First Pot of Gold

The next day.

Early in the morning.

After breakfast, Jiang Miao told his parents he was going into the city to replace his SIM card.

With his ID, over a thousand yuan in cash, and his old phone, he rode his Electric Scooter slowly toward the city.

Two hours later.

Jiang Miao finally got his SIM card replaced at a telecom service hall in the city. After inserting it into his old phone, he called home and said he would be having lunch with some classmates.

He went to a lottery shop not far from the telecom service hall. Several motorbike riders were playing Happy 10 inside, while the owner was busy printing tickets and paid no attention to Jiang Miao wandering around.

He was happy to be left alone as he looked over the large pile of Scratch-off tickets beneath the glass counter.

After looking for more than ten minutes, he found that none of the thousand-odd Scratch-off tickets had a prize exceeding ten thousand yuan.

Jiang Miao left expressionlessly and bought a baseball cap and a box of face masks at the mall next door.

Putting on the cap, he rode his beloved little motorbike leisurely through the streets and alleys.

Before long.

He arrived at another lottery shop.

He went straight to the glass counter.

"Handsome, what would you like?" the proprietress asked with a smile.

Jiang Miao sat down. "I'll take a look myself."

"Oh? Do you want me to take some out?"

"Bring out some opened tickets."

"Sure." The proprietress opened the glass counter and casually took out more than a hundred Scratch-off tickets. "Handsome, these are all the ones other people passed over. The unopened ones might have big prizes. A few days ago, someone..."

The proprietress kept chattering away as she tried to sell them.

Jiang Miao picked up a few Scratch-off tickets and pretended to examine them.

The item structure section of the Appraisal Panel could directly display a 3D structural diagram, and it could even show individual layers.

Therefore, the protective paint layer on the surface of the Scratch-off tickets could not stop Jiang Miao from seeing through them.

More than ten minutes later, Jiang Miao bought a twenty-yuan Scratch-off ticket at that lottery shop. Naturally, the result he scratched off was a big fat zero.

He left again.

At a clothing store on Sanma Road, he bought several T-shirts and a pair of sunglasses.

After changing into a new outfit, Jiang Miao put on the sunglasses and went to another lottery shop on Sanma Road. After looking for over ten minutes, the highest prize he found was only fifty thousand yuan.

He parked his Electric Scooter outside a nearby mall, changed into another set of clothes in the mall restroom, put on a mask, and took a bus to Chengnan Road.

Inside the lottery shop on Chengnan Road.

Jiang Miao drank bottled water while idly looking through the Scratch-off tickets inside the counter.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

Among one stack of Scratch-off tickets, one had a prize of five hundred thousand yuan.

He drained his bottled water in one gulp and pulled out a hundred yuan. "Boss, five Scratch-off tickets."

The owner took out some loose Scratch-off tickets from the glass counter.

Jiang Miao lowered his head and pretended to choose.

Before long, he picked out five tickets.

He took out his key and carefully began scratching.

"Nope..."

He kept scratching.

"Nothing again?"

"Nothing? I don't believe none of them won!"

Jiang Miao looked like a gambler whose eyes had gone red. After all five Scratch-off tickets came up empty, his face flushed as he pulled out another hundred yuan and slapped it onto the counter.

"Give me another five!"

"Here you go!" The owner smiled as he brought out that large pile of loose Scratch-off tickets again.

However, Jiang Miao was dissatisfied. "These are all the ones others passed over. Open a new stack for me. I want that red stack—it looks lucky!"

"No problem." The owner casually picked up the stack of red Scratch-off tickets and tore off the plastic wrapping.

Jiang Miao spent several minutes picking through that stack.

Then he scratched them again with his key.

"Didn't win! What rotten luck!"

"Oh! I won! A hundred yuan! Hahaha, my luck is turning! Keep it up!"

Jiang Miao's face became increasingly excited.

"Another goose egg! Trash..."

"Huh? Five yuan? A consolation prize."

Jiang Miao was startled at first. Then he leaned close to the ticket and began carefully counting the string of zeros. "Eh... wait... one, two, three, four, five... five zeros. I've struck it rich—it's actually five hundred thousand."

"What?" The owner could no longer sit still. He immediately leaned over to look at the ticket in Jiang Miao's hand, then became excited as well. "Handsome, you've hit the jackpot!"

The other lottery players in the shop soon began talking all at once.

Some beat their chests in regret, wondering why they had not bought it themselves.

Some were full of envy, dreaming of getting rich overnight.

Others were consumed by jealousy, muttering sour remarks under their breath.

Naturally, Jiang Miao did not linger at the lottery shop. He hurried to the Lottery Center in the city to cash in his prize.

Although twenty percent was deducted in taxes, the money had now legally become Jiang Miao's asset.

As for the lottery shop owner, he had pulled Jiang Miao into an empty corner of the shop and repeatedly hinted that he could help arrange things, even offering five hundred thousand yuan to buy the Scratch-off ticket outright.

However, Jiang Miao refused without hesitation.

Of course, he knew what the owner was after.

He could indeed get five hundred thousand yuan that way, but the source of that money would become somewhat suspicious.

Not wanting to leave himself with a hidden danger, Jiang Miao refused without the slightest hesitation.

What he needed now was money obtained reasonably and legally, not money that came with hidden risks. Otherwise, even if he became a billionaire in the future, someone might still use that weakness against him.

After all, flies did not land on uncracked eggs.

As the sun set.

Jiang Miao rode his Electric Scooter home to the suburbs along Hai Bin Avenue.

He returned home.

His father was still working in the field near the entrance. The field was planted with cabbage, bok choy, water spinach, and cucumbers.

His mother was cooking in the kitchen.

"Mom, I bought a box of Char Siu."

"You bought Char Siu? Then I'll steam the ribs tomorrow."

He glanced at the several teacups on the coffee table. "Mom, who came by today?"

"Your brother-in-law came at noon. He brought over several Lemon Fish."

"How are things with his fish ponds?"

"He's stopped managing them. Eel Fry are too expensive this year, and feed prices have gone up too. Your sister didn't agree to keep raising them, so your brother-in-law has been working on a fishing boat these past few days."

"I see." Jiang Miao took a bottle of Soda Water from the fridge and opened it.

His mother had finished cutting the cabbage. "Go call your dad back to wash up and eat."

"Okay!"

Glug, glug... After taking a big gulp of Soda Water, Jiang Miao patted the Big Yellow Dog circling around his feet.

Walking outside, he shouted, "Dad, dinner's ready!"

In the distance, Jiang Dahai, who was picking cucumbers, shouted back, "Got it! I'll come back after I finish picking these cucumbers. You guys eat first."

Looking at his father's somewhat aged figure, Jiang Miao fell silent without realizing it. He was not someone who was good at expressing his emotions.

He wanted to change their current life and stop his parents from working so hard, but reality had always worked against him.

Over the years, he had not actually made much money.

He had graduated from university at twenty-two, only to encounter the special circumstances of 2020, forcing him to return home and remain unemployed for over a year.

Last year, with no other choice, he delivered food for more than half a year. Then, in October, he was injured in a traffic accident and spent over four months recovering, only getting better last month.

He had attended university in Jiangcheng, Jingbei Province. It was a decent Agricultural University at the 211 level, and he had majored in Bioengineering.

Unfortunately, the string of setbacks had forced him to accept reality and honestly deliver food around his hometown.

Because of this, people in the village constantly made sarcastic remarks about him, and even his parents were deeply dissatisfied and disappointed.

After all, a student from a 211 university delivering food made it seem as though all those years of studying had been for nothing.