At six o'clock, dawn was just breaking, and dozens of people had already arrived at the event site, waiting to buy lottery tickets.
The lottery sales event could start as early as seven in the morning, depending on the sales personnel's own arrangements.
At this time, Xinghai Shopping Mall had already opened its doors, but it wouldn't officially open until nine o'clock.
Fang Bai arrived at the mall warehouse and saw his parents counting lottery tickets for the sales personnel; most sales personnel initially received only five hundred tickets.
Fang Bai had made a new rule with his parents last night: lottery tickets were to be collected in multiples of 500.
During the event, Fang Bai's parents were mainly responsible for distributing lottery tickets in the warehouse, while bank staff were responsible for counting cash.
Fang Bai had already communicated with President Ye, arranging to deposit the cash in the branch he managed, and asking him to send two staff members to help count the cash.
It was unsafe to keep so much cash in the mall, and too many small denominations made storage inconvenient. In the future, it would be better to convert it into hundred-yuan bills for easier use.
At that time, President Ye would also arrange for security personnel to protect the site and escort the cash.
After receiving the lottery tickets, the sales representatives returned to their respective sales points and began selling them.
By a little past seven, nearly a thousand people had already arrived at the site. Seeing that lottery tickets were available for purchase, driven by curiosity and temptation, they began to buy.
For their first purchase, most people only bought one or two tickets.
Before long, exclamations constantly erupted from the event site, and it began to get noisy.
"Oh, thank you for your patronage!"
"I won, I won!" A middle-aged woman shouted from the crowd. People nearby heard her exclamation and came over to ask.
"What prize?"
"Eighth prize, eighth prize!"
"Making such a fuss, I thought it was a big prize."
"Hmph, the eighth prize is good too. At least I won something. Two yuan for a high-end household item is still a profit, and it brings good luck," the middle-aged woman retorted, happy to have won. She thought, 'If you're so capable, win one and show me.'
What she didn't know was that the probability of winning the eighth prize was as high as 12.5%.
Just a moment later, another person at the scene shouted in surprise, "I won, I won!" attracting the surrounding crowd to look towards the source of the sound.
When scratching the tickets, most people's eyes revealed a glimmer of anticipation, hoping to win a big prize. Few would shout loudly, fearing that if they really won a big prize, someone might snatch their ticket.
Of course, there were also a few individuals who were genuinely too excited to hold back their cheers.
"Wow, fourth prize!" knowledgeable onlookers said enviously.
"The fourth prize is a 26-inch bicycle, worth two or three hundred yuan. That's really good!"
"I heard they only scratched ten tickets and won. They made a huge profit!"
Many people followed the winner to the prize collection area to see if they could claim the prize.
At this time, there were about thirty security guards in the prize storage area. They had been guarding all night and could rotate shifts at eight o'clock.
"He won a bicycle, can he claim the prize?" a person asked a security guard.
"Yes, but you have to wait a bit longer. The notaries and prize redemption staff haven't arrived yet. You can only claim prizes after seven-thirty. I'm just a security guard, not a prize redemption staff member."
A guarding staff member said that dozens of people were already waiting to claim prizes at the scene, and the number was growing.
The winning people were a bit anxious, but it was understandable; they had arrived too early, it was only a little past seven.
Around seven-thirty, the prize distribution staff arrived. After getting approval from Jing Tian, the person in charge of the prize area, they began distributing prizes. At this point, the people who received prizes no longer doubted the authenticity of the lottery. Some had already received bicycles, gas stoves, and one person even received a refrigerator and was looking for acquaintances to help carry it home.
There was no need to rush if one couldn't find someone to collect the prize temporarily. The prize distribution staff said that for the fifth prize and above, winners needed to register their identity information. With proof of identity and the prize ticket, and after verifying the digital password they had left for their winning ticket, they could collect their prize at any time.
At eight o'clock, the scratching event officially began, and the host came onto the stage, with exciting music playing.
Chen Yang, according to Fang Bai's request, had invited three hosts, two men and one woman, so they could take turns when they got tired.
The hosts were locally well-known 'mic kings' who understood how to improvise on stage. Xinghai Company paid them well. Their main role was to hype up the crowd, occasionally sing a song, and perform freely.
"Fellow villagers, do not hesitate, do not waver!
If you waver, you come in vain! Two yuan, two yuan, only two yuan!
You won't suffer a loss, you won't be cheated! The next lucky person is you, drive a santana home!
...
Good, another lucky person has won a big prize and is coming onto the stage. Let's see what prize he won!
Folks, the event has just begun, and this is already the third lucky person to win a big prize today. What are you still hesitating for?"
In reality, for every 8 million lottery tickets, there were 5 special prizes, 100 first prizes, 200 second prizes, and 600 third prizes.
The total number of big prizes was 905, and it was estimated that over a hundred would be awarded per day.
Only those who won the third prize or higher could go on stage to give an acceptance speech.
It was estimated that over a hundred big prizes would be awarded daily, averaging about ten per hour. This ensured that there would always be someone on stage giving an acceptance speech, along with continuous firecracker displays, constantly stimulating people to spend.
For all big prize winners, the organizers provided free firecrackers. The longer the firecracker display, the higher the prize level.
Of course, other winning people could also pay to set off firecrackers to celebrate, but the setting off would still be handled by staff and could only be done in designated areas.
Around the stage, thousands of people gathered to watch, craning their necks, curious about what prize the lucky winner had received.
The host took the verified and stamped lottery ticket from a staff member, made an exaggerated and surprised expression, mouth wide open, and after a moment of stunned, finally said: "Wow, everyone, guess what prize this is?"
Then he showered the lucky young man with compliments, saying "Congratulations" and "Being handsome really makes a difference."
The lucky winner was overjoyed, his face full of happiness. Having won a prize and seeing thousands of spectators below casting envious glances at him, he felt a great sense of accomplishment and immense pride.
The crowd below, seeing the host's shocked expression, also wanted to know what prize it was. Many shouted "Special Prize!" "Second Prize!"
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Our lucky handsome guy can't wait to go claim his big color TV!"
"Congratulations again to this handsome guy for winning the second prize, a 21-inch color TV worth 3500 yuan!"
The host laughed heartily and held the microphone to the young man, asking him to say a few words of acceptance.
"Thank you to the organizers. I only bought 20 lottery tickets, and I didn't expect to win a color TV. I'm very happy, thank you." The young man was too excited and didn't know what to say on stage.
After returning the lottery ticket to the staff, the host sang an exciting song, igniting the atmosphere at the scene.
Just after finishing a song, before the firecrackers in the firecracker display area had finished, staff brought another winner onto the stage. He had won a third prize washing machine.
In the prize collection area, Fang Bai deliberately controlled the number of prize distribution staff, thereby controlling the number of people queuing to collect prizes.
People who had just arrived at the scene saw so many people queuing at the prize collection area, and people constantly receiving big prizes on stage, with continuous firecracker sounds. Even those who had only come to join the fun and didn't intend to buy lottery tickets couldn't help but buy a few to try their luck, feeling that they might be the lucky one to win a big prize.
How would they know if they didn't take a gamble?
Once at the scene, very few people didn't buy lottery tickets.
Some bought two or three, normally around twenty, many bought over a hundred, and some even came with money saved for a motorcycle, intending to win a car, feeling that at worst, they'd get a motorcycle.
Those who bought felt clever, but no one was as clever as the organizers.
Time slowly passed, and more and more people gathered at the event site. By nine o'clock in the morning, it was estimated that there were over ten thousand people.
In the mall warehouse, sales representatives queued to get tickets. Those who had initially only taken five hundred tickets quickly sold out and could only watch as nearby sales points continued to sell, while their own stalls had no tickets left.
"They're selling so well! I want five thousand tickets!"
"I want five thousand tickets too, I'm tired of running back and forth. Just now, a small boss bought three hundred tickets at once, it was crazy."
At the scene, bank staff helped count money, and Fang Bai's parents were responsible for registering and distributing lottery tickets.
After another hour, the number of people at the event site approached twenty thousand, especially around the stage area, where it was packed with people.
Suddenly, everyone at the scene heard the sound of gongs and drums. This time, the firecrackers lasted for several minutes, accompanied by fireworks.
There had been no fireworks before.
Needless to say, the people at the scene knew a big prize had been won. It was truly possible it was the special prize; someone had already scratched a first prize motorcycle earlier, but there were no fireworks then.
After the fireworks finished, the host on stage passionately shouted into the microphone: "Wow, oh my god, friends, did you see the fireworks?"
"This morning, two lucky people won a first prize motorcycle, but there were no fireworks then."
"No need to guess, this must be the special prize! Let's look forward to seeing who the lucky winner is!"
"A santana car, that's been my dream too!
Folks, it only takes two yuan, plus a little luck, and maybe you'll be the next lucky person."
The crowd below heard the 'boom boom' of fireworks in the sky and were instantly ignited with passion, becoming fervent and discussing animatedly.
"Someone really won the car prize! How can their luck be so good? Why isn't it me?"
"A two-hundred-thousand santana car! Even if you don't drive it, selling it would still get you over a hundred thousand yuan. You'd become rich overnight!"
"Working hard for a year, I can't save five hundred yuan, and someone else gets rich overnight."
"Are the organizers really that generous?"
"Why wouldn't they be? Over in the prize area, prizes are piled up like mountains, with a total value of tens of millions of yuan. There are ten cars alone, and hundreds of motorcycles."
Everyone had a dream of getting rich overnight. Before, there was no opportunity, but now there was one, it just depended on whether they had the luck.
Some people also bought tickets, but their luck wasn't good. They planned to go home, bathe, change clothes, burn incense and worship their ancestors, and come back another day to buy more.