In the lottery ticket shop.
Lu Li picked out a large pile of scratch-off tickets.
Of course, he had his own principles.
The scratch-offs he picked wouldn't all have prizes.
Or else people might get suspicious.
Among the scratch-offs he chose, the vast majority must not win anything.
But in the end, the total winnings must exceed what he spent.
And it had to be by a lot.
He picked about a hundred scratch-off tickets.
After Lu Li paid, he started scratching them over there.
The boss watched him with interest.
One ticket, no prize.
Five tickets, no prize.
Lu Li scratched ten tickets in a row without winning a single one.
The boss suddenly lost interest and casually comforted Lu Li, "It's okay not to win now, you're probably saving up luck for a big win."
He had said this last time too.
Lu Li forced a smile and said, "Well, I hope so."
With his interest gone, the boss stopped watching Lu Li and turned on the TV to watch the NBA.
Ten losing tickets in a row?
Lu Li had X-ray vision.
How could he have so many losing tickets in a row?
He did it on purpose just now.
Intentionally chose a pile of losing tickets to scratch in front of the boss.
He just didn't want the boss to keep watching him scratch the tickets.
Now that the boss had turned his attention away.
Lu Li could finally scratch the winning tickets without worry.
He first scratched a ticket with a thousand-yuan prize, then quickly scratched the others.
About half an hour later.
Lu Li handed over twenty or so winning tickets and said, "Boss, cash these in."
The boss finally looked away from the TV.
He glanced at the pile of dust and a heap of losing tickets at the counter and said with a smile, "It doesn't seem like you had much luck today, didn't scratch many winning ones."
Lu Li shouted with a laugh, "How could I win money every time? If I did, the lottery would be working for me!"
The boss thought that made sense, put on his reading glasses, and started calculating the total winnings.
A moment later, he looked up in shock, "Wow, young man, you're something else, the first ticket won a thousand yuan, almost breaking even already."
Lu Li couldn't be bothered to talk much and urged him, "I have something to do later, quickly calculate how much in total."
"Oh."
The boss lowered his head to calculate again.
Immediately, he looked more and more surprised as he went on.
A few minutes later.
The boss finally finished calculating the total wins.
He looked up at Lu Li with an incredulous expression and said, "Your luck is unbelievable, these twenty or so tickets won a total of four thousand five hundred thirty-five yuan."
Lu Li chuckled, "Just had good luck and scratched a few tickets with decent prizes, if it weren't for those thousand and five-hundred-yuan tickets, I would have lost big on the eighty or so losing ones."
The boss thought he made sense, "Alright, wait a moment, let me get your money."
Lu Li nodded and said, "No rush."
The boss opened the drawer and began counting the money.
While waiting, the new phone he had just bought suddenly rang.
Who could it be?
Calling so early in the morning?
Lu Li casually picked up the phone and took a glance.
Seeing it was President Liu, he pretended not to see it.
Lu Li wasn't a fool.
He knew that if President Liu was contacting him now, it was probably nothing good.
Most likely asking him to work overtime.
He rarely got a day off, how could he possibly go back to the company?
Before long.
The boss finished counting the money, "Count it to see if it's right."
While counting the money, Lu Li smacked his lips and said, "Wouldn't it be easier to use Alipay for the transfer? It would be more convenient."
The boss was a bit stubborn, "I'm not good with that stuff, whenever someone pays, I have to double-check several times to make sure it's received."
Lu Li didn't want to persuade him further.
After confirming the amount was correct,
he left immediately.
Who knew, just as he walked out of the shop, another WeChat message came in.
Lu Li took it out and saw it was from President Liu again.
The message was roughly to the effect that President Liu had thought of a creative live stream idea and wanted Lu Li to write a script for it.
Although it didn't say he must go to the company to work overtime, Lu Li was even more reluctant.
At least there's overtime pay for working at the office.
If he writes the script at home, he won't get anything.
Lu Li pretended not to see it.
He even thought about replying later in the evening, saying he had stayed up all night at an internet cafe and woke up late, unable to make it for the script.
In that way, wouldn't he have gotten away with it?
He thought he was so clever, top-notch at fooling his boss.
Then...
Yes, Lu Li realized he was indeed clever, just not very lucky.
...
Around one in the afternoon.
Labor Road.
In front of a high-end neighborhood's lottery shop.
This place was quite far from where Lu Li rented his apartment.
About seven or eight kilometers away.
He had visited four or five lottery shops before coming here.
Actually, Lu Li wasn't sure why he came here.
When he searched the map for lottery shops, the name "Labor Road" felt familiar, so he came over instinctively.
Speaking of which, the results at those previous shops were pretty good.
Except for one lottery shop on Baodai Road with low-quality scratch-offs where he only made a few hundred yuan,
at other shops, Lu Li made at least a thousand or two yuan.
At one, he found a five-thousand-yuan prize ticket, making about eight thousand yuan.
So, visiting four or five lottery shops,
he not only made back the twelve thousand yuan he spent on a phone,
but also made an extra four or five thousand yuan.
His assets were nearing thirty thousand yuan.
Lu Li figured even if this shop wasn't great, he could still make a thousand yuan, pushing his assets over thirty thousand.
He was just about to step into the shop.
Suddenly.
A familiar voice came from behind, "Lu Li!"
Upon hearing it, Lu Li's cheerful face turned pale.
He finally realized why the name "Labor Road" had seemed so familiar earlier.
He remembered, a few days ago during a hotpot meal with President Liu, she mentioned living near Labor Road.
Damn it!
What a memory!
Lu Li regretted coming here.
Reluctantly, he turned around forcing a smile, "President Liu, what are you doing here?"
Seeing President Liu in a long red dress frowning at him.
Usually, girls struggle to pull off a long red dress, often looking garish.
However, President Liu was beautiful with a great figure, making her red dress look not garish at all, but rather stunning to Lu Li, who found her particularly striking today!
President Liu seemed displeased, with a hint of questioning in her tone, "Why didn't you respond to my calls and messages?"
Lu Li was inwardly distressed; he couldn't exactly say he was ignoring her, could he?
Fortunately, he quickly made up a lie, "Oh, my phone screen broke a few days ago, it was barely usable, then today it completely died, and I haven't gotten a new one yet. Sorry, I really didn't know you were trying to reach me."
He made sure not to mention having already bought a new phone.
Otherwise, she would definitely suspect he was deliberately ignoring her.
To prevent getting caught, Lu Li discreetly slipped his hand into his pocket and pressed the power button on his phone to turn it off.
Though President Liu often wore a stern face, she seemed to trust Lu Li.
Upon hearing his explanation, she relaxed her brows and nodded slightly, "Alright, I believe you didn't lie. Since we ran into each other, come back to my place to discuss the script."
Sigh!
Why did I come here!
Lu Li couldn't help feeling a bit melancholic. He could have fooled her, but President Liu caught him, looks like he couldn't avoid working after all.