Lucky Number

Old Li's mobile phone number ends in seven zeros. Not many people know about this. In the small city, he was just an ordinary worker, taking the bus, eating in the cafeteria, and watching TV at home in the evening. Until one day, a strange phone call broke his peaceful life.

"Hello, Mr. Li, our company is very interested in acquiring your mobile phone number ending in 0000000." The person on the other end of the line had a sweet voice, like a supermarket promotion.

Old Li was stunned, thinking it was a scam. Just as he was about to hang up, the person said, "We are willing to pay 700,000."

Seven hundred thousand! Old Li's hand trembled, and the phone almost fell into the toilet. He had never seen so much money in his life. He asked, "Really?"

"Of course, it's true. As long as you're willing to sell, we can arrange the transaction immediately."

Old Li's mind was buzzing. With seven hundred thousand, he could buy a small apartment for his son in the city and also get treatment for his wife's illness. Without thinking, he agreed.

In the following days, Old Li felt like he was sleepwalking. He signed a pile of contracts, watched as seven hundred thousand entered his account, and then, under the other party's "persuasion," changed to a new number. The new number's last digits were random, unremarkable, just like himself.

Old Li originally thought that life would get better, or at least easier, but things were not that simple. He found that since he sold that mobile phone number ending in seven zeros, the attitudes of the people around him had changed.

Colleagues no longer called him Old Li, but respectfully addressed him as "Mr. Li." They would actively pick food for him during lunch, and even his boss, who used to boss him around, began to call him brother. Wherever he went, people would nod and bow to him, their eyes filled with awe and flattery.

Old Li felt very awkward. He was still the same Old Li, nothing had changed. The only difference was that there was an extra seven hundred thousand in his bank account. He wanted to have a cigarette and chat with his old colleagues, but everyone seemed distant. They always spoke cautiously, occasionally stealing glances at him.

Even more strangely, Old Li found himself becoming a kind of "lucky charm." Wherever he went, seemingly unrelated good things would happen. He casually bought a lottery ticket and won a small prize; he went to the supermarket to buy groceries and even won a year's supply of free laundry detergent; even the stray cats in the neighborhood would actively rub against his legs.

At first, Old Li found it quite interesting, but after a while, he began to feel a sense of unease. These "good lucks" were too frequent and too deliberate. He felt like a carefully raised pet, and the people around him were like a swarm of flies waiting to share the spoils.

Until one day, he found his photo plastered all over the streets and alleys, with the words: "The lucky gentleman who possesses the seven-zero number." He finally understood that what he had sold was not a number, but a symbol, a symbol that society had given unlimited value. And he was completely kidnapped by this symbol.

He felt like he was trapped in a transparent cage. Everyone looked up to him, but he felt incredibly lonely and empty. He wanted to escape all this, but found that he had nowhere to retreat. The seven hundred thousand was like a huge shackle, firmly trapping him in this absurd game.

One night, Old Li sat on his balcony, lit a cigarette. He looked at the new phone in his hand, that plain, unremarkable number, and felt like he was looking at another version of himself. He took out the contract for selling his mobile phone number, carefully flipping through it. Suddenly, he discovered a line of additional terms printed in small print on the last page: "The first party voluntarily gives up all ownership and related derivative values of the number, and any social impact caused by this number is not related to the first party."

Old Li suddenly understood that he had been tricked. What he had sold was not a number at all, but a "prop" in a carefully designed social experiment. The "luck" and "awe" were all part of this experiment, and he was just a joke amplified by society.

Old Li smiled bitterly and threw his new phone out of the window, letting it smash into pieces on the hard concrete ground. He looked up at the stars and suddenly realized that the price of those seven hundred thousand was just too damn expensive.

The next day, Old Li took the bus as usual, ate in the cafeteria, and watched TV at home in the evening. His colleagues looked at him with the same normal eyes, and his boss started bossing him around again. He was still just an ordinary worker, as if nothing had ever happened. Only he knew that some things were gone forever.