Ma Laocai

Unfortunately, fate was unkind. In the early 1990s, state-run companies were in increasingly dire straits, and Ma Laocai's company was no exception.

On top of that, Ma Laocai was always siphoning money from the company and had even cheated it out of quite a bit. The company suffered a substantial loss as a result, but because he had hidden his schemes well and maintained a good image at work, no one discovered anything.

In any case, although Ma Laocai was not solely responsible for the company's eventual collapse, he had certainly made a major "contribution."

Seeing how badly the company had been ruined under his watch, management began preparing to lay off its workers. When Ma Laocai realized it would be difficult to siphon anything more from the company, he used "going into business" as an excuse and resigned. Unexpectedly, the company's general manager even praised him for setting an example. If he had known that Ma Laocai had helped bring about the company's predicament, who knew what he would have thought?

After resigning, Ma Laocai transformed himself into a professional antique dealer. However, he had miscalculated. When he had still been employed, his financial advantage had indeed allowed him to make quite a few bargains.

Once he resigned, though, that source of funds disappeared. All his living expenses had to come out of his antique-selling profits. With prices rising and consumption increasing, he also had a wife and children to support, so the expenses of the entire household became his burden.

As the saying went, circumstances changed people. As he watched his family's daily expenses grow, Ma Laocai's money-grubbing and mean-spirited nature gradually revealed itself.

At first, everyone did business with Ma Laocai as they had before. After a few transactions, however, they discovered the problems with his character.