With Lu Linshen’s help, along with a bit of idealism and sentimentality from her side, Meng Suihuan put in a little more effort and managed to resolve the issue with Qian Ming. With only a week left before the lottery event, although Lu Linshen had already designed the entire lottery process, there were still many details that needed tweaking.

“Brother Qian, time is tight, and the task is heavy. I’m afraid you’ll have to start working today,” Meng Suihuan said.

Qian Ming didn’t seem upset. Instead, he joked, “I’ve rested long enough with this old body of mine. If I rest any longer, my bones will fall apart. I’ll make a call and tidy up, and then we’ll head to the company.”

The Qian family’s courtyard was a small unit, not particularly spacious. She had been staying there, and she didn’t want to impose on Qian Ge, so she casually made an excuse to step outside. The last time she came, she only glanced quickly around the yard, not paying much attention to the layout. As she stepped outside, she could clearly see the layout and arrangement of the Qian family’s courtyard. The entire courtyard was divided into several sections, with several families living there. The Qian family occupied a quarter of the courtyard, so it didn’t seem very spacious. However, having such a large courtyard in Ning City, even if it was only a quarter, was still quite impressive.

As she casually looked around, a woman passing by warmly pointed her in the right direction, then turned to size her up, inquiring about her background, where she lived, and how many people were in her family. These questions were so familiar, they could have come straight out of the lines commonly spoken by matchmakers in TV dramas. Since coming to this world, she had encountered such things several times. She politely declined, just like before. “Auntie, I’m already married.”

The woman mumbled for a while, expressing regret that she had married early, and then began to casually list her available resources, obviously not ready to give up. Meng Suihuan couldn’t handle the intensity of her enthusiasm, so she quickly changed the topic, asking about the layout of the courtyard. This gave her a better understanding of the area.

This entire neighborhood was made up of courtyards. The ones to the north were larger and more spacious, occupied by some of the more prominent families in Ning City, making it the wealthy district of the area. The southern section, where she was, had smaller, denser courtyards. A large part of this was because, as she had guessed, when people here married, they would divide their courtyard among family members. One would become two, two would become four, and the size of the courtyards would decrease accordingly.

She looked up in the direction the woman had pointed to. Although she couldn’t see clearly, she had already made a mental note of the situation. The woman seemed to notice that she was interested in the courtyards and, not willing to give up, mentioned a couple more good resources, all of which were from Ning City property owners. Meng Suihuan couldn’t help but smile wryly, repeatedly declining with a wave of her hand.

Not long after, Qian Ming came out, and she waved goodbye to the woman before walking over to him. The woman didn’t leave, though; her eyes were fixed on the two of them, sizing them up carefully. When she saw them leave the alley and get into a small, exquisite car parked nearby, her expression shifted, and she was utterly shocked.

Heavens. This woman is no ordinary person, driving a car like that. When did the Qian family get to know someone so impressive?

With Qian Ming’s help, the lottery system ran smoothly, and the experiments they conducted in various locations across the country were also successful.

Before the event even started, she had arranged for people to distribute flyers and create buzz in different areas. They also specifically chose a weekend when foot traffic was naturally high. Two hours before the event began, the venue for the Ning City event was already surrounded by layers of people, both inside and outside the Xuyu Company. Thankfully, the Xuyu team had already experienced various large-scale events, and Meng Suihuan had emphasized security in advance. Even though there were a lot of people, it didn’t have too much of an impact.

This event was the first one hosted by Xuyu Company after its listing, and many partner companies, both upstream and downstream, as well as others who had previously interacted with Xuyu, came to show support. The only unexpected arrival was Yang Xun. After all, her interactions with him were limited to competing for resources and acquiring mobile phone chips, neither of which were pleasant. So, when he made such a grand appearance at Xuyu, she naturally began to overthink.

Yang Xun gave a slight smirk. “From the look on President Meng’s face, I take it I’m not welcome here to show my support?”

Meng Suihuan quickly composed herself, flashing a practiced and polite smile, while maintaining an appropriate tone. “Of course not. It’s an honor to have someone like President Yang take the time to join our lottery event.”

As she chatted with him, she subtly signaled to those around her, arranging seats. The seats were quickly sorted out, and she led Yang Xun to his spot.

Not sure if he was deliberately provoking her or not, Yang Xun glanced at the seats and said pointedly, “So, this is where I stand in President Meng’s heart?”

Meng Suihuan thought to herself, This person is really looking for trouble. She suppressed her frustration and replied in a calm, polite tone, “President Yang, this is just a fun lottery event, not a major occasion. The seating is based on the order of arrival, so there is no high or low distinction.”

At this point, most people would have backed off, but Yang Xun was an exception. Instead of letting it go, he raised an eyebrow. “Oh, if there’s no distinction, then President Meng, would you mind putting me in that seat?” He pointed to the seat at the very center of the venue.

Her lips twitched, and she had to take a deep breath to swallow the words she wanted to say. Not only had everyone else taken their seats, but that particular spot was certainly not one that Yang Xun could claim.

“I think only that seat truly matches my position in President Meng’s heart. Don’t you agree?” he taunted.

You match my foot! If anything, he and the smell of the restroom were a perfect match—well suited for each other.

It was obvious he was deliberately trying to provoke her, and she was too tired to play along. She smiled lightly and countered, “I think our Xuyu Company is too small to have a seat that suits President Yang.”

Their eyes locked, and the atmosphere instantly became tense. Just as things were about to get awkward, Yang Xun suddenly smiled, a trace of amusement in his eyes. His tone light and resigned, he said, “I was just joking earlier. Why so serious, President Meng?”

Meng Suihuan remained composed, saying without changing her expression, “Whether President Yang is being serious or joking, I’m not interested. I have other matters to attend to. Whether you stay or leave, that’s entirely up to you.”

Thirty minutes before the event began, the staff from across the country did a final round of testing. There were no issues, whether it was the online site check or the coordination of the offline personnel.

Time passed by, and when the clock hit the designated hour, the highly anticipated event finally began. The host, a well-known TV anchor, quickly warmed up the crowd. Even though the audience urged for the event to start, it didn’t throw off the flow. After some witty banter, the host shifted the focus to the lottery process and the event arrangements.

“Now, the event officially begins.”

With the host’s final words, everyone who had purchased a property and earned a chance to participate in the lottery, as well as those who were just there for the excitement, started to buzz with energy. At the same time, the TVs behind the stage slowly lit up. There were a total of ten TVs, each showing live footage of the lottery happening in different areas.

Today’s biggest TV size on the market was only 32 inches, and there were no large display screens suitable for conferences in the 21st century. She had to resort to this makeshift solution.

“Oh my gosh, everyone, look at this! The pictures on these TVs are all different. Hey, the one in the center is ours, and the one next to it seems to be from Haishi. We can actually watch several locations at once—this is amazing!”

“When I saw it on Tianxia.com, it said that this lottery was nationwide, and as long as you bought a house from Xuyu Group, you could participate in the lottery at any local lottery site. At first, I thought they had invited people from other places to Ning City, but I didn’t expect it to be done this way…”

Not only was the discussion lively at the venue, but Tianxia.com also became a hot topic due to this innovative method, creating quite a stir.

“Lu Lu, you have to pinch me, am I seeing things?”
“How did Meng Jie come up with this idea? With this, even if everyone is in different regions for the lottery, the experience is still great.”

Lu Linshen didn’t pinch him but smiled proudly as he looked at the scene in front of him. “Hmm.”
“She’s always been this clever.”

Qin Yu shook his shoulders energetically, feeling a chill run down his spine. “Huh… Lu Ge, ever since you fell in love, you’ve become a little fan of Sister Meng. Every day there’s some reason to praise her… this isn’t like you.”

The last sentence was said in a subtle way. It wasn’t just unlike him; it was almost like a completely different person!

Lu Linshen asked, “Have I?”
Qin Yu nodded vigorously, more than just “have,” it was clearly very much so.

Lu Linshen replied, “It’s not that I like to praise her, but she’s so outstanding that I can’t help but praise her.”

Qin Yu: “…” Is this really the Lu Ge I know, the one who was a bit clumsy with words?

After muttering a few words, Qin Yu’s attention shifted back to the event as the host spoke.

Those who had bought houses orderly received their lottery codes, and with the guidance of the staff, went to the computers to register their numbers. Once everyone’s information was recorded, the lottery officially began.

No one had encountered online lottery systems before, so a demonstration was given. On more than ten televisions, numbers rolled and slid across the screens, then appeared randomly. Just as everyone’s hearts were in their throats, the number 31 appeared on the screen.

All the participants looked at their numbers, and when Number 31 realized they had won, they became so excited their face turned red. Amidst the envious gazes of the crowd, they received the demonstration prize — free renovation services offered by Xuyu.

With this demonstration, everyone’s emotions were ignited, and when the official lottery started, the numbers kept rolling, stirring everyone’s hearts.

Whether it was the people on stage or the audience, everyone was on edge, holding their breath. When the numbers suddenly stopped, all eyes focused on the screen, staring intently at the number that appeared.

The host then appropriately read the number aloud, “The winning number is 78. Let’s give a big round of applause for the lucky winner with number 78 to come up on stage—”

With the host’s dramatic intonation, everyone first looked at their own number cards in unison. Then, they shifted their gaze back to the TV screen.