The 340,000-Yuan Comeback
Wang Dong, a playboy from a county town, sees his life collapse at twenty-six: his online loans are overdue, a video of his three girlfriends fighting in the street spreads across the whole county, and his father slaps him out of the house. He has just five yuan left in his pocket.
He spends his last five yuan on a lottery ticket. He wins.
340,000 yuan after taxes. Not much, just enough to clear all his debts; but not too little, enough to let the county's laughingstock start over.
Only after paying off his debts does he realize that the real challenges have just begun: a renovation company sees him as easy prey, his old buddies want to get him to “take on the world again,” and his ex-girlfriends keep coming back to “catch up.” All he wants is to use that 340,000 yuan to awkwardly make a decent life for himself in a small county where everyone knows everyone.
From transparent renovations to camping by the river, from a near-bankrupt murder mystery game venue to investing in a neighborhood supermarket, Wang Dong tries one ridiculous thing after another and finally understands: becoming a normal person with both feet on the ground is harder than getting rich overnight.
And the librarian who once turned him down? That's another story, one that begins after he claims his lottery winnings.
In a nutshell: A down-and-out playboy wins 340,000 yuan and thinks he'll get back on his feet and return to his carefree ways. Then he discovers that a real comeback begins with learning to stop being carefree.
