When Fang Bai returned to the small warehouse in the shopping mall, his parents, who were resting on chairs, saw their son come back and happily told him about today's sales.
The first batch of lottery tickets had sold out, and a significant portion of the second batch had also been sold.
They had collected 3,201,560 yuan!
"The bank staff's fingers hurt from counting money; they said they'd need to switch people tomorrow because they didn't want to count anymore," Liu Fengqing said with a joyful, beaming smile, her eyes narrowed into slits, before continuing,
"The bank took all the cash, a total of 3.2 million yuan, packed into over a dozen gunny sacks, as there weren't many large-denomination bills."
After speaking, she handed her son two new bankbooks from her bag.
Currently, there was no limit on the number of bankbooks one could open, and both bankbooks were opened in Fang Bai's parents' names.
Fang Bai glanced at the bankbooks; one had 2 million yuan deposited, and the other had 1.2 million yuan.
"Son, this event has become quite big. Now our company and shopping mall are famous, and our family might become famous very soon. I'm a bit worried," Fang Shi said, unlike his wife.
Upon hearing this, Fang Bai saw his father frowning and pondered for a moment.
In fact, he and his family had noticed this issue some time ago.
When the 200 million yuan investment in Xinghai Plaza was announced, Fang Bai became even more aware of the urgency of security issues.
But there was nothing they could do; for a major project investment, even if they didn't promote it, the county government would.
If Xinghai Plaza wasn't promoted, how would people in Wen City know about this shopping mall? Wouldn't that be a contradiction?
Therefore, promoting the investment amount of Xinghai Plaza was not wrong, as long as they didn't casually expose their identities.
They used to be quite low-key, but now, those with intentions would investigate Xinghai Company's background.
An investment of 200 million yuan meant their family assets were certainly substantial, enough to attract the attention of hooligans, who might already be watching them.
It was just that the entire family operated in the vicinity, the shopping mall had security guards, and there was a police station on the street near the bus station, which would make hooligans somewhat restrained.
There were many wealthy people in Wen City, and perhaps being targeted by them was not a good thing.
However, this did not guarantee the family's safety.
After some thought, Fang Bai finally decided: "Yes, after the event, we will need to hire bodyguards. We should find a few retired soldiers who can drive. This matter cannot be taken lightly.
Try not to expose your identity. If uninformed people ask, just say it's a namesake. We need to be more low-key.
Also, don't casually accept media interviews, especially from TV stations, as that would directly expose our faces."
Fortunately, there was no internet in this era, and Fang Bai and his family had not appeared on TV or the internet. Perhaps many people knew that the owner of Xinghai Company was named Fang Shi, but few had seen him and recognized him.
Moreover, apart from employees, most people had no idea that the actual controller was Fang Bai.
"Son, then you make the arrangements," Fang Shi had no objections.
After this event, especially today with their hands numb from collecting money, he and his wife already knew that holding this event would definitely make money, and a lot of it.
An unimaginable fortune could be amassed in just a few days. They truly couldn't understand how their son came up with this business idea.
Today, the shopping mall was incredibly popular, with no room to squeeze in; it was even more crowded than when it opened before the New Year. Although most people didn't buy, the sheer volume of people was overwhelming.
The old televisions in the shopping mall had sold out some time ago, and recently, his son had been busy with the lottery event, with no time to go to T City to purchase televisions.
If refurbishing televisions was like picking up money, then this lottery event was entirely like picking up jewels.
Vast wealth, and with it, safety issues, had to be taken seriously.
Even if his son didn't say it, he wanted to recruit more strong and reliable security personnel, not just those old men who guarded the gates.
Fang Bai nodded, and the matter was thus settled.
That evening, the local television and radio stations reported on the three-year-old child who won a santana car by scratching a lottery ticket and the crazy popularity of the two-yuan scratch-off event.
People who had attended the event and scratched tickets passionately recounted the day's scratch-off activities to family members and neighbors who hadn't gone, especially emphasizing the scene where the three-year-old child won the grand prize.
The next day, several newspapers in Wen City followed up with reports on the three-year-old child who won a santana car by scratching a lottery ticket and the two-yuan scratch-off event.
One newspaper reported as follows:
"[The Lantern Festival, traditionally a festival of lights.
But this year's Lantern Festival in Wen City was different from previous years.
A grand 2-yuan scratch-off event was held at Xinghai Shopping Mall on Oubei Wharf, with exceptionally attractive prizes, including cars adorned with large red flowers, motorcycles, color TVs, refrigerators, and other prizes totaling tens of millions of yuan, sparking a city-wide buying frenzy. In the lottery area, a tall inflatable arch prominently displayed '2 Yuan + Luck = santana'.
The scene was bustling with people. At its peak on that day, the estimated crowd exceeded sixty thousand people. Enthusiastic crowds formed long queues, waiting to purchase scratch-off lottery tickets.
On that day, what was astonishing was that a three-year-old boy won the special prize, a santana car…
Reporters interviewed several winners of motorcycles and large appliances. From the interviews, it was confirmed that the prizes were indeed received.
As for the specific details of the special prize, our reporter will continue to follow up] — Wen City Daily"
Through media, newspapers, and public promotion, the scratch-off event organized by Xinghai Company became known throughout the city.
Today was the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and many people had already returned to work, with very few office workers purchasing lottery tickets.
However, due to yesterday's publicity, many working individuals entrusted family members to try their luck.
Therefore, a great number of elderly people and children came to purchase lottery tickets today, and people from within a ten-li radius of Wen City also came to participate in this event, bringing ample cash.
Even though they knew that drawing lots would mostly result in a loss, people still wanted to take a chance, spending a few tens of yuan to see if it could turn into a motorcycle or even a santana car.
Losing a little money would not significantly affect the family's finances, but if they won a grand prize, it could improve their family's living standard, or even make them instantly rich.
In this era where santana cars were rare in most households, a santana car was definitely a symbol of status and wealth.
On the other hand, human desires are endless, especially the pleasure of getting something for nothing. Many people felt that buying lottery tickets was one of the shortcuts to wealth.
Therefore, when "2 yuan" combined with a car, it became a catalyst for purchasing desire.
Among the purchasing crowd, very few individuals bought fewer than five lottery tickets. Most bought ten or more, and many bought over a hundred. There were even many frantic buyers who purchased over a thousand tickets, with the average number of tickets purchased per person being much higher than yesterday.
However, winning a grand prize was not that easy. The more tickets people bought, the more disappointed they became. There were many eighth and ninth prizes, which simply couldn't satisfy their desires. Then they would pull out their remaining cash, or even go back to withdraw money or borrow money to queue up and buy again.
Fang Bai looked at the crazy scene, something he had experienced before, but not as crazy as what he himself had organized.
He knew that such a frantic accumulation of wealth felt somewhat morally wrong.
However, his desires were the same as these lottery players; it was just that his desires were greater, wanting more than just a santana.
To inconvenience others for his own success.
Making money, it's not shameful. Before accumulating vast wealth, Fang Bai couldn't afford to act like a high-class, detached player.
As long as it wasn't illegal, this kind of quick money was worth making. This was also an opportunity before he went to university.
By noon, Fang Bai went to the warehouse to check the bills and found that today's sales performance was slightly better than yesterday.
Today's sales were expected to exceed four million yuan, and it might continue tomorrow, Sunday, with the popularity exceeding Fang Bai's expectations.
If tomorrow was super popular, the family's lottery ticket inventory would not be enough, expected to sell out around 4 PM.
Now, Fang Bai was only worried about one thing: whether Wang Dakai could make it back before 4 PM tomorrow.
The morning Fang Bai left Jin City, he brought back 6 million printed lottery tickets, with another 12 million tickets yet to be printed.
On the fourteenth day of the lunar New Year, Wang Dakai called his parents, saying that he had finished printing the remaining 12 million tickets and was driving back to Wen City.
These past two days, Fang Bai hadn't received a call from Wang Dakai and didn't know where the truck was.
Besides the lottery tickets, Fang Bai felt it was time to replenish the prizes.
Thinking of this, Fang Bai called various appliance manufacturers, told them the procurement quantities, and that he would wire the money, requesting them to ship the goods promptly.
Over three million yuan had just been credited yesterday, which was enough to pay for the purchases.
Currently, home appliance procurement was primarily handled by Fang Bai and his father; others couldn't interfere.
Even the final price negotiation for other event merchandise was handled by Fang Shi.
Fang Bai arranged the procurement notifications in the morning and went to the bank to make the payment in the afternoon.
After finishing this, the day quickly passed.
That day, lottery ticket sales reached 4.4 million yuan, and the appliance store's revenue also reached 120,000 yuan.
Two days of lottery ticket sales reached 7.6 million yuan, with approximately 2.2 million tickets remaining in stock, which might sell out tomorrow, Sunday.