Volume 6: The Great Change Chapter 0876: The Way to Make Money
Detroit, Michigan.
It's another Windfall lottery day, another day when no one wins the jackpot. Today is a little special because the Windfall jackpot has accumulated to 5 million US dollars. According to the rules, the jackpot prize must be rolled down and distributed to other lower-level winners.
In other words, people who only guess 5, 4, or even 3 or 2 numbers correctly will receive bonuses of varying degrees.
Birmingham is a small town half an hour's drive from downtown Detroit. It is also one of the few wealthy areas in Detroit with good public security. In a villa, several old men and women are scanning lottery tickets with barcode scanners. An eight or nine-year-old child is tossing a football back and forth, his eyes fixed on the TV screen, watching the live broadcast of the football game.
The child and the old man and woman are a team, a team that specializes in making profits by buying lottery tickets. They also have a code name called "Lotto Thief". The child is the leader of the team. His name is Adler, also known as Nan Youqiong.
Lotto thieves have been making profits from lottery tickets for some time, and have slowly developed from a single person to a team. From being unfamiliar to being skilled, the team has gone through a long period of running-in and is now able to cooperate precisely and rarely makes small mistakes.
Suddenly, an old man took a calculator, looked at the numbers on it and said, "Adler, I've calculated that we can get 1,515,096 this time. This is a good profit of 726,192."
"Nice going!" Nan Youqiong put down the football, stood up and walked to the old man, "Cranston, give me $100."
Cranston didn't know what Nan Youqiong wanted to do, but he did it anyway and took out $100 from his wallet and handed it to Nan Youqiong.
Nan Youqiong took the US dollars, spread them out, and stretched them out with both hands. "Cranston, you bought the Lotto Thieves Team with 100 US dollars. Please distribute my share of the prize money to each member."
"Why?" Cranston found it hard to understand why Nan Youqiong would give up the lottery thief. You know, the lottery thief makes an average profit of more than 300,000 US dollars per month.
Nan Youqiong shrugged. "I will go to the Knicks to practice in the future. I will be very busy and will not have time to fly to Detroit. Cranston, you already have the capital. You can still continue with the current model without me."
"Adler, thank you. You are the angel sent by God to save us." Cranston leaned over and kissed Nan Youqiong on both cheeks to express his gratitude.
Before joining the Lotto Thieves, Cranston and other members worked in the automotive industry. Unfortunately, Detroit's automotive industry had been in recession since the 1960s. In the 1980s, many auto workers in Detroit lost their jobs. Cranston and his friends were considered the lucky ones, as they did not lose their jobs until the late 1980s.
Just as their lives were falling into hardship, Nan Youqiong came to Detroit and met Cranston in a convenience store that sold lottery tickets.
Cranston, who graduated from the Department of Mathematics at Western Michigan University, has always had a keen interest in mathematics. Like Nan Youqiong, he also discovered the loopholes in Windfall, but he did not have much capital and could not play the game at all.
They had common interests and Cranston was a useful person, so naturally, Nan Youqiong got together with him, and then expanded the team with Cranston as the base.
"Cranston, you are my Santa Claus." Nan Youqiong responded, "I prepared a lot of meat. We can have a barbecue party today."
Cranston smiled and said, "Yeah, happy hour, but it's a pity you're too young to drink."
"I can drink a drink." Nan Youqiong smiled back.
Nan Youqiong spent a happy time with the lottery thief team. The next morning, he said goodbye to Cranston who came to see him off, rushed to the airport, and boarded his own plane.
On the plane, he changed into his school uniform. After more than an hour's flight, he appeared at the gate of Public School 41 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, and joined the group of students who had just got off the school bus.
"Hi, Adler."
As soon as he joined the team, a girl in front of him immediately turned around and greeted him.
"Hey, Scarlett, did you pass the audition?"
"I failed again. I hate advertising." The girl named Scarlett curled her lips and said angrily, "I don't want to be a model. I want to sing and act in a stage play."
"Yeah, come on."
The United States is a country with a serious class stratification. Communities are naturally divided by housing prices, and rich areas and slums are naturally isolated, divided into the mass class and the elite class. The mass class advocates happy education, while the elite class adopts a very cruel education method.
Nan Yi and Scarlett both disdain the so-called elite education for the elite class, but they don't want Nan Youqiong to enter aristocratic school too early. In elementary school, they hope that Nan Youqiong can lower himself and get in touch with the world of common people.
The process of capital accumulation itself is a process of constantly plundering civilians. This kind of plunder is more covert and not so bloody. There will not be a scary knife on the neck. Moreover, the process of plunder is empowered and covered up by law.
From a narrow perspective, entrepreneurs set up businesses to increase employment and tax revenue, which to a certain extent promotes the economy of a place or a country. However, as long as you look at the problem from a broad enough angle, you can actually apply the law of conservation of energy to the economy.
It is like Nan Yi looking at the world from the height of the Milky Way and the universe. He never thinks that money, as a manifestation of energy, belongs to him. He is just an intermediate storage and transportation station, and the money is only stored here for a short time.
Perhaps a pontoon boat keeps sailing in one direction. As long as the distance reaches the distance that light travels in one year, the money will be transformed into another form of energy and transferred to another intermediate storage and transportation station.
Precisely because of this understanding, Nan Yi, who learned to make sacrifices since childhood and always regarded himself as a savior, would stand at his post conscientiously and complete the work of energy transfer meticulously. He never slacked off to play on yachts or date celebrities, practiced martial arts and special warfare for more than a decade, and never thought of becoming the leading actor in a movie.
Even the next generation, his own son, was allowed to get in touch with the upper link of the assembly line since he was young to develop tacit understanding so that he could take over his shift better in the future and become a glorious, happy and silently burdened warehouse keeper.
At noon, when Nan Yi came out of Zhao Shixian's villa, his phone rang.
"Lao Nan."
"Ha, brat, your brother doesn't even call me Adam, but you're already calling me Lao Nan." Nan Yi laughed heartily into the microphone and said, "Comrade Xiao Nan, what do you want from Lao Nan?"
"Lao Nan, I have been on summer vacation for several days."
"I know, but it's not convenient for you to follow me this summer. Do you want to go to New York?"
"I don't want to go. My brother doesn't have vacation until the end of the month."
"I'll be home in three hours at most. We'll talk slowly when we get home."
"Uh-huh."
"Sister, you sit on the bow, and brother walks on the shore, the rope swings with love..."
As soon as he entered the garden of Fang Mansion, Nan Yi saw Nan Wuwei standing on a skateboard and humming "The Love of the Boatman". To join in the fun, he waited for the female part and then continued, "Little sister, I'll sit on the bow of the boat, brother, you walk on the shore. Our love and affection are swinging on the tow rope, oh~ swinging..."
"Nan Fenglan, you sing so beautifully."
"Nantianpei, you're not bad either, brat, come here."
Nan Yi shouted to Nan Wuwei, who came up to him on a skateboard and said, "Your Grandpa Sun is here, what can I do for you?"
"You are Sun Wukong, and I am Tathagata Buddha." Nan Yi grabbed Nan Wuwei's ears and said, "You want to be naughty, you little brat? Be careful or I'll spank you."
"Dad, you said you wouldn't hit me."
"Haha, just because I don't hit you doesn't mean you can't let others hit you."
Nan Wuwei started to become naughty, and the change was a bit sudden. Nan Yi was a little uncomfortable for a while, but he didn't feel unhappy at all. Nan Wuwei was at the age when he should be naughty. If he wasn't naughty, he would be unbeautiful.
"Hmph, tell me, how many days can you stay at home?" Nan Wuwei asked in a complaining tone.
"You little idiot, stop following what you see on TV and continue playing. The day after tomorrow, come with me to Beijing to visit your grandparents and Nuan Nuan."
"oh."
Nan Wuwei stepped on the ground and slid away.
Nan Yi watched Nan Wuwei play for a while, then went to the kitchen and started preparing delicious food for his wife and son.
When it was almost time for dinner, in a private room at Xinya Cantonese restaurant not far from Fang Mansion, there were many guests. There were Tang Delong, who came from the Western Regions and whose ancestral home was the same place as Mounan De, Guan Wanguo from Jinsheng Securities, Zhao Tianyang, a stock market , and Wang Baiwan, a super tycoon.
In 1964, Tang Delong was born in a family supporting the border areas in Dihua, Western Regions. He was the eldest in the family.
Although Tang Delong has a baby face, he has been cheerful and independent-minded since childhood, and he is quite appealing among his peers.
As a teenager, Tang Delong studied hard and was particularly interested in physics. He aspired to become a physicist.
In 1981, 17-year-old Tang Delong was admitted to the Department of Industrial Economics of Donghua Petroleum Institute, but he chose to drop out in his sophomore year and return to Dihua to repeat his studies because he became increasingly unable to tolerate courses that had nothing to do with physics.
After repeating the grade and taking the exam again, Tang Delong's score reached the passing score for physics at Hudan University.
But what Tang Delong did not expect was that according to regulations, university students could only be accepted by their original schools to take the college entrance examination, but he was unwilling to return to Donghua Petroleum Institute, so he had to be transferred to Xiyu Petroleum Institute. His dream of becoming a physicist was shattered once again.
In 1985, Tang Delong, who entered the Western Region Petroleum Institute, completely gave up the idea of becoming a scientist. He chose to drop out of school again and jumped into the business world without hesitation, with a spirit of "I am the master of my own destiny".
In the 1980s, Tang Delong was able to be admitted to universities consecutively and even reached the score line of Hudan University, which fully proved his outstanding ability. However, he was born with a love of work and was very interested in the business boom that had just started.
When he was studying at Xiyu Petroleum College, he took the initiative to contract a school-run farm with poor management. However, due to his lack of experience, the situation became even more chaotic after he took over, and he ended up in failure.
After entering society, Tang Delong struggled to find business opportunities and started from a small photo printing shop.
In December 1986, 22-year-old Tang Delong, with the guidance of a friend, raised 400 yuan and opened a "Friend" color printing shop in Dihua City, whose main business was photo developing.
This was the first wave of tourism boom after the reform and opening up. Any tourist attraction with a little fame was crowded with people, and taking photos became an important ritual during travel.
For Tang Delong, he relies on friends when he goes out and when he makes money.
At that time, Dihua did not have any color printing business, and Tang Delong, who had worked abroad, seized this opportunity.
The shop was opened, but he had no money to buy equipment, so he announced that all prints would be delivered one week later. When he collected a batch of orders, he would mail the negatives or ask acquaintances to send them to his friends in Yangcheng for printing, and then mail the printed photos and negatives back to Dihua.
During this period, Tang Delong himself also served as a human courier, traveling back and forth to Guangzhou. The booming economic situation in the south made him excited and broadened his horizons.
This method has extremely low technical content, but the business was very prosperous and we quickly made hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When he finally had enough money to buy a second-hand punching and expanding equipment from Guangdong Province, he immediately offered a price that was half the price of his competitors, quickly capturing more than 80% of the punching and expanding market in Dihua and making huge profits.
As business increased, Tang Delong felt that he did not have enough staff, so he posted a job notice to find people.
Looking for people is fake, looking for money is real.
No one could have imagined that such an ordinary little thing would demonstrate his outstanding capital operation skills.
Tang Delong's store is located in the city center, and the booming business naturally attracted countless applicants. However, he actually asked applicants to pay a deposit before hiring them. Although this trick is a bit sneaky, the high salary still attracted some people willing to take the job.
With the deposit in hand, Tang Delong rented a new store, recruited people in the same way, and collected deposits again. Following this model, he opened more than 20 stores and earned his first pot of gold.
When most Chinese people still didn't know what capital was, Tang Delong had already cleverly used the leverage of capital to rapidly accumulate personal wealth.
The success of his startup made Tang Delong a little proud. He felt that he was capable of more than that and started to get involved in multiple industries to make more money. In order to study the industry dynamics, Tang Delong hired many "economic experts" at a consulting fee of several dozen yuan per month to ask for advice on industry entry points.
But I don’t know if it was due to the experts’ level or Tang Delong’s haste, but all the projects he handled ended in failure.
The lock factory was closed because it did not have a production license; the satellite receiver research and development ended in failure because the technicians were poached; the feed factory was unable to make ends meet; and even the hotel contracted in a remote border city was closed due to insolvency...
As for noodle factories, small chemical factories, clothing stores, advertising agencies, computer software development companies, etc., they all ended in failure due to poor management.
In 1988, the 24-year-old Tang Delong lost all the hundreds of thousands of yuan he had earned and was left with a debt of 1.8 million yuan. When people are at their wits' end, they either choose to escape or cry poor and beg their creditors to let them go.
But Tang Delong was not like that. He gathered all the creditors together and told them earnestly: "If you trust me, give me a chance; if you don't trust me, send me to prison."
It should be said that this is actually a rogue tone, but the creditors chose to believe Tang Delong and wait for him to make money to pay off the debts. If they don’t believe him, there is nothing they can do. If they send him to prison, who can they ask for the money ?
It would be better to let him try again because of his daring spirit.
Tang Delong was a man of his words. He did not hide or dodge, nor was he averse to meeting acquaintances. He would seize the opportunity whenever he saw one, and he really seized the opportunity.
Last year, Tang Delong used his connections to sell the Siton printers he had just represented to major oil fields in the Western Regions, making a lot of money. After making money, the first thing he did was to go to the door and pay off his previous debts with interest, becoming a legendary figure overnight.
Also because of frequent travel to the south, I am familiar with everything in the south, including stocks and qigong masters.
Not long ago, Tang Delong was introduced to Wugong Mountain in Jiangxi Province, where he met Wang Wei, who had been wandering outside for many years and had returned to the place of cultivation for seclusion after gaining some enlightenment.
After selling powerful pills for many years, he finally got on the right track of pretending to be an accomplished person. Just as he started pretending, someone slapped tens of thousands of dollars in front of him. Of course Wang Wei was tempted. He knew that he couldn't mess up this first business deal, so he used everything he had learned throughout his life and borrowed a motto from God.
Wang Wei told Tang Delong that he would have an unparalleled career, but everything would come to an abrupt end at the age of 40. He advised him to retire and live in seclusion in the countryside before the age of 40.
Tang Delong believed Wang Wei's words and not only thanked him verbally, but also gave him 10,000 yuan before leaving. Wang Wei reciprocated and gave Tang Delong eight more words: "Red is auspicious, green is ominous, meet the south and turn into a dragon!"
After getting some advice, Tang Delong, who was very intelligent, understood the first four words in a very short time. "Red is auspicious, green is ominous" refers to the stock market. So he went to Shenzhen and stayed there for a few days. Then he went to Shanghai and selected Jinsheng Securities after choosing among three securities companies.
After sitting in the big room for a while, Tang Delong became familiar with everyone and screened out those who were worth making friends with. In order to integrate into the circle more quickly, Tang Delong often invited everyone to a restaurant. Today's meal was just an ordinary meal.
"Have you heard that scalpers are selling tickets from Yangcheng to Shencun for more than 200 yuan each? It's only mid-July, and there's still nearly a month before they go on sale. Judging from the situation, the ticket prices will continue to rise." After drinking a glass of yellow soup, Wang Baiwan started the conversation.
More than a month ago, at the end of May, the news that the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was about to issue new shares had already been received by many people. In various places, especially in rural areas, professional speculators have been buying up ID cards in large quantities.
If the subscription certificates of Shanghai Stock Exchange are the self-entertainment of Shanghai people behind closed doors, the lottery tickets to be issued by Shenzhen Stock Exchange will be the carnival for people across the country. They can be purchased with ID cards, regardless of the place of residence. Faced with such an opportunity to make a fortune, who would be willing to miss it if they had a quick mind?
Guan Wanguo put down his chopsticks and said, "It's not surprising. My friends in Shenzhen told me that more than 600,000 people have come to Shenzhen. All hotels, inns and guesthouses are full. Many people are sleeping on the streets. There are still more than 100,000 people queuing up in Guangzhou to go to Shenzhen. The price of train tickets may double.
Some people use small cars to pick up people outside the bus station, charging 600 or 700 yuan, and many people still take the car at this price."
Guan Wanguo has relatively wide information channels and has a better understanding of the real situation in Shenzhen today.
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Guan Wanguo and Wang Baiwan had no intention of going to Shencun, but Tang Delong was already tempted. He was fully capable of organizing a group of people in Dihua to queue up in Shencun. People from Dihua are tough and they will definitely be able to grab a good seat.
Zhao Tianyang also had an idea. In addition to the more than 3 million invested in the stock market, he now had more than 6 million in his hands. If he could go to Shenzhen to complete the original accumulation, he would have more bullets in his hands.
I have to say that the current stock market is really crazy. Zhao Tianyang has made a profit of more than 2 million in just a few dozen days.
The two people who had the same intention joined together the next day. Tang Delong provided a small part of the funds and manpower, while Zhao Tianyang provided most of the funds. The two sides cooperated to attack Shencun.
Life in Nan Yi was relatively uneventful. Early in the morning, he accompanied his son to the suburbs to go fishing.
I originally wanted to shoot birds, but when I looked through the animal protection catalog, I found that among the common birds, except for the swallows, they are at least third-level protected animals. I couldn't afford to offend them, so I changed my mind to fishing.
Nan Wuwei was riding a speed bicycle close to the river. As soon as he saw a fish, he released his hands from the handlebars, held the special slingshot, clamped the special projectile with leather, pulled the rubber band, aimed quickly, and bang, the projectile flew out, and the fish in the water turned over instantly.
Nan Yi, who was also following behind on a bike, did not stop either. He scooped up the fish in the water with a scoop net, put the scoop net in his arms, shook it, and the fish fell into the fish basket.
Nan Wuwei kept pulling the slingshot and firing, while Nan Yi followed behind and fished non-stop. In less than an hour, the fish basket tied around Nan Yi's waist was already overflowing.
"Xiao Nan, stop hitting me. I can't hold any more." Nan Yi shouted and stopped Nan Wuwei.
Nan Wuwei turned the handlebars around, rode to the side of Nan Yi, took a look into the fish basket, and said arrogantly: "The fish are too easy to catch, there is no challenge. I really want to challenge myself to catch a handsome man."
"Look at how capable you are. You even hit a handsome man. Be careful or Sixth Master will lay two and kill you."
[The J-8 is nicknamed the "handsome man in the sky", and the H-6 is honored as the "Sixth Master".]
"I'm not afraid. If the sky collapses, there will be someone tall enough to hold it up." Nan Wuwei pulled his feet off the ground and put them on the footrest. "Dad, let's go catch the cicada monkeys."
"How can we catch them without any weapons?"
"I brought a bag of sugar and some lead wire."
"Oh, you've already prepared it. Let's go put the fish away first."
When they arrived at the parking lot, Nan Yi put away the fish basket, and Nan Wuwei took the sugar bag and a piece of lead wire. Then they returned to the river and found a clump of bamboo.
Nan Yi asked the school beauty for a dagger and handed it to Nan Wuwei, "Go ahead and cut it."
"oh."
Nan Wuwei took the dagger, waded into the river, groped in the water for a while, picked up a pebble, walked back to the bamboo bush, picked one of suitable thickness, held the dagger against the root of the bamboo in his left hand, and swung the pebble with his right hand to knock it down. With just one knock, the bamboo fell down.
Next, Namuwei trimmed off the branches of the bamboo, cut off the thin part of the bamboo tip, and drilled two holes in the bamboo; he took out a lead wire and made a circle, passed the long end through the holes, and then wrapped the lead wire tightly around the bamboo.
He pinched the circle and shook it, and when he felt it was firm enough, Nan Wuwei took out the sugar bag and put it on the circle, "Dad, give me the lighter."
Nan Yi took out a Zippo lighter from his pocket and handed it to Nan Wuwei. Nan Wuwei took it, lit the lighter, and held the dagger over the flame for a while . When the dagger became hot, he pressed the dagger under the part where the sugar bag and the smoke ring were connected. He repeated this several times, and the sugar bag was firmly stuck to the circle.
"Okay, this thing will definitely work." After finishing everything, Nan Wuwei looked at the fruits of his labor with great satisfaction. After handing the lighter back to Nan Yi, he raised the bamboo, waved it back and forth in the air a few times, and then ran towards a tree, "Catch the cicada monkey."
Nan Yi followed Nan Wuwei, picking up steps and coming under the tree. He looked up and saw the sugar bag controlled by Nan Wuwei slowly approaching a cicada that was stuck on the tree and chirping. When it was less than five centimeters away from the cicada, Nan Wuwei quickly covered the bag with it. The cicada was frightened and flapped its wings and flew around in the bag.
Nan Wuwei took back the bamboo, reached into the bag, and the cicada was in his hand. "Dad, it's not a cicada monkey, it's a cicada."
Nan Yi took a look and said, "Yes, it's a cicada."
“Too little meat.”
Namowei loosened his grip, and the cicada was no longer restrained and immediately spread its wings and flew away.
After letting one prey go, Nan Wuwei pricked up his ears to listen for a while, and then walked to another tree. This time, he did not rush to take action. He stood under the tree and observed for a while. After confirming that it was a cicada monkey (golden cicada), he raised the bamboo in his hand.
Following the same method, the cicada monkey soon came into Nan Wuwei's hands. This time, he did not let it go, but stuffed it into the small mesh bag hanging on his belt.
He caught one, then went on to catch the next, and swept away all the cicada monkeys on the hill. Nan Wuwei then took Nan Yi to another place with trees. Nan Yi followed behind, watching Nan Wuwei devote himself to the work.
In the morning, I went fishing and caught cicada monkeys. In the afternoon, I followed him to the secret base, a small game room with two or three arcade machines and two Superman computers, which catered to primary school students.
Arcade machines cost five coins for one dollar, and Superman costs three dollars an hour. Only very wealthy elementary school students can play by the hour, while others can only play for half an hour for one dollar.
The owner of the game hall was not very old. When he saw Nan Wuwei, his face immediately turned ugly. He said to Nan Wuwei in a warning tone: "You can only play for half an hour at most."
After hearing what the young boss said, Nan Yi instantly understood what was going on without asking. Game hall owners don't like those who play arcade machines too fiercely. One coin can occupy a machine for a long time, which greatly delays their making money.
Nan Wuwei laughed at the young boss, walked to an arcade machine, put a coin into the coin slot, tapped the button, and shook the handle a few times, and the game countdown screen immediately appeared.
Every game hall will have one or several people who are very good at playing games. Such people often attract a lot of people to watch. Nan Wuwei is probably such a character. As soon as the game started, several elementary school students timidly surrounded Nan Yi.
The primary school students were timid because Nan Yi was addressed as "adult", which was quite annoying to them.
Nan Yi was knowledgeable and understood the situation. He saw Nan Wuwei play for two minutes before walking out of the game hall, and took the low-pressure air with him.
After staying at the door for less than five minutes, Nan Yi saw Zhong Liwen jogging towards him. He looked at Nan Yi from a distance, stopped, dodged his gaze, and hesitated for a moment. Probably he realized that Nan Yi had seen him, so he did not run away and came to Nan Yi with his head held high.
"Uncle Nan."
"Don't be afraid, Wuwei is inside, go in." Nan Yi smiled warmly and said softly.
"oh."
As soon as Zhong Liwen entered the game room, Nan Yi started thinking, "I hope Zhong Liwen's grades are good, otherwise I might be scolded by his parents, and Wuwei will become the culprit who led 'his' son astray."
In the game room, Zhong Liwen came to Nan Wuwei and said, "Wuwei, how did you get caught by your father? Your father won't tell my father, will he? You won't get beaten when you go back, will you?"
Zhong Liwen was worried about himself as well as Nan Wuwei's situation.
Nan Wuwei played the game attentively without looking back, "Don't be afraid, I haven't been arrested, I came here with my father."
"Ah? Your father doesn't scold you for playing games?" Zhong Liwen exclaimed in surprise.
"No."
"Oh, your dad is so nice. I secretly asked him for money at noon today, and my mom saw me. She scolded him and stopped him from giving me money. She only gave me one dollar for breakfast every day." Zhong Liwen sighed and said, "I want to grow up so much. My mom is still holding my New Year's money and said she would give it to me when I grow up."
Nan Wuwei laughed out loud, "Do you really believe that your mother will return the New Year's money to you?"
"I don't know." Zhong Liwen shook his head and whispered into Nan Wuwei's ear: "There are too many people here. Let's find a new base. I learned a way to play games for free."
