What kind of divination am I doing?

"This is the food allowance you gave me every month, eight hundred yuan for two years. Your Uncle Chen and I added a little." Aunt Liu handed over a thick envelope.

Upon hearing this, Lu Qiao's head was buzzing.

Lu Qiao wanted to refuse, but Aunt Liu smiled and said, "Our family is practically your relatives. Don't forget us when you become successful."

"Thank you, Aunt Liu." Lu Qiao clutched the mailbag and envelope, carrying Lao Zhang on his back, but he was in a terrible state.

Aunt Liu stood at her door, reminding her, "Drink more water tonight; you'll get thirsty if you drink baijiu."

Luqiao felt even more guilty! He saw Old Zhang off downstairs in the seven-story apartment building.

I hailed a taxi at the entrance of the residential area and put Lao Zhang in the back seat.

They woke up Old Zhang and asked him to tell them where he was going. Old Zhang mumbled the directions but couldn't quite make them out.

Old Zhang, still half-asleep, grabbed Lu Qiao's arm and said, "Little Lu, I know you've had it tough too."

Looking at the tipsy Old Zhang, Lu Qiao instinctively asked, "What's wrong?"

"You're one of the kids I know well, but my son still needs my help to save for a down payment, so I can't help you like Aunt Liu did," Old Zhang said with emotion.

Lu Qiao quickly replied, "It's alright, you've already helped me a lot."

Old Zhang said, "If you don't mind when you come back, how about I arrange a job for you at the neighborhood committee?"

"Uh..." Lu Qiao was taken aback.

At that moment, Luqiao felt an urge to tell everything.

I lied to myself; I'm a complete scoundrel.

But before Lu Qiao could speak, the driver impatiently asked, "Are we going or not?"

Old Zhang patted Luqiao: "Of course, by then you probably won't even look down on a small neighborhood committee."

Ignoring it all as nonsense, Luqiao closed the car door.

Luqiao wasn't sure if Lao Zhang was telling the truth or not; perhaps it was just polite talk after drinking and seeing that Aunt Liu had already expressed her gratitude. But he felt a warmth in his heart.

Lu Qiao took the package upstairs and returned to the seventh floor.

Luqiao had no choice but to make a decision.

Things were completely out of his control. Lu Qiao thought that even if he had to pretend to study abroad, he would have to put on a show in front of Old Zhang, Uncle Chen, and Aunt Liu.

Lu Qiao, who had just returned to his room, opened the envelope. It said 800 yuan a month, which would amount to about 19,000 yuan over two years.

The envelope contained 20,000 yuan, meaning Aunt Liu and Uncle Chen had to contribute a little extra themselves.

Lu Qiao examined the money carefully, then took out his phone and flipped to his photo album from two years ago.

The next moment, Luqiao cried.

Because of this, I met Qian Luqiao two years ago, and I learned that he gives me 800 yuan a month for food.

Luqiao simply went to the bank and withdrew 10,000 yuan; the bank gave him consecutive serial numbers at the time.

That was the first time Lu Qiao had ever seen such a huge sum of money—ten thousand yuan—and he was surprised to find that it was a consecutive serial number, so he took a picture to keep as a keepsake.

The money in my hand was compared to the money on my phone.

A banknote has a 10-digit security serial number, and the first eight digits match perfectly.

And after flipping through the photos on my phone, I found the RMB note in the picture.

Look again, and you'll see that not a single penny is missing.

This means that Aunt Liu saved the money for herself two years ago and never spent it.

In other words, Aunt Liu will definitely find a way to give him the money.

If it weren't for this, this money might very well have become part of my wedding gift later.

Who could have imagined it would be like this, and now it's back in my hands?

Lu Qiao really wanted to slap himself, but he raised his hand and didn't dare to.

Lu Qiao wiped away his tears, opened the email, and began to examine it carefully.

This is a letter regarding inheritance, sent by the Charles Law Firm.

At the very end, a phone number was left, starting with +1781.

Luqiao tried calling the number on his phone, but no one answered for a long time.

Just as the road and bridge were about to be closed, the phone rang.

The road and bridge construction team only realized the moment the road was opened that they didn't know any English.

The call was a waste of time because there was no way to communicate.

"Who are you? So early in the morning!" the man on the other end of the phone said in Chinese.

Lu Qiao was taken aback; the speaker was in Chinese. But then he realized that the English was followed by Chinese.

The firm should know this, and the phone number they left should belong to a lawyer who speaks Chinese.

But this Chinese is wordy and hesitant, and it sounds like he doesn't speak Chinese very well.

Lu Qiao pondered that perhaps the other person had been in the United States for too long and rarely used Chinese.

Of course, there was no time to think about it in detail. Luqiao realized that it was nighttime, while it was morning over there.

"A call from China? That's rare. Speak up!" the other party replied.

"I am Lu Zheng's grandson, and I've come to inquire about the inheritance," Lu Qiao asked.

"Road Administration? Oh, I remember now, you're his grandson. What about your grandfather? Calling me won't help; I'm looking for your grandfather." The other person pondered, clearly remembering something.

"Grandpa is gone," Luqiao replied.

"Oh? Excuse me? Where are your parents?"

"They're all gone now," Lu Qiao explained helplessly.

"No way? You're the only one in your family?"

"It's me!" Lu Qiao replied, deliberately going inside the house so that Aunt Liu next door wouldn't hear him.

"Okay, I'm Wang Ming from the Charles Law Firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We're a law firm in Chinatown."

"Hmm!" Luqiao responded.

"Here's what happened: Your aunt, Lu Dafeng, died without a partner or children, and her inheritance will go to your grandfather, Lu Zheng."

Lu Qiao looked at the email in his hand and understood the origin of the matter.

"But you said your grandfather and father are both dead, so the inheritance should naturally go to you. That's complicated; the prepared procedures will have to be changed," Wang Ming explained.

"You mean the inheritance?" Lu Qiao murmured to himself.

"Yes, your aunt left you a castle! It's right next to MIT and Harvard."

"A castle?" Lu Qiao couldn't picture it at all.

"Look at it this way: your aunt has a courtyard house near Peking University and Tsinghua University, and now she's giving it to you!"

"But I'm only eighteen, can I really inherit it?" Lu Qiao realized and asked instinctively.

"Yes, why not? Just get a passport and you're good to go. We've been in the inheritance business for many years, we're professionals."

"If I go there, I'm guaranteed to inherit it?" Lu Qiao still found it hard to believe.

"Yes, but under American law, once you've gone to court, you've lost everything. You should keep that in mind," Wang Ming explained.

"I want to ask, how did my aunt die?" Lu Qiao asked.

"Yes, it's been a while. The neighbor next door smelled a foul odor and called the police. He died in the castle."

"Is it an illness?" Lu Qiao pressed.

"It would be better if the patient died in the hospital. If the patient is a giant, the police will rule it a suicide. When we help you sell the body, we will tell the outside world that the patient died in the hospital."

"Why is that?" Lu Qiao asked, puzzled.

"You need to understand that this is a fixed asset. You are Chinese, and the house is in the United States, which is too far away. You'd better sell it. Although people in the US aren't as superstitious, the price will be greatly reduced if someone has died there."

Having fully understood, Lu Qiao pondered for a moment and asked, "How can I know if you're a liar?"

"Is this your WeChat account?" Wang Ming asked.

"Hmm!" Lu Qiao answered subconsciously, and then the call was hung up.

Ding-dong~

A notification sounded, and Luqiao received a friend request on WeChat.

A profile picture of a middle-aged man in a sharp suit; Luqiao clicked to approve.

The next second, a whole bunch of data popped up.

In the materials, Luqiao saw a picture of an ancient castle, which looked very imposing.

Along with a large amount of information, there are also a few words from Wang Ming:

You can ask a law firm to review these supporting documents, or you can use a VPN to check their availability; they are all publicly available.

[Remember, if you hire a domestic law firm, never let them get involved; the more they take, the less you get.]

We will definitely take a share, but it will be absolutely great value for money, with a clearly stated price.

Clearly, Wang Ming's law firm deals with estate transfer.

Luqiao was about to reply to the message, but hadn't had a chance to send it yet.

Another message popped up:

I'm going back to sleep. If you need to contact me, do so after 10 PM. If I don't reply, it means I'm sleeping!

Lu Qiao looked at the news and began to weigh the pros and cons.

After careful consideration, Lu Qiao came up with a complete plan.

I'm just bad at academics, not stupid!

He's especially knowledgeable about things related to money.

Lu Qiao lay on his bed and climbed over the wall.

With a little more time, you can piece together these English words and understand the basics of road and bridge; a small portion will require screenshots for translation.

Upon comparison, the content in both Chinese and English within the emails is identical.

The search confirmed that the matter was true, and Lu Qiao first confirmed that his aunt was Lu Dafeng.

The photos they sent included a death certificate and a US document.

Looking at the photo, she is a young woman; at least this aunt is younger than Luqiao in terms of cognitive ability.

Luqiao rummaged through boxes and cabinets and found a thick stack of family photos.

Although the family portrait was quite thick, it contained almost only photos of myself, my parents, and my grandparents.

By comparing photos of her own home, she found her aunt, Lu Dafeng.

Luqiao was finally spotted in a family photo.

However, the other person didn't seem to fit in well, standing with their head down in a corner of the family photo, keeping quite a distance from the others.

In the family photo, Luqiao was only a few months old and was being held by his parents.

Luqiao's memories began to flip back, and it seemed that he hadn't seen this aunt since he was old enough to understand things.

But it seems that my parents mentioned having such a relative.

Once it was confirmed to be true, Luqiao began to investigate. After two hours of work, Luqiao learned quite a bit.

My aunt lives in Massachusetts, where estate taxes are very high; estates exceeding one million dollars are subject to taxation.

And logically speaking, the general order of succession in the absence of a will is as follows:

Spouse, children, and parents come first, followed by siblings; this is the first order of priority.

The second priority is siblings, grandparents, and maternal grandparents; only if none of these are available will the document be passed on to distant relatives.

If there are no distant relatives, then all unclaimed property belongs to the government.

As a nephew, in Massachusetts, he can inherit property in the name of his siblings or children.

In the following period, Luqiao began processing passports and visas.

Wang Ming is an estate lawyer with twenty years of experience.

Logically speaking, since Lu Qiao is just over 18 years old, has no stable income, and is traveling to the United States for the first time, the visa officer should conduct a strict review.

The pass rate was already low, but Wang Ming found some connections to help Luqiao solve the problem.

From Lukang to Shanghai on my way to the United States, it's a 16-hour flight.

Luqiao landed at Logan International Airport, marking Luqiao's first long-distance trip.

In the airport arrival hall, you can see a well-dressed, overweight man holding a sign from afar.

The sign was a blank whiteboard, with the name written crookedly on it: Luqiao (meaning "road and bridge").

It was the kind of erasable whiteboard, and you could still vaguely see the names of the first few people on it.

Clearly, this person was Wang Ming. Lu Qiao quickly stepped forward and waved to him.

The other party immediately closed the board and handed it to Luqiao, who instinctively took it.

"Come with me!" Wang Ming said, and walked forward with practiced ease.

Lu Qiao followed behind, carrying the board, heading towards the airport entrance.

There was a pickup truck parked at the entrance. It looked very old, and there were a lot of miscellaneous items in the back.

At a glance, you can see basically everything, from furniture to appliances, with the appliances covered by a waterproof bag.

Wang Ming seemed to sense Lu Qiao's interest and said, "I'm an estate lawyer. It's very difficult for an Asian like me to get business from white people. If I do get business, it's mostly from poor white people."

"Hmm?" Luqiao responded.

"Foreigners don't care whether something belongs to a dead person or not. The inheritance of poor people isn't all money, so some of these things were given to me, and some were used to pay my legal fees," Wang Ming explained.

Lu Qiao immediately understood: "You can do that?"

At this moment, Wang Ming pointed behind him and explained, "Just stick the sign in your hand anywhere."

Following the instructions, Lu Qiao placed the plank in the back of the pickup truck, walked to the passenger seat, and sat down with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

The pickup truck started moving forward, and Lu Qiao curiously looked around at the scenery.

The pickup truck moved forward, and Wang Ming opened the dashboard, placed a CD on it, and gently pushed it.

The car was so old that it needed a CD player to play music. After a few moments of clicking and the CD playing, Cantonese songs started playing, each one a classic.

Lu Qiao then realized that the reason Wang Ming's Chinese was not very good was probably because his native language was Cantonese.

Therefore, speaking Chinese requires thought before one can begin, and it is often accompanied by an accent.

As the car passed the Charles River, Wang Ming rolled down the window, lit a cigarette, and handed one to Lu Qiao.

Lu Qiao shook his head, indicating that he wouldn't.

Wang Ming put down his cigarette, lit it, and pointed with the smoke between his fingers: "This river is the boundary. This side is Harvard, and that side is MIT. Our law firm is located at the intersection of the two schools, and your aunt's castle is in Chinatown not far away."

Lu Qiao looked in the direction Wang Ming was pointing and realized why the email address had been misunderstood.

Sending a package from this area can easily lead to misunderstandings and mishaps by the delivery person.

After flicking his cigarette ash, Wang Ming remembered something and asked, "Did you bring all the documents I asked you to bring?"

"I brought it!" Lu Qiao immediately took out the documents from his backpack.

While the light was red, Wang Ming flipped through the pages roughly.

When the red light turned green, Wang Ming placed the documents on his lap and continued driving.

Wang Ming subconsciously muttered, "Although it's a castle, its value should be around two million US dollars, but if you're in a hurry to sell it, you can get a discount. It's easy to sell it for one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty thousand US dollars."

"Hmm?" Lu Qiao sensed that something was wrong.

"The estate tax rate is very high. Even after accounting for our law firm's fees, we can probably leave you about one million US dollars, which is more than seven million RMB."

Lu Qiao frowned slightly: "That's not right. I checked, the average price of a regular house here is 700,000, and villas are no less than 6 million. How could a castle only be 2 million US dollars?"