Chapter 39: Winning the Prize

Although Liang Dan did not stand in the middle of the queue to hold a spot for others, she still felt a bit embarrassed.

Liang Dan said honestly, "Auntie, I just scratched a scratch-off lottery ticket, but I don't know how to check it. I wanted to wait for the shopkeeper to take a look for me."

"Oh, pish," the middle-aged woman laughed heartily. "That's a small matter. Come here, let me see it for you."

The woman carried her groceries out of the checkout line and stood next to Liang Dan.

The woman let out an "Oh my!" which startled Liang Dan.

Liang Dan asked, "What's wrong?"

"Girl, you've won! You've won the 500,000 grand prize!"

The woman cried out, "Oh my, wait, I need to look closer. My presbyopia is acting up!"

The shopkeeper looked up: "Sister Li, you need to check that carefully. 500,000 is not a small amount!"

"I misread it just now," the woman said, her tone trembling with excitement. "It’s not 500,000—it's 1 million!"

"What?"

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

The shopkeeper quickly put down the snacks he was scanning, carefully took the ticket, and widened his eyes to examine it.

The shopkeeper’s voice trembled: "It really is a 1 million grand prize!"

"My God!"

"Can you really win a million on a scratch-off?"

"I’ve never even won ten dollars in my whole life!"

The crowd surged forward, all wanting to see what a million-dollar scratch-off looked like. The woman quickly stretched out her arms to block the rushing crowd.

She turned back to Liang Dan: "You hurry up and put this away. Don't fold it and don't lose it. You can't cash a 1 million prize at this little shop."

The shopkeeper quickly handed the ticket back to Liang Dan: "That's right, you have to go to the Welfare Lottery Center to claim it. Take your ID card, copies, and everything else you need. Don't lose that ticket!"

Liang Dan took the ticket and carefully tucked it away. Amidst the noisy crowd, she leaned forward and whispered to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, please put the cost of this auntie's groceries on my member account."

The shopkeeper nodded repeatedly.

Liang Dan turned back and said, "Auntie, thank you. I have something to take care of, so I'll be going now."

The woman watched Liang Dan leave, her tone full of regret as she looked at the shopkeeper: "I shouldn't have shouted so loud just now. I hope I didn't bring that girl any trouble, right?"

Liang Dan could no longer hear the shopkeeper's reply. She rushed to the nearest photo studio and made a photocopy of her ID card.

Once finished, Liang Dan took the carefully secured scratch-off and headed to the Welfare Lottery Center.

The entire process went much faster than she had imagined. A few hours later, her bank account was 800,000 richer.

Clutching her bank card, Liang Dan felt a persistent burning sensation in her pocket.

Ever since graduation, she had worked diligently, and her salary was higher than the city average, yet she was always stretched thin just trying to make ends meet.

It had taken her four years of hard work to save up only a few thousand dollars.

And this time, it was 800,000.

What’s more, she had only used one draw opportunity and bought a single scratch-off ticket.

What if she had bought a ticket with a higher face value?

Liang Dan took a deep breath and pressed firmly on her philtrum to revive herself from the verge of fainting.

The dungeon world was extremely dangerous, but the rewards were far more astonishing than she had imagined.

Liang Dan did not go home; instead, she turned and headed to the hospital nearest to her home.

*

In the hospital room, Liang Dan’s mother, Liang Wen, lay with her eyes tightly shut, her face pale and gaunt.

She wore an oxygen mask, and her thin, pale arms were riddled with IV needles, the backs of both hands covered in dense puncture marks.

This was the tenth year since Liang Wen had become a vegetative patient, and the tenth year since that accident occurred.

Ten years ago, Liang Dan was in high school. After an exam, she had returned home holding a less-than-ideal report card.

At that time, she sat on the bus, clutching her bag filled with test papers, feeling deeply anxious.

Her mother, Liang Wen, had always been very strict with her, but she simply wasn't cut out for academics. Even though she worked extremely hard, her grades continued to slip.

Liang Dan didn't fear her mother's punishment; she feared the look of disappointment on her mother's face when she saw the report card.

Back then, Liang Dan was carefree, and that had seemed to be the greatest worry she would ever encounter in her life.

Closing her eyes on the bus, Liang Dan had made a wish: "As long as my mother doesn't have to see my worsening grades, I am willing to trade everything."

When a nervous Liang Dan pushed open the door to her home, she saw a chaotic mess and her mother lying in a pool of blood.

Liang Dan’s mind went blank. She screamed like a madwoman. Neighbors who heard her cries rushed to the scene, called the police and an ambulance, and took Liang Wen to the hospital.

The police determined it was a case of burglary turned robbery.

The perpetrator had entered the home looking for valuables and was caught by Liang Wen, who happened to come home early from work. The criminal struck her with a blunt object, continued to search for valuables, and fled after finding them.

From that day on, Liang Dan's mother lived in the hospital. For ten full years, she never came out.

Her mother became a vegetable, but life had to go on. Liang Dan balanced school and part-time jobs to pay for her mother’s treatment and complete her own education.

It seemed like everything was getting better.

But there was one thing.

The culprit was never caught.

The nearby surveillance footage captured no suspicious individuals, there were no signs of forced entry on the doors or windows, and not even a third person's fingerprints or footprints could be found in their home.

It appeared to be a premeditated, nearly perfect crime.

Liang Dan had waited for ten years, yet she still hadn't seen the culprit brought to justice.

Liang Dan washed a towel and used it to gently wipe her mother's face and hands. Her mother's fingers moved slowly, as if in response.

Liang Dan only learned later that reality was not like the television dramas; moving fingers did not necessarily mean the patient had regained consciousness.

"Xiao Liang?"

Liang Dan hung her head, waiting for a tear to fall from her eyes onto Liang Wen’s hand before she looked up to respond: "Auntie Wang."

Auntie Wang smiled: "Came to see your mother again? How is work lately? Is everything going smoothly?"

Liang Dan nodded: "It's going quite well. Auntie Wang, I'll increase your salary by 500 a month from now on."

Auntie Wang frowned: "Xiao Liang, it's not easy for you to make money. My current wage is already enough for me."

Liang Dan said: "An extra 500 will make it exactly the same as the salary of Auntie Li next door."

Auntie Wang beamed: "Well, I won't stand on ceremony then. I just bought some fruit, let me go wash some for you."

Liang Dan smiled: "Thank you, Auntie."

Liang Dan was no fool. Recently, every time she came to see her mother, Auntie Wang would chat with her—asking if her work was going well or gossiping about the caregivers in the neighboring rooms.

To ensure a good environment, Liang Dan had always kept her mother in a private room, and with the added expense of hiring a caregiver, her life was truly not affluent.

Because of this, Liang Dan’s brain had automatically filtered out Auntie Wang's hints about a raise several times in the past. Now that she had the money, her mind seemed to suddenly sharpen, and she understood everything in an instant.