Under the Washington night sky,the city sparkled with brilliant lights,filled with the sounds of singing and laughter.
However,in the employee area of Honeycomb Media,located in the 97 Internet Building,a solitary figure sat hunched over his desk,working late.He was the only one in the entire office.
He was an unremarkable-looking young man,staring intently at the computer screen.Though exhaustion etched lines on his face,his eyes burned with an unusual brightness.Papers and discarded food bags lay scattered haphazardly across his desk.
After what felt like an eternity,the young man blinked his dry eyes,licked his lips,and reached out to rummage through the mess on his desk.
He found nothing.
With a bitter smile,he crumpled a paper bag into a ball and tossed it aside.
“Clap,clap,clap.”The sound of knuckles rapping against the glass door echoed through the room.A balding head poked out from the manager's office.
“Andrew,are you done yet?It’s been days.I need it today!”the bald man shouted,his voice harsh and impatient.
Andrew Smith's face darkened slightly,but he kept his tone steady.“Boss,it’ll be done soon.I’ll send it to you right away.”
Jayden.Andrew thought of the bald man’s name,and his eyes clouded over.
This guy had recklessly changed the plan,infuriating the client and the boss alike.And in the end,he’d shifted the blame onto Andrew,using Andrew’s original idea to appease the client.He was nothing but a complete jerk!
After that,Jayden had suggested working overtime—and of course,it was Andrew who ended up doing all the work.As soon as the boss left,Jayden had promptly settled into a sound sleep in the office.
“Check it carefully before you give it to me.Don’t make any more mistakes!”Seeing Andrew’s indifference,Jayden snorted and withdrew back into his office.
Andrew clenched his fists,the sound of cracking knuckles echoing in the silent room.
At that moment,he really wanted to punch something.
But!
Andrew’s hands gradually relaxed.
He needed this job to survive,to pay the rent,the utilities,and all the other daily expenses that weighed on him like a mountain.He couldn’t afford to eat well or dress nicely,and he’d lost all his enthusiasm.
He needed this job and its meager salary to get by.
So he had to endure it!
“Only those who can endure can be real men.A gentleman can take revenge even after ten years,”Andrew muttered to himself.
“Buzz,buzz...”
The mobile phone on the table vibrated suddenly.When he picked it up,he saw it was a call from his girlfriend,Alice.
“Andrew,let’s break up!”Before Andrew could even speak,Alice’s voice came through the line,cold and resolute.
“Alice,what’s wrong?If something’s bothering you,just tell me.Don’t joke about this!”Andrew said,forcing a smile into his voice.
“Andrew,I’m not joking.I’m serious.We’re just not a good match.We come from different worlds,and we can’t be together,”Alice repeated,her tone firm.
“Why?We’ve been together for two years.I was planning to buy a house this year.Why are you suddenly breaking up with me?You should at least give me a reason!”Andrew’s voice rose in desperation as he realized she wasn’t joking.
“You can’t give me the life I want.Even if you buy a house this year,you still need to pay the down payment.You can’t afford the full amount.If I marry you in the future,I’ll still be saddled with a huge debt,and the house won’t be very big either.To put it bluntly,Andrew,you’re too poor.You can’t give me the life I want.That’s it.Don’t ever contact me again.”With that,Alice hung up,leaving Andrew no chance to respond.
As the line went dead,Andrew faintly heard a man’s voice in the background.
At that moment,Andrew couldn’t decide whether to resent Alice for being so brutally realistic.She was right.Even the house he planned to buy was less than 600 square feet,and he still needed to scrape together the down payment.He simply didn’t have the means to buy it outright.
He was really poor,desperately poor.Otherwise,he wouldn’t be swallowing so much anger just to keep a job.
Andrew dejectedly placed his phone back on the table and stared blankly at the computer screen,unsure how to convey the turmoil raging inside him.
“Buzz,buzz...”
The phone rang again,this time displaying an unfamiliar number.
Without hesitation,Andrew hung up,but the number called back less than three seconds later.
Already seething with frustration,he answered this time and immediately launched into a tirade.“You salespeople,don’t you ever sleep?Can’t you let others rest?Aren’t you afraid of getting hit by a car when you’re out there?”
“Hehe...Are you that angry from working overtime at night?Young man,have some water to cool down,”came the unexpected response from the other end.Instead of getting angry,the voice,belonging to an old man,even suggested he drink tea to soothe his anger.
“Who are you?Why are you calling me?”Andrew demanded,taken aback by the old man’s voice.
“My name is Kerwin.Strictly speaking,I’m your great-uncle.I’m calling you...”
“Are you crazy?You don’t sleep at night and pretend to be my great-uncle?My grandfather has been dead for years!”Without waiting for the other person to finish,Andrew hung up and promptly added the number to his blacklist.
These days,marketing calls were everywhere.If you didn’t receive a few such calls,you’d almost feel out of place.
After the call from the scammer,Andrew took a deep breath.Since he couldn’t change his fate,he might as well accept it.
Then he began to focus on organizing the data files Jayden wanted,hoping to finish quickly so he could go home and rest.
Half an hour later,Andrew sent the organized files to Jayden.Five minutes later,he saw Jayden,briefcase in hand,walking out of the office.As he passed Andrew,Jayden tossed over his shoulder,“Remember to close the door and turn off the power later.I’m heading out.I’m really exhausted from all this overtime.”
Andrew nodded silently,acknowledging his understanding.
It took him another fifteen minutes to tidy up his desk and gather his things.After closing the door behind him,he made his way to the elevator and descended to the ground floor.
As soon as he stepped out of the building,he noticed a sleek Mercedes-Benz parked at the entrance.He glanced at it briefly before turning toward his bicycle.
However,at that moment,the door of the Mercedes-Benz swung open,and a middle-aged man in a tailored suit stepped out.He strode quickly toward Andrew and called out,"Excuse me,are you Mr.Andrew?"
Andrew stopped in his tracks,turning to face the man."Are you talking to me?"he asked,his confusion evident.
"That's right,Mr.Andrew,"the man replied,his tone polite."Our master would like to invite you to have a meal.Would you be so kind as to accept his invitation?"
Andrew thought carefully.He was certain he didn't know any wealthy individuals,and there was no reason for someone to invite him to a meal in a luxury car."I'm sorry,but I don't know your master,and it's getting late.I need to go home and rest,"he said with a polite smile,turning to leave.
However,the middle-aged man's next words made Andrew freeze."Mr.Andrew,your grandfather,Mr.Rahul Smith,had a younger brother who disappeared when they were young.Our master is your great-uncle,Kerwin Smith.He just called you,but you hung up on him.I'm here to extend his invitation.If you don't believe me,I can transfer one million dollars to your account right now to prove it."With that,the man pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
Three minutes later,Andrew's phone vibrated.He glanced at the screen and saw a bank notification:"Your savings account ending in 6723 has received a deposit of1,000,000.00.Your current balance is1,002,927.09.[Wells Fargo Bank]."
The transfer confirmed the man's words."Mr.Andrew,now you can see we're not joking,right?"the middle-aged man said with a smile,noticing Andrew's stunned expression."If you have no further questions,please come with us to meet your great-uncle."
What else could Andrew say?He nodded and got into the Mercedes-Benz,and they sped off.
An hour later,they arrived at the capital city of the neighboring province.After pulling up to a grand villa,the middle-aged man led Andrew inside.
Inside,they found an elderly man in his seventies,half-asleep on the sofa with his eyes barely open.The sound of their arrival roused him,and he looked at Andrew,his face breaking into a joyful smile."Haha,my dear grandson is here!Come over and let me get a good look at you!"
Suddenly,the old man reached out and said,"Grandson,I'm your great-uncle.Come over and call me Grandpa."
If it weren't for that million-dollar deposit,Andrew would have laughed in his face and called him a"crazy old man."But now,he couldn't dismiss the possibility that this old man was truly his great-uncle.
"Um...Could you explain what's going on?I'm a bit confused,"Andrew said,eyeing the old man warily.
"Haha,of course.Let me tell you the whole story..."The old man began to recount the entire tale,and Andrew gradually understood that this man was indeed his great-uncle.The old man had even secretly conducted a DNA test to be absolutely certain,and the certificate clearly confirmed their relationship.
Most importantly,Andrew learned that his great-uncle Kerwin had no children of his own due to infertility.Now he was eager to find Andrew to inherit his family fortune,which was no small sum—three trillion dollars!
The condition for Andrew to inherit the fortune was simple:he needed to serve as the chairman of the Washington branch company and make it profitable by one billion dollars within two years.In his great-uncle's words,"I'll give you a modest goal.Earn me one billion dollars and show me what you're made of!"
