Chapter 234: He Found a God-Tier Cheat!
"Bring out that lottery box for this lady."
Kaguya slammed her palms flat against the wooden counter, the sharp thwack echoing through the cluttered antique shop.
"There were still forty draws left unused, right?"
Haruto stepped up beside her, placing his hands lightly on Inaba Tei's shoulders. He flashed a particularly amiable, yet utterly chilling smile. "We don't ask for much. Just let her finish drawing them."
Rinnosuke swallowed hard, silently dragging the wooden box out from beneath the counter. He knew this matter wouldn't end easily. These two were out for blood.
His gaze shifted, falling onto the petite figure of Inaba Tei. He had heard the rumors circulating around Gensokyo about this 'Lucky Rabbit,' but he had never actually witnessed the extent of her so-called blessings.
Rinnosuke's mind raced, quickly calculating the odds. With only forty draws remaining, even if this rabbit managed to snag a few decent prizes, he would still come out on top. She couldn't possibly hit the jackpot every single time, right? The probability was astronomical.
If he could avoid offending these two little ancestors while still making a modest profit... thinking this, his tense shoulders relaxed, and his mood lightened considerably.
"Come on! Draw freely!" he announced, waving a hand with sudden generosity.
Seeing Rinnosuke's abrupt shift in demeanor, Tei's expression turned a bit odd. She didn't overthink it, however, and simply reached her little paw into the wooden box, rustling around the paper slips.
She pulled one out and casually handed it to Haruto. "Here, fifty thousand."
Rinnosuke froze. He was completely dumbfounded, his eyes widening so much he almost snatched the paper card straight from Haruto's hand just to see it clearly.
After all, there was only one grand prize in that entire box—the fifty thousand yen slip!
"Hurry up and redeem it! Give us the money!" Kaguya slammed the table again, her eyes sparkling with vindictive glee.
When Rinnosuke finally pulled out the fifty thousand yen, his hands were visibly trembling. His heart was bleeding, but he desperately tried to comfort himself.
'It's fine. There's only one grand prize.'
Out of a hundred total draws, he had made a gross profit of one hundred thousand yen. Deducting this, he still had fifty thousand yen in pure profit remaining. This rabbit couldn't possibly be lucky enough to draw all the other valuable items.
"It's gold!" Kaguya's excited shriek rang out, shattering his fragile coping mechanism.
Rinnosuke staggered backward, his square-rimmed glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.
This wasn't right.
This rabbit was cheating. They had literally brought a god-tier cheat code into his shop!
"Gold again!!" Kaguya's voice pitched even higher, vibrating with so much excitement it looked as though she wanted to scoop Little Old Tei up and jump for joy.
"How about..." Rinnosuke swallowed thickly, tentatively raising a hand. "I just refund you the money for the remaining draws?"
His desperate plea was instantly and ruthlessly rejected by both Haruto and Kaguya.
You were so eager to scam people earlier, and now you regret it? It was far too late.
Rinnosuke wanted to cry but had no tears left to shed. He was forced to stand there and watch in pure agony as one high-value prize after another was effortlessly plucked from the box.
Standing off to the side, Mokou, who hadn't spoken a single word this entire time, finally understood where Haruto and Kaguya had gotten their massive stash of lollipops. She had also purchased two lottery cards earlier, and both had yielded nothing but a single, cheap lollipop.
And yet, these two had managed to pull out an absolute mountain of them earlier... Mokou didn't even dare to imagine how many times they had drawn before bringing Tei here. No wonder they had looked like they were about to explode with sheer rage.
Finally, Inaba Tei finished the remaining forty draws.
Having successfully plundered every single valuable prize from the pool, the final five draws yielded only five lollipops. The box was officially bled dry.
Haruto gathered the massive pile of loot, intending to share a generous portion with Little Old Tei. However, the rabbit youkai simply waved her hand with an indifferent, breezy attitude. She snatched up the five lollipops, peeled one open, and happily hopped away out the door.
Kaguya patted Haruto's shoulder, a knowing smirk on her lips. "Didn't you think about it? Little Old Tei would never lack money."
Hearing this, Haruto cast a subtle glance at the petite figure fading into the distance.
He had almost forgotten. Even setting aside her ridiculous luck attribute, Little Old Tei herself was incredibly ancient. The Forest of Magic had been her personal territory long before the Great Hakurei Barrier was erected and Gensokyo was officially established.
As for her actual age... she was at least qualified to sit at the same table as Mother Yukari and the other primordial monsters.
With their vengeance complete, Haruto and Kaguya followed Mokou back to grab a quick meal before finally bidding her farewell.
However, they didn't return directly to Eientei. Instead, they sought out Yakumo Ran, using her abilities to slip through the boundary and cross over into the Outside World.
8:00 PM.
A familiar time, in a familiar place.
Haruto and Kaguya stood quietly before the door of an ordinary residential apartment building. There was no need to pick the lock this time—after joining the family for several meals over the past few weeks, the two had successfully been entrusted with their own spare keys.
With a soft click, the door swung open. The living room was pitch black. Clearly, no one had returned home yet.
Haruto blinked, somewhat surprised. They knew that King Chen's wife usually worked late and didn't get home until after eight o'clock, but... Chen Qin should have definitely returned from school by now, right?
Kaguya slipped down the hall to check Chen Qin's bedroom. She returned a moment later, shaking her head. "She hasn't come back. Could something have happened again?"
Hearing this, Haruto frowned. He raised a hand, his fingers parting the fabric of space to open a Gap.
During the Circus instance, he had discreetly left a Gap marker on Chen Qin for her protection. Even after leaving the terrifying survival game, this spatial tether remained perfectly effective.
Peering through the tear in reality, the two of them saw the bustling lights of a busy street stall. Though the exact location was a bit unclear from the tight angle, it at least confirmed one crucial fact: she hadn't been dragged into another life-and-death horror instance.
Haruto breathed a sigh of relief, the tension leaving his shoulders. He thought to himself that no one could possibly be that unlucky all the time.
"Oh, I remember now. That stall isn't far from here. We even had a meal at the KFC right near that street." Kaguya slapped her forehead in realization. "Should we go find her?"
Haruto raised an eyebrow, a faint, knowing smile touching his lips. He could probably guess exactly why Chen Qin hadn't returned home yet.
However, before Kaguya could press the issue, the heavy sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. The metallic scraping of a key turning in the lock followed, and the front door was pushed open.
Seeing two silhouettes sitting on her living room sofa in the dark, the beautiful woman immediately tensed, her grip tightening on her purse. But as the hallway light spilled over Haruto and Kaguya's familiar faces, her guarded expression instantly melted into a warm, relieved smile.
"Oh, my goodness. I thought a thief had broken in," she breathed, setting her bags down. "There are some of your favorite drinks in the fridge, go ahead and help yourselves. If you're not in a hurry, should I run back out and buy some more groceries?"
"No need to trouble yourself, Auntie." Haruto waved his hand gently. He hesitated for a brief moment, his expression softening, before he spoke up. "I have two... actually, I currently have one piece of very good news. Do you want to hear it now?"
Hearing this, the woman was slightly taken aback. The hand gripping her woven vegetable basket trembled ever so slightly.
"Let... let me cook for you first," she deflected softly, her voice wavering. "It's already this late. I'm fine, but you're still kids. Growing bodies shouldn't go hungry."
She turned around quickly, quietly wiping a hand across her face, and hurried into the kitchen.
The beautiful woman was exceptionally skilled at cooking. Before long, she had prepared an entire table full of sumptuous, steaming dishes. Most of them were the exact recipes Haruto and Kaguya had eaten the most during their previous visits, carefully remembered and perfectly executed.
The soft, warm light in the dining room quietly illuminated the table.
No one spoke. The only sound was the occasional, soft clink of chopsticks against porcelain bowls.
The woman ate with her head bowed, her movements slow and mechanical. She occasionally glanced up at Haruto and Kaguya, her gaze swirling with a heartbreaking mix of desperate anticipation, deep nervousness, and cautious fear.
About a quarter of an hour later, Haruto gently put down his chopsticks. He leaned back in his chair, looking at the beautiful woman who had barely touched a single bite of her food. Reaching into a small Gap, he pulled out a photograph and slid it across the table toward her.
The photo had been taken from a slightly sneaky angle, capturing a candid moment.
Her eyes instantly locked onto the glossy paper, gradually moistening. Trembling violently, she reached out and picked up the photograph.
"Qin Qin... has she really come back?"
Her fingers gripped the edges of the photo so tightly her knuckles turned white. She looked utterly terrified, as if she were deathly afraid that Haruto would shake his head and shatter her fragile hope.
"She's back." Haruto smiled warmly, nodding his head. Then, he deliberately crossed his arms and put on a smug, proud face to lighten the mood. "You have no idea how hard it was to pull this off. From now on, we'll have to come over for meals every single day to make up for it."
Drip...
A single teardrop fell, shattering against the wooden table.
She hadn't wanted to cry in front of the children, but the tears simply refused to listen, flowing down her cheeks in an endless stream. She wiped at her face frantically, nodding her head through heavy, breathless sobs.
"Come... come every day if you want..." she wept, a radiant, broken smile breaking through her tears. "Auntie will cook for you... anything you want..."
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