Fate is a peculiar thing—sometimes it's just so wonderfully inexplicable.
Some couples endure a decade-long marathon of love, only to be defeated by reality in the end.
In the end, they each find an honest person to settle down with and live an ordinary life.
Then there are those who fall in love at first sight and start talking about marriage by their second meeting.
Some even get married within a month of meeting, and that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be unhappy.
Jiang Tao's older brother, Jiang He, and his sister-in-law, Zhang Xiaoyan, met through a blind date.
The two got married in less than a month.
After more than ten years of marriage, with two sons, their life has been fairly fulfilling.
Cases like Grandpa Landlord and Ma Dongmei, who hit it off right from the first meeting, aren't exactly rare either.
When two people click, they can talk endlessly, with topics flowing one after another without any effort.
But if they don't click, they could sit together all afternoon and still not find a single topic to discuss.
Watching the two hit it off so well, Jiang Tao, the "temporary matchmaker," felt he could step back and call it a job well done.
Today's two tasks had gone surprisingly smoothly.
The lottery ticket in the car was secured.
And he had successfully set up Grandpa Landlord with Ma Dongmei.
Just as Jiang Tao was about to leave with He Jing, Lü Qian, whose lips were purple from the cold but still trying to act calm, approached him.
"Little Jiang, you handled this like a pro today! Your bro won't let you down!"
Lü Qian whispered excitedly to Jiang Tao, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Oh, by the way, the southwest corner room 209 on the second floor just became available today. Move in there when you get back."
"You can stay as long as you want—rent and utilities are on me!"
Jiang Tao was surprised. "Grandpa, are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious! I'm even thinking of sending you a red envelope later! I really like the girl you introduced me to, bro."
Lü Qian grinned and asked, "Hey, Little Jiang, are you free tonight? If you are, come have dinner with us."
"You're practically the matchmaker for me and Little Mei!"
"No need, Grandpa. I've got plans tonight with a few of my old buddies."
Jiang Tao couldn't help but chuckle at Lü Qian calling him a matchmaker, though it wasn't entirely wrong.
In this matter, he had indeed played the role of a matchmaker.
"Alright then, I'll treat you to a meal another time! Oh, and stop calling me Grandpa—call me Brother Lü from now on!"
Lü Qian patted Jiang Tao's shoulder with a cheerful grin, correcting him.
"Haha, alright, looks like I just got promoted a generation."
Jiang Tao laughed. Whether it was Grandpa Landlord or Brother Lü, it was just a title.
Lü Qian suddenly remembered something and asked, "Oh, by the way, Little Jiang, do you still have some of that Nianghong wine you treated me to last time?"
Jiang Tao's eyes lit up. "I do."
"Save me five jars! I'll pay you now!"
As he spoke, Lü Qian pulled out his phone, found Jiang Tao's WeChat, and transferred 100,000 yuan on the spot.
One hundred thousand yuan was an absolute fortune for rural folks.
Even selling everything they owned, few could come up with that kind of money.
But for old Beijingers like Lü Qian, it was no big deal.
Spending 100,000 yuan on five jars of wine without batting an eye.
"Alright! I'll set the wine aside for you and deliver it to your place tonight!"
After exchanging pleasantries with Lü Qian, Jiang Tao tapped to accept the transfer—another 100,000 yuan in the bank!
After a bit more small talk, Lü Qian happily scampered off to chat with Ma Dongmei and He Jing.
Jiang Tao, meanwhile, hopped on a bus back to Xiaoshahe alone.
When he got off at the Xiaoshahe Village stop, it was just past 9 a.m.—still early.
He walked ten minutes back to his rental.
After locking the door, Jiang Tao lit a cigarette and, with a thought, opened the interface of the Daily Intelligence System.
**[Daily Intelligence System]**
**[Host]:** Jiang Tao (30 years old)
**[System Level]:** Level 1 (Refreshes one piece of intelligence daily.)
**[Today's Intelligence 01]:**
While scrolling on your phone last night, you came across a second-hand Langyi for sale by Tian Zhipeng.
Inside the car's storage compartment, in the vehicle manual, there's a lottery ticket worth 68,996 yuan.
**[Note]:** This lottery ticket will expire in two days, after which it will be invalid.
**[Would you like to spend 100,000 yuan to upgrade the system to Level 2? After upgrading, two pieces of intelligence will be refreshed daily.]**
Looking at the azure virtual system interface, Jiang Tao quietly smoked his cigarette.
Then, he chose to upgrade the system.
The 100,000 yuan Lü Qian had just transferred for the wine was perfect for covering the system upgrade cost.
**[Payment successful. System upgrading. Estimated time: 10 hours. Please wait…]**
Seeing the system begin its upgrade, Jiang Tao let out a long breath.
Spending 100,000 yuan all at once did sting a little!
But once the system was upgraded, he'd get an extra piece of intelligence every day.
The sooner he spent that 100,000 yuan, the more value it would create!
If he waited a month to upgrade, it'd still cost 100,000 yuan, but he'd miss out on 30 extra pieces of intelligence!
With that thought, Jiang Tao felt instantly at ease.
Early investment, early returns!
After upgrading the system, Jiang Tao had nothing else to do, so he went out for a stroll.
Having been bound to the intelligence system for over ten days, Jiang Tao had gained some understanding of how the system's intelligence worked.
The intelligence provided daily was related to his actions or experiences from the previous day.
Going out and wandering around not only relaxed his mind but might also lead to some unexpected encounters or opportunities.
Strolling leisurely through the streets of the urban village, Jiang Tao's relaxed demeanor stood out compared to the hurried passersby.
Today, he had already pocketed 100,000 yuan.
Tonight, when they split the mandarin profits, he'd get another hundred thousand or so.
That's a guaranteed income of over 200,000 yuan today!
Jiang Tao felt so light on his feet he might just float away any moment.
Passing by a lottery shop, he paused and hesitated for a dozen seconds.
In the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of winning and went in to buy a 10-yuan lottery ticket.
It happened to be a Sunday, the day of the Double Color Ball draw.
In the days leading up to the New Year, perhaps due to the pressure on lottery officials or something else, news of big wins kept popping up across the country.
Six yuan winning 15 million, ten yuan winning over 30 million, even someone hitting a jackpot worth hundreds of millions!
Jiang Tao didn't dare dream of hitting the first prize, but a second prize would satisfy him!
He didn't know if ordinary people could win the first prize, but he was certain he could win the second prize!
After all, he already had a second-prize-winning lottery ticket in his pocket!
After buying the lottery ticket, Jiang Tao spent another 20 yuan on two 10-yuan scratch-off tickets.
The result, naturally, was a complete loss—his contribution to the welfare lottery cause.
Leaving the lottery shop, Jiang Tao randomly hopped on a bus, trying to expand his range of activity.
He didn't know if this would help.
But doing something was definitely better than doing nothing.
He wandered until 6 p.m., when Liu Zhiyuan and the others closed up shop.
As usual, the gang ate and drank their fill before heading back to Jiang Tao's place to split the profits.
Today, without Jiang Tao as a key player, sales had noticeably dropped.
Liu Zhiyuan and the other two sold a total of 156,800 yuan.
Jiang Tao took 71%, which was 111,328 yuan.
Liu Zhiyuan and Dan Yufei each got 21,736 yuan each.
Zhang Chao, as always, got his fixed 2,000-yuan salary.
After splitting the profits, Jiang Tao took 3,000 yuan from his share and distributed it as wages to Liu Zhiyuan and the others.
He hadn't contributed at all today, so taking over 110,000 yuan for free didn't sit right with him.
After handing out the wages, Jiang Tao smiled and said, "Oh, by the way, guys, I need to take another day off tomorrow."
"Approved, no question!"
"Hahaha, we're hoping Brother Jiang takes off every day!"
"Support Brother Jiang taking a few more days off!"
Hearing that Jiang Tao was taking another day off, Liu Zhiyuan and the others raised both hands in enthusiastic agreement and support!
Whether Jiang Tao showed up or not, their daily workload wouldn't increase—it'd stay the same.
But they could earn an extra 1,000 yuan!
Naturally, they were more than happy!