Between five and six in the afternoon, the peak period for workers buying lottery tickets arrived.
A large portion of these workers lived in Liuqiao Village, and buying lottery tickets had become an important part of their lives.
Now, with the lottery house offering a free drink promotion, their enthusiasm for buying tickets was further stimulated.
Many workers who hadn't bought tickets before, upon hearing that two yuan could not only buy a ticket but also get a three-yuan drink, also joined the ranks of ticket buyers.
At eight-thirty in the evening, the lottery house stopped accepting orders on time. While tallying the sales, they awaited the lottery results on television.
"Brother Jian, today's total sales exceeded sixty thousand, with winning payouts over thirty thousand. After deducting all expenses, today's net profit is over twenty-eight thousand. This is a business with no capital, no wonder so many people open lottery houses."
The drawing process was not long. After Anan finished tallying the winning tickets, he handed the bill to Yang Jian.
Yang Jian returned it without even looking. "Just keep the accounts in order. Also, give Fang Hai and Ma Yuan five hundred yuan each for their wages; they worked hard today."
"Okay, Brother Jian. If today's trend continues, future sales will increase. Should we hire a couple more people? The four of us are fugitives, we can't be directly involved in taking orders for too long. If plainclothes police come to investigate, we're dead."
"I've considered this. Today is the opening day, and being hands-on is to understand the market for lottery tickets. Tomorrow, I'll have Fang Hai find a few people, and the four of us will be responsible for security on the periphery."
The runners who take orders and record numbers at the lottery house are similar to informants in mainland casinos. Even if caught, they would at most be sentenced to six months of detention. If there are connections with the police, a little money can get them out in a few days.
If fugitives are caught at the lottery house, their crimes will be compounded, and old and new accounts will be settled together. Sentencing is a certainty, depending on whether it's three years or more, or five years or more.
With the first battle a success, Yang Jian also understood the entire process of selling lottery tickets. The profit was slightly less than opening a casino in the mainland, and the winning rate was quite high, so there was a certain risk involved in terms of investment.
Opening a lottery house felt a bit like a mainland casino's "emperor company" running the house. There was a high probability of winning money, but there were also times of significant losses.
No wonder Old Ma won, but they didn't cash out for him. This shows that opening a lottery house is not a guaranteed profit. The most important thing is sufficient capital to withstand short-term losses, making it a long-term investment project.
Then there's the safety issue. This place has a large flow of people, with hundreds of people coming in to buy tickets each round, easily attracting police attention.
Although Fang Zhicheng guaranteed that he could handle the local patrol officers and ensure the normal operation of the lottery house, Yang Jian always felt uneasy about this overt selling of lottery tickets.
Fang Zhicheng's guarantee was unreliable. His purpose was obvious: to have him deal with Master Fo and help him fight for territory. If something happened to him, Fang Zhicheng would not intervene to save him.
In this unfamiliar coastal city, without roots or connections, it was difficult to survive by taking shortcuts. Moreover, his team members were all fugitives wanted by the police, making it even more precarious to establish themselves.
After sorting things out here, he needed to visit Brother Fan's senior brother as soon as possible, Yang Jian decided.
Friday was the day for prize redemption. As soon as the chess and card hall opened at seven in the morning, the winning ticket holders poured in, including Old Xie.
Yang Jian stood at the entrance, surprised. "Uncle Xie, did you win?"
Old Xie laughed heartily. "Yes, Little Yang. Your place has good feng shui. I won on the first day I came to buy tickets."
"How much did you win?"
"Two thousand. I bought five hundred yuan worth yesterday, fifty yuan per number, ten numbers in total. One of them was thirty-six, and I won."
"Congratulations! But try to buy less in the future. Spending a few dozen yuan per round for fun is enough. You spent five hundred this time, and it's easy to lose money."
"Don't worry, I've been playing this for many years. My luck isn't too bad. Although I've lost some money overall, it's not much. I win a prize from time to time. Last time Old Ma won forty thousand, I helped him pick the numbers, and I also won over ten thousand. If it weren't for those black-hearted lottery houses, we would have turned losses into profits."
After speaking, Old Xie excitedly went in to claim his prize.
Yang Jian knew he was completely addicted and couldn't be persuaded otherwise, unless he suffered a major blow like Old Ma to quit his gambling addiction.
"Yang Jian? Is that you?"
A female voice sounded from behind him, startling Yang Jian. In this place, besides the three of Afeng, no one knew his name. Even Old Ma and his son only knew him as Yang Wu. How could a woman know him?
He turned around and saw a girl about 1.6 meters tall, slightly plump, with a round face, average looks but fair skin, wearing glasses, and appearing refined. She looked a bit familiar, but he couldn't recall her name.
"Yang Jian, you are Yang Jian. I'm Dai Mengmeng, don't you remember me?"
The girl confirmed again that she hadn't mistaken him, her face filled with excitement.
"Dai Mengmeng? You're Dai Mengmeng! Damn, you've gotten so fat after a few years!"
Yang Jian finally remembered that this girl was his high school classmate. Her family was from the eastern mountainous region of Xinhe. They didn't have much interaction at school.
Because Dai Mengmeng was a diligent student with above-average grades, while Yang Jian's grades were very ordinary, he didn't even get into university.
However, they were in the same class for all three years of high school. It was just that Dai Mengmeng's appearance and figure had changed quite a bit. She was very thin before, but now she was much heavier.
"What are you saying? How can you talk about girls like that? When did you come to Dongjiang? Are you working nearby too?"
Slightly displeased at being called fat, Dai Mengmeng was still very happy to see an old classmate after many years in a different place.
Yang Jian quickly pulled her into the adjacent supermarket. He didn't want Fang Hai and the others to know his real name.
"Dai Mengmeng, why are you here? I heard you got into university. Why aren't you working in Hancheng?"
"What university? It was just a junior college. I was sick during the college entrance exams and didn't perform well, only getting into a junior college. My family was also poor, so I didn't retake the exams.
After graduation, I worked in Hancheng for two years, but it was always unstable, and the salary was very low. Finally, Meng Meiyun brought me here and introduced me to a cashier job. By the way, do you remember Meng Meiyun?"
Dai Mengmeng spoke of her experiences with a look of unwillingness. If she hadn't been sick during the college entrance exams, she could have at least gotten into a top-tier university, and her life trajectory would have changed, at least not been so bumpy.
"Meng Meiyun? The campus belle from our school? She's also in Dongjiang?"
Yang Jian had a deep impression of Meng Meiyun. She was the undisputed campus belle during high school. She was very beautiful and had good grades. He had even had a crush on her back then, but his grades were far behind hers, and his family was poor, so he didn't even have the courage to write her a love letter.