“Phew…”
When Lin Yang ran to the community entrance, the lottery shop surprisingly hadn't opened yet.
Seeing this, the worry in him finally eased.
Forty thousand might not be much to others, but to him, it was equivalent to several years of salary, and it could solve his immediate problems.
If he missed such an opportunity, he wouldn't know when he would have to wait for the next one.
After all, according to his understanding, millions of these lottery tickets would be issued, and only one of them would be the first prize.
He waited at the entrance for a few minutes, then a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties slowly came over, opened the lottery shop door, and walked in.
Lin Yang didn't dare to delay a second and followed him in.
He glanced at the counter, where scratch-off lottery tickets were neatly arranged by category, with denominations ranging from 10 to 50 yuan.
Soon, he found the “Good Luck Ten Times” among them.
Lin Yang reached out and took all the “Good Luck Ten Times” tickets, counting them; there were four in total.
“Boss, do you have any more ‘Good Luck Ten Times’ in the store?”
“The 10-yuan tickets sell well; only those few on the counter are left.”
“Alright.”
Lin Yang took out his phone to scan the code and paid 40 yuan.
Before coming, he was unsure, worried that there might be too many “Good Luck Ten Times” tickets left and that he wouldn't have enough money to buy them all.
It seemed his luck was good; buying them all only cost him 40 yuan.
Lin Yang took the lottery tickets to a nearby table, ready to scratch them.
For the “Good Luck Ten Times” lottery ticket, if the number scratched in the prize area matches the winning number, it's a win, and the first prize is 400,000 yuan.
Lin Yang scratched open the winning number, which displayed 21.
Then he scratched open the prize area and looked for 21 among the pile of numbers.
“None!”
He compared the numbers on the ticket, confirmed there was no win, then threw the ticket aside and continued to scratch the second one.
The winning number for the second ticket was 78; comparing it with the numbers in the prize area, there were no matching numbers either.
The third ticket also didn't win.
Only the last lottery ticket remained unscratched; whether he could win 400,000 yuan depended on it.
Lin Yang prayed silently that he would win.
He scratched open the ticket, which showed the winning number 16, and then he searched for the number 16 in the prize area.
First, he searched row by row, but there was none.
Worried about misreading, he compared number by number again, still none.
He compared it from top to bottom three or four times but still couldn't find 16.
“Did I misread the previous tickets?”
Lin Yang rechecked the tickets he had scratched earlier, confirming that none of them had won.
“How could this be? Did the system make a mistake?”
His previously excited expression instantly turned crestfallen.
Following the system's information, the final result was that he did not win the first prize.
“Sigh…”
The lottery shop owner saw Lin Yang sighing and chuckled:
“Young man, don't be discouraged. The winning probability for 10-yuan tickets is inherently low. Why don't you try the 20 or 50-yuan ones? The winning probability is higher.”
Lin Yang shook his head; if he didn't win a big prize, buying lottery tickets was equivalent to throwing money away, and he couldn't fall into that trap just because of a few words from the boss.
Seeing that Lin Yang had no intention of buying more lottery tickets, the boss stopped persuading him and continued leisurely tidying the tickets on the counter, restocking new ones for the varieties that had been sold out.
“Swish!”
Suddenly, a green lottery ticket fell from a stack of red tickets onto the floor.
The boss bent down to pick it up and chuckled:
“Young man, there’s one more ‘Good Luck Ten Times’ ticket. It was stuck among the other tickets just now. Do you still want it?”
“The scratch-off area is a bit smudged. If you don't want it, I'll scratch it myself.”
“Yes!”
Lin Yang didn't hesitate at all, took the ticket into his hand, scanned the code, and paid in one smooth motion.
He was afraid the shop owner would go back on his word and scratch the ticket himself.
If the system hadn't made a mistake, this ticket should be the one with the first prize.
Lin Yang took the ticket and immediately picked up a scratcher from the counter to scratch it.
First, he scratched open the winning number, which was 68.
Then he searched for the number 68 in the prize area; there were 10 rows of numbers in total. If any row had a number identical to the winning number, it was a win, and he would receive the corresponding prize money behind the number.
There was no 68 in the first row of numbers.
There was also no 68 in the second row of numbers.
Still no 68 in the third row of numbers.
...
68!
He kept scratching until the seventh row, and finally, the number 68 appeared.
“It's a sure thing!”
Lin Yang scratched open the prize money corresponding to 68, and when he saw a string of zeros, he knew the first prize was secured.
He scratched open the entire corresponding prize money area, and 400,000 yuan clearly appeared before his eyes.
This was truly a case of finding a new path when all seemed lost.
He had originally thought there was no hope, but he didn't expect there to be one more ticket that slipped through.
With this money, all the problems he was currently facing could be solved.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but curve his lips into a smile.
“Young man, you’re smiling so happily, how much did you win?”
“First prize.”
“What?
First prize?
Your luck is too good!
I should have scratched the last ticket myself!”
The lottery shop owner was filled with regret, almost pounding his chest and stamping his feet. The winning ticket was handed to Lin Yang by his own hands.
He had originally wanted to sell one more lottery ticket, but who knew there would be a big prize inside.
Lin Yang smiled at the boss's expression and didn't say much, only asking:
“Boss, where do I go to claim the prize, and what materials do I need to prepare?”
“Bring your ID card, bank card, and the winning lottery ticket to the lottery center. If you trust me, I can also redeem it for you directly, but I'll charge a two percent handling fee.”
Forty thousand yuan, after deducting 20% tax, would be 320,000 yuan. A two percent handling fee would be 6,400 yuan, which was more than a month's salary.
He didn't have a job now and had plenty of time, so there was no need to waste that money for convenience.
“Boss, just tell me the address of the lottery center. I'll go claim the prize myself.”
“580 Furong Road.”
Having obtained the address of the lottery center, Lin Yang hastily left and hailed a taxi.
No sooner had he left than a bald man of similar age to the lottery shop owner entered the shop.
“Old Li, why didn't you scratch the last few ‘Good Luck Ten Times’ tickets yesterday?”
“Old Zhang, you know as well as I do, there are only so many prizes in a book, and I've already paid out the big prizes. There's definitely no prize left in the remaining ones, so there's no need to waste a few dozen more yuan.”
The boss frowned and said:
“Let me tell you, a first prize for ‘Good Luck Ten Times’ just came out, and it was from the last few tickets left in the book you scratched!”
“What?!”
Upon hearing this, Old Li stood up with a jolt, his face filled with disbelief.
“Old Zhang, are you kidding me?”
“I even took a picture. If you don't believe me, take a look.”
Saying that, the lottery shop owner took out his phone and opened the picture for Old Li to see.
Old Li stared at the picture on the phone, looking at the numbers on the lottery ticket.
“Ah…”
Old Li clutched his chest with one hand, a look of pain on his face.
“Damn it, I guard the shop every day, but someone else picked up the prize! Why did I have to save those few dozen yuan and not scratch the last few tickets?!”
...