The ti Xu Li and Jiang Tao agreed to et for dinner was exactly seven o’clock in the evening.
It was only about half past four right now.
Jiang Tao had gone over to Pan Garden today to sell tea, spending nearly four hours in total on the subway, back and forth.
Even though he didn’t do anything, it was more exhausting than driving for a whole day’s work.
With a little over two hours left, he didn’t plan to do anything else and just went straight back to his rental to rest.
He ended up sleeping until six thirty in the afternoon.
After getting up, Jiang Tao washed his face, washed his hair, shaved, and changed into a clean outfit.
With a quick freshen-up, his whole vibe changed drastically.
In an instant, he went from a sloppy, unkempt middle-aged guy to a charming uncle type.
Back in school when Xu Li was the one chasing after him, his looks—thanks in large part to his parents—definitely helped.
By the ti he was done washing up, it was already six-fifty.
When Jiang Tao went downstairs, he saw He Jing had already arrived and was smiling and gesturing sothing to Ma Dongi.
"Hey, look at you, all cleaned up! Pretty dashing! Almost as handso as I was back in the day!"
Lü Qian saw the freshly grood Jiang Tao and teased him with a grin.
When Jiang Tao was at work driving the van, he was always a scruffy ss.
The only ti he really made an effort was when he was heading ho, making sure to look his best for his wife and kid.
After over six years of knowing him, Lü Qian seldom got to see Jiang Tao look this clean and sharp.
"Almost as handso as I was back in the day" was the highest praise he could give Jiang Tao’s looks.
"Haha, you can totally tell, you can totally tell! Brother Lü, you must have been the idol of tens of thousands of girls in Beijing, the king of good looks in the whole city!"
Jiang Tao looked at Lü Qian, who was once again cosplaying as Xu Wenqiang, and joined in the banter with a laugh.
"Hey Jiang, you’re here!"
He Jing spotted Jiang Tao and gave her a friendly smile and greeting.
This Jiang Tao was totally different from the one she’d seen before.
More handso, more charismatic—it was obvious.
And also...
She didn’t know why, but He Jing felt like the Jiang Tao in front of her felt like a totally different person from the one she’d first t while buying that watch.
He just seed so much more at ease and confident now.
The tone he used to speak also felt more outgoing and positive.
One was the heavily in debt Jiang Tao, anxious every day about making money to pay off his loans as the New Year approached, suffering from severe insomnia.
The other was a debt-free Jiang Tao, who had already made tens of thousands thanks to Brother Tongzi, eating well, drinking well, and sleeping great every day.
Those two totally different versions of Jiang Tao naturally left very different impressions.
After exchanging a few casual words, Lü Qian led the group toward the restaurant for tonight’s dinner.
He’d heard from Ma Dongi that He Jing liked seafood.
So he picked Brother Fatty’s Seafood Barbecue in the urban village as their dinner spot for the night.
Don’t look down on Brother Fatty’s Seafood Barbecue just because it’s in the urban village—this place was actually pretty big.
The restaurant took up three stories along the street and was done up really fancy, with prices on the higher side too.
They had a full selection of seafood—shellfish, shrimp, fish, you na it.
Brother Fatty’s Seafood Barbecue was pretty famous in this part of town.
Every day, lots of people from downtown even drove all the way over to eat there.
Lü Qian looked like a regular here as well.
As soon as he walked in with Jiang Tao and the others, the waiter led them straight to a private room on the second floor he’d reserved ahead of ti.
Inside the room, Lü Qian just asked Jiang Tao and He Jing if they had any food restrictions.
Once he asked, he dove straight into ordering.
Oysters, clams, scallops, shrimp, prawns, shrimp balls, saury, squid—all the seafood you could want.
Then he ordered a pile of skewers too.
"Tonight we’re drinking this~"
After ordering, Lü Qian, showing off a bit, pulled out a jar of Daughter Red Wine from a black tote bag—it was one he’d bought from Jiang Tao at twenty thousand a jar.
When Ma Dongi saw the wine jar, her eyes lit up.
Obviously, she’d tasted it before.
Jiang Tao had learned from chatting with Lü Qian that Ma Dongi also liked to drink—and could really hold her liquor.
No wonder the two of them had a 97% compatibility; their hobbies matched up perfectly.
Soon, the waiter started bringing over plates and plates of shellfish and shrimp and fish.
Lü Qian, being tonight’s host, said a few words to welco He Jing, then announced dinner was on.
The Daughter Red Wine Jiang Tao sold to Lü Qian was actually aged nearly twenty years and was pretty rare on the market.
Even He Jing, who never touched alcohol, couldn’t resist pouring herself a small cup to try it after hearing Lü Qian rave about it.
The rich and complex aroma of the wine surprised even He Jing—it really was good.
The al was lively and cheerful; the group felt less like strangers and more at ease with each other.
All four of them finished off the whole two-jin jar of Daughter Red.
After eating and drinking their fill, Lü Qian went downstairs and paid the bill—over 2400 yuan, so about 600 per person, which wasn’t too extravagant.
But if you counted that 20,000 yuan jar of wine, it was over 5,000 per person—a real feast!
By the ti they got back to Lü Qian’s building, it was already past nine.
Jiang Tao still needed to video call his wife and kid, so he said goodbye to everyone and went up to his room.
Back in his room, he freshened up real quick and downed a big glass of water to sober up.
Only then did Jiang Tao take out his phone and video call Xu Li.
"Honey, am I super dumb and useless...?"
"I can’t even make a penny, and I lost 30,000 yuan too. I’m such a failure."
Xu Li still hadn’t forgiven herself for losing that lottery ticket worth 30,000.
She looked so aggrieved, like a kid who’d done sothing wrong.
Jiang Tao was a little exasperated—he’d already comforted her plenty this morning.
He’d clearly told her he didn’t bla her at all, and told her not to worry.
But Xu Li kept blaming herself, refusing to let go or move on, and there was nothing Jiang Tao could do at this point.
Suddenly, inspiration struck Jiang Tao and he said:
"Wifey, I was going to save this till I got ho and snuggled up in bed with you, but..."
"But since you’re feeling down today, I’d better just tell you now."
"What is it?"
Xu Li’s curiosity was piqued. She looked at him expectantly.
"This thing is even crazier than real life—you probably won’t believe , but it’s true. I’ve got proof!"
"A couple days ago..."
Jiang Tao slightly changed the story of how he’d found a second-prize lottery ticket in a used car and started telling Xu Li.
Once Xu Li heard that soone else lost even more money than she did, and her own husband even picked it up!
She lost one, he found one; in the end, they’d co out more than 30,000 ahead!
To make it extra convincing, Jiang Tao even sent Xu Li the bank record of his transaction with the lottery shop owner.
Seeing that record for 68,996 yuan, Xu Li couldn’t help but believe it!
"I’m telling you, this was all ant to be—fate or whatever."
"Maybe that lost ticket wasn’t yours after all. Maybe the universe just thought we’d gotten too much and took a little back."
"Is that really how it is, honey?"
After all of Jiang Tao’s comforting, Xu Li really did feel a lot better.
"Absolutely!"
Jiang Tao answered without even a second’s hesitation.
The two of them kept chatting until after midnight before ending the call.
After they hung up, Jiang Tao focused and brought up the Intelligence System panel to check the latest updates.
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