Chapter 7: Spending Money

【7】Spending Money

“What? You lost him! What are you people good for? You lost him even while driving a car! What exactly is going on!” a furious, middle-aged male voice roared. Looking in through the glass window, one could see the man standing behind his desk, gesturing angrily as he spoke. He looked as if he wanted to jump over the desk and kick the person being reprimanded. Two young men stood before the desk. This man was the very same distinguished guest who had bought a watch at Delong Trading two days ago, and the two young men were the capable associates who had accompanied him that day.

“Department Chief, we really couldn’t keep up! The target’s car kept going faster and faster. After passing Yongding Gate, that kid’s car was practically flying. By the end, the speed was definitely over a hundred kilometers per hour. Our Ford Model T couldn’t even catch his dust. We followed the tire tracks for a while, but eventually, even those disappeared. We drove around the vicinity searching and asking people, but everyone said they hadn’t seen anything.” One of the young men spoke quieter and quieter, finally hanging his head and muttering.

The man addressed as the Department Chief heard this and slammed his hand on the desk. “Don’t tell me he can fly! I’ve said it so many times: investigative work must rely on the masses and mobilize the masses. You couldn’t even get a lead on such an eye-catching, brand-new luxury car? I think your investigative work over these years has been for nothing!”

“Report to the Bureau Chief, we’ve found out that this person is named Cao Xiaoqiang. This time, he sold 3,000 foreign watches to the Hengdeli Clock and Watch Shop. The person who handled the transaction was Manager Qian Shulin of Hengdeli. After verification, this person is the same one who sold 40 foreign watches to Delong Trading last time.”

The Department Chief behind the desk slowly sat down, head bowed in deep thought. A moment later, he gave instructions: “Notify the Tianjin side to keep a close watch on the whereabouts of a man named Cao Xiaoqiang. This person deals in foreign watches, prefers to settle in gold, and drives a new, unknown, silver-gray, rectangular, high-end luxury sedan. Draw up a diagram of the vehicle’s appearance immediately and send it over. Remind them that this person might be using an alias.”

“Yes!” The two young men regained their spirits and shouted loudly.

Cao Xiaoqiang, his head still spinning, slowly drove toward a gold shop in Beijing. His brain, which had been bursting with excitement before the time travel, was now throbbing with a dull pain due to the subsequent blood loss. He had heard before that this gold shop offered fair prices for gold and had significant financial strength. According to the newspapers, a wealthy woman had once bought 100 kilograms of gold bars here in one go. This showed the extent of their influence in the gold trading market.

If it were the old Xiaoqiang, he would have just clicked his tongue and sighed, as such things were far removed from the lives of ordinary people like him. Who would have thought that Cao Xiaoqiang himself would one day be dealing with over 100 kilograms of gold? Laozi said, “Misfortune, that is where happiness depends; happiness, that is where misfortune underlies.” Cao Xiaoqiang, who had traveled through time after a failed suicide attempt, now truly felt from the bottom of his heart that Laozi’s words were incomparably glorious, correct, and great. Because the amount of gold obtained from this transaction was so large, Xiaoqiang didn’t intend to sell it as antiques at Panjiayuan. Even if he tried, it was unlikely anyone could swallow it all at once. Xiaoqiang concluded from common sense that if the process were too cumbersome, trouble would surely follow.

Arriving at the gold jewelry store named Yayi Gold Shop, Xiaoqiang explained his purpose. The manager stated that the purchase price was 320 per gram and added with a smile that the larger the quantity, the better—even a hundred million would be no problem. He then looked Xiaoqiang up and down with a cheerful expression. Having worked in this industry for many years, he knew deeply that one should never underestimate customers who dressed plainly and looked unremarkable. Experience had proven time and again that jaw-dropping events were often caused by such people.

Hearing the manager say this, Xiaoqiang moved a box of gold from his car into the shop himself. He first handed it to the manager for inspection and weighing. Once confirmed, they transferred the funds on the spot at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which was just a wall away. The manager was very surprised, saying it was indeed his first time seeing someone sell so much gold at once. He asked Xiaoqiang what he did for a living, how he had so many “big yellow fish” (gold bars), and if his family came from a background of big capitalists. Xiaoqiang smiled and didn’t answer.

A benefit of transferring funds between the same bank on the spot is that you can verify the arrival of the money immediately. Seeing the massive sum added to his account after the transfer, Xiaoqiang moved another box of gold from his car. At this point, the manager was so overwhelmed he nearly fainted. Thus, the process of inspection, weighing, and transferring was repeated. Now, the manager looked at Xiaoqiang as if he were a monster, and the clerks’ eyes were glued to him. When Xiaoqiang moved a third box from his car, the manager, dazed and lightheaded, fainted and slumped into a chair meant for customers. Seeing him looking so frail, Xiaoqiang felt a pang of sympathy and brought out the fourth box as well.

The manager, while repeating the process for the third time with trembling hands, said to Xiaoqiang, “Big Brother, please don’t toy with me anymore. If you have more, just say so, and we’ll do it all at once.” Xiaoqiang calmly told the manager: This really was the last one, there was definitely no more for today, and if there was, he’d be a bastard.

Once the final transfer was verified, the gold shop manager bowed nearly ninety degrees to hand Xiaoqiang his business card, instructing him to call and make an appointment next time he wanted to sell gold, and he could come to pick it up. Xiaoqiang smiled, took the card, got into his microvan, and drove away. The manager stood at the shop entrance, watching the FAW Jiabao drive off, muttering to himself, “What a legend…” The next day, it spread through the Beijing newspapers and the national internet that a mysterious man had cashed out 130 kilograms of gold the previous day, all in the form of Republic-era “big yellow fish.” In an interview, the Yayi Gold Shop manager stated that to protect customer privacy, the shop had deleted all surveillance footage from the previous day, and that both gold sellers and buyers could continue to trust the strength and credit of Yayi Gold Shop as always. Netizens’ discussions were chaotic; some said it was a grave robber who had dug up a gold vault left over from the Republic era, others said it was the gold shop hyping its own brand, and some even claimed that the gold bars stolen from their homes the day before had finally been found, demanding the shop return the stolen goods immediately…

Having obtained a massive fortune from selling the gold, Xiaoqiang parked his car at the entrance of the alley where he rented his small room as usual. He closed his eyes, recalling the amount he had earned: 42.66 million. His mind was filled with this eight-digit account balance. This was the first time in his life he had seen so much money, and what was even more exhilarating was that this money was in his own account.

“Am I a rich man now?” Xiaoqiang asked himself with his eyes closed.

“Yes, I am.”

He kept satisfying himself over and over again until he felt bored. You have to wonder how pathetic a person must be to do this! He was truly dizzy with joy.

After finishing his game of make-believe, Xiaoqiang finally felt hungry. Following his first instinct, he drove to Quanjude and had a wonderful roast duck feast. The duck was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, oozing with juice, wrapped in a pancake with green, white, tender, and crisp scallions and dipped in sauce—it was truly a delight.

After returning home, Xiaoqiang began to plan his future life of luxury—or, to put it bluntly, his grand strategy for enjoyment. Now that he had money, he felt an urgent need to change his living environment. In this small rented room he had lived in since he started working in Beijing, the wooden door frame in the bathroom was so rotten it was almost growing mushrooms.

This house-hunting experience made Xiaoqiang realize that for a rich person, buying property was really not difficult at all. After Xiaoqiang took charge himself and carefully selected for a long time, he finally set his sights on a 247-square-meter, luxuriously decorated apartment in Rongze Mansion for 14 million. It had three bedrooms, two living rooms, and three bathrooms, with every room being super-sized. The large bedroom, the large living room, and even the master bathroom were bigger than Xiaoqiang’s original rented room. Such a grand layout was something Cao Xiaoqiang wouldn’t have dared to dream of before, let alone view and negotiate. But now, he intended to splurge. So, regardless of the fact that it was already dark, Xiaoqiang called the agent directly to request a viewing for the next day, and they agreed to meet at nine.

The next day, after breakfast and drinking some donkey-hide gelatin blood-tonifying granules, Xiaoqiang crawled out of his humble rented room, drove his microvan to the appointment, and met the agent at the entrance of the Rongze Mansion complex. As soon as the agent led Xiaoqiang through the door, Xiaoqiang was moved. Damn! Such a huge hall! It was big enough to be a company conference room. The clean, bone-china yellow floor tiles were as bright as a mirror, clearly reflecting the crystal chandelier on the ceiling. The entire set of white leather sofas, white curtains, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen—all appliances and furniture were complete. The house and everything in it looked brand new; the landlord couldn’t have lived there for long. Everything felt luxurious and high-end.

Xiaoqiang didn’t intend to waste time. Since he liked it, he would get straight to the point.

“What’s the lowest price for this house?”

“The lowest is 99% of the asking price,” the agent said. “The deed is over five years old.”

“Good, I’ll take it.” The feeling of being a rich man was truly different. Xiaoqiang felt his back straighten quite a bit.

The agent was overjoyed. This was refreshing; he had never seen such an easy commission. The client liked it at first sight and wanted to buy it without hesitation after asking the price. Could it be that he had encountered a legendary coal boss today? The agent was suddenly energized and hurried to contact the owner to sign the contract that afternoon.

After leaving Rongze Mansion and parting ways with the agent, Xiaoqiang went straight to the computer market to buy a Lenovo laptop. Without a word, he chose the most expensive one in the store, exactly 10,000 yuan. He set up fiber-optic internet right in the store and downloaded a large amount of necessary audio, video, and image materials to prepare for his next move. He also bought a large number of TV series on discs and copied them directly to his hard drive. After finishing this and having lunch, he went to sign the house contract in the afternoon, paid the deposit, and arranged to handle the paperwork the next day.

The landlord was very straightforward. After receiving the deposit, he handed the keys to Xiaoqiang in advance. Xiaoqiang could move into his new home that very night.

Xiaoqiang called his parents. The call connected

“Mom, I’ve bought a house in Beijing.”

“Xiaoqiang, are you healthy lately? Mom misses you. You’ve already bought a house? How much was it?” his mother asked longingly.

Xiaoqiang began to speak according to the script he had made up

“Mom, listen to me. I recently helped an Arab businessman close a big deal, purchasing a large-scale automated oil refining production line for our country. I got some commission, six million US dollars, so I bought a large three-bedroom, two-living-room, three-bathroom house. It’s 247 square meters, and the price was 14 million.”

“Ah, Xiaoqiang, what did you say? Can you say that again?”

After repeating the explanation a few times, Xiaoqiang’s mother finally understood the situation and started crying on the other end of the line, her voice choked with emotion.

“That’s great, my son has made something of himself, that’s great…”

“Mom, stop working for others. Let Dad hire two caregivers for Grandma to take turns looking after her day and night. You and Dad should enjoy yourselves at home. I’ll wire 10 million to your Industrial and Commercial Bank account later. Spend it however you want, don’t feel bad about the money. Let Dad find a big house in the hometown, luxuriously decorated, and you and Dad can move in with Grandma.”

Just like that, the family chatted excitedly for a long time. Xiaoqiang’s mother said repeatedly that she would help Xiaoqiang save the money to find a wife in the future—a wife much prettier than his previous girlfriend. Seeing that the conversation had turned to personal relationships, Xiaoqiang quickly stopped it, changed the subject, and ended the call after a few more words.

A few days later, after completing the property transfer procedures, Xiaoqiang ran back to his hometown in Naitong. He personally picked out a luxuriously decorated villa for his parents in an area near the city center with convenient transportation and medical facilities. This house was 220 square meters with a garage, two parking spaces, and a 180-square-meter yard. The renovation was still very new, and the furniture and appliances were complete. It cost Xiaoqiang 5.1 million.

Xiaoqiang knew that if he just wired the money back, his parents wouldn’t use it; after all, they had been frugal their whole lives, and it was difficult to get them to splurge. So, he simply took care of everything himself. He hired two caregivers through an agency and finally left the old couple with 5 million. After doing all this, Xiaoqiang parted ways with his parents and set off on the road back to Beijing.

Returning to Beijing, it was already the end of October. Xiaoqiang still had a few hundred thousand in cash on hand. And his next journey through time and space was about to begin.