Listening to Carmen Sutton’s passive-aggressive remarks, Wendy Lynch was so irritated she laughed. This woman’s thick skin was truly something else. Just a moment ago, she had been claiming the grand prizes were rigged. Now that she had won one herself, she suddenly claimed winning depended on good looks.
Shirley Lowell’s face flushed red with anger at Carmen’s words. She was just about to retort when Wendy gently patted her hand and said breezily, "Shirley, there’s no need to argue with someone like her.
"Who knows, there might be an even bigger surprise later."
The moment she finished speaking, the host on stage ignited the crowd once again with his impassioned voice.
"Everyone! Everyone! Please quiet down!
"I know you’re all very excited right now, but please hold your cheers for a moment!
"Because next, we will be drawing the winner for today’s second gold bar!"
The entire venue’s gaze locked onto the large screen behind the stage once more.
Carmen wore a look of undisguised contempt. The thirteen-thousand-dollar tablet in her arms gave her absolute confidence. In her eyes, Wendy winning a gold bar was already a stroke of immense dumb luck. As for Shirley? Hah, did she even deserve a grand prize?
Right then, accompanied by a loud shout from the host, the rapidly scrolling numbers on the large screen instantly froze.
"Stop!
"00002!
"Number 00002!
"The second gold bar winner has been born!"
The host’s voice echoed throughout the entire banquet hall. "Which lucky colleague is it? Please come up to the stage immediately to claim your prize!"
Shirley had her head down, complaining to Wendy about Carmen, completely oblivious to the number on the screen. Hearing the host’s shout, she subconsciously pulled out her clock-in ticket. When she clearly saw the number on it, she was utterly dumbfounded. She pointed in disbelief at the ticket in her hand, then stiffly turned her head to point at the large screen on stage.
"Shirley, what are you spacing out for?" Wendy gave her a push. "It’s you! Hurry up and go!"
ROAR!
When everyone saw that the person standing up was actually Shirley, who was sitting right next to Wendy, the entire banquet hall completely boiled over!
"Holy crap!"
"Are you kidding me? Two gold bars from the same table?!"
"It’s the chosen table! Is the Feng Shui at this table exceptionally good?"
"This luck is too insane!"
"There are only three gold bars in total, and the Logistics Department took two of them. This is ridiculous!"
The smug smile on Carmen’s face completely froze the moment she saw Shirley stand up. Her expression instantly shifted from smugness to shock, and then from shock to a livid ashen hue. The tablet she had just been so proud of instantly became a colossal joke in the face of the second gold bar.
Amidst the tsunami of gasps and envious cheers from the crowd, Shirley walked onto the stage in a daze, as if in a dream. It wasn’t until the heavy brocade box was placed into her hands that she finally regained a sense of reality.
Upon returning to her seat, she hugged Wendy tightly. "Wendy! Am I dreaming?!
"We... we both won gold bars!!
"These are gold bars! Over eighty thousand dollars!"
Wendy smiled and patted her back, soothing her excitement. Then, she turned her head, her gaze shooting straight toward the adjacent table where Carmen now sat with an ashen face.
Deliberately imitating Carmen’s earlier tone, she enunciated every word clearly, "Like I said, winning a raffle is purely based on good looks."
After saying that, she smugly raised an eyebrow in Carmen’s direction.
Talk about twisting the knife! This was adding absolute insult to injury!
PFFT!
The surrounding colleagues could no longer hold it in and burst into a fit of roaring laughter. This direct hit didn’t do much physical damage, but it was highly insulting!
Carmen felt a rush of hot blood shoot straight to her head, her entire body trembling with rage. She watched the two people at the next table cheering and celebrating, looking at the two identical red brocade boxes in their hands. Then she looked down at the tablet in her own arms.
For the first time, she truly felt what it meant to "win, yet lose disastrously." The feeling of others making a fortune being worse than losing money herself made her want to go crazy! She even had the urge to violently smash the tablet in her arms onto the floor!
Carmen didn’t hear a single word of the subsequent raffle draws. Her ears were filled entirely with the cheerful laughter coming from the neighboring table and the subtle, mocking glances cast by the surrounding colleagues. Trembling with anger, her fingernails dug deep into her flesh.
The annual meeting finally ended.
Everyone had arrived in high spirits, but they left with mixed emotions. Most people had received small prizes, while only a lucky few snagged the grand ones. The biggest winners, without a doubt, were Wendy and Shirley. With one gold bar each, the two instantly became the focal point of the entire company.
"Wendy, Shirley, with such good luck, you definitely have to treat us!"
"Yeah, yeah! You’ve struck it rich. It wouldn’t make sense if you didn’t show some appreciation, right?"
A few familiar colleagues gathered around, clamoring for them to host a celebratory treat.
Wendy wasn’t surprised by this situation. Getting a promotion, a raise, or a bonus and then treating everyone was essentially an old tradition in their department, so she naturally wouldn’t be stingy about spending a little money. She smiled and nodded to the crowd. "Of course, no problem.
"Shirley and I will cover afternoon tea for the ninth and tenth!"
Hearing Wendy’s generosity, the crowd cheered again. As the group gradually dispersed, Wendy and Shirley exchanged a smile, tacitly choosing not to linger with their colleagues. The two politely declined invitations to carpool with the others and directly hailed a taxi by the roadside.
"Driver, to Eldorado Gold," Wendy announced the destination.
Shirley looked at the brocade box in her hands. "Wendy, are we... are we really going to sell them?"
"What else?" Wendy asked in return. "Keep them as family heirlooms? With gold prices this high right now, cashing out to secure the bag is the most practical choice."
Shirley nodded vigorously. "That’s true."
While gold bars were nice, turning them into actual cash and depositing them into a bank account offered the most peace of mind.
The two walked into the resplendent jewelry store, where a young woman in a professional suit immediately greeted them with enthusiasm. "Hello, ladies. Are you looking to buy gold or sell?"
"Sell," Wendy replied concisely.
The manager’s gaze fell upon the matching red brocade boxes in their hands, a flash of understanding crossing her eyes. "Understood. Please come with me, ladies."
In the reception room, a professional appraiser took out the gold bars and placed them on a precision electronic scale. "100.02 grams, 99.99% pure gold.
"And this one is 100.01 grams."
The appraiser punched numbers into a calculator for a moment and quickly quoted a price. "According to today’s recovery rate of 805 dollars a gram, the payout for each of your gold bars is 80,500 dollars."
"No problem." Wendy and Shirley exchanged a look, both seeing the excitement in each other’s eyes.
The appraiser took out shears to cut the gold bars open, then placed them into a crucible to melt. After confirming there were no issues, he brought out the recovery agreements. They signed the paperwork and provided their bank card numbers.
In less than five minutes, both of their phones received bank deposit notifications almost simultaneously.
[Your debit card account ending in XXXX has received a deposit of 80,500.00 dollars. Current balance: 743,254.18 dollars.]
Looking at the long string of numbers on her phone screen, the corners of Wendy’s lips curled up slightly. Before she knew it, her bank balance had gone from a mere few thousand to over 740,000.