Royal Gold Magistrate

The lottery ticket sales were exceptionally hot, far exceeding Fang Zheng’s expectations.

After half a month, over ten thousand taels worth of tickets had been sold. It was very common for people to buy five, six, seven or eight tickets each.

Quite a few young masters had no lack of money and would usually just toss over an ingot of silver and buy them all!

Through word of mouth among the commoners, the information spread extremely quickly. After all, you just needed to spend fifty copper coins for a chance at the grand prize of two thousand taels of silver!

If you really succeeded in one go, an ordinary person wouldn’t need to work hard at all for the rest of their life. They could just lie flat at home.

But unfortunately, most of those coveting the prize weren’t qualified to buy the Number One Scholar Tickets.

With Fang Zheng’s deliberate guidance, the Number One Scholar Ticket also became a lottery ticket that only scholars and wealthy people could buy, making the commoners green with envy.

However, because Banshan District and its surroundings had Number One Scholar Ticket sales points, it attracted quite a few nobles from the inner city to visit.

In a short period of time, the number of people in the district greatly increased, and many small merchants and vendors also made an extra buck because of this.

All the silver had now been collected by Fang Zheng.

Looking at the shiny white silver exchanged back, even Fang Zheng couldn’t help feeling a bit heartbroken.

If the lottery ticket price was lowered and it was opened up for everyone to purchase, the amount now probably wouldn’t be a mere ten thousand taels.

Doubling or tripling that would be very normal. What a pity that I, Fang Zheng, have too strong a sense of morality… *sigh*.

…

Finally, on this evening.

The bonfire party most loved by the commoners of Banshan District began, but this time it was different from usual.

There were especially many people in the square, and most of them had the appearance of scholars, holding folding fans and fanning themselves nonstop.

Quite a few commoners wearing patched clothes felt a bit ashamed. The crowd gradually split into two groups.

One side was clearly dressed better than the other, but with the square being only so big, it was inevitable that they still had to squeeze together.

Fang Zheng and Li Yuanzhao arrived a bit late and could only squeeze in at the back helplessly.

But it didn’t matter. They just came to see the excitement. There was no need to use a backdoor to get to the front.

In any case, with so many people in the square, it was already sufficient to show the influence of the Number One Scholar Tickets.

Moreover, both of them were taller than ordinary people. Standing at the back, they could still see the situation on the stage.

While waiting for the drawing to start, Fang Zheng heard someone faintly talking beside him, “I won five taels in the previous lottery drawing, which shows my luck is pretty good. This time there’s two thousand taels, heh heh.”

The voice sounded a bit familiar. Fang Zheng turned his head to look and smiled.

Isn’t this my third uncle-in-law?

The three little old men also didn’t squeeze in. They were craning their necks and trying their best to look inside.

Fang Zheng sneakily walked over, going behind Zhang Dongxiang, and said with a smile, “The three uncles-in-law are here for the lottery drawing!”

When the three saw it was Fang Zheng, the three old faces fell at the same time. Then they turned around and left.

Fang Zheng quickly grabbed them. “Hey, don’t go. Since you’re already here!”

“Thank you three seniors for your support!”

Zhang Dongxiang flung his sleeve. “Hmph! Always coming up with these odd tricks. How improper!”

Fang Zheng smiled mischievously. “Lord Zhang is right. This thing… That dog Yan Guoan won’t even buy it!”

The three old men’s faces turned red. They clutched their Number One Scholar Tickets tightly and hid their hands behind their backs.

Li Yansong shook his head with a bitter smile. “Little Fang, you’re still young. Yan Guoan’s family is powerful. Don’t offend him too badly. There are some people you can’t afford to provoke…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, you really are my uncle-in-law!”

“You!…”

Li Yansong glared fiercely and pointed at Fang Zheng, then put his hand down dejectedly.

This thick-skinned thing, always taking any opportunity he can! Even claiming relatives randomly. Who on earth taught him to be like this!?

The three of them didn’t say anything and looked at Fang Zheng with unfriendly expressions.

“Is… Is Young Master Li alright?” Zheng Qiao suddenly asked.

Fang Zheng looked back. Not far away, Li Yuanzhao was watching people fight with great energy.

He casually pointed. “Over there.”

“Good… As long as Young Master Li is safe, that’s good. Don’t give me any more trouble!”

The three all let out a sigh of relief.

Last time when something happened to the crown prince, it truly gave the three of them quite a fright.

There’s only this one crown prince. Although he’s not much of a person, we can’t not have him!

“Don’t worry, Eldest Uncle-in-Law.”

“Little Fang… Lord Fang, I beg you, stop calling me that! I still want to keep this old face of mine!” Li Yansong closed his eyes in agony.

Fang Zheng teased, “Ah! Lord Li is impressive, so lofty! You’re ashamed to be associated with my second and third uncles-in-law, right!”

The three old men turned around and stopped talking.

He’s just stirring up trouble and being unreasonable. There’s no communicating with him!

At this time, it was almost time for the drawing to start. The crowd below the stage was getting restless…

The host poked his head out from behind the stage and secretly looked at the crowd, feeling a bit panicked.

Logically speaking, he already had a lot of experience going on stage, but now there were too many people, exceeding his ability to handle it.

If something went wrong later… He wouldn’t die here, right…?

Seeing that the lottery drawing machine had already been moved onto the stage, and the drawing personnel and notary public pulled from the street were in position.

The host tidied his clothes a bit, took a few deep breaths, picked up the loudspeaker, and got on stage.

Before he could stand steady on the stage, the sea of people had already started howling.

“Start the drawing! Start the drawing! Start the drawing!”

Shit, there are too many people… And quite a few familiar faces…

The host forced a smile. “Don’t be impatient, everyone! The drawing will start right away. Then, who will the huge prize of two thousand taels of silver go to…”

“Damn it, hurry up and start! Stop wasting words!”

“You little shit, you’re the one wasting words. I’ve been wanting to chop you for a long time!”

*Plop*. A pebble landed beside the host’s foot.

The corner of the host’s eye twitched. Then without any hesitation, he kicked the drawing personnel aside, took the drawing handle, and started spinning.

He shouted, “The drawing has started! The drawing has started! Starting now! Red balls first!”

The group of villains below were satisfied.

As the drawing machine kept spinning, the first ball came out of the chute.

The host glanced at it and shouted, “The first number, eight!”

His mouth was shouting and his hands didn’t stop. Before the people below had time to look, the host had already shouted a second time, “The second number, seventeen!”

On the stage, there was a huge wooden board. Each time a numbered ball came out, someone would write the number on the board for people to see.

“Damn it, slow down! Are you rushing to be reincarnated?”

Fang Zheng finally couldn’t help shouting. It made him so angry his veins bulged. Damn, this host has no professional integrity at all.

The atmosphere! Build it up! The sense of anticipation!

Good grief, he started the drawing as soon as he got on stage, not a single wasted word. The program effect is completely ruined!

Watching the host spin the drawing machine like a mad dog, Fang Zheng started cursing eloquently from the back of the crowd, with an extremely high amount of foul language.

The three old men listened and covered their faces.

This is purely a hooligan… Someone like this can actually become an official?

Very quickly, the drawing machine containing the red balls had already selected six balls. Seeing the crowd below lowering their heads to check the numbers, the host let out a sigh of relief.

At this point, he also realized the rhythm was a bit too fast and hurriedly tried to save the situation. “Alright, everyone, first compare the numbers.”

“We will now conduct the final number drawing!”

Then he slowly walked over to the drawing machine containing the blue balls and gently started spinning it.

The little balls jumped around in the drawing machine, teasing everyone’s mood.

Everyone stared at the drawing machine with rapt attention, holding their breaths.

The host felt it was about right, gently stepped on the mechanism below the drawing machine, and the chute cover was pulled open. A blue ball slowly rolled out.

“The final number, three!”

“The drawing has now ended! All winning friends can come to the prize claim area in the square within three days to claim their prize. Overdue claims will not be accepted!”