Now that I've been reborn, I have to play tennis!

Chapter 56 A Small Fortune Leads to the Final Four
The next morning, Meng Hao slowly woke up in the hotel bed.

Because he has a game today, he won't get up at 2 a.m. to watch it and affect his performance; after all, his career comes first.

Although I did create a little bit of a butterfly effect, it shouldn't affect the score of this game, right?

"If the score really changes, then consider it as the 1 yuan going down the drain!" he thought with a somewhat magnanimous attitude.

With a somewhat uneasy feeling, Meng Hao opened Weibo on his phone, and then he let out a long sigh of relief.

Thankfully, thankfully, nothing has changed.

Germany beat Brazil 7-1. Whether on Weibo, various portal websites, or other chat groups, everyone is discussing this news enthusiastically.

Even in Meng Hao's class QQ group, several girls who didn't usually follow football unanimously denounced the match, saying, "It's a fixed match! It's a fixed match! Jack Ma, give us our money back!"

Because they also placed bets on Taobao, and instead of spending the money they originally planned to use for online shopping, they invested it in the Brazilian team.

"No... Mr. Ma, it's one thing for Taobao to use all sorts of tricks to get us to spend money, but now they're even using football betting to lure us into spending money. How can you be so heartless!" the students complained.

Actually, everyone's complaints are not wrong. If there were only physical stores, many people might be too lazy to buy, but buying on Taobao is so convenient that many people can't resist buying.

After all, betting on matches during the World Cup has become a trend.

"Dear students, cherish life and stay away from gambling, remember this!" Meng Hao earnestly posted this eight-character proverb in the class QQ group.

Was he gambling? No, he was cheating, of course it's different!

"Meng Hao is absolutely right!" Vice class monitor Liu Lieyu said earnestly, "This World Cup gambled away all my summer allowance. I must learn from this and stay away from gambling!"

Shen Rongyu suddenly spoke up: "My brother really is a jinx! He's already lost tens of thousands on Taobao during this World Cup! He even tried to get me to buy with him, but ignoring him was definitely the right thing to do! I don't touch this stuff!"

Upon seeing this, Meng Hao's lips trembled slightly: "Brother Dong, why are you using the Ghost Lantern again!"

Vice class monitor Liu Lieyu: "Rongyu, will your brother still bet on football in the future? I want to bet against him..."

Shen Rongyu looked puzzled: "I've seen boomerangs before, but I've never seen one this fast."

Meng Hao's deskmate, Yan Cong, also chimed in: "Vice class monitor, you'd be perfect to be a supporting male character in my future novel!"

"..."

Everyone was chatting enthusiastically, but Meng Hao closed the class QQ group and stopped paying attention.

He opened his Alipay account, and a look of joy immediately appeared on his face; the bonus had arrived in his account.

According to regulations, no tax is required for a single bet prize less than 1 yuan. Meng Hao's single bet prize was 2 * 150 = 300 yuan, totaling 150 million yuan, all of which were tax-free.

As expected of Jack Ma's Taobao, it's a huge and successful business. The daily turnover of "World Cup betting" is in the tens of billions, so the payout of a mere 150 million yuan prize is very fast.

No wonder netizens nowadays love to buy things on Taobao, almost driving offline brick-and-mortar stores to the brink of collapse, forcing the government to intervene.

Meng Hao deposited the money directly into Yu'ebao (Alipay's money market fund) and then put away his phone.

Then a strange thought popped into his head.

Thankfully it's a football match, the score won't change!

If it were a different type of lottery, even if I were reborn and knew the original winning numbers, the numbers would probably be different when the actual draw took place, right?
……

In the quarterfinals, Meng Hao's opponent was an American black man named James.

This person is tall and strong, and his serve is really powerful, but his technique is really rough.

Meng Hao quickly devised a targeted tactic based on the player's technical characteristics.

If this black guy is in good form serving, hitting balls at speeds of over 210 kilometers per hour like they're free, then he should take it easy and not expend too much energy.

Remember this: in men's professional tennis, you can win with your serve, but you can't win solely with your serve. Even the best servers on the tour experience periods when their serve dips.

So a strange scene unfolded on the court, with both players holding their serve with lightning speed and extremely high efficiency.

This resulted in the set lasting just over 30 minutes when the score reached 5-5.

Normally, a score of 5-5 would take more than an hour to complete.

Some caddies and line judges are also amateur golfers themselves.

They looked at the American player, James, with expressions of shock.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have imagined that a player's serve could be this terrifying!"

"If I were to play like that, I'd be killed by those cannon serves! It's killer tennis!"

Meng Hao was very patient and remained calm.

He believes that even if serving is as simple as eating and drinking for this black man, there will always be times when his serving performance declines.

In the twelfth game, Meng Hao finally seized his opportunity.

James committed two double faults in this game.

Don't miss out!

Meng Hao seized the opportunity, dragging his opponent into a long rally, and then, at the right moment, hit a beautiful winner, breaking serve completely!

7 is better than 5!

He won the first set.

Although the score looked tough, both sides played decisively and efficiently, without expending too much energy.

In the second set, James' serve was not as consistent as in the first set.

Meng Hao seized the opportunity decisively, suddenly increasing his power and breaking serve in the third game, maintaining this advantage until the end of the set.

6 is better than 4!

This is the score of the second set.

Meng Hao was the first player to secure a spot in the semifinals.

At this moment, the opposing player angrily slammed his racket to the ground.

There was a "pop" sound!
That black guy was really strong; with just one hit, the seemingly sturdy tennis racket was completely deformed.

Meng Hao suddenly remembered the scene of Mei smashing the racket. It seemed like the guy was being coquettish, and he had to smash it several times in a row before the racket was deformed.

That's far from enough!

After this match, Meng Hao's next opponent will be the winner between Zhang Ze and a Spanish player.

Zhang Ze is the No. 2 seed, and his hard-court strength should be stronger than his opponent's. Moreover, he is playing at home, so winning shouldn't be a problem.

Meng Hao didn't watch the game and returned to the hotel.

However, when he went downstairs for dinner in the evening, he learned that the two guys had been fighting for more than three hours, almost tearing each other apart!
Although Meng Hao was not present at the scene, he knew how tragic it was.

And... the Chinese derby will take place in the semi-finals.

……

(End of this chapter)