Chapter 121: Lucky Draw

Although the crowd did not understand what “Ponyo Ponyo, xīlǐhuālā” meant, they were still extremely excited. In the past, when they chose girls, they showed off their wealth. Now the girl was choosing them, and it was about personal charm. In short, there was always something to compare.

After a lot of chattering, Liu Liwa held back his laughter and said, “Everyone, the girl knows you are all very enthusiastic and generous, so she is also in a difficult position. Choosing anyone would offend the others, so she decided to follow the custom of their ‘Kingdom of Oye Ono Omaigod’ to choose who will be her guest for today.”

Oh? There was a new game to play? This made everyone even happier. Since everyone was on the same starting line, no one was better than anyone else.

Liu Liwa personally walked down from the stage and took out two square wooden boxes, each the size of a pillow. The boxes were closed on all sides, with only a hole on top big enough for a hand to reach in. The left box was gold, symbolizing wealth, and the right box was bright red, representing beauty. Everyone held wine bottles in their hands. The game they were about to play was “The Golden Lotus.”

No one understood what the two wooden boxes were for. Cuiping continued to chatter with a red face. Liu Liwa acted as the translator and said, “Everyone has seen the two boxes in my hands. This is a game from the ‘Kingdom of Oye Ono Omaigod’ called the ‘Joyful Lucky Draw.’ This time, we will be comparing luck. However, our exotic girl still needs to save up silver to return to her hometown, so she cannot let everyone draw for free. But since there is only one chance, she doesn’t want to ask for too much silver from everyone. So, she has decided that each person who wants to participate in the draw must first put fifty silver taels into the golden box. How about that? Isn’t it a great deal? Every boss who puts in silver can take part in our lucky draw. Inside the red box are many slips of paper, but most of them are blank. Only one of them has a simple little drawing made by the girl herself. The boss who draws the slip with the drawing will be the girl’s guest for the night. So, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and take action! Let’s see who will have the best luck and the greatest fortune!”

“Oh, so it’s about testing your luck! That’s a great idea. It saves everyone from arguing, and it’s only fifty silver taels—peanuts!” Brother Chun stepped forward first. He held a few shiny silver pieces in his hand as if they were nothing more than chicken feathers. It really was a case of comparing people and feeling miserable. Over here, some people would risk their lives for a hundred silver taels, while others treated silver like trash. No matter when, seeing such a huge gap between the rich and the poor was always unpleasant.

“Testing luck? I, Old Zeng, have never lost to anyone.” Lord Zeng also stood up. However, after searching his whole body, he couldn’t find fifty silver taels. For people like him, fifty silver taels was just small change, too heavy to carry around. He casually pulled out a shiny gold ingot weighing two taels, worth two hundred silver taels. Without even looking at it, he tossed it into the box.

All the rich men who came here for fun didn’t care about fifty silver taels, just like those who drove BMWs or Mercedes didn’t care whether gas prices rose or fell. With these two rivals taking the lead, the other rich men also stepped forward. Some of them didn’t have “small change” either, but it didn’t matter if they gave more—the important thing was not to lose face.

Liu Liwa, who was holding the money box, felt a lot of pressure. In just a short while, the box already weighed five or six pounds, and it was still getting heavier. When the money-throwing session ended, he made a quick count. Twenty-seven bosses had participated, each contributing at least fifty silver taels. The highest contribution was from Lord Zeng with two taels of gold. The total value was temporarily impossible to estimate. Cuiping, standing next to him, was trembling with excitement. She held the red box and stepped forward. With Liu Liwa’s announcement, the lucky draw began.

In the end, Lord Zeng’s good deeds were rewarded. He drew the lottery ticket with the “winning mark.” The drawing on it was indeed made by Cuiping, but it was designed by Liu Liwa. It was a human hand, clenched into a fist, with the middle finger raised—a way to thank the winner for his generosity!

Lord Zeng was extremely excited. This was his first complete victory, thoroughly defeating all his opponents, including Brother Chun. He waved the winning ticket in one hand and imitated the winning mark with the other, raising his middle finger in an incredibly arrogant gesture.

Seeing the dissatisfied expressions of Brother Chun and the other bosses, and not wanting to risk any complications, Liu Liwa immediately announced, “Congratulations to Lord Zeng for his great luck and fortune! However, I must remind Lord Zeng that the customs of the ‘Kingdom of Oye Ono Omaigod’ are somewhat different from ours. The black veil on this girl’s face must never be removed, or it would be disloyalty to her future husband…”

“Got it, got it!” Lord Zeng couldn’t wait to grab Cuiping’s delicate, pale hand and said, “What I admire most is a woman who is loyal to her husband!”

Liu Liwa felt a chill. This old geezer really did have a thing for married women…

Cuiping was extremely nervous and followed Lord Zeng step by step back to the room. But Brother Chun and the others were still unsatisfied and shouted, “Old geezer, you’re so old and still getting so excited over a girl. Be careful not to exhaust yourself to death. Hey, Liu Xiaoqi, is this new game over already? Are there any others? We came here to have fun, so don’t let us get angry at that old geezer and leave with nothing. Silver is not a problem!”

Brother Chun was clearly resentful of Lord Zeng’s victory. This time, he also took out a gold ingot, shining brightly, dazzling to the eyes and captivating to the heart.

Unfortunately, Liu Liwa had only come up with this plan to highlight Cuiping and had no other preparations. He hadn’t expected these rich lords to be so competitive and unable to handle losing. For a moment, he found himself in a difficult position.

Just then, the lights around them, which had been turned off, suddenly lit up one by one. Beautiful figures appeared, all dressed in black veils and black skirts, showing their midriffs and legs. Each had a graceful figure and a fiery passion.

Clearly, they were imitating Cuiping’s outfit. However, these girls were quite honorable. Imitation was imitation, and copycat was copycat. Unlike a certain company that copied everything but still claimed to be original, acting like a saint while being anything but—these pleasure house girls had better character than that.

Although the girls were copycats, none of them wore black veils over their faces. Otherwise, Cuiping might have been exposed. In other words, Lord Zeng had paid two hundred silver taels for a black veil, all for the sake of being different.

By now, Brother Chun and the others had been captivated by the exotic style. The girls seized the opportunity and immediately appeared in their new outfits. Brother Chun laughed heartily and said, “Good, good! Even though they’re fakes, they’re not much worse than that old geezer’s!”

Liu Liwa broke out in a cold sweat. This guy was pretty good at comforting himself.

Guided by the gleaming silver in the hands of Brother Chun and the other rich lords, the girls in black veils and black skirts flew toward them like dark elves. The exotic style had turned into a feature of the Celestial Empire…