Binjiang Police Affairs

Han Yu stared intently at him and asked, "Have you thought about me?"

"Salted Fish, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have had to suffer so much. Of course, without you, we wouldn't be where we are today."

"Have you suffered a lot over the years?"

"It's a long story."

"Tell me about it. What's so hard to explain?"

Zhang Asheng took several drags of his cigarette, his face filled with guilt as he said, "I was relatively lucky. Although I was caught by you guys, at least I had food to eat in the detention center. Although it was almost like pig feed, I wouldn't starve to death.

Ru Lan was different. Much of the capital for her foreign exchange business was borrowed. When word got out that we were in trouble and I couldn't be found, everyone went to Ru Lan. She didn't have a penny on her, was pregnant, and still had to borrow money to hire a lawyer to fight my case."

If only we had known it would come to this, we never would have done it.

Han Yu muttered to himself, then asked softly, "What happened later?"

Recalling those unbearable days, Shen Rulan attempted to lighten the mood and said, "Luckily, I knew a bit of foreign language and could do translation and tour guide work even with my big belly. But life being hounded by creditors was no joke. People are afraid to go home during the holidays; I was afraid to go home every day, forced to constantly hide."

Do you want me to feel guilt?

Han Yu took a deep breath and signaled her to continue.

"People go to the hospital to give birth, but I had to have a midwife deliver my baby at my mother's house. Others could eat and drink various things during their confinement period; I had to drink thin porridge every day. With no money and no choice, I had to leave the baby with my mother before the month was up to look for translation and tour guide jobs."

"And then what?"

"After that, Ah Sheng came out, released from labor reform as a convict with nowhere to find work. He wanted to start a small business but lacked the capital, forced to take odd jobs, any dirty and tiring work."

Shen Rulan set her phone aside and continued, "Owed hundreds of thousands outside, how could we possibly repay it with the little we earned from translation, illegal tour guiding, and odd jobs? We initially thought about working in Japan, but we both had criminal records, and the recruitment agencies said no, that we couldn't do labor export. In the end, we just decided to bite the bullet and sold our little house, planning to smuggle ourselves into Japan to work illegally."

Other people might not believe it, but Han Yu believed them.

First of all, they used to mix at the docks, so they had connections.

Moreover, they indeed had a hard life and it was really difficult for them to turn things around just by working.

And going abroad was considered a trend in East Sea, with many people from East Sea having gone to Japan.

Zhang Asheng didn't know what Han Yu was thinking and added, "Just when we were planning to take a fishing boat to smuggle ourselves, we met an old friend who had made a fortune speculating on stocks. We knew that stock speculation was profitable, but at that time we had no capital, and even if we did have the money, we might not have been able to buy stocks.

He said that if you can't buy stocks, you can buy subscription warrants. Each warrant cost 30 yuan, no need to queue, sold at bank counters, available for purchase anytime, and with an unlimited supply. As long as you're willing to bleed money, you can buy a carload and ship them back. But just because you have subscription warrants doesn't mean you have the right to buy stocks; you still have to go through a lottery for the new stock ratio and the issuance number of warrants, and the success rate isn't disclosed. I was afraid to buy them, worried about wasting money."

Shen Rulan looked up and laughed, "I thought smuggling was too risky, and what if I got caught? Even if I successfully smuggled into Japan and worked illegally, what would happen if the Japanese police caught and deported me? Just so happened I had the money from the house sale, so I decided to take a gamble."

Han Yu subconsciously asked, "Buying stock subscription warrants?"

"Um, but I didn't dare to bet it all, just invested a hundred thousand. I had to keep half as a backup, after all, we have a child."

Shen Rulan smiled and continued, "I regretted it as soon as I bought them. After all, it's like chasing flowers in the mirror or the moon's reflection in the water, it might all be for naught. The days after buying them were even harder, anxiety-ridden, with no idea what to expect. We had sold the house and had nowhere to live, squeezing into the small shack where Ah Sheng worked.

One morning, I bought a bowl of wontons from a nearby eatery for the child as a treat. While watching the child eat, I overheard a table of northerners mentioning that ten consecutive subscription warrants could now sell for over 7,000 yuan on the black market.

I was startled and couldn't believe it was true. I rushed to the exchange to find out. As soon as I entered, without even saying a word, many people surrounded me asking if I had any warrants. We were thinking of just making our initial investment back, fetched a hundred warrants, haggled with people, and finally sold them for 130,000 yuan."

A thirty-yuan stock subscription warrant, sold for thirteen hundred yuan each – that money came too easily!

Han Yu was stunned, Jiang Xiaojun and Chen Zikun had astonished expressions on their faces.

Zhang Asheng loved to see the shocked expressions on the police's faces, and said with profound meaning, "We have criminal records, so we need to reform and start afresh. When you have the money in hand, you feel unsettled. We even went to the Police Station to ask the police in charge of our area, and they said there is no rule against buying or selling subscription warrants, so it shouldn't count as illegal trading."

Got it, you've come here to show off and flaunt your wealth.

Han Yu steadied his mind and pressed on, "What happened next?"

Zhang Asheng smiled and said, "Why do people buy subscription warrants at high prices if not to buy stocks? As long as they can get stocks, they can become rich. We had more than three thousand subscription warrants, after discussing, we sold half of them and used the money from selling the warrants to buy stocks. Later we won the subscription, bought quite a few stocks, and those stocks have risen too."

The perfect example of a smug little man!

Jiang Xiaojun couldn't stand such people and asked casually, "So you're saying you are millionaires now?"

"Thanks to the government's policies, blessed by Friend Xiaoping, we caught a good time."

"Since you know this, why do you still want to emigrate?"

"Just said it, didn't I? We all have a past, I've been sued and jailed; I want to give my child a different environment. Besides, it really is better over there than it is here."

"What about Ye Xingguo? How is he doing now?"

"After he came out, he went to Shenzhen, never contacted us, and we couldn't contact him, no idea how he's doing now."

Zhang Asheng had more he wanted to say to Han Yu, but seeing Director Jiang asking about Ye Xingguo, he said with half a smile, "Salted Fish, didn't Uncle Ye provide leads for you back then? I've inquired, those who scammed over a hundred million in Foreign Exchange Quota have been caught too, but they haven't been sentenced to this day."

Han Yu asked subconsciously, "Really?"

What's the big deal with some foreign exchange speculation?

Now, isn't there speculative trading of foreign exchange at the door of every bank, same as it was back then!

Shen Rulan felt more and more aggrieved as she thought about it and said to Han Yu, "Seriously, you can check if you don't believe it. I guess even if they are sentenced, they won't get many years."

Han Yu finally understood their true purpose, and asked coldly, "Do you think we're making a mountain out of a molehill and feel wronged?"

"Whether wronged or not, it's all in the past, those hardships we've suffered, the pain we've endured, can't be taken back. Salted Fish, we just wanted to tell you, one must have a conscience!"

"Yes, one should have a conscience, but also must follow the law and abide by regulations."

"Is the law only made for us?"

"You feel it's unfair, don't you?"

"Isn't it?"

"No, it's not."

"Why isn't it!"

"At least here in Binjiang it's fair; if there was anyone who engaged in foreign exchange speculation and arbitrage like you did back then, we would deal with it just as severely."

It seems this couple still harbors dissatisfaction.

Han Yu took several deep breaths in a row, and said very seriously and earnestly, "I understand where you're coming from, but at the same time, I am worried for you."

Zhang Asheng couldn't help but ask, "What is there for you to worry about us?"

Han Yu warned, "Aren't you thinking of emigrating to Canada? I don't know if you've been there before, but I have. I can tell you straightforwardly that if you go to Canada still holding the belief that laws do not apply to the masses, or not taking their laws seriously, they will not show you leniency. The hardships you've suffered, the pain you've endured might happen again, and it would be much harder to turn things around than it was here!"