Life 1984

Chapter 25 One Dollar Scam

Li Yunhai was full of worries, thinking about capital matters.

Instead of going back to the store, he went to the train station to buy a ticket.

He parked his bicycle at the station, paid a 2-cent storage fee, and then entered the ticket hall to queue up to buy a ticket.

In this era, except for people on business trips, most people rarely go out, but there are also few trains, so tickets are not easy to buy.

Trains are divided into express, direct and local trains.

Express trains are high-end and only stop at cities above the prefecture level.

For example, from the provincial capital to Chen City, there are only two stops in the middle, Zhuhu and Heng, and the journey takes 6 hours.Although the express is fast, the ticket is also expensive. The non-sleeper ticket from Xizhou to Chenshi is 8 yuan.Sleeper tickets are basically double the price of non-sleeper tickets.

At that time, the second-class train was a direct express, which stopped at towns above the county seat. Similarly, from the provincial capital to Chen City, it stopped at four stations in the middle and took about 6 and a half hours.Direct express tickets are cheaper than express tickets, and the non-sleeper ticket from the provincial capital to Chen City is 6.8 yuan.

The last train is a local train.Slow trains will stop at any fifth-class station.For example, from Chenshi to Huacheng, the first stop is under the locust tree, the second stop is Aoshang, the third stop is fertile farmland, the fourth stop is Dengjiatang... After running for four or five stops, we have not yet left the boundary of Chenxian County. Don't talk about the boundaries of the Chen City area.

Li Yunhai was in a hurry, so he just wanted to buy an express ticket.

The conductor told him that tickets for the express train would only be available tomorrow, and there would be a local train at six o'clock tonight.

Li Yunhai asked what time the local train would arrive at Huacheng?

The conductor said it would be tomorrow night.

Although the fare of the local train is cheaper, it comes at the expense of time.

Li Yunhai went to Dongguan this time and had a time limit, so he didn't want to buy a slow train.

He asked: "Comrade, are there any tickets for the express or direct express today?"

The conductor replied: "There is a ticket for the hard sleeper train. Do you want to buy it?"

"Buy! How much?"

These days, hard sleeper tickets are available to ordinary people. Due to limited resources, soft sleeper tickets require department-level or above or special personnel to enjoy them.

Li Yunhai bought an express hard-sleeper ticket for 32 yuan. The fare was equivalent to one month's salary when he went to work in a machinery factory!

Train tickets are hard tickets.

The conductor's ticket sales relied entirely on manual operations. He had to pull the tickets one by one from the wooden boxes and manually stamp the dates and fill in the seats, so ticket sales were very slow.

Li Yunhai came out with the ticket, picked up his bicycle, and returned to the store along Wuyi Avenue.

Lin Zhi hummed a little tune and sat in front of the maintenance desk, recording the orders she received today.

"Li Yunhai, you're back!" Lin Zhi smiled sweetly, "I received three maintenance orders! They have already taken away the machines they received yesterday."

"You are so awesome!" Li Yunhai said, "I am going to Dongwan. I will take the bus in the afternoon and arrive at Huacheng tomorrow morning."

Lin Zhi handed the repair money received to Li Yunhai and asked, "Are you going with Liu Shitao?"

Li Yunhai said that the plan had changed, Liu Shitao would not go, and I would go alone.

Lin Zhi groaned, worry written on his face: "You go to such a far place alone? It's not safe! How about I go with you?"

Li Yunhai said no need, I am a grown man, am I still afraid of going on a business trip?

Round trip fare, plus accommodation and meals, one more person will cost about a hundred dollars more.

Li Yunhai is short of money now!

Lin Zhi may have felt that it was not achievable, so she opened the small book, turned to the last page, and wrote a phone number on it: "This is my home phone number, please keep it. If there is any emergency, you can call me. "

Li Yunhai was deeply moved.

He and Lin Zhi are not relatives, not even friends, right?I didn’t expect her to be so eager for justice!

Li Yunhai returned the bicycle key to Lin Zhi and said, "I have to leave now. You don't have to worry about it here. It will be fine if you keep the door closed for a few days."

If he could complete the big deal from the bank, he would make far more money than doing these small repairs.

Lin Zhi pursed her lips and smiled and said: "I'm bored too, so I think it's fun to find something to do. You don't have to worry about me. I'll come and sit here for a while when I have time. If I don't, I won't come."

Li Yunhai hummed and tidied up.

He only had one schoolbag. This time he went on a long trip, so he didn't need to bring maintenance tools. He emptied the schoolbag and brought a change of clothes.

Seeing this, Lin Zhi handed her leather backpack over: "You can use my bag! When you go out, you have to pay attention to a little pomp, right? Your yellow cloth schoolbag is too old-fashioned. How can you negotiate business with others? "

Li Yunhai thought about it for a while, then without being polite, he packed the things in her leather bag and said, "Thank you, Miss Lin. When I come back, I will definitely thank you."

Lin Zhi walked him to the door and asked, "You want to buy a second-hand copier. Do you have enough money?"

Li Yunhai bit his lip and shook his head slightly: "It's definitely not enough. Let's go and see the situation first! No matter what, this is a good opportunity to make money."

Lin Zhi said without any coyness: "If you need money, I can help you borrow money from my parents."

Li Yunhai was shocked!
A woman is willing to borrow money from her family for a man?

How much trust is this!

Li Yunhai thought to himself, Miss Lin, you and I are not familiar with each other!Aren't you afraid that I'll borrow your money and run away?
"It won't be needed for the time being." Li Yunhai could only say this.

He was short of money and knew that Lin Zhi's family was rich, but he didn't want to talk about it.

Lin Zhi's father was okay, but her mother's character and attitude made Li Yunhai stay away from her.

Li Yunhai said goodbye to Linzhi, headed to the train station, and entered the waiting room half an hour early.

Although he didn't have much money, he still had more than 2000 yuan, which was considered a huge sum of money at the time. It was his entire net worth and the capital on which he relied to make a fortune.

So he was extra vigilant.He divided the money into several parts, putting some in his backpack and pockets, and also put ten yuan in the insoles of his rubber shoes, just in case.

The waiting room was buzzing with people from all walks of life.

Some wear leather shoes, some wear rubber shoes, some wear cloth shoes, some wear pull-back sneakers, and some wear plastic sandals.

A pair of leather shoes costs tens of dollars and is only worn by the working class.

Li Yunhai clearly remembers what the principal of the middle school said when he was mobilizing for the exam: If you want to leave the countryside and become national workers and cadres who eat the national food, live in the city and wear big leather shoes, you will You must go all out to pass this exam!This is your best chance to jump across classes!
At that time, Li Yunhai looked at the yellow rubber shoes on his feet and vowed to get into a good school and become a national worker or cadre.

When he was in secondary school, his family wanted to buy him a pair of decent leather shoes, but Li Yunhai didn't agree.

He said he didn’t need to wear leather shoes to go to school. He would buy them when he got a job and got paid!

The eldest son of a poor family is always so mature and sensible that it makes people feel sad.

"Hello, comrade." A lean young man suddenly came to strike up a conversation.

Li Yunhai subconsciously became alert, glanced at him, and asked calmly: "Are you okay?"

The young man chuckled and said, "Comrade, I am a self-employed person selling needles, thread, and buttons."

Li Yunhai waved his hand: "I don't buy sewing buttons."

The young man took out a bag and said, "I don't sell sewing buttons now. It's like this. I have too much change and it's hard to carry it in the car. Do you have some change? Can you give me some change?" Just change it to ten yuan. I only pay cents and cents."

Li Yunhai didn't think twice and just said no.

How can there be such a thing?

You want to change money, why not do it in advance before taking the bus?

Although he didn't know if this person was a liar, he had a gut feeling that it wasn't that simple, so he refused.

The young man was not annoyed or forced. He turned around and asked the person next to him to change the money.

A woman sitting next to me laughed and said, "I've seen people changing change, but this is the first time I've seen people changing money!"

The young man said with a sad face: "I run a small business, and all I receive are cents and cents. My cousin is getting married, and I go home to attend the wedding. I can't give him a bag of change as a gift, right? So, can I? I just want to change it into whole money. Sister, do you have it? Just change it to ten yuan."

The woman heard what he said was so reasonable and wanted to help him out of kindness, so she took out ten dollars and said, "I only have a ten-dollar note, let me give it to you in exchange!"

The young man said yes repeatedly.

His bag was full of cents, not even cents.

Li Yunhai always felt that there was something wrong with this person, but he didn't know what trick the other person was trying to use, so he looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

The young man counted out ten yuan in change very seriously, and counted it again in front of the woman.

He counted very slowly, so slowly that others could see each banknote clearly, and he kept counting while counting: "One, two, three..."

Ten split tickets are put into a stack, one stack is worth a dime, and ten stacks are worth a dollar.

One hundred stacks of cent tickets can be exchanged for a big note worth ten yuan.

The woman took his money and handed him a ten-dollar note.

The entire process was clear, open and transparent, and seemed to have no flaws.

"Sister, thank you! You are such a good person. I have to take the bus. Goodbye." The young man left in a hurry, carrying his bag.

The woman held a large wad of change and stopped counting it to put it in her bag.

Out of good intentions, Li Yunhai reminded: "Sister, you'd better count them yourself!"

The woman grinned and said: "Isn't it necessary? I watched him count it twice, one by one. It was very clear. There will be no less."

An old man next to him also reminded: "Comrade, I think you'd better count it once."

The woman hesitated for a moment, then took out a stack of votes and counted them.

"One, two, three...nine!"

"Hey, why are there only nine? I just looked at him and counted them twice. There are obviously ten!"

The woman was very surprised and counted again, there were still nine!

She thought that this pile of money was not enough, so she changed it to another pile of money and continued counting.

Still nine!

At this point, Li Yunhai and the people around him realized that this money exchange trick was indeed a scam, but they were using real money, but there was one less ticket in each stack!
There are one hundred stacks of money, and each stack of money is one less, so there are one hundred less tickets!

The woman kindly used ten yuan in exchange for nine yuan in change!

The scammer used nine yuan to make one yuan. He deceived several such people in one day and his monthly income was over one hundred!
By the time the woman finished counting the hundred stacks of money, the scammer had long since disappeared without a trace!

"Damn it!" The woman was holding a bag of change, crying and cursing non-stop, "I kindly helped him change money, but he used 9 yuan of change to get 10 yuan of my change! I Is it easy to make a penny? I work so hard that I only make more than 20 yuan a month!"

Someone suggested that we should call the police immediately!

The old man next to him said: "The amount of fraud is too small, and the police may not open a case! One dollar, think of it as a lesson learned! Don't trust strangers easily in the future."

Everyone sighed.

Li Yunhai sighed sadly!
There are so many scammers out there that it’s hard to guard against them!
He tightened the bag in his hand.

What kind of adventures will you have when you go to Dongwan this time?

(End of this chapter)