I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 25. Mom, we won the lottery!
After more than a month of traveling around, the crayfish market is almost saturated. The purchase price has been rising from the initial two or three cents per pound to the current price of two yuan.

After completing the initial order of at least 1,000 kilograms, many merchants found other supply channels, and business volume dropped sharply, finally allowing Mr. and Mrs. Xu and Uncle Xia to have some free time.

From May 13th to the present, the two families have accumulated a profit of 730,000.

Because Xu Qingfan's uncle had helped with the purchase of crayfish, Uncle Xia wanted to divide the money into three equal parts.

"Why divide it into three portions? Just split it evenly. If you hadn't driven, the crayfish wouldn't have been able to be transported back," Yao Jinping interrupted.

"What are you saying? Without your formula to expand the market, this business wouldn't be able to do anything!"

"Stop arguing, give me, the birthday boy, some face, let's split it 50/50!" Xu Qingfan slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and announced.

“Yes, we should listen to Xiao Fan!” Xu’s mother chimed in.

Xia Guofu looked at his wife, Lin Jing, who shrugged helplessly.

"Alright then, kid, I'll give you a big red envelope for the New Year." Xia's father patted Xu Qingfan's shoulder with his calloused hand.

"Come on, Aunt Lin always gives us red envelopes during Chinese New Year. Uncle, keep your money and buy yourself cigarettes!" Xu Qingfan said, then hid behind Lin Jing.

"You little rascal!"

"Hahahaha!" Everyone in the room burst into laughter.

Xu Qingfan's birthday was yesterday, but both families only had time today. Coincidentally, today is also the World Cup final, so they decided to celebrate his birthday again.

He's not at a loss, since someone already celebrated his birthday yesterday, so one more won't make a difference.

Yesterday's birthday was spent with Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao. Since finishing his exams, Xu Qingfan has resumed his good habit of staying up late and waking up early, but he was woken up early by Lin Wanning.

I asked and found out that the other person had come specifically to celebrate my birthday.

His god-sister, who was also Wan Ning's mother, gave him a pair of Nike children's shoes, and Lin Wan Ning gave him a big jar of little stars.

It hasn't been a month since she told Lin Wanning it was her birthday. No one knows when she secretly started folding them for herself, but a rough count shows there are over a thousand.

Xia Xiaoxiao hadn't yet developed the habit of giving gifts for birthdays, and she was at a loss when she learned that Lin Wanning had given Xu Qingfan a jar of Little Stars.

In the end, it was Xia's mother who came up with the idea. She took Xia Xiaoxiao to the lakeside and picked up a stone, saying that she wished their friendship would last as long as the stone.

"nice shot!"

Kleberson passed the ball across the goalmouth, and Ronaldo, after a slight adjustment, unleashed a powerful shot, scoring the second goal for the Samba team.

"Germany's attack is terrible. They relied entirely on Kahn in the first half!" Mr. Xu picked up his beer and downed it in one gulp, pointing out the flaws in the game to the television.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Germany's squad is too old, so making it to the final is already quite an achievement."

"Haha, it's just that Germany didn't draw South Korea in the quarterfinals, otherwise they wouldn't have had a chance!"

"Hahahaha. Sigh, why is the Chinese national football team so useless? They should at least score one goal!" Thinking of his country's team, Xu's father's laughter soon turned to a halt.

"Drink, drink!"

The referee blew his whistle, and Samba lifted their fifth World Cup trophy.

With seven victories, five World Cup titles, and eight goals, Ronaldo became the top scorer of this World Cup.

Everything is a cycle of history. Who would have thought that the spirited Samba team at this moment would be thrashed 7-1 by Germany on their home turf twelve years later?

"Cough cough cough!" Xu Qingfan took a deep breath and stood seriously in front of the television.

"Everyone, listen to me, I have something important to announce!"

"Go play somewhere else, don't block the TV!" Xu's father was watching the Samba team lift the trophy when he reached out to pull Xu Qingfan back.

He turned away and continued, "Today is my birthday, and also the day Ms. Yao Jinping suffered. I have prepared a special gift for my beloved mother!"

"Wow~" Lin Jing looked at Xu Qingfan with a big smile, then at her best friend whom she had known since childhood.

"You little rascal, I'm content as long as you appreciate your mother's kindness." Remembering the resentment she endured when she was pregnant with Xu Qingfan, Xu's mother's eyes instantly reddened. "Of course I appreciate my mother's kindness, Mom! Whatever the gift is, you must like it, don't be angry, and definitely don't hit me!" Xu Qingfan had prepared in advance.

"Why would Mom hit you for no reason?" Yao Jinping looked at her son reproachfully.

You have to promise me first!

"Did you do something bad again? Don't worry, it's your birthday today. No matter what you did wrong, Mom won't blame you or hit you." Xu's mother sensed that Xu Qingfan's words had a hidden meaning.

"Dad, you have to swear an oath too!"

"You dare to mess with your old man, huh? I'll beat you up right now!" Xu's father said, reaching to unbuckle his belt.

"Mom, I think Dad is just jealous and doesn't want me to give you a gift!" Xu Qingfan hid behind his mother.

With a glance from Yao Jinping, Xu Aiguo sheepishly sat back down in his seat. "Alright, alright, I promise you, no matter what you give your mother later, I won't hit you, okay?"

"Ta-da!" Xu Qingfan pulled out a stack of winning lottery tickets from his pocket.

"Mom, these are lottery tickets. Your clever, smart, cute, hardworking, and invincible son couldn't bear to see you working so hard every day pushing your cart to sell sweet soup, so I bought them especially for you. Mom, I won the grand prize! Our family is rich now!" Xu Qingfan solemnly handed ten lottery tickets to his mother.

Yao Jinping was still a little stunned, never expecting that the gift her son gave her was a lottery ticket. She held it in her hand blankly, unable to react.

"Good lad, no wonder I asked you last time if I would beat you for stealing money to buy lottery tickets, turns out you actually did!" Upon seeing this, Xu's father was about to pull out the Seven Wolves lottery ticket.

"Dad, we won the lottery! We won the jackpot! Take a look, take a look!" Xu Qingfan ran to the door and pointed at the lottery ticket in his mother's hand.

"You wouldn't buy a lottery ticket, it's just a few dollars. Come back, I won't hit you." Xu's father was just putting on an act, not taking Xu Qingfan's claim of winning the lottery seriously at all.

Xu Aiguo casually took the lottery ticket from his wife's hand and read out the teams on it: "Samba champions, Germany runners-up, Turkey and South Korea fourth place!!!"

When he got to the end, Xu's father's voice cracked, and he stood up excitedly.

Mr. Xu quickly flipped through the lottery tickets at the back: "Korea, Korea, Korea, and more Korea!!!"

"Hahaha! Honey, we won the lottery! We won the lottery!!!"

Seeing her husband's seemingly deranged state, Yao Jinping took a half step back.

"Old Xu, calm down. What did you win?" Xia Guofu pulled Xu's father back to his seat and took the lottery ticket from his hand to look at it.

"Wow~ Good lad, you really won the lottery! Xiao Fan, come here and tell your uncle how you came up with this idea to buy it?" Xia's father waved his hand, signaling Xu Qingfan, who was hiding by the door, to come back.

"You really won the lottery?" Lin Jing asked in surprise.

"My rascal really won the lottery?" Yao Jinping was still a little incredulous.

"If we win, we'll probably make more money than we do selling crayfish!"

"So many?"

Xia's father shook his clothes and patiently explained, "The total prize pool is fixed. Each lottery ticket here is a bet. All the lottery winners in the country share the prize money equally. This year's World Cup had some upsets, so I think Xiao Fan's ten bets will win him at least several hundred thousand yuan."

Upon hearing that these ten cards were worth hundreds of thousands of yuan, Yao Jinping quickly and carefully put them into her bag.

"My dear son, where did you get the money to buy lottery tickets?" After putting her bag away, Xu's mother looked at her son with a beaming smile.

"Mom, you're not listening to my excuse, you're not listening to my explanation!"

"So you're trying to make excuses, Old Xu!"

"Mom, you swore an oath!"

"It's void. He's so young and he's already stealing money from home to buy lottery tickets. What will he do when he grows up? He'll sell the house and use the money to gamble!"

"I knew it! Ah~ Aunt Lin, save me!!"

Thank you to Qingchuan Yin for the two monthly tickets.

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(End of this chapter)