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

Li Yichen put the empty glass on the table, picked up his chopsticks, and took out a piece of matsutake cod.

Xiao Yuqing held her wine glass, taking small sips. The red wine flowed down her esophagus, warming her stomach, and a blush spread from her ears to her neck.

The comments were scrolling too fast, so she simply put her phone on the table, screen down.

"Not streaming anymore?"

"Let's take a break." Xiao Yuqing picked up a piece of lobster meat with her chopsticks and took a bite. "You know what, this lobster is really delicious."

"Of course! A lobster that costs eight thousand a piece wouldn't be worth the price if it wasn't delicious."

Xiao Yuqing almost choked on the shrimp meat she had just put in her mouth.

Eight thousand?

She glanced down at the half-eaten lobster left on the plate and suddenly felt the chopsticks in her hand become heavier.

With that one bite, she lost her entire day's earnings from live streaming.

Li Yichen couldn't help but laugh when he saw her cautious demeanor.

"Eat up, what are you standing there for? These dishes aren't going to run away."

Xiao Yuqing rolled her eyes at him, finished chewing the shrimp in her mouth and swallowed it, then picked up a piece of foie gras.

This time, there was no hesitation.

The two ate and chatted. They talked about silly things from their college days, about the spicy hot pot stall on the third floor of the cafeteria that always had a long line, and about the group photo they took on the playground on graduation day—who got drunk and cried while hugging a street lamp, and who confessed their feelings and got rejected and stood in the rain all night outside the dormitory.

The atmosphere gradually relaxed.

The unique sense of propriety between old classmates was gradually dissolved under the dual catalysis of red wine and memories.

Li Yichen poured her a glass of wine, then poured one for himself, and the two clinked glasses.

The cups bumped against each other, making a very soft, crisp sound.

That bottle of Lafite, worth 88,000 yuan, was gone, glass after glass.

Li Yichen picked up the wine bottle, turned it upside down, and the last two drops of red wine hit the rim of the glass and were gone.

Just as he was about to put the empty bottle down, he heard a slight sound of wheels behind him.

A waiter pushed a stainless steel food cart over, which had two new dishes and a dessert on it.

Li Yichen raised his hand, picked up the empty wine bottle, and shook it at the waiter.

"Another bottle, please. Same as above."

The waiter paused for a moment as he took the empty bottle.

Another bottle.

Eighty-eight thousand.

How much are we going to drink at this table?

But her professional smile didn't fade for a second. She nodded, turned around, and walked towards the wine cellar.

Li Yichen put down the wine bottle and turned to look at Xiao Yuqing.

She was holding an empty glass, and licked the last bit of wine off the rim with the tip of her tongue. The action was so natural that she didn't even realize it herself.

"Beautiful Xiao, I didn't expect this." Li Yichen leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest. "You have such a high alcohol tolerance, impressive. You downed a bottle of Lafite, your face turned red but your mouth didn't droop, and your eyes didn't blur."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuqing's empty cup froze in mid-air.

His eyes rolled around.

Her face was genuinely red, but her mind was perfectly clear. Just now, because she saw that string of numbers on Li Yichen's phone, she blurted out the dirty talk of "letting you take care of me." Although she managed to brush it off by saying it would "save her twenty years of detours," Li Yichen clearly hadn't forgotten.

When he teased her just now, his smile was clearly meant to provoke her about this.

The more Xiao Yuqing thought about it, the hotter her neck became.

No, that won't work. We need to think of something.

My mind raced for three seconds.

A thought popped into my head—

Get him drunk.

If you get drunk, you'll black out. If you black out, you won't remember anything. If you don't remember, it's as if nothing happened.

perfect.

The more Xiao Yuqing thought about it, the more reliable the plan seemed, and she became much more energetic.

She reached for the decanter on the table and poured the last bit of wine into her glass. Then she raised it and showed it to Li Yichen.

"Hey Li, it's been two years since we last met, old classmate. How about we drink until we drop tonight?"

As she spoke, her chin was slightly raised, her smile bright and generous.

But hidden in those round, bright eyes was a hint of not-so-clever cunning.

Li Yichen looked at her little expression that said, "I have a plan, but I'm not telling you."

It's too obvious.

Back in college, this was the expression she always had when she was cheating. A raised eyebrow, a slight leftward turn of the mouth, and her left hand unconsciously touching her earlobe—the standard "I'm about to do something" trio.

Two years have passed, and he hasn't changed this habit at all.

But it's okay.

Li Yichen picked up the cup.

Back in college, he had the highest alcohol tolerance in his class. At the end-of-term farewell dinner, all twelve people at the table took turns getting him drunk, and in the end, all eleven of them were passed out. He was still able to ride his bicycle and carry his roommates back to the dorm.

Did Xiao Yuqing want to get him drunk?

Then we'll need three more bottles of Lafite.

The two cups clinked together in mid-air.

Li Yichen tilted his head back and downed the whole thing in one gulp.

Xiao Yuqing also tilted her head back and downed the whole thing in one gulp.

As she put down the cup, a single tear welled up in the corner of her eye, which she quickly wiped away with the back of her hand.

Red wine has a strong aftereffect, but she resisted it.

This battle has only just begun.

Li Yichen stood up, took a plate of freshly served food from the food cart, and put a piece directly into Xiao Yuqing's plate.

"Eat more vegetables to fill your stomach. Otherwise, drinking too much alcohol will hurt your stomach."

Xiao Yuqing looked down at the neatly arranged matsutake mushrooms on the plate.

The person was very skilled at picking up food; the matsutake slices were thin and even, and the angle on the plate was just right for her to use her chopsticks.

Attentive.

He's always been thoughtful. Back in college, when we ate in the cafeteria, he would always pick out all the chili peppers before eating—because the girl sitting across from him didn't eat spicy food, and he was afraid the spiciness would seep into her food.

Xiao Yuqing picked up the matsutake mushroom and put it in her mouth without saying thank you.

Footsteps came from behind.

The waiter returned with a new bottle of Lafite and presented it to Li Yichen with both hands.

Li Yichen took the bottle and placed it on the table.

The waiter didn't leave.

She stood a step away, her hands clasped in front of her, her lips moved slightly, then closed again.

His brow furrowed slightly, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Li Yichen glanced at her sideways.

He knew this girl all too well; she seemed to want to say something but hesitated to speak. Back when he was a food delivery driver, he always stood like this when customers blocked him at the door for being late.

What else could it be?

Money, of course.

A table full of food plus two bottles of Lafite—that's enough to make any waiter's heart race. What if the customer finishes eating, pats their backside, and says, "I didn't bring enough money"? Who gets the blame?

Li Yichen didn't make things difficult for her.

"How much is the total for this table tonight? I'll pay now, in case I forget later if I drink too much."

The waiter visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sir, your total spending so far is 263,800 yuan."

260,000.

Six characters.

The waiter deliberately slowed down his speech when he said the number.

Li Yichen was using a knife to cut the seal on the wine bottle, his hands never stopping for a second.

"Scan QR code or swipe card?"

"Either is fine."

"Give me the code."

The waiter pulled out a small sign with a QR code for payment printed on it.

Li Yichen took out his phone, opened the payment page, aligned it with the screen, scanned, entered his password, and confirmed.

The entire process was smooth and efficient, taking no more than five seconds from scanning the code to completing the payment.

It's like buying a bottle of mineral water.

My phone vibrated – payment successfully deducted.

"alright."

He put his phone back in his pocket and continued scratching the tin seal on the bottle.

The waiter took the number, stepped back two paces, turned around, and quickly walked away.

After walking about ten steps, she almost jogged over to her colleague by the bar and tugged at the colleague's sleeve.

"Payment done."

"Um?"

"The one at window number three, 260,000, was bought with a swiping card."

My colleague looked up.

"How did you pay?"

"Scan the code. Five seconds." She swallowed hard. "His hand didn't even shake. He didn't even blink after I told him the amount. Just like that—a beep and he paid."

My colleague peeked out the window and glanced in the direction of window number three.

The young man in the pilling T-shirt was using a bottle opener to unscrew the cork of a wine bottle, and sitting opposite him was a pretty girl with a ponytail.

The two looked like an ordinary young couple having dinner.

But which ordinary couple can afford a meal costing 260,000?

"I don't understand." My colleague shook his head. "Are all rich people this low-key these days? Dressed like that, I almost kicked him out when he came in to eat."

Now let's talk about Li Yichen.

He pulled out the cork, let the red wine breathe for thirty seconds, then stood up and poured a little less than half a glass for Xiao Yuqing.

The wine swirled as it fell into the glass, its dark red color shimmering faintly under the light.

Xiao Yuqing stared at the glass of wine in front of her, her whole body stiff.

260,000.

Those six words were still swirling in her head.

260,000.

She gets up at six every morning to put on makeup, choose locations, and carry a selfie stick to stop people on the street for interviews. She broadcasts for ten hours a day, until her voice is hoarse and her face is stiff from smiling.

Earning 20,000 a month.

Two hundred and forty thousand a year.

That's not even enough to cover the cost of this meal.

Li Yichen ate a year's worth of money in one meal, paying for it as casually as scanning a QR code to ride a shared bike.

Is this what rich people are like?

Two little figures suddenly popped into Xiao Yuqing's mind.

A girl with a high ponytail, wearing a white shirt, and with an upright expression—

"Yuqing, Yuqing, wake up! How can you let money cloud your judgment? You only feel at ease spending money you earn yourself. You can't become that kind of gold digger, you can't, absolutely not!"

Another one had loose hair, was chewing gum, and had his legs crossed—

"Girl, are you kidding me? Someone's offering you money and you're turning it down? Look at all those women out there, do you think you can get an opportunity like that? You're saving yourself twenty years of wasting time! Twenty years! How many twenty-year periods do you have in your life?"

The girl with the high ponytail panicked: "That won't do! You're betraying us—"

He interrupted her, his hair disheveled: "Shut up. Is the little money you earn enough to pay your rent in Shanghai? You still owe three thousand on your credit card last month."

The two little figures in my mind were arguing heatedly.

"Eat more vegetables."

Li Yichen's voice came from directly above.

Xiao Yuqing suddenly snapped out of her daze and almost jumped up from her chair.

Li Yichen was standing next to her, his chopsticks hovering above her plate, having just picked up a piece of cod and put it down.

She quickly sat up straight, picked up her wine glass and took a sip, using the angle of her head to cover her face, which had turned even redder.

I was just lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" Li Yichen sat down opposite her, looking at her. "What are you spacing out about?"

"N-nothing." Xiao Yuqing stuffed the cod into her mouth. "I was just spacing out for a bit."

Li Yichen tilted his head slightly, a smile playing on his lips.

"Are you still thinking about avoiding twenty years of detours?"

Xiao Yuqing almost spat out the cod she was eating through her nose.

She suddenly looked up and glared at Li Yichen.

My ears are burning hot.

Is this person a tapeworm in her stomach?

"you--"

"Alright, alright, I'm not teasing you anymore." Li Yichen raised his hands in surrender, shook his head with a smile, and picked up his glass. "Come on, let's drink."

Xiao Yuqing didn't reply, and kept her head down, picking up food with her chopsticks.

But the curve of her lips couldn't be hidden.

The night view outside the window was completely illuminated. The entire skyline of Pudong stretched out behind the glass window, with lights densely packed and layered.

The two ate and drank, chatting about everything from university to graduation, and then about their lives over the past two years.

Xiao Yuqing said that after graduating, she searched for a job for three months without success. The company where she interned delayed paying her salary for two months and eventually went out of business. Later, she accidentally entered the live streaming industry, starting from zero followers and interviewing people on the street every day.

"Winter was the hardest time. My hands were so cold I couldn't hold the selfie stick, and I could barely speak." She picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks without looking up. "But it's much better now; my followers are slowly increasing."

Li Yichen listened without interrupting.

He held the wine glass and swirled it twice.

A thin layer of wine legs clung to the glass, slowly dripping down under the light.

"And you?" Xiao Yuqing looked up. "What have you been doing these past two years? When did cryptocurrency start?"