1994: Starting with unpaid leave

Chapter 147 The Stock Market Undergoes Technical Adjustment

On the other side, Xiuyun's family home.

After the eldest sister, Zhou Xiulan, came to inform their parents, she didn't stay long.

After all, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the daughter-in-law has to go to her mother-in-law's house with her husband.

We'll have to wait until the second or third year of junior high to come back.

After she left, the elderly couple looked at their cold and deserted home and couldn't help but feel sad.

In previous years, Xiuyun would stay at home with the two of them every Spring Festival.

But now their youngest daughter is in the hospital preparing to become a mother, leaving only the two of them at home.

Although the TV programs were talking animatedly, the two of them couldn't concentrate on anything.

"How about we both go to the hospital to get checked out?"

Zhou Yuejin shook his head: "What are you looking at?! If you see a girl, you'll be crying your eyes out! How will Xiuyun feel when she sees that?!"

"Ouch—"

Cao Wenli sighed, filled with disappointment.

Zhou Yuejin looked at his wife and reassured her, "It's alright. Didn't Xiulan say that Jianguo is still at the hospital? With him there, what are you worried about?"

Cao Wenli nodded upon hearing this: "Yes, Jianguo is a really good kid."

"He cares a lot about both Xiuyun and the two of us—and he's quite adept at business too."

"Back then you looked down on him! What did you say to him again? Right, he thought he could marry our girl just because of his looks—"

Zhou Yuejin, unusually, blushed slightly: "Can't I be wrong just once, even though everyone else can be wrong?!"

Cao Wenli snorted: "Remember this, wake me up tomorrow morning to cook porridge for Xiuyun. She can't eat anything too greasy after just giving birth—"

"Aren't you going to prepare crucian carp soup for Xiuyun?"

"Everything is ready. I'll make it for Xiuyun tomorrow morning, and it'll be fresh when I deliver it at noon."

"Bang bang bang!"

The elderly couple were talking when someone banged on their door.

The two were startled, thinking something had happened at the hospital.

When Zhou Yuejin opened the door, he saw that it was his second daughter, Zhou Xiuqing, standing outside, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He ushered his second daughter inside before asking, "Xiuqing?! Didn't you just come back with Jinlong on the second day of the Lunar New Year?! Why are you here today?!"

"Dad, Mom!"

Xiuqing entered the house and greeted them, but her voice immediately broke into a sob, startling the elderly couple: "Oh dear, what's wrong?! Why are you crying?! Did you quarrel with Jinlong?!"

Upon hearing her mother's question, Zhou Xiuqing grinned and burst into tears.

"No, what happened? Say something! How can we know anything if you just cry?!"

Zhou Xiuqing sobbed and slowly stopped crying before telling her parents what had happened that night.

She didn't argue with her husband, Zhang Jinlong, but rather with Zhang Jinlong's relatives.

Previously, when she and Zhang Jinlong were investing in stocks, they not only borrowed money from the Zhou family, but also from Zhang Jinlong's relatives.

"When we borrowed the money, everyone agreed that there was no rush and that we could pay it back once we made money."

"Now that they hear we haven't made any money, they've completely lost all shame and are demanding we pay them back! It's several thousand yuan; where are we supposed to get that money from?!"

Hearing their second daughter say this, the elderly couple couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.

We've all been through poverty, and everyone knows how unbearable it is to be pressured by debt collectors.

It's almost like being skinned alive.

For a moment, they couldn't care less about the fact that their second daughter and son-in-law had borrowed a lot of money from them.

"How much do you owe them in total?"

"We took 2000 from Jinlong's parents, and borrowed another 1000 each from his older sister and brother."

"It's just 4000 yuan! Once our stocks recover their value, we'll make it all back in no time!"

"Then Jinlong and I will take this money and slap them in the face, making them humiliate us!"

Zhou Xiuqing gritted her teeth fiercely.

But what she said terrified the elderly couple.

4000 yuan is no small amount.

If you add the money they borrowed from me, the total is almost 1 yuan.

Zhou Yuejin winked at his wife, signaling her to pour a glass of water for their second daughter.

He sat opposite his daughter and cautiously began, "Xiuqing, tell Dad something. You and Jinlong said a while ago that you could make money in stocks. After all this time, have you made any money or lost money? I'm so unsure."

"Even the founding emperor told me that it's incredibly difficult for ordinary people to make money in the stock market, like trying to climb to heaven. You two haven't been scammed, have you?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiuqing immediately became displeased.

"Dad, don't mention Dong Jianguo to me, that heartless bastard. And Xiuyun, she's no better. She's my sister, and she won't help a single thing when it matters! I've spoiled her for so many years for nothing!"

"Isn't it normal for the stock market to go up and down?!"

"I went to Xiuyun's house a while ago to discuss something with them. Jinrenjia Financial has their eye on a stock, and anyone who invests has already doubled their money!"

"But Xiuyun and her husband insisted that they had no money and refused to lend us any, so we only made a little over 1000 yuan."

Zhou Yuejin thought for a moment and felt something was amiss: "It's over 1000 yuan, so you should have some money on hand. Why don't you return some of the money to them first?"

Zhou Xiuqing opened and closed her mouth in the room before saying, "Didn't Jinlong take a liking to a stock a couple of days ago?"

As a result, they misjudged the situation, invested money, and now they're all stuck with it.

Selling now would be like taking a loss, and he's reluctant to do so. Maybe the price will rebound in a couple of days.

Zhou Yuejin frowned: "Isn't this stock trading? Why are you talking about being trapped?! What are you trapping them with? A plastic bag?!"

"Oh, Dad, these are all technical terms; you wouldn't understand them even if I explained them to you."

"Besides, the market is currently undergoing a technical correction. Maybe it will all rebound after the Lunar New Year!"

"Right now, Jinlong is being pressured by his family so much that he can't even eat."

"Mom and Dad, do you two have any money left? Could you help us out, at least so we can get through the New Year?"

"this----"

A hint of hesitation appeared on Zhou Xuejin's face.

He recalled what his third son-in-law, Dong Jianguo, had told him.

I really don't want to lend the money to my second daughter anymore.

On the one hand, he felt that his second daughter and her husband seemed to be just as Jianguo had said, that their stock speculation had become a bottomless pit, and no amount of money could fill it up.

On the other hand, he and his wife have already lent their second daughter a lot of money, though they don't expect anything in return.

But he wasn't sure he could keep filling it in like that.

But seeing his second daughter crying like this, he couldn't bring himself to harden his heart.

After a long silence, he finally sighed and said, "Wait a moment."

Having said that, he got up and went into the inner room, heading towards the drawer containing the money—