Chapter 7 Twentyfold

• He had spent one hundred grand in the blink of an eye.
• Two hundred and fifty thousand for rental, one fifty for a Hacyon charger, ninety thousand and seven hundred for concert tickets. He then proceeded to top up one fifty to his phone.
• Now, he only had two hundred left.
• Maverick could only suppress the thought of visiting Sasha now.
• Thinking of the little girl, Maverick felt a pang of guilt again.
• There was a saying, “Boys should be raised in frugality, while girls in wealth.”
• However, this wasn't the case for Sasha.
• When Sasha was born, Maverick was in the midst of his business failure and indulged in self-destruction.
• It could be said that Sasha grew up well thanks to Josephine.
• If she had been with Maverick, she would have either starved to death or been beaten to death long ago.
• She was just so small. How could I have ever brought myself to hit her? You're a b*stard, Maverick. You're worse than an animal.
• Under the dim light, Maverick lay on the bed, reflecting on everything that had happened in the past few years.
• His eyes, red-rimmed from emotion, gradually closed. Maverick himself didn't know when he drifted off to sleep.
• Maverick was awakened by the urgent ringing of the phone.
• Maverick checked the time. It was almost eleven o'clock.
• “Mr. Lemmon, did you call me at this hour to treat me to a meal?” Maverick asked with a chuckle.
• “Dad! You're my dad!”
• Howard sounded really excited. “I can treat you to anything!”
• “Ha! Mr. Lemmon, how did a composed person like you change overnight?” Maverick could guess the reason.
• “Stop calling me 'Mr. Lemmon'. Didn't I tell you to call me by my name?” Howard feigned a serious tone.
• Then, with regret and remorse, he continued, “Mave, I messed up big time. Did you see the news? Joshua's news is all over the Internet. I should have listened to you yesterday. I'm kicking myself now!”
• Maverick smiled. Without ending the call, he went to check Twitter.
• As expected, the future he predicted came true.
• Joshua came forward to clarify everything, so eight of the ten trending topics were about him.
• The difference was that today, they were all positive news.
• Joshua clarified that the girl he was photographed sleeping with was his younger sister.
• He didn't want to expose his family's identity to avoid trouble, but now he had no choice.
• Apparently, Joshua was filming a commercial when his parents brought his younger sister along to visit him on set. She fell asleep in the hotel due to exhaustion from the long journey and ended up sleeping next to Joshua.
• At the end, several other photos were attached, showing Joshua's doting on his sister. How could anyone still have indecent thoughts after seeing that?
• As for the smoking incident, it turned out to be a highly realistic electronic cigarette.
• As a singer, smoking would definitely have a negative impact, let alone smoking in public.
• However, since he was smoking an e-cigarette, people couldn't criticize him anymore.
• Even the e-cigarette brand gained popularity due to this round of public discussion.
• Overnight, all the negative news about Joshua disappeared.
• Compared to before, his image now seemed even more elevated.
• “Joshua's PR team is really something,” Maverick commented before turning to the trending topic that interested him the most.
• Joshua's first solo concert will proceed as scheduled. Below this trending topic, netizens were expressing their regret.
• Most of them were saying things like “I should have bought tickets yesterday.”
• Some were apologizing to Joshua.
• At this point, there was no need to look at other news.
• Maverick closed Twitter and chuckled. “It seems like Joshua's concert tickets are going to sell like hotcakes this time, huh?”
• Howard clearly sensed the sarcasm in Maverick's tone, but besides laughing bitterly and feeling regret, he had no other thoughts.
• “Mave, I sent you a photo, take a look,” Howard said bitterly.
• Maverick opened his WhatsApp, only to find that Howard had sent him a photo of the ticket booth at the stadium.
• It was packed with people and far more crowded than the long queue yesterday!
• “Have the ticket prices gone back up now?” Maverick asked.
• “Yes, but the organizers didn't take advantage of the situation. The prices are the same as before. They just reverted to the original price.”
• Howard really wanted to slap himself.
• No wonder Maverick said “what a pity” back then.
• He had brought two million with him yesterday. According to the ticket prices at that time, if he had invested it all, he could have made at least ten times that amount!
• But Howard didn't have that courage!
• Alas, it was too late now.
• Maverick naturally knew that Howard still didn't believe him at the time, but there was no need to expose it now.
• “Since you've bought so many tickets, there's no need to regret it. With those five thousand tickets in your hand, you can still make a big profit,” Maverick comforted.
• “Mave, there's something I'm curious about. If you knew things would turn out this way, why didn't you buy more yesterday? I could've even lent you the money,” Howard said.
• “Borrowing money means owing you a favor, right?” Maverick replied with a chuckle.
• “A favor? How much is a favor worth?” Howard was speechless.
• But Maverick shook his head.
• The higher one climbed, the more one understood that favors were the hardest to repay!
• “Tonight at seven, gather a few people. We're heading to the stadium to sell tickets.”
• After Maverick gave instructions to Howard, the call ended.
• In the afternoon, Maverick had devised a series of plans for himself.
• When the clock struck six, Maverick left his house and hailed a cab to head to the stadium.
• Howard had been waiting here for a long time. He brought seven people with him. Upon seeing Maverick appear, he hurriedly rushed over.
• “Mave, what's the appropriate price per ticket?” Howard asked in a low voice.
• Seeing him in this state, Maverick couldn't help but chuckle. “We're selling tickets legally. Why are you acting so suspicious?”
• “Ahem, I'm just excited... Besides, it's not appropriate to be a scalper in front of the ticket office,” Howard said awkwardly.
• “Let's make it two thousand per ticket. Any less wouldn't be worth it and any more would be inappropriate, it might invite criticism,” Maverick suggested.
• “Two thousand?” Howard's eyes widened in surprise.
• “What's the matter? Is that too little?”
• “No no no, it's fine. Great!” Howard's eyes lit up.
• He bought the tickets for a hundred each, and now they were sold for two thousand each. There was a direct twenty-fold difference. Naturally, he was fine with it.
• He had five thousand tickets in his hand; selling them all would make him ten million!
• After more than forty years of life, Howard had never earned such a substantial amount. How could he not be thrilled?
• In the midst of his excitement, Howard also marveled at the money-making abilities of these celebrities.
• Just then, there was suddenly a commotion coming from the ticket booth.
• All the offline tickets had been sold out!
• “Let's start.”
• Maverick signaled to Howard with a glance. Amidst the skeptical gazes of the crowd, he shouted loudly, “Tickets to the top-tier singer's concert. First come, first serve!”