The lottery area was now in an uproar.
Some people indignantly accused the supermarket of dishonesty, believing this to be outright consumer fraud, while many regular customers stood by Wanlong Supermarket, praising its consistently excellent service and trusting that the supermarket would honor its promise to award the prizes.
Brother Pao and his gang were especially relentless in fanning the flames, trying to pressure the supermarket into hastily redeeming the prizes.
At present, the situation looked very unfavorable for the supermarket.
"Aren’t you going to check it out?" Gao Min couldn’t help but ask.
She noticed that her so-called "cheap sister" never seemed to be in a hurry.
No matter what happened, she always carried herself with an air of unshakable composure.
Liu Yutong pointed at Yao Qianshan, who had just hurried out of the supermarket. "Someone’s handling it. We’ll just watch."
Beside them, Lan Die spoke up. "If they only try to placate the crowd, it won’t be very effective. This situation is practically a deadlock. Those guys are adamant about refusing to redeem the prize, making the supermarket look guilty. Even if the supermarket presents evidence, the onlookers will likely remain skeptical—some might even side with Brother Pao. I really can’t think of a way to perfectly resolve this crisis of trust."
Someone had already briefed Liu Yutong on the general situation, and both she and Lan Die had heard it.
It was almost certain that these troublemakers were up to no good, which was why the supermarket staff, following Yao Qianshan’s instructions, were stalling for time.
But dragging this out wasn’t a solution either.
As long as the supermarket refused to redeem the prize, its reputation would take a hit.
Hearing Lan Die’s analysis, Liu Yutong was slightly surprised. Since when had this girl taken such an interest in the supermarket’s affairs?
Logically, among their group, Lan Die was the one who should’ve been content just watching the drama unfold.
Soon, Liu Yutong figured out why Lan Die had suddenly started analyzing the situation.
She simply wanted to see how Liu Yutong would handle this mess.
After Hua Muying returned, she had reported some details about Lan Die’s personality.
Lan Die was naturally quite aloof, likely due to her past experiences.
Most importantly, she had an intensely competitive streak.
The main reason she had agreed to follow Hua Muying to Bright Pearl City was because she had heard Hua Muying mention Liu Yutong back in Danan City.
She had been itching for a chance to measure herself against Liu Yutong but hadn’t found the right opportunity.
Now was the perfect time to see Liu Yutong’s methods in action—how she would resolve this crisis.
Liu Yutong suddenly turned to Gao Min. "Sister, do you agree with her?"
Gao Min nodded. "No matter what you do, Wanlong Supermarket’s reputation will take a hit. But public memory is like a fish in water—short-lived. With your skills, it won’t take long to quell the backlash."
Liu Yutong smiled but said nothing more.
It seemed her sister still had great faith in her.
Yao Qianshan stepped out of the supermarket and scanned the area, spotting Liu Yutong and the other two chatting not far away.
She was about to approach them when Liu Yutong raised a hand to stop her from afar, signaling her to deal with the immediate problem first.
Li Xiaohui then walked over.
She wanted to ask Liu Yutong for advice.
Before she could even speak, Liu Yutong leaned in and whispered a few words in her ear.
The anxiety on Li Xiaohui’s face instantly vanished, replaced by a bright, eager expression.
"Got it, Sister Yutong! I’ll arrange it right away!"
Without another word, she rushed off.
Gao Min and Lan Die were both curious—what had Liu Yutong said to get Li Xiaohui so fired up?
Li Xiaohui found Yao Qianshan and relayed the message in a hushed tone.
Then, along with Yu Xin, she re-entered the supermarket, followed by two core members of the Wanlong Association.
Brother Pao and his gang were still busy stirring up trouble, completely oblivious to this development, and their antics were growing more aggressive.
"Look, everyone! Wanlong Supermarket is scamming its customers! They won’t let the winners take their cars! What kind of logic is that? A total scam!"
"Exactly! This so-called deputy manager has been standing here like a mute—what, too guilty to speak? Or trying to figure out how to weasel out of it?"
"Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts—we’re all consumers! If they dare cheat us out of a car today, tomorrow it’ll be our detergent, our sanitary pads! Can we let that happen?"
"No!" many in the crowd shouted back.
"......"
The situation was looking worse by the minute for Wanlong Supermarket.
Song Hui smugly sidled up to Yao Qianshan and muttered, "I told you I’d make you regret this. Consider this a greeting—there’s more where that came from."
"Of course, if you kneel and beg me nicely, I might consider letting you off the hook."
Instead of the furious, flustered reaction he expected, Yao Qianshan remained completely unfazed.
"Do whatever you want."
Her indifferent tone and dismissive response only infuriated Song Hui further.
He hated when women acted like this—it made him feel like a complete joke.
"You just wait! I’ll—"
Before he could finish, a sudden commotion erupted from the lottery area.
Two young men were waving their lottery tickets excitedly.
"I won! I hit the jackpot!"
"Me too! I got a car! Hahaha!"
"Perfect, one car for each of us!"
"Hell yeah! Hahaha......"
Song Hui: "???"
Brother Pao: "???"
Brother Pao’s lackeys: "???"
Bystanders: "???"
The sudden turn of events left everyone stunned.
Once the shock wore off, the crowd exploded.
"What’s going on? More winners?"
"Wait, weren’t there only two cars? The rest were just Wuling vans."
"Then where did these two come from? Did the supermarket add more prizes last minute?"
"No way!"
"......"
At that moment, Yao Qianshan—now armed with Liu Yutong’s strategy—finally spoke up.
"Everyone, an unexpected situation has arisen. Four men now claim to have won the top prize in our promotion."
"But the truth is, Wanlong Supermarket only ever had two top prizes, as clearly stated in the official announcement—which was also notarized. There’s no way four top prizes could exist!"
As soon as Yao Qianshan finished, someone in the crowd "realized" the truth and started steering the narrative.
"Oh, I get it! Someone must’ve faked the lottery tickets to scam the supermarket!"
"Yeah, that’s gotta be it. The supermarket already went all out offering two cars—giving away two more would bankrupt them!"
"Absolutely no problem, giving away two cars as a gimmick is already enough. Any more and the supermarket really can't afford the loss."
"But speaking of which, whose winning ticket is actually real?"
"I bet the ones in the hands of those guys with out-of-town accents are definitely fake. They all look shady, with tattoos and everything—clearly not good people. On the other hand, those two young men earlier looked particularly handsome and upright. You could tell they were telling the truth—they must be the real winners."
"Listen up, neighbors! I don’t think that’s the point here!" Someone else stepped forward.
"We all came here to shop, hoping for some fun and a chance to win a big prize! But now, what’s this? Some people are using fake tickets to claim the rewards?
This is outright stealing our chances to win, snatching away the little hope we’ve all worked hard for with our hard-earned money!
Every time they use a fake ticket to claim a big prize, one less genuine opportunity remains for those of us who actually spent real money. How is this any different from robbing us blind?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the customers in the crowd instantly erupted.
"That’s right! No wonder I never win anything—it’s because scammers are stealing our chances!"
"How despicable! Do they think we’re fools? Not only are they cheating us out of the cars, but they’re also making us help them claim them. That’s just too much!"
"This is unbearable! Beat these opportunistic fraudsters to death!"
"Beat these bastards!"
"........"
Song Hui’s face turned pale.
Damn it, they’re openly stealing my car!
He was the real winner—how did he suddenly become the scammer?
"This is my car! This is my car! Get the hell away from me!"
But before he could shout much more, the back of his head was suddenly struck by a blunt object. Dazed, he turned around and saw an elderly woman, about eighty years old, pointing a trembling finger at him: "You…"
Then everything went black as he passed out.
The old woman, now frightened, dropped the wooden stick and stammered, "Take... take that, you brat, for trying to steal my grandson’s car."
Then she nervously tugged at a man in black and asked, "Earlier, you mentioned that people over seventy have legal immunity—is that really true?"
