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Meilijun pointed to the bruise on his forehead and said to his son, "Look, this is the result of being beaten by your good mother."
"It seems, Dad...it's not easy for you either..."
Mei Xiang expressed strong sympathy for her unfortunate father.
Chapter 004 I have a little secret
Originally according to Mei Fang's plan, even if his father was unwilling to give money, as long as he praised the man a few times, and with his love for football, he could always trick him into buying lottery tickets.
Now that his father has lost his usefulness and his mother Xiang Xiaoxia is adamant and will never allow anyone in the family to develop the habit of gambling, Mei Fang can only find other ways.
Of course, he did have a backup plan.
Mei Fang found out Xia Yuan's home address from her father, and shouted that she was going downstairs to play with Xia Yuan.
Although Mei Fang and Xia Yuan live in the same residential complex, the house types of the two families are completely different - Mei Fang's house is a more common one, while Xia Yuan's house is a two-story building with a separate entrance and courtyard, and the specifications are a bit like a Japanese single-family house.
Mei Fang stood at the gate and heard melodious piano sounds coming from the house from outside.
In this era, families who can afford a piano——
She looks like a young lady?
Mei Fang stood on tiptoe and pressed the doorbell of Xia Yuan's house. After a while, a gentle adult female voice came from the other end of the doorbell.
"Hello, who are you looking for? Hey, why is there no one here..."
...Is it Xia Yuan’s mother?
Mei Fang waved frantically towards Xia Yuan's video phone.
"Hello, Auntie! I'm Mei Fang, Xia Yuan's classmate in kindergarten, and I also live in this neighborhood."
"Mei Fang... I often hear Yuan Yuan mention you. Are you here to play with her?"
"May I?"
Mei Fang tried to sound innocent, "Xia Yuan and I have an appointment to go to the children's playground in the community today."
"Yuanyuan's piano lesson is almost over. Do you want to come in and wait for a while? I'll open the door for you."
"it is good!"
As soon as Mei Fang finished speaking, the gate in the yard slowly opened automatically. Mei Fang walked a few steps forward along the road, and Xia Yuan's mother opened the door to greet her and said hello to Mei Fang gently.
Xia Yuan's mother exudes the temperament of an intellectual lady, with her long, smooth hair pasted to one side and a pair of clear eyes with elegant makeup that are particularly refreshing, like the warm sunshine in spring.
"Ah, hello, Auntie!"
Mei Fang seemed a little embarrassed because she didn't expect Xia Yuan's mother to be such a beautiful lady.
However, I feel like I've seen her somewhere before...
"What a polite child! Come in and sit down!"
Mei Fang followed Xia Yuan's mother to the living room, and could hear the sound of the piano upstairs at home. The melodious piano sound was soft and romantic, like flowing water, making people unconsciously immersed in the happy atmosphere.
Seeing that Mei Fang was fascinated by the song, Xia Yuan's mother couldn't help but ask curiously, "Do you like this song?"
Because of her work in her previous life, Mei Fang has some knowledge of music. "If I remember correctly, the piece I'm playing now should be Mendelssohn's "Spring Song."
"That's amazing. It's rare to find a boy who likes music... No wonder Yuanyuan always talks about you to me. You watch TV first. Auntie will go get you a glass of juice."
"Thank you auntie."
The decoration of Xia Yuan's living room is quite stylish, which hints at the affluence of Xia Yuan's family. Fortunately, there are not many aristocratic schools in a small county like Baimei County, otherwise he probably would not have the chance to go to kindergarten with Xia Yuan.
While waiting for Xia Yuan to finish her piano lesson, Mei Fang chatted with Xia Yuan's mother for a while. It was obvious that Xia Yuan's mother had a strong interest in Mei Fang, and Mei Fang was also very happy.
It seems that my decent conversation and mature demeanor have won the favor of this aunt.
When the piano music gradually stopped, hurried footsteps were heard on the stairs.
"Yuanyuan, your friends are waiting to go out and play with you."
"Huh? Mei Fang, why are you here?" Xia Yuan tilted his head in confusion.
"I came to play with you!" Mei Fang reminded, "Didn't I tell you after school..."
"Oh... I almost forgot. I have piano lessons today. I'm so sorry."
Xia Yuan said as she looked at her mother, "Mom, can I go to the children's playground with Mei Fang? We won't run around everywhere."
"Sure, but remember not to talk to strangers."
"Uh-huh!"
Xia Yuan took her bag and dragged Mei Fang out of the house, "Let's go play!"
"Remember to change your shoes, kid...why do you get so nervous when it comes to going out to play?"
Because it was the first time for Xia Yuan to play with other children outside the kindergarten, she seemed very happy and even hummed nursery rhymes unconsciously.
"By the way, Xia Yuan, what did you tell your mother about me?" Mei Fang pretended to be calm. "I'm a little... a little curious."
This little girl likes me so much, she must have said something shameful in front of her mother like she would be my bride in the future, otherwise her mother wouldn't be so interested in me. It's obviously the tone of a mother-in-law examining her son-in-law!
"Let me think about it. I told you... about you wetting the bed, about washing your butt naked in front of everyone, and..."
Mei Fang blushed and immediately rebuked Xia Yuan, "You can't just talk about these things everywhere! Do you have any brains?"
"I, I was just telling my mother!" Xia Yuan looked aggrieved, "Why are you so fierce... and you're even cursing at me."
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!"
Now Mei Fang really wanted to find a hole to crawl into, "When you talk about me to your mother in the future, can you talk more about my handsome side?"
"Well, I told mom about your great math skills today."
"You really tell mom everything..."
"My mother said that no matter whether you are happy or unhappy, you can share it with people around you, and this way you will gain more happiness."
"But even so, we should still have our own little secrets."
Mei Fang smiled and stared at the pink bag on Xia Yuan's waist. "For example, a little secret that only you and I know..."
"Only me and you know..."
Xia Yuan was a little excited, "What's the secret?"
Mei Fang said, and then he stretched out his hand and said, "Lend me 10 yuan first, and I will share this secret with you."
"Okay, but you have to remember to return it to me."
"Of course." Mei Fang patted his chest. "My father taught me that I should keep my word and never owe money and not pay it back."
Xia Yuan usually carries a pink bag with her when she goes out. Ever since she found out that the bag contained a lot of pocket money, Mei Fang has been keeping an eye on it.
Xia Yuan rummaged through her small wallet and handed a 10-yuan bill to Mei Fang.
"Here you go, can you share your little secret with me?"
"Don't worry, just follow me this way."
Mei Fang pulled Xia Yuan towards the gate of the community, which made Xia Yuan a little scared.
"Aren't we going to play on the slide in the children's park?"
"What's so fun there? We're going to be elementary school students soon. Shouldn't we go somewhere more exciting for adventure?"
"But... I promised my mother that I wouldn't run around..." Xia Yuan lowered his head and twirled his fingers.
"If you don't tell your mother, and I don't tell your mother, then your mother won't know, right?"
Mei Fang came close to Xia Yuan and continued to persuade her, "This will become a little secret that only we know. Only the two of us know it, okay?"
A little secret... a little secret...
Just like the nursery rhyme goes.
[I have a little secret, I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you——]
Ever since she could remember, Xia Yuan had always been a well-behaved and sensible child in the eyes of her parents. She had never thought of hiding anything from her parents. Therefore, when faced with the temptation of the novel experience proposed by Mei Fang, Xia Yuan had almost no resistance and finally nodded gently.
Chapter 005 Adventure and Marshmallows
Mei Fang led Xia Yuan to sneak out of the community and went to a football betting store at the entrance of the community. The owner yelled at them as soon as he saw the children coming in.
"Go away, go away, what are you doing in a place like this, kid? Get out!"
Seeing that the owner of the football betting shop looked ferocious, Xia Yuan subconsciously hid behind Mei Fang, holding Mei Fang's back tightly, while Mei Fang seemed very calm and composed.
"Hello uncle, I am running errands for my father to buy enough lottery tickets."
"Running errands..."
In the early 2000s, the rules and regulations in the small county were very lax, and adults liked to order children to run errands, such as buying cigarettes and lottery tickets, and they would give children 50 cents as errand fees.
Anyway, if he really won the prize, it would be impossible for such a young child to claim the prize himself.
So the boss asked: "Then hurry up and buy it...what to buy?"
"My dad wants to buy the top four lottery, is it still available?"
"Coincidentally, today is the last day to vote for the Final Four. Did your dad tell you which teams to pick?"
"I said it, I'll remember it."
In 2002, football lottery introduced many ways to play, the simplest and most straightforward of which were the top 16 competition, top 8 and top 4 competition.
The competition among the top 16 is actually a combination of win-lose lottery. You have to guess the win, loss and draw of all the games within 90 minutes in the knockout stage. If you guess all correctly, you can win the first prize, which is as high as 200 million.
However, in terms of probability, the chance of winning is 1/3 to the 16th power, which is a number infinitely close to 0.
The only way to guess the top eight is to guess the football teams that will advance to the top eight. That year, there was only one first prize for this award, and the betting amount was as high as 8 million. However, no one in the country won the prize. The reason was that dark horses frequently emerged, and one of the teams had only 8% support rate.
注意8强竞猜是从32支队伍里选出8强而不是16选8，错一个就无法获奖，中奖概率也是相当的低。
For Mei Fang, the only thing he could guess and remember was the top four teams in 02.
"The champion chooses Samba... the runner-up is Debon, the third place is Tuji... and the fourth place is Bangzi? Are you sure your father chose these four teams? I remember correctly, and once you have voted, you can't change it."
Mei Fang nodded to the shop owner, "These are the four my father was talking about. I remember them clearly!"