They’re all reborn, what’s wrong with being a little more almighty?

Chapter 248 Winning the Prize

The match between Spain and France was already packed even before it started. The fans of both teams wore their own team uniforms, forming a unique landscape.

Two French fans ran to the area where the Spanish spectators were sitting. One of them took out a red cloth and posed like a bullfighter, while the other put his hands above his head and imitated a bull charging forward.

The French fan pretending to be a bullfighter immediately made a falling motion, as if to say, the bullfighter was hit!
When other French fans saw this scene, they immediately screamed and kept mocking in French.

The Spanish fans on the opposing team were not to be outdone. They took out a baguette and started beating a rooster mascot with it, intending to beat up the Gallic rooster.

Go ahead and hit him, and use a baguette to hit him. It won’t do much harm, but it is extremely insulting!
Before the players from both teams entered the field, the fans on both sides began to taunt each other.

The German fans, on the other hand, had a leisurely expression on their faces. Germany had already successfully advanced to the next round, so of course the German fans would look more relaxed.

When the French pretend to be bullfighters, German fans will cheer along; when the Spanish use baguettes to beat up a Gallic rooster doll, the Germans will also cheer along. In short, they are like trouble stirrers, enjoying the fun.

Zhang Wei looked at the fans around him who were celebrating like crazy, and he couldn't help but sigh: "European fans are so enthusiastic!"

"Brother, is this your first time watching a live football match in Europe?" Lu Yunxiang said, waving to the beer boy and ordering two beers.

For Germans, watching football is a must without beer!

Zhang Wei nodded: "Let alone the live shows in Europe, I have only watched the live shows in China a few times."

"I've seen it! I watched a Juventus game and a Manchester United game when I traveled to Europe before!" Lu Yunxiang boasted for a while, then asked: "Brother, isn't there a Chinese Super League team in your hometown? I guess the football atmosphere there should be very strong!"

"The football atmosphere used to be good, and there was even a special football school. But the club couldn't win and was often at the bottom of the table! The fans' patience was worn out," said Zhang Wei.

"That's true!" Lu Yunxiang nodded as if he suddenly understood, and leaned towards Zhang Wei, whispering mysteriously: "Brother, do you really think the French team can win?"

"Nonsense, otherwise why would I bet 20,000 euros on France to win!" Zhang Wei said.

"I also bought 500 euros for France to win!" Lu Yunxiang muttered softly.

"Master Lu, do you still care about a mere 500 euros?"

"A small amount of money is still meat! The point is that I spent 500 euros, and it feels like it was wasted!"

"Wait two hours, and when you go to claim the prize, you won't have that feeling anymore." Zhang Wei said, glancing at Lu Yunxiang, and then asked, "Why are you acting like this? Are you sneaking around? Did you run into your old lover?"

"I'm not afraid that our conversation will be heard by others. If others know that you spent 20,000 euros on betting, they will definitely think you are a rich man and might rob us! The security in Germany will be so bad during the World Cup!" Lu Yunxiang explained.

"Are you stupid?" Zhang Wei snorted coldly: "We are speaking Chinese. Do you think any foreigner around us can understand us?"

"That's true! We are in Germany, foreigners can't understand Chinese!"

……

The referee blew the whistle to start the game, and the whole stadium was immediately boiling. The cheers and shouts of the fans gathered into a boiling ocean, and the air was filled with excitement.

On the field, every move and every fight of the players touched the hearts of tens of thousands of fans. Whenever a wonderful moment appeared, the whole field would instantly boil, with cheers and screams rising and falling, as if to overturn the field.

In the 27th minute of the game, Spain successfully created a penalty kick and scored it, making the score 1 to 0. The scene was instantly drowned out by the shouts of Spanish fans.

"Brother, the Spanish team scored a goal!" Lu Yunxiang looked panicked.

"Calm down, the first half is only halfway through, why are you panicking!" Zhang Wei glanced at Lu Yunxiang and then said, "Xiao Lu, I didn't think you were so weak before! I just realized that you are a coward! You are a rich second-generation, the heir to a big company. How can you inherit the family business in the future if your psychological quality is so poor?"

"Brother, my family is in the coal mining business, did you know that?" Lu Yunxiang asked back.

"I know, your father is a coal boss!" Zhang Wei nodded.

"My dad said that the most important thing about coal mining is to be careful and cautious. In this line of work, if something goes wrong, it can be a matter of life and death! So my personality makes me the most suitable person to inherit the family business."

"This is different from the coal bosses I know! Aren't all coal bosses said to be ruthless and cruel?" Zhang Wei asked.

"The ones you mentioned are most likely illegal small coal mines. For a formal coal mine, the Safety Supervision Bureau sends people to inspect it every few days. The Tax Bureau and the Labor Bureau also keep an eye on you all the time. How dare you be so cruel!"

"Won't your profit be much less then?" Zhang Wei asked.

"Of course, we are a formal coal mine, so we sell our coal through formal channels. Our prices are higher than those of illegal small coal mines, and of course our quality is better."

Talking about his family's coal mining business, Lu Yunxiang seemed to be showing off again.

Zhang Wei didn't want to see Lu Yunxiang showing off, so he quickly changed the subject. He said, "You may be a coward, but you don't have to be so cowardly for 500 euros, right? This amount of money is a drop in the bucket for you. The dinner you treated me to yesterday cost more than 200 euros, right? 500 euros is the money for two meals!"

"It's different!" Lu Yunxiang sighed and continued, "My dad said that with our wealth, as long as we don't gamble or invest blindly, we won't lose it all in several lifetimes. This lottery is almost the same as gambling. If my dad knew that I bought a football lottery, I would be scolded if I said nothing!"

"Well, what uncle said makes sense. Many rich second-generations are ruined by gambling and investment." Zhang Wei nodded in agreement.

Lu Yunxiang continued, "My dad also said that buying lottery tickets is the way of thinking of poor people. Only poor people would think of taking a chance to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, hoping to change their fate through lottery tickets. For example, in our family, let alone motorcycles, we already have Rolls-Royces, so there is no need to take a chance."

"Well, uncle is a wise man!" Zhang Wei nodded again and then came to his senses.

"No, why do I feel like you are implying something to me?"

The two chatted and time soon came to the end of the first half of the game. The French team scored a goal to tie the score.

In the second half, France scored two more goals and defeated Spain 3-1.

Zhang Wei bet 20,000 euros, which directly turned into 45,600 euros.

In this match, the odds offered by the bookmakers are 1.63 for Spain and 2.28 for France, which clearly favors Spain. France can be considered a weak team defeating a strong team.

Zhang Wei has already invested most of his funds in betting on Italy to win the championship, so even though he knew that France was sure to win, he only bet for 20,000 euros.

而且1比2.28的赔率，肯定没有1比13的赔率香。如果始终按照1比2.28计算的话，连赢三场，也只是达到1比11.85，还是不如1比13赔率赚得多。

But in the next game, Zhang Wei can bet 45,600 euros.

After the round of 16, Brazil still has the highest odds of winning the championship. Germany has risen to second place, followed by Argentina and Italy, and France is ranked sixth.

France's next game is against Brazil, the favorite to win the championship. In this game, bookmakers are of course more optimistic about the five-star Brazil, giving odds of 1.48 for Brazil and 3.16 for France.

As a result, France eliminated the five-star Brazil team with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano 1-0. Zhang Wei's euros turned directly into euros.

The French team won consecutive victories over Spain and Brazil, proving their strength. Their next opponent is Portugal, and this time the bookmakers are finally optimistic about France.

Although Portugal also eliminated the Netherlands and England to advance and is also very strong, fans generally believe that France's overall strength is still better than Portugal.

Zhang Wei was not satisfied with the odds of this game, so he did not buy it, but went ALL IN on the other semi-final, the match between Italy and Germany.

Italy's road to the next round was smooth, with the first knockout match against Australia and the second against Ukraine, both of which were against weak teams. It was not until the semi-finals that the real test came, with the opponent being the home team Germany.

With Brazil eliminated by France, Germany's odds of winning the championship have climbed to first place, 1 to 2.75, which is higher than Brazil's 1 to 3 in the previous round.

After all, Germany was the runner-up in the last World Cup, and they are playing at home, so it is natural that they are favored.

夺冠赔率第二的是法国队的1比3，第三是意大利的1比4.33，最后则是葡萄牙的1比6。

In the match between Italy and Germany, bookmakers, media, and even fans are generally optimistic about Germany. German fans also support their home team and bet madly on Germany to win.

In order to hedge the odds, the bookmakers could only raise the odds in favor of Dali. In the end, the odds of the two sides differed by 2.7 times, which is a considerable gap in a lottery where you guess the winner.

What's more, there is not such a big gap between Germany and Italy. The reason why the odds are so different is mainly because the local German fans used real money to support it.

If it were in Italy, the odds would definitely not be so different. Italians would definitely support their home team and bet on Italy to win. Then, in order to balance the odds, the odds of Germany winning would be raised.

At this time, some people will definitely wonder whether it is possible to make a profit by taking advantage of the different odds offered by bookmakers in different countries?

I can only say that this idea is too naive. Large bets need to be confirmed by the bookmaker, and if small bets are made like ants moving house, given the labor costs in Europe, it is equivalent to doing charity.

At this time, German fans all believed that Germany would beat Italy. Because Germany's road to promotion was to defeat two powerful opponents, Sweden and Argentina. The gold content of Germany's semi-finals was obviously higher than that of Italy. The Italians had not experienced the tempering of strong opponents, so they should be strong on the outside but weak on the inside!
The result was unexpected for the Germans, who lost to Italy in the semi-finals, which they were sure to win. The substitutions made by Italian coach Lippi did play a key role, helping Italy beat Germany 2-0 and advance to the final.

On the other side, the French team also defeated Portugal and met Italy in the final.

……

In the hotel room, Lu Yunxiang put down his phone and said, "Brother, I've asked clearly. The ticket for the finals will be increased by 1000 Euros each. Do you want to buy it?" "You mean the price of one ticket will be increased by 1000 Euros? Not one ticket will be sold for 1000 Euros?" Zhang Wei was surprised.

The ticket prices for the German World Cup final have been announced long ago and are divided into four levels: 120 euros, 220 euros, 360 euros and 600 euros.

As the final day approaches, the ticket price will definitely increase, and it is normal to double it, so if it is sold for 1000 euros, it is not outrageous, but the price increase of 1000 euros is indeed a bit expensive. This price increase alone exceeds the first-class ticket.

"Is the scalper you found reliable? Don't let him be a scammer!" Zhang Wei said.

"What scalper? This is a privilege for users of the Centurion Black Gold Card. This is the World Cup final, and tickets are hard to come by. If it weren't for the Centurion Black Gold Card, you wouldn't be able to buy tickets at all." Lu Yunxiang replied.

"The Centurion Black Gold Card really doesn't cheat the poor!" Zhang Wei snorted coldly, and then asked, "Which area does this one with a 1000 euro premium sit in?"

"Of course it's the special ticket area!" Lu Yunxiang said.

World Cup tickets are divided into four areas. Third-class tickets are located in the corner kick area and behind the goal, second-class tickets are located in the corner kick area, behind the goal and in the long side stands, first-class tickets are located in the long side stands and corner kick area, and special-class tickets are located in the middle of the first-class tickets, which is the best viewing position in the stadium.

The tickets in the special price area were not sold to the public in the first two rounds of ticket sales. Later, when the tickets were opened for sale, not all of them were released. Apparently, some tickets were reserved for some VIP customers, such as users of the Centurion Black Gold Card.

Knowing that he could sit in the best viewing seat, Zhang Wei said: "The World Cup comes every four years, so why not go and watch a game? Don't leave any regrets!"

Although Zhang Wei said this, his heart was bleeding. 1000 euros is 2006 RMB. In , paying an extra RMB to watch a game felt like a huge loss.

But on second thought, being able to witness this once-in-a-lifetime scene of Zidane's big head butting into someone seems to be a good way to recoup some of the cost.

At this moment, the doorbell rang, and someone outside shouted, "Room service!"

"Did you order room service? What delicious food did you order?" Lu Yunxiang asked.

"It should be the newspaper delivery. I asked the room service to send a few English newspapers every day." Zhang Wei said, took out ten euros and walked to the door.

"Sir, I've brought you the newspapers you requested, including The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, and the English version of Le Monde," said the waiter.

The waiter specifically emphasized the French newspaper Le Monde because Germany also has a Le Monde with a large circulation, but the German version does not have an English edition.

Zhang Wei handed a ten-euro tip to the waiter and returned to the room with the newspaper.

"Brother, you seem to be quite concerned about international affairs!" Lu Yunxiang said as he came closer, took a newspaper from Zhang Wei's hand, and read it hastily.

Soon, a piece of news came into Lu Yunxiang's sight.

"According to the organizing committee of the International Mathematical Union, the 2006 Fields Medal was officially announced yesterday. The four young mathematicians who won the award are:
Andrei Okunkov, professor at Princeton University, for his contributions to probability theory, algebraic representation theory, and algebraic geometry.

Grigory Perelman, Steklov Mathematical Institute, for his revolutionary insights into geometry and into the analysis and geometry of Ricci flows.

Wendelin Werner, professor at the University of Paris XI, for his contributions to the development of random conformal mappings, the geometry of two-dimensional spaces with Brownian motion, and conformal field theory.

Tsinghua University, Zhang Wei, for his contributions to Mersenne primes.

It is reported that this year's Fields Medal award ceremony will be held in Madrid, Spain..."

Lu Yunxiang had no interest in reading the following content. At this moment, he was just looking at the newspaper in his hand with a look of shock.

"The Guardian in the UK is considered a relatively authoritative newspaper, so it shouldn't be fake news!"

Then Lu Yunxiang came up to Zhang Wei, trembling a little, pointed at the newspaper and asked, "Brother, is the Zhang Wei mentioned here you?"

Zhang Wei glanced at the contents of the newspaper. The news he had been waiting for finally came!
These days, Zhang Wei asked the waiter to deliver English newspapers, just waiting for the news of the Fields Medal. Now that the Fields Medal has been officially announced, the momentum in Zhang Wei's heart has finally come to fruition.

So Zhang Wei nodded: "Zhang Wei from Tsinghua University, it should be me!"

"Is it possible that we have the same name?" Lu Yunxiang asked.

"Is it possible that another Zhang Wei has also discovered five Mersenne primes?"

"That's absolutely impossible!" Lu Yunxiang shook his head.

"Why are you asking?" Zhang Wei snorted coldly.

Seeing Zhang Wei's calm face, Lu Yunxiang asked loudly: "Brother, you are too calm, aren't you excited? Aren't you thrilled? Are you happy to the point of being silly?"

"It's just a Fields Medal, why are you so happy? What's the big deal?"

"Brother, this is the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize in mathematics!"

"Don't say that this is just the Nobel Prize in mathematics. Even if I won the real Nobel Prize, would you be surprised?" Zhang Wei asked back.

"Uh..." Lu Yunxiang suddenly felt that Zhang Wei had tricked him again.

"When it comes to pretending to be cool, you have to look no further than me, Wei Ge! I'll never be able to reach this level in my lifetime!" Lu Yunxiang sighed inwardly.

Zhang Wei then continued: "After watching the World Cup, I will take you to Madrid to attend the World Congress of Mathematicians!"

……

Zhuge Xuegeng ran into Principal Gu's office excitedly and shouted excitedly: "Principal, good news, great news!"

Principal Gu, however, remained calm. He knew that Zhuge Xuegeng was a man who always liked to exaggerate, so he could only trust eight percent of his words.

So no matter how good the news is, just treat it as just good news!

"Zhuge, you are so old, why are you still like a child!"

"Principal, Zhang Wei won the Fields Medal!" Zhuge Xuegeng said.

"Fields Medal? Are you talking about the Nobel Prize in Mathematics?" Principal Gu was startled and stood up from his chair.

"Isn't it the Fields Medal?" Zhuge Xuegeng nodded.

Principal Gu frowned and thought for a while, then said, "If you want to say that Zhang Wei can win the Nobel Prize, it is possible. After all, his scientific research achievements are also strong competitors for the Nobel Prize. But what does the Fields Medal have to do with him?"

"Didn't Zhang Wei discover several Mersenne prime numbers?" Zhuge Xuegeng reminded.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten about it!" Principal Gu showed a look of sudden realization.

"Principal, this is the first Fields Medal won by a Chinese. We have to send someone to the award ceremony, right?" Zhuge Xuegeng asked expectantly.

"Don't worry, you won't be left behind. Go write a report and I'll report to the department." Principal Gu paused and then asked, "By the way, have you contacted Zhang Wei?"

"No!" Zhuge Xuegeng shook his head: "I came to you as soon as I got the news!"

"Zhang Wei is not in the country now."

"He went abroad?" Zhuge Xuegeng was stunned for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Principal, has our school expelled Zhang Wei again?"

"What do you mean he was fired again?" Principal Gu snorted coldly, and then said, "He went to Germany to watch the World Cup."

"This kid is quite leisurely." Zhuge Xuegeng looked at his watch and continued, "Germany is seven hours behind us. Zhang Wei should be up now, right? I'll call him, he should be able to answer!"

"Six hours!" Principal Gu added, "Germany is now on daylight saving time, so the time is one hour ahead."

"It's been six hours, it's time to get up now. I'll call him and ask him to buy me a hundred dollars bet that the French team will win!" Zhuge Xuegeng said.

"I didn't realize you knew anything about football! I didn't watch a single game in this World Cup. At most I just looked at the scores in the newspaper." Principal Gu said.

However, Zhuge Xuegeng shook his head: "I don't understand football."

"Then why did you ask Zhang Wei to bet on the French team to win?"

Zhuge Xuegeng chuckled: "Although I don't understand football, I understand odds! I have studied mathematics for most of my life. I can tell which team will win by calculating the odds!"

"Can the team's win or loss be calculated through odds?" Principal Gu thought to himself, I am a physicist after all, and I have studied mathematics, so don't lie to me.

Zhuge Xuegeng said proudly: "The World Cup is coming up recently, so I researched a formula. As long as I apply this formula, I can figure out which team will win. It's very reliable!"

(End of this chapter)