YWTGU -Chapter 66 Mad Lottery Draw! God-Tier Items!

The thing Li An had done most in this lifetime… was stare blankly at the ceiling.

In his previous life, after working overtime until 3 a.m. and returning to his rented apartment, he would stare at it just like this.

Back then, he’d think about what time to set his alarm, or what takeout to order the next day.

Now he was thinking about…

How many more days Great Qi could hold on.

He sat in his study the entire night. The pastries Hongmei had brought him had been reheated three times, untouched.

Ding!

【Day 3 of the Economic Control Order: Market confidence continues to collapse!】

【Black market Tongbao exchange rate falls to 20% of face value!】

【National Fortune -3,200】

【Current National Fortune: 191,903】

Li An closed his eyes.

Three days.

Over twenty thousand points lost in three days.

The crash was fiercer than the stock market circuit breaker he’d seen in his previous life.

He lifted his teacup, then set it back down.

His mind was a mess.

Hurried footsteps sounded outside.

Jin Daya rushed in, panting.

“My lord! My lord! Someone from the palace has arrived!”

Li An’s heart leapt into his throat.

It’s over. The young emperor must be summoning him to settle accounts.

With the economy in shambles, the impeachment memorials must be piling up in the Taihe Hall.

“What did they say?”

“His Majesty summons you to the palace.”

Jin Daya glanced at him cautiously.

“That’s… that’s all. The eunuch who delivered the message looked rather kind.”

Kind?

Li An didn’t believe it.

He changed into his official robes and followed.

Along the way, he prepared several speeches in his head.

Plan A: I had no choice—blame the greedy merchants.
Plan B: I’m working on new solutions—please grant me more time.
Plan C: I am guilty—please punish me.

The third one would probably work best.

Sincerity is the ultimate move!

Admit defeat first—save your life.

In the imperial study, Zhao Ling’er sat behind the desk, holding a cup of hot tea.

When she saw Li An enter—

She smiled.

Smiled?

Li An nearly thought he’d imagined it.

At a time like this, you can still smile?

“Your servant Li An greets Your Majesty.”

“Rise.”

Zhao Ling’er set down her teacup, her tone surprisingly gentle.

“Minister Li, you’ve grown thinner.”

Li An blinked.

What?

No scolding? No punishment?

“Have you eaten?”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Liar.”

She pointed at his face.

“Your eye sockets are sunken. Jin Daya told my people you haven’t slept properly in three days.”

That blabbermouth.

Li An opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

Zhao Ling’er stood and walked toward him.

When her eyes met his, Li An felt something strange.

Why does the emperor look at me like… a woman would?

Soft. Too soft.

Forget it. The emperor must just be naturally delicate.

“Minister Li,” she said quietly.

“Those impeachment memorials against you—I didn’t even read them.”

Li An’s heart skipped.

“I burned them all.”

“…”

“Do you know why?”

He shook his head.

She smiled faintly.

“Because I don’t trust others. I only trust you.”

The words fell into the stillness of the imperial study.

Outside, the wind brushed the curtains softly.

Li An stood frozen.

In truth, he was Northern Yan’s spy.

From the very first day, he had been thinking about how to ruin this country.

Yet the young emperor before him had blocked out every opposing voice.

All because… she trusted him.

Damn it.

Something inside him was pricked.

Not a sudden awakening of conscience—he didn’t think he had much of one to begin with.

He had always treated this transmigration as a game.

Everyone here—NPCs.

But now…

The emperor’s sincerity made him uncomfortable.

“Your Majesty.”

He took a deep breath.

“I will find a solution.”

Zhao Ling’er nodded.

“I’ll be waiting. If you lack anything, tell me.”

Li An bowed and left.

But as he stepped out into the bright sunlight—

He felt cold.

Back at his Champion’s Residence, Li An buried himself in the study again.

He spread out his notes and charts from previous days.

One by one, he reviewed them—

One by one, he rejected them.

Cut taxes? Useless.

Market confidence was gone. People wouldn’t spend no matter the tax rate.

Release grain reserves? Temporary relief at best. The treasury didn’t have enough.

Force money houses to resume operations? Half the owners had already fled; the rest were pretending to be dead.

He crumpled the papers and threw them down.

“I can’t think of a single damn solution…”

Ding!

【Abnormal Events Report – Capital of Great Qi!】

【Inspection captain Zhao Dadan accepted bribes during patrol, National Fortune -800】

【Ministry of Agriculture “Land Turning Campaign” mistakenly destroyed eastern irrigation canal, flooding 300 mu of farmland, National Fortune -1,500】
…
【Current National Fortune: 189,003】

Li An stared at the red text.

Liu Xi. Qian Xiaohai. Even Jin Daya had issues.

All of them were people he had promoted.

At the crucial moment—

They were destroying the nation one after another.

Back when he wanted to ruin the country, they had accidentally strengthened it.

Now that he desperately wanted to save it—

They reverted to their true incompetent selves.

What kind of cosmic joke was this?

“Jin Daya!”

“Yes!”

“Handle the irrigation canal mess immediately. Keep evidence of Zhao Dadan’s bribes—log it for now. Qian Xiaohai—and your own problems—confess and deal with them properly.”

He didn’t personally handle everything because he simply couldn’t anymore.

He worked until late night.

Jin Daya left to carry out orders. Hongmei remained silently outside the window, guarding like a shadow.

Li An sighed and opened the system panel again.

【Current National Fortune: 182,571】

182,000.

From 195,000 to 182,000.

Despite exhausting himself patching holes, the fortune kept plummeting.

But this time—

His eyes shifted to the bottom-left corner.

The System Shop.

More precisely—

The lottery wheel.

He tapped it.

【System Roulette】

【Each draw costs 100 taels of system gold】

【You currently possess: 200 taels of system gold】

Two hundred.

Saved from previous compensation missions.

Only enough for two draws.

What could two draws get him?

He might even hit “Thank You for Participating” twice.

But he had no other choice.

If he couldn’t save Great Qi himself—

Perhaps the system could provide a god-tier item.

Just then—

A line of text appeared he had never seen before.

Ding!

【Detected host in emergency crisis…】

【System special authorization: “Intrinsic Exchange” channel opened!】

【Current dynasty gold may be exchanged at ratio 100,000 taels = 100 taels system gold】

【Each 100 system gold grants 1 lottery draw】

【This channel is valid only for this cycle】

Li An’s heart surged with hope.

The heavens haven’t abandoned me!

100,000 taels of gold for one draw?!

He inhaled sharply.

That was no small sum.

Great Qi’s annual treasury revenue was only a few million taels of silver—equivalent to mere hundreds of thousands of taels of gold.

Where could he possibly get that much gold?

But then—

This was his only chance.

Conventional methods had all failed.

The Four Disasters were backfiring.

Policy tweaks were useless.

Only system items could turn the tide.

“Money… money…”

He paced like an ant on a hot pan.

He searched his estate.

Valuables?

Nowhere near enough.

“My lord.”

A cool voice came from the window.

Hongmei.

“You haven’t left?”

“I have been here.”

She entered soundlessly.

Her eyes swept over the scattered charts and his bloodshot eyes.

“You are troubled.”

“More than troubled.”

He forced a smile.

“I need gold. A lot of gold.”

She didn’t ask why.

She never asked.

“How much?”

“As much as possible. Starting at five hundred thousand taels.”

Her brows shifted slightly.

Even for the Blackwater Terrace—

That wasn’t a small number.

“I’ll find a way,” Hongmei said.

“Wait—don’t use the Blackwater Terrace’s channels. That side can’t be touched.”

Li An waved his hand.

Hongmei looked at him but said nothing more. She turned and vanished silently out the window.

The next morning, Li An still hadn’t found a solution.

Instead, an unexpected person arrived.

Liu Wanqing.

She came alone.

No maid. No servants.

Just herself standing at the entrance of the Champion’s Residence.

Behind her—

Twelve carriages.

Jin Daya rushed in to report, nearly tripping over himself.

“My lord! Miss Liu is here! And she’s brought twelve carts!”

“What’s on them?”

Jin Daya swallowed.

“Gold… gold.”

Li An thought he misheard.

He walked to the front gate.

There stood Liu Wanqing, her face a mix of anger and grievance.

“Li An!”

She didn’t bother with politeness.

“You need gold, don’t you?”

He froze.

Hongmei? Impossible. She would never leak information.

“How did you know?”

“I guessed!”

She shot him a glare.

“The entire capital knows you’re scrambling to patch holes. What you lack is money, isn’t it?”

She pointed to the carriages behind her.

“Five hundred thousand taels. My father’s gold reserves. It’s all here.”

Li An’s mind buzzed.

“Are you insane? That’s your father’s lifeblood—”

“He doesn’t know! I moved it out behind his back. And besides, this mess started when my father tried to withdraw that one million taels. Didn’t that make things worse for you?”

Her eyes reddened slightly.

“You… doing this… isn’t right!”

“Listen carefully, Li An.”

She stepped forward and poked him in the chest.

“Great Qi is in chaos, and my father chose that moment to withdraw a million taels. That was pouring oil on fire.”

“Take this gold. Use it however you need—to plug holes or anything else.”

“When Great Qi stabilizes, you can repay me.”

She turned dramatically and strode off.

After two steps, she stopped.

“Oh, and don’t thank me.”

“The happiest thing in my life was meeting you.”

Then she left without looking back.

Li An stood there staring at the twelve heavy carriages, speechless for a long while.

Jin Daya leaned in and whispered,

“My lord… your luck with women is terrifying. Miss Liu is completely devoted to you.”

“Shut up.”

Li An returned to the study and shut the door.

Five hundred thousand taels.

A full five hundred thousand taels of gold.

That girl… she truly gave him everything.

He was undeniably moved.

And this gold—

Could be exchanged for lottery draws.

One draw per one hundred thousand taels.

Five hundred thousand meant five draws.

Plus his existing 200 taels of system gold—

Two more draws.

Seven total.

Seven draws.

He immediately opened the system panel.

【Detected dynasty gold: 500,000 taels】

【Converted to system gold: 500 taels】

【Lottery chances gained: 5】

【Plus existing 200 taels: 2】

【Total draws available: 7】

【Begin lottery?】

Li An inhaled deeply.

Yes.

First Draw

The wheel spun rapidly, golden light flashing.

【Congratulations: Economic Sandbox (S-Class)】
Effect: Simulate any economic policy’s implementation and project ten days of economic trends in a virtual environment.
Uses: 3

His eyes lit up.

S-Class!

A powerful strategic tool.

Good start.

Second Draw

【Congratulations: Public Sentiment Perception (A-Class)】
Effect: Real-time sensing of overall public emotional trends within a 50-li radius.
Duration: 30 days

Very practical.

Third Draw

【Congratulations: Heavenly Engineering Blueprint (S-Class)】
Effect: Acquire a technological blueprint 300 years ahead of current era (random field).
Result: Upgraded Zhuge Repeating Crossbow Design

A military item?

He needed economic tools more, but at least it wasn’t “Thank You for Participating.”

Fourth Draw

【Congratulations: Financial Safe Harbor (A-Class)】
Effect: Designate one financial institution immune to bank runs for 30 days. Depositor confidence +100%.

Li An grinned.

This was a targeted market-stabilizing miracle.

Fifth Draw

【Congratulations: Talent Appraisal Talisman (B-Class)】
Effect: Reveal true ability stats and potential rating of a person.
Uses: 5

Not amazing—but useful.

Sixth Draw

【Congratulations: Granary Multiplication (A-Class)】
Effect: Designate one granary to double its stored grain within seven days (generated ex nihilo).
Uses: 5

“Out of nothing? And five times? System, you’re insane.”

Grain supply stabilized—at least temporarily.

Seventh Draw

The wheel spun slower this time.

The golden glow gradually shifted—

To purple.

Purple?

He had never seen purple system light before.

The pointer stopped.

【Congratulations: National Fortune Anchor (SS-Class)】
Effect: Set a time anchor. If National Fortune drops more than 10% within 24 hours, automatically revert to anchor value.
Uses: 1

SS-Class.

He’d drawn an SS-Class item on the final spin.

A literal “undo button” for national fortune.

He reviewed his inventory:

All-Seeing Eye (SS) – Reveal a person’s core desires and fatal weaknesses

Economic Sandbox (S) – Simulate policy outcomes

Heavenly Engineering Blueprint (S) – Advanced repeating crossbow

National Fortune Anchor (SS) – Prevent catastrophic collapse

Public Sentiment Perception (A)

Financial Safe Harbor (A)

Granary Multiplication (A)

Talent Appraisal Talisman (B)

Eight items.

Two SS. Two S. Three A. One B.

He leaned back and exhaled deeply.

Finally—

He had a strong hand.

“But cards alone aren’t enough.”

“How I play them—that’s what matters.”

He picked up his brush and began outlining strategy.

Economic Sandbox — Use first. Simulate a rescue plan.
Financial Safe Harbor — Apply to Tongji Bank, the largest money house in Great Qi. If it stands, confidence spreads.
Granary Multiplication — Use on the national granary to stabilize food supply.
Public Sentiment — Monitor constantly.

The SS-Class items? Save them.

Those were his trump cards.

The blueprint could wait.

When he finished writing, dawn was breaking.

Another sleepless night.

But this time—

He had confidence.

Even if only a little.

Suddenly—

Rapid footsteps.

Hongmei vaulted through the window.

“My lord.”

“What is it?”

“A joyous message from the palace…”

She paused.

“The Empress is pregnant.”

Li An’s mind exploded.

“What? Say that again.”

“The imperial physicians confirmed it. The Empress is with child.”

Silence fell.

And something in the political chessboard—

Had just changed.