Buying Lottery Tickets

The morning sunlight illuminated the dust in the hallway, making every mote clearly visible.

Chen Zhi pushed the door open.

Lin Wanwan was like a rabbit guarding its burrow, gripping her backpack straps with both hands and hopping in place.

Seeing Chen Zhi come out, she immediately leaned in, lowered her voice, and looked around mysteriously.

"Did you bring the money?"

Chen Zhi patted his pants pocket.

It was bulging, containing the thousand-odd yuan he had "borrowed" from the girl yesterday, along with a little pocket money he had saved up himself.

"Let's go."

He kept it brief and started walking downstairs.

Lin Wanwan followed behind him like a little secret agent, her footsteps very light, afraid of disturbing the neighbors in the building.

Just as the two turned the corner on the second floor, Chen Zhi's footsteps suddenly stopped.

Lin Wanwan couldn't brake in time, bumping her head against his back and letting out a yelp.

"What's wrong?"

She rubbed her forehead and poked her head out from behind Chen Zhi.

In the dim stairwell on the first floor stood a thin, small figure.

Li Zhiyi was wearing a clean and neat blue-and-white school uniform, revealing a section of her bony wrists.

She had her head down, her toes scraping uneasily against the concrete floor, looking as if she had been standing there for a long time.

Hearing the footsteps, Li Zhiyi jerked her head up.

Her eye sockets were red, obviously having cried not long ago, and her eyelids were still a bit swollen.

"Why are you here?"

Lin Wanwan was a bit surprised, then, as if realizing something, her mouth formed an O shape.

"Did you hear us talking?"

Li Zhiyi ignored Lin Wanwan, just staring fixedly at Chen Zhi.

She walked forward quickly, almost tripping over the steps because she was in such a hurry.

Chen Zhi reached out and supported her.

"Sleepwalking early in the morning?"

He let go, his tone casual.

Li Zhiyi didn't speak; she just reached into her pants pocket, struggling to pull something out.

It was a small cloth bundle wrapped in layers of handkerchiefs.

Her hands were shaking a little, and it took her several tries to untie the knot.

Inside was a wad of crumpled money.

There were hundreds, fifties, and mostly tens and fives in loose change, even mixed with quite a few coins.

Although messy, it was organized neatly; all the bills had their corners smoothed out and were stacked according to their denomination.

Li Zhiyi held the pile of money in both hands and offered it to Chen Zhi.

"For you."

Her voice was very hoarse, as if her throat was filled with gravel.

Chen Zhi lowered his eyelids and glanced at the pile of money.

There was probably two or three thousand.

For this girl living in poverty, this was already a huge sum.

"What's this for?"

Chen Zhi didn't take it; instead, he took a step back, leaned against the stair railing, and crossed his arms.

"Trying to be my sugar mama? This little bit of money isn't enough; my net worth is very high."

Li Zhiyi didn't smile.

She stubbornly held her hands up, her arms trembling slightly from the prolonged exertion.

"I earned this from selling barbecue."

She sniffled, trying hard to make her voice sound steady.

"I can set up a stall separately from my grandpa now, and I can make a lot of money. This is my own, what I saved up for school and... and for the future."

"In the past when I wanted to give you a share of the money, you didn't take it."

"Now that you need money, you must accept this."

Chen Zhi looked at her.

This girl was usually as quiet as a mouse, unable to squeeze out a word even if you beat her, but today she was quite articulate.

"I don't need it."

Chen Zhi turned his head, his gaze falling on the old locust tree outside the hallway.

"My family is short on big money. Your little bit of cash is just a drop in the bucket. Take it back and buy some candy."

"I don't want to buy candy!"

Li Zhiyi suddenly shouted.

Her voice was sharp, echoing in the empty hallway, making Lin Wanwan shudder in fright.

"I know it's not enough!"

Li Zhiyi took a step closer, forcefully shoving the money into Chen Zhi's arms.

"I know this money won't plug that hole! But... but every little bit helps!"

"Don't go feed the pigs... and don't go carry manure..."

As she spoke, her tears began to fall.

Large teardrops smashed onto the stack of bills, dampening the thin layers of paper.

"This is all I have... it's really all I have..."

She cried so hard she could barely catch her breath, yet she still gripped the hem of Chen Zhi's shirt tightly, afraid he would run away.

"If you leave, there will be no one to take me to do business, and no one... no one to protect me."

Chen Zhi felt as if something had slammed hard into his heart.

What a fool.

Chen Zhi sighed and reached out to pinch Li Zhiyi's wrist.

The wrist was as thin as a dead branch, as if it would snap with just a little force.

"Let go."

Li Zhiyi shook her head desperately, her fingers gripping even tighter, her knuckles turning pale.

"I won't let go! Not unless you accept it!"

"Tsk."

Chen Zhi had a bit of a headache.

When this girl got stubborn, she was just like a mule.

He reached out and flicked Li Zhiyi's forehead.

With a crisp thump.

Li Zhiyi felt the pain and instinctively loosened her grip.

Chen Zhi took the opportunity to pull back the hem of his shirt, casually pushing the bundle of money back into her arms.

"Put it away."

Seeing Li Zhiyi about to lunge at him again, he immediately raised his hand to stop her.

"Stop."

"Who said I was going to feed pigs?"

Chen Zhi straightened out his rumpled clothes, his face showing its usual cynical expression.

"I'm going to get rich."

Li Zhiyi froze, her tear-stained eyelashes trembling.

"Get... get rich?"

"That's right!"

Lin Wanwan finally got a word in at this moment, puffing out her chest proudly, as if she were the one going to get rich.

"Chen Zhi said he's going to buy lottery tickets! Win the jackpot! Millions of yuan!"

Li Zhiyi stared blankly at Chen Zhi, as if she had heard some fantasy tale.

"Lottery tickets?"

Although she didn't understand much about it, she had heard the neighbors say that stuff was just a scam.

"That's a scam..."

She muttered softly, reaching out to hand over the money again.

"Chen Zhi, don't be silly, just steadily pay off your debts..."

Chen Zhi ignored her advice, directly reaching out to put his arms around the shoulders of the two little girls, pushing them outside.

"Cut the crap."

"Today I'll let you see what a chosen one really is."

"Put the money away safely. If you lose it later, even selling you wouldn't cover the cost."

Li Zhiyi was pushed along, stumbling, and could only frantically stuff the money back into her pocket while also trying to wipe the tears from her face.

The three walked out of the residential compound and passed through the bustling morning market.

The roadside deep-fried dough stick stalls emitted an enticing aroma, and fried cakes sizzled in the oil woks.

Chen Zhi looked straight ahead, walking directly toward the inconspicuous lottery station at the corner of the street.

A thick cotton door curtain hung at the entrance of the lottery station, covered in grease stains.

Lifting the curtain, a smell mixed with cheap tobacco, body odor, and foot odor hit them in the face.

The room was filled with smoke. Several middle-aged men in military overcoats were gathered around the trend chart, spitting as they passionately studied things like hot and cold numbers and odd-even ratios.

Seeing three half-grown kids come in, the boss poked his head out from behind the counter and waved his hand somewhat impatiently.

"Go, go, go. Kids, go play somewhere else. This isn't an arcade."

Chen Zhi didn't speak, walking directly to the counter.

He pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and slapped it down with a smack onto the ash-covered glass countertop.

"I'm buying lottery tickets."

The boss froze for a moment. His eyes lingered on the crisp red bill for two seconds, and his attitude immediately took a 180-degree turn.

"Yo, little boss, how many bets do you want to buy?"

He picked up the money with a beaming smile and held it up to the light to check the anti-counterfeit watermark.

"Quick pick, ten bets."

Chen Zhi didn't waste words, pointing at the rather old-looking lottery machine.

The boss skillfully tapped on the keyboard a few times.

"Alrighty, ten quick picks, twenty bucks."

The machine made a buzzing printing sound as a piece of thermal paper slowly slid out.

Chen Zhi took the lottery ticket and, without even looking at the numbers, folded it and stuffed it directly into his pocket.

This was followed by nine more transactions.

Ten lottery tickets were neatly stacked in his hand.

Lin Wanwan and Li Zhiyi stood to the side, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

It wasn't until they walked out of the lottery station and breathed in the fresh, crisp outside air that Lin Wanwan couldn't hold it in anymore.

"That's... that's it?"

She stared at Chen Zhi's hand, her face full of disbelief.

"You don't even pick the numbers yourself? When my dad buys lottery tickets, he spends days picking them out at home!"

"He even checks the almanac and prays to the God of Wealth!"

Li Zhiyi also frowned. Although she didn't speak, the expression on her face clearly showed she thought Chen Zhi was just messing around.

Two hundred bucks.

Just traded for a few pieces of scrap paper.

Her heart ached at the thought.

Chen Zhi stopped walking and turned to look at the two bewildered little girls.

He fanned out the ten lottery tickets in his hand.

"What do you know."

Chen Zhi shook his head, pretending to be profound.

"This is called divine will."

"Numbers calculated by humans are going against the heavens; the chances are slim."

"Only the ones randomly picked by the machine are the true will of heaven."

He held the tickets out in front of them.

"Come here."

Lin Wanwan and Li Zhiyi instinctively shrank back a little.

"What?"

"Blow on them."

Chen Zhi said in a deadpan tone.

"Blow all your good luck... oh wait, your fortune, into them."

"It's called a fairy's blessing."

Lin Wanwan blinked. Although she didn't understand the slang for good luck, she felt it sounded pretty awesome.

She leaned in, puffed out her cheeks, and blew a big breath.

"Phew!"

Li Zhiyi hesitated for a moment, looked at Chen Zhi's determined expression, and also leaned over with a blushing face to blow gently.

The warm breath brushed past Chen Zhi's fingertips.

Satisfied, Chen Zhi pulled his hand back, solemnly placed the tickets into his inner pocket, and patted it.

"Done."

He looked at the two little girls, the corners of his mouth curling into an inevitable smile.

"Go home and wait to count the money."

"What if you don't win?"

Li Zhiyi was still a little uneasy and asked in a low voice.

Chen Zhi reached out and rubbed her head, messing up her dull, yellowish hair.

"Don't win?"

He chuckled and looked up at the clear blue sky above.

Of course he didn't expect to win; he was planning to stake out the lottery center entrance to buy someone else's winning ticket.

"If I don't win, I'll sell myself to you."

Chen Zhi looked down into Li Zhiyi's anxious eyes, his tone firm.

"I'll be your lifelong hired hand and grill skewers for you every day."

Li Zhiyi blushed, looking down at her toes, her voice as quiet as a mosquito's hum.

"Who... who cares about that."

Lin Wanwan rolled her eyes as she listened beside them.

"What about me? What about me?"

She squeezed in, not wanting to be outdone.

"If you don't win, you have to be my hired hand too! I want you to do my homework every day!"

Chen Zhi glanced at her and ruthlessly shot her down.

"In your dreams."

"You can have anything in your dreams."

With that, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and swaggered back.

His back looked as dashing as a God of Gamblers who had just won the whole world.

Lin Wanwan stomped her feet in anger, grabbed Li Zhiyi, and chased after him.

"Chen Zhi! You're biased!"

"Blehh."

The youth's laughter flew across the early morning streets.

When he returned home, Zhang Guifang was sitting on the sofa wiping away tears, while Chen Jun was squatting on the balcony smoking, the floor around his feet littered with cigarette butts.

The atmosphere in the house was suffocatingly oppressive.

Seeing Chen Zhi return, Zhang Guifang quickly wiped her face and forced out a smile that looked worse than crying.

"Zhizhi is back? Breakfast is in the pot, still warm."

Chen Zhi looked at his mother's red and swollen eyes, his heart aching a little.

But he didn't say anything.

Saying anything now would be empty.

Only by actually slapping the money on the table could he stabilize this crumbling family once again.

"I'm not hungry."

Chen Zhi changed his shoes and walked straight into his room.

He closed the door with a bang.

Leaning against the door, he let out a long breath.