When they arrived at the Nan family's courtyard, it was already a little late. The family was sitting on the sofa in the living room, eating melon seeds and chatting. Yi Jinru was also there. It was obvious that the New Year's Eve dinner had been prepared long ago and was waiting for Nan Yi and the others.
"Dad, Mom, brother, sister-in-law, Ruochan, we are late." Nan Yi stepped forward and greeted them.
Nan Wuwei followed closely behind and also stepped forward to greet them, "Grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt, sister, I'm late."
“Wuwei, let grandma take a good look.” Yi Jinru stepped forward, hugged Nan Wuwei’s shoulders and looked at him fiercely, “You’ve grown up again, grandma can hardly recognize you.”
Yi Jinru really wants a grandson, and Nan Tieli and Wenren Lanyue also meet the conditions for having a second child (one of them is divorced and has only one child, and the other has not given birth to the first child). But for some unknown reason, Wenren Lanyue's belly is not moving, and Nan Yi has never heard the Nan family mention children.
While Yi Jinru was admiring her grandson, Wenren Lanyue called Liu Zhen over, and the two of them went to the kitchen to serve the dishes.
Nan Yi came in front of Nan Huaiqiu and with a whoosh, stuffed two stacks of money into the other's down jacket pocket. Nan Huaiqiu felt the sediment in his pocket, reached out to touch it, a flash of surprise on his face, and took the money and stuffed it into his clothes.
Nan Huaiqiu is quite miserable. His wife is rich, his son and daughter-in-law are rich, and his own salary is not low. But although he has no worries about food and drink on weekdays, he usually does not see any money. Out of 365 days in a year, there are at least 350 days when his pockets are cleaner than his face.
"Ruochan, this is for you."
Nan Yi came to Nan Ruochan again and handed her a thin red envelope with only two big unity notes in it, just as a token of appreciation. Nan Ruochan had 30% of the shares of Xiaonan's catering company. Nan Yi had intervened in the dividend distribution, and the money could go to Nan Ruochan herself, and no one helped her "keep it", so she was not short of money.
"Thank you, uncle."
"You're welcome. Go to the United States early this summer and look around Harvard. Pick a house you like and I'll buy it for you. Then you can live in your own house and decorate it however you want."
For Nan Ruochan, since she has already set one foot into Harvard, it would be best for her to study there. She can continue to work as an assistant in the synthetic organic chemistry laboratory during her undergraduate years, and become a researcher in the laboratory during her graduate years. This will not delay either her research or the building of connections in the chemistry community.
"Um."
The dishes are served and the New Year’s Eve dinner begins.
While eating, the family talked about the Spring Festival Gala, what programs were good last year, who performed and sang well, and they also looked forward to who they would see later, who would perform crosstalk with whom, who would perform skits with whom, and who would sing.
The Spring Festival Gala in the past two years has focused more on entertainment than politics. It is impossible to guess the specific programs, but it is not difficult to guess who will be on stage. Anyway, the actors and singers that the people like to watch are likely to appear on the Spring Festival Gala.
There is no need to guess about the hosts, crosstalk, sketches, and national team performances. The old faces are mixed with a few new faces, and you can definitely see a few old faces.
For popular songs, just look at who was popular and famous last year. Nan Yi has a few names and songs in his mind, all of which he knows through the Spring Festival Gala. He just can't remember which year they were. However, he knows that they will appear in the Spring Festival Gala. Combined with last year's popularity, he quickly circled out a few people and songs that may appear later.
While they were still talking about the Spring Festival Gala, Yi Jinru suddenly said, "Nan Yi, do you think I should invest my money in Changcheng Company? The interest rate is so high."
The year 1992 was both a real estate year and a fund-raising year.
After the Southern Tour, private investment enthusiasm in the mainland surged, and people were enthusiastic about various innovative construction projects.
In 1992, banks had already opened the door to private enterprises in terms of lending, but they were still relatively conservative. They welcomed tangible collateral, such as land and commercial housing, and could easily lend money to them. However, banks would not like patents, high-tech technologies, and would not lend a penny.
From the bank's perspective, this is not wrong. No matter how many other functions a bank is given, its primary job is to make profits. At its core, it is still a financial institution with the purpose of making profits. Technology is something that is difficult to distinguish between true and false. Even if it is true, it is difficult to accurately measure its value.
Besides, no matter how great the value of technology is, it has little to do with the bank. The bank only earns interest on the loan, which is fixed and does not vary with the value of the technology.
Precisely because of financial regulation and the difficulty in obtaining loans, various private fundraising activities have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain and are very active, with interest rates also rising.
Although as early as 1986, the Vancouver fundraising event had gone bankrupt, involving a huge amount of 1.2 billion yuan, causing quite a stir and many club owners and their families suffered greatly, the storm came and went quickly. After the storm calmed down, the Vancouver fundraising event continued, but it was no longer as blind as before and restored the color that the fundraising event should have.
At present, in many coastal areas, the annual interest rate of private borrowing funds is basically between 16% and 20%. This is a relatively normal interest rate figure. In addition, there are also many abnormal interest rates.
There is a company called Changcheng in Beijing. It is said that the company has invented a new type of motor, which is an energy-saving project. Energy shortage has been a common topic in recent years. Electricity shortage and the Three Gorges Dam were hot topics last year. New technologies with energy-saving concepts have always been popular. For example, the "water-to-oil" farce a few years ago appeared in the context of energy shortage.
Shen Siping, the boss of Changcheng Company, is an expert at packaging and hyping up concepts. On May 28 last year, his motor technology passed the national scientific and technological achievement appraisal at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. A deputy director of the State Planning Commission wrote on his project appraisal: "It is an important energy-saving project and should be given guidance and support as much as possible."
Shen Siping even announced that Changcheng Company has invested nearly 50 million yuan over the past few years to successfully develop this high-efficiency energy-saving motor. According to calculations by the energy department, if only one-third of the wind turbines in operation were replaced with this energy-saving motor, 40 billion kilowatts of electricity could be saved a year. The bright future of this motor is full of imagination.
At first glance, Shen Siping's new motor is a very promising product, so Shen Siping began to raise funds from outside. His fundraising rules are as follows: investors directly sign a technology development contract with the company, and the starting point of the fundraising amount is 3,000 yuan, and there is no limit to the higher amount. Investors can withdraw their investment funds at any time and pay compensation fees quarterly, with an annual compensation rate of 24%.
Shen Siping's first round of fundraising was launched in Hainan Province in June last year. The advertisement was published the day before, and a long queue formed in front of the company the next day. In just 20 days, 20 million yuan was raised.
Having won a great victory in the first battle, Shen Siping immediately accelerated the pace of fundraising. He carried out similar activities in 17 cities across the country. The fundraising storm of Changcheng Company swept across the country rapidly and soon became the hottest high-tech enterprise last year.
The reason why Shen Siping's fundraising activities were so successful was that media reporters from all over the country played a role in fueling the trend. Several media outlets spared no effort to praise Shen Siping, which made people doubt their motives.
It was with the encouragement of countless media that Shen Siping was able to grab land and was invincible. As Shen Siping's fundraising became more and more successful, many old people began to endorse him. With the help of powerful people, Shen Siping's fundraising was like a rocket booster, becoming faster and faster, and the capital pool accumulated more and more.
So far, Shen Siping has established more than 20 branches and 100 sub-branches across the country, employing more than 3,000 employees. His main business is advertising, news reporting and fundraising.
According to the newspaper, Changcheng Company has raised more than 1 billion yuan, with 100,000 investors, of which individual funds account for 93% of the total amount raised. There are 9 cities that have raised more than 50 million yuan, and Beijing has the largest amount of funds raised, more than 200 million yuan.
As the fundraising bubble grew bigger and bigger, the stories told by Shen Siping published in newspapers became more and more outrageous, saying that he had more than 300 internationally leading patented technologies, and his leading product, high-efficiency energy-saving motors, had been used in various production fields, and he had an order volume of 1.5 billion yuan.
At the same time, among the tens of thousands of private technology companies across the country, Changcheng is the only one that is included in the national industry management.
The more the bullishness gets, and the more money is raised, it is only a matter of time before the crisis breaks out.
1 billion in funds, although the compensation for one quarter requires 60 million, but this is really not a big problem. Even if there is no subsequent funding, the current funds can last for several years. The biggest problem is that there is too much money, too many people are involved, and the momentum is too big, which makes people alert. If there is a Changcheng today, there will be ten or a hundred tomorrow.
At present, there is no such thing as "illegal fundraising", and there are no clear regulations on the interest rates of private lending. It is basically a matter of willing to fight and willing to suffer. As long as both parties to the loan agree, others will not complain. Even if Changcheng Company collapses, Shen Siping will not be charged with the crime of illegal fundraising.
Shen Siping raised 1 billion yuan at once, which was too big a number and he boasted too much. The triangular debt crisis had just ended and the real estate boom was in full swing again. It was okay to raise funds secretly, but the momentum was so big and so many people were affected, how could it not attract attention from above? It was only a matter of time before he, the one who stood out, would get slapped in the face.
"Mom, 10 or 20 million is more than enough for motor production. We can produce and sell them at the same time, and use the money to expand the scale. Even if Shen Siping doesn't have a penny in his pocket, the interest on 20 million is only 4.8 million a year. It will take two or three years, and when he has enough money, he can pay it back, and all the money he earns next is his own.
Let me give you an example. Let's say our Jinru Trading has enough money to go around, and the business is picking up. For the time being, there is no business that requires a lot of working capital. Mom, are you willing to raise some money from outside, say 100 million, and then pay 24 million in interest every year?"
"Of course I don't want to. I'm not stupid..." Yi Jinru came to her senses and stammered, "Are you saying that Changcheng Company is planning to raise funds?"
"Yes, you are thinking about the interest, while they are thinking about your principal. It is too late to invest in Changcheng Company now. If it was still possible to invest in May or June last year, you could have invested for half a year, collected two installments of interest and left."
If Nan Yi hadn't been so careful about his reputation, he would have gone to find Shen Siping in June last year and borrowed 100 million from the bank and put it in Changcheng Company for half a year. When the time was up, he would have to withdraw 112 million and leave. There was no need to mention the contract or make a scene. If he wanted to continue working there, he would have to hand over the money and make millions in interest difference for free.
Nan Huaiqiu said: "Isn't he trying to cheat me out of money?"
"Dad, it's hard to say for now. As long as Changcheng Company is still paying compensation to investors, it can't be said to be cheating. I've also read the technology development contract. It doesn't specify that the raised money will be used for research and development or expanded production, nor does it specify a specific date for the return of the principal. Strictly speaking, Shen Siping has the final say on how to spend the money."
Nan Huaiqiu: "So we just let him do whatever he wants?"
"That's impossible. The country will definitely take action." Nan Yi said, holding up the wine glass, "Mom and Dad, it's New Year's Day, let's not talk about this. I wish you two a happy new year."
Yi Jinru also picked up her wine glass and said, "Everyone, come together. Ruochan and Wuwei, you two should also pick up your Sprite. Grandma wishes you all a perfect score in every exam, and that you can get into a good university in the future just like your parents, uncles and aunts."
"Thank you, grandma!" Nan Ruochan and Nan Wuwei said in unison.
After taking a sip of wine, Nan Yi added Sprite to the two children's cups, then picked up his own cup and took two sips. After draining the cup clean, he poured himself a glass of Sprite.
After the New Year’s Eve dinner, there was still some time before the Spring Festival Gala, so Nan Yi took his two children to the alley to play with fireworks and firecrackers. He had found some time the day before yesterday to buy some worth several hundred dollars on the street so that they could have a lot of fun.
Nan Ruochan played with fireworks, Nan Yi and Nan Wuwei played with electric cannons, and they took out the broken tooth jars and enamel basins that had been thrown in the corner of the yard and had not been sold. The tooth jars could explode into the air, but the enamel basins could only make a dull buzzing sound.
[Lightning cannons are also firecrackers. They are usually not wrapped in red paper and come in all colors. I guess the merchants position them for children to play with. They come in strings or individually packaged. They are a little more powerful than ordinary firecrackers.]
"Dad, let's go blow up the public toilet."
"You're so smart. If I go with you, people will only scold me, not you, right?"
"Hehehe, you are the adult and I am the child."
"It's New Year's Day, please be quiet and just play here." Nan Yi held a handful of Nezha Fire Wheels in his hand. He lit one and threw it on the ground not far away. The Fire Wheels spun rapidly on the ground, and some even flew off the ground.
Just when he was having a great time, Nan Yi found several triangular cannons (folded into triangles, flat) under his feet. Reflexively, he took a step back. Nan Yi then realized that the fuse on the triangular cannon was not lit.
Looking at the frightened Nan Yi, Nan Wuwei, the instigator, laughed, "Dad, are you scared?"
"Hey, you little bastard, stop scaring your old man."
Nan Yi picked up the triangular cannon on the ground, lit it and threw it at the opposite wall. The triangular cannon exploded when it hit the wall, and small pieces of paper flew all over the sky.
The family, one adult and two children, had a great time playing in the alley. When it was 7:55, they returned to the yard, washed up, walked into the lively living room, and watched the Spring Festival Gala together as a family.
On the first day of the new year, instead of paying New Year’s greetings, Nan Yi’s family of three just wandered around the streets.
Passing by the door of a Tongrisheng grain store, Liu Zhen suddenly said, "Nan Yi, food coupons are going to be abolished soon, right?"
"It should be soon. Didn't it start blowing last year? Why are you talking about this? There are no food coupons at home, but I still have dozens of kilograms of national food coupons on me."
Nan Yi and Liu Zhen's household registration is in Wenchangwei. Shencun abolished food coupons in 1984, and Nan Wuwei's household registration is in the capital. His family doesn't even have a food coupon book. In the past few years, they bought rice and flour at negotiated prices outside. In recent years, they started to eat the special supplies from Nan's and the Reclamation Group, and have never had much dealings with state-owned grain stores.
"Nothing, I just suddenly remembered the past." Liu Zhen said, looking down at her waist, "I was so thin in the past. I found out yesterday that I have a belly."
Liu Zhen's words were quite far-fetched, but Nan Yi had to continue, "That's easy. First, check your body and let the health care team give you a fitness plan. The pain will go away quickly."
“Is there anything that can help you lose weight?”
"Yes, croton, half a bowl a day for three days, I guarantee you will be thinner than when you were 16."
Liu Zhen raised her finger and pointed at Nan Yi's nose. "It's New Year's Day. I don't want to argue with you. Answer me seriously, is there a way?"
Nan Yi stopped teasing Liu Zhen and said seriously, "The best way for you to lose weight is to go on a diet. After the first month of the year, let the health care team develop a diet plan for you."
"Should I avoid certain foods?" Liu Zhen looked conflicted.
"How should I know? Let's take a look at the plan first." Nan Yi said, turning to look at Nan Wuwei, "Son, where do you want to go to play?"
"There's no particular place I want to go, Dad. Let's just walk around." Nan Wuwei looked around, taking in the new things around him.
"Okay, let's go wherever we go."
A family of three walked aimlessly on the street, quietly watching the New Year atmosphere and the changes in the capital.
The atmosphere of the New Year is very strong. Located in the city center, the buildings have not changed much, but the changes are in the subtle details. The business atmosphere is becoming more and more intense. The charges for bicycle storage are changing, and the service model is also changing. There will be a special storage area for mountain bike racing cars, and the charges may be more expensive or the same, but the toll collectors will pay more attention. After all, mountain bikes are more expensive.
There were more billboards erected outside, a wooden board with two brackets, painted white all over, with the products supplied written on it. Looking at these billboards, Nan Yi discovered a business opportunity to create a millionaire.
If you open an advertising company at this time and make signs and light box advertisements for these restaurants and shops, you should be able to make some quick money. If you go a step further and open up channels with the wineries and transplant the billboard subsidy strategy of later generations, you will make more money. In the short term, it is not impossible to become a multi-millionaire.
The results of the Olympic bid will be announced this year, and it is the final sprint. Activities to build momentum for the Olympic bid are inevitable. You can stock up on flags, fireworks, firecrackers and many other things and sell them at the appropriate time. Perhaps televisions will also see a surge in sales. It depends on the results of the Olympic bid, and it is possible that they will be sold at a high price.
There are still a lot of business opportunities, but they don’t seem to have much to do with Nan Yi.
Passing by a stall selling tapes, Nan Yi suddenly felt murderous. The tape recorder was actually playing "Who Will You Think of When You Are Lonely". Shouldn't this song have appeared two thousand years later?
"Boss, what song is this?"
"'Who Will You Think of When You're Lonely', a new song by the Taiwanese group NBC. Would you like to buy one? I'll give it to you at a discount." The vendor picked up a cassette and showed it to Nan Yi.
Nan Yi took the tape and saw the familiar words "New Boys Club". Then he recalled the style of their previous songs and immediately realized that he was overthinking it. "Who Will You Think of When You Are Lonely" was very consistent with their style and should be a song created in accordance with the style of the group.
"It seems that I am still a little ignorant." Nan Yi felt annoyed.
The reason for his frustration has to start with an Internet company called Google. In 2003, Google launched a product called "Google AdSense".
Simply put, this is an advertising alliance. The website owner registers an account on this platform, gets a piece of code, and inserts the code into the appropriate area of ​​the website. Ads placed by Google will then be displayed. When someone clicks on the ad, the website owner can get an advertising commission ranging from a few cents to a few dollars.
Around the first half of 2004, Google introduced this business to China. At that time, many webmasters (website owners) discovered it, and many of them embraced it and inserted advertising codes on their websites.
At that time, there were many tech-savvy geeks in cities across the country. Every once in a while, they would receive checks mailed from the United States. The minimum amount was $100 (you could only withdraw cash if it was equal to or greater than $100), and there were also many with amounts of thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. "Google AdSense" allowed many people to enter the high-income group or even make a fortune.
Because of "Google AdSense", a new technical term "search engine optimization", abbreviated as Seo in English, emerged. People who work in this field are called Seoer. At that time, there was another wave of people engaged in search engine optimization, but their work was not clear.
Earlier than this time, Nan Yi had already started an Internet company. In the evening, he would often work while chatting with foreigners on "Yahoo Messenger" and "Icq".
Nan Yi didn't just study English hard in this life. In fact, he spent a lot of effort studying it in his previous life. When he was playing Icq, he added a foreign woman who was in the trade business. She ran a small company of two or three people and needed to establish procurement channels in China. She was learning Chinese.
As a four-good youth, Nan Yi knew that the other party wanted to learn Chinese, so of course he taught him with all his heart. In order to communicate with the other party better, Nan Yi worked hard to improve his English skills.
Of course, what motivated Nan Yi to work so hard was also the fact that the other party sent him a photo via email.
In short, it was because of this foreign woman that Nan Yi improved his English to the point where he could browse English websites. During that time, he often browsed American websites, mainly two types: one was the BBS where technical guys gathered, and the other was the type that could not be told to outsiders.
On the BBS, Nan Yi learned about the development of the Internet in the United States, and also learned about some new technologies and new models, such as "Applied Semantics", the predecessor of "Google AdSense". Google established the "Google AdSense" department after acquiring this company.
"Applied Semantics" opened a new door to wealth for Nan Yi - building websites and placing advertisements.
Since he could make money, Nan Yi was of course willing to put in the effort to study. After much thought, he decided to create a music website and transition from "Applied Semantics" to "Google AdSense". For a few years, Nan Yi's daily job was to update the music website and edit information about bands, groups, and singers. His mind passively absorbed a lot of music information. He should have typed out all the singers and music that were slightly famous.
When he is working, Nan Yi will let the music player play music in a loop. He has a music playlist that plays non-stop for 24 hours, and it will take more than three years to finish it.
Because of this experience, Nan Yi knows many singers and songs. When a song sounds, he will have a sense of déjà vu. He has edited too much music material and listened to too many songs.
Nan Wuwei stood beside Nan Yi, picked up the tapes for a while, and said, "Boss, do you have any Nirvana?"
"Nirvana?" The vendor said in confusion, "I haven't heard of it. Look for it yourself."
"When did you hear about Nirvana?"
"Last year, Sister Ruoyin sent me a record. I like their song "About a Girl." Nan Wuwei was flipping through the tape and responding to Nan Yi.
"Oh, American Nirvana. I thought it was British Nirvana. It's too early for you to listen to rock music. I'll buy you some children's song tapes to listen to."
"No, Dad. I want this record." Nan Wuwei said as he picked up a cassette.
Nan Yi glanced at the cover of the tape and found it was Enya's "Watermark". "Just buy the tape . My home stereo is too shabby. It would be a waste to buy a record."
"Change to HIFI."
"Your father is not an audiophile, nor does he have advanced ears. The speakers at home are sufficient."
Nan Yi took the six selected tapes in his hand and gave the vendor twenty yuan. The price of tapes dropped very quickly, and now it was ten yuan for three or four tapes.
"You don't have it, but I do, Dad. Let's set up a HIFI set. Ah, it hurts..." Before Nan Wuwei could finish his words, his ear was grabbed by Liu Zhen.
"You still want HIFI, have you earned a salary?" Liu Zhen scolded Nan Wuwei, then turned the gun to Nan Yi, "Just spoil him, spoil him as much as you can, and when he asks for the stars in the sky one day, I'll see how you'll give it to him."
"Let go, it's on the street, it's ugly." After slapping Liu Zhen's hand away, Nan Yi looked at Nan Wuwei's red ears and rubbed them gently with his hands. "You're addicted to being beaten by your mother. You don't have any eyesight at all."
"Dad, we must put an end to corporal punishment in our family. As the flower of the motherland, I am the sun at seven or eight in the morning, but I have been tortured and am withering away day by day." Nan Wuwei saw Liu Zhen's eyes that wanted to eat him, and quickly changed his words and said, "In a democratic family, the family rules are the mother, and in an authoritarian family, the mother is the family rules."
"Hahaha, you're right. Our family is Liujiazhuang. Everything good or bad is decided by the owner of Liuzhuang. When your mother was born, she had a piece of jade in her mouth with four words engraved on it - Forever suppress the Nan family."
"Just join him in the fun." Liu Zhen smiled secretly and nodded at Nan Yi.
Nan Wuwei and Nan Yi looked at each other and chuckled.
At noon, the three of them arrived at the entrance of Wonderful, received a large multi-copy coupon from the salesperson, sat down in the store, and discussed together what to eat that would be more economical and make the best use of the coupon.
After studying it for a while, Nan Wuwei curled his lips and said, "Dad, this is not a coupon, this is a promotional coupon. After all the calculations, only ordering the most expensive blessing bucket is the most cost-effective."
"Then order the lucky bucket." Nan Yi smiled secretly.
“Too much to eat.”
"It's okay, take it back and eat it in the evening."
"Oh, I'll go buy it. There are discounts for children." Nan Wuwei grabbed the coupon and walked towards the ordering counter.
"Your son is becoming increasingly difficult to manage."
"You are quite conscious. You start talking about management and directly put yourself in the position of a manager." Nan Yi followed Nan Wuwei's gaze and said without turning his head.
"Don't argue with me."
"If you don't want to raise it, then don't raise it. I think Wuwei is doing well. He is at a very stubborn age. Forcing him to be quiet may not be a good thing. Besides, he may be a stubborn person, but he doesn't cause trouble or bully the weak. It's just that he sees the world as very big, and he wants to try many things."
"I didn't say he was causing trouble, I meant the things he was playing with were so dangerous, aren't you worried?"
"I am worried, but I won't stop him. I hope our son's life is just a process, not a goal."
"What if something unexpected happens?"
"Who knows which will come first, what if or tomorrow? For some things, worrying about them will not help. Instead of worrying about them, it is better to arrange some remedial measures. Okay, it's New Year's Day, let's not talk about this."
Wenchangwei, Xian Yaodong’s family.
A family of three is having lunch in the dining room.
"Yaodong, should we invest some money in Changcheng Company? The money at home is just sitting there anyway."
After hearing Zhang Yu's words, Xian Yaodong paused, then recovered and said, "The interest rate offered by Changcheng Company is too high, and the pool is too large. Nan Yi once told me that there is a Ponzi scheme abroad. I think Changcheng Company is like a Ponzi scheme."
"Ponzi scheme, I seem to have heard of this, but I don't know what it means, Yaodong, tell me about it."