Chapter 466: Can a Lottery Ticket You Pick Up Still Win?

Han Fei naturally had to find a way to meet his father‑in‑law's request.

Fortunately, Han Fei's friendship with Xu Mo was still decent, and he thought Xu Mo would be willing to sell his own face.

He agreed to his father‑in‑law and simultaneously called Xu Mo.

At that moment, Xu Mo was scrolling his phone; when he saw Han Fei's call, he answered immediately.

"Are you asleep?"

"Not yet," Xu Mo said, then asked, "What's the matter?"

"I showed the document you sent me to my father‑in‑law; he's very interested and wants to see the original. Would it be convenient for you?"

"It's convenient, but the original is in my SirenBowuguan; if you want to see it, you'll have to go to the museum. When would you like to visit?"

Hearing this, Han Fei glanced at his father‑in‑law, who seemed ready to crawl into his phone.

"Now then, my father‑in‑law is a bit urgent; are you free now?"

"I am. Then let's meet at the museum entrance," Xu Mo said.

"Alright, alright! Thank you so much, I'll treat you to a meal another day!"

After hanging up, both parties set off simultaneously toward Xu Mo's SirenBowuguan.

Xu Mo lived closer to the SirenBowuguan, so he arrived first.

Not planning to wait foolishly in the car, Xu Mo prepared to go in first.

He sent Han Fei a message indicating he had arrived and would wait inside, so that Han Fei could go straight in when he got there.

After sending the message, Xu Mo unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, got out, closed the door, habitually glanced back to check if it was shut properly, and pressed the lock button.

Out of the corner of his eye, Xu Mo noticed something stuck to the tire.

He bent down to examine it closely and found it was a Lottery Ticket, number: 01030507090208.

While driving, his tire happened to roll over a piece of chewing gum, which also pressed onto the Lottery Ticket, causing the ticket to stick to the gum and be carried along.

"These numbers are almost the same as the ones Wang Dachuan bought…," Xu Mo stared at the ticket numbers, stunned.

The ticket's numbers differed from Wang Dachuan's ticket only in the final digit.

Xu Mo didn't think the ticket could win, because the number was absurdly unlucky… who would buy like that?

Nevertheless, Xu Mo inexplicably opened the website to check the winning numbers.

The winning numbers for this draw were: 01030507090208, matching the ticket he had found.

The First Prize this round was seven million.

Xu Mo: "!!!"

He knew he was lucky, but never expected his luck to be this great!

He picked up a Lottery Ticket on the road and won seven million!

Xu Mo didn't consider finding the ticket's owner to return it.

The main reason was that Lottery Tickets are anonymous and unregistered, so there was no way to locate an owner.

Moreover, now the results were out; if he went around asking who dropped it, he'd surely attract a swarm of so‑called 'owners'.

He thought, "When I claim the prize, I'll donate a bit more, treat it as charity…," and he wiped the dust and grime off the ticket and slipped it into his pocket.

He then entered the SirenBowuguan, awaiting Han Fei and his father‑in‑law.

Soon, Han Fei and his father‑in‑law arrived; when Xu Mo entered, he had already told the on‑duty guard that a man named Han Fei would be coming with an elderly gentleman, so the guard didn't stop them, merely verified their names and led them inside.

They arrived at the door to Xu Mo's reserved office inside the SirenBowuguan, and the guard knocked.

"Please come in," Xu Mo's voice echoed.

"Our boss is inside; you two may go in. I'm continuing my patrol," the guard said, then turned and left.

Han Fei led his father‑in‑law into the office.

Xu Mo sat on the sofa, and on the coffee table directly in front of it rested a rustic box containing a stack of yellowed xuan paper.

Seeing them enter, Xu Mo rose immediately and smiled, "Han Team."

"This is my father‑in‑law, and this is my colleague, Xu Mo," Han Fei briefly introduced them.

"Hello," Xu Mo said with a smile, greeting them.

"Hello, hello…" the elderly gentleman's breathing was a bit rapid as he pointed to the box on the table: "Is this the Cao Xueqin Original Manuscript of The Missing Forty Chapters?"

Xu Mo nodded.

"May I have a look?" the elderly gentleman asked.

"Of course, feel free."

The next second, the elderly gentleman produced a pair of gloves he had prepared earlier, put them on, approached the table, and carefully lifted the stack of yellowed xuan paper from the box.

He not only studied Dream of the Red Chamber extensively, but also had knowledge of antiques.

From the style and carved patterns on the box, it appeared to date from the late Ming to early Qing, matching the period.

The contents of the xuan paper inside need no further description.

The elderly gentleman was a Redology Expert, with deep knowledge of Dream of the Red Chamber.

Although he hadn't seen The Missing Forty Chapters, based on the first eighty chapters, he had a rough conjecture about their content; after decades of study, he had still uncovered some insights.

Dream of the Red Chamber subtly outlines each character's fate and ending from the start, without deliberately reserving fate for the conclusion; coincidentally, the ending was lost.

It also owed to Cao Xueqin's vague hint of the ending in the opening; otherwise later readers might not have been able to comprehend the book.

Thus the thorough loss of The Missing Forty Chapters is certainly not due to borrowing and misplacement, but other reasons!

After all, if borrowing caused the loss, someone would have seen the content; even if the original were lost, they could reconstruct it, so it wouldn't be lost so completely.

In the elderly gentleman's view, the true reason for the loss is that once The Missing Forty Chapters were released, they would have displeased the court of the time; even if published, they wouldn't circulate, leading to the entire book's disappearance, and possibly endangering lives because of the book.

"So that's how it is… just as I thought!" the elderly gentleman exclaimed, growing more excited as he read the writing on the xuan paper.

The Literary Community is about to experience a massive earthquake!

The Red Studies community is also about to be overturned!

As for Xu Mo, he will become a major benefactor of the entire Red Studies community, and even of the Literary Community!