Winning the Lottery

"Huh?" Qin Yi looked confused. Eat what? He could eat whatever he wanted!

"You didn't bring a lunchbox?" Sun Zhicheng had already reached into Qin Yi's schoolbag and found nothing inside. Still unwilling to give up, he checked Qin Yi's desk compartment. Other than books, there was nothing there either.

"I brought money," Qin Yi said.

"No way! My mom said public safety's been pretty bad lately, so the school decided that starting today, they won't open the gates until school's out. You didn't bring a lunchbox—are you trying to starve to death?" Sun Zhicheng said loudly. His mother was the school's vice principal, so of course he knew all the news. Besides, the school broadcast had announced it yesterday. Their homeroom teacher had even specifically reminded them before dismissal.

"Sun Zhicheng, Qin Yi, stop talking during class." Up front, the art teacher Jiang Yujuan, who was reading the newspaper, immediately snapped at them.

"..." Qin Yi went blank. Who the hell could remember some trivial crap from sixteen years ago? He had money but couldn't spend it. How frustrating!

"Forget it, you can eat mine!" After thinking it over, Sun Zhicheng said with a pained expression. Luckily, his mom had made his favorite braised pork today, and in his excitement, he had brought an extra lunchbox. Otherwise, the two of them would have starved.

In Sun Zhicheng's mind, since Qin Yi hadn't brought food, naturally he had to share half of his own with him. As for why he had to share his food with Qin Yi, Sun Zhicheng had never thought about it.

Hearing Sun Zhicheng say that, Qin Yi was both surprised and touched.

In his previous life, people had spoiled him, but he had never believed that was something he was entitled to. This was especially true when it came to a stranger. Braised pork was nothing special, but to Sun Zhicheng, it was the greatest delicacy in the world. Not every child could give half of it away just like that.

That made it all the more precious.

"After lunch, let's go play marbles on the playground!" Sun Zhicheng leaned his big head over again and whispered.

Play marbles!

At those words, Qin Yi's touching thoughts instantly short-circuited. It was like being interrupted just as he was about to □, and he threw back his head with tears streaming down his face—

Damn it, could they play something for people over six? This old man wanted to skip grades, awoo awoo awoo awoo awoo!!!!!

Author's note: So few comments.

Sob sob sob~~~

Winning the Lottery

There was a rule for rebirth: every reborn person would, more or less, stumble into some absurdly good luck.

"What? You want to skip grades?"

At dinner, Qin Yi solemnly told his family about his decision. The result was six pairs of widened eyes staring at him.

"Xiao Yi, are you sick?" Qin Zhenguo asked cautiously.

"I'm sick. Do you have medicine?" Qin Yi, whose enthusiasm had been thoroughly shot down, lazily raised his head and glanced at Qin Zhenguo.

"No, this kid..." Qin Zhenguo was nearly choked to death by that one sentence and called out helplessly.

"Your dad is only thinking of what's best for you. You've never even passed an exam since you started school. Now you want to skip grades... can you keep up?" Tang Manru said with some difficulty. It was a good thing for her son to have ambition, but trying to reach the heavens in a single step was not. They had already experienced the bitterness of □. Revolutionary experience had long taught everyone, through painful lessons, that steady, step-by-step progress was the hard truth.

"I'll be fine." Seeing that Tang Manru was beginning to waver, Qin Yi immediately patted his chest in assurance. "I really can skip grades, and I guarantee I'll keep up after I do."

After all, in his previous life, he had been an overseas-educated top student. He still had that much ability.

"Then you want to go to middle school?" Qin Zhenguo suddenly asked.

"How could you..." Qin Mom grew anxious. Nothing had even been settled yet, so what was the rush? What if they ended up holding the child back?

"I was thinking, Xiao Yi's already in fifth grade anyway. The teachers say they don't learn anything new in sixth grade. It'd be better to pull some strings and let him go straight to middle school. My coworkers all say boys start taking studying seriously once they get to middle school." Seeing Qin Mom's flustered expression, Qin Zhenguo quickly explained.

"That's true!" Qin Mom hesitated, feeling that it made sense. After thinking it over, she asked Qin Yi, "Xiao Yi, how about going straight to middle school next year?"

"No, I want to go straight to high school!" Qin Yi said decisively. That one sentence successfully blew up the entire family.

"Isn't this nonsense?" Qin Zhenguo angrily set his rice bowl down hard on the table. "You haven't even passed elementary school exams, and you want to go straight to high school? Qin Yi, be reasonable!"

Qin Zhenguo was clearly truly angry. He only called Qin Yi by his full name when he was angry. Even Qin Rong, who had remained silent the whole time, frowned slightly.

"No, I really can do it!" Seeing his whole family looking so agitated, Qin Yi grew anxious too.

"Do what? Sit still and behave yourself..."

"No, I..."

"What's one hundred divided by twenty?" While everyone was arguing, Qin Rong suddenly spoke.

"Huh?" Qin Yi's thoughts failed to catch up for a moment, but he immediately understood Qin Rong's question and answered, "Five."

"What's three squared?"

"Nine."

"If a square has sides five meters long, what's its volume?"

"One hundred and twenty-five square meters."

"How do you say good morning in English?"

"Good morning!"

"What comes after, 'Thinking back to Gongjin in his prime, Xiao Qiao had only just married'?"

"It made me unable to smile!"

"...What comes after, 'The cries of monkeys on both banks never cease'?"

"Startling countless frogs into croaking!"

"..."

"..."

Qin Rong pursed his lips. His gaze met Qin Yi's hopeful expression, then shifted to Qin Dad and Qin Mom, who were waiting for the result. He said, "Other than Chinese, there shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Really?" Qin Dad and Qin Mom immediately looked Qin Yi over with great surprise.

"Heh heh!" Qin Yi raised his chin arrogantly, his neck tilted back so far it was nearly at a ninety-degree angle with his body.

"Should be fine." Qin Rong's face was calm, but a faint smile appeared in his eyes as he looked at Qin Yi.

"So that's how it is..." Although the Qin family had two sons, it was very obvious that Qin Rong held a much higher position in the family than Qin Yi did.

"What are you hesitating for? Hurry up and let me skip grades! Then you'll be the parents of a teenage genius!" Qin Yi said, practically itching to stand on the table.

"But..." Qin Dad and Qin Mom still hesitated. Although Qin Rong had said there was no major problem, high school was different from elementary school. If Qin Yi really couldn't keep up, they would be ruining the child's future.

"How about this? Qin Yi can take the middle school entrance exam with me this time. If he really gets in, we can find a way to put Xiao Yi and me in the same school and class. Then I can look after him," Qin Rong said after pondering for a moment.

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Yi's eyes lit up like lightbulbs, and his head bobbed repeatedly in agreement.

"Then it's settled for now! Let Xiao Yi take the exam first, and we'll talk if he passes!" Qin Dad made the final decision.

This would count as a test for Qin Yi. If he truly passed the middle school entrance exam, even if he only barely cleared the minimum score, Qin Dad would find a way to get Qin Yi into the same school as his brother. If he failed, then Qin Yi would obediently stay in elementary school.

With that in mind, Qin Zhenguo asked, "Xiao Rong! Are you confident about being the top scorer on the middle school entrance exam this time? Your teachers said that based on your third mock exam results, being S City's top scorer is practically guaranteed. You just need to perform normally."

"Mm, I'll do my best!" Qin Yi picked up some food with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth. Hearing Qin Zhenguo's words, he merely replied simply. Yet the confidence in his brows showed that his actions would never be as meek as his words.

"Xiao Rong, the exam is coming up soon. Mom won't go to work these next few days. I'll stay home and cook for you two, make sure you get some good nourishment." As Tang Manru spoke, she put a chicken drumstick into Qin Rong's bowl, then another into Qin Yi's.

"Dad, Mom, you eat too." Seeing this, Qin Yi immediately picked up two chicken drumsticks and placed one each into Qin Dad and Qin Mom's bowls.

The Qin family only liked eating chicken drumsticks, so after they became better off, they bought nothing but drumsticks whenever they made braised chicken. This dining habit had been laughed at by the neighbors more than once. Still, seeing the drumsticks placed in their bowls, Qin Dad and Qin Mom were just as happy.

As they chatted and laughed, the phone in the living room rang.

It was an old telephone from the nineties, its ringtone as unpleasant as a broken gong. Qin Yi was so startled that he accidentally dropped the food he had picked up onto the table.

"Who is it?" Qin Dad casually picked up the food that had fallen onto the table and ate it, muttering as he headed into the living room.

"Old Zhao! What made you think of calling me today? What—" Listening to Zhao Laifu on the other end, Qin Zhenguo's voice involuntarily rose.

"..."

"Really?" Whatever the other person said, Qin Zhenguo asked suspiciously.

"...Is that so? Then I'll ask him. Old Zhao, thank you!" After hurriedly exchanging a few words, Qin Zhenguo hung up and walked over to Qin Yi, staring at him with a grave expression.

"What?" Qin Yi shivered under Qin Zhenguo's stare and instinctively moved closer to Qin Rong.

"Did you buy a lottery ticket from Uncle Zhao?" Qin Zhenguo asked in a deep voice.

"...Ah!" Qin Yi's gaze flickered, and he nodded hesitantly.

"Didn't you tell me yesterday that you had no money? Where did you get the money?" Qin Zhenguo suddenly remembered something and asked.

"My brother gave it to me." Qin Yi scratched his head, completely baffled.

"Where's the lottery ticket?" Qin Zhenguo continued.

"..." Qin Yi couldn't remember for a moment.

"Where's the lottery ticket?" Seeing that Qin Yi did not react, Qin Zhenguo asked again.

"It's just a lottery ticket. Is this really necessary? Don't scare the child over fifty cents." Qin Mom immediately stood and shielded Qin Yi behind her. Qin Rong also reached out and patted Qin Yi's shoulder.

"Fifty cents? This isn't about fifty cents. Old Zhao just called. Xiao Yi's lottery ticket won—the grand prize. That's five million!" By the end, Qin Zhenguo's voice was trembling.

In 1995, even a household with ten thousand yuan was considered rich, let alone five million. The Qin family had worked hard for more than ten years and had only built up savings of a few hundred thousand.

"Hiss!" Qin Mom sucked in a breath in disbelief. "How much?"

"Five million!" Qin Dad said firmly.

"..." After staring blankly for a moment, Qin Mom immediately turned to Qin Yi. "Xiao Yi, where's the lottery ticket you bought yesterday?"

"...I forgot where I put it!" Qin Yi blinked and said blankly.

"You—" Qin Mom grew anxious at his words. After thinking it over, she could not bring herself to say anything. She merely patted Qin Yi's back. "You never put things in the same place."

Then she immediately got up and began searching around the house. She also snapped Qin Dad out of his daze. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and look!"

In no time at all, the living room, bedroom, and study had been turned upside down by the two of them. Qin Yi watched the busy pair, took another bite of rice, and said, "We haven't finished eating yet!"