Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua exchanged a glance, faint smiles in their eyes. They had been in quite a bind, and Dongzi had returned at just the right time.
Afraid that continuing would make things awkward, Ye Yaopeng decided to let bygones be bygones and hurriedly changed the subject. "Here's the thing, Dongzi. Our eldest cousin says he has a way to make money and wants us to join him. All we have to do is put up some money. We won't have to worry about anything, and we'll get dividends every month."
"That's right. We're cousins, after all. Of course I'd give you a leg up when a good opportunity comes along. We can't let outsiders reap all the benefits."
The moment Ye Yaodong heard that, he thought it sounded unreliable. Nothing to worry about? If I put money in, of course I'll worry. If you run off, won't my money go down the drain?
"If it's such a good opportunity, why haven't you brought our second cousin in on it?"
"Of course I have. You're all my cousins. I wouldn't favor one over another. See how much money your three households can spare, and I'll work out the figures for you."
As he spoke, he deliberately pushed up his sleeve, revealing the dazzling mechanical watch on his wrist. His sleeve was already rolled up high, but he pushed it up again and said smugly,
"Normally, if you invest five hundred yuan, your monthly dividend will be around twenty-five yuan. Invest a thousand, and you'll get fifty, and so on. Fifty yuan a month in dividends means getting a worker's monthly wages without doing any work at all. That adds up to several hundred a year."
"You can lie around at home doing nothing and still collect money. What