“Will you open it?” Mrs Xiang extended the ticket tightly clenched in her hand to Mr Xiang.

  Mr Xiang hesitated for a moment, “You should do it. You’re luckier.”


  “Half-half! I draw it, you open it,” Mrs Xiang sounded rather frantic.

  Mr Xiang knew that the pressure on her was too great. Buying a flat had originally just been a mere idea. Now, though, too many things were already mixed in with this. Be they good or bad, all of them were tied together on the foundation that was this flat.

  They still did not know that in the future, the relationships of many lovers and spouses and even kinships too would be dragged down to death due to flats.

  “Fine.”


  Mr Xiang took the lucky draw ticket and inhaled deeply before carefully readying himself to scratch and reveal its contents.

  “I’ll do it then?” He looked at his wife again, asking for confirmation.

  “Yeah, do it,” Mrs Xiang shot him a look, wanting him to hurry and get this over with……

  A short distance away, the Xiang family’s relatives had already unveiled their tickets.

  None of them had managed to get the grand prize.

  They fumed a little, with Mrs Xiang’s dear cousin even ripping apart her fifth-tier prize ticket and stomping it underfoot a couple of times for good measure. She simply gave up on a pencil case just like that. Rich people would be rich people……

  “I think probably no one will manage to draw it at all,” She said.

  “Yeah, almost everyone’s checked theirs already,” Eldest uncle’s wife agreed.

  “Forget it, Mum. It’s not like our family lacks this bit of money anyway, unlike some people who must place their hopes fully on this,” The image that Li Meng had previously feigned in front of Xu Tingsheng was nowhere to be seen at this moment as she was but a nasty, spiteful woman……

  Mr Xiang scratched and revealed the first character.

  He wondered why he had not begun from the back. He should have done that! If he had done so, his hopes could have lasted for a little longer.

  “First.”


  “The first character was ‘一’, meaning one or first. This meant that they had only won a first-tier prize……Mr Xiang sighed, forcing a smile……

  Receiving the lucky draw ticket from him for a look, Mrs Xiang too could only sigh helplessly……

  People sometimes possess this sort of mentality. When they cannot possess something, they hope that others cannot obtain it too, especially those people closer to them.

  This mentality existed between Mrs Xiang’s cousin and eldest uncle’s wife, and it was how they thought with regard to others too. They directed their gazes towards Mr and Mrs Xiang. Actually, merely from their expressions alone, they already knew that the Xiang family had failed to obtain that ticket.

  The odds of winning were already low in the first place. This was only natural, really.

  Still, these two people seemingly felt a sense of joy and consolation at once.

  “Woah, it can’t be that you actually managed to draw it for real, right?”


  “It sure looks like it! Standing that far away, why so secretive?”


  The two joyfully let their acid tongues run amok again.

  “Are those two wrong in the head?” Mr Xiang said furiously.

  “Forget it,” Mrs Xiang said, “I think the first-tier prize is a bear. Let’s just claim it and give it to Little Ning to play with……”


  Mr Xiang could only nod helplessly as he said, “Let’s go.”


  Husband and wife were just about to walk away when a hand tugged at the clothes of them both from behind.

  They halted and looked back, next trying their hardest to smile, “Little Ning? When did you come over?”


  Xiang Ning drew her parents to the side, inquiring secretively, “What’s this lucky draw about? Is it just one ticket per family?”


  Mrs Xiang was not in the mood to talk about that special-grade prize right now, and did not want to show Little Xiang Ning her disappointment too.

  She tried her hardest to sound calm as she said, “Yeah, just one ticket per family. Look, Mum and Dad just drew a first-tier prize for you, a stuffed bear. We’re on our way to claim it now.”


  Little Xiang Ning directed a piteous, innocent look at her parents, saying softly, “But I, I drew one too……”


  She held up a lucky draw ticket on her palm which was blocked by the sturdy frame of Mr Xiang.

  Xu Tingsheng had complimented her on her acting skills earlier. Such was really as befitting of that Miss Xiang of his previous life who was always asking Uncle to act out some scenes from dramas with her!

  Mr and Mrs Xiang were both taken aback, “What? How did you manage to draw it?”


  “I came in because it was too hot outside. Then, seeing that there were few people on the second floor, I went over and waited for you on the stairs. I waited there for so long! When I came down the stairs, I saw many people queuing up for a lucky draw. It looked fun, so I went and drew one too,” Little Xiang Ning piteously explained.

  “No one stopped you?”


  “There were two big sisters at the stairway with their backs to me. I’m thin, so I slid through the gap between them and they didn’t notice me. Hey, I didn’t do it on purpose……what do I do now?”


  There were actually quite a few families who had left their children here to draw the lucky draw tickets. Thus, Mr and Mrs Xiang really believed that Little Xiang Ning had come down the stairs unbeknownst to the employees who had also not considered that this might happen. That being so, there was no problem then.

  “What do we do now?”


  Mr and Mrs Xiang looked at each other.

  “It’s not like we’re snatching or picking up someone else’s anyway. When Little Ning drew the ticket, there already weren’t many people inside. Since it was at the end anyway, if Little Ning really managed to draw it, she was only drawing out what would have been staying in the box.”


  “Right, it’s all money belong to those black-hearted corporations anyway. Also, they’re the very ones who’re offering it up.”


  Husband and wife consoled each other like this. They were both just ordinary people, not being so very principled morally that there was just no further story to be considered at all at this point.

  Very soon, though, the two were just smiling wryly at each other again.

  “Overly far-fetched expectations again……”


  Their chances of drawing the grand prize had only increased by one out of a couple hundred, and yet they were speaking as though they would really be able to draw out that one ticket.

  They both understood that this was because their expectations were really just too high.

  The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. This was usually how things went. Still, the two were just unable to rid themselves of that yearning. They both looked at that lucky draw ticket in Xiang Ning’s hand before trying to push the responsibility away with their gazes, wishing that the task could fall to each other rather than they themselves.

  “How about you scratch it, Little Ning?” Mrs Xiang asked.

  Little Xiang Ning had nearly burst out laughing when she had heard Mr and Mrs Xiang criticising the ‘black-hearted corporations’ while trying to justify and console themselves earlier. Poor Uncle! Getting scolded for doing something good, even having gotten kicked by her earlier.

  Xiang Ning made use of this chance to let loose her smile even as she stuffed the lucky draw ticket in her mother’s hand, saying, “No, you do it, Mum. I’m scared of this stuff sticking onto my nails. It’s dirty……”


  Mrs Xiang looked at Mr Xiang.

  “Go on,” Mr Xiang said.

  Mrs Xiang readied herself.

  “Start from the back,” Daring not to look, Mr Xiang said.

  “I’d rather get it over with in one shot,” Mrs Xiang clenched her teeth, replying.

  “Well, that’s fine too.”


  “Yeah.”


  Little Xiang Ning watched on from the side, feigning a look of immense anticipation.

  Mrs Xiang placed the lucky draw ticket on her left palm before carefully scratching and revealing the first character with her right hand……

  “Xiang Guoliang……”


  “Hm?”’


  “Hold me.”


  “What?”


  “Look at this. Am I hallucinating?”


  As Mr Xiang took the lucky draw ticket and glanced at it, husband and wife immediately ended up having to mutually support each other as they stood.

  His hands trembling slightly, Mr Xiang carefully scratched and revealed the entire thing……

  “Special-grade prize.”


  It really, truly was. The two stared at each other disbelievingly for a long time.

  “Is this really happening?”


  “How, how is this……”


  Mrs Xiang abruptly hugged and kissed Little Xiang Ning before she whispered, “My darling daughter, you’re just too awesome.”


  “Did I draw it?”


  “Yes, you did.”


  “Wow, I really am awesome! No wonder that auntie said that I have natural-born Fuxi bones, highest grade under the heavens, representing great wealth and fortune……”


  Mrs Xiang asked blankly, “What Fuxi bones?”


  Little Xiang Ning pointed at her forehead, proclaiming triumphantly, “Highest grade under the heavens.”


  “Really? ……Who told you that?”


  “Just some random auntie.”


  Husband and wife held hands. A daughter who was fated for wealth and fortune? They really could not but believe it. This was really too much of a coincidence this time. Also, the winning lucky draw ticket was tangibly in their possession.

  “Also, Xu Tingsheng……does he also apply to this? We should ask someone about it next time.”


  Mr Xiang abruptly thought of something as he covertly took the first-tier prize lucky draw ticket and double-checked its identity before tearing it to shreds and stomping it into the mud beneath his feet.

  “Hey, what’re you doing? That gives a bear,” Little Xiang Ning said.

  “It’s just one ticket per family, Little Ning. Remember, you can’t tell anyone that you drew one too!” Understanding Mr Xiang’s rationale, Mrs Xiang drew Little Xiang Ning over and carefully instructed her in a low tone.

  Xiang Ning nodded.

  Mr Xiang hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and walking before that crowd of relatives, holding the hands of his wife and daughter on either side.

  Smiling, he asked, “Hey, what were you two asking us about earlier?”


  “We were asking whether you managed to draw it! What, could it be that you really did?” Eldest uncle’s wife asked innocently.

  “Hahahahaha,” Mrs Xiang’s cousin laughed, “How’s that even possible? Didn’t you see how they looked like earlier?”


  “That’s right, we did draw it,” Mr Xiang said mildly.

  Then, he waved the ticket in front of their faces before turning and leading his wife and daughter away.

  Leaving those relatives totally dumbfounded, staring after them with blank looks on their faces……