Hong Kong film: The cop backs down, the ladies beg me to check his license.

Ye Tian didn't speak, but simply raised his eyes and stared intently at him. His gaze was devoid of emotion, as calm as well water, yet it sent a chill down Liang Kun's spine.

"Can you stop staring at me like that?" Liang Kun subconsciously shrank back, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a slight noise. "Just say what you want to say, don't be so brooding."

Ye Tian sighed, a long sigh tinged with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "Jiang Tiansheng is now obsessed with climbing the social ladder, trying to emulate those big bosses' health regimens, all about early to bed and early to rise." He pointed to the old, round clock on the wall. "Look at the time! If you just barge in now, aren't you just asking for trouble?"

"Snapped!"

Liang Kun raised his hand and slapped himself hard on the forehead, the sound ringing out. A somewhat embarrassed smile appeared on his face, a dry one. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten about it!" He shook his hand, as if trying to shake off the embarrassment. "Okay, I'll go first thing tomorrow morning."

He turned his head and called out in another direction inside the house, "Xiao Fu! Go get some drinks, Ah Tian and I want to have a couple of drinks."

There was no movement.

Liang Kun raised his voice: "Xiao Fu! Are you deaf?"

Lin Fu seemed to be dragged out of a dream, jolted awake, and hurriedly replied, "Brother Kun! The TV... the TV is showing the Mark Six lottery draw! Brother Tian and I... bought a few tickets on a whim earlier."

Liang Kun looked on with disbelief, as if he'd heard something utterly unbelievable. "You two actually went and got your hands on this stuff?" he asked, his tone full of skepticism. "It actually worked? The sun must have risen in the west!"

Ye Tian smiled, said nothing, but picked up the half-empty can of beer on the table, took a sip, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

Lin Fu jogged over to the refrigerator, opened the rusty silver cabinet door, and a rush of cold air mixed with the smell of beer poured out. He took out a few cans of beer, then remembered that Kun Ge's female companion was upstairs, so he turned around and grabbed a few bottles of orange soda from the shelf next to him.

When he returned with his things, he saw Liang Kun frozen in front of the television like a clay statue, his eyes wide open, staring intently at the small piece of paper in his hand. His lips trembled as he repeatedly muttered to himself, his voice shaking like a stuck cassette tape: "1...7...18...33...40...45...?"

"Impossible... This is fucking... How could this be?"

He held the lottery ticket almost to the television screen, his fingers trembling violently as he checked the scrolling golden numbers, one by one. Absolutely perfect.

Lin Fu leaned closer and whispered, "Brother Kun...did you win? How much?"

As if burned, Liang Kun abruptly threw the piece of paper back to Lin Fu. His face contorted in pain, as if someone had pinched the most tender part of his heart, making his features contort. "I'm stupid... I'm so stupid..." he murmured, his voice hoarse, "I'm just the biggest idiot in the world!"

Lin Fu was startled: "Brother Kun? Are you alright?"

Suddenly, Liang Kun clutched his head with both hands, digging his fingers deep into his hair until his knuckles turned white. He stomped his foot hard, the old wooden floor groaning under the weight. "I should have fucking known!" he roared, his voice hoarse. "When did Ah Tian ever have such a bad reputation? He said he could win, and he definitely could! Why the hell did I... why did I think it was too much trouble and not buy any tickets?!"

His face was contorted with grief, his lips turned down, and his deep regret seemed to emanate from every pore. "One hundred million! One hundred million was in the prize pool! Just like that… just like that, it slipped through my fingers!" He clutched his chest, where a sharp, throbbing pain shot through him. "It hurts… it really hurts… like being cut with a dull knife…"

Upon hearing this, Lin Fu's face first showed disbelief, then he suddenly burst into wild joy. He grabbed the lottery ticket and brought it close to the screen, carefully checking it again. His voice trembled with excitement: "Brother Kun! We won! We really won!"

After raging for a while, Liang Kun still couldn't vent his anger, so he raised his hand and slapped himself on both cheeks. "Slap! Slap!" The two loud and crisp sounds startled everyone else in the room.

The young woman who came with Liang Kun turned pale and quickly grabbed his arm: "Brother Kun! Don't be like this! It's okay if you didn't win, there will be plenty of other opportunities... Don't scare me!"

Liang Kun flung her away, strode over to Ye Tian, ​​plopped down beside him, and wrapped his arm tightly around Ye Tian's shoulder. His previously contorted expression of agony vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced by an almost fawning smile, his warm breath brushing against Ye Tian's ear: "Tian! In the future! In the future, if there's another sure-fire way to make money like this, you absolutely! You absolutely must remember to call me! You must!"

Ye Tian turned his head, looking at him innocently: "Didn't I call you before? Who was it that patted their chest and said, 'Even if it's guaranteed to win, I'll never regret it'?"

Liang Kun blushed slightly, but immediately put on a thick skin and chuckled, "I must have been out of my mind back then! That person was an idiot, not me! I'm very obedient; from now on, if you tell me to go east, I'll never go west!"

Ye Tian sighed inwardly; he had never seen anyone scold him so harshly before.

"Alright, alright, I'll definitely call you next time I have the chance." Ye Tian waved his hand dismissively. "But Brother Kun, I can't say for sure whether you'll listen then."

Liang Kun immediately raised three fingers and swore, "If I don't listen to you again, may I step on banana peels outside and never get rich!" He looked at Ye Tian expectantly and asked, "Tian, ​​how many did you buy? How much did you win?"

Lin Fu chimed in with a wry smile, "Brother Kun, my boss bought a full set of tickets, 100x odds. He spent over 40,000 yuan just on the lottery tickets."

Upon hearing this, Liang Kun pounded his chest and stamped his feet again: "You! Why didn't you buy more? If you had multiplied your bets, you would have made even more money!"

A hint of regret flashed across Lin Fu's face, but he couldn't contain his excitement: "Yeah... I should have bought more. I just checked, the third prize is 19,000. My ticket won over 40 third prizes, that's almost 8 million! Add the jackpot... maybe 10 million!"

Liang Kun pointed at Ye Tian, ​​his tone laced with sarcasm: "Normally the jackpot is around 20 million, but I doubt it this time. Your boss has almost emptied the prize pool by himself. You'll be lucky to get 5 million in the jackpot."

Lin Fu chuckled, utterly satisfied: "That's a huge profit! A windfall! I'm content!"

Liang Kun suddenly stood up, as if he couldn't stay any longer, and turned to walk towards the door: "I'm leaving! I'm not looking here anymore! The more I look, the more upset I get!"

Ye Tian shouted from behind, "We've won such a big sum of money, aren't we going to celebrate? How about we go eat at a street food stall?"

Handsome Kun turned around and laughed, scolding, "You're a multi-millionaire now, and you're still thinking about street food stalls? Can't you be a little more ambitious?"

Ye Tian scoffed, "You're not saying the same thing. Where else would we go if not to a street food stall? Are we supposed to have the 'courage' to have hot pot? Or maybe seafood in Saigon?"

Liang Kun rolled his eyes: "With our current wealth, can't we go to the Peninsula Hotel for a proper Western meal? Let's experience what high society is like."

Ye Tian scoffed, "Peninsula? They dare to sell a palm-sized cake for a hundred dollars? That's pure ripping off suckers. As for taste, can it compare to 'Upright' beef ball hot pot?"

Handsome Kun insisted, "That's different! People are there for the ambiance, for the style!"

Ye Tian shook his head and said in a tone that said, "You're ignorant," "If I went to a Western restaurant and ordered a well-done steak, the head chef with the tall hat would probably think I was there to cause trouble."

Handsome Kun looked incredulous: "Who orders medium-rare at a Western restaurant? Aren't they usually medium-well, medium-rare, or medium-rare? A little bit of blood, that's what makes it authentic!"

Ye Tian looked at him with an almost pitying gaze: "Brother Kun, you've been fooled and you don't even know it. When you go to a Western restaurant, ordering something medium-rare is what makes a true connoisseur of food."

"Think about it, if you order a well-done steak, take one bite, spit it on the ground, and curse it as garbage, the chef will definitely come running out, bowing and apologizing to you, giving you a free serving, and maybe even opening a bottle of good wine to make amends."

Handsome Kun was skeptical: "Really? Is that even possible?"