Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

After running around for over a month, the crayfish market was nearly saturated; the purchase price had risen from the initial two or three dimes per pound to two yuan now.

After fulfilling the initial orders of at least a thousand pounds, many businesses found other suppliers, and the volume of business suddenly dropped. Xu Dad, Xu Mom, and Uncle Xia could finally take a breather.

Since May 13th, the two families had accumulated a profit of 730,000 yuan.

Since Xu Qingfan's eldest uncle had also helped with the crayfish purchases, Uncle Xia thought of splitting the money into three shares when distributing it.

"What three shares? Just split it evenly; without you driving, the crayfish wouldn't have made it back," Yao Jiping interrupted.

"What you've said, without your recipe to break into the market, we couldn't have done this business either!"

"Stop fighting, give me the birthday boy some face, let's split it fifty-fifty!" Xu Qingfan slammed the table and stood up to announce.

"Right, let's listen to our Xiao Fan!" Xu Mom chimed in as well.

Xia Guofu looked at his wife, and Lin Jing helplessly shrugged her shoulders.

"Hmph! Fine then, you stinker; Uncle will give you a big red envelope for the New Year." Uncle Xia's calloused hand patted Xu Qingfan's shoulder.

"Come on, when has the New Year's red envelope ever not come from Aunt Lin? Keep your money to buy cigarettes for yourself!" Xu Qingfan said, ducking behind Lin Jing.

"You little rascal!"

"Hahahaha!" Laughter erupted in the room.

It was Xu Qingfan's birthday yesterday, but it was only today that the adults from both families had time; coincidentally, it was also the day of the World Cup final, so they thought of making it up to him with belated birthday celebrations.

He wasn't losing out; since his birthday had been celebrated yesterday by others, one more time today didn't matter.

Yesterday's birthday was spent with Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao. Since the exams were over, Xu Qingfan had resumed his good habit of sleeping late and waking up early, but had been rudely awakened by Lin Wanning that morning.

Only then did he find out that she had specially come to celebrate his birthday.

The god-sister he acknowledged, who was also Wanning's mom, gave him a pair of Nike sneakers, while Lin Wanning gave him a big jar of little stars.

It hadn't been a month since he told Lin Wanning his birthday, and he had no idea when she had started secretly folding them for him; roughly counting, there were over a thousand.

Xia Xiaoxiao hadn't yet developed the habit of giving birthday gifts, and the little girl was at a loss when she learned Lin Wanning had given Xu Qingfan a jar of little stars.

In the end, it was Xia Mom who had the idea to take Xia Xiaoxiao to the lakeside to pick up a stone, saying it symbolized wishing their friendship would be as long-lasting as the stone.

...

"What a goal!"

Kleiber pushed the ball across the front, and Ronaldo adjusted slightly before taking a powerful shot, doubling Samba Team's lead.

"Germany's offense is weak, relying entirely on Kahn for the first half!" Xu Dad downed his beer in one go, critiquing the television.

"No choice, Germany's lineup is too old; making it to the finals is already quite an accomplishment."

"Haha, it's just that they didn't draw the Koreans in the quarters; otherwise, Germany wouldn't have anything to do with it!"

"Hahahaha... Eh, why is the National Football Team so useless, at least score a goal!" Recalling his own country's team, Xu Dad started to frown amidst his laughter.

"Drink, drink!"

The referee's whistle blew, and Samba Team lifted their fifth Hercules Cup.

Seven matches completed, the five-star Samba Team scored eight goals, with player Ronaldo emerging as the top scorer of the World Cup.

Everything is the cycle of history, who would have thought that this spirited Samba Team, twelve years later, would be defeated seven to one by Germany on their own turf.

"Cough cough cough!" Xu Qingfan took a deep breath, standing solemnly in front of the TV.

"Everyone, listen to me, I want to make an important announcement!"

"Go play over there, don't block the TV!" Xu Dad, watching Samba Team's trophy moment, reached out to pull Xu Qingfan back.

Avoiding his grasp, Xu Qingfan continued, "Today is my birthday, and it is also the day of hardship for Mrs. Yao Jiping, I've prepared a special gift for my dearest mom!"

"Wow~" Lin Jing looked at Xu Qingfan with a beaming smile, then at her best friend she'd played with since childhood.

"You little brat, you should be grateful if Mom says you're good." Recalling the grievances she endured while pregnant with Xu Qingfan, Xu's mom's eyes instantly reddened.

"I definitely appreciate Mom's kindness. Mom, no matter what the gift is, you must like it, and you can't get angry or hit me!" Xu Qingfan laid out his pre-emptive defenses.

"Why would Mom hit you for no reason?" Yao Jiping looked reproachfully at her son.

"You have to promise me first!"

"Did you do something wrong again? Don't worry, it's your birthday today, no matter what you did, Mom won't blame you or hit you." Xu's mom sensed there was a hidden message in Xu Qingfan's words.

"Dad, you have to swear too!"

"You dare to make fun of your old man, huh? Watch me spank you right now!" Xu's dad said as he started to unbuckle his belt.

"Mom, I think old Dad is just jealous, he doesn't want me to give you a gift!" Xu Qingfan hid behind his own mom.

With a look from Yao Jiping, Xu Aiguo sheepishly sat back down. "Alright, alright, I promise, no matter what you give your mom, I won't hit you later, satisfied?"

"Thud, thud, thud, thud~" Xu Qingfan pulled out a stack of winning lottery tickets from his pocket.

"Mom, these are lottery tickets. Your wise, clever, cute, hardworking, unrivaled son couldn't bear to see you working so hard pushing the cart selling sweet soup, so I especially bought these. Mom, I won the jackpot! Our family is rich now!" Xu Qingfan solemnly handed the ten lottery tickets to his mother.

Yao Jiping was still in a daze, surprised that her son's gift was lottery tickets, holding them in her hands without reacting.

"Good boy, no wonder last time you asked if buying lottery tickets with stolen money would get you spanked; you actually bought them!" Seeing this, Xu's dad reached for his Seven Wolves belt.

"Dad, we won, we won big! Look first, take a look!" Xu Qingfan dashed to the door, pointing at the lottery tickets in his mom's hands.

"You don't know how to buy any darn lottery tickets. It's just a few bucks, come back, I won't spank you." Xu's dad just put on a show, not taking Xu Qingfan's claim of winning seriously.

Xu Aiguo casually took the lottery tickets from his wife's hands and read off the teams listed on them: "Samba champion... runner-up... Germany... third place Turkey.. and there's Korea!!!"

By the end of the list, Xu's dad's voice cracked, and he stood up excitedly.

Xu's dad quickly flipped through the rest of the tickets: "Korea, Korea, Korea, it's all Korea!!!"

"Hahaha! Wife, we won! Our family has won!!!"

Watching her husband's frenzied behavior, Yao Jiping stepped back half a step.

"Old Xu, calm down a bit, what did you win?" Xia Guofu pulled Xu's dad back to his seat and took the lottery tickets from his hand to look at them.

"Wuhu~ Good boy, you really hit the jackpot! Xiao Fan, come here, tell your uncle how you came up with this way of buying them?" Xia's dad waved his hand, signaling Xu Qingfan, who was hiding by the door, to come back.

"We really won?" Lin Jing asked in surprise.

"My stinky kid really won?" Yao Jiping still couldn't quite believe it.

"He really won; I guess it's more profitable than our crawfish business!"

"That much?"

Xia's dad shook out his clothes and patiently explained: "The total prize pool is fixed. Each of these lottery tickets represents a single entry; all the winning tickets in the country are pooled together and divided up among the winners. This year's World Cup was full of surprises, I bet Xiao Fan's ten bets are worth at least several hundred thousand."

Hearing that these ten cards were worth hundreds of thousands, Yao Jiping quickly and carefully put them into her bag.

"Good son, where did you get the money to buy lottery tickets?" After putting away her bag, Xu's mom looked at her son with a beaming face.

"Mom, listen to me argue... I mean, let me explain!"

"So you were going to argue, right, Old Xu!"

"Mom, you swore!"

"It's nullified now. Stealing money to buy lottery tickets at such a young age; what if you grow up and sell the house to gamble!"

"I knew it! Ah~ Auntie Lin, save me!!"