Chapter 2: The iPhone 15 Inside the Bottle Cap!
Better to believe it exists than not! Searching for a bottle cap near the trash bin wouldn’t cost him anything—at most, just a few wasted minutes. And if it was true, it could be an iPhone! Worth at least a few thousand yuan.
Jiang Tao immediately pushed open the car door, got out, and staggered toward the trash bins by the west gate.
“Huh? Someone beat me here!” From a distance, Jiang Tao saw an elderly man in a green military coat rummaging through the bins.
His heart tightened. He hoped this old man wouldn’t snatch away his chance!
Quickening his steps, Jiang Tao approached and saw a pile of cardboard, plastic sheets, and empty bottles by the man’s feet.
Noticing Jiang Tao, the old man stopped and eyed him warily.
“Ha! Don’t look at me like that, sir. I’m not here to compete with you—just came to have a smoke,” Jiang Tao chuckled, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and offering it to the man.
Just one cigarette eased the old man’s suspicion; his gaze softened considerably.
“You pick your stuff, I accidentally threw away my thermos cup while dumping the trash. I’m just looking for it,” Jiang Tao explained.
“If I find it, great. If not, no big deal,” he added, lighting his cigarette and heading toward the third green trash bin from the left.
Taking a deep breath and psyching himself up, he began to rummage.
Fortunately, the bin was fairly clean—no food waste or foul odors. Mostly dust, scrap cardboard and wood, and bottles.
“I need a bottle cap from iced tea...” Jiang Tao rummaged for seven or eight minutes.
He picked out some recyclables, tossing them at the old man’s feet to curry favor.
During the search, he found three iced tea bottles: two small ones and a one-liter bottle.
He unscrewed the caps from all three, pocketing them, and gave the bottles to the elderly scavenger.
After about ten minutes of turning the bin inside out, confident he hadn’t missed the prize, Jiang Tao stopped.
By sheer luck, he also pulled out an unwanted stainless steel thermos cup.
“Found it! I’m off, sir! Good luck and make a fortune!” Jiang Tao cheerfully waved goodbye and strode back to his car.
“Hey, Jiang Tao, what happened to your windshield?” A stocky man about 1.7 meters tall, around forty years old, was inspecting the damage.
This was Wang Lianming, a fellow villager and the one who introduced Jiang Tao to this line of work.
“Bad luck, man. A car kicked up some stones and cracked it. I just chased after the car but lost it,” Jiang Tao made up a casual excuse, unwilling to mention the Daily Intelligence System.
“You’ve had a rough year! Did you catch the license plate?” Wang asked.
“Too fast to see clearly.”
“Too bad. The market’s cameras are useless.”
“Damn, I can’t catch a break! Another day wasted!”
“Look on the bright side, brother. As the saying goes, misfortune often leads to fortune. I think your luck’s about to turn.”
“Thanks for the good wishes, Wang! Hope this bad streak ends soon!”
Jiang Tao thought to himself, Wang was right: misfortune often begets fortune. Who would have imagined that a Daily Intelligence System would fall from the sky and hit his car? A broken windshield but a new system—what a deal!
“Oh man, it’s snowing now! Time to wrap up, the market’s closing soon.”
“See you tomorrow, Jiang Tao! I’m outta here!”
Wang Lianming said goodbye and quickly jogged to his truck and drove off.
Jiang Tao looked up at the sky. The gloomy capital had finally ushered in its first snow of the year.
“A timely snow promises a bountiful year! A sign of great luck! Hopefully, my fortune starts turning today.”
Smiling, he checked his phone. It was already 5:30 p.m., and dusk was settling in.
At this hour, business would have died down.
“Time to go home before the traffic jams set in.”
Suppressing the urge to immediately scan and redeem his prize, Jiang Tao strode toward his car and started the engine.
Though the windshield was cracked, his view was still clear enough to drive.
He had driven this route from the Red Star secondhand furniture wholesale market to the Xiao Shahe urban village thousands of times over five or six years.
After twenty minutes, he reached an open area at the village entrance where snow was already accumulating.
The snowflakes grew larger, blanketing the world in white.
Opening the door, Jiang Tao braved the wind and snow, walking briskly into the village.
His shoes crunched pleasantly in the snow, mirroring his upbeat mood.
“Off work, Xiao Jiang~”
“Xiao Jiang’s off work~”
“Sister Wang still hasn’t closed shop—so dedicated!”
“Snow’s falling, Sister Li, and you’re still hustling!”
Having rented a place in Xiao Shahe for over six years, Jiang Tao knew many street vendors who greeted him warmly.
Passing a steamed bun shop, he bought a flatbread.
At a deli, he picked up fifteen yuan’s worth of pork head meat and some cold dishes.
At Fat Dongdong supermarket, he bought two packets of instant noodles, two packs of Redliqun tea, a bottle of Bai Niu Er liquor, and eight yuan worth of spiced peanuts.
After this big haul, Jiang Tao wove through the maze-like alleys of the urban village for five minutes.
Finally, he arrived at a somewhat aged two-story tenement building.
He took out his access card and swiped it to enter.
His room was 205 on the second floor’s shaded side.
These rooms were dark, damp, and rarely touched by sunlight.
The only advantage was that rent here was three hundred yuan cheaper per month than on the sunny side.
Jiang Tao seldom stayed home during the day, mostly working at the wholesale market.
His rented room was simply a place to sleep, and he didn’t care whether it faced sun or shade.
Saving three hundred yuan a month was enough to buy two cartons of cigarettes for half a month.
Unlocking the door, he switched on the light.
The room was about ten square meters, furnished with a single bed, a secondhand wardrobe scavenged from a flea market, and a computer desk given by a neighbor who had left town, which doubled as his dining table.
The sparse furnishings were somewhat shabby.
He closed the door behind him, dropping his plastic bags on the table.
Nervously, Jiang Tao pulled out the three iced tea bottle caps he’d retrieved from the trash.
“If I win an iPhone, I can sell it for a good price.”
“God, please let this be real!”
He took the soapbox to the public washbasin on the second floor to wash his hands and the caps.
Back in his room, he locked the door again.
Taking out his phone, he scanned the first cap.
Ding!
Nothing.
The second cap.
Ding!
A voucher for activating QQ Green Diamond membership.
Only one left. Jiang Tao’s expression grew serious.
“I’ve got the meat and the wine ready to celebrate. Don’t let me down now…”
He stared anxiously at the final cap.
Taking a deep breath, he aimed his phone camera at the QR code inside the cap and scanned.
Ding!
Congratulations! You have won an iPhone 15!
“I won! I won! Holy crap!!!”
Seeing the winning screen, Jiang Tao jumped up from his chair, pumping his fists excitedly several times.
Growing up, the biggest prize he ever won was ten yuan from the lottery.
Nothing more valuable than that.
Today, scanning a bottle cap got him an iPhone 15—it felt like a dream.
He rubbed his face hard to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, then gazed once again at the phone screen.
The winning interface was still there.
It was real!
After calming down, Jiang Tao followed the instructions on the winning page, filling in his name, phone number, and delivery address.