Chapter 4: Seize the Opportunity and Take a Gamble

  "Beautiful people are so charming, heroes have been romantic since ancient times. Only for the sake of a beauty's smile, give me a cup of wine. When will the war end? After drinking this cup, everything starts anew. The mountains and rivers remain, but people cannot stay as they were. The rolling yellow sand buries many young heads. Joy and sorrow, right and wrong, success and failure all become empty in the blink of an eye. The turbulent rivers wash away the dreams of men...". In the McDonald's restaurant, music is playing, creating a relatively quiet atmosphere that gives people a more relaxed feeling. Shen Jia hums softly along with the music.

  Li Xiaoteng and Yang Biao were still discussing the matter of betting on football matches. As for Li Xiaoteng, he was very much against betting on football. In his previous life, Li Xiaoteng seemed to remember helping Yang Biao place a bet during work hours. However, at that time, in the busy mobile phone market in Yangqiao, using the boss's IBM laptop, he helped Yang Biao place the bet. It wasn't until half a year later that he remembered the matter of betting on football. He asked Yang Biao about it once, and that time Li Xiaoteng remembered buying 1,000 yuan worth of Barcelona winning bets, but didn't think much of it. When he thought about it again, it seemed like it had already been half a year. He asked Yang Biao about the situation with betting on football, and Yang Biao just lightly brushed it off with a few sentences. It seemed like he had lost quite a bit, but the number of times he won could be counted on one hand. Because they didn't play much, after all, they were students, and each bet was only 100 to 200 yuan. If they didn't eat breakfast for a month, it would come out, but in the situation where they lost more than they won, Yang Biao gradually stopped playing as well. Li Xiaoteng thought carefully, no wonder that time at the night market when he watched Real Madrid play against Barcelona, Barcelona lost. Yang Biao's eyes turned red with rage, and his chakra burst out instantly, wanting to smash the TV. It was probably the most brutal loss for him.

  Gambling on football has always been severely cracked down by the party and the state in China. Losing a bet is not scary, what's scary is that after placing your bets, the gambling ring gets busted. Then sorry to say, your bets become ill-gotten gains, which also become the profits of the public security bureau and the police officers' bonuses!

  There have been numerous reports about this in the market. Li Xiaoteng has never participated, but his friends around him have suffered greatly from it. He asked Yang Biao: "Biao Ge, actually betting a little is not a big deal. But I heard that the crackdown recently has been very severe. What if you place a bet and the banker gets busted?"

  "This is why I told you to lend me online banking! Yang Biao shook his head and sighed, "Recently, classmates have been affected by domestic football gambling dens. One of my classmates even dropped out of school! Damn it! Domestic football gambling dens are really not to be trifled with, these bosses are all scoundrels." After finishing, he glanced at Shen Jia and continued, "One of our sophomore students, just a while ago, within a short week, actually lost 800,000 yuan through a classmate who bought a football betting disk from an underground boss! Because he couldn't pay off the debt according to the 'rules' before January 21st, the online bosses kept calling and texting him to collect debts. That guy went crazy!" After taking a sip of Coke, he continued, "Guess what happened next?" Li Xiaoteng shook his head. "Later, the boss's thugs went to their home, plastered big-character posters on the door, writing 'Cheap people pay back money' and even splashed oil paint! Just like in a gangster movie." Li Xiaoteng listened and asked in confusion, "What the... how much football betting can you do to owe over 800,000 yuan?!" At this time, Yang Biao's phone rang. Li Xiaoteng stood up, said goodbye, went to buy a set meal, and came back to see that Yang Biao's face didn't look too good. Shen Jia seemed to still be scolding him about something.

  Li Xiaoteng was puzzled: "What's wrong?" Yang Biao's face, seemingly darker. The darkened face said: "Damn! I lost another game. My classmate and I bet on it together. Isn't this just accompanying Shen Jia out for dinner? Didn't expect to lose 200 yuan again!"

  Shen Jia also said on the side: "Little Teng, help me tell Yang Biao that I've been saying this can't be touched! Winning money is only a minority, it's not possible to last long. Like all gambling, only the house and betting companies make money from football betting. Yang Biao just doesn't believe it!" Yang Biao said in disagreement: "This is like guessing heads or tails of a coin, throwing ten times the probability can't be said, but throwing one hundred times, the probability of heads or tails will definitely approach fifty percent! There's really no trick to it! I don't bet on that bunch of useless Chinese national team, everyone knows that's fake. I only bet on the top five leagues!" Li Xiaoteng looked at Yang Biao who seemed to be getting more and more agitated: "I may not watch football, but I do know how the house makes money!" "Oh? I also know, isn't it just commission and handling fees?" Yang Biao said in disagreement. "That's only one aspect!" Li Xiaoteng originally worked as a client manager and knew some clients who talked about football betting. Although he didn't participate, he roughly knew how it worked. He continued: "The house makes profits through water cutting and collecting commissions. Commissions don't need to be said, the house will collect around 1% of the bet amount from everyone as commission. But the house's biggest source of profit is still through water cutting." "What's water cutting?" Yang Biao asked curiously. "Big brother! You're still a university student! Water cutting refers to the difference between the forward exchange rate and the spot exchange rate in the foreign exchange market, it's called water cutting. It's a term often used in the foreign exchange and futures industries." Yang Biao seemed to understand and nodded. Li Xiaoteng looked at his confused eyes and knew he really didn't get it, so he continued: "Nowadays, the house in Beijing sets the odds based on the Macau betting company's odds. All the match odds are clear on the external network. For example, the Italian league derby AC Milan vs Inter Milan, the Macau lottery company set the odds at 'AC Milan half ball 1.80 against Inter Milan plus 2.05'. In theory, if both teams have a 50% chance of winning, the odds should be 1:2, and the sum of the two teams' odds should be 4. However, through addition, AC Milan and Inter Milan's odds only add up to 3.85. The remaining 0.15 is the profit for the betting company and the house. As long as the bets on both sides are roughly equal, the house and betting company can guarantee this 15% profit. Once one side's bets become more, the house and betting company will adjust the water cutting and commission to attract gamblers to bet on the other side."

  After Li Xiaoteng finished telling Yang Biao about the football betting, his eyes widened in surprise. "Damn! There's so much to this. Brother Teng, you don't even watch soccer, how do you know all this stuff?" Of course, Li Xiaoteng couldn't tell Yang Biao that he was reborn and had experienced the harm of football betting in his previous life, where families were ruined and lives were lost, and it was all over the newspapers every day. After the masses hated football betting to the core, no one played with private bookmakers anymore, and then sports lottery quietly became popular on Chinese soil...

  "Haha, my boss who sells mobile phones has some connection with their gambling company and is quite familiar with their operation mode." I thought to myself: Sorry, boss. I can only use you as a scapegoat now. Hurriedly changing the subject, I said: "By the way, you said your classmate lost 800,000? How did he lose so much?" Yang Biao sighed and said: "The gambler my classmate found is one who can assess assets and appropriately increase leverage. My classmate seemed to have stolen his parents' bank deposit slips and used the photocopies of these slips and household registration to prove that they had these assets. Then, he used credit to gamble on soccer matches. After losing, the interest on the credit was added up... although there's no dark interest like credit card companies. But 15% annual interest on 10,000 yuan is quite a lot! Added up together, it became 800,000! They usually take orders verbally unless the amount is particularly huge. Generally, for amounts under 20,000, they directly report the order. After the results come out, if you win, they'll directly transfer the money to your account. If you lose, you need to transfer the money to their bank card. Of course, if they can't collect the money, some thugs will come to your doorstep to collect the debt!"

  Li Xiaoteng nodded. It seemed that he had heard of this mode of gambling on football, but most of them were some small private clubs in the country, and their strength was generally not great. Li Xiaoteng asked: "Using online banking, are you going to gamble on football? Why don't you buy it with your classmates?" Yang Biao smiled awkwardly and said: "This time is the La Liga derby, I want to bet more. Bet 1,000 yuan. And I want to gamble on the Macau foreign disk. So I need to remit it abroad. Don't want to gamble with them in a domestic club." Li Xiaoteng laughed and pulled Yang Biao's hand: "Is your foreign disk reliable? Real Madrid vs Barcelona? I also want to bet!" Shen Jia rolled her eyes at Li Xiaoteng with big eyes: "You're disgusting! You were just saying something righteous, advising Yang Biao not to gamble on football! But you're actually going to join in too!" Li Xiaoteng was speechless. He couldn't tell Shen Jia that he was a time-traveler. Although he didn't watch football, he had seen this match before. Although he didn't remember the process, he had a very deep impression of the result. Real Madrid swept Barcelona 4-2.

  Yang Biao excitedly patted Li Xiaoteng's shoulder, looked at him with a sly gaze and said "Brother indeed! I've already placed the bet the day before the match. When the time comes, I'll give you the money and you help me transfer it over. Haha! Remember to buy Barcelona winning!"

  Shen Jia looked at the two brothers and felt deeply speechless. He said to Yang Biao with a helpless tone, "You're going to lose money, don't blame me for not warning you! You'll be drunk everywhere later on. I won't take care of you!" Yang Biao put his arm around Shen Jia and laughed loudly, saying, "Don't worry, I promise! During the game, I won't drink a single drop of alcohol! Popcorn and cola are fine. That's settled then!" He then turned to Li Xiao Teng with a tilted head, saying, "Brother, you eat first. Shen Jia and I will finish eating and go exercise. You eat first, we'll leave first!" After that, he raised an eyebrow at Li Xiao Teng, giving him a knowing look as if to say, "Good brother, you understand."

  Shen Jia elbowed Yang Biao on the side and said with a smile: "How annoying! Who's going to exercise with you? What nonsense are you talking about in front of your brothers!"

  "Hahaha! You still don't know what I'm saying, do you? Don't pretend to be stupid! I just love that wild flavor of yours. It's like riding a fierce horse and galloping across the Hulunbuir grasslands!" Yang Biao said with a teasing tone.

  "You're talking! I'm really not going to pay attention to you anymore. I can go back to school!" It seemed like Sheng Jia was really angry. Yang Biao hurriedly apologized: "Alright, baby, can't I just keep quiet?" Sheng Jia gave Yang Biao a white eye, and whispered in his ear: "If you want to talk, wait until there's no one around and we can quietly talk about it between the two of us. Talking about this in front of your friends...I really won't be happy! You idiot."

  Yang Biao nodded thoughtfully, his smile becoming even more sly. He turned around and said to Li Xiaoteng: "Brother, I'll take my leave first!" As he spoke, he put his arm around Shen Jia and walked out of McDonald's.

  There were fewer pedestrians on the road at noon, and the traffic was not heavy either. Right across the street was a relatively good motel. Yang Biao pulled Shen Jia straight to the motel. When they arrived at the front desk, he asked, "Boss, do you have any hourly rooms?" A middle-aged woman was leaning back in her chair, staring intently at an old desktop computer playing solitaire. Without even lifting her head, she said, "We have a room, 50 yuan for four hours, no bathroom, no shower, public bath available from 7 pm to 11 pm with hot water. If you want to check-in, please show your ID!" Yang Biao looked at Shen Jia with inquiring eyes. Shen Jia nodded slightly, looking embarrassed. Yang Biao said, "Okay, boss, give us a room!" He handed over his ID from his wallet and gave it to the front desk. The boss sat up straight and started entering the information on the ID. She looked at Shen Jia and asked, "Where's your ID?" Shen Jia looked embarrassed and started searching her body, but after a while, she still couldn't find it! She looked innocently at Yang Biao and said, "I left my ID at school..." Just as Yang Biao was about to ask the boss to make an exception, the boss handed his ID back to him, pointed to the rules on the wall, and said, "No ID, no check-in! This is a state-owned enterprise!" Then she went back to playing solitaire.

  As for Li Xiaoteng, he saw off Yang Biao and Shen Jia. He thought to himself: This guy just met her, how did things develop so quickly? It's really unbelievable! Then he started thinking about his own plans.

  This ball, must be gambled. Take advantage of this opportunity to make your own funds grow exponentially. The core idea is very clear! Quickly accumulate the original capital, then rush into the stock market. Let your funds explode rapidly. Buy a house, get married and have children. Live a happy and carefree life. Such simple and ordinary wishes! At the same time, I am also thinking about a problem. In my previous life, I had a girlfriend who was in contact with me for three years, but because of poverty, she didn't want to marry me. When I think of that woman, all that comes to mind are words like money, comparison, vanity, and stinginess. If it weren't for the long time we were together and the feelings we had developed, plus my being a responsible man despite being a bit of a ladies' man, we would have broken up. In fact, the root cause of our incompatibility was still about money. Until now, I haven't figured out whether I am a realist or a pragmatist. In my previous life, I worried about money; what about this life? Currently, I'm worried about starting capital. There's a great opportunity right in front of me, but... Alas, thinking about it is futile. My funds are limited. My parents are conservative and honest people. Asking them to take out money to invest in the stock market together would be met with a thousand nos. This money is definitely hopeless! Nowadays, except for those deeply trapped stock investors, no one will actively participate in the stock market. The current securities market has basically hurt the Chinese people very deeply. It's already reached the point where talking about stocks makes people change color. Only I know that an opportunity is coming soon. But it's right in front of me, and yet... I don't have a large sum of money to grab those super-cheap bull stocks! Li Xiaoteng rubbed his temples speechlessly, feeling like there were two blood vessels bursting inside.

  Li Xiaoteng also wanted to make a big deal, taking advantage of the loophole in private financing and borrowing money to start from scratch. Sounds good, but actually it's just swindling. However, after struggling in the financial industry for years, he knew that some things were not as beautiful as they seemed on the surface. If he really reached out his hand, with his humble background as a commoner, could he get the money? Or would he be able to spend the money safely? That's a big question mark!

  Rubbed the temples again. Muttered to himself: "Go home and download a chart software, take a look at the charts, go online and read some news. All methods are created by humans. Calm down first." Just as he was about to push open the door, his phone rang again...