Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng arrived at their rented residential area.
As soon as the room door opened, a pungent smell assailed their nostrils.
The doors and windows hadn't been opened for half a month, and the smell was indeed a bit unpleasant.
"Damn it! If I had known, I wouldn't have listened to you and left the windows open. This smell is killing me!"
Zhang Xupeng exclaimed as soon as the door opened.
"You're an idiot, aren't you? If the windows were open, what if the wind blew them open? Could you still live in that room when it rains? Let's open all the doors and windows to air it out."
"Should we spray some air freshener? I remember there's still a bottle at home."
"No, that smell combined with the musty smell would be deadly. Just bear with it, open all the doors and windows, and it'll be fine in a while. Let's tidy up first."
Ningbo in winter is dreary and rainy; it would be drizzling most of the time in a month.
Coupled with the wind blowing from the sea, it's cold, gloomy, and humid.
For an unoccupied room, if the windows were left open for a long time, although there would be no smell, it would also be very dangerous.
The two of them each simply tidied up the luggage they brought and their respective rooms.
After more than half an hour, the smell in the room was much fainter compared to when they first arrived, but it was still present.
"How about we go eat? Anyway, it's almost five o'clock,"
Zhang Xupeng suggested.
"Okay, there's nothing to do staying at home, let's eat first,"
Tan Jincheng nodded.
What he was thinking, however, was that after dinner, he could buy a few football lottery tickets.
It was said that the odds for the football lottery were lower, but he didn't know if that was true or false.
Tan Jincheng hadn't researched it much, but this thing was legitimate, so a bit lower was fine; it was better than nothing.
Today was only the eighth day of the lunar new year, and Ningbo Vocational Technical College across the street hadn't started classes yet, so there really weren't many open restaurants nearby.
They randomly found one and settled for a meal.
After leaving the restaurant, Tan Jincheng said to Zhang Xupeng:
"I'm going to buy a lottery ticket, do you want to come?"
"You don't believe in this stuff, do you? Why are you thinking of buying it now?"
Zhang Xupeng said in surprise.
"Who buys that kind of stuff? The Champions League knockout stage is about to start, isn't it? I have money now, to support my home team, is there anything wrong with that?"
"Nothing wrong with that, let's go then, I'll also support my home team,"
Zhang Xupeng nodded.
"Don't bother supporting, just support mine. Yours will definitely lose, and don't even look at what kind of lineup my home team has."
"Bullshit! This round will send your home team packing! Are my Red Devils' twin stars plus a few old veterans worse than your home team?"
Zhang Xupeng retorted sharply.
In the summer of '04, Little Fatty Rooney was full of vigor; his first appearance for Manchester United was in the Champions League, where he scored a hat-trick on his debut.
The date was precisely September 28th, the day after Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng returned home.
In terms of starting point, Little Fatty Rooney was much higher than Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.
"Beckham has already left, who will pass the ball to them?"
"Isn't Giggs good enough? Isn't Scholes good enough?"
Zhang Xupeng glared; Beckham's departure was a pain in the hearts of Manchester United fans.
These two, one a fan of the Red Devils Manchester United and the other a fan of the Rossoneri, happened to meet in the knockout stage.
"Talk is useless, I'll send you home, Champions League Round of 16 lads,"
Tan Jincheng said disdainfully.
Oh, wait, this title seems to belong to Real Madrid.
Never mind, anyway, it's like this this year, let's lend it to Manchester United for now.
"Hmph."
The two of them bickered as they walked towards the football lottery shop.
As soon as Zhang Xupeng entered the shop, he shouted at the boss:
"Boss, give me a lottery ticket for Manchester United to win the championship, and one for Manchester United to beat AC Milan, 10 yuan for each!"
After saying that, he turned his head, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Tan Jincheng.
"Childish!"
Tan Jincheng thought with a chuckle, and slowly walked towards the research area.
"Why aren't you buying?"
After Zhang Xupeng paid, he walked towards Tan Jincheng and said.
"What's the hurry? I'm researching it. What's the point of betting on a win or loss? If I'm going to bet, I'll bet on the score,"
Tan Jincheng said casually.
At the same time, he was thinking to himself that the score for the AC Milan vs.
Manchester United match seemed to be 1:0, he should remember that.
But if he was buying Liverpool to win the championship, he might as well buy a Liverpool score ticket too.
He couldn't remember the score for Liverpool vs. Leverkusen; he didn't know if they won the first match, but they definitely advanced.
Given their toothless attack and their stumbling performance in the group stage, he'd bet on 1:0 for that too.
At the same time, Tan Jincheng noticed that Liverpool's championship odds hadn't changed, still 1 to 35, but their ranking had risen above Porto.
Porto was playing Inter Milan this round, and their championship odds had further dropped to 1 to 38.
AC Milan was 1 to 7, Manchester United 1 to 20; it seemed more people were backing AC Milan.
"Are you crazy? Betting on the score? Isn't that just throwing money away?"
Zhang Xupeng looked at Tan Jincheng as if he were an idiot.
"Anyway, it's just for fun. If AC Milan wins, I'll treat you to dinner to comfort you."
"No need, I'll treat you then. The Red Devils will surely win."
Tan Jincheng ignored him and quickly wrote down two 1:0 scores on paper, as well as his championship choices for AC Milan and Liverpool.
"Boss, 10 yuan each for the two 1:0 scores, and 100 yuan each for the championship winners."
Today was just testing the waters; he'd buy 100 yuan worth first.
In a few days, he would drive around, avoiding Zhang Xupeng, and buy 1000 yuan worth at several other lottery shops.
Zhang Xupeng, who had followed closely behind, looked curiously at Tan Jincheng's choices:
"Didn't you buy AC Milan? Why did you buy that one?"
"Its odds are high, I'll throw 100 yuan to see what happens and try my luck."
"Aren't Werder Bremen and Porto's odds even higher? Why didn't you buy them all?"
"Those two won't do. One is facing Inter Milan, the other is facing the Ligue 1 leader, that would truly be throwing money away. Liverpool at least still has their spirit."
The Ligue 1 leader these days isn't PSG under petrodollar football, but Lyon.
As for Porto playing Inter Milan, don't even think about it; last year's miracle couldn't be replicated, and the team had almost been hollowed out from coach to players.
"I think you're just burning money. Leverkusen was dominant in the group stage, beating Real Madrid three-nil, and you actually bet on Liverpool to win? You're crazy."
"Hey, it's just for fun, my first time buying, just testing the waters. As long as AC Milan wins, it's fine. It's only about 110 yuan anyway. Do you want to pick one and bet on a long shot too?"
"I'm not betting. I'm not trying to make money, I'm just supporting my home team. As long as I can eliminate you, I'll be happier than making money."
"You're dreaming, that's impossible."
Zhang Xupeng pouted and didn't speak.
In terms of strength, it would indeed be tough for the Red Devils to eliminate AC Milan; AC Milan's lineup was truly too strong.
But no matter what, they couldn't lose in terms of morale, and with the Premier League's "Theatre of Dreams," Old Trafford wasn't just for show.
The probability of advancing should be 50-50, right?
In the following days, Tan Jincheng used the opportunity of New Year client visits and visited over thirty lottery shops of various sizes in Beicang District, buying a total of 30,000 yuan worth of Liverpool to win the championship.
These 30,000 yuan were an advance on his February salary.
Tan Jincheng used home renovation as an excuse to get an advance on this month's salary; he didn't dare to buy any more.
Walking out of the last lottery shop, Tan Jincheng looked at the lush trees by the roadside, feeling spring getting stronger, and couldn't help but light a cigarette.
"Damn it! Novels say that being reborn and buying lottery tickets to get rich is absolute nonsense. If you buy 1000 yuan worth, people look at you like a big idiot."
Over 30 times he received looks like a big idiot, and over 30 times rolling eyes.
Who can stand that?
(End of this chapter)
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