It's been raining for a long time.

There is a row of shops on the ground floor opposite the apartment building dedicated to rent, and the second store from the corner, the sliding door of the welfare lottery store has been removed, and Lao Zhang leaned out for the third time to test the temperature outside.

This time, Lao Zhang finally showed a little smile.

Then, Lao Zhang pushed the entire sliding door to both sides to the end, there was still a little bit of hot and humid air outside, and immediately exchanged with the cold air in the room, standing at the door, feeling the slightest breeze, Lao Zhang raised the remote control that had been in his hand for a long time, and turned off the air conditioner.

If you don't turn on the air conditioner for two hours, you will save money for the bus tomorrow. - This damn rainy day is the only good thing.

Lao Zhang hates rainy days.

How can you not hate it?

Towards the end of the evening, it is the rush hour for work, and at this time of day, both sides of the road are already full of people in a hurry.

Almost all of these people are Lao Zhang's potential customers: tortured by stupid X customers and even more stupid X bosses at the company, tormented by high rents and appetite-hungry takeaways when they return home, small spaces, heavy pressure, and toil with no end in sight. - For a large part of these potential customers, the odds of winning the lottery are small, and there are very few channels that can really save them from a messy state of existence and a suffocating state of life.

During rush hour, when the crowd slows down the speed, these potential customers, who can see the bright red "1.1 billion" banner as soon as they look up, can easily resist walking into the storefront and spending two yuan and ten yuan to try their luck.

On rainy days, the road is also full of people in a hurry.

The difference is that the roads that are more congested than usual, the speed that is slower than usual, the lower than usual, and the mood that needs more hope and luck will not bring better business to Lao Zhang.

The wet clothes that stick to the body, the rain dripping from the nasty guy's umbrella, the floor tiles that are not paved, and the floor tiles that splash the sewage on the trouser leg when you accidentally step on it, the restless sound of car engines and the long honking of horns that hurt your ears, the exhaust fumes and the hot and humid air that are stirred back and forth by the flow of people, traffic, and the air flow of the air conditioner...... All of this is urging people to speed up, speed up, and get out of this suffocating space.

Looking at the faces full of tiredness, anxiety and numbness in front of him, tired, anxious and numb moving forward, Lao Zhang sighed, casually stuffed it onto the sliding doorknob at some point, and tore off the large propaganda fold with the words "City Leading Show Space, the Last Fifteen Seats for High-level People" in a large gilded font, and stuffed it into the wastepaper basket next to the photocopier on the left hand side of the door.

- It's also a few cents, the loss of selling less lottery tickets on rainy days, and it has offset half of it......

Lao Zhang Zheng reluctantly comforted himself, and there was an electronic voice from the sensor behind him that could really comfort him: Hello, welcome; Hello and welcome.

Customer door-to-door.

Lao Zhang hurriedly turned around, and a thin young man, with slightly dark eyes and a slightly excited expression, walked into the store quickly.

"Boss," the young man said directly, "Help me buy a lottery ticket." ”

"Which one do you want?" Lao Zhang turned off the power of the photocopier and walked to the counter.

"Which one? It's just ......" The young man thought about it, but he didn't know the point, so he picked up a page in his hand that looked like a courier order and looked at it, "It's just a few numbers, and you can ...... if you get a few."

This is a potential customer who has basically never bought a lottery ticket, Lao Zhang replied while making a judgment: "Double color ball." ”

"Yes, yes." The young man nodded repeatedly.

"Okay." Lao Zhang operated the ticket machine, "How to buy?" ”

"How do you buy something?" The young man was a little confused.

"Pick, random, or duplex? Single bet or double? ”

"Well, it should be a pick...... Right? The young man handed the paper he was holding in his hand - sure enough, it was a courier order, a little wet, it should have been a courier order that had just been wet by the rain - to Lao Zhang.

“０３…… ０６…… １４…… 21......" Lao Zhang entered these four numbers according to the order, waited and waited, and when he saw that the young man did not speak, he had to ask again: "And then?" ”

"What, then?" The young man seemed a little confused.

"The two-color ball has seven balls, six red balls and one blue ball." Accustomed to people who buy lottery tickets for the first time, Lao Zhang is very patient: "You are still three balls short of it." ”

"Isn't it a two-color ball? yes, how did I come up with the idea of a two-color ball...... What am I thinking? The young man suddenly muttered to himself, and the expression on his face became a little strange, as if he was confused and at the same time as if he was relaxed.

That is to say," after a short pause, the young man seemed to come back to his senses: "Four numbers are not two-color balls?" ”

Of course not!

But this was not the businessman's answer, Lao Zhang replied: "Just add three more numbers." ”

"Oh......"

"Do you want to buy it?" Lao Zhang patted the ticket machine.

"Uh...... What should I do if I want to buy it? ”

"Whatever." Lao Zhang smiled: "You can just say a few more numbers, or the machine chooses." ”

"I'm sorry, boss." Probably infected by Lao Zhang's kindness and patience, the young man was a little embarrassed: "I'd better buy a bet, you can help me add a few numbers casually." ”

"Okay." He pressed randomly, then pressed the ticket button, the machine began to print, and two seconds later, a brand new welfare lottery ticket was handed over to the young man.

The small episode passed quickly,The next business is not sluggish,Close to half past nine in the evening,Lao Zhang's lottery shop is a little lively。

The two-color ball is drawn at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and today Tuesday is the first draw day of the week. Although the network is now developed,All kinds of lottery information has been very convenient to view through a variety of channels,But Lao Zhang still has a lot of old customers like to come over at the time of the lottery,One is to join in the fun,Dip the joy of the winner,The second is to exchange experience in buying color,Or simply blow and blow water to chat,To pass the time.

Everyone stood in a half-circle around the wall, where there was an old TV that had been eliminated from the old Zhang's living room.

At 9:10, there are still 5 minutes before the draw, and in the TV display screen that is already a little chromatic, the host is constantly chattering about the total amount of the current issue, the total prize money of this period, and the total prize pool that everyone present cares about the most and remembers very clearly:

More than one hundred ninety-eight hundred and fifty thousand.

5 minutes later,The photographer finally moved the camera from the host to the lottery box,After the notary confirmed,The lottery drawer pressed the button,Soon,The red balls in the lens rolled down,In front of the TV in the lottery shop,There was also a series of excited shouts,And soon after, a sigh of frustration.

The hustle and bustle lasted for about half an hour,Congratulations on sending away a little happy customer,Comfort to send away the customer who is inevitably frustrated,The lottery shop gradually returned to desertion,Lao Zhang cleaned the rest area,Look at the time again,It's almost ten o'clock。

Pacing back to the counter, Lao Zhang counted the sales of the day again, and put the meager profits and various expenses that he had to face every day on both sides of his heart, and the result was a sigh.

The daily expenses are already such a headache, not to mention the rent for the next quarter, the youngest son's wedding room, and the old cold legs that the mother-in-law has dragged on year after year......

It's annoying...... Lao Zhang frowned, and I don't know why, in recent years, business in all walks of life has become more and more difficult to do, and even people who open lottery shops have to count on winning the lottery.

It's a pity,Open a lottery shop for so many years,Lao Zhang can't remember how many times he has seen from boring pastime,To small gambling pleasure,To technical analysis,To the quagmire,And then to the whole process of the tragedy of the desperate,Although I don't know what the probability is,I'm not sure whether the legendary black-box operation is true,But deep down in Lao Zhang's heart,I have already vaguely agreed with the view that the lottery is an IQ tax.

Thinking of this, Lao Zhang shook his head while pasting the latest two-color ball winning numbers on the wall trend chart. With Lao Zhang's movements, the completely independent probability numbers were forcibly connected by crooked and distorted slashes, ready to meet the pious eyes of the lottery players the next day.

After pasting the last number, Lao Zhang took a few steps back, raised his right hand, and pointed to check:

This issue should be posted in the sixth row...... That's right, no problem.

Seven lines should be aligned...... That's right, no problem.

Are the winning numbers these...... ３，６，１４，２１，２８，３２－１６…… That's right, nothing to ask......

Wait a minute...... Wait a minute!

This number...... These numbers ...... These numbers !!

Lao Zhang's whole body froze suddenly, but his fingers pointing to the numbers trembled violently.

After a few seconds of extremely contradictory froze, suddenly, Lao Zhang quickly rushed out of the counter, swept over the number selection area that had just been cleaned, rushed to the side of the photocopier, scooped up the wastebasket, turned it over viciously, and poured out all the things that had been collected in it.

In the next second, Lao Zhang did not hesitate to plunge into this large pile of garbage composed of cigarette boxes, waste paper, leaflets, wrapping paper, unwon lottery tickets, and so on.

After a while, when Lao Zhang stood up again, he had an extra invalid express bill in his hand that had been folded many times, wet by the rain, and finally crumpled into a ball.

Lao Zhang carefully unfolded the list, its top, the date of sender, the sender's name, the sender's address, the sender's phone number, the sender's zip code, the recipient's name, the recipient's address, the recipient's phone number, the recipient's zip code......

In a word, all the places that need to be filled in on the express bill are filled in with the same string of numbers:

０３－０６－１４－２１

In the quiet lottery spot, Lao Zhang seemed to hear the crunch of his neck, and he turned his head with difficulty and looked at the trend chart on the wall.

In that position, in that sixth row, aligned by seven lines, is firmly attached to the first four digits of the winning numbers that Lao Zhang has just glued:

０３－０６－１４－２１……

Although this lottery ticket will not give him a dime, a wave of enthusiasm still surged into Lao Zhang's brain.

Wait, wait! Three more, three more!

Lao Zhang tried his best to control himself, and quickly ran back to the counter, opened the ticket machine, and quickly found the ticket issuance record of this lottery ticket.

Then it was cold in an instant.

Last three digits of winning numbers: 28-32-16

The last three digits of the cashier's check number: 22-30-9

The last three, none of them match.

After the magic first 4 digits are all right, the last 3 digits selected by the machine are all wrong.

Fifth Prize......

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a fate that is not met in 10,000 years, the blessings of several generations of ancestors, and the luck accumulated in ten lifetimes......

I actually won ten dollars!?

Tyrannical creatures!

It's thundering!

What a stupid X is this!