"Ahhh... I, I, Greece won the championship!!!!!!!!!!"
Barbara's shrill voice rang far and wide. Huang Kaiwen grimaced. If she squeezed any harder, she'd probably break something.
On TV, Cristiano Ronaldo was crying his eyes out, tasting the bitterness of defeat for the first time. But there was no need to worry—he'd soon have another reason to cry.
Huang Kaiwen wasn't surprised by the result at all.
Barbara clung to him, laughing and crying at the same time. Anyone watching would have thought she was the Greek princess.
"Okay, okay, you won the championship. That's all."
Huang Kaiwen patted her back, trying to soothe the overexcited Barbara.
Barbara's eyes were red as she looked up at Huang Kaiwen with deep affection. "Tomorrow, I'll buy this villa for you. Then remember to collect the club's rent every month."
Huang Kaiwen shrugged. What could he say?
The heiress had already stolen her own family's house. Of course he fully supported her.
The club owner's daughter was buying him a house to live in, and then he'd collect rent and utility bills from the club for living in his own house. If La Gazzetta dello Sport exposed this, Berlusconi would probably have a hard time accepting it.
Huang Kaiwen remembered that his heart wasn't in the best shape. He hoped he'd be able to take it.
Overwhelmed by Barbara's passion, Huang Kaiwen didn't get up until the following afternoon.
He'd checked specifically: William Hill made more than 200 million pounds a year, so they probably wouldn't welch on the bet. But it was bound to hurt. He hoped they'd learn their lesson. If they didn't, Huang Kaiwen would consider retiring early and showing them what Leicester City's miracle had done to them back then—he'd bet on football and become a major shareholder.
When he took Barbara to collect the prize that afternoon, William Hill had already made all the arrangements. They'd even invited plenty of reporters to promote the story. That was capitalism for you. When losses were unavoidable, they chose to maximize their gains.
220 million euros had turned into 178.2 million. What better publicity could there be?
Barbara was now a living advertisement for the rags-to-riches football betting dream.
They planned to lure a bunch of gamblers into betting on unlikely league winners and make back their losses.
Leagues weren't as prone to upsets as cup competitions. Winning one required long-term consistency. Even if a small team's starting lineup got fired up and played out of their minds, their substitutes couldn't keep up during rotation or injuries, and they still wouldn't win the title. That was why people talked about the "Kaiserslautern miracle." If miracles happened that easily, they wouldn't be miracles. Usually, when a small team got fired up, the most they could manage was a place in European competition.
Besides, league results were much easier to manipulate. Before Calciopoli, it wasn't easy for anyone in Italian football to topple the "Holy Alliance" formed by Juventus and Milan. In leagues like La Liga, they could even offer third-party bonuses to get teams to take down title contenders.
In short, even with these huge losses, they had ways to make their money back.
So when Barbara went to collect her winnings, the staff didn't give her any trouble. They served her with smiles and the utmost courtesy.
After receiving the check, the heiress still felt dizzy.
She'd never lacked money, but she'd never had this much, either. Suddenly having nearly 200 million euros felt unreal.
Fortunately, the reporters' presence helped her pull herself together.
She'd received similar training from a young age, so the heiress was very experienced with reporters.
She took the check and showed it off before saying with a smile, "I won 178.2 million euros because of Kevin. He told me a lot about Otto Rehhagel and thought Greece could win. I figured, why not give it a try? So I bet on Greece. I trusted Kevin, and you've all seen how it turned out. Are we dating? I suppose so. It's not up to me to say. You'll have to ask him."
Huang Kaiwen sounded like a seasoned womanizer as he smiled and said, "Barbara and I are good friends. Don't get the wrong idea about our relationship. She's a warm and friendly girl who made me feel the warmth of the AC Milan family when I first arrived in Milan."
The reporters rolled their eyes.
The bed in your hotel room was broken before, and you still called yourselves ordinary friends? Did you think they'd believe that?
But there was nothing they could do when Huang Kaiwen put it that way.
On the drive back, Barbara wasn't happy with what he'd said. She sat there with a dark expression, not saying a word.
Huang Kaiwen had written for romance and urban fiction for a while, so he wasn't some hopelessly clueless guy. In his previous life, he'd stayed home because he'd been busy with work. Even a typing monster putting out 20,000 to 30,000 words a day needed a lot of time.
Still, he had to make his position clear. He couldn't let Barbara get the wrong idea.
"I'm doing this for your own good," Huang Kaiwen said with a smile.
The heiress slammed on the brakes, turned to glare at him, and asked angrily, "What do you mean, for my own good? You just don't want to take responsibility."
Huang Kaiwen: ...
Excuse me, was sleeping with someone considered a commitment in Europe?
Of course, he didn't ask that. Otherwise, he'd probably make Barbara furious.
Huang Kaiwen said earnestly, "Your father is an important, well-known man. He won't allow you to date a player, especially an Asian player. I don't want to put you in a difficult position."
Huang Kaiwen left the unpleasant part unsaid.
But Barbara knew her father was a racist.
The thought made her feel awful.
But when it came to love and freedom, her father mattered less. If she couldn't love, she'd rather die!
The works of so many Romantic poets had already made that clear. Barbara suddenly felt like she was the modern-day Juliet.
She started driving again, but fell silent.
Huang Kaiwen wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He'd managed to talk his way out of it.
Even if he was going to live off someone else, he couldn't get himself caught up in it.
Qian Zhongshu had once said, "Marriage is a besieged city. Those outside want to get in, while those inside want to get out."
Huang Kaiwen had no plans to enter that city in this life.
When they got home, Barbara actually chose to read a book.
She'd clearly been shaken.
Remembering the latest glimpse of Barbara's future he'd seen, Huang Kaiwen took the initiative and recommended books like the Thirty-Six Stratagems to her.
Early the next morning, he planned to get up and watch movies to study a few scenes, so he could "get injured" after returning to training with the team. His experience card had expired, after all.
When he checked the system, he found he'd gained 10 fate points!
It was Barbara again.
[You significantly changed the fate of Barbara, Milan's future chairwoman.]
He clicked below to view the fate reveal.
A scene appeared at once.
[After listening to you, Barbara thought you made a lot of sense. She stopped reading fashion magazines and started reading military strategy instead.]
[Following your advice, Barbara made some investments and earned quite a lot. She also bought a year's worth of front-page headlines in Italian newspapers for the two of you. Even if you stopped playing football, the Italian media would still call you the world's number one star.]
[Berlusconi discovered her strengths and decided Barbara would make a good successor.]
[Barbara found ways to undermine her older brother and sister. She successfully seized complete control and took over Milan.]
[After Shevchenko left, you switched to number 7. Barbara decided to retire the number once you stopped playing.]
[Barbara made it into the Forbes top 100. With Milan under her control, the club had plenty of money and people, and you were Milan's most well-connected player. Barbara even got Milan to sign your cousins. Kaka could really relate to you on that front.]
[Although Barbara wasn't happy about your womanizing, she still loved you deeply. And you were so fit that even she couldn't keep up with you. Sometimes she'd even introduce you to her friends.]
[Because you used someone else's money to buy a plane, Barbara got angry. She earnestly told you that a man should spend his own money, or people would look down on him. Milan offered you a 40-million-euro contract, and Milan joined forces with Berlusconi's family businesses, including his construction company, to give you astronomical endorsement deals.]
[The opposition still banded together and prepared to fight back against you and Barbara's rule over Milan. But Milan was already entirely under Barbara's control, and their protests had no effect. At her suggestion, the Italian media denounced the fans' "violence" in a frenzy. To show the fans who was boss, she announced that your salary would rise by 10 percent every year. UEFA often fined Milan, but Barbara, with her deep pockets, didn't care at all. She even asked whether there was a discount for paying ten years' worth of fines upfront.]
[You played for 15 years, then got tired of it and retired. But your son was still in Milan's youth team. A few years later, his first professional contract, signed when he came of age, was worth 10 million euros. He inherited your number 7 shirt. Milan fans wept and wailed, never imagining that even after you left, someone else would inherit your VIP seat in the stands. The club would always register one fewer player than it was allowed.]
[Later, your grandson also became a Milan star. Your family and the Maldini family became Milan's two great football dynasties.]
[In 2070, your descendant was still playing for Milan. Unfortunately, he had great talent and failed to inherit your family's fine tradition of taking the money without playing. Barbara lived to the age of 96. On her deathbed, she asked to be buried with you in the future. You agreed, and she passed away with a smile.]
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