After the Divorce, I Unlocked a Perfect Life

"Sir, ma’am, would you like to try the raffle? The chances of winning are great," a staff member called out to Lin Jiang.

"We have 1,500 points. We’d like to try three times."

"Young man, you’d better not. I tried twice and didn’t win a thing."

An old lady nearby tried to talk them out of it.

"If you come at the end of the month, 1,500 points can get you 15 eggs. It’s a waste to use them on the raffle."

"Ma’am, don’t say that. Just because you had bad luck doesn’t mean everyone will. What if this gentleman wins the first prize?" the staff member said, displeased.

"This robot vacuum has been sitting here for years. I’ve never seen anyone win it. It’d be a miracle if he did."

The old lady scoffed, a professional party-pooper for thirty years.

"It’s a matter of luck. Someone is bound to win it eventually."

The staff member was helpless against the old lady and turned to Lin Jiang.

"Sir, please give your membership card to my colleague. Once the points are deducted, you can draw."

"Okay."

Chen Jingxian proactively handed over the membership card. The female staff member sitting nearby processed it, deducted the 1,500 points, and then gestured for Lin Jiang to begin.

"Go ahead, sir. I can tell from your face you’ve got good luck. Maybe first prize is yours."

"Alright, here’s hoping you’re right."

Chen Jingxian watched from the side. ’Men are such children,’ she thought, ’always drawn to this kind of excitement.’

Lin Jiang deliberately stuck his entire arm into the box, adjusted his aim, and with a quick reverse-grab, snatched the red slip of paper from the top-left corner.

"I’ve drawn."

When they saw Lin Jiang pull out a red slip, the entire area fell silent.

The two staff members looked completely bewildered.

’The veteran employee has been taken?’

"This should be the first prize, right?"

Lin Jiang pointed to the raffle notice board. "I see here that red means first prize."

"He won! He won!"

Chen Jingxian excitedly shook Lin Jiang’s arm.

Although the robot vacuum wasn’t particularly valuable, there was still a thrill in receiving such a legitimate windfall.

The male staff member was stunned.

’Seriously, man? I was just saying that. How did you actually win?’

’Besides, it was hidden in the corner. How did you know where it was?!’

"The young man won! Don’t you dare try to back out of it. Hurry up and give him the first prize."

The old lady came to his aid, and the surrounding people also stopped to watch the spectacle.

"Sir, please wait a moment. I need to get our manager. I can’t make the call on this."

"What’s there to decide? Did you enroll your ’veteran employee’ in social security? Are we not allowed to take him so easily?"

"It’s just that you won the first prize, so we have to inform the manager."

"Fine, go ahead."

The male staff member spoke into his walkie-talkie, and a few minutes later, a middle-aged woman walked over.

Her steps were hurried and her demeanor was aggressive. Her serious expression seemed to say, ’Let me see what’s going on here.’

"Is this the gentleman who won the first prize?" the female manager asked.

"Yes, we all saw it."

As a lower-level manager, she knew about the trickery involved. She was just baffled as to how it could have been drawn when it was hidden so well.

’Could he have X-ray Vision?’

"He won the first prize, so just give it to him."

You have to own up when you’re wrong and face the music.

He hadn’t cheated. Since he had fairly won the first prize, they couldn’t go back on their word. They needed to maintain at least that much credibility and reputation, or they might as well close up shop.

The male staff member took down the robot vacuum and handed it to Chen Jingxian, whose joyful expression was like that of a child with new clothes.

"The first prize is gone. Aren’t you going to add another one?"

"We can’t replace it right now; it will take a few days. But we still have the second and third prizes. You’re welcome to try for those," the female manager said politely.

"Okay."

Lin Jiang stuck his hand in again, performed the same reverse-grab, and found the blue slip of paper in the top-right corner.

When he pulled it out, he once again shocked everyone present.

"Second prize! It’s the second prize!"

Chen Jingxian exclaimed excitedly, clutching the robot vacuum.

The female manager: ???

’How did he do that?’

’Are you here to shop or to stock up?’

"So sorry about that. I seem to have won another one of your ’veteran employees’."

The male staff member looked at the female manager, who said helplessly:

"Give him the prize."

The male staff member gave the second prize, a gift card, to Lin Jiang.

It was enclosed in a small red envelope, looking quite festive.

Lin Jiang didn’t even look at it, simply handing the gift card to Chen Jingxian.

Having carried away two of their "veteran employees" in a row, Lin Jiang was starting to feel a little bad.

"Maybe I shouldn’t use my last chance. I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed."

"It’s fine. When a store opens its doors for business and dares to hold an event like this, it can’t be afraid of customers winning."

The female manager leaned one hand on the counter. She had some class, not trying to take away Lin Jiang’s final chance.

"This is also a good opportunity to show everyone that our raffle is real and legitimate. We absolutely don’t cheat people."

"Well, to help you prove your event is real, I’ll use my last chance. No need to thank me. After all, I already took the first and second prizes, so we’ll just call it even."

The female manager: ’You took away our veteran employees, and I’m supposed to thank you for it?’

Lin Jiang reached into the raffle box again, once more deploying his reverse-grab, and snagged an orange slip of paper.

When they saw the orange slip, the three staff members were cursing inwardly.

’I said we weren’t afraid of customers winning, but you actually went and won again?!’

Lin Jiang held up the orange slip and said to the people around him:

"I can prove to everyone that this store’s raffle is real."

After speaking, Lin Jiang handed the slip to the female manager.

"Can I have the third prize now?"

"I... This... Uh..."

The female manager went through a three-stage reaction of pure bewilderment.

"Bring the prize over."

The third prize was an air humidifier, about the size of a volleyball. The quality was average, probably only worth a few dozen yuan.

The "veteran employee" who had worked here for many years probably never expected the day would come when it would be poached.

Chen Jingxian held the three prizes, admiring them with delight for a good while.

Things you get for free always look good, no matter how you look at them.

"I’ll be going now. I’ll be back to shop and enter your raffles again."

The female manager: ’Thanks a lot.’

"Take care, sir."

The two of them walked out gleefully with their prizes.

Just then, a voice came from the side.

"Young man, you’re a pretty good actor."

The speaker was the owner of the scratch-off ticket stand nearby. He gave Lin Jiang a thumbs-up.

"What do you mean?"

"Manager Zhang must have hired you to put on a show."

"What show?"

"Those three prizes have been hanging there for a long time. A lot of people were saying the raffle was fake."

The scratch-off ticket vendor looked at Lin Jiang with a smile and continued:

"So Manager Zhang hired you to act this out and prove the raffle is real. I bet you have to return the prizes in a little while, right?"

"You’ve misunderstood. I’m just really lucky."

"Oh, come on. I sell scratch-off tickets for a living. You think I don’t know a thing or two about luck? To win the first, second, and third prizes in a row... you’d have to have X-ray Vision."

’Man, you actually nailed it.’

"Nothing in this world is that absolute. It all just comes down to probability."

"I don’t buy it," the scratch-off ticket vendor said with a chuckle.

"How about I try scratching a couple of your tickets then?"

"I’d love that! Pick whichever you want from the table or the counter. Any of them are fine."

"Alright then."

「About twenty minutes later」

Lin Jiang and Chen Jingxian left.

And with that, the city had one more heartbroken person.