Chapter 196
Brother Wang stepped forward for a look. When he saw the glaring ’Joy’ symbol and the number 2000 beneath it, his expression immediately turned sour.
"H-He... he really won?"
"Pay up, Lao Wang. You just made two hundred bucks from hauling bricks today. After you pay for the kid’s ticket, you’ll still have enough left to buy a washboard to go home and kneel on for your wife."
"Get lost, get lost, scram! I was just kidding earlier. The kid’s already won over a thousand, you think he’s hurting for my thirty or fifty bucks?"
As Brother Wang grumbled, his eyes darted nervously toward Chenyang a few times, terrified he would actually demand the money.
But he was clearly overthinking it. Chenyang didn’t even spare a glance for a loudmouth like him, let alone say a word.
Chenyang just kept scratching his ticket slowly.
Since he’d won twice in a row, the crowd started watching with growing intensity.
Of course, despite their focused expressions, none of them truly believed Chenyang could win again.
They were all veteran lottery players. They knew how these things worked.
Forget winning several times in a row—even seeing someone win twice or three times was a rare event, something that might only happen once every few months, or maybe not even once a year.
They refused to believe Chenyang’s luck could possibly be *that* good.
The last two wins were just a fluke.
A few seconds later, the second ticket was almost completely scratched off.
Seeing only two symbols left to scratch, Lao Liu shook his head. "Move on to the next one. It’s rare to win on the last couple of spots."
Chenyang grinned. "Rare doesn’t mean impossible."
"You kid, you really think winning twice is a big deal? Let me tell you something..."
"Holy shit, he won again! It’s five thousand!"
Before Lao Liu could finish, someone next to them gasped.
The crowd followed the sound and saw that he had uncovered another five thousand on the very last symbol.
Including the previous two wins, his total was now seven thousand and thirty!
And this was only from two tickets.
In that instant, every trace of contempt, sarcasm, and ridicule in their eyes vanished completely.
And when he won another one thousand and fifty from the third ticket, and two thousand one hundred twenty from the fourth, their expressions morphed into pure shock and envy.
"Fuck, this kid is on another level."
"He’s not just winning on every ticket—they’re all decent-sized prizes!"
"This isn’t just dumb luck, what the hell? It’s like he slept with Lady Luck herself!"
It wasn’t just the crowd; even the owner of the lottery shop had gotten up and moved closer to watch.
He’d been running the shop for over three years. He’d seen people win two or three times in a single day, but someone winning this many times in a row, with a total about to break ten thousand? That was a first.
"Hey kid, you using some kind of trick?"
Hearing this, the crowd’s expressions shifted, and they all started scrutinizing Chenyang’s eyes and fingers.
They’d all seen cheaters before. The tricks usually involved things like special glasses or chemical solutions.
But no matter how hard they stared, they couldn’t spot anything unusual about Chenyang.
He wasn’t wearing glasses, and his hands showed no trace of any foreign substances.
Chenyang raised an eyebrow. "Boss, you’re not thinking of backing out of paying just because I’ve won a few times, are you?"
"Of course not! When you win, I get a cut. I’m not one to turn down money, am I? It’s just... this is all a bit unbelievable."
"What’s so unbelievable? Like I said when I walked in, my gut told me I was going to win today."
As he spoke, Chenyang began scratching his fifth ticket.
This one wasn’t a big winner—only forty yuan.
Chenyang grinned, flicking the final ticket. "The total from those was ten thousand, two hundred and forty. Not asking for a lot from this last one—another four hundred and twenty would round it out to a nice lucky number!"
"If you win again, that’ll be a grand slam for the day," Brother Wang said with a fawning smile. "Hey, buddy, you got some kind of secret technique? Teach me, huh? Don’t worry, I won’t ask for a free lesson. I’ll pay tuition!"
"There’s no technique. It’s just intuition."
"Tsk. I said I’d pay tuition. Why you gotta be so stingy?"
"Get outta here. How much ’tuition’ can a bricklayer like you afford? The kid’s made over ten thousand in less than ten minutes."
While they bickered, Chenyang had already scratched off half the ticket.
The top half wasn’t much, just thirty yuan.
But when he got to the bottom half, another ’Joy’ symbol appeared.
He slowly scraped away the silver film covering it. First, a "2" appeared.
"Holy hell, don’t tell me it’s another two thousand."
"There’s two zeros... now three... Holy shit, it’s not twenty thousand, is it?!"
"It’s not."
With one firm scrape, Chenyang revealed the full amount: 2000.
"Fuck, twelve thousand in ten minutes. His luck is absolutely heaven-defying."
"Hey, buddy, it’s lunchtime. I know a nice restaurant nearby. Let me treat you to a meal; I’d like to discuss something with you."
"Get lost. You think a guy like him wants to eat at a street stall with you?" The man next to him pushed Brother Liu aside and said with a sleazy grin, "Hey, handsome. My apartment’s right around the corner. Interested in coming over to see my dancing cat? If you’re not into cats, no problem. My wife can do the ’inverted golden hook.’ I can have her put on a private show for you."