Romantic Times Coffee Shop.
Two women and one man sat facing each other.
A woman with a pretty face and a graceful figure, an 85 out of 100, was glaring furiously.
"Li Xihai, what do you mean by this?"
"Yuanyuan is going abroad to study. What's wrong with asking you to sell your house?"
"You're just a bachelor's degree holder, while Yuanyuan is a graduate student. She dated you for two years, and you were the one who pursued her back then."
"Now she's asking you to put up money—it's just selling a house, not asking for your life. Are you really that reluctant to part with it?"
Yuan Na was Zhao Yuan's best friend, and also a graduate student at a prestigious 985 university.
However, she hadn't managed to secure a chance to study abroad, stuck on her grades and visa, while Zhao Yuan had successfully obtained a spot.
She had always been jealous, feeling very unbalanced inside. She couldn't vent it on her best friend, but she could on her best friend's boyfriend, couldn't she?
Li Xihai said nothing.
Zhao Yuan lowered her head slightly, putting on a pitiful, delicate look.
This only made Yuan Na more fired up.
"As her boyfriend, isn't this what you should do?"
"Over the past two years, you must have saved quite a bit from working. You only gave a few thousand yuan—how shameless can you be?"
Yuan Na was highly aggressive, sneering and mocking, completely looking down on Li Xihai.
Li Xihai took out a cigarette, sniffed it in front of his nose. If not for the coffee shop's no-smoking rule, he definitely would have lit it.
"What are you pretending for? Say something."
"If you're not willing, Yuanyuan will just have to break up with you. Are you even worthy of being Yuanyuan's boyfriend?"
Yuan Na sneered. The person involved hadn't even expressed an opinion, yet she had made the decision for her.
"Heh!"
Li Xihai gave a contemptuous laugh and said indifferently, "What kind of cunt is so precious that I have to sell my house for it?"
"Is it diamond-studded?"
Huh?
Yuan Na was stunned, and Zhao Yuan's face was full of rage.
"You... how can you say such things?" Zhao Yuan finally spoke, overwhelmed with shame and anger.
"Then let me ask you—the down payment on the house was paid by my parents, and I'm the one paying off the mortgage. You want me to sell the house just like that?"
Li Xihai cursed, "Motherfucker, did I give you too much face?"
"Who the hell do you think you are, opening your mouth and demanding I sell my house?"
"Just because I slept with you?"
"You're not even a virgin, damn it."
In front of her best friend, being insulted like this by Li Xihai, Zhao Yuan could no longer hold back. She grabbed her coffee and splashed it right at Li Xihai.
"Scumbag!"
After cursing, Zhao Yuan grabbed her bag and stormed off in a fury.
"You beast!"
Yuan Na threw out those words and followed right after.
The surrounding customers, seeing this scene, all secretly watched and whispered among themselves.
Li Xihai wiped the coffee off his face. His phone dinged.
"Let's break up."
The message was from Zhao Yuan.
"You didn't pay for the coffee. It's 50 for the two of us. Transfer it now."
The reply came immediately, along with a transfer of fifty yuan.
"Li Xihai, I must have been blind. Go die."
Li Xihai didn't care at all. He accepted the red packet and directly blocked Zhao Yuan.
He paid and walked out of the coffee shop.
Facing the sunlight outside, he only felt it was very harsh.
His relationship with Zhao Yuan had already taken a sharp turn for the worse months ago, existing in name only.
It was a typical cliff-edge breakup.
Every time he replied to messages, it was just a few words, and later it developed into no response at all unless he sent a message first.
Her attitude grew colder and colder. Neither side said they were breaking up, but it was barely different from a breakup.
Today was the only time Zhao Yuan had taken the initiative to message him, and damn it, she even brought her best friend along, demanding he sell his house to fund her going abroad.
This was just fucking ridiculous.
She was completely treating him like a sucker, a simp, a cuck to be cleaned out.
Li Xihai was not about to indulge her.
What happens after going abroad—who doesn't know?
He'd have to be crazy to fund Zhao Yuan going abroad.
Zhao Yuan's figure and looks weren't even as good as Yuan Na's.
In the past two years, it was only at the beginning of their relationship that they booked hotel rooms frequently. Later, Li Xihai was busy with internships and work, so basically only weekends gave them a chance.
"Damn it, I took a bit of a loss."
"Over the past two years, I've spent at least a hundred thousand on her."
Li Xihai regretted it a little—he hadn't slept with her enough.
If he'd known it would come to this, he should have stood up and gone at it back then.
Just as he was about to call a taxi, his phone rang.
It was the Real Estate Agency.
"Mr. Li, there's a client who wants to view the house. Is now convenient for you?"
The agency asked.
"I'm outside. I'll be right back."
"Okay."
The call ended, and Li Xihai called a Didi.
The house really did need to be sold.
Not because of Zhao Yuan.
But because he couldn't make it in this city. For him, there was no promising future here.
Thinking back on his lofty ambitions from back then, he found it somewhat laughable.
After graduating with his bachelor's degree, he found a job at an advertising company, running sales all day long.
Full of hot blood, wanting to make a name for himself in the big city and build a career.
But every month's salary, after living expenses, most of it went to the mortgage. Add a girlfriend on top of that, and there was nothing left over—he even needed his parents to bail him out.
After two years of work, he didn't even have any savings.
Rather than this, he might as well return to his comfort zone, quietly hole up in his hometown, find any job, and stay by his parents' side.
Wasn't that better than being a beast of burden outside?
When he got home, the agency and the client had just arrived.
The client toured the house under the agency's introduction.
"Mr. Li, you do stock trading too?"
The client noticed the trend chart hanging in the living room and couldn't help asking curiously.
"I used to, but I stopped after I lost money."
This trend chart was hung up right after he bought the house.
Back then he was young and hot-blooded, his ambitions higher than the sky, thinking he'd dominate the stock market, achieve financial freedom, and pay off the mortgage in one go.
He spent all day studying the stock market.
Things like going all-in with heavy positions, adding to positions on floating profits, frequent trading, technical analysis.
Things like "it's already at the bottom, any direction is up."
Things like "going all-in is a kind of wisdom—the less money you have, the more you should go all-in."
These theories were almost all acquired during that period.
But they were completely useless.
In the end, forget making money—he lost so much he didn't even have enough left to pay the mortgage, and ultimately his parents had to step in and bail him out.
Since then, he had given up on stock trading.
He just didn't have that fate.
"Mr. Li, the house is fine, but can the price be lowered a bit?"
"2.1 million."
"Look, I'm sincere. Can't you lower it a bit more?"
Through the agency's mediation, the two sides finally agreed on a deal at two million.
The agency fee, transfer fees, and other costs would all be borne by the buyer.
Once settled, they would sign the contract tomorrow.
"Brother Li, I'll have to trouble you then. After all, we need to pay off the mortgage first before going through the transfer process."
"I know."
There was still a mortgage owed. For the transfer, the buyer would first have to give the purchase money to the agency to release the mortgage before it could proceed.
That night.
Li Xihai sat alone in the living room.
He had quit his job, and the house was about to be sold.
Going back to his hometown, what would he do?
Suddenly noticing the trend chart hanging on the wall, he took out his phone and opened an app he hadn't used in a long time.
Tonghuashun!
His account login had expired. After re-verifying, he successfully logged in.
Just then, a voice sounded.
"Stock market trend Precognition System activated. Precognitive Information automatically triggered when funds are sufficient."
"Current investor funds: twelve thousand. One target can be predicted."