any less.” Mary Foster replied without even turning her head.

William Brooks’s face darkened. After a brief silence, he said coldly, “If that’s the case, then I won’t lend you these two thousand. If we win, it’s all yours. Goodbye.”

Chapter 7: Too Much of Anything Is as Bad as Too Little

Many years later, Mary Foster once asked William Brooks a question: “If I hadn’t called you that day, would you have come back later?”

“No.”

“Why? Didn’t you want that eighty thousand?”

“Of course I wanted it, but I don’t like playing with people who don’t follow the rules.”

“Oh, you’re quite the character, aren’t you?”

There was something William Brooks kept in his heart and didn’t say out loud: this isn’t called character, this is called style!

……

“William Brooks, you stop right there.”

Seeing William Brooks’s hand already on the doorknob, Mary Foster stood up from her chair, her delicate little face glaring angrily at William Brooks. However, William Brooks was unmoved, only turning back to give her a cold look.