Chapter 19: A Lucky Number Bill Worth 40,000 Yuan In The Atm!
Jiang Tao arrived at the Xiao Shahe Rental Room at 7:30 PM.
He boiled a pot of water and used the enamel basin he usually ate from to make two large packs of instant noodles.
Ring ring, ring ring—
Halfway through his bowl of instant noodles, Xu Li’s video call came through.
While eating his noodles, Jiang Tao swiped his finger to answer the call.
Xu Li, wearing pink pajamas, appeared on his phone screen.
“Honey, how is Sister-in-law?”
Xu Li’s concerned voice came from the phone.
On his way back, Jiang Tao had briefly told her about the hospital situation on his phone.
“Early stage cervical cancer. Fortunately, it was discovered early, and the chance of a cure is very high.”
“Sigh! Sister-in-law is such a good person, how could this happen…”
“Wife, I’ll transfer some money to you later. Tomorrow, you take our mothers and your sister, all of you, go for a physical examination.”
“Okay! I’ll listen to you.”
With what happened to He Fang, Xu Li wasn’t as worried about money this time and readily agreed to the physical examination.
Jiang Tao continued, “Also, wife, they should have the nine-valent vaccine there, right? You and our mothers should get that too.”
“Ah? Isn’t that a bit expensive…”
A physical examination doesn’t cost much, but for the nine-valent vaccine, three doses would cost five to six thousand yuan per person!
For four people, that’s nearly 20,000 yuan!
Hearing Jiang Tao suggest she get the vaccine made Xu Li feel very touched.
However, the family still had a mountain of external debt…
Xu Li said, “There’s no rush for the nine-valent vaccine, let’s wait. Let’s get through the current difficulties first.”
Jiang Tao said, “Don’t worry about the money, I’ll figure it out.”
Xu Li replied, “Tomorrow I’ll take Mom and the others for their physicals first. If everything is fine, it’s okay to wait a year or two to get the vaccine.”
Jiang Tao fell silent upon hearing Xu Li’s words.
In the end, it was still a money problem!
If he and Xu Li had hundreds of thousands in deposits right now, why would they be agonizing over a few thousand for the nine-valent vaccine!
At this moment, Jiang Tao felt the sting of poverty once more, and his desire to make money intensified!
99.99% of problems that trouble ordinary people are money problems!
“Hurry up and eat, and get some rest after you’re done.”
Xu Li, concerned about Jiang Tao’s hard work, said a few brief words and hung up.
After ending the video call, Jiang Tao transferred 20,000 yuan to Xu Li on his phone.
Slurp slurp slurp~
After the transfer, Jiang Tao quickly finished the instant noodles in the enamel basin, drank all the broth, and let out a satisfied burp.
Full and satisfied, he lit a cigarette from his cigarette case.
While exhaling smoke, Jiang Tao glanced at his phone; it was just past 8 PM.
【There are 3 hours and 57 minutes until the next intelligence update, please wait patiently…】
Seeing that the intelligence update would take time, Jiang Tao took the enamel basin he used for eating to the public sink outside to wash it.
After washing the enamel basin, he went back inside to boil another pot of water, washed his face, soaked his feet, and got into bed to listen to audiobooks to pass the time.
Time quickly passed to midnight, and a new day began.
Jiang Tao eagerly opened the system to check today’s intelligence.
【Today’s Intelligence】: Yesterday, when you took a taxi through Huilongguan Longxiang Street ICBC Bank branch, you obtained related intelligence—
Inside ATM number 3 outside the bank, there is a 1999 edition Lucky Number Hundred Yuan Banknote worth 40,000 yuan!
…
“Lucky Number Hundred Yuan Banknote?”
Jiang Tao didn’t understand things like commemorative coins.
Seeing the intelligence refreshed today, his main focus was on the words “worth 40,000 yuan”!
“Does this mean there’s a banknote worth 40,000 in that ATM?”
Upon seeing this intelligence, Jiang Tao instantly felt awake.
He quickly searched on his phone to see what lucky number banknotes were.
It wasn’t as complicated as he had imagined.
Every banknote has a unique code, like a person’s “ID card.”
As for lucky numbers, they are sequences like 12345678, which are called “straight” numbers.
Or 87654321, which are reverse straights.
Or 111, 222, 333, which are called “leopards.”
And even all-same numbers.
All-same numbers are also called “all-same number bills” or “Kirin numbers,” where all the digits are the same.
In short, lucky numbers on banknotes are like lucky QQ numbers, lucky mobile numbers, or lucky license plate numbers.
They are a favorite among collectors who enjoy collecting currency.
They love unique lucky numbers that catch the eye; the more unique, the better!
After a brief understanding of what lucky numbers were, Jiang Tao’s sleepiness vanished completely.
The ATM was right outside, and anyone could withdraw money.
To avoid any further complications, he should quickly go and get that lucky number banknote!
If that banknote was taken by someone else while he was sleeping, he would have no place to cry!
“Fortunately, this time I don’t have to rummage through a trash can!”
Jiang Tao hadn’t taken off his clothes yet. He simply put on the black cotton jacket he usually wore for hauling and went out.
After walking a few steps, Jiang Tao returned to the room, rummaged through the old wardrobe for a black woolen hat, and put on a disposable mask.
Fully geared up, only his eyes were visible.
Those who knew would understand he was going to the ATM to withdraw money, but those who didn’t might think he was going to rob it!
Jiang Tao hadn’t had any alcohol tonight, so he could drive himself, saving him the cost of a taxi.
He drove his truck directly towards the ICBC Bank on Longxiang Street.
He had been waiting for jobs in the Huilongguan area for over six years, practically becoming a living map of the area.
Just tell him an address, and he could find it without navigation.
It took him 17 minutes to drive his 4.2-meter truck to the vicinity of the ICBC Bank on Longxiang Street.
It was past midnight, and the street was deserted with no pedestrians.
Only an occasional taxi driving its night route passed by.
Jiang Tao drove his car directly onto the curb in front of the bank and got out to walk towards the ATM outside the bank.
“ATM number 3…”
Jiang Tao saw three ATMs lined up outside the ICBC Bank.
The middle one emitted a faint golden glow in Jiang Tao’s vision, clearly different from the other two.
“It’s a good thing the intelligence system has this notification function, otherwise, who the hell would think the middle one was number 3?”
Jiang Tao complained speechlessly and walked to the entrance of the ATM, swiping his bank card to access it.
In recent years, with the increasing convenience of electronic payments, Jiang Tao rarely used ATM machines to withdraw cash.
After studying it for a while, he finally inserted his bank card and first checked his balance.
After paying off the family’s external debt of over 80,000 yuan yesterday and transferring 20,000 to Xu Li, he only had 7652.67 yuan left.
“So, I can withdraw a maximum of 76 bills at once?”
After checking his bank card balance, Jiang Tao proceeded to withdraw cash and entered the number 7600.
Kacha kacha kacha, kacha kacha—
A series of sounds came from the ATM, and soon a stack of banknotes was dispensed from the cash outlet.
Jiang Tao took the money in his hand and began to flip through the serial numbers, looking for the lucky number mentioned in the intelligence.
However…
Among the 76 bills, he didn’t find any so-called lucky numbers.
Apart from a few consecutive numbers, they were all randomly arranged serial numbers!
His first attempt failed, but Jiang Tao was not discouraged.
He operated the ATM again and deposited the 76 banknotes back onto his bank card, then withdrew cash again.
Fortunately, the ATM’s withdrawal and deposit functions were managed separately and used different cash boxes.
This prevented Jiang Tao from withdrawing the exact same money he had just deposited.
In other words, after depositing and withdrawing again, he would get new money he hadn’t withdrawn before.
“Still nothing…”
“Last chance! God of Wealth, please make it appear!”
The ATM seemed to have a daily withdrawal limit of 20,000 yuan.
After two consecutive withdrawals, Jiang Tao had only one chance left.
And this last time, he could only withdraw 4800 yuan!
That is, 48 bills!
If these 48 bills still didn’t contain the lucky number banknote mentioned in the intelligence, things would get a bit troublesome.
Jiang Tao would then have to perform an interbank transfer and then an interbank withdrawal.
To avoid further complications, he had to get his hands on that 40,000 yuan lucky number banknote tonight!
Vroom vroom vroom—
The ATM dispensed another 4800 yuan.
Jiang Tao took the money in his hands and examined each bill.
Suddenly, a banknote emitting a faint glow caught Jiang Tao’s eye.
Jiang Tao quickly locked onto the serial number of the banknote.
DZ44444444!
The serial number was an all-same number with all fours!
“Got it!”
Jiang Tao brought the lucky all-same number banknote to his lips and kissed it, then carefully placed it in the notebook he had brought.
A face value of 100 yuan worth 40,000 yuan means a profit of 400 times!
After putting the money away, Jiang Tao deposited the remaining 4700 yuan back into the ATM.
With the lucky number in hand, Jiang Tao made a successful exit and drove back the way he came to the Xiao Shahe Urban Village.
