At the entrance of the "Jiu Yin" bar, a Mercedes Benz was struggling to parallel park.
The Mercedes S model has a rather long chassis, and Li Rui, who had just gotten his driver's license, tried several times without success to park properly.
In the back seat were Li Xinyue and her friend Chen Rongrong, which made Li Rui blush with nervousness.
The more nervous he got, the less he managed to park well.
To make matters worse, there was only one marked parking space, and he didn't dare to park anywhere else. After all, with the effort it had taken him to borrow his father's car, if the police gave him a ticket, he would surely get a scolding.
Finally, Li Rui managed to park the Mercedes crookedly, quickly got out of the car, and hurried to open the door for Li Xinyue, thus demonstrating his gentlemanliness and his "nice guy" attitude.
His spirits were sky-high today, as Li Xinyue had broken up with Cheng Zhu and this time they had even deleted each other from their contacts.
"There's no turning back, definitely no turning back in their relationship this time!"
For this reason, he immediately sought out Chen Rongrong to invite Li Xinyue to the bar that night.
Chen Rongrong had already been going to bars in secret when she was in high school, she had even dated a bar promoter.
They say she's lucky for a reason, don't they?
Li Xinyue, on the other hand, had never been to a bar.
For some students at this stage, bars are a forbidden place, but at the same time they arouse a certain curiosity.
Li Rui specially chose a quiet bar instead of a nightclub, because he knew that otherwise Li Xinyue would surely refuse.
During the ride, he didn't stop bragging.
"This bar is called 'Jiu Yin', I have a good relationship with the owner."
In reality, it was his cousin who knew Shen Minglang, and when the bar had just opened, he helped promote it on social media. Li Rui didn't even know Shen Minglang.
He planned to pay with his cousin's membership card and pretend it was his, believing that would make him look more impressive.
Before leaving, he had already talked to his cousin and planned to transfer the money to him afterward.
It was a rather childish behavior, but some boys go through that stage, and even some twenty-eight-year-old men still enjoy showing off in strange and unsophisticated ways.
During the ride, Li Xinyue and Chen Rongrong were sitting in the back seat, talking the whole time about Cheng Zhu.
Li Xinyue even recounted her conversations again, making Chen Rongrong angry and laugh at the same time.
Li Xinyue told her:
"This time we've really broken up," and he replied:
"Okay."
What kind of response is that?
He could have just replied "alright" or "agreed," but "okay" is simply ridiculous.
"How can he be like that?!"
Chen Rongrong couldn't help but complain.
Li Rui intervened at the right moment:
"That day I heard him say that a good guy is behind a suck-up, and his attitude didn't seem right to me. Men must treat women well unconditionally; women are to be cherished unconditionally."
He was still maintaining his "nice guy" image.
Li Rui thought that, at that moment, he was surely forming a clear contrast with Cheng Zhu in Li Xinyue's mind.
"Exactly!"
Chen Rongrong agreed.
Just like Li Xinyue, Chen Rongrong was a quite demanding girl during relationships, so she agreed with Li Rui's opinion and thought Cheng Zhu was wrong.
What they didn't know is that, from Cheng Zhu's perspective, when a real princess gets angry, that's what's called "princess syndrome." What happens to them is more like "flustered chicken syndrome."
At that moment, the three entered the "Jiu Yin" bar, feeling a certain curiosity about the place.
The bar was quite dark, and only after sitting down did they realize that, on the other side, Cheng Zhu was sitting.
"It's Cheng Zhu!"
Chen Rongrong whispered.
Li Rui cursed his bad luck silently and suggested: "Should we go to another bar?"
However, Li Xinyue shook her head, her gaze fixed on Shen Qingning.
Although she could only see her profile, Shen Qingning, whether it was her aura, her appearance, or her evident long legs, surpassed Li Xinyue by more than one level.
Furthermore, she had an indescribable air of distinction, like a young lady from a wealthy family.
Some girls are like that; as soon as you see them, you feel they come from a good family.
Shen Qingning was precisely that type.
"No, we're staying here," Li Xinyue said suddenly.
"Huh? Well... okay," Li Rui and Chen Rongrong looked at each other.
Chen Rongrong asked in a low voice:
"Do you know the people next to Cheng Zhu?" Li Xinyue shook her head and said:
"I only recognize Jiang Wanzhou, he's a good friend of Cheng Zhu, but I don't like him, he's too effeminate."
On the other hand, Cheng Zhu and Jiang Wanzhou also noticed Li Xinyue and the others sitting not far away.
Jiang Wanzhou smiled and said:
"Look, your recent ex-girlfriend."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Minglang perked up and asked:
"Where, where? Let me see what my cousin's taste is like."
Cheng Zhu didn't expect to run into them, but he didn't care either.
He had been through situations like this many times.
Later, when he moved to Wucheng to start a business, although the small commodities market there is famous in the world, after all, it's a county-level city, quite small.
Furthermore, with the character he developed later, he was always in a cycle of "the prodigal son returns, only to be a prodigal son again," which led him to occasionally run into women with whom he had had histories or even incidents.
Nothing to worry about! Small situations, small situations.
From his perspective, these high school graduates were still at the stage where they get nervous speaking in public and feel too shy to sing at a karaoke, so in a public place like this, they couldn't cause much of a fuss.
He noticed that Li Rui was looking towards them, so he returned the gaze directly, causing Li Rui to quickly look away, uncomfortable.
Shen Minglang followed Cheng Zhu's gaze and, smiling, said: "Not bad, the two girls are quite young. Are they both my cousin's ex-girlfriends? Do you want me to have Yezi send them a fruit platter?"
"No, that's not necessary," Cheng Zhu replied with a smile. "You're very generous, cousin."
Meanwhile, on Li Xinyue's side, because Shen Minglang and Shen Qingning were also looking towards them, they began to feel more and more uncomfortable, as if something was bothering them.
Li Xinyue felt very embarrassed, a feeling she had never experienced before.
And because of that discomfort, she felt more and more annoyed with Cheng Zhu.
"It's all his fault!"
At that moment, on the bar's screen, a World Cup match was being broadcast.
Many of the customers were still commenting on the previous game. Some were excited, others frustrated.
Chen Rongrong brought up the topic, saying:
"I've heard that a lot of people have been betting on the matches lately, do you know anyone who does?"
Li Xinyue shook her head, distracted.
Li Rui immediately said:
"In a few hours will be this year's World Cup final, Argentina against Germany. I'm thinking of a small bet of 2000."
He began to subtly show off his purchasing power, raising his voice a little.
"2000, that much?" Chen Rongrong was surprised.
"Well, a little bet for fun," said Li Rui, raising his voice a little more.
At that moment, the background music of the bar was low, but the volume of the match broadcast was high, which allowed the people on Cheng Zhu's side to vaguely hear what Li Rui was saying.
"Wow, betting 2000, a rich kid," commented Shen Minglang, though it wasn't clear if he was serious or being sarcastic.
At that moment, Jiang Wanzhou got up to go to the bathroom.
Cheng Zhu had been waiting for that moment.
So, he said:
"Cousin, Jiang Wanzhou mentioned that you could help me bet on the matches, he said your odds are good."
"Well, if you trust me, of course I can help you, it's a small favor," he replied with a smile.
He himself had already bet on Germany's victory, with a bet of 50,000.
The odds were good, 2.3.
That is, if Germany finally wins, he could win 65,000.
Shen Minglang asked:
"Cousin, which one do you think will win?"
"Germany," Cheng Zhu replied without hesitation.
"Really? You have a good eye! I also bet on Germany as the champion, with a small bet of 50,000," said Shen Minglang, patting him on the shoulder.
Cheng Zhu smiled and said:
"Didn't you say you were a big fan of Messi? Why didn't you bet on Argentina?"
"Yes, because of that, for my idol, I also bet 500 on Argentina's victory," Shen Minglang nodded.
Wow, that's funny!
Cheng Zhu gave him a thumbs up.
"Cousin, how much do you want to bet on Germany's victory? I have a 2.3 probability," Shen Minglang said to Cheng Zhu.
But Cheng Zhu shook his head and replied:
"Cousin, I'm not going to bet on the champion, I'm going to bet on the score."
"Wow! You're not lacking in ambition, going straight for the exact score. What score do you want to bet on?" Shen Minglang asked.
Hitting the winner is already complicated, but hitting the exact score is much more difficult.
Of course, the odds are also much lower.
Cheng Zhu asked:
"What are the odds for a 0:0?"
Shen Minglang took his phone to check:
"Let me see, the odds are 7.55."
"Then help me bet on that score. I think in regulation time they'll draw 0:0 and then go to extra time. How do you prefer me to transfer the money, cousin?" Cheng Zhu asked.
"Wow, you're brave, betting on a 0:0. Whatever way you want to transfer the money is fine with me. How much are you going to bet, cousin?" Shen Minglang asked.
"12,000," Cheng Zhu replied without blinking.
"12,000? That's fine... wait, how much did you say?" Shen Minglang looked up, surprised.