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Putting down the knife and fork in his hand, Xiao Yun steepled his fingers, leaned back against chair, and said “Oh, let’s hear it.” There was a lack of interest in his tone and it appeared like he had no interest in this proposal at all.

But Chen Yuanming didn’t think this was the case. At the very least the meaning revealed from the man’s eyes indicated that the opposite was true.

“Our prerequisites are the same. We want to mine some gold before the news officially comes out.” Chen Yuanming said unhurriedly, “But when will the news be announced? That is the most important question. Tomorrow is the lottery day, whether one wins successfully or not, the issuance of the new stock subscription is already the last opportunity to enter the stock market before the news is released. The next lottery will be on June 5th. By then, the first stock market rally would have long passed. Even if you buy more whiteboards, and even if the second wave will make you some money. No matter how much you earn, you still would have missed this year’s biggest stock market rally.”

Xiao Yun smiled, “You are so confident. Though you are not wrong … since you’re rushing to sell the winning lots in this manner, you probably have more than one reason. Your capital chain is broken, right? One subscription certificate can buy 100 new shares, even if the stock price is denominated at 10 yuan per share, that is not a small number, let alone calculated by the premium value. If you want to exchange the subscription certificate in hand into stock, you need at least one million yuan in capital. Even if your family has money, at most, they would have given a child such as you 200,000 to 300,000 yuan to play with. You have subscription certificates, but if you can’t pay the principal, you can’t buy new shares. Is that not so?”

Of course, Chen Yuanming will not be provoked by such words. He just raised the corner of his lips in a wry smile. “Supposing that I have winning certificates, since I can sell it you, I can sell it to others as well, not so? Now, there is more than one smart person here and the goods can always be delivered.”

“Then why suggest selling it to me? Is it because I look amiable?” Xiao Yun slowly sat up straight, his body’s formidable aura intensified, and for a moment he simply stared into Chen Yuanming’s eyes.

In the teenager’s dark and bright eyes, there was only calm.

“Because it’s easier to talk to smart people, and you were the first person to find me.” Chen Yuanming’s finger flicked the glass in front of him slightly, making a clinking sound. He playfully wiped off a shallow water mark on the stem of the glass.

“You don’t care about my age, there is no threat, and you won’t bother to cheat. The other people who are here to dig for gold are too complicated. I would rather choose a reliable partner.”

The words were very straightforward and were meant to be reassuring. Xiao Yun blinked, this little devil. He had acted a little tough earlier but was now holding up a friendship card again? “Partner … how many winning numbers will you release?”

“Half of it.” Chen Yuanming paused, accentuating his tone. “I predict that in this period at least 10% of the lottery will be won. As long as this number is attained, I can give you a full 600 winning tickets at a price of 2,000 yuan per piece.”

“Hiss ~~” Even Xiao Yun who had engaged in a lot of business deals before couldn’t help taking a deep breath. This little toad had a big appetite! “10%? Do you realize that there will be four lotteries this year? This time 10%, what about the next few times? Would you be able to give me 50% of the total then?”

“Since you have acquaintances in the banking system, you should know what their original planned certificate issuance volume was.” Chen Yuanming remained calm and slowly reasoned. “This time the actual sales volume was too low so the winning rate will definitely increase, otherwise why will the market price be driven so high? Do you think everyone else is a fool? Additionally, about 10 or more new stocks will be issued this year. Brother Xiao, are you unaware?”

He was aware. Xiao Yun had excitedly rushed to Shanghai because he actually knew in advance that the stock issued would increase in number. Since they both knew this – no perhaps this child even knew more than he did. – and the goods were in the child’s hands, he really had no advantage at all.

“Tomorrow is the day of the lottery. At this point, no one will sell anymore certificates. And when the lottery is over, no one with a brain will sell the winning numbers. The price of those whiteboards that did not win in this round will also rise. At that higher price, how much liquid capital did you bring, how many winning numbers are you able to purchase, and how many whiteboards can you afford? Or do you really want to give up your first chance to win?”

One knife after another stabbed Xiao Yun’s soft ribs. Xiao Yun smiled bitterly, this child really did not let pain of others go. At this time, he had already spent 200,000 on the acquisition of whiteboards, and only got less than 2,000 certificates, most of which were not even sequentially numbered. Even if he was lucky, a winning rate of 10% meant that he would have only 200 certificates. Later, if he used money to buy the winning lottery certificates, it would probably easily be sold at a speculative price of 4,000 to 5,000 yuan per piece.

After the first lottery there will be a big wave of sales of whiteboards, however after moving the old man at home he was only able to secure 2 million yuan in hand. He cannot support expenses at both ends!

These various restrictions made it necessary for him to obtain as many successful winning numbers as possible at the first lottery and also ensure that he had sufficient funds set aside to purchase the newly listed shares. Then he could use the remaining amount to continue to acquire whiteboards in order to make profits in the second and third lottery rounds … This was no longer just a matter of mining gold, this was a mountain of swords and a sea of flames[1].

This realization had come too late … With a long sigh, Xiao Yun laughed and waved away all his remorse and regained his free and easy attitude.

“If you can really get 10% of the total, we have a deal.”

Chen Yuanming smiled a little, this was more than just a deal. Chen Yuanming could have earned a fortune by reselling the 600 winning lottery tickets, but he really wanted to find a safe trading partner. Thus, even if this guy’s funding chain was tight he would have still done business with him. If not for this guy’s family background, he really would not have gone about things this way. Since fortune had invited itself in, it was better to accept with a smile.

“Since our deal depends on tomorrow’s lottery.” Chen Yuanming raised his glass with a smile, “I hope I guessed right.”

“I hope so too.”

The two wine glasses clinked together making a melodious rippling sound.

The next day, that is on March 2, 1992, the first Shanghai stock subscription certificate lottery ceremony was held at the Shanghai Lianyi Building. A total of seven new shares were listed, and the winning rate was 10.3%.

That night, a phone call came directly to his guest room. Xiao Yun’s voice quivered a little as though he was unable to bear the excitement. At this time, he held less than 120 winning ticket numbers in his hand. Without Chen Yuanming’s promise he could only stare at this first market rally.

The next morning, in a guest room of the International Hotel, Chen Yuanming counted out 600 winning numbers and handed them to Xiao Yun. In return, he received a suitcase filled with 1.2 million yuan and an absolutely authentic Shanghai resident identity card that closely resembled Chen Yuanming. It appeared that Xiao Yun had spent a lot of effort. Although, this was not Chen Yuanming’s own identity card but in the era of lax background checks this alternate identity was enough for him to open a stock account.

Two days later, with this ID card, Chen Yuanming officially opened a stock account and invested his entire 1.2-million-yuan fund in his Shanghai Stock Exchange account.

The subscription period[2] was two weeks. However, just before the end of the subscription period, the Wanguo securities office in Huangpu[3] was smashed and had almost caused a riot because they did not permit people to change the names on the subscription certificates. However, for Chen Yunaming and Xiao Yun who had settled their problems, this kind of trivial issue was no longer a concern.

Time flew by and in a blink of an eye it was the end of the month and new shares were to go public. However, in this month, the value of stocks on the Shanghai stock market had basically not risen, mainly because the market was too small and the rise and fall of stock prices were strictly regulated. As a result, because no one sold their stocks for two consecutive weeks, the stock price did not move.

This wave of stalled prices also affected a large number of retail investors who had been holding on to subscription certificates. These withheld whiteboards begun to appear on the market at prices that were even a few points lower than before the lottery. Xiao Yun politely opened his pocket and spent all the cash in his possession on the purchase of the whiteboards. He did not stop until he had spent all his principal in early April.

At this time, Chen Yuanming had moved out of the International Hotel and moved to a hotel closer to the securities company’s big conference room. At this time, because securities companies lacked sufficient space, the real millionaires enjoyed hotel conference rooms leased near the securities company and avoided those hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized household investors who had been crowded into a gymnasium.

In the last few days of March, Chen Yuanming had been seated on the conference room sofa every day watching the few stocks going up or down or not moving, drinking tea, reading newspapers and chatting.

Although life appeared leisurely, many people in the same room were no longer able to sit still. If millions of their funds had fallen into water, it would still make a sound as compared to this bland stock market.

In view of this anxiety, Chen Yuanming’s calm attitude became more and more eye-catching. Occasionally, when Xiao Yun came, around Chen Yuanming would give him a kindhearted pointer and the two would analyze issues together.

Until today when news headlines were replaced with a sentence- “The East Wind Brings Full Vitality of Spring”.

After reading the newspaper, Chen Yuanming laughed. “Suddenly, after a night in the spring breeze, thousands of pear trees have blossomed.”

Chen Yuanming didn’t know whether the pear blossoms in Shanghai were actually blooming, but the flowers in the stock market were about to bear fruit.

At the beginning of April, the old man[4]‘s speech appeared in newspapers one after another. The stock market began to rush upwards like it had received a shot in the arm. The number of listed stocks was determined to be more than the original 10 and good news abounded everywhere. With more than 50 stocks confirmed to be listed this year the secondary market for subscription cards once again became hot.

But no one knew better than Chen Yuanming, that this was just a small skirmish before the real big move.

Under the influence of all kinds of good news, Xiao Yun, who was one of the first brothers on the stock market, couldn’t help getting excited. At this time, some of the new shares had risen by more than 100%. Xiao Yun even wanted to sell some stock to gather funds to re-enter the subscription market again, but Chen Yuanming’s calm behavior affected him. In the end, he did not sell his stocks.

On the 22-inch color TV in the big conference room the numbers that turned red every day seemed to reflect the red eyes of the people in the room until May 20 …

Chen Yuanming exhaled softly and flexed his stiff fingers. It was finally here. The advent of the largest bull market in Chinese history …

At this time, the capital in Chen Yuanming’s stock account had nearly doubled in amount and he still had 10,000 blank subscription certificates in hand.

The author has something to say: It could be said that the content in these chapters came from Baidu (china’s google), but because of the passage of time, I used a rough guess to accurately distinguish which statement was most likely… cough ~~ everyone should read it in a lively manner.

Translator Notes: Chen Yuanming secures his principal and makes a killing on the market. It’s so exhilarating to watch the deals go down.

A big big thank you to all who have donated/ bought coffee’s through the Ko-Fi link. Your contribution is very much appreciated. Thank you <3.

[1] a mountain of swords and a sea of flames – meaning most dangerous places; most severe trials; immense dangers and difficulties （比喻非常危险和困难的地方）

[2] A subscription period is the span of time during which a new issue of stocks may be bought by investors. A subscription period will typically last a week or two, after which the rights to subscribe will expire at no value if the purchase is not finalized.

[3] A harbor in Guangdong province and the seat of the Huangpu Military Academy from 1924 to 1927

[4] Referring to China’s president at the time Deng Xiaoping

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