Cui Wen lanted, "I’m thinking about whether to buy back in..."
"The market is so high now, isn’t the Nikkei over 40,000?"
Fang Qing looked up.
"Yeah, that’s why I’m conflicted, it’s really too high, continuously breaking records, but I chickened out before, what if it keeps going up?"
"If it keeps going up, do you think it’s a perpetual motion machine?"
Hearing Fang Qing’s joke, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but chuckle.
"I know it can’t keep going up." Cui Wen quickly responded seriously, "But it’s obvious now that there’s a force going long on the Dongying stock market, a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity to ride the coattails."
"Isn’t this your first ti trading stocks, how do you know soone is going long?"
"Fang Qing, it’s true I’m a newbie, but I’m not a fool. Who doesn’t see it now? We ordinary people, are like dust on the roadside, waiting for so great person to pass by. If we could be lifted by the wind from their passing, or cling to their shoes and follow for a while, that would be huge wealth."
Fang Qing was silent.
"Makes sense."
Jiang Chen paused with his chopsticks, interjecting, "But haven’t you already flown along for a while? Ordinary people like us, should be content with our lot."
Fang Qing looked at him without a word.
Cui Wen indeed wasn’t stupid, to be able to set up a shop in Tokyo after dropping out in high school, he clearly wasn’t lacking in intelligence. He quickly grasped the underlying aning of Jiang Chen’s words.
This was a subtle way of advising him.
"Jiang Chen, do you have insider information?"
He lowered his voice and asked cautiously.
"Want to hear an insider story?"
Before Jiang Chen could respond, Fang Qing suddenly spoke.
Cui Wen shifted his gaze, stunned for a mont, then nodded like a pecking chick.
Jiang Chen also turned to look at Qing i.
"A foreign tea rchant ca to your hotown and contracted a barren mountain behind the village, saying he wanted to develop it into a tea plantation. To plant tea, you need to clear the land first. The tea rchant hastily put out a recruitnt notice, but no one responded. It turns out people here are quite laid-back, clearing land is hard and tiring, who wants to earn those asly pennies?"
Tea rchant?
Clearing land?
Cui Wen listened in a daze, wanting to say sothing but held back.
Fang Qing continued leisurely, "Unable to attract workers, the tea rchant had to double the wages, but the result was the sa. So he raised it to three tis, finally catching so villagers’ interest. Although the rchant set many rules, like what ti to start and finish work and how much work needed to be done, you didn’t care about those at all. You’d swing the hoe when happy, and when not, you’d hide in the shade to nap, anyway he couldn’t do anything about it.
A few days later, you were lazily working when suddenly a ’ding’ sound ca and a villager’s hoe struck tal. The person next to them widened their eyes in disbelief—it was gold! The person quickly tucked it into their pocket, but the tea rchant saw it. The rchant demanded it be handed over, but the villager refused, pushing and shoving ensued, and a fight was about to break out. At this mont, another villager’s hoe made the sa ’ding’ sound, and that person picked up a shiny gold piece and ran down the mountain.
Indeed, it was gold. This ti everyone could see clearly. The rchant couldn’t worry about chasing after them, so he urgently called off work, promised today’s wages, and tried to drive you all away, but no one listened. Everyone was fixated on the ground, eyes almost burning with fire, swinging their hoes furiously. The tea rchant had no choice but to grab a hoe, hold it across his chest, and act as if fighting for his life, yelling that he would report to the authorities. Only then did you unwillingly leave."
Jiang Chen listened with interest.
Cui Wen, although not fully understanding, was captivated by the story, looking eagerly at his old classmates.
Storytelling is an art, requiring strong language organization skills and quick thinking, and Fang Qing was undoubtedly one of the best.
"You left, but that shimring golden color lingered in your minds. At night, you took a torch, carried a hoe, and sneaked up the mountain, only to find you were too late. The coworkers from the day already arrived, no longer lazy, their hoes swinging as if they were about to take flight. Word spread quickly, and the whole village was abuzz. Torchbearers and lantern-holders, entire families, turned the mountain upside down. Under the light of the flas, naked greed shone in everyone’s eyes. You were lucky, digging up two pieces on your own, while the four generations of the neighboring Wang Er’s family got nothing, their eyes like daggers at you."
Why are you looking at ?
Being suddenly stared at by Fang Qing, Cui Wen inexplicably felt like he had beco the protagonist of the story.
He picked up the vinegar bottle on the table and gestured to Fang Qing.
Fang Qing shook her head.
"Give so." Boss Jiang said.
"When the crowd dispersed, the tea rchant finally appeared, full of smiles."
Full of smiles?
Before Cui Wen could express his surprise, Fang Qing continued:
"Following the tea rchant’s gaze, you realized that the once barren mountain had been completely cultivated. That’s when you suddenly woke up. It turned out that these pieces of gold were clearly buried in advance, all to make the villagers willingly help him clear the land. What originally would have taken a month was now done in just ten days. Although feeling tricked and filled with anger and sha, at least you got two pieces of gold. Wang Er mobilized his whole family and was busy for nothing, so he had to endure it as well. Thinking of this, you couldn’t help but calm down.
You thought the matter was over, but reality was quite the opposite. Early the next morning, several governnt officers arrived and, without explanation, took you to the county office, where the tea rchant was already present. Before you could comprehend what was happening, the county magistrate slapped the table and shouted, ’Bold rogue, intruding into private woodland and stealing others’ property, do you plead guilty?’
You were a bit scared but not too worried, so many people went up the mountain, and it was so dark. Who knew exactly who unearthed the gold? As long as you denied it, how could they investigate? So you calmly replied, ’This commoner indeed climbed the mountain, but found nothing.’
Before the tea rchant could speak, a figure suddenly erged from the crowd. Yes, it was Wang Er, who had labored in vain. He glared at you with resentnt and loudly testified that you found two pieces. Another villager also stepped forward and said, ’That’s right, I saw it too.’
"Damn, how insidious!" Cui Wen couldn’t help but remark.
"That’s exactly how you felt," Fang Qing nodded, "You gritted your teeth and silently greeted each female mber of their family tree."
Jiang Chen couldn’t help but laugh.
Cui Wen didn’t pay attention, curiously urging, "And then?"
"With no choice, you reluctantly handed over the gold. But who would have thought that after the tea rchant received it, he cut open a corner on the spot, and it turned out to be copper. You were dumbfounded."
Indeed.
Cui Wen was truly stunned.
"Bang, the gavel sounded again, ’Bold rogue, how dare you mock this officer.’" Fang Qing seed more engrossed as she spoke vividly, Jiang Chen vaguely saw a familiar little girl.
"You hurried to explain, ’What I found was fake.’ The tea rchant imdiately retorted, ’You could dig up fakes for ten days? You finally realized sothing was off but couldn’t defend yourself, and the gavel was slapped loudly. ’Bring in the punishnt, bring in the punishnt.’ Instantly, you beca apprehensive. With your slender fra, how could you endure it? One blow could send you straight to the road to the afterlife, so with nowhere to turn, you could only confess and sign. But where could you repay two pieces of gold from, so you had to sign a labor contract, agreeing to work off the debt for the tea rchant. Not just you, all those in the village who found gold were eventually exposed. Thus, the tea rchant not only got the land cultivated for free but also acquired a large number of slaves. To transport tea, he built bridges and roads, indirectly benefiting the villagers, so they all praised him as a great benefactor, and the initial deceit of enticing them to clear the land was gradually forgotten. But only those of you growing tea on the mountain, never forgot, yet were helpless, and could only lower your heads, looking at the blisters and calluses on your fingers, tears falling silently."
"How despicable, truly despicable!"
Cui Wen gnashed his teeth.
No way around it.
The second-person imrsion was too strong.
Jiang Chen cleared his throat, perhaps accidentally adding too much vinegar, feeling a bit bitter.
"The story isn’t over yet. Actually, the tea rchant originally ca from this village, but his ancestors were collaboratively robbed of their land and property by the entire village, and even lost their lives, forcing them to leave their ho reluctantly."
What a twist!
Cui Wen was stunned.
How could there be so many twists?
"What are you staring for?"
Jiang Chen had sohow already put down his chopsticks, raising his hand.
"Clap your hands."
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