Old Li was gone, suddenly gone, just because he'd exchanged a few words with his neighbor, young Wang.

Li Tiezhut, an "AI face reader" with a stall on a pedestrian street in a third-tier city. In essence, he uses an old tablet computer with an AI face reading app, scans people's faces, and then the AI spits out an analysis: something like "a developed career line but a winding love line," "a full nose indicating wealth, but the children's palace is slightly sunken," and so on.

Business is hit or miss. Those who believe it find it accurate, while those who don't scoff. Li Tiezhut is quite content, as the costs are low: a tablet, a power bank, and a bit of data traffic.

Li Mei was organizing old photos when she accidentally remembered her father's WeChat. Her father had passed away five years ago, and his voice and smile were gradually blurring, like old photos worn by time. Only the conversations in WeChat and the health articles he forwarded still retained traces of his life.

She opened WeChat and found the familiar profile picture in her contacts – a photo of him taken in the park when he was young, sunlight shining on his face, with a hint of shy smile. The profile picture was still there, but when she clicked on the chat box, it displayed "The other party's account status is abnormal, unable to view."

Old Li works as a zookeeper in an amusement park in Zibo, specifically, a "zebra" zookeeper.

Of course, Old Li knows very well that he is not raising zebras, but donkeys. Five gray-looking donkeys with long ears.

Li Xiaoming has recently become obsessed with the "AI Love Clinic." This clinic has no doctors, only a cold screen and an omnipresent AI algorithm named "Cupid." Just enter your emotional confusion, and "Cupid" can provide the most "perfect" solution based on big data analysis.

Lao Liu, or more precisely, Liu Dehua, but he preferred to be called "Lao Liu" by others, feeling it was more friendly. Lao Liu had been working at the company for nearly twenty years, transforming from a youthful lad to a greasy middle-aged man, witnessing the company's rise and fall, and also witnessing the rise and fall of countless "red envelopes".

On the first day back to work, the office was filled with a mixed smell of caffeine and anticipation. Lao Liu rubbed his hands, his heart itching too. Not for the little money, but for the feeling of "being valued". After all, who doesn't like to be favored by the God of Wealth?

Lao Liu from the publicity department has been frowning lately, the smell of smoke in his office thicker than usual. The cause is a "heartwarming" instruction from above: Hi, Mom must create congratulatory posters for all films that surpass its box office.

"Congratulations, you've won 1 million!" Lottery station owner Old Wang's voice was loud, buzzing in Grandpa Li's ears. The rows of red numbers on the scratch-off ticket in Grandpa Li's hand seemed to be dancing, flashing dazzling light.

Grandpa Li was a retired teacher who had dedicated his life to teaching and educating people, accustomed to a life of modest means. One million? He never thought he would have anything to do with such a large number in his life. He trembled as he held the lottery ticket, his palms drenched in sweat.

Wang Defa stomped his feet in front of the bank, puffing out white breath. On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, while others were busy visiting relatives and friends, he was thinking about depositing his son Maodou's few thousand yuan of Lunar New Year money into the bank. It wasn't that he loved money so much, but Maodou kept clamoring to buy game skins. He thought about locking it up in the bank first to prevent the kid from squandering it.

But there was a long queue in front of the bank's ATMs. When it was finally his turn, he inserted the card, and the screen glaringly displayed: "Storage amount has reached the limit, service suspended."

"Good luck at work! Auspicious Lions bring joy!"

The 8 AM alarm clock was like a death warrant, and Zhang Qiang struggled out of bed. The Spring Festival holiday was over, and today was the first day of the Year of the Snake. He forced a positive smile in the mirror. After all, the new year should always start with good omens.