Still a Youth

He cast a meaningful look at the other man and replied casually, "I'm done. I can apply for graduation whenever I want. How about you?"

"I..." Lu Xuedong hesitated, picking up his hot coffee for a sip before finally sighing, saying with some embarrassment, "Ha! I plan to stay in the United States."

"Xuedong, if you're facing any difficulties, don't keep them bottled up inside."

Huang Xiuyuan said this because he understood the man.

Hearing this, Lu Xuedong gripped his hot coffee tightly, as if trying to feel the faint warmth radiating from the cup.

After a long silence, his eyes reddened as he murmured, "My mother is sick. She has end-stage uremia."

"So that's why you plan to stay in the United States. Have you found a job yet?"

"My advisor, Marshall, recommended me to Texas Instruments, but I haven't made up my mind yet."

Though Lu Xuedong appeared dull, he actually possessed a burning heart. He had once spoken with great spirit about his hope to return to his home country and dedicate himself to the semiconductor industry after completing his studies.

Unlike Huang Xiuyuan, who came from a well-off family, Lu Xuedong's parents were farmers who spent their lives facing the soil. His tuition for studying abroad had relied on working part-time during college and writing outsourced programs for small companies.

Even while pursuing his doctorate in semiconductors in the United States, he had been working while studying, relying on scholarships. He didn't even dare to rent a dorm room, instead constantly crashing in the laboratory, pulling all-nighters and sleeping there.

Over these years, not only had he not asked his family for money, but he had also sent back a significant amount to support his younger siblings' education.

There was a resilient, unyielding quality to Lu Xuedong. If not for this sudden, devastating news, he would never have betrayed his ideals.

A single penny can stump a hero; reality is just that cruel.

On one side was abandoning his ideals, choosing to stay in the United States to work for the high salary at Texas Instruments to treat his mother's uremia and subsidize his family.

On the other side was holding fast to his ideals, returning to his home country, and facing an uncertain future and a heavy financial burden.

Patriotism and familial attachment collided violently in that moment.

In the end, Lu Xuedong chose to yield; he chose the high salary of Texas Instruments.

The calm Huang Xiuyuan took a sip of his hot milk. Even though he had a thousand words in his heart, he didn't know how to start.

Unless one has the ability to help, it is best not to offer advice lightly. Do not preach kindness to those who have not walked in your shoes.

But at the thought of Lu Xuedong's tragic end in the future, he couldn't help but sigh.

In his memory, after joining Texas Instruments, Lu Xuedong worked successively on semiconductor material improvements and new semiconductor processes, becoming a pivotal senior engineer at the company.

It wasn't until 2020, when the new Cold War landscape was officially set, that he began to harbor thoughts of returning home. Unfortunately, Lu Xuedong had underestimated human nature.

In January of the following year, just one day after buying his plane ticket and preparing to board, he was found dead in his apartment.

The coroner's autopsy result was that he had been shot seven times in the back, ruling it a suicide.

Although there was a three-year age gap between them and they hadn't attended Harvard University in the same year, fate is a difficult thing to explain.

Looking back on the past, from the moment they met and got to know each other, they had become confidants.

After a wave of deep emotion, Huang Xiuyuan began to consider some things. Thinking of the future, he did not want to give up on a talent like Lu Xuedong.

After weighing it for a moment, he reached a decision in his heart.

"Xuedong, I will lend you 15,000 USD. Your mother needs dialysis now, and this money should be enough to last about a year."

"This..." Lu Xuedong's mood was a mix of excitement and bewilderment.

Without waiting for the other man to speak, Huang Xiuyuan continued, "I plan to return home to start a business. How about we make a deal?"

"Please, tell me. As long as it is within my power, I will give it my all," Lu Xuedong replied, clenching his fists.

"Three months from now, if I can offer you a signing bonus of 1 million CNY, you must work for me for 10 years. If I can't do it, then you should choose Texas Instruments!"

Lu Xuedong didn't even hesitate: "Okay, I agree."

Although he was somewhat skeptical, he still held onto a sliver of hope. If possible, returning home to dedicate himself to the semiconductor industry was his true ideal.

Even if there was no strong foundation there, his ideals remained unchanged. Lu Xuedong was a pure person; if not for the cruel twists of fate, he would never have stayed in the United States for over a decade.

With their own thoughts, the two finished their lunch, and he transferred the 15,000 USD to Lu Xuedong.

Looking at the 15,000 USD in his account, Lu Xuedong felt a heavy weight in his heart. In the end, he could only manage to say, "Thank you, Xiuyuan."

"May you walk through half a lifetime and return still a youth."

"I will."

At the entrance of the cafeteria, watching the retreating figure, Huang Xiuyuan prepared to head back to the dorm. His peripheral vision swept across a newspaper rack at the side of the entrance.

A morning paper caught his eye. He picked it up, and the faint, fresh scent of printer's ink wafted up.

A headline, neither large nor small, came into view.

[...In the latest Powerball draw, the jackpot remains unclaimed. The current jackpot prize pool has accumulated to 230 million USD...]

Huang Xiuyuan immediately searched his memory for relevant information. Ten seconds passed, and thousands of clear images were locked in his mind.

Some of these fragments were past memories, which he immediately excluded; the too-distant future was also excluded.

Only three fragments from the last month remained. The most recent one was a news report from the 27th of this month, an image he had accidentally seen while browsing news online.

A taxi driver had won that particular jackpot.

Putting down the newspaper, he hurried back to his dorm.

Searching for information about Powerball online, his knowledge of the lottery was limited to hearsay, mostly because one of his roommates played it.

Browsing the webpage, Huang Xiuyuan muttered to himself, "This is a bit of a hassle!"

Because the state of Massachusetts where he was located had no Powerball retail outlets, he would have to go to the neighboring state of Connecticut to purchase a ticket.

It was currently Thursday the 24th, and since Powerball drawings were held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, he still had two days. Seeing that it was still early, he called the rental hotline for Enterprise and reserved a small car.

Grabbing his driver's license, wallet, and phone, he headed out once again.

The weather was slightly better at noon, with a few rays of sunlight piercing through the clouds and scattering across the world.

Arriving at the Enterprise parking lot, he paid the 24-dollar rental fee and picked up the reserved car, which was an ordinary Toyota.

Passing through downtown Boston, he headed straight onto the highway toward Hartford (the capital of Connecticut), 162 kilometers away. Given the freezing, snowy weather, the traffic on the highway was not particularly heavy.

After driving for an hour and forty minutes, the car pulled up near a lottery retail outlet. However, he didn't walk straight in; instead, he went to a bakery a few dozen meters away and bought a bag of bread.

As he passed the entrance of the lottery outlet, Huang Xiuyuan stopped and stepped into the warm shop.

Glancing at the lottery trend chart on the wall, he pretended to fill out five sets of numbers at random, paid 5 dollars, and left with the Powerball ticket.

He drove the car around downtown Hartford for over half an hour before finally heading back to Boston.

After a four-hour journey, Huang Xiuyuan returned to his dormitory and tucked the ticket away safely; this was the fastest way to obtain startup capital.

Moreover, such opportunities were rare, and he had to secure this money before the butterfly effect became too significant.

Although he had other methods to acquire funds—for instance, the intensifying subprime mortgage crisis was a rare opportunity—he knew better.

It was just that through financial means, there was no way to obtain a large sum of money instantly, and the operations involved were difficult, not to mention the need to be wary of those guys on Wall Street.

Once the movements became too large, the Americans would not be pushovers.

Therefore, using Powerball to obtain a sum of startup capital was the safest and most reasonable method.