The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

Chen Zhi leaned against the door, listening to the suppressed sobs coming from the living room, and reached into the inner pocket of his pants.

My fingertips touched a cold bank card.

He needs a legitimate and perfect reason.

Chen Zhi opened the door.

Zhang Guifang hurriedly turned her back to wipe her face.

"Mom, I'm going out for a bit." Chen Zhi changed his shoes, his tone as indifferent as if he were just going downstairs to buy a bottle of soy sauce.

"Where are you going at this hour? Dinner's almost ready..."

"I feel stuffy, I need some fresh air."

Before Zhang Guifang could nag any further, Chen Zhi had already closed the security door.

At 2 PM, at the entrance of the Municipal Lottery Issuance Center.

Chen Zhi sat on the curb, holding a dry twig he had picked up from the roadside, idly drawing circles on the ground. The sun was scorching, baking the asphalt pavement until it seemed to be steaming.

Not many people come here to claim their prizes.

Most of them won small prizes of around a hundred yuan, their faces showing the trivial joy of "earning enough for a cigarette".

Chen Zhiyao wasn't waiting for that kind of person.

He squinted, his gaze scanning everyone who came in and out like a radar.

As the sun began to set, a middle-aged man in a gray jacket caught his attention.

The man walked quickly, his right hand tightly clutching the inner pocket of his chest, glancing left and right with a guilty look, as if he wanted to stick a "I've won the lottery" sign on his forehead. He circled the door several times, wanting to go in but not daring to, and finally squatted on a stone stool not far from Chen Zhi, took out a cigarette, and his hand trembled so much that he had to try to light it three times before he could.

Chen Zhi threw away the branch in his hand, dusted off the dirt on his backside, and swayed as he approached.

"Uncle, can I borrow a light?"

The middle-aged man was startled, nearly dropping his cigarette onto his crotch. He glared warily at Chen Zhi, but when he saw that it was just a callow brat, his tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Go away, what are you doing smoking, you little brat?" the man waved his hand dismissively.

Chen Zhi wasn't annoyed. He sat down next to him and lowered his voice, saying in a volume only the two of them could hear, "How much did you win? Five hundred thousand?"

The man's pupils contracted sharply.

He instinctively clutched his chest, his buttocks jerking back half an inch as if nailed to the ground, and shouted angrily, "What nonsense are you spouting! Who won the lottery!"

"Stop pretending." Chen Zhi rested her hands on her knees, turned her head to look at him, and said with a certainty that made one's heart race, "Look at those bags under your eyes, you didn't sleep a wink last night, did you? Do you think the whole world is watching your pockets?"

The man opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, but no sound came out.

It's so weird to have a kid hit a nerve.

"Second prize?" Chen Zhi continued, raising the stakes. "How much will be left after taxes? Over three hundred thousand?"

The man finally broke down.

He glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention, then lowered his voice and glared fiercely at Chen Zhi: "Whose kid are you? What do you want?"

"Four hundred and fifty thousand." The man gritted his teeth as he announced the number, as if releasing some kind of pressure that had been building up all day. "Just checked, haven't cashed it yet."

Chen Zhi nodded and held up five fingers.

"Sell it to me for 500,000."

The man froze.

He stared at Chen Zhi like he was a fool, and after a long while, he laughed angrily: "Kid, didn't your parents teach you not to joke about this kind of thing? Five hundred thousand? Do you know how much five hundred thousand is? You couldn't even get a fraction of that by selling yourself!"

"Besides," the man scoffed, pointing to the lottery center's entrance, "I can go in and collect 450,000, but after deducting 20% ​​tax, I'll only get 360,000. You're giving me 500,000? Are you out of your mind?"

"My mind is perfectly sharp."

Chen Zhi took the bank card out of his pocket and twirled it deftly between his fingers.

"I have money, but I lack the title of winning the lottery." Chen Zhi leaned closer, his youthful face revealing a shrewdness far beyond his years. "Give me the lottery ticket, and I'll transfer 500,000 to you. You get an extra 140,000, and you don't have to pay taxes. Isn't that a good deal?"

The man stared at the ordinary-looking bank card, scrutinizing Chen Zhi with suspicion.

He was dressed in cheap clothes from a street vendor, and his shoes were covered in mud.

He doesn't look like a rich man's son at all.

"You're crazy," the man cursed, getting up to leave. "I don't have time for your childish games."

Chen Zhi didn't stop him, but said slowly, "There's a Construction Bank right across the street. Whether it's child's play or not, just check the balance and you'll know. I'll only take five minutes of your time, but what if it's real? 140,000 yuan, that's enough for you to work as a bricklayer for years!"

The man stopped in his tracks.

Greed is the most primal instinct of humankind.

The allure of 140,000 is enough to tempt any rational adult to take a gamble, even if the possibility seems absurd.

Five minutes later.

In front of a China Construction Bank ATM.

The man stared intently at the dizzying string of numbers on the screen, his mouth agape as if it could fit a light bulb. He rubbed his eyes and counted again.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions...

"Holy crap..."

The man's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down before Chen Zhi.

He stared in horror at Chen Zhi, who stood calmly to the side, and his mind instantly conjured up a grand drama of family feuds, money laundering scandals, and illegitimate children fighting for inheritance.

This isn't just a little kid, this is practically a walking, talking money bag!

"Transfer or cash?" Chen Zhi asked impatiently, arms crossed. "Hurry up, I'm in a rush to get home for dinner."

"Transfer...transfer!" The man's voice cracked with excitement as he frantically pulled his card from his pocket. "Young master...wait a moment, I'll give you the lottery ticket right away!"

The transaction went incredibly smoothly.

With a soft "beep," 500,000 yuan was transferred into the man's account. Holding the thin bank receipt, the man's hands trembled like someone with late-stage Parkinson's disease, and his face was contorted with a grotesque ecstasy.

He respectfully presented the crumpled lottery ticket with both hands, wishing he could kowtow to Chen Zhi twice more.

"Young master, please take this! It's a very good item!"

Chen Zhi took the lottery ticket, glanced at the numbers casually, and put it in his pocket.

"I've got it." Before leaving, Chen Zhi turned back and gave the man a cold look. "You didn't see me today. You either lost this lottery ticket yourself, or you gave it away, understand?"

"I understand! I understand! I understand!" The man nodded vigorously. "I know all the rules! The world is a long road, so I must keep my mouth shut!"

Watching the man happily run away with the card in his arms, Chen Zhi curled his lip.

What do you mean by "the world is a long road"? It's just a matter of paying the right amount of money.

He walked out of the bank; it was already dark outside.

The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow, elongating the boy's thin shadow.

Chen Zhi reached into his pocket, pulled out the lottery ticket worth 450,000 yuan, and also took out the ten scraps of paper that he had bought with Lin Wanwan and the others earlier.

He crumpled the eleven lottery tickets together into a ball and stuffed them back into his inner pocket.

This is the lifeline that will pull the Chen family out of the mire tomorrow.

It was also a "surprise" he prepared for those two silly girls.

"Is random selection truly destiny?"

Chen Zhi chuckled.

"I am the will of Heaven."

When I got home, the food was already cold.

Chen Jun sat at the dining table, a half-empty bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) in front of him, his back deeply hunched, as if bent by an invisible burden. Zhang Guifang sat beside him, her eyes still red, mechanically picking green beans. The air in the room was so heavy it was suffocating.

Hearing the door open, the two looked up simultaneously. The moment Chen Jun's cloudy gaze met Chen Zhi's, it was as if he had been burned, and he hurriedly looked away.

"You're back..." Chen Jun's voice was hoarse and dry, his hand trembling as he reached for his wine glass, but he didn't dare to grip it tightly, only holding it loosely. "It's so late...you must be hungry?"

Chen Zhi didn't say anything, but silently walked to the dining table, sat down, picked up the bowl, and ate a mouthful of cold rice.

The rice was so hard it hurt my teeth.

Watching his son eat cold rice, Chen Jun's lips twitched a few times, his flushed face filled with awkwardness and embarrassment. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but a lump in his throat blocked his words.

"Don't rush to eat, let your mom heat it up for you..." Chen Jun tried to reach out to stop her, but his hand fell limply halfway up the table, and his voice lowered, "It's because Dad is incompetent."

Zhang Guifang wiped away her tears and lowered her head in silence.

Chen Jun lowered his head, digging his hands into his hair, his voice choked with sobs and deep self-reproach, "I've made you suffer too, coming home so late, and you can't even have a peaceful meal... I'm so sorry, Dad."

Chen Zhi swallowed the cold rice in his mouth, raised his head, and looked at his father's face, which was too ashamed to look up, and the gray hair seeping through his fingers.