It took Chen Yichen less than a week to get used to the kind of life he once never even dared to imagine.
He didn't need an alarm in the morning.
When he woke up, he didn't need to check the time.
There was no schedule, no supervisor, and no one who could make him nervous with the words "late for work."
He had even started deliberately avoiding checking what day of the week it was.
Because to him now, Monday and Saturday were exactly the same.
The only time that still mattered was midnight.
That was his "payday."
And every day, it was a fixed ten million dollars.
A little after eleven in the morning, Chen Yichen sat in the living room eating breakfast.
Strictly speaking, it already counted as lunch.
He'd ordered a meal from a nearby hotel. Steak, salad, coffee, and fruit covered the table.
The total came to more than NT$7,000.
That might once have been half a month's worth of breakfast money for him.
Now he didn't even bother looking closely at the amount.
His phone lay beside the table.
Banking app balance:
NT$23,104,587.
More than twenty-three million.
It was clearly a number large enough to change an ordinary person's life completely, yet when Chen Yichen looked at it, he only felt that it was ordinary.
Even he could sense the change in himself.
At the beginning, ten million had made his hands tremble.
Now that more than twenty million sat in his account, his first thought was actually:
"It still doesn't seem like enough."
Not enough to live on.
Just not enough for all the things he'd started wanting to do.
He'd looked up a lot of things before bed last night.
Private jets.
Yachts.
Overseas real estate.
Top-tier watches.
Supercars.
He'd even checked the sale prices of several truly luxurious mansions in Taipei.
Hundreds of millions.
More than a billion.
Once the numbers entered the hundreds-of-millions range, ten million a day suddenly didn't seem quite so outrageous.
Chen Yichen took a sip of coffee.
For the first time, he understood something.
There was no finish line when it came to money.
When you had only a hundred thousand, you wanted a million.
Once you had a million, you started wanting ten million.
After you really had ten million, you started looking at things worth a hundred million.
Not because people were greedy.
It was because people's eyes naturally kept looking farther away.
That afternoon, he drove his newly delivered black supercar out.
He didn't have any particular destination today.
He just wanted to drive.
When the car stopped at a red light, a group of high-school-aged boys beside him kept staring over.
One of them even pulled out his phone to take pictures.
Chen Yichen gripped the steering wheel without turning his head.
But he knew they were looking.
A few years ago, he'd stood by the roadside and done the exact same thing.
Back then, if he'd seen a supercar worth ten million, he might have spent the whole trip looking up its model, price, and horsepower, then told his friends:
"I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to sit in one in this lifetime."
Now, he was simply driving it to buy coffee.
That contrast was even more addictive than the car itself.
Around two that afternoon, he parked in the underground garage of an upscale mall.
After taking the elevator upstairs, he didn't have anything specific he wanted to buy.
He was just browsing.
When he used to browse luxury stores, he'd check the price tag first, then decide whether he should even touch something.
Now it was the complete opposite.
First, he looked to see whether he liked it.
If he did, he bought it.
The price had become the last thing he looked at.
Inside a watch store, Chen Yichen stopped in front of the counter.
A watch in the display case caught his attention.
Not because he knew anything about watches.
He simply thought it looked good.
A sales associate quickly came over.
"Do you like this model, sir?"
"How much?"
"This one is currently NT$4.86 million."
Chen Yichen had been about to reach out and pick it up, but he stopped for a second when he heard the price.
Not because he couldn't afford it.
His mind had simply started doing the math automatically.
NT$4.86 million.
About half a day's worth of ten million.
He suddenly laughed.
The sales associate assumed he thought it was too expensive and immediately added, "This model is a little more special. If you'd like to look at something in another price range, I can show you some other options."
"No need."
"Then should I put this one away for you?"
"I mean, there's no need to show me another one."
The sales associate froze for a moment.
Chen Yichen pointed at the watch.
"This one."
"Would you like to try it on?"
"Sure."
Once the watch was on his wrist, he raised his hand and looked at it for a while.
Honestly,
there was no magical feeling.
It was just a beautifully made watch.
But it cost more than NT$4 million.
In the past, that price would have been enough for a down payment on an old apartment.
Now, all he cared about was whether it looked good on his wrist.
"I'll take it."
"Would you like me to hold it for you first?"
"No. I'm buying it now."
"Card or bank transfer?"
"Bank transfer."
The payment went through.
NT$4.86 million.
Chen Yichen put his phone away.
His heartbeat hadn't changed at all.
It wasn't until the sales associate began wrapping the watch that he suddenly realized:
He had just spent the price of an imported car and felt absolutely nothing.
It wasn't a good thing or a bad thing.
It was just strange.
Money was losing its weight.
Ten thousand dollars used to have the weight of ten thousand dollars.
A hundred thousand weighed even more.
A million could make a person afraid to move recklessly.
Now, more than four million was simply "bought a watch today."
When he walked out of the store, he stopped in front of the glass and glanced at his wrist.
The watch reflected the light.
He suddenly began to understand why the world of truly wealthy people was so different from that of ordinary people.
It wasn't because they were more willing to spend.
It was because the same number meant completely different things to people with different incomes.
Four million was a lifetime of savings to some people.
To him now, it was less than half a day.
That evening, Zhang Jiahao messaged him again.
"What did you do today?"
Chen Yichen took a picture of his wrist and sent it over.
It wasn't long before his phone rang.
"You bought a watch?"
"Yeah."
"How much?"
"More than four million."
"More than NT$4 million?"
"Yeah."
There was silence on the other end for several seconds.
"Are you out of your mind?"
Chen Yichen laughed.
"What? No."
"A watch costs more than four million and you're telling me, 'What? No'?"
"I liked it."
"How much money do you actually have?"
It was that question again.
Chen Yichen walked outside the mall.
The evening wind was a little cool.
"More than twenty million."
He answered.
"You have more than twenty million, and you dared to spend more than four million on a watch?"
"I've got more than ten million left now."
"And you're still laughing?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Dude, if you spend money like this, you'll be broke in no time."
Chen Yichen glanced at the time.
8:12 p.m.
Less than four hours until midnight.
"It doesn't matter."
"What do you mean, it doesn't matter?"
"There's more tomorrow."
Zhang Jiahao immediately latched onto those words.
"There you go again."
"What?"
"You said the same thing a few days ago—that there'd be more tonight. Now you're saying there'll be more tomorrow. What the hell are you up to?"
Chen Yichen didn't answer.
"Yichen, I'm asking seriously."
Zhang Jiahao's tone changed.
"Are you involved in something illegal?"
"No."
"Then where did the money come from?"
"I'll tell you later."
"You always say later."
"Because I don't even know how to explain it myself right now."
That was true.
If he simply said:
My bank account automatically gets ten million more at midnight every day.
Zhang Jiahao would probably think he was either lying or crazy.
After the call ended, Chen Yichen stood there for a while.
For a moment, he really wanted to tell Zhang Jiahao.
Everything that had happened over the past few days was too unreal.
Knowing such a huge secret was strangely lonely.
But he still held back.
Money changed relationships by its very nature.
And this wasn't a few hundred thousand or a few million.
It was ten million every day.
If this secret got out, the consequences would be completely beyond his ability to control right now.
At nine that evening, he didn't go straight home.
Instead, he drove to an upscale car showroom.
This time, he wasn't planning to buy anything.
He was just looking.
He suddenly wanted to know what could possibly be more outrageous than the two cars he already had.
Several limited-edition cars were parked inside the showroom.
The cheapest one cost more than twenty million.
One of them was priced at nearly fifty million.
Chen Yichen stood beside it and stared for a long time.
A salesperson came over to introduce it.
"There are very few units allocated for the domestic market."
"How much?"
"The total on-road price is currently around NT$48 million."
NT$48 million.
In the past, that number would have sounded no different from NT$480 million.
Either way, he couldn't afford it.
Now, however, things were different.
His first reaction was to calculate the time.
Ten million a day.
Five days.
Less than five days.
As long as he didn't spend a cent, he could pay for it in full after five days.
A strange feeling suddenly arose in him.
It wasn't envy.
It was anticipation.
In the past, when he saw something he couldn't afford, the answer was:
"Forget it."
Now, when he saw something he couldn't afford, the answer became:
"A few more days."
Those two answers were completely different.
"Interested, sir?" the salesperson asked.
Chen Yichen nodded.
"I am."
"Would you like me to arrange a more detailed presentation?"
"Not yet."
"No problem."
Chen Yichen looked at the car one more time.
"If I want it, how long until delivery?"
The salesperson's eyes immediately lit up a little.
"If we confirm an in-stock vehicle, it could be ready in just a few days at the earliest."
"Okay."
He didn't place an order.
Not because he couldn't bear to.
He simply wanted to try something.
He wanted to see whether he could wait five days.
Five days without buying anything.
Just watch his account gain ten million every day.
Then spend nearly fifty million all at once.
Just thinking about that number filled him with anticipation.
He got home after eleven.
Chen Yichen placed the watch he'd bought that day on the table.
Two sets of car keys sat beside it.
He sat on the couch and looked at the things in front of him.
A few days ago, if he could have owned any one of them, he probably would have been excited for years.
Now that they were all together, he was already looking toward his next target.
A car worth NT$48 million.
What after that?
A house worth a hundred million?
A yacht worth three hundred million?
A private jet worth a billion?
He suddenly realized that ten million a day hadn't truly changed his spending power.
It had changed his sense of distance.
Everything that had once been impossibly far away was gradually becoming nothing more than a matter of time.
11:59 p.m.
Chen Yichen didn't open his banking app.
He simply placed his phone on the table.
Midnight.
The screen lit up.
It vibrated once.
He didn't even pick it up until more than ten seconds later.
General Deposit: NT$10,000,000.
Latest Balance:
NT$28,172,903.
After looking at it, Chen Yichen set his phone down.
He didn't smile.
He wasn't surprised.
He didn't check it a second time.
Ten million had come again.
Just like a small thing that happened every day on schedule.
He leaned back against the couch and gazed out the window.
At that moment, he suddenly felt that the NT$48 million car wasn't all that expensive anymore.
Because all he had to do was wait a few more days.
Then it would be his.
And that was the first time he truly realized—
when a person knew that money would always come again, even the word "expensive" would slowly lose its meaning.