Richest Man: Divine-Grade Reconstruct System Chapter 1290 - 1156: The Numbers Don’t Add Up? (Part 2)

However, after the stewards from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue finished drawing lots, they didn’t leave. Instead, they just waited where they were.

He wanted to watch, to see whether the people behind them could draw any wine at all. He wanted to see whether there was some hidden trick in this wooden raffle box, or whether the Shopkeeper had done something to it so that they simply couldn’t draw any wine.

If they just went back rashly without figuring things out, they would definitely be scolded by their master once they returned. That was something they absolutely did not want to see.

But the next scene made the two of them breathe out in unison.

They saw the remaining four stewards from the Ministers’ Families behind them also only draw one or two jars of wine each. One of them didn’t even draw a single jar.

Seeing this, the two of them really did feel a bit schadenfreude.

If it weren’t for saving face, they probably would have gone up long ago to mock them a few times.

Even so, even though they did not step forward to humiliate anyone, the barely contained excitement on their faces betrayed their inner thoughts.

Seeing the two of them grinning, the steward who hadn’t drawn a single jar of wine looked absolutely mortified, but constrained by their status, he didn’t say anything, just snorted angrily to himself and stepped aside.

He was going to wait and see whether the people behind could draw any wine. If the others did draw some, he didn’t mind buying it at a high price.

Clearly, several others shared the same idea. All of them did. Each of these men had brought along quite a few Household Servants, but what none of them had expected was that although they had brought many people, in the end the wine they drew wasn’t enough to fill the altar. How could that not make them furious?

And under this sort of tense atmosphere, the people behind started quarreling as well. But their luck didn’t seem good either. The best among them only drew three jars of wine. Just three jars, yet that was still one more than the steward from the Ministry of War, which made everyone extremely envious.

Time ticked by, second by second. Aside from these few Ministers’ families, the families of the Assistant Ministers behind also started drawing lots.

Once they finished drawing, everyone on site was stunned to discover that their luck didn’t seem good either. There were even quite a few people who didn’t draw a single jar of wine. At the very least, those who came alone almost never drew any wine.

Even so, jar after jar, nearly fifty jars of wine had been drawn. Just like that, time quickly reached about half an hour, and by then more than half the crowd had finished. The highest-ranking officials left were only the families of Fifth-rank officials.

For officials of that level, the stewards of the First-rank Ministers didn’t even bother to look at them. But although they looked down on them, they were still very curious whether these people could draw any wine.

None of these families brought many people—at most two or three.

Most of them had come alone. Yet in just such a situation, things completely reversed, as if this round were entirely different from before—their wine-drawing rate suddenly became incredibly high.

In no time at all, almost everyone could draw at least one jar of wine. Whether three people came or just one, the number of blanks was far, far lower than earlier.

Just like that, out of the two hundred jars, they actually drew away nearly a hundred.

When there were only a dozen or so people left in the square, more than half the wine had already been drawn.

Out of the two hundred jars of wine, according to the tally, there were only a little over forty jars left.

Of course, even that amount still made everyone drool with desire. They really wanted to see whether these last dozen or so fellows could draw any wine.

And Steward Lu had already prepared himself to make trouble.

He knew the people on site were almost done drawing lots. There were only a dozen or so left. Yet after all that, only over a hundred and fifty jars had been drawn out of two hundred. How could that not make him furious?

He had already decided that when everyone finished drawing, if the total amount of wine drawn still didn’t reach two hundred jars, then he would definitely turn on the Shopkeeper.

He wanted to ask just what tricks this Shopkeeper had used, whether he looked down on them or what. Wasn’t this supposed to be fair?

How was it that, in the end, the total amount of wine everyone drew still fell short of two hundred jars?

Then where were the remaining jars going to go?

In short, he had already set his little abacus clicking. His plan was to make a fuss and at the very least force the Shopkeeper to bring out all the remaining wine and divide it among them.

And he believed that, relying on his family’s strength, during that division of wine they would definitely get the biggest share. It was not impossible they might directly get ten whole jars.

If that really happened, then he could report back in good shape, and his master wouldn’t have any reason to scold him.

Just the thought of it made him chuckle.

And clearly, he wasn’t the only one with that idea. The other five stewards from the Ministers’ Families were thinking the same way.

They all knew that if the leftover wine were brought out and split evenly, it would definitely be divided among the six of them, and would have nothing to do with anyone else.

Thinking of this, the corners of their mouths all curled up in meaningful smiles.

Of course, when they exchanged glances, they instantly understood each other.

And this time, these fellows who had never quite gotten along simultaneously set aside past grudges for the first time, seemingly reaching some kind of tacit agreement.

But when he saw the expressions of these people, the Shopkeeper wasn’t concerned at all. He just kept stroking his beard with a cheerful smile, waiting for the rest of the drawing.

He wasn’t nervous in the least. Even though he had already guessed their thoughts and what those fellows were plotting in their hearts, he simply didn’t take any of them seriously. First of all, the Shopkeeper behind him was no ordinary man—the master behind him was that man at the very top.

It’s no exaggeration to say that even if all of these stewards banded together, what could they do to him? As long as he said no once, who among them would dare to stand up and argue?

And things would play out exactly as he imagined. If he really spoke on that man’s behalf, these people wouldn’t even dare let out a fart. They could only slink away with their tails between their legs.

Of course, that wasn’t the outcome he wanted.

After all, it wasn’t something that was going to happen.

You had to know, he had kept a backup plan, and he had long since thought up a justification.

Just then, the steward from the County Magistrate’s household, who had brought dozens of people, finally finished drawing lots.

Their faces were extremely animated, practically ecstatic.

The reason was that they had actually drawn a full eight jars of wine. This was utterly unbelievable, and one of the highest totals anyone on site had gotten.

This scene made Steward Lu’s anger shoot to the heavens. He never imagined that a mere County Magistrate’s steward could draw eight jars of wine!

Yet he, the steward of a dignified First-rank Minister’s Family, had only drawn a single jar. How could he not be livid?

And right at that moment, the people behind began drawing lots as well.

The results were pleasantly surprising—almost everyone drew at least one jar of wine, bringing the total directly up to a hundred and eighty jars.

In the blink of an eye, only the last person was left.

And that last person was none other than the one from before,

[To be continued...]

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