"When I was discharged from the hospital, I ca back. Due to my poor health, I could only do so odd jobs. After covering daily expenses, I spent the rest on lottery tickets as a way to show my gratitude."
With a sigh, Zhang Qiang suddenly fell silent. When he spoke again, his voice was muffled:
"That day, I won the lottery. It was a second prize in the ga Lotto, fifty tickets, each worth 150,000, totaling 6.5 million."
"When I saw the winning numbers on TV the night before, I was shocked and confused. Once I ca to my senses, I was excited, thrilled, and didn’t sleep a wink all night."
"I knew the hard days for the three of us brothers were over. Split it, and each of us would get over two million. We could finally live a good life."
"The next day, I specially wore so decent clothes and went to town. Just before pushing the door open, I was already fantasizing about where we should travel to relax."
"When I pushed the door open, it wasn’t deserted, but it was a complete ss."
Zhang Qiang, who had been holding up his neck, slowly dropped his head, his voice carrying a slight tremor, yet his face remained calm:
"Everywhere you could see in the lottery shop was a ss. The walls, the boards, even the floor, were covered in graffiti drawn with black pen."
"The tally marks went from places you could reach to places you couldn’t, becoming increasingly sloppy, to the point I couldn’t even recognize them."
"At that mont, I just wanted to laugh. This rascal, after all these years, he’s still so useless. Just like when we were kids, whenever he had a dilemma, he liked to draw tally marks, even pulled in to draw with him, saying it was too lonely to do it alone."
"Actually, I understood. I had understood for a long ti, but I didn’t feel angry. In fact, I felt quite liberated, like sothing weighing on was gone, broken to pieces on the ground, that’s all."
The voice was quiet, without grief, without anger, without bla, only calmness, a deathly calmness.
Inside the hall, there was dead silence, even Wang Baoqiang didn’t dare to speak.
Ning An quickly interrupted his state, saying gently, "You an, he ran off with all the money?"
"No." Zhang Qiang laughed, showing his white teeth in a bright smile:
"He probably still thought of as his childhood friend and left a bag under the chair he usually liked to sit on."
"He even wrapped it in clothes I had left behind to make sure I’d notice it. It’s a second prize ticket’s worth, 150,000 Dragon Coins, not a cent more, not a cent less."
"I didn’t have any other thoughts at that ti, I just took that pack of money and went ho."
"When I got ho, I found Zhang Baoqiang was there, looking quite haggard, saying his son was sick, had a high fever that wouldn’t go down, lying in the hospital, but the doctors wouldn’t operate because they couldn’t pay."
"He had no choice, he went from house to house in the nearby village, kneeling and begging. Since my house is closest to the village entrance, he ca to mine first. Their whole family’s savings were only a bit over 50,000, far short of the 200,000 needed for the surgery."
"The situation was sudden, I didn’t think much and just gave him the money, telling him to take good care of his child’s illness, and we would talk about the money later."
Zhang Qiang chuckled bitterly, "Yet, after that, it led to this mont, where they don’t even acknowledge it anymore."
Zhang Qiang’s words were like a bomb dropped in deep water, blasting the viewers in the livestream into confusion.
"The information is too overwhelming, my CPU is overheating, I need to take it slow."
"I felt like I went back to middle school when I burned the midnight oil reading stories, thinking such stories only happen in tales."
"His two brothers are sothing else. If I were dying and had two good brothers who wouldn’t give up on , I would at least co back to bow to them."
"This story, from beginning to end, has no logical loopholes, even the transformation of human nature is vividly depicted. If he made it up, I think he could make a living writing novels."
"Yes, the struggle of human nature, the transformation of human nature, if it were , I might have collapsed on the spot."
"I just checked, and indeed soone in Z City hit fifty tickets in the ga Lotto that day, this aligns. But no photos of the winner were found."
"It’s normal, in our country, people only care about the first prize winner who’s all over the place, while the second doesn’t catch much attention."
"The borrowing matches the emotions, being betrayed by a childhood friend. Facing those 150,000, he naturally felt lost, and when soone ca to borrow money at ho, also willing to give up everything to save soone, I wouldn’t hold back, I would definitely lend it."
"Yes, at that point, there’s no need to talk about promissory notes, just lend the money and have peace of mind for a while. Eventually, you’ll get it back."
"Hmph, your reasoning is purely based on emotion. Anyway, I only trust evidence, without evidence, even if it were the Emperor of Heaven, I wouldn’t believe him!"
"Yes, his brother ran off with the money, why would his conscience explode and leave him 150,000? And it’s such a coincidence that Wang Baoqiang cos to borrow, needing exactly 150,000, even a lodrama writer wouldn’t write such a script!"
"Exactly, putting feelings aside, being poor all your life, finally having 150,000, wouldn’t you keep it close instead of just giving it away without a note?"
"..."
The viewers in the livestream were divided into two camps, the comnts flooding in, arguing ceaselessly.
In the side hall, people’s expressions were varied.
So believed, so didn’t, they looked at each other with an odd atmosphere.
Zhang Qiang’s words directly made Wang Baoqiang lose his composure. He stood up and started cursing:
"I think you’ve gone completely crazy from poverty, making up a story to slander , who’s going to believe you!"
The nearby villagers, though not responding, also kept silent.
The information was too complicated for their minds to process, they’d rather leave it to professionals.
Ning An looked at Zhang Qiang: "So, you never contacted him again afterwards?"
After a while, Zhang Qiang shook his head and said bitterly, "I contacted him, he never changed his phone number, never hung up on my calls, just never answered."
Sigh.
Ning An sighed inwardly, then said, "What you’ve said is very logical, and I’m willing to believe it’s true."
"But as I’ve said, whether it’s court diation or my diation, it all relies on evidence. Without any evidence, this..."
Ning An sighed deeply, unable to continue.
Even now, Zhang Qiang couldn’t produce any evidence, Wang Baoqiang, feeling more confident, said: "Aren’t you great at making up stories? Co on, make up so evidence!"
"It’s ridiculous, lending so much money without even a promissory note?"
"If you’ve got delusions, just get treatnt, stop bothering people here every day."
Unable to produce a shred of evidence, Zhang Qiang could only watch as Wang Baoqiang hurled insults in his face, grinding his teeth in frustration.
But Wang Baoqiang wasn’t done, continuing with a sarcastic tone:
"I think your two childhood friends saw through you, so they’ve moved away."
"Even if you’re truly in need, just tell folks, with all these years as neighbors, no one would leave you to die."
"Now you act like a stray dog, shalessly coming to grab, do you feel proud?"
"Besides, a brother short on money for his son’s treatnt, you could’ve made up sothing more believable."
Saying this, Wang Baoqiang sneered, took out his phone, and showed everyone his bank balance.
"Co, co, everyone look, isn’t the balance 830,000?"
"According to his claim, my son’s treatnt needs 200,000, can I not afford it?"
"Fellow villagers, in these past two years, I, Wang Baoqiang, though not highly successful, have made sothing of myself, you all must have heard."
"Would I need to borrow money from him, isn’t this nonsense?!"
Hearing this, Ning An frowned.
After all, now he was at a loss, he couldn’t possibly pay the 150,000 himself.
But Wang Baoqiang’s next words suddenly enlightened Ning An.
"I warn you, keep slandering and don’t bla for being heartless, I’ll let the Ancestor Judge you!"
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