Monday.
While having breakfast at a breakfast stall near his office, Dong Xuebin ran into Li Qing, the Full Director of the General Office. Li Qing was using disposable chopsticks to pick up a soup dumpling and bring it to his mouth. Naturally, Dong Xuebin did not dare sit at the same table as a leader. He greeted him from afar, then nervously sat at the next table over. Though they had only met a few times, Li Qing remembered his name because of the article Dong Xuebin had written for Deputy Director Yang. Just as Li Qing finished eating, he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Little Dong, right? Mm, Lao Zhou said you've been performing well lately. Keep it up." Then he took out a pack of soft-pack Hongtashan cigarettes and tossed one to Dong Xuebin.
Overwhelmed by the favor, Dong Xuebin said, "Director Li, well... I don't smoke."
Li Qing chuckled. "What kind of man doesn't know how to smoke? Learn."
"Uh, thank you, Director Li."
Since the leader had put it that way, refusing again would have been ungrateful. Besides, Dong Xuebin was rather pleased that Li Qing had offered him a cigarette. It showed that the leader intended to draw closer to him. So, bracing himself, he accepted Li Qing's lighter. After fumbling with it a few times, he finally got a flame going, lit the cigarette, and cautiously took a puff. Perhaps because he inhaled very little, he did not feel like coughing. His head only went slightly fuzzy, leaving him a little dizzy.
Li Qing smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and went off to work.
After breakfast, Dong Xuebin did not hurry back to the office. Instead, he went to a roadside convenience store and bought a ten-yuan pack of Hongtashan cigarettes.
He keenly realized that working his way up in a government office meant there would always be times when he had to smoke or offer cigarettes. He needed to keep a pack handy for emergencies. There was a reason he had chosen Hongtashan. Cigarettes that were too cheap would be embarrassing to offer and might make people look down on him. But overly expensive cigarettes were no good either. If a leader saw that Dong Xuebin smoked something better than his own brand, he might take issue with it. A more petty-minded leader might even think Dong Xuebin was deliberately making him look bad.
General Office.
Walking in, Dong Xuebin greeted everyone. "Good morning, everyone."
"Little Dong's here?"
"Morning."
Almost everyone had arrived, but Guo Shunjie was nowhere to be seen. Just as Dong Xuebin wondered whether the bastard had slipped off to the restroom again to slack off and smoke, Tan Limei shot him a sideways look and pursed her lips in his direction, grinning mischievously. Dong Xuebin turned his head in confusion. At that very moment, the door beside him creaked open. He jumped, only to see Guo Shunjie behind the door, holding a broom and sweeping the corner by the wall. He was working away with exceptional vigor.
Dong Xuebin immediately found it funny. Well, well. You know how to clean now?
Guo Shunjie glanced at Dong Xuebin, his expression as ugly as could be. "Kid, just wait."
"Fine by me." Dong Xuebin spread his hands and returned to his desk in high spirits.
Guo Shunjie had no idea what stroke of luck Dong Xuebin had stumbled into lately, but he had somehow won Deputy Director Zhou's favor. Otherwise, Zhou Changchun would not have scolded Guo Shunjie so harshly that day. To restore his image in Zhou Changchun's eyes, Guo Shunjie deliberately kept a low profile today. Not only did he voluntarily take on the office cleaning, but he also did not dare make Dong Xuebin draft documents or print files anymore. He handled everything himself.
It was not that Guo Shunjie did not want to bring in the political commissar. The problem was, he could not ask him to intervene.
A subordinate said something wrong and got disciplined by a leader—that was only natural. Would the political commissar step in over such a trivial matter? Of course not. Besides, Guo Shunjie was not close enough to him for that. The political commissar might give Guo Shunjie some appropriate consideration at work because of his father, but he would never support him unconditionally without principles.
With no other choice, after thinking it over and over, all Guo Shunjie could do now was keep his head down and endure. He no longer dared cause trouble for Dong Xuebin.
Noon.
Feeling immensely pleased, Dong Xuebin casually opened the stock market quotes. For the past two days, he had been busy picking stocks for Zhou Changchun. Watching those stocks shoot upward had made him itch to trade as well, but there was nothing he could do. He could not buy and sell on the same day, so his back ability could not be of much use. Look at Da Qin Railway, which had hit the daily limit in an instant that day—it was plunging today. Director Zhou would be lucky not to lose money.
Dong Xuebin unwillingly knocked his fist against his forehead. Was there really no opportunity at all?
But the only securities that could be bought and sold on the same day were warrants, and Changhong cwb1 had been half-dead and constantly falling...
He typed in the stock code and checked Changhong Warrant's recent activity again.
But the moment he looked, Dong Xuebin was stunned. Changhong cwb1 was now priced at 0.002 yuan per unit. It had fallen to two tenths of a cent. After searching online, he learned that today was the warrant's final trading day and that it would be permanently delisted tomorrow, which was why it had dropped so far. According to the usual pattern for warrants, there was normally no daily price limit on their last day. By the close... they would all fall to the minimum price of 0.001 yuan. Whoever took the final position would be the unlucky one, unable to recover even a cent.
Well, it only had one more tenth of a cent to fall before bottoming out. Since it had already fallen this far, there was no way it could rise today.
Dong Xuebin's last chance was completely shattered, and he immediately gave up on the idea of trading stocks.
"Huh, Binzi trades stocks too?" Tan Limei, passing behind him, curiously leaned over to look.
Dong Xuebin smiled. "No, I'm just looking around. Stocks are too risky."
"What are you looking at? Huh? Changhong Warrant? How did it drop to two-tenths of a cent? Is it getting suspended tomorrow?" Tan Limei actually knew a little about stocks. "Hehe, I wonder who came up with the idea of issuing warrants. It's nothing but a money grab, completely screwing people over. Look, whether they're put warrants or call warrants, they always drop to 0.001 in the end. I don't think the Securities Regulatory Commission will issue warrants anymore. Exercising them is completely pointless. Only fools buy them."
Zhuangzi beside them said, "Yeah, whatever you buy, don't buy warrants."
Chang Juan heard them and added, "My husband bought Ma Steel warrants before, and he lost everything. Sigh, those things are awful. I'd advise you not to get involved either."
Dong Xuebin felt the same way. "I understand. Warrants are bottomless pits. Even if you told me to touch one, I wouldn't dare." Back when his family had money, Dong Xuebin had traded stocks with his mother and lost quite a bit. He understood the risks of warrants very well.
Work hours began, and Tan Limei carried a stack of documents briskly toward the copier.
The afternoon market had also been open for two minutes. Dong Xuebin gave Changhong Warrant's price one last look. It was still 0.020 yuan, and he subconsciously closed the stock software. But the next instant, he froze and sprang from his chair. Fuck, no, no, that's not right!
0.020 yuan was two cents.
Not two tenths of a cent at 0.002 yuan.
Was this for real? Changhong Warrant had risen a full tenfold after the afternoon market opened?!!!
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