Chapter 269 Envelope No. 7

After the Beginning of Summer, Grain Full is just around the corner.

After entering the first dog days of summer, Yunxi Village and the surrounding mountains and fields no longer look desolate. The sunshine at the turn of spring and summer shines warmly on the land. The ditches and hills are full of shades of green.

Soon after the establishment of the Yunxi Village Shareholding Crop Planting Cooperative, farming work became busy. In the mountains and fields around the village, the sounds of farmers calling their cattle could be heard everywhere. The once bustling Yunxi Village was now silent all day long. There were no idle people to be seen. Even women and children were working hard in the fields.

The second batch of fertilizers purchased by the cooperative has been continuously transported to the village. According to the number of acres of crops planted, each household has been allocated sufficient fertilizers. For farmers, it is a good idea to apply urea to peanuts and soybeans at this time of year.

Old man Zhang Liushun and brother Chu Dapeng were responsible for distributing agricultural materials such as fertilizers and seeds. There wasn't much to do, but Zhang Liushun couldn't sit idle and liked to go to the fields with the farmers in the village and help with the farm work. Although he was old and his hands and feet were not as nimble, his level of farm work was still top-notch in Yunxi Village. Once he touched the fields, they were all as soft as cotton balls and the edges were scraped as clean as if licked by a dog.

After the cooperative was established, there was no office location, so Old Man Zhang suggested using his old yard in Yunxi Village first. However, no one had lived in Old Zhang's yard for nearly two years, and the weeds inside were half a person tall. Finally, at the call of Zhang Haijun, the village director and chairman of the cooperative, the young and strong men in the village worked together to renovate and repaint the yard, laid cement floors, purchased some desks, chairs and furniture, and used the main room as a temporary office for the cooperative. They also hired an accountant named Liao from the town, and Old Man Zhang worked as an agricultural supplies manager, and Chu Dapeng was a freight driver.

Usually when they go to the countryside to do work, the two brothers live here and cook their own meals. The fruits and vegetables in the countryside are cheap and sweet. Occasionally, when there is busy farming work, they stay here for a few nights. They live a comfortable and relaxed life.

Every evening, Old Man Zhang likes to move a rocking chair, lie down at the door of his old yard, smoke a pipe, and look at the lush green crops growing in the mountains under the setting sun. He is so happy! With this cooperative, in a few years, many families in Yunxi Village will become rich!

The old man Chu Dapeng, when he has nothing to do in the evening, likes to call three or five villagers to play mahjong in the yard. Old man Zhang doesn't like gambling. He has only touched cards a few times in most of his life and never plays. He also knows that Chu Dapeng used to be a compulsive gambler. He has advised him several times, and fortunately he has listened to him more or less. Usually he just has fun with the villagers and doesn't spend any money.

After distributing this period's agricultural supplies and reconciling the accounts with the accountant, the next morning, the two brothers rode their motorcycles back to Jiangchuan City. After entering the city, they crossed Xiling Avenue and arrived at Xiling Square.

A sports lottery draw is being held at Xiling Square.

The scene was crowded with people, with big prizes piled up, and armed police guarding on both sides. Many people were enthusiastically buying lottery tickets and scratching them on the spot. This was a very popular lottery method at that time - instant lottery, which was extremely popular in China in the 90s. The lottery organizers would rent a piece of vacant land and put the prizes on the podium to lure people to buy lottery tickets and scratch them. Except for the special prize, all other prizes were scratched. If the pattern was the same as the winning pattern, the prize could be taken away on the spot.

There are many kinds of prizes, the special prize is a Santana plus 80,000 cash, and there are various home appliances, motorcycles, small ones are wash basins and rice cookers, and a series of canned products from Longjingyuan Canning Factory. The series of canned products from Longjingyuan are a deal reached between Li Jilin and the sales party of Jiangchuan Sports Lottery Center, with certain preferential conditions given as consolation prizes. Ordinary people can get a good deal, and sports lottery sales can save a certain amount of cost, which also has a certain effect on the publicity of Longjingyuan.

Just like the previous times when Old Man Zhang passed by here, the sports lottery draw scene was shocking. Densely packed ordinary people covered the entire ground like ants. The square was hung with red banners all around, blatantly stimulating the nerves of those who hoped to get rich overnight.

“There’s always hope hidden in the next one!”

"One dollar can change your life!"

“Scratch lottery tickets are the most effective and legal way to get rich overnight!”

Looking at the crowded scene, Old Man Zhang subconsciously patted Chu Dapeng on the shoulder and said, "Dapeng, drive faster. It's almost noon. Let's go back and eat first."

Chu Dapeng stepped on the brakes and said, holding a cigarette in his mouth: "Brother Zhang, don't worry. We are just passing by. Why don't we go and scratch a few more times? Maybe we will get lucky today and win."

"Oh! This thing is a hole, ordinary people like us don't have that kind of luck." Old man Liu was instigated by Chu Dapeng to scratch the lottery several times in the past few months. The first time he scratched, he won two bottles of his own Longjingyuan black bean chili sauce cans. But this thing is a consolation prize for other people. They can take it home to cook seasonings, and the canned bottles can be used as sauce bottles after eating. But Old man Zhang can't be precious about it, because he can't finish eating the Longjingyuan brand canned food in his lifetime. After winning the prize that day, Old man Zhang took the canned food home, and ended up being scolded by his wife. This is not a big deal. What makes Old man Zhang most upset is that he didn't win anything in the next few lottery draws, and he lost more than 40 yuan! Although the Zhang family is now well-off, the old man Zhang, who is used to being poor and frugal, never wants to waste a penny earned by his children. He quickly refused Chu Dapeng and said, "My dear Dapeng, it's not easy for you to earn that money. Let's be down-to-earth. You said that your daughter Chu Jian is already in the second year of high school. She will take the college entrance examination next year. Her grades are outstanding. It is a sure thing that she will be admitted to a good university. This will cost a lot of money. We ordinary people don't have much ability. We live by saving. Every penny we can save for our children is a penny."

"Brother Zhang, I understand what you mean. I also miss Chu Jian's college entrance exam next year, but the salary her mother and I earn is not enough." Chu Dapeng looked at the dense crowds of people in the square, his hands itching, and his heart felt like many caterpillars crawling into it: "Go ahead, Brother Zhang, let's not buy too much, just a few dollars, try our luck, and leave if we don't win."

As he spoke, Chu Dapeng had already started his motorcycle. Old Man Zhang had no choice but to take Chu Dapeng to the sports lottery sales site. After parking the car, the two old brothers went to the ticket office to buy tickets.

Old man Zhang bought two lottery tickets and scratched them both in no time. He didn't win anything, but he didn't expect pie in the sky to fall on his head. He had enough food and drink at home and lived a happy life, so he didn't envy these vain things.

Chu Dapeng was different. He bought five lottery tickets, put them all in his pocket, and then took Old Man Zhang to find a flat area with plenty of sunshine and few people. He took out a lottery ticket and started to draw prizes. He first blew hard at the lottery ticket, then stared at it, scratched it a little bit with his thumb nail, and kept shouting: "Club K! Clover! Clover K! Clover..."

As Chu Dapeng shouted, his voice suddenly stopped, like a duck being strangled by the neck, and his eyes suddenly widened and bulged out.

The old man Zhang next to him was shocked: "What's the matter, Dapeng, it's okay if you didn't get hit..."

"I'm hit!"

Chu Dapeng's eggplant face suddenly turned red, his breathing became rapid, and his whole body seemed to be trembling: "Clover K! Brother Zhang, this... this is Clover K!"

With a "pop" sound!

Chu Dapeng slapped himself in the face, then shook his head vigorously, and then looked at the lottery ticket in his hand that was wrinkled because of excessive force, and said in a trembling voice: "Yes, yes, it's really a clover K, I'm not dreaming, I'm not dreaming! I won! I won the jackpot!" He slapped Old Man Zhang on the shoulder: "Brother Zhang, wait for me here, I'll go to the stage to get the jackpot!"

Old man Zhang didn't have time to react at all, and he saw Chu Dapeng rushing into the dense crowd like a mad dog and rushing towards the red and green stage. After a while, Old man Zhang scratched his white hair. Although he still couldn't believe it was true, he was thinking in his heart that Dapeng touched the King of Clubs, which meant he won the first prize.

Old man Zhang followed Chu Dapeng here and touched the lottery several times. He knew the rules well. If he touched the K of Clubs, he would have the chance to go on stage for the second round of lottery. The probability of winning the second round of lottery was quite high. He drew from several envelopes. If he won again, he would get the special prize of a Santana and 1 yuan in cash! Oh, Dapeng's family has suffered all his life. He likes gambling and drinking, his wife is dumb, and his little daughter Chuxin has intellectual disabilities. They live in a shabby house. If it weren't for the help of his son Yunqi, I'm afraid the family would not be able to survive. Now it's good. God is helping the family.

While thinking this, Old Man Zhang saw that Chu Dapeng had been invited to the stage by two of the best-looking models. The male host took the excited Chu Dapeng and gave a long and enthusiastic introduction to the surging crowd below. Then, the staff took out four envelopes marked 1, 2, 5, and 7 for Chu Dapeng to choose. Among the four envelopes, only one contained the Santana Grand Prize.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Chu Dapeng, with a red face, had difficulty breathing. His back was covered in sweat, and his swollen eyes kept turning back and forth between the four envelopes. After an unknown amount of time, he gritted his teeth and said, "I choose 7!"

Under the supervision of the notary office staff, the staff handed envelope No. 7 to Chu Dapeng.

Then, under the dense gazes filled with expectation and envy, Chu Dapeng took envelope No. 7 and pulled out a piece of paper from it with trembling hands.

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(End of this chapter)