The Tragic Yuan Jiancheng

At a crossroads, it was noon, and a large number of students were gradually leaving the elementary school gate.

After finally getting a day off, Ren Tianxue had breakfast with her best friend that morning and then went on a shopping spree at Wanda Plaza. Only then did she feel satisfied and start heading back.

She dropped her best friend off at the intersection. While waiting for the traffic light, she tilted her head slightly and happened to see a familiar figure walking out of the elementary school gate.

This person? Why did he look so familiar?

Strangely, as soon as this person walked out of the school gate, the surrounding elementary school students seemed to deliberately avoid him, pushing him out.

"I heard Teacher Yuan was fired!"

"Yeah! It seems he owed a lot of money to teachers and never paid it back..." two elementary school students discussed as they crossed the road.

Ren Tianxue's eyes suddenly lit up. That's right! Yuan Jiancheng, this was the man who came to Shen Qiong's place that day to have his fortune told and ended up arguing.

Could the Teacher Yuan the two kids were discussing be him?

Ren Tianxue stepped on the gas and drove to the school gate. She saw Yuan Jiancheng looking utterly dejected. She honked the horn.

Yuan Jiancheng looked up and saw Ren Tianxue in the car. Tears immediately streamed down his face.

"Huh? Why are you crying?" Ren Tianxue muttered in confusion, not understanding what was happening.

A grown man was crying on the street. What on earth was going on? She quickly got out of the car to check on him.

Yuan Jiancheng recognized her, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he said, "I was wrong! I was really wrong!" He said this while sobbing, sounding utterly miserable.

Ren Tianxue looked stunned. What was going on?

"Stop crying for a moment and tell me what happened. I remember your surname is Yuan, right?" she asked, supporting Yuan Jiancheng.

The two of them went to a small convenience store next to the school and sat under a large sun umbrella...

Yuan Jiancheng said, his voice choked with sobs, "If only I had listened to Master Shen's advice back then, I wouldn't be in this situation today."

Ren Tianxue suddenly remembered that Shen Qiong had argued with this man, who had boasted about making money in the stock market within three months, saying that whatever he earned, Shen Qiong would give him double.

She had even nagged Shen Qiong about it for a while. Ren Tianxue naturally remembered.

Could his current misery be because he lost money in the stock market?

"I truly regret not listening to Master Shen's words. This is all my own doing..." Yuan Jiancheng mumbled, looking down.

"Huh? What exactly happened?" she blinked.

Yuan Jiancheng swallowed and said with difficulty, "I was foolish then, I lost my head for a moment. After the fortune-telling that day, I borrowed tens of thousands of yuan from a colleague and invested it in the stock market the next day."

"You..." Ren Tianxue looked at him, speechless and helpless.

Yuan Jiancheng continued to recount his tragic experience. "Originally, I had invested nearly 300,000 yuan in the stock market, fluctuating over the years. The funds were less than 200,000 yuan. I saw that the stock had fallen quite a bit, so I got into an argument with Master Shen and borrowed money to invest again. Who knew I would step into an abyss."

"The day after I invested, it went up, so I didn't pay much attention and didn't think much of it. Anyway, I had invested my own money. Unexpectedly, the next day it hit the daily limit down, and I lost nearly 30,000 yuan. I almost fainted then."

"What could I do? Should I have sold and gotten out?" Yuan Jiancheng looked at Ren Tianxue excitedly.

Ren Tianxue was inwardly shouting: Of course, you should have sold! What if it kept falling? By now, she had witnessed Shen Qiong's fortune-telling abilities and, with a preconceived notion, knew it would continue to fall.

Ren Tianxue didn't speak but looked at him helplessly. Yuan Jiancheng continued, "Yes, I missed another chance to escape. If only I had sensed the danger then, instead of fixating on the immediate loss."

"Then, there was a continuous week of sharp declines. My own funds plus the tens of thousands I borrowed, I lost 30% of it all at once. No one could bear that. The money I had saved so hard, and part of it was my colleagues' money, vanished in the blink of an eye." He looked expressionless, like a walking corpse, as if he wasn't talking about himself.

"Finally, last week, a colleague's family member got sick and asked me for money. How could I face them? Suddenly, everyone knew I had lost money in the stock market, and they came to my door to demand repayment, fearing I wouldn't be able to pay if they were late." His face was pale, as if recounting something terrible.

"Because the debt collectors came to my house, my wife and children found out about it, and I had to confess to them." He closed his tear-filled eyes, trying to prevent tears from welling up.

"It's gone! Everything is gone! This news reached the principal, and I lost my job too." He laughed bleakly.

Ren Tianxue remained silent. She had no idea how to comfort him and could only listen to him with a worried expression.

"The day before yesterday, I had to bite the bullet and sell all my stocks, withdraw all the money, and pay off the debts. My wife is now angry and has taken the children back to her parents' home. Everything is gone." He looked expressionless, as if he had given up all hope.

"But actually, this is nothing. Really, what made me feel like the sky was falling was when I sold all my stocks, and damn it! That stock hit the daily limit and was suspended!" He revealed a desperate and crazed smile, shaking Ren Tianxue's arm and saying in a terrifying tone, "It was suspended, do you know? They say after restructuring, it can rise by more than ten boards... more than ten boards!!!"

Ren Tianxue was startled and stood up. His expression was too frightening.

With a thud, he knelt on the ground, his eyes wide open staring at the floor, muttering, "A few days, only a few days... If only I had held on for a few more days!!!"

He suddenly looked up abruptly, his eyes red and bloodshot!

"No, it wasn't me who sold. They forced me to sell! This doesn't count, this doesn't count! I still hold the stock, I can earn it back..." His eyes were hollow, and he kept muttering.

Ren Tianxue stared at Yuan Jiancheng in shock. She vaguely felt that this man in front of her had gone mad from excessive grief!!!

Yuan Jiancheng stood up with difficulty, staggering on the road, still mumbling, "It wasn't me who sold, I didn't sell, I can earn it back..."

Ren Tianxue immediately took a deep breath. The passersby around them noticed Yuan Jiancheng's strange behavior and kept their distance.

She decisively took out her phone and called the police!

"Hello, this is the entrance of Lingxi Elementary School. There's someone here who's mentally unstable, possibly due to excessive stress. I'm worried something might happen to him. Please come quickly!"

Shortly after, a police car arrived at the school gate. Following Ren Tianxue's directions, they found the deranged Yuan Jiancheng.

At this moment, Yuan Jiancheng was squatting in the grass, holding his head, and still muttering, "I can earn it back..."

Ren Tianxue explained to the police, "This person lost money in the stock market and suffered a major shock..."