Chapter 117: The Draw! Beyond Outrageous...

Chapter 117: Chapter 117: The Draw! Beyond Outrageous...

The next day. Warm sunlight filtered through the screen window. Li Yan’s body was plated in a soft, warm hue of tangerine, making her look like a princess straight out of a fairy tale. Actually, the earliest fairy tales were quite different from the ones today. In that era, they were meant for adults.

Su Yunzhou groggily got up. The only flaw—if it could even be called that—of the Power of Lao Ai was that it permanently robbed him of the joy of sleeping in.

Li Yan was sleeping soundly; it seemed she wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.

They had definitely been a bit too indulgent last night. Initially, the rule was "stop at three"! But Li Yan had insisted on "four seasons of fortune"! Sometime in the wee hours, they somehow woke up and simply welcomed the "five blessings to the door"! And at the break of dawn, woken by the noise from upstairs, they went straight for "sixes for a smooth ride"!

After planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, Su Yunzhou got up, washed up, and left the room. He planned to go check out the new house and share the good news with his parents while he was at it.

At Hidden Cyan Residence, Building 6, Apartment 601.

Su Yunzhou held up his phone, showing his parents every corner of the house. The old couple grinned from ear to ear, with his mother being especially thrilled.

Her son buying a house for marriage had been a long-standing obsession of hers. Now that he had finally bought one—and such a large one at that—could marriage really be far behind? Once he was married and had kids, she could finally help look after her grandchildren! She wasn’t too old yet; taking care of one was the same as taking care of two. With the current policies being so favorable, she definitely had to make her son have two. A boy and a girl would be perfect. Two girls would be fine too. Two boys... well, that wasn’t entirely unacceptable either.

It was just that raising Su Yunzhou, her precious son, had already cost her enough worry to break her heart.

She eventually dropped the thought. Children would have their own fortunes; as long as she and her husband didn’t become a burden to him, that would be enough. This was the simple expectation most parents in Dragon Country had for their children. Of course, there were also some truly terrible parents out there, but those miserable stories were better left unsaid.

His father was much more composed, though it was clear that the man of few words was also particularly excited. However, he placed more emphasis on cautioning Su Yunzhou not to flaunt his wealth. Now that he had some money, he absolutely must not be extravagant or wasteful. The money should be spent where it was truly needed, and the rest should be saved for a rainy day.

Su Yunzhou smiled and nodded. Communicating with his parents now was no longer like it had been a few years ago. Back then, he felt as though his parents didn’t understand anything yet worried about everything. Aside from asking if he had eaten and how he was doing, they couldn’t talk about anything else. But now, as he grew older, he realized that the communication problem had actually stemmed from him.

His parents had spent their entire lives in a place where they could see the end of their days at a single glance. What they had heard and seen determined the height of their worldview. He might have seen more of the outside world than they had, but the principles of being a decent human being were exactly the same.

In the past, he disliked listening to his parents’ lectures, but now he took their words to heart. Occasionally, he would bring them out to reflect on the wisdom hidden within them.

His father still had two years before retirement and couldn’t move to the city just yet, so Su Yunzhou planned to slowly furnish their new home. As for whether there would be a female host of the house by then, that was a matter for another day! As for marriage, he felt it was far too early, and besides, he had no desire to settle down right now.

After hanging up the video call, Su Yunzhou chatted with Liu Yiyi for a while, but he could tell she wasn’t in very high spirits. He had overheard the gist of her conversation with her best friend yesterday and guessed she was probably bogged down by mundane troubles. However, when he asked her about it, she was evasive and reluctant to speak.

After resting for a bit in his new home, he went downstairs for a quick, casual meal, then drove back to Celestial Paradise Holiday Hotel to rest. ℴℴ𝘮

Time slipped by. It was soon 9:15 PM.

Although he had anticipated it, seeing those absurd lottery numbers appear on the financial channel still made him involuntarily raise his fist in a victory pose.

"Tong! You’re awesome!"

On the TV, the beautiful host’s expression was slightly strange, but she maintained a professional tone as she announced the results.

"Dear lottery players, the winning numbers for this draw are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

"This is the first time in our lottery’s history that such... auspicious numbers... have been drawn...

"There is only one lucky player nationwide who has won the grand prize for this draw, so the total payout has reached ten million yuan.

"We ask that this lucky player please promptly..."

Meanwhile, backstage, the person in charge was furious. He stared intensely at the two staff members responsible for the drawing, demanding a reasonable explanation.

One of the staff members trembled as he spoke. "Director Xu, we... we don’t know what happened either. All the procedures were exactly the same as usual, and we double-checked everything multiple times before the draw, just like we always do."

The other chimed in to explain, "Director Xu, you can... you can check all the surveillance footage and the signed verification logs. We really don’t know where things went wrong..."

Director Xu was just about to unleash a torrent of curses when his phone rang at the worst possible moment. He picked it up impatiently, but his face instantly changed color upon seeing the caller ID. He waved his hand dismissively, and the two staff members tactfully backed out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind them.

Director Xu pressed the answer button, his voice trembling with apprehension and unease. "Boss, I..."

From the other end of the line came a deep, authoritative voice. "Do you think an explanation like that is of any use?"

Director Xu nervously stood up. "Boss, please believe me, I will definitely investigate and find out if someone is playing tricks..."

After a brief silence, the voice echoed from the earpiece once again. "The investigation is urgent and cannot be delayed. However, since the grand prize has already been drawn, proceed according to the standard procedures.

"Also, once you’ve thoroughly verified the winner’s identity and confirmed there are no issues, make sure to promote it well. Let the lottery players know..."

After hanging up, Director Xu lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. A boss was a boss for a reason—this calm, calculated approach to handling crises was exactly what he needed to learn.

By the time his cigarette had burned halfway down, he had fully calmed down. Not daring to delay for even a moment, he immediately called his subordinates to initiate the follow-up procedures.

At a lottery shop with a banner above the door that read "Congratulations to our customer XXX for scratching a million-yuan grand prize!", the atmosphere had shifted dramatically.

As tonight’s winning numbers were revealed, the once lively crowd of players fell into an absolute, dead silence.

The skinny, middle-aged owner took off his blue-rimmed glasses and wiped them several times before helplessly accepting reality. In all his years of buying and selling lottery tickets, he had written down winning numbers countless times. But this time was truly a bit ridiculous.

Just as he finished writing them down on the board, he suddenly let out a bizarre yelp.

Such uniquely patterned numbers naturally left an impression, and the memory flooded back to him instantly. A couple of days ago, a handsome, neatly dressed young man had come into the shop and picked these exact numbers. Bizarrely, he had insisted on buying only a single two-yuan ticket.

"Ah! These numbers were sold from our lottery station..."

As his words fell, the eyes of the veteran lottery players nearby widened in shock, their faces filled with utter disbelief. One of them didn’t snap out of it until the burning cigarette butt singed his fingers. He hastily threw the cigarette on the ground, stomped on it twice, and said, "I remember now! That really happened. I even laughed at him at the time..."

Another veteran player next to him twitched his lips and chimed in, "Back then, I even said, ’If these numbers actually get drawn, it’d be the mother of all absurdities.’ Motherfucker... now that I think about it, it really is completely fucking absurd."

Meanwhile, a young couple who was busy scratching tickets reacted differently. The girl, utterly dumbfounded, showed a look of deep regret, which quickly morphed into resentment.

"You idiot, I swear! Back then, I told you those numbers were unique and suggested you buy a ticket just to try it. But you said they were too weird and impossible to win! Well, look what happened now!

"Ten million! Ten million yuan!

"With that kind of money, all our problems would be solved! You’re really bad luck when it comes to money..."

The young man was equally filled with remorse. His lips opened and closed several times before he finally managed to squeeze out a single "I..."—only to be rudely interrupted by his furious girlfriend.

"’I’ what? Shut up! Just looking at you annoys me right now! Even you breathing is a mistake..."

Her boyfriend’s face flushed with stifled frustration, but he didn’t talk back, wanting to cry but having no tears left.

Ten million yuan, just like that... This suffocating frustration... Who could understand? Who?!

Just then, someone snapped back to reality and hurriedly bounded over to the lottery machine, startling the owner. The owner was just about to say something when he saw the man excitedly hugging the machine, taking deep, frantic breaths.

"Lucky energy, come into my body!"

"Ah~ The lucky energy is mine~ Come to me~"

"I want some too..."