Rebirth: Fan Debiao rises from the Liaobei land

Fan Debiao took the brown paper envelope from the office safe and carefully slipped it into his inner pocket. Inside was the 10,000 yuan bonus that General Manager Wu had given him last time!

Fan Debiao walked out of the office and closed the door behind him. A new poster had been put up on the wall in the corridor, red background with yellow lettering: "2002 Korea-Japan World Cup - Victoria Betting Night, Buy One Get One Free on Beer!"

He stopped and stared at the date in the lower right corner of the poster: the game starts on June 4th.

He remembered.

2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

China's debut match turned out to be the peak of the national football team.

He remembered that summer was particularly hot, and a large television was set up in the Victoria Hall, which was packed every night. Wu Derong also organized a guessing game, giving away beer for guessing the score.

But the specific score...

Fan Debiao thought hard.

The final was Brazil vs. Germany, and Brazil won 2-0. He remembered this clearly because that night a guest won a bet and treated everyone to a round of drinks.

What about the Chinese team?

Three losses. Specific scores...

He closed his eyes.

第一场对哥斯大黎加，0:2。第二场对巴西，0:4。第三场对土耳其，0:3。

Yes, that's it.

And then there's the South Korean team, who made it all the way to the semi-finals thanks to biased refereeing, beating Italy and Spain...

Fan Debiao touched the ten thousand yuan in his inner pocket, then turned and went downstairs.

The security room was filled with smoke. Gangzi was chatting with someone: "...If you ask me, the Chinese team would win if they scored even one goal! That's Brazil, the world champions!"

"What's the point of scoring? We'd be lucky if we didn't lose by four goals."

Fan Debiao pushed open the door and came in, and everyone in the room stood up.

"Brother Biao".

"Sit down." Fan Debiao walked to his desk, opened a drawer, rummaged through it, and found a crumpled newspaper. It was the sports section, with the headline "World Cup 32 teams revealed, China's group stage schedule confirmed."

He glanced at the schedule, his finger pointing to those lines:

June 4th, China vs. Costa Rica

China vs. Brazil on June 8th

China vs Türkiye on June 13

"Gangzi," Fan Debiao looked up, "you're familiar with the sports lottery station, aren't you?"

Gangzi chuckled, "We're familiar, I often go to Lao Ge's place. Brother Biao, do you want to buy some lottery tickets?"

"I won't buy the lottery." Fan Debiao folded the newspaper and put it in his pocket. "I'll buy the sports lottery."

The room was silent for two seconds.

"Brother Biao," a young man said cautiously, "you can't just buy those things randomly. My second uncle lost all the money he was going to spend on fertilizer by betting on a football last year."

Fan Debiao didn't reply and turned to leave the security room.

The lottery station was filled with smoke and fumes.

The walls were plastered with colorful trend charts, and a group of old men were arguing and making a ruckus around the counter. The bald owner, Lao Ge, was slamming his fist on the table: "...China will definitely lose, but by how many points isn't up to me! Buy whatever you want, win or lose, it's fate!"

Fan Debiao squeezed to the front of the counter, pulled out the newspaper, and asked, "Boss, how much for these three matches in a parlay bet?"

Old Ge glanced at it: "Wow, you're an expert. The odds are high for a single match, and even higher for three matches combined—but you have to guess them all right, or you're done for.

"I know." Fan Debiao took out an envelope from his inner pocket and slammed it on the counter. "China 0-2 Costa Rica, 0-4 Brazil, 0-3 Turkey. These three matches are crucial."

The envelope wasn't sealed properly, revealing a stack of brand-new hundred-yuan bills inside.

The room fell silent instantly.

Old Ge's eyes widened: "How much? How much?"

"Ten thousand."

"Brother!" Old Ge walked around the counter and grabbed Fan Debiao's arm. "Take my advice, buy less! This money doesn't grow on trees. Buy a hundred or two hundred at a time, just for fun!"

"Ten thousand it is." Fan Debiao pulled his arm back. "Let's print the ticket."

Someone behind him started jeering: "Dude, are you crazy? Our goal is to beat Costa Rica, draw with Turkey, narrowly lose to Brazil, and qualify as the second-place team in the group!"

Fan Debiao didn't turn around: "Believe it or not."

Old Ge stared at him for a long time, sighed, and took the betting slip to fill it out. The pen tip slid across the paper with a "swish, swish" sound.

People around him were trying to persuade him: "Dude! Think about it again! What if you lose..."

"If you lose, you lose." Fan Debiao stared at the ticket in Lao Ge's hand. "A man should do a few badass things in his life."

A minute later, the lottery ticket was handed over. It was a three-match parlay with odds of 127.

Fan Debiao examined it carefully, folded it neatly, and stuffed it into the innermost compartment of his wallet.

As he walked out of the lottery station, Fan Debiao lit a cigarette and muttered to himself, "Some opportunities only come once in a lifetime. If you seize them, you can turn your life around. If you miss them, you accept your fate."

When Fan Debiao returned to the small house, Yu Fen had already prepared the meal and was sitting at the table with Ma Dashuai, waiting for him.

"You're back?" Yu Fen handed over a bowl.

Fan Debiao took off his coat, sat down, and took out three hundred yuan from his pocket and put it on the table. "General, this is my salary for this month."

General Ma grabbed the money, counted it, and was stunned: "How come it's only two hundred? Didn't we agree on four hundred?"

"You've only been working here a few days. I'm only giving you a round number because of me, two hundred!" Fan Debiao poured himself a glass of wine. "Next month, four hundred."

Ma Dashuai stuffed the money into his pocket, muttering, "I'll just be working for a few days anyway..."

Fan Debiao took a sip of soup: "Stop grumbling, it's good enough that we have work to do."

Ma Dashuai then said, "Debiao, when will this cleaning job ever end? I'm wiping the floor and taking out the trash every day, and my back is killing me."

Fan Debiao rolled his eyes at him: "You're already complaining about being tired after only three days? Yu Fen has been working for a month, and what did she say?"

"How can that be the same? She's a woman, and I'm a man!" Commander Ma's voice rose a bit. "I was someone of importance in Ma Family Fortress, and here I'm reduced to sweeping floors..."

"Who is he?" Fan Debiao's tone became a bit harsher. "If you were someone important, would you have done something like this!"

General Ma blushed and said, "De Biao, where is Xiao Cui? I've been here for so many days, you have to let me see the child!"

"Why would you want to see the child!" Fan Debiao said, "You'll be able to see Xiao Cui after everything is settled!"

"De Biao, you keep saying you'll resolve this, but it's been so long and you haven't brought any money!" Ma Dashuai said anxiously. "I promised the village chief I'd take Xiao Cui back in seven days at most. If this isn't resolved soon, the village chief will come to the city looking for me!"

Fan Debiao stood up and slammed his hand on the table: "I'll figure out the money. But you have to promise me one thing."

"What?"

"From now on, don't force Xiaocui. If she wants to learn accounting, let her learn; if she wants to stay in the city, let her stay. I'll cover the 30,000 yuan famine."

General Ma stared at Fan Debiao for a long time, then suddenly sneered: "Debiao, tell me the truth, have you been borrowing money from loan sharks? Or are you doing some kind of illegal business?"

Fan Debiao was taken aback.

Yu Fen quickly came out of the house: "General, what nonsense are you talking about! Is De Biao that person?!"

"Then where does he get such a big mouth?" Ma Dashuai got excited. "Thirty thousand yuan, he just takes it like that? How much do you make a month?"

Fan Debiao stared at Ma Dashuai and said, word by word, "Ma Dashuai, I, Fan Debiao, have done a lot of outrageous things and made a lot of boastful statements in my life. But today, I'm putting this out there—I'm going to take care of Xiao Cui's matter. I'll make sure you settle that 30,000 yuan."

General Ma opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Fan Debiao turned and went into the house. Yu Fen followed him in and whispered, "Debiao, don't take it to heart by the Marshal's fault, he's just like that."

"I know," Fan Debiao said, "but I didn't take it to heart."

Lying in bed at night, Fan Debiao couldn't sleep. He reached under his pillow, pulled out his wallet, took out the lottery ticket, and examined it by the moonlight.

A thin sheet of paper, light yet heavy.

If you won, you'd have over a million yuan. After tax, that's over eight hundred thousand yuan, enough to buy several houses in Kaiyuan in 2002.

If I lose, 10,000 yuan will be wasted, and I won't even be able to eat next month.

"Life is just gambling..." Fan Debiao stuffed the lottery ticket back into his wallet, closed his eyes, "and that's life."

The next morning, Fan Debiao had just finished reporting to General Manager Wu and hadn't even settled into his office when Xiao Li rushed in anxiously, "Brother Biao, that Ma Dashuai you introduced is getting into a fight with two people at the door!"

"What?" Fan Debiao was taken aback. "Is Niu Er here again?"

"Brother Biao, not Niu Er, there are two of them, one old and one young, spitting and making a lot of noise, they look like they're from the countryside."

"Really?" Fan Debiao cursed. "It's like an old woman training for a long-distance race—one problem after another!"