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墨書 Inktalez
I met Mr. Lu at a café. He was dressed in a gray suit, looking quite old-fashioned. The large, thick glasses on his face added to his bookish appearance.
Sitting down, I asked him what kind of Amulet he specifically wanted. Mr. Lu said he just wanted the stock prices to rise; he had no other requests.
I chuckled and said, "That's already a tall order. The global situation isn't good right now. If it were that easy to make any stock soar, why would I need to sell Amulets?"
Mr. Lu calmly replied, "Even in a bad market, there are still stocks that hit their daily limits and continuously rising stocks. This shows that trends cannot affect individual stocks. Besides, you sell Amulets; how can you not take your own product seriously?"
He earnestly lectured me, saying that if you want people to buy something, you have to promote it. If you don't promote it, others won't know its value, so how could they buy it?
I couldn't help but smile wryly; there are indeed customers willing to be deceived—what an eye-opener.
Mr. Lu told me that he actually started trading stocks in 1997, investing fifty thousand yuan at the time, and now it has more than doubled! He originally wanted to take it out to invest in other businesses, but unexpectedly got stuck. When he talked about his stock trading experiences, he looked proud and mentioned that many people lost everything in the stock market while he still made a profit.
I couldn't help but laugh quietly; from 1997 to 2008, it took eleven years for him to double his money. Moreover, fifty thousand yuan back then could buy two apartments in a small city, right? Now? A hundred thousand yuan might only get you a one-bedroom apartment—it's surprising he can still laugh about it.
Mr. Lu didn't seem to care; in his view, making a profit is victory—whether it's more or less is another matter. From a rational perspective, this statement is correct; it's just that many people can't accept it.
I told Mr. Lu, "Given the current situation, I suggest you cut your losses. If that's not possible, just wait a bit; there might be a rebound. Relying on an Amulet for a turnaround seems unlikely."
Mr. Lu immediately became displeased, slapping the table and saying, "You young people never listen! I've already told you that in business, you have to learn to promote your own product. If you don't promote it, how will you sell it? If I really listened to you, I definitely wouldn't buy an Amulet—how would I turn things around then? Can you take responsibility for that?"
I was somewhat dumbfounded; how does my ability to turn things around relate to him at all? Mr. Lu continued his lecture: "You must tell others how great the Amulet is—that it can overcome major trends. What financial crisis can compete with the power of spirits? I'm telling you this for your own good; it's normal for young people not to understand marketing concepts, but you can't ignore advice!"
I asked incredulously, "How can you be so sure that spirits can overcome major trends?"
Mr. Lu maintained a serious expression and said with disappointment, "Look here! I just told you not to always share pessimistic theories with customers—are you even going to do business? Many people who used to buy stocks with me didn’t listen when I advised them not to sell—they insisted on selling. Now look at them; they don’t have any stocks left and are too scared to buy again—they can only stare blankly."
I truly didn't know what to say; clearing out one's stocks is a good thing—how did it become foolish behavior in his words? When Mr. Lu explained this issue, he said: "What do you know? Only by holding stocks can you see the situation clearly. Without stocks, you're just blindly analyzing—that's called talking without action; it's useless!"
I couldn't stand his logic anymore and surrendered by saying, "Alright, alright! You're right about everything. How about this: I'll introduce a few types of Amulets first, but I must state beforehand that if they can't..."
"What do you mean it can't be done!" Mr. Lu exclaimed, glaring at me. "You should say it can be done! It absolutely can!"
I was defeated by his insistence and had no choice but to go along with him. "Yes, it can definitely help you turn things around and make a fortune!"
Mr. Lu nodded in satisfaction as I introduced him to several types of amulets. He didn't like the Crocodile Amulet, finding it too fierce, and he was also dismissive of the Wealth Spider, questioning whether spiders could even be considered deities. In the end, he chose the Goddess of Wealth.
These amulets are all authentic and generally don't contain any Yin Liao. Unless someone specifically adds wealth-enhancing Taku or other elements to them. Based on my understanding of Boss Lu, he probably wouldn't appreciate a purely authentic one, so I made sure to tell him during our business discussion that I would ask Ajan to help add Taku and Yin Liao to enhance the wealth-attracting effect.
Boss Lu had no objections and even praised me for conducting business this way, saying I was making progress!
I couldn't help but chuckle at his words; only he could say something like that.
The Goddess of Wealth isn't particularly special, so it's quite inexpensive. Even with the addition of other Yin Liao, I sold it to Boss Lu for just fifteen hundred.
After taking the Goddess of Wealth, he left in high spirits, even saying he would treat me to dinner once the stock prices went up.
I had no hopes of getting a free meal from him; the international situation was in decline, and many people were predicting that the bottom of the A-shares would be around a thousand points, similar to when the bull market first started. Right now, however, the stock market was still hovering above two thousand points, far from that bottom.
Originally, this was just a small business deal that I didn't think much about. I even found Mr. Lu quite amusing. He clearly had low emotional intelligence and was somewhat self-righteous. In terms used by psychologists, he was someone living in his own little world. His worldview and values were measured solely by his own standards, completely disconnected from the outside world.
However, a few months later, I truly realized how annoying such a personality could be.
Shortly after school started again, around October, Mr. Lu called me.
He angrily questioned why the stocks hadn't risen yet! I felt bewildered; I had no control over whether stocks went up or down. I had already told him that the international situation was poor and that an amulet couldn't change that.
Mr. Lu wouldn't listen to reason at all; he threatened that if the stocks didn't rise within a month, he would come after me for an explanation! He even said he would accuse me of consumer fraud.
I was furious—who had deceived him? Did I ever say that buying an amulet would guarantee stock prices would rise?
Yet Mr. Lu refused to engage in any rational discussion and simply hung up the phone. Hu Xiaoyi and Liang Xi saw my displeasure and asked what happened and who had called.
I angrily said, "What a lunatic!"
Because of this phone call, I started paying attention to the stock market, whether there was something going on or not. Since it had been a long time, I couldn't remember clearly, only that the stock market had been falling during the time before Mr. Lu called again.
More and more people were becoming wary of stocks; anyone who bought shares during that time would surely be called a fool!
The chill of the stock market was gradually seeping into reality. As the weather grew colder, one morning I was lying on my dorm bed reading a novel when Liang Xi suddenly rushed in, pulling me to go outside. I asked what was going on, thinking someone was giving away money outside. Liang Xi said, "Giving away? No way! There's a guy causing a scene at the school gate, holding a bucket of gasoline, saying you owe him money. If you don't pay him back today, he's going to set himself on fire!"
Owe money? I was stunned for a moment. Throughout my life, aside from Second Uncle, I had never owed anyone money; in fact, it was often others who borrowed money from me.
I said that guy must have the wrong person or maybe you misheard the name? Liang Xi replied, "Definitely not wrong! He's looking for someone named Shen Yi, who sells Amulet, and is either in his third or fourth year. Who else could it be?"
Thinking about it, there really was no one else but me. How strange; out of nowhere, someone wanted to scam me?
With a mix of confusion and curiosity, I followed Liang Xi to the school gate. There were already many people gathered there. Since I had sold quite a few Amulet at school, many recognized me. They were discussing among themselves, and someone joked, "Hey Boss Shen, when did you start owing money? If you're short on cash, just ask your buddies; I'll lend you a dollar with interest!"
I laughed and cursed back, "Get lost! Even loan sharks aren't as ruthless as you! If I'm really in need of money, I'll sell blood; if that doesn't work, I'll sell my looks!"
Everyone burst into laughter, and a few familiar female classmates teased me about how much I would charge.
Just then, the Department Head spotted me and rushed over to scold me without hesitation. He berated me for not repaying my debts and letting someone cause such a scene here, saying it had a very bad influence—did I even realize that?
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