Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Making 40 Million First

***

In the phone call with Xia Ruoming, Yan Ming, the director of admissions at Zhejiang University, received news that almost made his heart stop from excitement.

If the conditions were right, Xia Ruoming would consider going to Zhejiang University!

Of course, only Xia Ruoming herself knew what these “right conditions” actually meant.

But that wasn’t his concern to think about, that was for the school to consider!

His task was to try his best to turn this “consideration” into reality!

After discussing details with Xia Ruoming, Yan Ming immediately made a formal application to the school.

Most top scorers in the college entrance exam either went to Tsinghua University or Peking University, who would normally choose Zhejiang University? And not just the top scorers, even the second and third place students would choose Tsinghua or Peking University.

【Ruoming: “Are you saying I’m not normal?”】

This caused Zhejiang University to always lag behind in attracting talent, let alone recruiting top scorers.

For a top scorer like Xia Ruoming showing interest in joining Zhejiang University, Yan Ming absolutely couldn’t miss this opportunity, considering last year’s Sichuan top scorer only scored 669 points.

Some schools that guaranteed government jobs after graduation also called, but Xia Ruoming had already declined them politely, thinking: I didn’t want to go to your schools in the first place, and there are no benefits, are you trying to play me?

“Daughter, looks like Zhejiang University has agreed to your conditions?” Xia Jingsong asked, raising his eyebrows as he saw Xia Ruoming’s somewhat smug expression.

“Of course, how could they not want me?” After answering Xia Jingsong’s question, Xia Ruoming returned to her room and started grinning while holding her bank card.

Zhejiang University had agreed to her demands: 300,000 in cash available immediately, plus all the benefits promised by Tsinghua and Peking University: full tuition waiver, scholarships, and guaranteed admission to graduate school.

Xia Ruoming promptly went through Zhejiang University’s regular admission process without playing any delay tactics, which further increased their goodwill toward her, even promising some additional benefits she hadn’t requested.

Seeing the money in her account, Xia Ruoming’s smile couldn’t get any wider. The little princess definitely wouldn’t expect that before August, she could repay the 10 million, and who knows what expression the little princess would have then.

Xia Ruoming was actually looking forward to it.

She had registered for the Sports Lottery App well in advance, remembering clearly that in 2014, when it launched, people couldn’t even register for the Sports Lottery App!

Fortunately, it was 2014 now. If it were 2018, not only would the risks be higher, but the App was also taken down mid-World Cup due to anti-money laundering and anti-monopoly regulations, which would have been troublesome for her.

So Xia Ruoming first bet the 300,000 she got from Jiang Ruhua on Brazil winning against Croatia in 90 minutes. Though not betting on the exact score meant the odds were only 1.3, she wanted to test the waters first.

After the match started, it went exactly as Xia Ruoming expected, Brazil won 3:1 against Croatia, and the 300,000 turned into 390,000.

After confirming the timeline hadn’t been affected, Xia Ruoming started betting on exact scores, skipping matches she couldn’t remember clearly. After the group stage, she had multiplied her money by 9, reaching 41.31 million. Actually, she could have earned much more by doing 8-fold accumulator bets, but Xia Ruoming always prioritized stability. Although the timeline hadn’t changed so far, she would only bet 1/3~1/2 of her money each time, believing stability was most important. If she lost everything at once, she would cry her eyes out.

Xia Ruoming actually preferred basketball, but due to the influence of Xia Jingsong and Liu Ruoxue, she had developed some interest in football and watched matches later on.

The 2014 World Cup semi-final remained vivid in Xia Ruoming’s memory, because when Germany beat Brazil 7:1, Xia Jingsong and Liu Ruoxue, being fans of Die Mannschaft, almost brought the roof down with their cheers.

The odds for “more” in that match were 1:408, and she didn’t care if the final score might become 8:1 or 9:1.

Because for more than five goals, there was only one betting option, called “more.”

Betting 19 million, the return would be 7.7 billion, and even after deducting 20% unexpected personal income tax, it would still be 6.2 billion!

Now she had her first pot of gold, and she wasn’t afraid of being caught and dissected or anything. In her previous life, she had fallen so low that she died drunk, hit by a dump truck. How could things get worse? Besides, shouldn’t reborn characters in novels have some added luck or something?

In fact, with 6.2 billion, even if she didn’t start a business and just stayed at home, she could live comfortably for life. Having been kept by Jiang Ruhua in her previous life, she knew this better than anyone. Jiang Ruhua might not care about money, but she couldn’t be like that.

But humans are naturally insatiable creatures. With 1 billion, they’ll want 10 billion; with 10 billion, they’ll want 100 billion; with countless money, they’ll wonder why they can’t live forever.

That’s just how humans are.

Xia Ruoming only planned to bet on this one more match, not paying attention to other knockout matches. She didn’t plan to continue betting after this match. Betting might be the only thing she knew to be content with, once addicted to gambling, even 7 or 8 billion wouldn’t be enough to waste. So, she decided to give up on both the semi-final and the later Argentina vs Germany match.

Looking at the tens of millions in her card, Xia Ruoming went straight to the rooftop and lit a women’s cigarette to calm her nerves.

She wouldn’t dare act so bold in front of Liu Ruoxue.

When she was with the little princess, money was just a number, diamond rings, necklaces, luxury cars, mansions, she could have whatever she wanted. Only when it came to spending her own money did she realize how precious such a large sum was.

“After finishing this pack, I’ll quit smoking.” Glancing at the few remaining women’s cigarettes in the box, Xia Ruoming made up her mind. Although she didn’t know what else she could use to ease her frequently occurring agoraphobia, everything needs a good start. If not for herself, then for Chu Suhe, she couldn’t continue smoking.

Looking at the star-filled sky, Xia Ruoming’s eyes became somewhat distant as memories of the past floated through her mind. Such scenes seemed to have appeared countless times in her memory. Whether it was confessing to Xu Fengwu, having heart-to-heart talks with Chu Suhe, or moon-watching with Jiang Ruhua, she had appeared in such scenes countless times, but each time, it seemed there was never a good ending.

***

Author note: Regarding the betting limit issue, after much thought, this part should be cut. Vaguely remember that in 2014 the single bet limit for win-loss was only 5 million, and there’s the issue of not being able to pay out tens of billions in sports lottery, but since it’s already written to this point, let’s ignore the betting limits. It’s pure entertainment fiction, just enjoy it without thinking too much.

PS: Taking the 2022 World Cup as an example, if there was a net loss of 300 million, the sports lottery couldn’t handle it – that’s net loss, meaning they still lost money after returning the bet amount, let alone the 2014 World Cup. So tens of billions is quite illogical, but for the sake of the plot, please overlook this.