「The next day.」
「Early in the morning.」
Jiang Miao ate breakfast and told his parents he was going into the city to get a replacent SIM card.
He took his ID, over a thousand yuan in cash, and his old phone. Riding his small electric scooter, he slowly made his way to the city.
「Two hours later.」
Jiang Miao, now at the telecom service center in the city, had finally gotten his replacent SIM card. He inserted it into his old phone and called ho, saying he was having lunch with a classmate.
He went to a lottery stand not far from the service center. A few bikers were inside playing Keno, and the owner was busy printing tickets, paying no mind to Jiang Miao as he browsed.
He was happy for the peace and quiet, looking at the large pile of scratch-off tickets under the glass counter by himself.
After looking for over ten minutes, he saw that among the thousands of scratch-offs, not a single one had a prize over ten thousand yuan.
Jiang Miao left with a blank expression and went to the neighboring mall to buy a baseball cap and a box of face masks.
Wearing the cap, he rode his dear little scooter, leisurely weaving through the streets and alleys.
「A short while later.」
He arrived at another lottery stand.
He walked right up to the glass counter.
"What can I get for you, handso?" the proprietress asked with a cheerful smile.
Jiang Miao sat down on a stool. "I’ll just take a look myself."
"Oh? Would you like to take them out for you?"
"Sure, I’ll look at so of the loose ones."
"Alright." The proprietress opened the glass door and casually picked up over a hundred scratch-off tickets. "Handso, these are all leftovers that others have picked through. The unopened packs might have a grand prize. Just the other day soone..."
The proprietress went on and on with her sales pitch.
Jiang Miao picked up a few scratch-offs, pretending to examine them.
’The item structure section on the appraisal panel can directly display a 3D structural diagram, and it can even show different layers.’
’Therefore, the protective coating on the surface of the scratch-off was no obstacle to his prying eyes at all.’
After more than ten minutes, Jiang Miao bought a 20-yuan scratch-off from the stand. The result, of course, was a big fat zero.
He left again.
At a clothing store on Sanma Road, he bought a few T-shirts and a pair of sunglasses.
After changing into a new set of clothes, Jiang Miao, now wearing sunglasses, went to a lottery shop on Sanma Road. He looked for over ten minutes, but the highest prize was only 50,000 yuan.
He parked his electric scooter at the entrance of a nearby mall, changed into another new outfit in the mall’s restroom, put on a mask, and then took a bus to South City Road.
Inside the lottery stand on South City Road.
Jiang Miao sipped a bottle of mineral water, idly looking at the scratch-offs inside the counter.
Suddenly, his gaze froze.
Among one of the stacks of scratch-offs, there was a ticket with a prize of 500,000 yuan.
He downed the rest of his water, pulled out 100 yuan, and said, "Boss, five scratch-offs."
The owner took out the loose scratch-offs from the glass counter.
Jiang Miao lowered his head, pretending to choose.
In a mont, he had picked out five tickets.
He picked up his key and began to scratch carefully.
"Nothing..."
He kept scratching.
"Still nothing?"
"Nothing? I refuse to believe I’ll get nothing at all!"
As if he were a gambler who’d lost his cool, Jiang Miao’s face flushed red after five consecutive losses. He pulled out another 100 yuan and slamd it on the counter.
"Give five more!"
"Here you go!" The owner, smiling, took out the big pile of loose scratch-offs again.
But Jiang Miao was dissatisfied. "These are all leftovers. Open a new pack for . I want that red one—it looks lucky!"
"No problem." The owner grabbed the red stack and tore open the plastic shrink wrap.
Jiang Miao spent a few minutes picking and choosing from the new pack.
He started scratching with his key again.
"No win! What bad luck!"
"Whoa! A winner! 100 yuan! Hahaha, my luck is finally turning around! Let’s keep it going!"
Jiang Miao’s face grew more and more excited.
"Another goose egg! Crap..."
"Huh? 5 yuan? A consolation prize."
Jiang Miao was first stunned, then he leaned in close to the ticket and began to focus, counting the string of zeros. "Hey... wait a minute... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Five zeros. I’ve struck it rich. It’s actually 500,000."
"What?" The owner couldn’t stay seated either. He imdiately leaned over, looked at the ticket in Jiang Miao’s hand, and then got excited himself. "Young man, you’ve hit the jackpot!"
Soon, the other custors in the shop were all chattering excitedly.
So beat their chests and stamped their feet, regretting they hadn’t bought it themselves.
So were green with envy, daydreaming of getting rich overnight.
So were jealous, muttering sour remarks under their breath.
Jiang Miao, of course, didn’t linger at the lottery stand. He hurried to the city’s lottery center to cash in his prize.
Although 20% was deducted for taxes, the money was now legally Jiang Miao’s asset.
As for the lottery stand owner, he had pulled Jiang Miao into a deserted corner of the shop, constantly hinting that he could "help handle it" and was even willing to buy the scratch-off directly for 500,000 yuan.
However, Jiang Miao refused him outright.
He knew what the owner was up to.
’Doing it that way might get the full 500,000, but the problem is, the source of the funds would beco questionable.’
Not wanting to leave any potential trouble for himself, Jiang Miao rejected the offer without hesitation.
What he needed now was legitimate, legal funds, not money with strings attached. Otherwise, even if he beca a billionaire in the future, this one weak point could be exploited by others.
It was best to leave no openings for trouble.
「As the sun began to set.」
Jiang Miao rode his little electric scooter along the coastal boulevard, heading back to his ho in the suburbs.
When he got ho, his dad was still busy in the fields not far from the house, where so cabbage, bok choy, water spinach, and cucumbers were growing.
His mom was in the kitchen, cooking.
"Mom, I bought a box of char siu."
"You bought char siu? Then I’ll steam the pork ribs tomorrow."
He glanced at the teacups on the coffee table. "Mom, who ca over today?"
"Your brother-in-law stopped by this afternoon. He brought over a few lemon fish."
"How are things at his fishpond?"
"He’s not managing it anymore. The eel fry were too expensive this year, and the feed prices went up again. Your sister didn’t want him to continue, so he’s been working on a fishing boat the past few days."
"Oh, I see." Jiang Miao took a bottle of soda water from the fridge and opened it.
His mom finished chopping the cabbage. "Go tell your dad to co back, wash up, and eat."
"Okay!"
GULP, GULP... After taking a big swig of soda water, Jiang Miao patted the big yellow dog that was circling his feet.
Stepping out the door, he shouted, "Dad, ti for dinner!"
In the distance, Jiang Dahai, who was picking cucumbers, shouted back, "Got it! I’ll be back after I finish picking these! You guys go ahead and eat!"
Watching his father’s sowhat aged figure, Jiang Miao fell silent. He wasn’t soone who was good at expressing his emotions.
’Even though he wanted to change their current lives and stop his parents from toiling so hard, reality was always a series of setbacks.’
In all these years, he really hadn’t earned much money.
He graduated from university at 22, right at the beginning of the "special period" in 2020, and had no choice but to return ho, where he remained unemployed for over a year.
Last year, out of necessity, he spent more than half a year as a delivery driver. Then, in October, he was injured in a traffic accident and had to recover for over four months, only getting better last month.
He had attended university in Jiang City, in Jingbei Province. It was a 211-tier school, a decent agricultural university in the country, and he majored in bioengineering.
Unfortunately, a series of setbacks had forced him to accept reality and obediently work as a delivery driver back in his hotown.
Because of this, he was often the target of snide remarks from the villagers, and even his parents were very dissatisfied and disappointed in him.
After all, for a graduate of a top-tier university to be a delivery driver made people feel like he had wasted his education.
User Comments
0 comments from readers