He gave the other man a meaningful glance and replied casually, "I'm done. I can apply to graduate anytime. What about you?"
"I..." Lu Xuedong hesitated. He picked up his hot coffee and took a sip, then sighed and said, a little embarrassed, "Ha! I'm planning to stay in the USA."
"Xuedong, if you're having any trouble, don't keep it to yourself."
Huang Xiuyuan said this because he knew Lu Xuedong well.
At those words, Lu Xuedong clasped the hot coffee in both hands, as if trying to feel the faint warmth the cup offered.
After a long silence, he finally murmured, his eyes reddening slightly, "My mother's sick. She has end-stage kidney failure."
"So you're planning to stay in the USA. Have you found a job?"
"Professor Marshall recommended me for a position at Texas Instruments. I haven't made up my mind yet."
Lu Xuedong might have seemed dull, but he had a passionate heart. He had once declared with youthful confidence that after completing his studies, he hoped to return home and devote himself to the semiconductor industry.
Unlike Huang Xiuyuan, who came from a relatively well-off family, Lu Xuedong's parents were farmers who worked the land. He had funded his studies abroad through work-study jobs at university and by writing outsourced programs for small companies.
Even after coming to the USA to pursue a PhD in semiconductor engineering, he had continued to work while studying. He relied on scholarships and didn't even dare rent a dorm room, instead spending nights in the lab and resting there.
Over the years, he hadn't asked his family for money. He had even sent home quite a bit to help his younger siblings with their schooling.
Lu Xuedong was tenacious by nature. If not for the sudden devastating news, he would never have abandoned his ideals.
Even a penny could bring a hero to his knees. Reality was simply that cruel.
On one side, he could abandon his ideals and stay in the USA, earning a high salary at Texas Instruments to pay for his mother's treatment and help support the family.
On the other, he could hold fast to his ideals and resolutely return home, where he might face an uncertain future and crushing financial burdens.
His devotion to his country and his love for his family collided fiercely in that moment.
In the end, Lu Xuedong gave in and chose the high-paying job at Texas Instruments.
Huang Xiuyuan calmly picked up his hot milk and took a sip. Though he had a thousand things to say, he didn't know how to begin.
Unless you could actually help someone, it was best not to offer them advice lightly. You shouldn't tell others to be kind when you haven't suffered what they have.
But whenever he thought of what lay ahead for Lu Xuedong, Huang Xiuyuan couldn't help sighing over his tragic fate.
From what he remembered, after joining Texas Instruments, Lu Xuedong had worked on improving semiconductor materials and developing new semiconductor processes. He became one of the company's most influential senior engineers.
Then, in 2020, as the new Cold War order took shape, he began thinking about returning home. Unfortunately, Lu Xuedong had underestimated human nature.
In January of the following year, the day before his flight, after buying his ticket and preparing to board, he was found dead in his apartment.
The coroner's report said he had been shot seven times in the back. It was ruled a suicide.
Although the two of them were three years apart in age and hadn't attended Harvard University at the same time, fate was hard to explain.
Looking back, from the day they met to the day they came to understand each other, they had been close confidants.
After a flood of emotions, Huang Xiuyuan began thinking things over. Considering the future, he didn't want to lose Lu Xuedong, a man of such talent.
After weighing it for a moment, he made up his mind.
"Xuedong, I'll lend you fifteen thousand dollars. Your mother needs dialysis right now, and that should cover about a year."
"This..." Lu Xuedong was both moved and at a loss.
Before the other man could say anything, Huang Xiuyuan continued, "I'm planning to go back home and start a business. How about we make a deal?"
"Go ahead. If it's within my abilities, I'll do everything I can," Lu Xuedong replied, clenching his fist.
"Let's give it three months. If I can offer you a signing bonus of one million Huayuan, you'll work for me for ten years. If I can't, then take the job at Texas Instruments."
Lu Xuedong agreed without hesitation. "All right."
He didn't quite believe it, but he still held on to a sliver of hope. If he could, returning home to work in semiconductors was what he truly wanted.
Even if his country lacked a strong foundation in the field, he still hadn't given up on his ideals. Lu Xuedong was a man of pure convictions. If fate hadn't dealt him such a cruel hand, he would never have stayed in the USA for more than a decade.
Both men had their own thoughts as they finished lunch. Then Huang Xiuyuan transferred the fifteen thousand dollars to Lu Xuedong.
Seeing the $15,000 in his account, Lu Xuedong felt the weight of it in his heart. In the end, all he managed to say was, "Thank you, Xiuyuan."
"May you go through half a lifetime's trials and still return as young as you are today."
"I will."
At the entrance to the cafeteria, Huang Xiuyuan watched the retreating figure disappear into the distance. He was about to head back to the dorm when the corner of his eye caught a newspaper rack beside the entrance.
A morning paper caught his eye. He picked it up, and the fresh scent of ink drifted toward him.
A modest headline caught his attention.
[...In the latest Powerball drawing, no one won the grand prize again. The jackpot has now reached 230 million dollars...]
Huang Xiuyuan immediately searched his memories for relevant information. After more than ten seconds, he had pinpointed over a thousand clear images.
Some were memories of the past, so he discarded them. He also ruled out anything too far in the future.
Only three images from the next month remained. The most recent was a news report from the 27th of this month, a clip he had stumbled across while browsing the news online.
A taxi driver had won that drawing's grand prize.
He put down the newspaper and hurried back to the dorm.
He searched online for information about Powerball. His knowledge of it was limited to hearsay, mostly from one of his roommates, who played it.
As he browsed the pages, Huang Xiuyuan muttered to himself, "This is a bit of a problem."
There were no Powerball retailers in Massachusetts, where he was staying. He would have to go to neighboring Connecticut to buy a ticket.
It was Thursday the 24th, and Powerball drawings were held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There were still two days to go. Since he had time, he called Enterprise's rental hotline and reserved a small car.
He grabbed his driver's license, wallet, and phone, then headed out again.
The weather was a little better at midday. A few rays of sunlight slipped through the clouds and fell across the earth.
He went to Enterprise's parking lot, paid the $24 rental fee, and picked up the car he had reserved: an ordinary Toyota.
He drove through downtown Boston and onto the highway, heading for Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, 162 kilometers away. In the bitterly cold, snowy weather, there wasn't much traffic on the highway.
After driving for a little over an hour and forty minutes, he parked near a lottery retailer. Rather than going straight inside, he walked to a bakery several dozen meters away and bought a bag of bread.
As he passed the lottery retailer, Huang Xiuyuan stopped and went inside, where it was warm and cozy.
He looked at the lottery charts on the wall, then pretended to pick five sets of numbers at random. After paying five dollars, he left with the Powerball ticket.
He drove around downtown Hartford for more than half an hour before heading back to Boston.
Four hours later, Huang Xiuyuan was back in his dorm. He put the ticket somewhere safe. This was the quickest way to get the capital he needed to get started.
And opportunities like this were rare. He had to get his hands on the money before the butterfly effect grew too large.
He did have other ways to raise money. The subprime mortgage crisis, which was intensifying by the day, was a rare opportunity.
But there was no way to make a large amount of money all at once through financial maneuvers. It would also be difficult to pull off, and he would have to watch out for the people on Wall Street.
If he made too big a move, the Americans wouldn't take it lying down.
So winning money through Powerball was the safest and most sensible way to get the capital he needed.
Before you continue