The next few days of military training weren’t too difficult.
In fact, once everyone got used to it, it became much simpler.
It was mostly about marching in unison, goose-stepping, singing military songs, and learning about military history.
The seven days of training quickly came to an end.
On September 7th, the military training performance was scheduled.
The arrangement was simple: each class would demonstrate their synchronized marching and goose-stepping, along with basic commands like standing at ease and attention.
The school would rank the top three classes, and those classes would receive awards.
Lin Mo clearly remembered that in his previous life, his class didn’t win any awards.
The main reason was Xu Sheng’s awkward coordination.
At first, everyone was annoyed about it, but later, when they found out Xu Sheng actually had a medical condition, they all apologized to him.
Now that Xu Sheng wasn’t part of the mix this time, Lin Mo was curious if the outcome would be different.
Lin Mo himself didn’t participate in the performance.
A few others were also excluded to ensure the formation looked more orderly.
The performance was scheduled for the morning.
Lin Mo sat next to the head instructor, watching the formations march past one by one.
Even the school leadership had heard about this student who had earned an exemption from training by winning an arm-wrestling match against the instructor.
So, many of them stole a few extra glances at Lin Mo.
This made Lin Mo extremely uncomfortable. He would’ve much preferred to join his classmates in the performance.
At least then, he could just blend in once it was over.
Unfortunately, after the performance ended, Class 8 of Grade 10 still didn’t make it into the top three.
No awards, but also no punishments.
Since it was Friday, the end of the performance meant Grade 10 students were dismissed for the day.
Starting next week, their real high school life would begin.
After the performance, the students from each class gathered around their instructors.
Some took photos, while others playfully teased their instructors.
Seven days of military training had forged a certain bond between the students and their instructors.
The more they initially disliked their instructors, the more reluctant they were to part with them in the end.
Lin Mo was originally standing off to the side, watching the scene unfold, when he suddenly found himself surrounded by the instructors.
“Wait! Instructors! What are you doing?!”
Lin Mo looked around at the male instructors closing in on him.
Including the head instructor, there were nine male instructors in total.
The head instructor pointed at the surrounding students and said, “They said you’re too cocky, so they asked us to grab you and give you the ‘Aruba treatment.’”
Hearing this, Lin Mo immediately bolted.
He took off like a rocket.
Without hesitation, he sprinted toward Instructor Qian.
“Instructor, help me!”
But Instructor Qian had no intention of letting Lin Mo off the hook.
He spread his arms wide and lunged at Lin Mo.
Unfortunately for him, Lin Mo pivoted on his foot and sidestepped gracefully, easily evading Instructor Qian’s attempt to block him.
Then, Lin Mo dashed toward the school building.
A nearby PE teacher watched Lin Mo’s figure disappear into the distance.
“That kid’s got potential for track and field.”
……
After leaving the school, Lin Mo didn’t head toward the urban village.
“Lin Mo!” Xie Yuling called out, catching up to him.
“Hm?” Lin Mo turned around.
“My mom said to invite you over for dinner tonight,” Xie Yuling said. Earlier that morning, Zheng Yuan had specifically reminded her to do so.
But Lin Mo shook his head. “Please tell Aunt Zheng I’m sorry, but I need to head home tonight. I’ve been away for a week, and I need to go back and pay my respects.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Yuling pressed her lips together, unsure of what to say. Thinking about how Lin Mo also had his own troubles, a faint sense of pity rose in her heart for him.
"Hey, how about this? You tell Aunt Zheng that I'll come up for dinner on Sunday evening, okay?"
Seeing Lin Mo's suggestion, Xie Yuling nodded solemnly.
"Alright then, take care on your way home."
For some reason, Xie Yuling unintentionally added a touch of concern to her tone.
Lin Mo nodded, waved goodbye, and headed toward the subway station.
Meanwhile, Xie Yuling silently watched Lin Mo walk away.
But neither of them noticed that, from a distance, Jiang Yunlu was quietly watching Xie Yuling's back.
"Hey, Yunlu, what are you doing?!"
A girl who had changed back into casual clothes patted Jiang Yunlu on the shoulder.
This was Wang Qin, a classmate who sat on the other side of Jiang Yunlu’s seat.
She was also considered one of the beauties in the class.
Because she sat next to Jiang Yunlu, they naturally got along well.
Following Jiang Yunlu's gaze, Wang Qin happened to catch sight of Xie Yuling.
"Oh?! Are you looking at Xie Yuling?"
"Xie Yuling? You know her?" Jiang Yunlu cast one last glance at the girl whose beauty was no less than her own, then turned to her classmate.
"Of course, Xie Yuling. She used to be my class president. She was such a lively and cheerful girl back then, but after her father passed away, her personality became much colder."
Wang Qin spoke with a hint of regret in her expression.
Jiang Yunlu thought about the way Xie Yuling had just been chatting with Lin Mo—it seemed like the two of them were quite familiar with each other.
"So, is Lin Mo also from your old school?"
"Huh? Lin Mo? No, he's not. Before coming here, I'd never heard of him. Our middle school had eight classes, which was a lot of people, but I'm sure there was no one named Lin Mo."
As she spoke, Wang Qin seemed to realize something. "Are you saying Lin Mo knows Xie Yuling? That can't be right."
Wang Qin found it hard to believe, especially given Xie Yuling’s personality.
Back when they graduated, countless people had tried to ask for Xie Yuling’s contact information or even confess their feelings to her.
But she had rejected all of them.
She hadn’t even left a single message in anyone’s yearbook.
"Could it be that Lin Mo was the one who approached Xie Yuling first?!" Wang Qin felt like she understood Xie Yuling better—there was no way Xie Yuling would take the initiative to approach Lin Mo.
But Jiang Yunlu had seen it clearly: Xie Yuling was the one who had taken the initiative to approach Lin Mo.
As for what they had talked about, she couldn’t hear because she was too far away.
For a moment, Jiang Yunlu seemed a bit distracted.
...
Back home, Lin Mo offered incense to his parents, then sat down at his computer desk and began the process of purchasing Bitcoin.
The compensation money from his parents' accident amounted to over 800,000 yuan.
He could say that for the next decade or so, he wouldn’t have to worry about money for basic living expenses.
But he couldn’t afford to miss out on opportunities to earn more.
At this time, international websites were still accessible without the need for a VPN; the only drawback was slightly slower internet speed.
Lin Mo wasn’t an expert in these matters, but he had done some research. In just one evening, he spent 10,000 yuan on Bitcoin.
This cost him about 400,000 yuan.
Most of the Bitcoin he bought came from individual sellers.
Back in those days, most people who mined Bitcoin could easily dig up dozens, if not hundreds, of coins.
Some even had high-performance mining rigs that could yield even more.
By 2025, Bitcoin skyrocketed to a staggering price of one hundred thousand dollars.
However, by that time, it was already too late to jump on the bandwagon.
(Virtual currencies are highly risky—please avoid blindly following trends.)
After splitting his Bitcoin wallet and storing it separately on both a CD and a USB drive, Lin Mo simply had to wait.
Whenever he needed money, he could sell off a batch. After all, from this point onward, Bitcoin would only continue to rise in value—it wouldn’t depreciate.
Lin Mo still had hundreds of thousands of yuan at his disposal, and when the 2014 World Cup rolled around, he could bet on matches again.
Guaranteed to win, every single time.