Chapter 3: Lottery Draw

With a bewildered look on his face, Ye Dali pushed Ye Qinghe back home, carried him to bed, folded up the wheelchair, and stood at the sink washing dishes while muttering to himself.

What on earth was wrong with this kid today? He was acting so strangely.

Could it be...?!

Ye Dali thought of a possibility — one that wiped every trace of a smile from his face.

Parents of children with serious illnesses like theirs had a group chat where they shared medical resources and updates from time to time. A few days ago, a particularly warm-hearted woman had quietly left the group. He had privately asked around afterward.

Her child, unable to bear years of constant pain, had struggled out of bed in the middle of the night, tidied the room, dressed himself, and gone out to drown in a river.

Could Ye Qinghe also be having dark thoughts? Was that why he was acting so out of character?

Ye Qinghe, however, had no idea what Ye Dali was thinking. All he wanted was to check, as soon as possible, what this Lottery Draw system would actually give him.

There, in his field of vision, a spinning prize wheel appeared before him.

The wheel was enormous — if he had to describe its size, it was at least as big as an eighty-inch television.

At the center of the wheel was a draw button, and surrounding it were all manner of prize segments.

Photographic Memory! One Bitcoin! English Mastery! Computer Hacking Mastery! Basic Financial Knowledge! Basic Computer Hacking Knowledge! Body Function Restored 1%! Right Index Finger Function Restored...

Of all the options, the one that excited Ye Qinghe most was "Body Function Restored 1%."

He didn't know exactly what that 1% would mean in practice, but the fact that recovery was possible meant that someday, he might truly be able to stand on his own two feet.

"Phew..."

Ye Qinghe let out a long, deep breath and silently paid his respects to every divine being he could think of — the Western Buddha, the Three Pure Ones of the East, and even the foreign Christ Jesus. He prayed to them all with sincere devotion.

He wasn't asking for any of the skill prizes. He only hoped for physical recovery — even the lowest option, Right Index Finger Function Restored, would do.

Then, with a focused thought, he pressed the draw button at the center of the wheel.

The pointer began to spin clockwise, gradually picking up speed, then slowly decelerating — inching closer and closer to "Body Function Restored 1%." Ye Qinghe's heart leapt into his throat. He chanted frantically in his mind: Stop, stop, stop!

But unfortunately, the pointer paid no heed to his silent pleas. It slid past that segment and came to rest on Photographic Memory.

Then he saw a beam of light shoot from the words "Photographic Memory" straight into the center of his brow.

In an instant, countless memories became crystal clear in his mind.

Books he had read at school, knowledge he had studied — it all came rushing back. Even the web novels he had read in his previous life, along with university knowledge, financial knowledge — all of it sharpened in his mind, ready to surface the moment he thought of it.

"What good is this to me?! It's not like this body of mine needs to sit college entrance exams or study for a postgraduate entrance examination!"

Ye Qinghe was furious. If the pointer had slowed down just a fraction more, it would have landed on "Body Function Restored 1%." It had been so close — just that tiny bit!

Just that tiny bit, and part of his body could have started moving again!

But after venting his frustration, Ye Qinghe quickly cheered up again. The fact that the wheel had options like "Body Function Restored 1%" and "Right Index Finger Function Restored" meant that someday, full recovery was possible — as long as he kept up his daily five kilometres.

One try wasn't enough? Then two. Two wasn't enough? Then three. Sooner or later, he would land on a recovery option!

Just past five in the morning, Ye Dali quietly got out of bed. Without washing up first, he helped Ye Qinghe change his diaper, cleaned him up, and then slipped out of the room without a sound once everything was done.

Ye Qinghe never woke this early, and Ye Dali used this window of time to go help out at someone else's breakfast stall.

It was a breakfast stall run by a fellow from Shanxi Province. Once the owner learned about Ye Dali's situation, he was willing to let him come in early each morning to lend a hand, paying him fifty yuan per hour.

Normally, he would work from six until nine — three hours in total.

Ye Qinghe knew nothing of any of this, because he had absolutely no sensation in his body whatsoever.

By the time Ye Qinghe woke up, it was already around nine o'clock.

He turned his head to look around the room. The curtains were still drawn — he knew Ye Dali had gone out and hadn't returned yet.

"Xiao Ai, open the curtains!"

The family was very poor, but Ye Dali was truly resourceful.

To make life easier for Ye Qinghe, he had manually modified many things around the house. The curtains could be controlled by voice — all it took was a small controller ordered from an Online Store.

The weather was lovely, sunny and breezy. Ye Qinghe felt it was just like his future — full of light.

"Xiao Ai, turn on the projector!"

"Hey Youyou, open Weibo!"

The projector was connected to a computer — an old second-hand Honor laptop that Ye Dali had bought for him. It was kept on all the time so Ye Qinghe could open it by voice whenever he wanted to watch something; when he was done, he simply turned off the projector.

In a way, Ye Qinghe had been born at a fortunate time. Paralyzed as he was, at least the era he lived in offered so many things that could be controlled by voice.

If this had been ten years earlier, he would have been stuck staring at the ceiling all day.

The world doesn't change for any one person. On Weibo, celebrities were still embroiled in their usual scandals, and the Middle East was still engulfed in conflict.

That wasn't why Ye Qinghe was looking, though. He wanted to see whether this world was any different from the one he had come from.

The major events were largely the same, but many details had changed. There were actors and celebrities he had never heard of, while some of the stars, films, and songs he knew well had never appeared in this world.

It was then that he suddenly realized the true value of Photographic Memory.

All the films, shows, and songs he had seen and heard in his previous life were now perfectly vivid in his mind thanks to this ability. He could bring those works into this world.

It wasn't easy for Ye Dali to look after him. Because of his condition, Ye Dali couldn't take jobs too far away — he was limited to delivery work and occasional odd jobs. Of the money he earned, a full ninety percent went to medical and rehabilitation costs, leaving only a small amount for the two of them to live on day to day.

If Ye Qinghe could use these abilities to earn money online, their lives could improve considerably.

At the very least, Ye Dali wouldn't have to work himself so hard!