The clatter of mahjong tiles rose and fell. But Zhou Qiaoqiao didn’t find it noisy at all. Lately, her life had been full of spring breezes and smug satisfaction. Not only was Brother Jian giving her money every day to go play cards, but just the fact that Tian Tian’s shabby wholesale shop was about to go under was enough to make her laugh for three days and three nights.
Although she wouldn’t get a share of the money from the garment factory she’d set up with Lao Hei, just watching Tian Tian suffer made her happy.
Just then, the player across from her, Sister Hu, discarded an East Wind. The moment Zhou Qiaoqiao saw it, she forgot all about Tian Tian’s misfortune and shouted joyfully, “Hu le!” Then she laid down her tiles. “Thirteen Orphans.”
That shout silenced the entire mahjong parlor for a moment. After all, Thirteen Orphans was a thirteen-times payout. And they played high stakes here. One multiple was 100 yuan. Thirteen times was 1,300 yuan!
Quite a few people shot Zhou Qiaoqiao envious, jealous looks. Except for Sister Hu, who had dealt the winning tile.
Fortunately, anyone who dared play here had some money. Although 1,300 yuan was a lot, for businesspeople it was still acceptable. Sister Hu put on a pained expression. “Qiaoqiao, you’re on a lucky streak. These past two days, you’ve been eating all three players alive. If I let you keep winning, I won’t dare sit at the table anymore.”
Zhou Qiaoqiao let out a fake laugh. “Oh, Sister Hu. What’s this? I heard your husband’s hardware factory is selling screws and nails like crazy. What’s 1,300 to you?”
Hearing this, Sister Hu also gave a dry laugh. Then she paid up, and the game continued.
Good news lifted her spirits. After tucking the 1,300 into her drawer, Zhou Qiaoqiao became even more relaxed in conversation. Although she had seen big scenes and eaten lavish meals, 1,300 yuan—who wouldn’t be tempted? Heh heh, back when she was a factory girl, it would have taken months of work to save 1,300.
Shaking her head, Zhou Qiaoqiao pushed those down-and-out memories to the back of her mind and continued chatting with the women at the table.
Their topics were the usual—men, children, clothes, jewelry. Around the table were legitimate wives, second mistresses, third mistresses, fourth mistresses. A real carnival of demons. But when it came to dressing up and private savings, everyone had something to say.
Then someone curiously asked Zhou Qiaoqiao how much pocket money she got each month.
Zhou Qiaoqiao raised the back of her left hand to partially cover her mouth and smiled. “Brother Jian is generous. He doesn’t control how much I spend. The household expenses are just kept in a drawer—I take and use as I like! Oh ho ho…”
The people at the table and those sitting nearby watching all made envious sounds.
“Qiaoqiao, you’re really lucky. The man you found is rich, powerful, and generous. And you’re winning big at cards too.” Sister Hu sighed.
“Oh, Sister Hu, no need to be envious.” Someone at the table chimed in.
Then someone mentioned not having enough money to spend, and the conversation drifted to ways of making money.
“I invested in a garment factory. Made pretty good money recently.” Zhou Qiaoqiao jumped in to show off.
This once again drew envious looks from her card friends.
Then someone said, “Sister Hu, I heard you’ve made quite a bit of money recently too.”
Being called out, Sister Hu nodded with a mysterious smile. But she wouldn’t say more.
This only drew more attention. Everyone slowed their playing, all wanting to know what money-making channel Sister Hu had. After all, her family was already wealthy, but she was still investing—it had to be profitable. Especially with that mysterious look.
After several rounds of pestering, Sister Hu reluctantly said, “My investment ratio is large, so I earn a lot. But there’s risk. I still wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.”
At these words, those with little money didn’t dare ask more. Those with money became even more enthusiastic.
After a few more rounds of coaxing, Sister Hu finally gave in. “Alright, I’ll say this first—I can take you to take a look. But whether to invest is up to you.”
“Great!” Her card friends cheered. Everyone was close sisters again.
Once this round finished, Sister Hu got up, ready to take everyone to see her money-making channel. Zhou Qiaoqiao naturally wanted more money, so she went along too.
The place wasn’t far—an office building near the mahjong parlor.
At first, Zhou Qiaoqiao was a bit skeptical. But looking at the towering building and the lavishly decorated office, she stopped doubting.
And when she saw the busy workers inside the investment company and the foreigner who came out to receive them, Zhou Qiaoqiao believed completely.
After a conversation, she learned the minimum investment was 10,000 yuan per round. Zhou Qiaoqiao hesitated a little. But Sister Hu had already boldly pulled out a stack of cash. Then she signed an investment contract with the foreign boss and led her card friends out of the investment company’s doors.
“See, I didn’t lie to you.” Sister Hu proudly waved the investment contract in her hand.
Zhou Qiaoqiao said, “Sister Hu, can I take a look?”
Sister Hu said, “You didn’t finish listening inside? Fine, take a look. Don’t crumple the contract.”
The other card friends crowded over too, all looking at the specific terms of the contract. Mainly because inside, that foreign boss had been so professional. Golden hair, blue eyes, a crisp suit. Wasn’t he exactly like the foreign capitalist bosses in Hong Kong movies? That kind of person had total dominance over them.
Most of them hadn’t even finished middle school. So Zhou Qiaoqiao, with the most education, was also the one who best understood the contract terms. When she confirmed that investing 10,000 yuan would yield 500 yuan in monthly interest, Zhou Qiaoqiao’s eyes lit up.
It didn’t sound like much, but if you invested a million, the monthly interest alone would be 50,000 yuan. Wasn’t that practically free money?
“Wait, it’s that easy to make money?” One card friend couldn’t help asking after hearing it.
Zhou Qiaoqiao said, “That’s a big shot from Wall Street. This money is being invested in the US stock market. You know America, right? It’s a place where money is everywhere. Hong Kong can’t even compare.”
The lavish office, the golden hair and blue eyes, the bilingual contract, and Sister Hu’s firsthand account of having collected interest for several months—all of it convinced Zhou Qiaoqiao that she had stumbled onto a real money-making path.
Verbally, she advised her card friends to go home and discuss it with their families, in case their husbands who earned the money didn’t agree. But then she herself went home, grabbed money, and ran to the investment company.
Still, she wasn’t completely brainless. Her first investment was ten thousand yuan, just to test the waters.
Then she spent the whole month wondering when she’d get the interest on that ten thousand. During this time, Tian Tian’s wholesale shop reportedly stopped selling sportswear and went back to wholesaling clothes from various factories. The money earned from that middleman business was nowhere near as much as the sportswear. This made Zhou Qiaoqiao especially happy.
A month later, she went to the investment company with some nervousness to collect her interest—and actually got 500 yuan. She was immediately both overjoyed and full of regret.
Overjoyed, of course, because she’d made money. Regretful because she’d wasted a month. She should have put her entire savings in from the start.
So she turned around and ran home, taking her entire savings of thirty thousand yuan to invest.
After signing the contract and coming out, Zhou Qiaoqiao thought about how she’d receive 1,500 yuan in interest a month later and felt like she was picking up free money.
“Ah, if only I could invest a million at once.” At this moment, Zhou Qiaoqiao suddenly thought of Lao Hei’s loan business.
—
“Interest-free loan? No, Zhou Qiaoqiao. Are you dreaming?”
When Lao Hei heard Zhou Qiaoqiao wanted to borrow money from him, and interest-free at that, he looked at her like she was an idiot.
“Sure, that garment factory got started partly on your suggestion. But do you think I’d lend you money without interest? If you don’t have money to spend, go ask the boss!”
Although Zhou Qiaoqiao wasn’t a proper sister-in-law, she was still the boss’s favorite right now. Lao Hei didn’t dare speak too harshly.
But Zhou Qiaoqiao was furious at Lao Hei’s insolence. This Lao Hei had no manners at all. Unlike Xiao Ming, who called her “little sister-in-law” every time he saw her. And he’d even give her gifts from time to time.
This ugly, stingy Lao Hei in front of her—she’d helped him get the garment factory up and running and making money. Not only did he not share the profits with her, now he wouldn’t even lend her some money without interest. This kind of person clearly didn’t respect Brother Jian at all.
“Lao Hei, what kind of talk is that? What’s wrong with lending me money? It’s true that Brother Xiong manages the company’s money. But don’t forget, Brother Xiong is the second in command. Brother Jian is the boss. I’m Brother Jian’s woman. What’s wrong with borrowing a little money? It’s not like I won’t pay it back.”
“Oh, Lao Hei, this is where you’re wrong! What’s wrong with little sister-in-law spending a bit of the company’s money? This money all belongs to Brother Jian anyway!”
Xiao Ming’s voice suddenly sounded from outside the door.
Zhou Qiaoqiao was a bit afraid Xiao Ming had come with Brother Jian. Turning her head and seeing only Xiao Ming, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
“Exactly, Lao Hei. You’re not giving me any face. One day, if I give Brother Jian a son, you just see…”
Although Brother Jian had been married for over ten years, he still had no child. This was one of the reasons he changed women so often over the years.
Hearing this, Lao Hei’s expression finally changed a little—but not much.
“Then have Brother Jian give me the order.”
This made Zhou Qiaoqiao very angry, but she didn’t dare go to Brother Jian. She just wanted to get more money to make more money. Was she wrong? She wasn’t. The one in the wrong was Lao Hei.
Fortunately, Zhou Qiaoqiao was a woman of destiny. She got pregnant just like that. A few days later, she was retching and had no appetite. She went to the hospital for a checkup—and oh ho, she was pregnant.
At this, Lao Hei’s face turned completely black.
Because Zhou Qiaoqiao had already persuaded Brother Jian to have the company transfer a million yuan to her account, to put her at ease and let her rest properly for the pregnancy.
Once the million was in hand, Zhou Qiaoqiao still wasn’t satisfied.
Relying on the unborn child in her belly, she went to Lao Hei and forcefully borrowed another million. She’d wanted to find Xiao Ming, that good person, but he happened to be away on a business trip. In the end, she borrowed some more from several of Brother Jian’s subordinates, totaling three and a half million yuan. She found an opportunity and put it all into the investment company. The reason it went so smoothly was also because over the past three months, the interest had been paid on time, not a cent short.
By now it was the end of August. Zhou Qiaoqiao basked in the tail end of summer’s sun, her heart burning hot.
—
Tian Tian’s heart was burning hot too.
After learning that Zhou Qiaoqiao had completely fallen into the trap, she immediately set about reporting the investment company.
In her past life, she had known about this investment company. Because it made the newspapers when it blew up in ’95, making off with nearly two billion yuan.
Because the company was run by foreigners at the time, and people’s anti-fraud awareness was still very weak back then, the scheme didn’t blow up until a month after the swindlers ran off and the interest stopped being paid.
Anyway, when Tian Tian read about it in the newspapers back then, she could only sigh that these people still had too much money in their pockets.
In this life, the investment company had only been open for half a year, so not many people had been scammed yet. Unlike in her past life, when it was relatives pulling in relatives and friends pulling in friends, until people all over the country were cheated.
When finding someone to report it, Tian Tian was precise about who to choose. She didn’t pick anyone else—she picked Zhou Haoting’s classmate.
When he received the report, the man was a bit stunned.
“Wait, no. Doesn’t this company pay interest on time every month? Is this really a scam?”
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand—it was that in this era, this kind of scam was too rare. And from what they could see, this investment company really did pay interest on time every month, plus there was a complete contract. So they really didn’t know whether to call this fraud or not.
Tian Tian had dragged Zhou Haoting along. Hearing his classmate’s question, Zhou Haoting said, “This kind of investment with interest that high is nine times out of ten problematic. But what you said is also true. So you can go ask your superiors first and see.”
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