Li Xihai slept like the dead, oblivious to the world.
By the time he woke up.
His parents and sister were all home.
He rubbed his eyes and went out.
His parents both looked at him with questioning eyes.
"What's wrong?"
Li Xihai touched his face and said, "There's nothing on my face, is there?"
Li's Father's mouth twitched, and Li's Mother asked, "Dawa, did you sell the stock?"
"Didn't sell," Li Xihai said casually.
Li's Mother said, "It hit limit-up again today."
"You've been watching it too."
Li Xihai laughed. So that was what this was about.
It seemed only natural that his parents had been quietly paying attention.
When he'd shown them the returns last night, they'd naturally seen which stock it was.
"So what are you thinking?" Li's Mother asked.
"Don't go prying. Dawa can make his own decisions."
Li's Father said, "Let's eat!"
Li's Mother said nothing more and got up to go to the kitchen.
The family ate dinner chatting and laughing, but the stock market was not mentioned again.
That night.
Li Xihai got another phone call.
This time it was from a middle school classmate.
"Xihai, Brother Gang said you're back."
"Why didn't you say anything, and you're not coming out to get together? That's not cool of you."
Li Xihai found it a bit funny. "Fine, North Gate Barbecue."
"Whoever's around, call them all."
"Alright, I'll call everyone."
After hanging up, Li Xihai sent a message in the middle school brothers and sisters group chat, then called Yang Gang.
"Tonight won't work, I'm on duty."
"You guys drink first."
"If you want liquor, just say the word and I'll have someone deliver it."
Yang Gang said helplessly.
"Okay, they probably won't drink baijiu."
"Alright."
After hanging up, he glanced at the WeChat group. There were quite a few messages.
Yang Gang: "On duty tonight, watching you guys drink, report the battle situation anytime."
Luo Zhi: "Damn, the moment I go on a business trip, you guys drink every day."
Guan Yang: "No, I'm on a business trip too, Head of State, you really came back at the right time."
Luo Zhi: "I don't care, anyway this meal has to be made up when we get back."
Guan Yang: "It must be made up."
Wang An'an: "Haha, then we'll drink first."
Xiao Feng: "I'm already in position, where's the Head of State?"
Cao Yi: "Holy crap, Head of State, why didn't you say earlier, I'm in the city."
Li Xihai: "Then there's no helping it. Those who can make it, make it. Same old place, North Gate Barbecue."
He went out and hailed a taxi.
When he arrived at North Gate Barbecue.
He saw five or six men and women gathered together.
"Oh, the Head of State is here."
When Wang An'an saw Li Xihai, she stepped forward and took his arm, saying, "Comrade Leader, it's not easy to see you even in the big city."
This group of classmates all had a very good relationship.
Wang An'an was a female classmate, now an elementary school teacher.
"An'an, your boyfriend will get jealous if he sees this."
Xiao Feng teased.
"It's not like my boyfriend doesn't know about our relationship." Wang An'an rolled her eyes.
Li Xihai asked, "Didn't bring your family?"
Wang An'an said, "It's so late, and he has things to do tomorrow."
"An'an has no classes tomorrow morning, only in the afternoon, so tonight is perfect for drinking more."
Another female classmate, He Qian, said.
"Don't. You two women can hold your liquor better than us. If we let you get drunk, who knows how much we'd have to drink."
"Guild Leader, you're Xiao Feng, how can you chicken out when it comes to drinking?"
"If I actually knew the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, would I be afraid?"
Xiao Feng's nickname was Guild Leader—who told him to have the same name as Guild Leader Qiao?
The group sat down joking and laughing, ordered food, and the drinks came.
This time Li Xihai inevitably got plied with drinks.
Who told him to be the one coming back from out of town?
Usually, when they gathered in the County Town, Li Xihai was basically always absent.
"When are you leaving this time?"
"Not leaving. Just staying home."
"Oh, did you get dumped? Came home to heal your wounds?"
Li Xihai smiled without answering.
Wang An'an asked in a low voice, "Did you really break up?"
"We broke up."
Li Xihai was very calm.
"Good that you broke up. Girls from the big city have too many ideas, she wasn't right for you." Wang An'an said, "Local girls are better, we know everything about each other."
"Your family's conditions are so good too."
"Later I'll scout around the school for single teachers for you. A really pretty one came recently."
"I heard she's single. I'll ask around for you when the time comes."
Li Xihai neither refused nor agreed, just raised his glass and clinked it with Wang An'an.
They ate until nearly midnight, and everyone left separately.
Xiao Feng grabbed Li Xihai and didn't leave, then invited him to get a foot massage.
"Damn."
Li Xihai didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Three days back, and he'd already spend two nights at a Club?
They went to Tianyi Club.
This foot spa wasn't the best, nor was its class the highest locally.
But it had the advantage of being just barely affordable.
Li Xihai again requested technician No. 888.
This time he actually knew the technician's name—Xu Rui.
She was good-looking, the delicate, petite type, soft-spoken, giving people a tender, melting feeling.
Music played in the room, very softly. Enjoying the massage, Li Xihai chatted casually with Xu Rui.
There was no story of a sick mother, a gambling father, a younger brother in school, and a broken her.
Xu Rui did this line of work purely because the income was high.
According to her, those with good performance at the Club made twenty or thirty thousand a month.
In this small County Town, that income was top-tier.
Xiao Feng was mumbling over there, and Li Xihai caught a few sentences, frowning involuntarily.
He'd heard Yang Gang mention that Xiao Feng's situation had been a bit bad recently.
An accident had cost him a large sum in compensation, and if not for his classmates' help, he'd nearly been locked up for a few months.
Li Xihai didn't ask too much. Among classmates, help within one's ability was something he'd definitely give.
Xiao Feng was very straightforward and generous by nature, and he was well-built too.
With so many years of classmate friendship, he'd definitely lend a hand if he could.
At the time, Li Xihai had also asked around for information, and after learning it was resolved, he hadn't asked further.
Back then, he hadn't made a name for himself in the big city, and didn't have much ability to help anyway.
He stayed overnight at the Club again.
When he woke up, Xiao Feng had gotten up even earlier than him. The man was already gone, and had even settled the bill.
Xiao Feng: "Head of State, the bill's settled, I had something come up so I left first."
Li Xihai: "Okay."
He walked to the lobby, put on his shoes, went to the front desk, and gave his phone number.
"Add two thousand. From now on when I come, just deduct from the account."
Li Xihai said.
"Okay, bro."
Li Xihai left the Club. The only thing that bugged him was that this Club didn't give any bonus for small recharges.
He got home a little after seven.
His dad glanced at him, and his mom nagged for a while again.
"Drink less."
"I know, Mom."
9:25.
The call auction ended, and it opened at limit-up.
Li Xihai just tossed his phone aside and went back to sleep.
Two days of drinking in a row, one day baijiu and one day beer, plus staying up late—he couldn't hold up either.
"Limit-up again?"
Li's Father saw Ji'an Medical's market performance and could hardly believe it.
What kind of investment eye did his son have?