Back to the prime of life

Chapter 2 The Debt That Cannot Disappear

Standing on the street again, there were crowds of people, it was hot and noisy, and there was a certain secret in the darkness.

Under the streetlight, a man, holding a PHS, shouted loudly. A spirited young woman with auburn hair emerged from a barbershop, and a shoe store played a popular online song: "Can we, can we meet again?" "I have prayed to the Buddha for thousands of years..."

There is a poster of the German World Cup posted at the entrance of a sports lottery.

In a trance, Lu Changge had clearly walked past the lottery shop, but for some unknown reason, he walked back and pushed the door open and asked, "Boss, what World Cup game is on tonight?"

There was no boss, only a plump old lady looking up from behind a counter. "Sweden vs. Paraguay, Argentina vs. Serbia and Montenegro."

After paying for the meal, I had two hundred dollars left, which I put on the table and pushed over. "Argentina 6:0 Serbia, bet two hundred. What are the odds?"

"6:0? The score isn't that big, 5:0 at most."

Lu Changge had never bet on football before, so he didn't know these details. "So what are the odds of Argentina winning? Pretty low, right?"

"1.08."

I'm scratching my head. Isn't this the same as not buying anything? The main reason is that there is indeed a gap between the two teams.

"So, besides Argentina and Serbia, are there any other matches today?"

"And..." The old lady lowered her head and checked again, "There's also the Netherlands vs. Côte d'Ivoire, and Mexico vs. Angola."

The Netherlands should have won. Lu Changge didn't know much about football, but he knew they were a traditionally strong team. As for Mexico and Angola, he'd have to take a gamble. He couldn't remember exactly, but it seemed to be a draw.

Anyway, the loss is only two hundred yuan, so I'll buy him a hand.

"I bought three matches in a row. Argentina and the Netherlands won, and Mexico and Angola drew."

"Okay, the odds are... let me see, 3.06."

"purchase."

Lu Changge didn't hesitate at all and just bought it. He wouldn't get rich if he won, nor would he lose money if he lost. The key was the feeling of participating in a "historical event".

After this matter was over, he continued to wander back home.

To be honest, he had almost forgotten his high school classmates, but he had never forgotten the Taoyuan community where he lived because the name was so unpleasant.

In fact, this place can't be considered a residential area. It's just dozens of old brick houses built together. There are not many proper residential areas in the entire county, and their family can't reach the level of county nobles like that.

If his memory served him right, his father should have been out socializing after eight o'clock in the evening, hoping to get the payment for the completed project by drinking glass after glass of white wine.

As a small contractor, all he talks about is how much a project costs, but in reality he can be crazy for a few tens of thousands of dollars in cash flow.

His mother should be busy with various housework, all of which are her responsibility.

Lu Changge used to think that these things were nothing, until he got married and his wife shared half of the housework. This half of the housework made him the pioneer of overtime work in the company.

Taoyuan Community does not have a proper gate. There is only a gap between the buildings on a branch road called Changxing Road. One can enter the building complex by passing through this narrow aisle that can only accommodate one small car.

Perhaps it was because he drank too much, or perhaps it was the confusion of his memories from two lives, but Lu Changge felt a little dizzy in these dim and intertwined corridors, so much so that he himself didn't quite know how he got home.

When I saw my mother, who still looked quite young and whose body hadn't become bloated due to thyroid problems, I felt a sense of trance and then fell asleep uncontrollably. I could vaguely hear my mother scolding:
"Now that the college entrance exam is over, you're letting yourself go, right? You're not learning the good stuff, you're just like your dad, drinking so hard every day that your nose is flat and your mouth is crooked!"

When he woke up the next day, he found himself lying on his own bed. He didn't know who carried him here. He bent down and smelled his shirt. It smelled of a mixture of sweat and alcohol, like an old lady's foot binding that had been soaked in a jar of sauerkraut.

There was a white plastic wardrobe, a single desk, and a bedside table that looked as messy as a Syrian battlefield in the bedroom, and nothing else.

It was indeed the bedroom in Taoyuan Community in his memory.

Just as he remembered, his mother had no intention of knocking and just pushed the door open and walked in, which scared him.

"Hurry up and get up and eat. I'm going to work soon."

Mother Lu hurriedly drew open the curtains, then turned to see her son still motionless. "What's wrong? He looks like he's lost his mind. Are you having a nightmare?"

Lu Changge was stunned, rubbing his head and said, "Ah, I dreamed that I got married and had a son. I sent him to school. But then his class teacher called me and said that he had always done very poorly on his homework and asked me to consider sending him to a school for the mentally retarded. When I heard the news, I felt like the sky was falling. Because I had always done his homework for him."

"Nonsense, what a mess, can you have a good dream?"

Is this nonsense? This dream might have been a little fake, but not by much. The pressure of a child's education is so great that he's been having nightmares all night long. "Tsk. Hurry up! Why are you still standing there? The porridge's gone cold!"

"I know, I know."

When Lu Changge got up and walked into the living room, he glanced at his parents' empty bedroom across the street and asked, "Where's my dad?"

"I left at seven."

"So early?"

"It's a set time, what can he do? Like you, you sleep until the sun sets on your butt."

Mother Lu is still as sharp as ever.

It was like this all his life. Lu Changge remembered that even though he was a department head in his unit, he still had to listen to the old lady's instructions when he returned to his hometown, peeling garlic and washing onions at the same time.

"I'm leaving. I left you twenty dollars. Also, wash the dishes after eating." Mother Lu started putting on her shoes at the door.

"Oh, okay, go slowly on the road."

"Don't drink too much today, or I'll beat you up when I get back. Two drunks in one night, do you want to die or not?"

Lu Changge felt a familiar feeling of being scolded, not because he liked it, but after going through time, you no longer feel that your mother's nagging is nagging.

After Lu Ma left, the house was empty.
There is a cheap wooden sofa in the living room, covered with a mat. It hurts my butt when I sit on it. The bathroom door is broken, so I use a curtain to hold it up temporarily.

When Lu Changge was peeing in the morning, he saw the pink toilet paper that was only used at home. It was so exciting.

There are too many old items. He might have felt sentimental if there were only one or two, but now there are so many that he is a little numb.

As for himself in the mirror, he can't be said to be handsome with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, but his facial features are regular and his face shape is regular. In addition, he inherited his mother's skin, which is white and clean, so he can be considered a little handsome.

After washing up, he sat down to drink his porridge and began to think about how to spend his days after his rebirth... He had already skipped over those pretentious lamentations about the years and life.

What's wrong with being young? When he just got up, he once again felt the hardest smooth muscle and connective tissue in the human body.

Now that the college entrance examination is over, he doesn't have to repeat it and doesn't have to do the exams. He only has to think about how to make money.

Speaking of which, during the summer vacation of his senior year in high school, there was one important event he never forgot.

A really big thing - in July, the person who owed his father some money was gone, just like the "Jiangnan Leather Factory went bankrupt".

And that debt was twenty-eight thousand.

Such a large sum of money made Lu's father and mother regretful to death, so for a month or so, they would curse every time the matter was mentioned, or say that he was still deeply impressed after his rebirth.

In fact, when it comes to projects, it’s often difficult to get money back, which is nothing, but for people who owe money like this, he still has to think of a way out.

He didn't want his parents' hard-earned money to be wasted by that unreliable guy.

But debt collection does not mean going to someone's house with an IOU and explaining to them naively like a high school student what "paying debts is only natural" means.

Lu Changge doesn't really believe in the saying that justice may be late but will never be absent. Can justice that is late still be called justice?
He still has to figure it out on his own.

Before that, he went to the sports lottery shop. He had already confirmed the match between Angola and Mexico was a draw. So he had to get back the money he won from the previous night's betting, which was also helped by the 19-year-old Argentine youngster Messi.

3.06 times 400 yuan is actually yuan, and the decimals are negligible. Including the cost of yuan, the profit is yuan.

Even so, the lady sitting at the reception counter also stared at him a few more times.
"You are so brave, young man. You can even be fooled like this."

"I drank too much and bought it blindly." Lu Changge chatted intermittently.

Holding six hundred yuan in his hand, Lu Changge felt a little relieved. Later, he went to buy two packs of cigarettes.

It's not me who smokes, it's Zhu Xingyu who smokes. I have to ask him to take care of the debt collection.

Although this guy is as thin as a refugee, his father is the director of the county water conservancy bureau. When he was seventeen or eighteen years old, Lu Changge didn't fully understand this and always felt that there was no difference between their two families.

But he certainly doesn't think so now. In today's game, when QL stands up, the truth must be silent.

(End of this chapter)