Chapter 22: The Frenzied Collection of Identity Cards
As soon as Wang Xiaoli mentioned cleaning and cooking, Chai Fang, with the air of an elder sister, smiled and pinched her delicate little nose.
“What are you thinking? How could Xiaojin ever let you do those things?”
“Come on, I bet Xiaojin won’t be coming back again today. Don’t just wait here for nothing.”
“Oh, he’s not coming back again?” Wang Xiaoli was unhappy, but quickly corrected herself, “Wait, I’m not waiting for him anyway.”
“Is that so?” Chai Fang gave her a gentle smile, “I know you well enough.”
“But what has Xiaojin been up to these past couple of weeks? He hasn’t been home for so long, not even a letter.”
“And Liu Qingwen has disappeared along with him.”
…
Indeed, Chai Jin and Liu Qingwen had been particularly busy during this period.
They had rented a large house in the county town.
Later, it would be used as the sales department for the distillery. Though the distillery was intended to provide for the family, Chai Jin believed that whatever field one worked in, one should strive to excel. He hoped the distillery might one day become a household name, as renowned as River Xiao White.
They’d installed telephone lines, bought office desks and chairs, printed business cards, and so on.
They hadn’t started recruiting staff yet.
The reason for not hiring was because they were currently occupied with something else.
This was a matter Liu Wenqing really couldn’t understand.
That day, he returned to the office carrying a large bag of ID cards. Though it was already winter, after running around Old Cave Village all day, he was drenched in sweat.
He was utterly exhausted.
Not long after, Chai Jin also came back, carrying a military backpack full of ID cards.
Liu Wenqing gulped water from his cup and said, “Brother Jin, I just don’t get it. Sure, the factory is making money now, but you don’t need to squander it like this.”
“Why are you collecting so many ID cards?”
Chai Jin didn’t answer directly.
He carried the ID cards into the inner room, opened the iron box, and began to sort them one by one.
The big iron box was packed full of ID cards.
He only asked, “How many did you collect today?”
Liu Wenqing replied, “We’ve been collecting for half a month now, but it’s getting hard. Everyone knows someone’s buying these, so prices are going up.”
Chai Jin calmly counted the bundles of ID cards.
After a while, he closed the iron box and locked it.
“There are ten thousand now. Starting tomorrow, we don’t have to keep running around; let’s call it a pause until next year.”
“But you’ve got to tell me what these ID cards are for! We’ve run our legs off this past half month!”
Liu Wenqing was especially frustrated, because Chai Jin had been tight-lipped about the reason.
They had rented ten thousand ID cards, with the rental period until next September.
Five yuan per card.
By now, they’d spent over fifty thousand yuan.
Whenever the factory had spare cash, Chai Jin would spend it all on this.
Without a proper explanation, it nagged at him.
Chai Jin was feeling tired as well. He sat on a stool and took a sip of water. “You’ll understand next year. Don’t ask. Even if I told you, you wouldn’t get it.”
“There you go again, always saying that. Why bother asking, then?”
“Forget it, I’ll go buy some takeout. What do you want?”
“Stir-fried pork with chili.”
“Alright, wait here.”
After Liu Wenqing left, Chai Jin glanced at the large iron box full of ID cards, and his heart surged with waves.
This was the third step in Chai Jin’s plan.
The idea originated from a historical event in the Shenzhen market in 1992.
“A million investors speculated in Shenzhen!”
In February of ’92, the wealth from Zhonghai Subscription Certificates ignited a frenzy across the nation.
When the Shenzhen market implemented the subscription certificate policy, more than a million ID cards were sent in within a single month—a massive opportunity for wealth.
Once this window closed, there would never be another.
Among those million people, Chai Jin’s name would be written in bold in the annals of history.
As for the fever surrounding Zhonghai Subscription Certificates, Chai Jin was not the least bit anxious.
When they were first issued, no one paid attention. He could make a bold move.
This was Chai Jin’s second step.
He pushed all stray thoughts aside.
After eating in the office, the two returned to Rice Blossom Village.
As soon as they arrived, Chai Jin sensed something off at home.
Chai Mingguo was at the door, smoking gloomily.
Chai Fang sat in the bedroom, her mood low. Only little Chai Shan, who understood nothing, stared at her father and sister with wide, watery eyes.
Seeing Chai Jin return, Chai Shan ran over happily. “Brother, did you buy me a toy?”
Chai Jin smiled and drew a plastic Astro Boy from his bag.
“Wow, it really is Astro Boy!” Chai Shan was overjoyed, snatching it eagerly.
Meanwhile, Chai Mingguo suddenly stood up, sighed, and holding his pipe, said, “I’ll go check the fields. Fangfang saved some food for you, Xiaojin. Eat when you’re ready.”
With that, he left the house with his hands behind his back.
Chai Jin noticed his father’s mood and asked curiously, “Shan Shan, did something happen at home?”
Shan Shan, oblivious, looked up and said, “Brother, is that what Mama looks like? It’s the first time I’ve seen her.”
“But why was she so fierce? Xiaohua’s mama isn’t like that.”
Chai Jin’s face suddenly darkened.
His breathing grew rapid. “That woman came to our house?”
He referred to his mother as “that woman.”
Much of it stemmed from his previous life.
After his father died, his sister and younger sibling were sold off.
Suddenly orphaned, Chai Jin found the mother living in the county town.
He hoped she would help locate his sister and little Shan.
But what he received was endless indifference.
He remembered vividly: After burying his father with a straw mat, while sorting through his father’s belongings, he discovered that his parents had actually exchanged letters over the years.
He learned their story.
That woman couldn’t endure poverty and had remarried a factory worker in the county.
Though they lived in the same county, she never once visited her three children—utterly cold.
He remembered it well: That year in his past life, he knelt outside his mother’s door all night.
In the morning, his stepfather, returning from a night shift, beat him so severely he ended up in hospital.
Even in the hospital, that woman came and scolded him harshly, “Don’t drag down my life. I have nothing to do with the Chai family anymore.”
That was why Chai Jin, reborn, was so cold and unfeeling.
Because the warmth he had felt in his last life was so scarce.
Now, her sudden appearance could only mean trouble.
Chai Shan was too young to ask much.
He entered the house and saw Chai Fang secretly wiping away tears.
He asked, “Sister, did that woman come to our house today?”
Chai Fang bit her lip. “Xiaojin, don’t talk about her like that. After all, she is our mother.”
“She? Does she deserve that title?” Chai Jin’s voice was low and cold. “Why did she come?”
“Surely it wasn’t a sudden pang of conscience, missing her three children?”