The old generation is washed ashore and killed.
With their family's consent, they bought an apartment in City B and moved in.
Chen Xiaojing usually leaves home at 10 a.m., when there are few people around, to take the subway to the Writers Association headquarters to write. Although she claims that she can seek guidance from seniors, in reality, it's just to save on water and electricity bills. She and Zhou Chenjin don't earn money easily.
On September 25th, exactly two months after Zhang Renyin left R country, Chen Xiaojing boarded the subway and saw an urgent announcement on the screen: "At 9:35 a.m. in B city, the J country government announced that it will indefinitely postpone the return of our country's electrical engineering PhD, Professor Zhang, citing the reason that the local government needs his assistance in electrical engineering."
Everyone on the subway was talking about it; the young prodigy who became famous at a young age had left a deep impression on everyone.
Chen Xiaojing got out of the car as usual, went into the office and put away her tablet and keyboard. She tried to act as if nothing had happened and continued writing normally, but she found that she couldn't do it at all—indefinite postponement was just the official term in journalism, making the word "detention" sound so grand.
She opened Weibo, logged into her verified Writers Association account (which she usually used for work), and published a long article. She meticulously described the consequences of this blatant detention and listed how R country had filled the gap in the field of power engineering since Zhang Renyin published her first paper.
The lengthy post was widely shared due to the author's special status. With the nation in crisis, J country's detention of R country's talent was tantamount to an open declaration of war, igniting patriotic fervor among citizens and creating a complete antagonism between R and J countries.
"Xiaojing, come to HW. I'm worried about you being alone right now." Not long after the article was published, Chen Xiaojing received a call from Zhou Chenjin. "Okay, I'll be right there." Ajin meant well, afraid that she might do something to hurt herself, so she had no reason to refuse.
Chen Xiaojing slung her bag over her shoulder and took a taxi to HW.
HW is located on the top floor of an office building, occupying eight or nine floors by this single company, not including some smaller branches.
The investment department is now in complete chaos. Junior staff are busy dealing with the gains and losses from the stocks released by HW, so busy that they leave their tablets on their desks rather than get up to grab a reference book.
Zhou Chenjin was arguing with Zhang Jiayao, the Minister of Investment, in his office about how to wage this economic and trade war with Country J.
One of them was experienced and knowledgeable; the other was young and fearless, daring to think and act. When Chen Xiaojing opened the door, they were arguing at a crucial point. Zhang Jiayao was hesitant to use radical and risky methods; she believed that shorting the stocks of several large companies in J country would cause economic losses. Zhou Chenjin, however, thought that they could attract the attention of the J country government by investing heavily in funds and buying CDS of the index fund in reverse. He argued that the money they printed would cause inflation and lead to a stock market collapse in J country, triggering a financial crisis.
Zhang Jiayao slammed her right hand on the table: "Zhou Chenjin! What makes you think you're going to take this risk! You say you have wealthy acquaintances in J country who can help you from the inside out, fine, I admit that! But what guarantees that CDS will definitely make money! And what makes you think that local residents will definitely buy them!"
Zhou Chenjin calmly turned on her phone's screen mirroring. Chen Xiaojing glanced at it and saw it was a typhoid mortality rate chart for Country J! The data showed that every winter, 70% of Country J citizens had a chance of contracting typhoid fever, and 50% of those cases were fatal! Pointing to the chart, she said, "Just because everyone in this world wants to live a good life!" The human desire for survival is instinctive, and the power of the masses is far beyond what they could have imagined.
This time it was Zhou Chenjin's turn to slam his fist on the table: "Minister Zhang, we must take this risk in this battle, otherwise all the strategies we have will just be delaying the death penalty." R country's economy is not as good as J country's. HW, as the only domestic company capable of competing with J country's companies, cannot shake the opponent's centuries-old foundation if it doesn't take a risky move.
"But what good would it do to give them the vaccine?" Zhang Jiayao found the crux of the matter. "Cure them, and then we gain nothing?"
“My two friends told me that with the threat of typhoid fever in J country, everyone is on edge. Plus, they're not a country that bans guns and ammunition, so if the panic gets to a certain point, street protests are not uncommon. They can use local companies as a springboard and marketing tactics to heavily promote the vaccine. We can then distribute the vaccine in small batches, and if any of those few people experience adverse reactions, we can make a fortune. As long as the time between stock issuance and vaccine administration is long enough, we can make a huge profit,” Zhou Chenjin added. “Moreover, according to my connections, the initial symptoms of typhoid fever in J country are very common, indistinguishable from the common cold. However, if the vaccine is only administered to people with the common cold, although it won't be life-threatening, it can cause severe rejection reactions. We can capitalize on this, causing the stock market to plummet.”
She trusted Fu Huanian's judgment on this matter.
"That's good then." Zhang Jiayao sighed. "I, the old guard, have finally been swept away by you."
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