Chapter 116: Partings Are Always Sorrowful

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As soon as they sat down, Cai Weiqiang unpacked the braised dishes from their various little plastic bags.

The mingled aromas of coriander, ginger, garlic, meat, and other seasonings were enough to stimulate anyone’s appetite to the fullest.

He opened a chilled bottle of beer, poured himself a glass, and took a long, gurgling swallow.

Outside, the winds were rising and the clouds gathering. Everyone was frantically scrambling for subscription forms, while Chai Jin alone remained indoors in this courtyard, calm and confident.

He picked up a piece of braised beef still clinging to the fragrance of coriander and stuffed it into his mouth.

“Brother, have you finished arranging all your people?”

“Ha! That feels good!” Cai Weiqiang set down his glass and began eating. “Everything’s been taken care of. It’s completely insane. You should have seen what it was like over there.”

“With the weather this hot, I feel something is bound to happen sooner or later.”

Chai Jin understood the situation far more deeply than Cai Weiqiang did.

Unless something unexpected happened, a few days from now would bring the most chaotic moment since the establishment of this special economic zone.

People would queue for several days and nights, and when it was discovered that subscription forms were being obtained through backdoor connections, thousands would take to the streets.

Some people, eager to exploit the turmoil, would seize the opportunity to fight, smash, loot, and burn.

It would pose an enormous challenge to the administrative system of this newly established city.

Chai Jin was unconcerned.

He smiled and said, “This city currently has only a little over six hundred thousand permanent residents. In the space of a single week, more than a million people have suddenly poured in, while the city’s administrative resources are equipped to handle a population of only six hundred thousand.”

“The fact that nothing has happened so far is already a miracle.”

Cai Weiqiang suddenly felt the hairs on his body stand on end. “You think so too?”

Chai Jin lifted his beer and took a sip, smiling faintly. “It was bound to happen, but the authorities will suppress it soon enough.”

“Those who need to be dealt with by law will be dealt with by law. Brother, keep a close eye on the people under you. Don’t let them get involved in the disturbances.”

Cai Weiqiang nodded gravely. “I’ll have to give them another stern warning later.”

“By the way, what are we planning to do with these subscription certificates?”

“Hold on to the newly issued shares, or keep reselling them?”

“This isn’t Zhonghai. The black market won’t be easy to find.”

This was something Chai Jin had also been considering over the past two days.

He firmly believed that anyone who held on to the newly issued shares they won in the lottery would make an enormous profit after some time.

But there were several points he had to consider.

First, unless something unexpected happened, once the unrest surrounding the Shenzhen stock lottery forms erupted, the disturbances here would inevitably attract enormous public attention.

Various professors, economists, newspapers, and other media outlets would launch a frenzied wave of criticism against Shenzhen stocks.

In the end, one result would be inevitable: investors would lose much of their enthusiasm. Without a flood of inexperienced speculators rushing in on impulse, Shenzhen stocks would certainly suffer a sharp collapse.

It would take at least six months for the market to recover.

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Chai Jin did not want his money trapped there with no way to withdraw it for half a year.

Second, more than ten thousand people were queuing on Chai Jin’s behalf, which meant he would have at least one hundred thousand subscription forms in his hands.

The final purchase price was one hundred yuan per form.

That meant he would have to pour a considerable amount of money into the operation over the next two days. At the same time, preparations for the aircraft were about to begin, and he was short of funds.

Taken together, these factors left Chai Jin no choice but to continue reselling the lottery forms.

He gave a bitter smile. “My cash flow can’t support holding them. I can only keep reselling them. As for how, I have my own channels.”

“What about you, Brother? What are you planning to do?”

The new shares won through the lottery cost only one yuan each. Were there any one-yuan shares on the stock market now?

Of course not.

That was why Cai Weiqiang was so conflicted. After draining his glass, he said, “We’ll talk about it when the time comes. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

Chai Jin calmly picked up a piece of braised kelp and put it into his mouth. “You need to decide as soon as possible. Once you’ve made up your mind, tell me, and I’ll help you sell them off.”

Cai Weiqiang asked in bewilderment, “How are you going to sell so many subscription certificates?”

“Don’t tell me that wealthy backer from Zhonghai, the one who sent over a truckload of money, has contacted you again.”

Chai Jin smiled. “To this day, I still don’t know who that backer is.”

“How could he possibly contact me again?”

Cai Weiqiang was even more puzzled. “Then who are you going to sell them to?”

Chai Jin smiled bitterly. “I’ll pay out the cash to the scalpers first and worry about the rest afterward.”

Chai Jin would still need to pay the wages of the people queuing for him, settle the guesthouse bill, and pay the transport team.

The money in his hands was nowhere near enough to keep everything running. At this moment, he was essentially gambling with his heartbeat.

Fortunately, the leading company was advancing the funds for him, and the aircraft project would not begin so quickly. He could hold out for now. Otherwise, the whole game would collapse.

Cai Weiqiang stayed and talked with him for a long while.

Eventually, the conversation returned to the aircraft. Cai Weiqiang patted his chest and promised that once everything was ready, he would certainly help Chai Jin take care of the matter.

Chai Jin raised his glass and smiled as he drank a toast with him.

…

There were more than three hundred locations selling lottery forms, and over a million people waiting in line.

Large portions of the city had already been left deserted.

Many factory owners simply halted production and took their employees to queue.

At the industrial park, for example, Chen Ni felt a pounding headache.

In the space of a single day, her factory had been emptied.

And hers was not the only one. Several neighboring factories had suffered the same fate.

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Some owners had personally led their workers away. He Kai, for instance, had taken more than a thousand people from his factory.

Since last night, trucks had been arriving one after another and stopping there. Once they arrived, a man would stand in the truck bed and shout through a megaphone: “Thirty yuan a day, with food and lodging included!”

Truckload after truckload of people was hauled away.

The industrial park had never been so deserted.

Chen Ni therefore found herself terribly bored in the factory.

She got up and went toward the back street.

She had grown fond of visiting that area and occasionally stopped by the labor agency to chat.

But when she arrived that day, she saw Old Huang and the others packing up. Somewhat puzzled, she asked, “Old Huang, what are you doing? Are you closing up?”

Inside the labor agency, three people were pulling together various supplies and materials.

Liu Shan replied with a cheeky grin, “Good day, young miss.”

“Take the day off for once.”

Chen Ni nodded. “Look around you. Everyone’s gone to buy subscription certificates. What else can we do?”

“Where are you planning to go?”

Old Huang smiled with easygoing satisfaction. “We’ve completed our assignment. That boss over there asked us to go help him this afternoon. He has another job for us.”

Whenever that boss was mentioned, Chen Ni found herself even more confused. Every time she came by, Old Huang would bring him up.

All she knew was that this mysterious boss had taken eight or nine thousand people from them.

They had all gone to buy subscription certificates.

Yet she had never learned who the man actually was.

Unable to hold back, she asked, “Have you figured out who this boss is yet?”

Su Wenbin answered, “Not yet. But he’s a man of his word.”

“Thank you, young miss, for coming to see us so often during this period. You’re a good person. Good things will surely come to you in the future.”

His words caused the atmosphere to grow unusually oppressive.

The emptiness outside only made it worse.

Chen Ni sighed anxiously. “If you leave, I won’t even have anyone to talk to.”

“And what has Chai Jin been doing lately? Has he ever mentioned anything to you?”

“How is it that there hasn’t been a word from him?”