What Had He Done to Deserve This?

Qi Hongxin asked Su Ziji beside him in a low voice, "There aren't any plants in this draw, are there?"

Su Ziji replied just as quietly, "Everything is being done by the book. There's no trick to it, and no way to use plants to stir up excitement. But sooner or later, someone will draw a mining right. Please don't worry, my lord."

After all, the real trouble would be if the people at the front drew all the mining rights at once, leaving no chance for anyone behind them.

If all the mining rights were drawn in the middle or latter part of the draw, leaving the last few people with no chance, that would not matter. They had been told in advance: the earlier they signed up, the better their chances. Anyone who had hesitated before paying and registering, and ended up at the back, had no one else to blame.

In all things, those who came first went first. That was only right and proper.

Qi Hongxin nodded, but his eyes stayed fixed on the next person to come up and draw.

The first eleven had all drawn blanks. Even Qi Hongxin's expectations had fallen; he no longer felt, as he had with the very first person, that the next one stood a good chance.

The man drawing probably felt just as conflicted. Unlike those before him, he did not hesitate. He reached in, stirred the slips around, picked a paper ball at random, and took it out.

Sure enough, the first slip bore only "one hundred taels" and a name.

The clerk read it aloud, and everyone present sighed again.

The man had paid two hundred taels, so he drew a second paper ball.

His nerves were steadier this time. He had almost given up hope.