Chapter 591: Drawing Lots

The market didn't take up a huge area, but it wasn't small either. He hadn't been there in many days, and now it was completely finished.

Looking from afar, one could already see rows of empty little shop stalls below, without doors.

After they arrived, they walked a circle around the area. It was empty anyway, nothing much to browse, so they simply followed the directions of the person at the entrance and went up to the second-floor market office to pay.

After paying the balance, they received the corresponding numbered size tags in the order the deposits had been paid, and then waited until 12 noon to draw lots together for shop numbers.

Those who hadn't come on time to pay the balance would draw lots later.

With a long stretch of waiting time and nothing to do, the few of them simply wandered off to the old market again.

Because of the recent cold and windy weather, not many boats were going out. Apart from the big boats, the small boats basically couldn't head out to sea, so the seafood at the market seemed a lot less plentiful too.

It wasn't their first time here either—they'd been several times—and looking around there wasn't much novelty anymore. They just took a quick stroll, and the most common goods they saw were toadfish, turbot, horse mackerel, and lizardfish.

Originally Ye Yaodong had only meant to browse casually, but seeing so much stock, he was tempted again.

It had been many days since he'd gone out to sea, and he didn't know if there would still be weather suitable for going out. He was still short by about a thousand jin on the goods he had to deliver before the new year.

He hesitated—should he buy a thousand jin of lizardfish to take back and dry? Dried lizardfish like this was far tastier than those dried small fish.

Anyway, going back with a full load was one trip, and going back empty was one trip too. When the time came, this dried fish could be dried out for the family to eat over New Year, or to give some to his father-in-law.

Better than having all the goods at home sold off so he couldn't even eat any himself. Buying more back—if he couldn't go out to sea for a while and the quantity fell short, he could use it to top things up, so he wouldn't be caught off guard at the last minute.

Once he thought of it, he did it.

The others watched his haggling with puzzled curiosity.

"Dongzi? You're still buying lizardfish?"

"I heard your family already collected several thousand jin of dried fish? You're still buying?"

"How big is your business? You've already stockpiled several thousand jin at home and it's still not enough?"

Ye Yaodong nodded casually, "Just in case. Buy more to keep on hand or save some for ourselves. I'll buy 1,000 jin back—this kind of fish shrinks a lot when dried, so I should only get about 100 jin of dried fish out of it."

Although the market price was a little higher than at the dock, it made no difference to him. When he collected goods from others, the profit was always split off; only what he kept for himself was the most profitable.

So buying fresh goods at the market versus buying existing stock at home wasn't much different. The dried product might even come out a bit cheaper than ready-made dried fish.

The others couldn't just stand by watching either—they could only go help him carry and lift. Once everything was done and the goods were all loaded onto the tractor, it was almost noon, time to draw lots.

Ye Yaodong patted his pocket, which had gone flat again, and felt that money slipped through his fingers too easily!

1,000 jin of lizardfish only cost 30 yuan, plus a 9-mao transaction fee.

He figured, if no fishing boats went out near the deadline, he might as well come into the city himself and buy a few thousand jin to take back and dry.

It was just a bit more effort, but he could still make money.

Breaking his word was a small matter; he was just afraid they wouldn't place orders with him in the future.

After handing the goods over to Zhou Shu to watch, they went back to the new market's second floor, to the office marked with the market department label.

Inside, over twenty people were already standing packed together waiting, all chatting in low voices.

After Ye Yaodong and the others went in, they found a corner to stand in too.

Ye Ye Yaopeng whispered, "When we were paying earlier, I didn't see this many people. How are there so many now?"

Ah Chui added, "This isn't even a lot. I heard there are over 70 stalls in total, and the last 20 are reportedly for rent only, not sale. Today, probably half the people still have last-minute things and haven't shown up."

"Oh my, this market really is quite big. Since they're keeping those 20 for rent only, will they hold back the ones in the best locations?"

"Uh… probably, right? They'll probably keep the ones around the market's entrances, right?"

Ye Yaodong agreed, "Very likely. The initiative is in their hands anyway—wherever we draw, that's where we get."

"Being able to buy one is already great. They even deliberately held back 20, reluctant to sell them."

Ye Ye Yaohua rubbed his hands together and grinned foolishly, "So we got a pretty good deal then? Buying early?"

"Of course. By their operation, at that time they'd only sold off two batches of shops, and held back the last batch."

"Shh, they're starting the draw…"

Ye Yaodong had been the second to pay the deposit. The person ahead of him hadn't shown up on time today, so he was the first to draw.

As soon as he heard the man—who was supposedly the market manager—call out number two, he hurried forward.

The draw was very simple: a small basket held many folded little slips of paper, and all he had to do was take one out.

He handed over the number tag he'd been given earlier, then casually took a slip of paper from the basket. He didn't even open it, just went straight back to the crowd.

This made the others extremely curious, but since everyone was going up to draw one after another, they couldn't spare attention for anyone else—they could only wait, curious and expectant, for their own turn.

"Dongzi, which shop did you get? What's written on it? Open it up and let's see!"

"Entrance One, number 12? What does that mean?"

"What do those numbers mean? That's the shop number, right?"

At that moment, the second person to go up and draw also opened his slip and muttered, "What does Entrance Three, number 6 mean?"

Ye Yaodong said quietly, "I think I noticed when I came in—where we entered through the front door, that's marked as Entrance One."

"Huh? Seems like it. I saw it too."

At that moment, the market manager up front was also saying, "Our new market is quite large, so there's an entrance on each side, marked with numbers one, two, three, four. The shops near each entrance will be labeled with the corresponding entrance number."

"Once you've finished drawing, you can go down and find your shop—the numbers are posted at the door. Once you've found it, come back up here to register the case."

The crowd suddenly had an epiphany, "Oh～"

"So the entrance we just came in was Entrance One. Does that mean the shops at Entrance One are better? That's right around the main gate."

The man at the other end of the desk nodded, "Yes, for now the shops near Entrance One are a bit better. But as the surrounding area develops and gets busier over time, the shops at every entrance will be about the same…"

"How could they be the same…"

"Exactly, the foot traffic clearly goes through Area One…"

"Then won't everyone be going all out to draw Entrance One?"

"How many shops are near Entrance One?"

"Four!"

"Ah!"

The crowd immediately erupted. "Only four!"

"Dongzi! You drew Entrance 1, Shop 12!" Ye Ye Yaohua grew excited. Everyone had been confused at first — what did those numbers mean?

Now even Ye Yaodong was thrilled. Out of the four best shops, he'd actually drawn one of them?

Maybe they were too worked up, or maybe they hadn't known from the start — shouting about what Entrance 1, Shop 12 meant — and the people nearby heard that they'd drawn Entrance 1, Shop 12, and crowded over to look.

"Oh my~ someone's already drawn a Entrance 1, Shop 12."

"Who? That person who drew first just now?"

"That's way too lucky, isn't it? Got it on the very first draw?"

"So one just got taken straight away, and only three are left near Entrance 1?"

"How many were there at Entrance 1 to begin with?"

"We'll go count when we head down later…"

Agui muttered softly, "Most of the ones these people hid are probably near Entrance 1, so they only put out four slots for people to draw."

Acai nudged him. "Shh, keep it down. Knowing is enough — say whatever you have to say once we're out. Just watch for now and see when it'll be our turn."

Ye Yaodong held the paper slip in his hand, smiling with utter satisfaction. Of the two shops, he'd already drawn one of the very best — that was a guaranteed floor.

Some were happy, some were worried.

Same price for everyone, but the shops' locations were good and bad. Whatever you drew was yours — fair enough.

Your own luck — no one else to blame, right?

They just took turns going up to grab a number, and it went fast — there were only twenty-something people to begin with.

Halfway through the drawing, another Entrance 1, Shop 9 came up, and that middle-aged man almost died of happiness.

"Oh my, then only two are left…"

"Can't draw it, can't draw it…"

"Forget it, leave it to fate…"

Who would have thought — the person who'd just gone up, mumbling something to himself, opened the slip in his hand, and it turned out to be Entrance 1, Shop 9.

What a huge pleasant surprise!

Plant a willow without intending to, and it grows into shade — he'd had no hope, yet it came true.

Ye Ye Yaopeng said regretfully, "Too bad we bought too late — we can only line up for the last three."

"Doesn't matter. They're saying Entrance 1 is better right now, but that doesn't mean the other entrances will be worse later. Once the surrounding area develops, roads going everywhere — every entrance will definitely be great."

Ye Yaodong said, consoling them. In his past life he'd heard about this new market too — he knew how prosperous it would be. It probably wouldn't be much worse; maybe Entrance 4 would be a bit worse, because Entrance 4 was said to be the sellers' entrance.

Luckily Acai and Agui had drawn Entrance 2 and Entrance 3 respectively — passable, I suppose. Not the best, but better than the worst.

Once everyone had drawn, it was the three brothers' turn.

Apart from the two brothers, no one knew Ye Yaodong had bought two!

When he went up to draw last, both Acai and Agui's jaws nearly hit the floor!

"He!? Ye Yaodong bought two?"

"Oh my, holy shit! That guy actually bought two?"

"Good lord! What a ruthless heart! And what a poker face — bought two shops without a soul knowing. Nobody in the whole village knew; everyone thought he'd only bought one."

"Tsk tsk tsk, not bad at all — two shops is 6,000 yuan… he's something else…"

The people nearby who'd finished drawing had originally lost interest in watching others, but when they heard that the last person to draw and the very first person to draw were actually the same person, they all stared at him in surprise.

"This young fellow bought two?"

"No way? His family is that well-off?"