booktalesy Chapter 16: A Bloodbath Triggered by a Multimedia Message
Chapter 16: A Bloodbath Triggered by a Multimedia Message
As soon as Lin Bei finished speaking, Zhang Qiang took a few puffs of his cigarette, and his expression turned angry again.
"Damn, don't even mention it!"
"I was playing games in the internet cafe when some thugs came and started causing trouble, saying I messed with his friend's woman."
"I wasn't happy about it then, so I fought with them. I wasn't afraid even if I was fighting three against one."
"Later, those three guys were unsportsmanlike. After losing the fight, they attacked me with knives. Luckily, I was lucky and didn't get stabbed to death."
Zhang Qiang spoke too loudly, which aggravated the pain in his abdomen, causing his mouth to twitch in pain.
Seeing this, Lin Bei quickly offered him another cigarette: "Dude, speak slowly, don't aggravate your wound."
"Thank you." Zhang Qiang took the cigarette, his mood finally calming down. He lit it with a lighter and took another deep drag.
Zhang Qiang exhaled a smoke ring and gritted his teeth: "Don't let me find out who did it, or they'll pay for it in blood."
Lin Bei finished his cigarette, threw it on the ground, stomped it out, and looked at Zhang Qiang: "Hey buddy, can I use your phone for a bit?"
"My phone is off. I want to make a call to a friend. Don't worry, I won't leave this house."
Zhang Qiang, however, didn't take it seriously. He picked up the phone next to him and threw it at the other person, saying, "It's just making a phone call. Do you think I won't trust you?"
"Go ahead and use it without worry, I still have plenty of credit left."
Lin Bei took the phone and nodded: "Thanks."
He quickly dialed his own number, and hung up after one ring.
Then, he immediately deleted the call log and dialed a random phone number.
After the phone rang a few times without being answered, Lin Bei hung up and placed it on Zhang Qiang's bed.
"No one answered; my friend is probably busy."
Lin Bei placed the remaining cigarette pack on Zhang Qiang's bedside table: "Dude, don't get angry anymore. Let's focus on getting better first."
"I don't smoke this half pack of cigarettes much, so I'll give it to you."
Seeing this, Zhang Qiang immediately smiled and said, "You're so generous, buddy."
"If you ever run into trouble in the future, just come to me. There's nothing I can't handle."
Lin Bei smiled without saying a word, then turned and left.
A few minutes later.
Lin Bei walked down the street, turned on his Nokia phone, and found his call history with Zhang Qiang.
He first sent a text message, and then sent the audio recording he had copied yesterday directly to Zhang Qiang via MMS.
Not only that, Lin Bei also attached a photo of Chen Junrong.
That way, if Zhang Qiang wants revenge, he won't mistake someone else for someone else.
After sending the MMS, Lin Bei deleted the message record before continuing to walk forward.
Meanwhile, Zhang Qiang was smoking a cigarette and looking at the scenery outside the window.
Soon, he received several MMS messages on his phone.
Zhang Qiang, looking puzzled, took out his phone and opened the MMS message he had just received.
Immediately afterwards, an audio recording was played.
"Du Ran, what kind of work are you doing? You've mistaken me for someone else, you know that...?"
After the recording ended, a picture was attached, showing a young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses with a sinister smile.
Following the image was a sentence: "He's the one who hired someone to stab you. His name is 'Chen Junrong,' a recent high school graduate. His family has a little money. This is all I can help you with; the rest is up to you!"
After reading the message, Zhang Qiang raised his hand and slammed it hard on the bed board.
"Damn, so it was this kid who did it!"
"Damn it, I don't care if you stabbed the wrong person or not. Since you caused this mess, you should be prepared for retaliation!"
"Chen Junrong, is it? We'll see about this. Once I'm healed, you'll be the first one I deal with!"
Zhang Qiang was preoccupied with getting revenge on Chen Junrong once his injuries healed, and didn't think much about who had sent the message.
……
The securities trading hall in 08 was completely different from the online trading hall that existed more than a decade later.
A dozen or so retail investors lingered in the hall, some carrying newspapers and others holding thermos cups, whispering among themselves about when the market would stop falling.
On the wall next to it was a huge electronic screen with red and green numbers jumping around, and the screen was almost entirely green.
Lin Bei walked through the crowd to the account opening window.
Behind the window sat a young female saleswoman in a dark blue uniform, with the name tag on her chest reading "Chu Ting".
She looked up and saw Lin Bei, and was clearly taken aback.
Because most of the people who come to open an account are middle-aged people in their thirties or forties and elderly people in their fifties or sixties.
Standing before her now was a young man with long, flaxen hair, who appeared to be in his early twenties, his face still showing signs of immaturity.
"Hello, I'd like to open an account." Lin Bei handed his ID card through the window.
Chu Ting took the ID card, looked at Lin Bei again, and hesitated for a moment: "Are you over eighteen?"
"Just full." Lin Bei nodded in response.
He turned eighteen last month, just in time to open an account.
Chu Ting didn't ask any more questions and began to follow the procedures.
Account opening form... Risk assessment... Signature confirmation.
The entire process took nearly half an hour. When she finally handed over her shareholder card and bank account details, she couldn't help but say one more thing:
"The market hasn't been doing well lately. If you're new to the market, I suggest you buy a small amount first to test the waters."
"Thank you." Lin Bei took the documents and nodded.
A middle-aged man who was looking at the stock market nearby turned around and glanced at Lin Bei after hearing Chu Ting's words.
When he saw the brand-new shareholder card in Lin Bei's hand, he grinned and said, "Young man, did you just open an account?"
"Take my advice: don't make any rash moves for the next few months. There's no bottom to a bear market, so going in is just throwing money away."
"Yeah," another person chimed in, "Several of my stocks have been halved in value. Every day I open my eyes to see more losses. It's driving me crazy with worry."
Lin Bei smiled politely at the people in front of him, but did not respond.
He walked to the trading terminal, inserted his bank card, and transferred all 10,800 yuan from his bank card into his securities account.
Then, begin the buying process.
At that time, the trading terminals were still the old-fashioned kind, with bulky CRT monitors and grayish interfaces. Operation relied entirely on the arrow keys and the Enter key on the keyboard.
Relying on his memories from his previous life, Lin Bei entered the warrant code.
Go all in, click to buy.
Ten thousand eight hundred, not a single penny left!
The moment the transaction was confirmed, the middle-aged man standing next to Lin Bei glanced at the screen and his expression instantly changed.
"Young man, you...you're insane!"
"They actually bought a China Southern Airlines ticket?"
As soon as he finished speaking, all the retail investors who had been idling in the hall gathered around.
After all, the warrants for China Southern Airlines XX have been falling these past few days, and those who bought their "warrants" before have almost lost everything.
These days, there are still people who are stubborn enough to buy "warrants" for China Southern Airlines XX?
This isn't because they're mentally unstable, it's because they have too much money to burn.