Chapter 38 Playing games is a tiny bit exciting
The little children all gathered around, looking at the card curiously and asking, "What's this?"
Even the smartest Bai Su was dumbfounded, "1000 yuan for just this stack of cards?"
Ning Jia chuckled, “This isn’t a simple card game, it’s… a game of money.”
After I briefly explained how to play scratch-off lottery tickets to the children, they all looked confused but incredibly curious.
"You mean, just this piece of paper can turn into lots and lots of money?"
He Meng checked her little ears several times to see if they were damaged. After finding they weren't, she began to question the meaning of life.
How can cards conjure money? Is it witchcraft? Ahhh, I don't understand, I don't understand, I don't understand~~
Ning Jia chuckled and pointed at the card, saying, "It's not guaranteed that it will conjure up money; it might also leave you with nothing."
That means it's possible that you won't even make back the money you spent on the cards?
Canglan, Baisu, and the others pondered the game rules Ning Jia had described, while the other little people didn't think much of it. They just felt that the game sounded a little exciting, and their faces showed an eager expression.
Seeing this, Ning Jia generously said, "Sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone, why don't we all play together?"
“But,” she added, “I paid for the scratch-off tickets, so all the winnings are mine.”
The little creatures had no objection and nodded in agreement, "We know, we know, we just want to play around, hehe."
Because there were too many interested participants, the lottery was held again this time. Unexpectedly, the first person to draw a lottery ticket was Gancao.
Seeing everyone looking at him with rather subtle expressions, Gan Cao raised his little head and deliberately said loudly:
"Why are you all looking at me like that? I'm telling you, I'm definitely going to win!"
"I think..." Xuecao hesitated, glancing at her younger brother, silently adding the second half of her sentence in her mind: You definitely won't win the lottery.
After all, given Gan Cao's well-known unlucky constitution, he was always the one with the worst luck whenever something happened. Even Ning Jia had begun to have a stereotype of him as an "unlucky kid." Although the clansmen didn't say it, they all secretly thought that Gan Cao would definitely not win the lottery.
Gan Cao gave a soft hum, though she was actually a little nervous inside. But she still puffed out her chest and walked confidently to the center of the coffee table. She picked up a coin that Ning Jia had prepared and, in full view of everyone, gently scratched the first card.
Ah, it's starting!
The little figures, huddled in a circle, instinctively held their breath. A profound silence fell over the room, broken only by the scraping of paper. As Gancao scraped, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.
What's going on? Ning Jia mentioned a number, but there isn't a single one.
No way, could it be that I really won't win the lottery?
Gan Cao nervously wiped away his sweat, then suddenly paused and put down the coin in his hand.
Everyone gasped. Had they won the lottery?!
"There's a lot of dust on this, I want to wipe it off."
Gan Cao turned to Ning Jia and asked for a small tissue. He wiped the gray paint off the coin before continuing to scrape.
What? Oh, it wasn't a prize after all...
The little people all looked disappointed. Although they thought Gancao was unlucky, at this moment, for some reason, they really hoped to see Gancao win the lottery.
"Licorice, keep it up!" Xuecao couldn't help but say.
"Um."
Gan Cao was extremely nervous. Holding a one-yuan coin and scratching cards was tiring, not to mention having to check the numbers while scratching. Coupled with the heavy psychological burden from both inside and outside, he felt his shoulders getting more and more sore, and his card-scraping movements gradually slowed down. This slow movement made the little people watching even more anxious.
"Wow..."
Some little ones were already on the verge of tears, so their parents quickly covered their children's eyes with one hand and their own with the other...
Ning Jia wasn't nervous at first. She didn't expect to get rich overnight with this thing. She just wanted to spend a lot of money and play some exciting games. She didn't expect the little guys to take it so seriously for the first time. The atmosphere on site was so intense that she subconsciously held her breath.
Just when everyone was holding their breath and almost suffocating, Gan Cao suddenly stopped and let out a soft "Eh".
What's wrong now? Everyone's staring at him. Keep scraping!
But Gan Cao didn't continue scraping. Instead, she turned to look at Ning Jia. Ning Jia noticed this too, and after confirming it carefully, she smiled and said to Gan Cao, "Congratulations."
It turned out that Gan Cao only remembered the winning rule of "matching the specified number". As a result, while scratching, he scratched out an unfamiliar symbol. Ning Jia looked at it and found that it was a gold ingot. According to the rules, this meant that he had won 500 yuan.
"Licorice, you're in luck!"
Ning Jia gave Gan Cao a thumbs-up and explained the meaning of the gold ingot icon to the children, which quickly elicited a gasp of surprise:
My goodness, the licorice actually won the lottery!
"This scratch card cost 20 yuan, and I've won 500 yuan so far, which means I've already made a net profit of 480 yuan."
Gan Cao excitedly quickened his pace and finally scratched the entire card.
The final result was that the card won a total of 500 + 80 = 580 yuan. After deducting the principal of 20 yuan, the net profit was 560 yuan.
Everyone stared at Gan Cao in disbelief. Ning Jia also wondered silently, "Is this the legendary newbie halo?"
As a result, no one else wanted to scrape anymore and gave up their chance, letting Gancao continue scraping.
Soon, the second card was scratched off, winning 220, and the third card won 100. At this point, the expressions of the onlookers had changed from =. = to =O=, with their mouths agape as they listened to Ning Jia continuously announcing the good news of winning the prize.
Is it possible that licorice's bad luck is about to reverse?
Gan Cao, who had been initially apprehensive, became much more relaxed, a bright smile on her face, and her card-scraping movements were full of confidence.
The fourth one... wait, didn't win?
The little people, who had just relaxed, widened their eyes again.
When the next draw for licorice root also failed to produce a winning result, the dramatic twists and turns of the story drew the previously bored audience back in a flurry of interest.
What happened?
Gancao's two small hands, clutching the coin, trembled slightly. It was as if all his previous good luck had been used up, leaving him suddenly back to square one, and his expression became less confident.
Was that good luck just a fluke?
Seeing this, Ning Jia patted Gan Cao's little head and asked, "Are you alright?"
Gan Cao took a breath and shook her head frankly, "I don't want to shave anymore, can I get someone else to do it?"
Ning Jia nodded, "Of course."
Having witnessed the dramatic rise and fall of the licorice prize, the other little people, who had initially been curious, became more composed. Many shook their heads, no longer wanting to participate in the scratch-off lottery. At this moment, Bai Su raised her hand:
"I want to try it."
Ning Jia asked curiously, "Hey, Bai Su, why do you suddenly want to play?"
Bai Su smiled and said, "I made a bet with them that my ticket would win the lottery."
Ning Jia glanced at He Meng, Shi Ying, Xue Cao, and the others who were watching the show with their arms crossed, and subconsciously lit a candle for them in advance. Based on her experience of watching scratch-off lottery videos, this time...
"Ning Jia, I think we've won the lottery."
After scratching for less than a minute, Bai Su removed the coin and showed Ning Jia the number on it.
Ning Jia suppressed a laugh, carefully checked, and nodded, "Yes, I did win. I've already won 100."
He Meng, Shi Ying, Xue Cao, and others: ...?
The outcome came so quickly that they were all stunned before they could even begin to imagine the joy of defeating Bai Su.
Bai Su glanced at the group of wooden chickens, smiled faintly, picked up a coin, and continued scratching.
Huh, we won again? Didn't Gan Cao scratch so many times and not win anything? The curious little kids gathered around again, chattering excitedly.
Bai Su remained completely unaffected and steadily scratched the entire card, but the specified number and pattern did not appear again. She stopped and indicated that she would not continue scratching.
"Now, you each owe me two things," she said to her friends, dusting off her hands.
Gan Cao quickly waved her hand, "Don't count me in, I only owe you one thing."
Having scratched so many cards, he had a vague understanding of the rules of the scratch-off lottery game, which is why he didn't participate in the bet and luckily escaped a loss.
At this moment, Ning Jia had already picked up the stack of cards she had scratched earlier, calculated the winnings, and announced:
"Thanks to everyone, I've won 1,000 yuan so far. Whether I win anything next or not, I've already broken even."
What? The little people were stunned. They had been excited for so long, and they had only just earned back the money they spent on the cards?
Bai Su said, "I think this result is already very good. Maybe some people can't even earn back their principal."
"I think that in order to keep people scratching cards, it's impossible for every card to have a prize. There have to be some misses and some wins to keep people playing."
Gan Cao paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "I think Bai Su is right."
Ning Jia hadn't expected Bai Su to be so clever, so she took the opportunity to stop the game, explained the charitable nature of scratch-off lottery tickets and the approximate range of winning probabilities, and finally warned everyone:
"It's basically impossible to get rich overnight with this. I buy it just to experience the thrill of scratching the lottery. Of course, if I'm lucky and make some money, that's an unexpected surprise."
"So that's how it is." The little people all looked enlightened. The clan leader, Canglan, who had been watching the whole thing unfold, stroked her chin and exchanged a smile with Zelan beside her. Just as they had expected, Ning Jia had once again successfully taught the clan a lesson.
After being given a lecture, the little ones understood the principles behind scratch-off lottery tickets and lost all confidence in winning. They didn't want to scratch anymore. Only He Meng and Shi Ying lost twice in a row and were very dissatisfied. They jumped forward and said, "I want to try too!"
But Bai Su stopped betting with them, saying, "I won't bet more than three times. I won't gamble on things I'm not sure about."
He Meng, Shi Ying: ...
Ning Jia smoothed things over, saying, "Since you're already here, why not play a couple of rounds? If you win, I'll give each of you a small gift."
Small gift? Sure, the group was instantly appeased and picked up the coins to scratch them with great enthusiasm. After all the remaining cards were scratched, they actually won more than 1,000 yuan, excluding most of the ones that didn't come up.
Even Ning Jia was a little surprised. She had watched her colleagues play scratch-off lottery tickets before, and most of them lost money, or only made a small profit of a hundred or so yuan. Winning so much this time was already considered very lucky.
He Meng won almost all of the prize money this time. She held her head high with a smug look on her face, completely smug. Ning Jia patted her head and said, "Don't be so proud. If you and Shi Ying switched places, do you think you could still win?"
He Meng fell silent. This thing was really weird. At first, she thought it was quite interesting. Now that she knew why it was fun, she still... wanted to play it.
The evening scratch-off game finally came to an end, and the little characters dispersed to prepare for bed.
He Meng became smug again, deliberately dragging her lampshade from the bedroom between several bamboo baskets, placing it in a position where everyone could see it.
But tonight was so exciting that everyone was exhausted and no one paid attention to her boasting. They all lay down to sleep. He Meng looked around and, with Ze Lan calling her, she had no choice but to lie down and sleep as well.
Ning Jia was also exhausted, both physically and mentally. She had spent the day delivering goods, shopping, and playing money games all night. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, but just as she was drifting off to sleep, she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up in bed.
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