Chapter 131: Nenvanov Arrives in Shenzhen

After hanging up the phone, Chai Jin’s car happened to pass by the Xishan Hotel. The entrance of the hotel was swarming with people, mostly visitors from out of town. Finding this rather strange, he pulled his car over to the side.

After flagging down a security guard at the entrance and questioning him for a long while, he finally understood what was going on. A group of Soviets were staying there. The crowd gathered at the door could be described by a term unique to that era: "Speculators." They traded in clothes, daily necessities—they traded in absolutely everything. In the nineties, a decade where "out of a billion people, nine hundred million are speculating and the other hundred million are looking for ways to do so," these speculators left a bold mark on the history of China’s economy. They were also a significant phenomenon that pushed China’s planned economy to transition toward a market economy.

The recently dissolved Soviet Union had given rise to many new nations. Because industrial development varied across the Soviet territories—for instance, Russia had an exceptionally well-developed heavy industry but a very backward light industry—it created a bustling trade route for speculators between China and Russia. There were private speculators, state-sanctioned speculators, and all sorts in between. It was obvious that a high-ranking official from the former Soviet Union had arrived, and these Chinese speculators were scrambling to make connections and secure partnerships.

That a single Russian could draw such a crowd, with some having chased him all the way from the north, only meant that this person must hold a very high position. Could it be that Ivanovich had arrived?

Chai Jin handed a cigarette to the security guard and asked a few more questions, but the guard was clueless; he didn't even know the names of the Russians. Chai Jin then called Yu Pengfei to inquire about the situation. Sure enough, Yu Pengfei said over the phone, "After Ivanovich finished his trip to the capital, he headed south. I don't know who leaked his itinerary, but the speculators from Xiushui Street and Xidan in the capital all caught the scent and swarmed over."

Chai Jin felt a headache coming on. With so many speculators trailing behind him, it was like being followed by a giant searchlight. Wherever he went, he was illuminated. He still did not want to expose his own identity. The ultimate reason was that he had seen too much in his past life. In that era, among those who made it onto the rich lists, who didn't eventually collapse? Especially the big-time speculators; it was an inescapable curse.

After a moment of thought, he said, "How about this: give me his contact information, and I’ll make separate arrangements for him?"

Yu Pengfei quickly replied over the phone, "Don't. The old Russian has a peculiar temper and trusts no one. Wait two days. I’ll be coming over in a couple of days, and it would be better if I introduced you myself."

Chai Jin thought it over and agreed; trying to bypass the middleman might indeed prove counterproductive. He said, "Fine, I’ll wait for you to get here."

After hanging up, he looked up at the gates of the Xishan Hotel, lost in thought, before driving away.

...

The Shenzhen subscription certificates had sold out, but the turbulence had not ceased. Television, newspapers, and various so-called experts and public intellectuals had stepped forward. In any era, there is never a shortage of these armchair experts who love to offer hindsight. They always use past events to predict the future. Yet, in the end, it all turns out to be nonsense; in their words, everything follows a pattern. But if a person cannot even predict what will happen in the next second, how can one talk of patterns?

On the first day after Yu Pengfei arrived, Chai Jin bought a stack of newspapers. Entire pages were filled with the exaggerated rhetoric of these experts. Chai Jin found it soporific, but then he spotted a byline in a corner of the *Special Zone* newspaper that immediately perked him up. The headline read, "Where Does the Future of the Chinese Stock Market Lie?"

He was drawn to it primarily because the author was Lu Liang. If things went according to history, this big player’s blood should be boiling right now, and soon he would begin "bottom-fishing" as the Shenzhen stock market plummeted. Following that would be the emergence of the first major market manipulator in China, the Zhongke Group. The capital market is a place where people are killed without blood; no one talks about sentiment.

Chai Jin would not abandon the stock market just because the subscription certificates were gone. His next plan to rake in money from the market was to intercept these big manipulators and become a "super rat" in their warehouses. It was not an honorable move, but given that Lu Liang’s ultimate fate was to be drained dry by his own "rat warehouses," he might as well be the one to play that role.

It was clear that this man had a very thorough understanding of the stock market. While others were frantically hyping the market, he alone was singing a bearish tune, claiming that the Chinese stock market was already teetering and would inevitably face a period of massive volatility. Others might laugh it off as the ramblings of a madman, but only Chai Jin understood that the purpose of this article was to fan the flames of chaos in the market. Once the crash came, he would definitely enter to buy at the bottom.

Chai Jin read carefully. The weather was nice today; the sun wasn't too intense, and a faint breeze blew under the shade of the trees. Sitting on a straw mat, Chai Jin’s brow was furrowed in thought. As he read, he said, "Sister Li, later..."

He stopped abruptly, turning his head to see the room was empty. In the few days Wang Xiaoli had been there, he had subconsciously grown accustomed to her presence. Only then did he realize the girl had already returned to Yuanli County. He shook his head with a bitter smile.

Just as he was about to get up to go to the kitchen for water, a girl dressed in a very trendy style emerged from the restroom. She looked to be about twenty, with a perm, heavy makeup, and wearing a bright red outfit. Chai Jin looked at her with surprise. When did a woman end up in the house? When did she come in? He felt like he had seen her somewhere before. The girl noticed Chai Jin staring at her and seemed a bit embarrassed. She quickly lowered her head and hurried into Monkey's room.

"Did Monkey bring a woman back yesterday?"

As he was wondering, Old Huang walked out, patting his large belly, a comb in his hand. He was combing back his hair and let out a yawn. "Morning, Chai Jin."

"It's already noon, and you call that morning?"

"Oh, hahaha, I came back late last night and got up late today."

"Monkey hasn't gotten up yet?"

Old Huang tucked his comb into his pocket and headed to the water tap with a towel. "Probably not," Chai Jin said, "Did he bring a woman back yesterday?"

*Splash, splash, splash.*

Old Huang used the towel to wipe his face with well water and said, "Met her at a nightclub. Monkey said it was love at first sight. They seem to have met on a train somewhere. The girl is quite open, and one thing led to another, and they hit it off. On the way, they went to the restroom together, and then felt it wasn't enough, so he just brought her back."

Chai Jin knew Monkey’s habits when it came to women. Back in Zhonghai, hadn't he been screaming in a guesthouse with a woman every day? However, when the train meeting was mentioned, it suddenly dawned on Chai Jin. Wasn't this Gu Qiuyan, the girl who had discussed Li Qingzhao with Monkey?

He asked Old Huang a barrage of questions about Gu Qiuyan, becoming even more curious. If he remembered correctly, the Gu Qiuyan on the train had looked like a simple village girl. How did she end up looking like this? And she was even working at a nightclub.

After Old Huang finished washing up, he went out to buy food. Before long, all the people living in the courtyard had come out.