After finally coaxing Li Sitong to drink some water, Ye Chen said, "Give me your hand."
Li Sitong blinked. "What are you going to do?"
"Your fever's so high; I'll massage the pressure points on your hand to bring it down."
"You know Traditional Chinese Medicine?" Li Sitong stared in surprise.
Ye Chen smiled. "A bit—just a little."
Half doubting, Li Sitong extended her hand.
For some reason she suspected Ye Chen might just be taking advantage of her.
Ye Chen took her hand and gently kneaded the Qu-chi and He-gu acupoints.
A cool sensation spread across Li Sitong's palm.
Immediately she felt much better.
"That's amazing," Li Sitong exclaimed, eyes wide.
"Silly girl, with a fever like this you should've gone to the Hospital. If I hadn't come you could've ended up with pneumonia."
"Really that serious?" Li Sitong stuck out her tongue.
Half an hour later Ye Chen felt her forehead—the fever was gone.
At that moment Li Sitong's stomach rumbled loudly.
Ye Chen rolled his eyes. "You haven't had dinner, have you?"
Li Sitong nodded sheepishly.
Ye Chen pulled today's test paper from his bag. "Look this over while I cook some porridge."
"Okay—but you can cook?"
"Nothing fancy; congee I can manage."
Li Sitong studied the paper Ye Chen had brought back.
Every question carried his detailed notes.
Li Sitong was deeply touched.
During the fever she'd felt miserable and lonely.
The person she'd thought of most was Ye Chen.
Now he was really here; she was overwhelmed with gratitude.
Soon Ye Chen carried in a steaming bowl of rice porridge.
"You're still sick; keep it light for now."
Li Sitong nodded and tried to sit up.
"Stay put. I'll feed you."
"Ah?" Li Sitong froze.
"No arguments—you're the patient. Behave."
Ye Chen sat on the bedside, scooped a spoonful, and blew on it.
Watching his gentle care, Li Sitong's cheeks flushed crimson.
How could Ye Chen be this outstanding?
Handsome, top grades, and so considerate.
Ye Chen lifted the spoon toward her.
"Open wide."
Li Sitong took a bite.
Soft and fragrant.
She felt it might be the best food she'd ever tasted.
Ye Chen remembered the bitcoin plan.
"Si Tong, I'm going to invest in bitcoin. Interested?"
"bitcoin? What's that?"
"A kind of virtual currency—price goes up and down. I reckon in the next half-month it'll jump tenfold, so I'm buying in."
"Sure, transfer all the money from my card to you."
Aren't you afraid I'll lose it all?"
Li Sitong laughed. "So what if you do? I believe in you."
A warm feeling rose in Ye Chen's chest.
"Don't worry, we won't lose."
Li Sitong suddenly recalled: "You just said it could rise ten times?"
Ye Chen nodded. "Exactly."
"Then if I put in two million, in half a month it'll be twenty million?"
Ye Chen grinned. "Correct."
Li Sitong was stunned.
Ye Chen's money-making skill might even surpass her dad's.
Chatting while Ye Chen kept feeding her.
Neither noticed Li Li standing in the doorway.
He saw Ye Chen lifting a spoon toward Li Sitong's mouth.
Li Li coughed awkwardly.
Ye Chen turned, sprang up at once. "Uncle."
Li Li looked at his daughter lying in bed.
"Child, why didn't you tell me you had a fever? If your teacher hadn't called I'd never have known."
"I didn't want to disturb your work."
"Work isn't more important than you."
Li Sitong glanced at Ye Chen. "Dad, don't get the wrong idea. Ye Chen came to visit, saw I had a fever, brought it down and cooked for me."
Li Li read the worry in his daughter's eyes—she feared he'd blame Ye Chen.
"Xiao Ye, thank you for looking after Si Tong for me."
Ye Chen smiled. "We're classmates; it's nothing."
He took out pen and paper and wrote a prescription: "Uncle, here's a herbal formula for Si Tong. Follow this and she should be fine by tomorrow."
Li Li scanned the prescription and nodded.
"Thanks—really appreciate your help today."
Ye Chen turned to Li Sitong. "Your dad's back; I'll head off then."
Li Sitong nodded reluctantly.
Li Li suddenly felt his rushed return might have been unnecessary.
Holding the prescription, he dialed: "Xiao Wang, take this formula to the herbal shop and get it filled exactly."
If an ordinary High School student had written it he'd never risk it—but Ye Chen was different; Li Li had witnessed his medical skill at the Hospital.
Back home Ye Chen saw Li Sitong had already wired the money.
Two million from her, plus his one million and Xia Yingluo's ten thousand—three million and one hundred thousand in total.
He downloaded an app dedicated to bitcoin trading.
After a few clicks he registered his account.
Logging in he saw today's price: 116 M-dollars.
At current exchange, that equaled 812 chinese yuan.
With 3.01 million chinese yuan and a 1-to-7 rate, he had 430 thousand M-dollars.
Quick calculation: he could buy over 3,700 bitcoins.
Ye Chen rapidly clicked the order form.
Then pressed Buy.
He submitted the order and paid.
Soon the system confirmed: Purchase successful.
Ye Chen had bought 3,718 bitcoins.
His account balance dropped to zero again.
To most people, blowing three million on bitcoin was sheer waste.
But Ye Chen knew this was bitcoin's most profitable window.
With the system's guidance plus memories of rebirth, failure was impossible.
bitcoin was a game of whales fleecing the crowd; Ye Chen planned to cash out before the whales struck.
Transaction done, Ye Chen exhaled in relief.
Once again he'd emptied all three of their piggy banks.
In the coming days bitcoin's price would shoot upward—some small dips, but ultimately peaking above a thousand M-dollars.
Ye Chen sent Li Sitong a WeChat with the bitcoin app's login and password.
Now it was time to wait for the harvest.
Thinking of soon becoming a multi-millionaire, Ye Chen could hardly contain his excitement!