Chapter 40: The Gamble Begins

After saying this, she resolutely pulled Chai Jin away.

The woman called Fengjie stood there, holding a few native chickens, looking bewildered.

“Was that bastard insulting me? Giving me chickens? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t steal or rob anyone. After you come to me for pleasure and I take a small fee for my trouble, you insult me like this?”

…

When they arrived at the station, they spotted another familiar face.

Wang Xiaoli, dressed in a down jacket, had shown up.

As soon as she saw Chai Jin, she walked over, pulled a sweater from her bag, and handed it to him. “Chai Jin, I knitted this for you.”

“What are you staring at? Take it!”

“Oh, thank you.” Chai Jin was a little stiff and embarrassed; he really didn’t know how to face Wang Xiaoli.

She seemed a little angry, her fair face glowing in the early morning mist, making her look heartbreakingly lovely.

In her large apricot eyes, there was a hint of grievance toward Chai Jin, and they were slightly red. Clearly, she hadn’t slept well the night before either.

Standing in front of Chai Jin at nearly one meter seventy, she radiated a unique youthful fragrance, clean and faintly scented with laundry soap, making her seem pure and fresh.

After stuffing the sweater into his hands, Wang Xiaoli stamped her foot. “You’re such a blockhead.”

Then she glared at Liu Qingwen, who was shifting awkwardly nearby. “Monkey, let me tell you, if you dare take Chai Jin to a hair salon, I’ll tell your mother! And I’ll let everyone in Yuanli County know what you’re up to!”

“What’s that got to do with me? You know what Chai Jin’s like—do you really think he’d go to a hair salon with me?” Liu Qingwen was utterly baffled.

Chai Jin shot him a glare. “Shut up.”

He looked at the flawless face before him. “Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? Did I ask you to thank me?”

With that, Wang Xiaoli turned and stalked off, seemingly indignant.

But after just a few steps, she suddenly wheeled back, threw her arms around Chai Jin, and pressed her soft, pink lips to his.

“Holy—!”

Liu Qingwen was dumbstruck!

And Chai Jin’s mind went completely blank; he hadn’t been prepared for this at all.

Just as he was about to say something after she let go, Wang Xiaoli didn’t give him a chance—she didn’t say a word but ran off quickly toward the station exit.

The two neat braids bounced behind her, a scene that would be indelibly etched in Chai Jin’s heart.

“Brother Jin, now I finally get why you won’t go to the salon with me!”

“Come on, be honest—have you been seeing Sister Li for ages?”

“Damn, she’s the belle of the factory! Who in Yuanli County doesn’t know Wang Xiaoli from the lighter factory is a beauty?”

“What did you ever do to deserve her…?”

“Can you speak like a normal person?” Chai Jin interrupted him with a frown.

“Enough nonsense, the bus is here.”

He picked up his bag and strode toward the minibus.

Liu Qingwen followed, pestering him with questions, but Chai Jin remained silent.

When they reached the bus, Liu Qingwen looked curiously at the destination written on the front. “Brother Jin, aren’t we supposed to be going to Deep City? Why’s this bus heading to Zhonghai?”

Chai Jin didn’t even look back. “We’re going to Zhonghai first to make some quick money, then on to Deep City. Don’t talk so much.”

…

After another day and night of jostling along the road, Chai Jin spent the journey carefully pondering Wang Xiaoli’s situation. He couldn’t quite describe his feelings. Though his soul was decades old, he still couldn’t see through things when faced with Wang Xiaoli’s open confession.

They arrived in Zhonghai on the morning of the eighth day of the new year. The official holiday had ended, but not many migrant workers had returned yet, leaving the city feeling rather empty.

Of course, only the ordinary streets were deserted. The securities exchange was still bustling.

Yet a phenomenon puzzled many.

The old blue-chip stocks were in desperately short supply, so before the festival, the authorities announced the launch of new share offerings. At first, it was a sensation, but after a few days of feverish trading, demand for these new shares suddenly collapsed.

The reason was simple: a product unique to the era had appeared.

Subscription certificates.

To buy new shares, you first had to buy a thirty-yuan subscription certificate. Only then, after a lottery, could you purchase the new shares.

Each certificate cost thirty yuan and was issued in unlimited quantities. People expected a buying frenzy, but the market turned cold overnight.

Rumors spread that the certificates were a scam, and staff at banks and brokerage houses were all but begging people to buy them.

At the mere mention of subscription certificates, the employees would pull a long face.

But what was the reality, as Chai Jin remembered from his previous life?

In two months, only a little over two million certificates were sold.

There were fifty-three new share issues that year.

That meant the odds of winning the share lottery with one certificate were more than eighty percent.

Each winning certificate could bring in over ten thousand yuan in profit!

With the old blue-chip stocks unavailable, and new shares only accessible with certificates, speculation in certificates went wild; eventually, each certificate sold for as much as ten thousand yuan—a profit greater than the stocks themselves.

This phenomenon lasted until a new round of certificates was issued in ’93.

Chai Jin, reborn, was lucky enough to find himself at this juncture of wealth.

Once he arrived at the guesthouse, he didn’t stop for a moment.

Before leaving, he’d emptied his distillery’s working capital, bringing over four hundred thousand yuan.

He and Liu Qingwen went to the bank together and withdrew all four hundred thousand in cash—a huge wad, stuffed into their bags.

That night, Liu Qingwen said anxiously, “Brother Jin, when I was out wandering around, everyone was saying these subscription certificates are a scam.”

“Are we really going to throw all this money in? This is all the factory’s cash. We still owe the bank tens of thousands in loans!”

His concern was understandable. For an ordinary person, this was terrifying.

Standing at the guesthouse entrance, Chai Jin gazed at the closed trading center across the street, his eyes shining like a wolf’s.

“Let’s gamble big—fortune favors the bold.”

“We only have a little more than ten days left. In these days, we can’t wait; we have to move fast and buy as much as we can.”

Behind him, Liu Qingwen muttered, “Fine, I don’t get what you’re thinking anyway.”

“Then I’ll throw in my two thousand too!”

He slapped his factory wages from the last few months on the table.

Chai Jin looked back at him. “Monkey, get ready to get rich.”

Then he stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

…

Early the next morning, the two of them set out with hundreds of thousands in cash.

Their first stop was a nearby bank.

When Chai Jin told the staff he wanted to buy subscription certificates, the bank employees nearly treated him like their own father.

In an instant, the whole branch was in an uproar, and even though Chai Jin wasn’t a VIP, he was given the most privileged treatment.

Especially when he sat down and asked, “How many subscription certificates do you have here in total?”

The branch manager himself came out.