Chapter 25: Shocking! My Daughter Won Two Thousand Dollars in a Mall Raffle

Chen Zhou had planned to enter the raffle today, so he had specifically prepared a coin for Chen Taotao. After lifting her onto a chair, he let his daughter play with the lottery ticket to her heart's content.

It must be said, the little girl had a focused and serious streak; she insisted on scratching off the zebra-striped coating one strip at a time.

"I don't know who she takes after," Chen Zhou said, looking proud.

Ms. Lin smiled and offered a concise evaluation: "Focus. She's just like you."

She meant it. Chen Taotao’s current expression was remarkably similar to how Chen Zhou looked when he was making steamed buns; she was so engrossed that she wouldn't even hear you if you stood next to her and spoke.

Thinking it was just a way to keep the child entertained, Lin Yifan didn't rush her daughter, instead leaning over to check on Chen Taotao’s progress. At a glance, she saw the character "Two."

When she turned to look at Chen Zhou, she couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth curl upward. "Look, it really is two bags of salt!"

Winning such a small prize was one of Ms. Lin’s little joys.

Of course, the staff members who were changing shifts just opposite the family also heard Lin Yifan. Although they didn't mean to intrude, they spoke up from a professional standpoint: "Ma'am, we don't have two bags of salt as a prize in this raffle."

Lin Yifan was a bit surprised. "We don't? My daughter just scratched off the character for 'two'."

The staff members looked at each other. They began to confer:

"Let's see, what were the prizes again? Third prize is one bag of salt."
"Second prize is a bag of laundry detergent."
"Two... wait, that's the first prize—two thousand yuan!?"

All three staff members turned their gazes toward the little girl.

After they finished speaking, Chen Taotao finally raised her small card slowly. She put on an expression that said, 'I've finally accomplished a great task.'

Seeking credit, she said, "Daddy, I'm finally done scratching it."

Chen Zhou immediately praised her: "Our Taotao is amazing. You scratched it so clean."

While he couldn't say he was entirely unmoved, he felt that today’s win was simply a matter of course. He first showed it to his wife: "It really is two thousand yuan."

The unexpected windfall of two thousand yuan was truly beyond Ms. Lin's expectations. She had never imagined that she could actually win anything in a mall raffle. This event was destined to make it into her personal news headlines: *Shocking! My daughter won two thousand yuan in a mall raffle.*

However, she quickly regained her composure, appearing even calmer than Chen Zhou. She began asking the staff about the process for claiming the prize.

Watching the family walk away, the three staff members couldn't help but discuss it: "That family is pretty calm. They acted as if they’d only won a bag of salt."

"Is this the world of the wealthy?"
"They seem so low-key."

Calm? Chen Zhou might have been a little, as he already had inside information and had experienced his excitement earlier. As for Chen Taotao, she couldn't read and had no concept of money. As for Ms. Lin, she was just putting on a composed front. Chen Zhou could tell—she was clearly walking faster than usual.

When they finally arrived at the service desk on the first floor to claim the prize, Chen Zhou discovered that although the prize was two thousand yuan, they wouldn't receive that much. It counted as incidental income, and the mall had withheld the personal income tax on their behalf. Since Chen Taotao was at an age where she couldn't even recognize the three characters for "two thousand yuan," the money naturally ended up in her guardians' pockets.

*Darn it, we ended up becoming that kind of parent after all!*

Chen Zhou consoled himself and his wife: "The old saying goes, a son stealing from his father doesn't count as theft, right?"

"Didn't you get that backward?" Ms. Lin asked.

The matter of the two-thousand-yuan raffle came to an end; it was just a small interlude in the life of the Chen family. After returning home, he followed his wife's advice and took a proper day of rest. To minimize the impact on his business, Chen Zhou posted a notice in his residential complex's group chat and even asked the security guard, Xiao Liu, to place a small sign at his usual vending spot that read, "Steamed buns closed today for personal reasons."

...

The next day was Monday. The household returned to its regular weekday routine—work for the adults, school for the child. It was also time for Chen Zhou to head to the market.

He first went to Yongjia Fresh Produce to get meat, where he inevitably had to chat with Old Zhang for a few minutes. In truth, they were in contact almost every day via WeChat, though the content of their chats grew more concise by the day.

"Coming for meat today?"
—"Yes, ten pounds of pork shoulder."
"?"
—"Going out with the kid today."
"How about today?"
—"10."

It was pure business communication, devoid of any personal sentiment.

Chen Zhou decided to make vegetarian-filled buns this time, so he asked Old Zhang to recommend a vegetable stall where he could buy reliable eggplant and green peppers. After all, vegetables grown by the elderly themselves were rare finds, and Chen Zhou had to pick the best from the market.

Old Zhang gave Chen Zhou the inside scoop: "Don't be fooled by how many vegetable stalls there seem to be in this market; they all have the same owner in the back. It doesn't matter which one you buy from; they're all about the same. Not like us pork sellers, where the quality varies so much..."

In the middle of the chat, they inevitably drifted back to themselves. Zhang Jinsheng claimed his ancestor was "Zhang Fei of Yan," and that killing pigs and selling meat was his family trade. It was hard to verify the history, but Old Zhang certainly had that kind of air about him.

After the idle chatter, Chen Zhou went to the vegetable section. The summer market was a feast for the eyes; colorful fruits and vegetables were piled high. The seasonal produce made one feel a more vibrant sense of vitality. Selecting the freshest and most uniform ones, Chen Zhou picked out some green peppers and eggplants. The prices were just as pleasant, costing only one or two yuan per pound.

He had already made fresh meat buns before. The new vegetarian buns followed the same process for kneading and proofing the dough; the main difference was the fresh filling.

The eggplant was peeled, washed, and diced into small pieces the size of a fingernail. Then, he sprinkled in salt to draw out the moisture. For the peppers, Chen Zhou used two kinds: green ones for a hint of heat, and red ones—which didn't taste different, but were added just to make the filling look better. They were also diced into small bits.

The buns were called vegetable buns, but if they lacked any richness, the flavor would suffer. So, Chen Zhou used some leftover pork fat to render a bit of lard. He poured the hot oil over the filling to coat the eggplant and green peppers, which also helped release the fragrance of the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and thirteen-spice seasoning.

*Sizzle, sizzle.*

With a few sounds, the hot oil bubbled yellow over the filling. A savory aroma, wrapped in the scent of soy sauce fried by the hot oil, immediately wafted out of the basin. Combined with the fresh scent of the peppers and eggplant, even Chen Zhou couldn't help but salivate.

"This filling I've mixed actually tastes good enough to eat as a cold salad on its own."

...

New item today: Vegetarian buns, green pepper and eggplant filling.