CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40: THE LUCKY WINNER WITH BAD EYESIGHT

In the evening, while dining and drinking with Sanzi and his friends, Chen Yiyang received a message from the junior accountant that the goods had been safely delivered to the store.

Chen Yiyang then felt relieved.

As for why he didn’t return with the junior accountant, it was because Chen Yiyang needed to cultivate Sanzi as a connection.

Dealing with those from the pawnshop only requires discussing interests.

But when dealing with people like Sanzi, you have to have a meal and drinks together.

So that when you reconnect later, you can warm up the relationship and ask for help.

"Bro, next time you come here, no matter what you’re doing, just give me a call." A drunken Sanzi put his arm around Chen Yiyang’s shoulder.

Fortunately, there were quite a few people drinking together, so Chen Yiyang didn’t have to personally take Sanzi home.

After drinking and dispersing, it was already past ten at night.

Chen Yiyang instructed Shen Yifan, who was about to get off work, to put that box of Roman Glazed Beads in the store’s warehouse before leaving.

Then he himself headed straight back to the apartment.

The next morning, waking up with a splitting headache, he glanced at his phone.

Today’s intelligence, the visually impaired lottery winner: In an abandoned scratch-off lottery ticket at Jin City’s Guan City District Yiyi Street Lottery Station, there’s one that won 300,000 but hasn’t been claimed. Go buy it and score a deal.

Then Chen Yiyang’s headache suddenly seemed cured.

After yesterday’s hustle and bustle, that box of Roman Glazed Beads probably totals less than one hundred thousand.

Yet today an intelligence on lottery tickets was sent my way.

However, it wasn’t suggesting to buy a new lottery ticket, but rather abandoned scratch-offs.

Chen Yiyang prepared to head out immediately to seize this opportunity.

Then Hans, who hadn’t been out for exercise yet, looked at Chen Yiyang with a grievance.

"Alright, you’re coming with me." Chen Yiyang took Hans, directly letting him onto the Porsche.

Then he brought Hans to the lottery shop mentioned in the intelligence.

This was a small lottery shop of about a few dozen square meters, with an old man lazily leaning in a chair.

The walls of the lottery shop were covered with trend charts and various lottery promotion posters that Chen Yiyang couldn’t understand.

"Young man, here to buy lottery tickets?" The old man glanced at Chen Yiyang and asked.

Chen Yiyang had never bought a lottery ticket before and didn’t plan to in the future either.

Chances of making money with this are even lower than randomly asking out a good-looking girl on the street and having her say yes directly.

"Not really, sir." Chen Yiyang, holding a selfie stick, said to the old man, "I’m a video influencer, would it be okay to shoot a video here?"

"Oh, an influencer." The old man instantly shifted to a tone of disdain, casually glanced at Chen Yiyang, then continued, "You can shoot your video, but don’t pretend it’s a promotion and ask me for money."

"No money needed." Chen Yiyang played the influencer role convincingly.

Watching his phone screen, he said to the old man, "I’m planning to make a video themed around finding unclaimed scratch-off lottery tickets. How much for the abandoned ones here?"

"I’ll charge you two bucks a pound." The old man waved his hand, "Yesterday, some old man scratched off stacks of scratch-offs. Apparently, he sold his house to splash out one last time before he dies.

All scratch-outs discarded in our shop are in that box over there. If you want them, buy them by weight."

"Alright, thanks, sir." Chen Yiyang said a few words to his phone in a pretentious manner and then closed it, pretending he had shot enough material, before picking up the box of scratch-offs the old man mentioned.

"Eight pounds total, sixteen bucks please."

"Sure thing." Chen Yiyang scanned the QR code for the old man, then carried the cardboard box back to his car.

The process was incredibly smooth.

Thanks to all the influencers nowadays, no matter what unorthodox actions people might take, they’re all seen as influencer stunts for attention.

Once he got the goods, Chen Yiyang continued driving to his store.

It wasn’t even noon yet, and only Zhou Jianjun was on duty.

"Help me walk the dog; I’ll watch the store for now." Chen Yiyang handed Hans over to Zhou Jianjun.

"Oh, and this guy’s pretty full of energy. Just grab an e-bike to take him out." Chen Yiyang thought to himself that he’d tire Hans out today.

"No problem," Zhou Jianjun happily agreed.

He didn’t like browsing his phone, found staying in the store boring, and preferred walking the dog anyway.

Good way to get some exercise too.

Once Zhou Jianjun left, only then did Chen Yiyang carry the box full of scratch-off tickets upstairs.

The box of Roman Glazed Beads Shen Yifan brought back yesterday was also here.

Chen Yiyang squatted down to inspect this batch of glazed beads.

Honestly, from the outside, they looked quite ordinary. Not even as pretty as the marbles kids play with.

But considering these were made over a thousand years ago, it’s understandable.

This box of ancient Roman Glazed Beads probably traveled along the Silk Road to Jin City, then got buried and preserved underground for various reasons.

Later, when they were unearthed, it was easy for uninformed villagers to treat them as worthless crafts. That’s how they ended up being collected by an elderly woman fond of gathering discarded items and hidden in her house.

Of course, it’s possible that after they were found, villagers enthusiastically took them for appraisal.

The problem is, it’s only in recent years, with more young people entering the collector’s world, that these beads could sell for over a hundred or two hundred bucks.

A dozen years ago, even if someone recognized them, they wouldn’t spend money to acquire them.

After all, there are few people in the country who like these things, and abroad, these historical collectibles are everywhere, so selling them abroad might not even cover the fuel costs.

This box of glazed beads was originally supposed to be forty or fifty strings of necklaces or bracelets, but due to the corrosion of time, the strings have vanished, leaving only five or six hundred beads.

At an average price of two hundred per bead, the total is less than twenty thousand.

Of course, if sold in bulk to the store that deals in these goods, it might fetch even less than twenty thousand.

Fortunately, now that he has his own shop, once the business license is issued, Chen Yiyang can display them in the store to sell slowly, which might serve as a gimmick.

After moving the glazed beads aside, Chen Yiyang looked at the box of scratch-off lottery tickets.

If he asked Zhou Jianjun and Shen Yifan to help with checking them, it would be difficult to explain the motive.

So, Chen Yiyang could only check them one by one himself to see if any had missed being redeemed.

This task alone took more than four hours.

Zhou Jianjun returned from walking the dog, but the scratch-off tickets still weren’t finished.

As Zhou Jianjun didn’t have Chen Yiyang’s permission, he didn’t come up to the second floor and instead played downstairs with Hans, while Chen Yiyang continued to scrutinize the remaining lottery tickets.

Rubbing his dry eyes, coincidentally someone called, allowing Chen Yiyang to put down the tickets and take a break.

After the call was connected, it was the manager of the pawnshop calling.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they went straight to the point,

"The team from Zhang Jiuqian’s studio will send someone over tomorrow to coordinate the preparatory work. If you have time, could we all have a meal together?"

"No problem on my side," Chen Yiyang promptly agreed.

After all, it was through his own connections that he reached Zhang Jiuqian’s side, so for the sake of relationships, he had to make an appearance.

"Moreover, since yesterday, someone has been asking me for your contact information.

Of course, our pawnshop’s customer confidentiality is reliable, and there will absolutely be no unauthorized disclosure of client phone numbers."

The manager’s words were clear.

Once the appraiser went back, he spread the news of the emergence of the first stock utility ticket from 1872 in the country, catching the attention of some interested parties.

After more than a century of social change.

This stock no longer has any practical value, and naturally, one can’t expect to trade this Qing Dynasty stock for shares in the current China Merchants Bureau.

But this stock is still priceless.

Because it represents a hundred-year legacy of the China Merchants Bureau, and besides its collectible attributes, it holds extremely high marketing value.

The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company once built a headquarters building in Shanghai in 1901.

A few years ago, the China Merchants Bureau even specially refurbished the historically significant building, explicitly to emphasize its historical heritage.

Now a stock from 1872 has appeared, predating 1901.

One can imagine its value.

Naturally, Chen Yiyang will not proactively contact the China Merchants Bureau to sell this stock.

That would only fetch a few bucks.

Sometimes, transactions depend not only on the value of the items but also on the identities of both parties.

If an ordinary person like Chen Yiyang sells the stock to the China Merchants Bureau, he might only get a few million as compensation, with the news barely covering a few lines.

But if the stock is in the hands of someone connected to the China Merchants Bureau, they could craft a beautiful and legendary story, then donate the stock willingly to the China Merchants Bureau.

The news would have much more to say. Some private mutual benefits of the transaction parties would also be concealed.

Chen Yiyang now needs to wait for someone willing to use this stock to tell a story.

So he told the manager, "Don’t disclose my phone number to others. But if possible, act as a middleman and help convey the purchasing terms offered by those trying to contact me."

"Sure, no problem." The pawnshop was happy to serve as a middleman.

At their level, what is needed isn’t just money but connections, information, reputation, and channels.

Just passing messages as an intermediary can let the pawnshop profit considerably.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yiyang resumed checking the scratch-off tickets.

"Got it, it’s this one, finally found it."

Unexpectedly, the second ticket checked after the call was the one winning thirty thousand yuan.

The winning principle of this scratch-off ticket is that there are two lucky numbers on the left.

After scratching to reveal these two lucky numbers, purchasers must continue scratching the prize area on the right.

The prize area contains a cluster of numbers and amounts.

For instance, if you scratch the amount column and it reads ’ten thousand’.

Don’t rush; continue to scratch the number column. If none of the numbers contains the lucky numbers, then it means you haven’t won.

This cumbersome winning method makes it easy for those buying scratch-offs to become cross-eyed.

Sometimes, scratching out a thirty thousand, but remembering the lucky numbers from the previous ticket.

It habitually leads to a judgment of not winning, then moving on to scratch the next ticket.

Before discovering this lottery ticket, Chen Yiyang had already found two other tickets that had also won but were not claimed.

Unfortunately, both of those were just small amounts of tens of dollars.