Chapter 51: Is This Guy Blessed with a Winning Aura or the Director's Nephew?!

After finishing chatting with Xu Li, Jiang Tao put on his clothes, went downstairs, and had a bowl of mutton soup at a street stall in the urban village.

A bowl of milky-white mutton soup paired with half a golden, crispy flatbread left him feeling warm all over after he finished eating.

Feeling full and satisfied, Jiang Tao stepped outside and lit a cigarette.

Sauntering along, he arrived at the lottery shop where he had cashed in his winning ticket yesterday.

The time he arrived today was about the same as yesterday.

Shortly after 8:00 AM, the lottery shop was quiet and deserted.

Only the owner was holding his smartphone, helping regular customers place their bets via WeChat.

"Boss, give me a quick-pick of five lines of Lotto."

After entering the door, Jiang Tao walked straight up to the glass counter and spoke to the owner inside who was busy printing tickets.

"Oh, hey buddy, it's you!"

When Zhao Feng looked up and saw Jiang Tao, he recognized him instantly.

Yesterday, Jiang Tao's lottery ticket had done him a big favor.

Although the redemption time was a bit tight, it was still plenty of time, and the recipient of the ticket had successfully claimed the prize.

"If you ever have any more high-value winning tickets in the future, just bring them to me. It saves you the trouble of running all the way to the Welfare Lottery Center."

Zhao Feng said with a cheerful smile. It was a polite remark he often made to many customers, nothing more than empty courtesy.

"Sure, that's what I was thinking too. It gets me more money and saves me the hassle—why wouldn't I?"

As Jiang Tao spoke, he pulled out his phone and scanned the QR code stuck on the counter with a soft beep.

Meanwhile, Zhao Feng deftly punched in a five-line quick-pick for Jiang Tao on the lottery terminal and asked if he wanted to review the numbers or make any changes.

"No need to check, just print it."

Hearing Jiang Tao's words, Zhao Feng pressed the print button on the machine, and the printer whirred, spitting out a 10-yuan lottery ticket.

Jiang Tao reached out, took the ticket from the machine, slipped it directly underneath his phone case behind the phone, and turned to walk toward the door.

After taking a few steps, Jiang Tao suddenly stopped, hesitated for a few seconds, and walked back to the counter.

This entire sequence of actions had been rehearsed in Jiang Tao's mind before he even stepped through the door.

He portrayed the hesitant mindset of a lottery player who wanted to buy scratch-offs but felt somewhat conflicted with absolute realism, leaving not a trace of acting.

In life, who isn't an actor?

Aren't we all playing the roles of employees, husbands, wives, sons, and so on?

Only when one is alone can one shed those identity labels and look directly into one's own heart.

"Boss, what kinds of scratch-off tickets do you have here?"

"They're all right here. Take a look yourself, buddy. We have 5-yuan, 10-yuan, and 20-yuan tickets—three types in total."

As he spoke, Zhao Feng opened the glass door of the counter and casually pulled out several bundles of scratch-offs in different denominations.

"Let me see which one to pick."

Jiang Tao murmured, gently sorting through the seven or eight kinds of scratch-offs Zhao Feng had laid out with his fingers.

Soon, Jiang Tao spotted a 10-yuan scratch-off ticket emitting a faint, dark-golden glow.

The name of this scratch-off was "Dragon and Phoenix Flourishing."

The gameplay was simple: if one could scratch out the character for "Dragon" or "Phoenix," the prize amount corresponding beneath the character would be the winnings.

"Boss, check how many are left. I'll take all of these."

Jiang Tao reached out and pointed at the remaining few "Dragon and Phoenix Flourishing" scratch-offs, intending to buy out the rest of the pack.

"Let me check... there are 1, 2 left..."

"There are 12 left. That's 120!"

"Buddy, you might actually scratch out a big prize. None of the tickets in this pack have hit anything big yet."

Zhao Feng offered a cheerful lie to Jiang Tao.

In fact, this pack of "Dragon and Phoenix Flourishing" had already yielded a 500-yuan winning ticket, which was currently pasted on the wall behind Zhao Feng.

Shop owners like Zhao Feng who ran lottery stores usually kept track of how much prize money had been claimed from a particular pack of scratch-offs.

If a pack was almost sold out and no major prize had appeared yet, they would often scratch off the remainder themselves.

Even if they didn't win big, they usually wouldn't lose money and could make a small profit.

If a major prize had already been claimed earlier in the pack, they would never touch the rest, as doing so almost guaranteed a loss!

Just like the pack Jiang Tao was buying now, the 500-yuan prize had already been won near the beginning.

The odds of winning anything on the remaining tickets were extremely low.

"Alright, I'll take them all."

Without wasting words with Zhao Feng, Jiang Tao briskly scanned the code to pay 120 yuan, successfully purchasing the 12 scratch-off tickets, including the one glowing with dark gold.

With the transaction complete, Jiang Tao took the tickets, sat down on a nearby stool, and began to scratch.

The first ticket was a total wipeout—no prize.

The second ticket—still nothing.

The third ticket—no win either.

Watching Jiang Tao strike out three times in a row, Zhao Feng felt a faint sense of schadenfreude.

Jiang Tao remained undiscouraged. He had intentionally saved the dark-gold glowing scratch-off for last.

It didn't matter if the preceding ones were complete busts; he could make a comeback entirely on the strength of that single ticket!

Buying all these scratch-offs had only cost him 120 yuan in total.

The intelligence provided by Brother Tong indicated that the prize amount on that specific ticket was a whopping 20,000 yuan!

On the fourth ticket, Jiang Tao scratched out the character for "Dragon," with a corresponding prize of 10 yuan underneath.

The fifth ticket was a blank, the sixth won 10 yuan, the seventh was blank, and the eighth was blank.

The ninth ticket was still blank, the tenth remained blank, and the eleventh revealed a "Phoenix" character, winning another 10 yuan.

In less than five minutes, Jiang Tao had scratched 11 tickets and won a measly 30 yuan.

By any measure, this record was an absolute bloodbath!

The look Zhao Feng gave Jiang Tao from the side held no sympathy, only indifference.

Having run a lottery shop for a long time, Zhao Feng had seen all sorts of lottery players.

There were simply too many young people like Jiang Tao who got carried away, buying a dozen tickets or even a whole pack at once to challenge the odds.

Yet fewer than one in ten managed to laugh in the end.

The vast majority ultimately walked away empty-handed.

Scratch-offs were designed to make money, not to give it away.

Jiang Tao took a deep breath and began scratching the final ticket. Soon, the character for "Dragon" appeared.

He scratched off the amount covered beneath the "Dragon"—20,000!

"I won!"

Though he had expected it all along, Jiang Tao put on a convincing display of shock and excitement!

"How much did you win, buddy?"

Seeing Jiang Tao's ecstatic expression, Zhao Feng immediately asked with burning curiosity.

"20,000! I won 20,000!"

"Holy crap!! 20,000!!"

Zhao Feng bounced off his stool as if sitting on a spring, staring at Jiang Tao in sheer disbelief.

Just yesterday, this guy had brought in a Lotto second-prize ticket worth over 60,000, nearly 70,000 yuan.

And today, he hits a 20,000-yuan scratch-off!

Was this guy born with the constitution of a winner, or was he the lottery director's nephew?

"Boss, do you cash out these kinds of scratch-offs here?"

Jiang Tao waved the freshly won 20,000-yuan scratch-off ticket at Zhao Feng.

Brother Tong was as reliable as ever!

One hundred and twenty yuan had turned into 20,030 yuan in just a matter of minutes!

Zhao Feng looked at Jiang Tao and asked, "Can I take a look at it first, buddy?"

"Here."

Jiang Tao walked over to the counter in a few strides and handed the winning scratch-off to Zhao Feng.

There were security cameras in the shop, so he wasn't worried about Zhao Feng trying to rob him over such a small sum.

"It really is 20,000! You are so lucky, buddy!"

Zhao Feng's eyes were filled with envy. Having run his shop for six or seven years, this was the first time he had ever seen anyone in his store win such a large prize!

Without wasting further breath, Jiang Tao pressed again, "Are you going to cash this ticket out or not?"

"Yes, yes, of course!"

Zhao Feng was equally decisive, pulling out his phone on the spot and transferring 20,000 yuan to Jiang Tao's Alipay account.

Seeing the transfer notification pop up on his screen, Jiang Tao finally relaxed completely.