NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Lip let out a long breath because Karen's hands were being mischievous!
While one hand was counteracting the force beneath him, the other was busy sorting out his thoughts.
After a moment of contemplation, Lip said calmly, "Mr. Eddie, I need to ask a small favor."
"Lip, you've helped our family so much—just ask me for anything!" Eddie responded enthusiastically.
"I need to borrow some money, Mr. Eddie," Lip said.
"Ah? How much do you need?" Eddie was momentarily stunned, but his generosity showed through quickly.
"It's not much, just $80. I'll pay you back right away, plus $20 in interest," Lip explained, pulling a $100 bill from his bag and handing it over.
"Lip, you obviously have money. Why would you borrow from me? This is confusing!" Eddie said, completely bewildered.
Karen, who was playfully teasing Lip with one hand, was also filled with questions. "What's going on, Lip? Why the trouble?"
Here's the deal," Lip began, explaining, "I discovered a cryptocurrency I want to invest in. But since I'm underage, I can't open the necessary accounts or conduct transactions."
"So, you want to use my identity to open the accounts and trade with the $80?" Eddie immediately caught on.
"Yes. That's why I asked Karen to get the laptop ready," Lip confirmed.
"Got it. Use my identity to set up the account, and I'll transfer $80 from my salary account to the new account later," Eddie said generously. "Take the $100 back. Falling in love has its costs!"
Lip chuckled, impressed by Eddie's straightforwardness.
"Lip, can you really make money with this cryptocurrency?" Karen asked, her sharp mind catching on to the key issue.
Lip paused, then started explaining everything he knew. "Yes, the cryptocurrency I'm talking about is called Bitcoin. It's not issued by a specific institution, but is generated by an algorithm through lots of calculations."
"It's very safe and highly limited. It doesn't get printed endlessly like the dollar," he added. "Bitcoin was officially born on January 3 this year. As of now, fewer than 800,000 coins have been mined globally."
"In the next four years, only 10.5 million Bitcoin will be mined. After that, the total supply will be capped at 21 million coins forever."
"How many Bitcoins can you buy for $80?" Eddie asked, now intrigued.
"At the current price, $80 can buy 100,000 units," Lip replied.
"100,000? Each coin costs only $0.0008?" Karen exclaimed in disbelief. "That's practically worthless!"
"Karen, think of it like stocks. It may seem worthless now, but in the future, one coin could be worth hundreds of dollars," Lip explained with a smile.
He still didn't tell them that Bitcoin would eventually be worth $20,000 per coin. He feared that Eddie might get carried away, tempted to buy a house or car, and risk everything if the market didn't go as expected.
"How confident are you about this?" Eddie asked.
"Mr. Eddie, I'd say it's fifty-fifty," Lip said.
"How about this? I'll transfer $160 to you, and you can buy $80 worth of Bitcoin for Karen, too," Eddie offered.
"Really?" Lip hesitated, unsure.
"Don't feel pressured, just treat me as an investor," Eddie reassured him.
"Alright!" Lip said, now focusing on Karen.
"I'll go help Sheila. You two can talk," Eddie said, getting up and heading to the kitchen.
"Why can't I continue?" Karen pouted, making her face look even more alluring.
"I think you're trying to embarrass me!" Lip laughed mischievously and pinched Karen's cheek.
"Hehe, you figured it out," Karen giggled, sticking out her tongue playfully.
"What surprise have you prepared for me?" Lip asked.
"You'll have to guess!" Karen teased.
Lip thought about it for a moment. "Was it when I went to try on clothes by myself?" he wondered aloud. "It was only for a few minutes…"
"Wait, the clothing store was right next to a lingerie shop. I saw you looking at the designs there," Lip realized. "This little girl prepared something for me…"
Though he had figured it out, Lip continued to act like he didn't understand.
"Lip, stop guessing! You'll find out if you follow me to your room after dinner," Karen smiled, leading him on.
"Alright, no more guessing!"
"By the way, you mentioned today that you'd be opening a class to recruit apprentices to teach kung fu, right?" Karen asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Lip confirmed.
"Can I join?"
"Why do you want to learn?" Lip asked, surprised.
"Lip, you can't be with me all the time. If someone harasses or tries to trick me when you're not around, I need to be able to protect myself," Karen said, serious now.
"That makes sense," Lip agreed, nodding thoughtfully.
"As for the tuition, I don't have money, but I can compensate you in other ways…" Karen whispered in Lip's ear.
Lip's eyes widened in shock. This girl was incredibly bold!
Just the thought of it was exciting, sending a rush of excitement through him.