At noon, beneath the Anemo Archon statue in Mondstadt City, countless citizens had gathered.
Of course, this wasn't the only sales point.
Places like the Angel's Share tavern, the Cat's Tail, Su's Instant Noodles, and the Good Hunter all had stalls set up at their entrances, each one guarded by a sufficient number of knights.
But everyone generally believed that the Anemo Archon would bring them good luck, so this sales point was the most popular one in the entire city.
"Everyone, don't push! There are plenty of lottery tickets!"
"Huh? Sara, why are you here?" Amber, who was maintaining order, was taken aback to see her good friend. Wasn't this supposed to be her busiest time? How did she have time to come here?
The waitress's face was full of embarrassment. "I found someone to cover for me for a bit."
A grand prize of one million Mora! Who wouldn't be envious?
Amber nodded. "Alright then. Sales will start in another five minutes."
"Okay!"
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Jean arrived on the platform.
"Citizens of Mondstadt, hello! Today is the first day of the lottery sale, and I'd like to popularize some knowledge. The special grand prize for this event will be announced at nine o'clock tonight. As for the other small prizes, as long as you scratch and find a Harpastum symbol, you will win a small prize of ten Mora! You can redeem it immediately!"
"Hurry up and start, Acting Grand Master! We haven't even eaten yet!"
"I'm going to win the grand prize! I'm going to win the grand prize!"
Looking at the incredibly enthusiastic citizens, Jean nodded. As a balloon in the sky was popped, the welfare lottery sales finally began.
"Give me ten tickets!"
"Right away!"
The ticket seller presented a box to the man. The lottery was based purely on luck. Whether you could grab anything was all up to you.
The man took out ten small cards from the box. They were covered with a gray coating that you just had to scratch off to see what was underneath.
After buying, the man quickly started scratching them off to the side. Soon, a Harpastum symbol appeared.
"I won! A Harpastum! A Harpastum has appeared!"
The people nearby looked at the excited man, their faces full of shock. The winning rate is this high?
A nearby staff member said to the man, "Sir, please give us the Harpastum ticket. Keep the rest of your tickets safe. The main draw will be tonight."
"Hehe, thank you, thank you. I want to draw another ten… no, one hundred!"
Sales just started, so the winning rate must be high! The man was incomparably certain. But looking at the giant, long queue, his face fell. How long will I have to wait in line?
Soon, other people also started announcing their wins.
"I also got a Harpastum! Two of them! Hahaha, and I only bought two tickets! This is a huge win!"
"Woooo! Me too!"
"Heavens! I bought two hundred tickets, why didn't I win anything? Damn it, I'm not convinced! Give me another three hundred!"
Slowly, the first box of lottery tickets was sold out. The staff members were incredibly busy. These people were terrifying, going from buying a few dozen tickets at the beginning to now buying hundreds at a time, as if they were free.
"Amber, give me fifty tickets!"
"Huh? Miss Marjorie, you're here too?"
"Of course! Such an interesting event, I definitely have to play!" The owner of "With Wind Comes Glory," Marjorie, had also come to buy tickets.
"Okay, here you go."
In the end, Marjorie only won a consolation prize: an apple. But it was a good way to pass the time. Anyway, during the Ludi Harpastum, everyone was just trying to have fun.
At this moment, a cry of astonishment came from a distance!
"Holy crap! Ten thousand Mora!"
"Heavens, he really won! And he only bought one ticket!"
"That's just absurd!"
Amber quickly looked up in that direction and saw that at the sixth stall, someone had actually won a prize of ten thousand Mora!
In the crowd, Bennett looked at the "Lion of the South" symbol in his hand. "Did I... did I really win?"
"Yes! As long as it's not a number, it's a win!"
"Alright! My, Bennett's, bad luck is finally over! Hahahaha!"
The surrounding people all cast envious gazes at him. Ten thousand Mora! That was a fortune! Everyone's eyes turned red.
At first, everyone had thought this lottery was just a gimmick to fool people. But the appearance of the ten-thousand-Mora prize was like throwing a piece of meat into the ocean. The citizens, like sharks, were all stirred into a frenzy.
"Give me three thousand tickets!"
"I want five hundred!"
"Give me a thousand!"
Looking at the citizens who had gone mad, the Knights, far from being happy, began to advise them.
"Please, everyone, consume rationally! The lottery is just a game of chance. Not winning is just a matter of luck. Please don't let it affect your daily lives!"
Hearing this, everyone calmed down a bit.
But at that very moment, the voice of a knight came from the sky.
"Hopkins from Springvale has won the thirty-thousand-Mora prize!"
With his wind glider, his voice spread throughout Mondstadt City.
At this moment, the citizens were once again provoked.
"What 'rationality'? Could my luck be any worse than that good-for-nothing Hopkins?"
"That's right! Hurry up! I want a lottery ticket!"
"Thirty thousand Mora! If I had that much money, I could buy a brand-new horse-drawn carriage!"
"That's right! That one million Mora prize is definitely mine!"
The people had gone completely wild. In Mondstadt, if you dared to say someone had bad luck, they would probably pick a fight with you.
At the entrance to the Knights' headquarters, Jean was shocked as she watched the fiery scene. "Have they gone mad? They clearly know that there's only one of each of the grand prizes."
"This is something you wouldn't understand. This is the gambler's mentality! But it's a good thing. It's better for that Mora to be in the Knights' hands, making a contribution, than in the hands of those drunkards," Su Han chuckled.
Want to get rich from the lottery? Keep dreaming. Only the first few boxes have a high winning rate. And the ten-thousand and thirty-thousand Mora prizes are just to attract people at the beginning. If all of you won, wouldn't the Knights go bankrupt?
At this moment, Jean saw a familiar figure appear. "How… how did she get here?"
"Who?"
"Barbara… my sister." When she spoke of her sister, a trace of sadness flashed in Jean's eyes. The breakdown of their parents' relationship had made the sisters' relationship very awkward. Most of the time, her sister would even subconsciously hide from her.
Su Han glanced over and smiled. "She's probably not here for the money."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Perhaps you've been too busy with the Knights' affairs and haven't paid much attention to her. But actually, Barbara also wants to surpass you and prove herself. Unfortunately, her talent just isn't there."
"You're saying… she wants to win that special grand prize?" Jean was astonished. Her sister was naturally not short on Mora. If she was here, based on Su Han's speculation, it could only be for that prize.
Sure enough, a cry of astonishment erupted from the crowd.
"Miss Barbara, are you sure you want to buy ten thousand tickets?" the staff member couldn't help but ask, because that number was simply too large. It was the most anyone had bought so far.
Barbara blushed and nodded. "I… I want to try and see if I can win the special grand prize!"
"Uh… okay." The staff member handed ten thousand lottery tickets to Barbara. As for whether she could win, that was up to her.
Jean, on the high platform, was silent for a moment, then said, "Could we possibly…"
"No, don't forget our plan! If you want me to guide Barbara, why don't you go and find her yourself? That way, you can get closer to your sister. You're family. What is there that you can't say?"
Faced with Su Han's words, Jean gave a relieved smile. She nodded. "Alright. After this event is over, I'll go and find her." I haven't paid attention to my sister's feelings. I've really been a bad sister all these years.
In the end, Barbara only won ten "lucky" prizes. However, the rest of the numbers would have to wait until the evening.
Thanks to the opening of the train, Mondstadt City's population was very large. And with the Ludi Harpastum, the number of people buying lottery tickets was endless.
Those who won laughed and showed off, while those who didn't win all said that they would definitely be the lucky one when the grand prize was drawn at night.
By six in the afternoon, the Knights had reported the data.
"We've already sold eight million lottery tickets? That's absurd." Eight million tickets. What a terrifying number. Keqing and Jean were both shocked. This was too much.
Kaeya gave a bitter smile. "The workers are about to collapse from exhaustion. It's a good thing we have support from the people from Liyue; that's the only way we've been able to hold on. Who would have thought that our Knights were so poor, yet the citizens are so rich."
"However, this method cannot be sustained for too long. After this Ludi Harpastum, we can hold it once a month," Su Han reminded them. After all, this was wringing Mora from the citizens. If they did it for too long, it would only be Mondstadt that would suffer. They were only choosing this method now because they were too short on money.
Keqing nodded. "That's true. But I feel that our Liyue could also give this a try when that festival comes around."
"Mm, we'll talk about it then." Su Han wasn't too concerned about Mora. His current industries were just too profitable. And because of his identity, no one dared to counterfeit his instant noodles. Basically, in all of Mondstadt and Liyue, he had a monopoly.
At this time, Keqing's face was full of curiosity. "Su Han, who are you planning to choose as the 'lucky one'?"
"Hehe, it will definitely be someone who will surprise you all. Don't be too shocked then."
"Tch. If you don't want to say, then don't."
As the few of them were bantering, Su Han discovered that Barbatos had also come to draw a lottery ticket.
Damn. What is this Anemo Archon doing here?
Below, Venti said to the staff member, "Give me one hundred tickets. I want to try my luck, too."
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