Super Rich: Starting the game by going back ten years to buy Bitcoin

As soon as the U8 entered the main road, my watch lit up.

Ling'er's voice came close to my ear, her tone like that of a dutiful intelligence agent giving a daily briefing.

"Brother, let me tell you the whole story about Feng Yue's phone call today—"

"I already said that."

"You didn't finish the story." Ling'er's little figure squatted on the watch screen, holding a virtual document, and flipped through it seriously. "Xue Shan tore up her resignation letter, but the knot in her heart hasn't been completely untied yet."

Li Yichen rested his right hand on the steering wheel and did not reply.

Ling'er waited three seconds, and a line of text popped up: [It is recommended to go tonight; the longer it is delayed, the more troublesome it will become].

"I know how to handle it."

Li Yichen pulled his sleeve down to completely cover the watch screen.

Ling'er was quiet for a full three seconds.

Then her voice came out again, her tone so sincere it was almost irritating: "Brother, when you said 'I know how to handle it' last time, you were using a wrench to fix that loose bolt."

Li Yichen stepped on the brake.

The car came to a stop at the red light. He stared at the taillights ahead for two seconds, his lips moved, but he ultimately chose to remain silent.

It's shameful to be outmatched by an AI.

The green light is on.

The car started moving again, and as it passed a chain supermarket with its lights on, he turned the steering wheel to the right.

Looking up, I saw the U8 turn into the parking lot.

Ling'er: "...Brother, what are you doing?"

"Buy something."

"Are you going to Xue Shanshan's house?"

"You're noisy."

The supermarket wasn't crowded. Warm yellow lights illuminated the shelves as Li Yichen pushed his shopping cart around the food section twice. He stood in front of the milk freezer for half a minute, then grabbed a carton of pure milk. Next, he walked to the dried fruit section and picked up a bag of walnuts. Then he turned to the health supplements row and reached for a jar of honey.

The watch lit up slightly.

Ling'er's holographic projection peeked out half its head, its two eyes scanning the items in the shopping cart, its expression gradually becoming serious.

"Brother, are you going to visit a retired senior official?"

Li Yichen looked down at the milk, walnuts, and honey in the car.

It really does look like it.

He silently put the walnuts back on the shelf and grabbed a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates from the snack aisle. As he left the supermarket, there was a simply packaged bunch of gerberas in a flowerpot by the entrance, wrapped in plastic and labeled 7.99.

He casually picked a bunch.

Ling'er squatted on his wrist, her expression best described in four words—utterly despondent.

"Brother, your passive income is over 200 billion a year."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"It cost seven dollars and ninety-nine cents."

"Flowers aren't for eating, they're just for looking pretty."

Ling'er opened her mouth, but chose to remain silent.

Some battles are not worth fighting.

Twenty minutes later.

Downstairs in the apartment building that Xue Shanshan rented.

Li Yichen, carrying a supermarket shopping bag and a bunch of gerberas, stood at the entrance of the building and pressed the access control button.

Beep—beep beep—

Xue Shanshan's voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie, still a little groggy from just getting up from the sofa: "Who is it?"

"I."

three seconds.

There was no sound from the walkie-talkie.

Five more seconds passed.

The door lock clicked open.

Li Yichen opened the door and went upstairs.

The innermost room on the third floor. The door was ajar, not closed completely. He raised his hand and pushed it, and the door opened a crack.

Xue Shanshan stood in the entryway.

She was wearing a loose gray sweatshirt and cotton trousers, her hair was casually tied in a low ponytail, she had no makeup on, and her nose was a little red—probably because she had just cried in the house, or because the heating was too dry.

The two people looked at each other.

Xue Shanshan's expression went through three stages in succession.

Phase 1: Stagnation.

Phase Two: Panic, his eyes darted towards the crack in the door, and his fingers touched the edge of the door.

Phase 3: It didn't close.

Because Li Yichen had already stuffed the bouquet of gerberas and chocolates into her hands.

"Let's go inside and talk."

His tone was flat, like someone coming to pick up a package.

Xue Shanshan reflexively caught the item and glanced down at the bouquet of flowers in her hand.

The plastic wrapping was crumpled, and the bottom of the flower stem still had water stains from the supermarket flower bucket. The label was still on, and the three numbers 7.99 blinked at her.

Her cheeks slowly warmed up.

It wasn't just being moved.

He was trying not to laugh.

"These flowers...were they from the supermarket?"

"I was in a rush and didn't have time to go to the flower shop." Li Yichen said without changing his expression, stepping inside. "Do you have any extra slippers?"

Xue Shanshan swallowed her laughter and stepped aside to let him out. She pulled out a brand new pair of gray cotton slippers from the bottom of the shoe cabinet; she'd bought them as spares but no one had worn them.

The two sat down in the living room.

Xue Shanshan went to the kitchen, poured a cup of hot water, brought it over, and placed it on the coffee table. She then casually stuck the bouquet of flowers into an empty mineral water bottle on the corner of the table.

The flowers are quite vibrant, but the vase is too shabby.

Li Yichen picked up the cup, took a sip of water, and put it down.

He spoke up.

"Feng Yue told me that you submitted your resignation to her today."

Xue Shanshan sat at the other end of the sofa, knees together, hands on her lap, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her hoodie.

There was no response.

"You know who I am, you sense something's wrong, and you want to run away."

The way he spoke didn't sound like an apology. It was more like he was reviewing a work situation, stating things out in a flat, straightforward manner, point by point.

"I was planning to find a time to explain things to you, but I haven't found the right opportunity yet."

He paused for a moment.

"To be precise, I've just become lazy."

Xue Shanshan raised her head.

She was prepared with a bellyful of emotions—grievances, entanglements, resentment, and a desire to question—but when the words "lazy" came out of his mouth, all of those feelings were blocked.

No gap can be found to trigger an attack.

"You...you just admit it like that?"

"Or should I make up an excuse?" Li Yichen put the cup back on the coffee table. "I really am lazy. I didn't do this well, you misunderstood, it's my fault."

Xue Shan opened her mouth, then closed it again.

The only sound in the room was the gurgling of hot water flowing from the radiator.

Almost half a minute passed.

She spoke. Her voice was more steady than she had expected, without trembling or tearfulness.

"I'm not uncomfortable because you're rich."

Li Yichen looked at her.

"It's not that I mind the difference in our social status. Your wealth is your own achievement, it has nothing to do with me."

Her fingers gripped the hem of her hoodie tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"I just don't know... what I am to you."

She finally said those words.

"With so many people around you, I'm not sure if I'm just... one of them to make up the numbers."

The living room fell silent again.

The radiator gurgled. A car passed by outside the window, the sound of its tires rolling over the road came up and then dissipated.

Li Yichen stretched his legs forward and leaned back into the sofa. His expression was less relaxed than usual, and more serious, or rather, solemn.

"Do you know how Feng Yue got into the company?"

Xue Shanshan nodded: "She did. Because of blood type."

"Have you considered whether I need those 400 milliliters of blood?"

Xue Shanshan was stunned for a moment.

"I can just make a quick call to the blood bank or blood center, and get as much as I want. Money can solve anything." He looked at her, "but the way I chose to do it was to pull a stranger out of bed in the middle of the night and get her to the hospital in thirteen minutes."

Xue Shanshan's eyes felt a little sore.

"Because it's the middle of the night, nobody knows if you can hold out until the blood is delivered. I don't need insurance three hours from now, I need someone to be with you at all times."

He paused.

"I don't want to be left without anyone to help me next time something like that happens."

There was no "I like you".

There is no "You are important to me".

But Xue Shanshan's nose tingled and her eyes welled up with tears.

She quickly wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand, took a deep breath, and tried to stop the tears from falling.

"You really have no literary flair when you talk," she said in a muffled voice.

"I'm not a novelist."

Xue Shanshan chuckled.

It was tinged with bitterness, and with a sense of relief. But it was definitely a smile.

She stood up, opened the box of Ferrero Rocher, tore off the outer packaging, took one for herself, and handed one to him.

The gold foil reflected the light under the warm yellow lamp.

The two of them just sat there.

No more promises, no more tender lines. But something landed—that thing that had been hanging in the air all day, something inexplicable and hard to define, quietly settled down.

About twenty minutes later.

Li Yichen crumpled the last chocolate's foil into a ball and placed it on the coffee table. He stood up.

Have you seen the apartment that won the lottery?

Xue Shanshan shook her head: "I haven't had time yet."

"oh."

He went to the entryway to change his shoes, and as he bent down, he casually said, "Okay, I have something to do, I'm leaving now," and opened the door to go out.

The sound of footsteps faded into the distance in the hallway.

Xue Shanshan closed the door and stood with her back against it for two seconds.

My phone vibrated.

She looked down and tapped the screen.

A WeChat message from Li Yichen.

"Now that you have a place, move there as soon as possible. That neighborhood is close to the company, only a ten-minute bike ride away. It's more convenient than your current place."

Xue Shan stared at the line of text on the screen.

I've been watching it for a long time.

Then she looked up at the bunch of gerberas in the mineral water bottle that cost seven yuan and ninety-nine cents. The petals were outstretched, their colors excessively bright.

She pressed her phone against her chest and laughed out loud.

A genuine, thorough laugh that comes from the bottom of your heart.