Back to the teenage years

Chapter 616 Near Death
The sky is like a domed furnace.

The scorching sun beat down on the land in central Hunan.

In June 1996, Rijin City was unbearably hot; by midday, the air seemed to be filled with the smell of burning. Although he had returned to the city, Zhang Yunqi still felt the scorching heat of the Black Elk Peak fire was not far away.

Shortly after they returned to Lijin, the Heimi Township People's Government issued a decision on the handling of the forest fire at Heimi Peak.

The fire burned an area of ​​175.3 acres. According to Article 32 of the Forest Fire Prevention Regulations, the perpetrators must jointly compensate for the loss of trees in the amount of 3250 yuan. The four individuals directly responsible—Lu Yuanzhou, Li Xiaoman, Ma Rulong, and He Lin—were each fined 600 yuan. All participating students were ordered to write a profound self-criticism. Next spring, the students will return to school to replant 1000 saplings, and their respective schools will be notified to strengthen education on this issue.

The penalty decision also mentioned that Zhang Yunqi and others actively organized the rescue, risked their lives to rescue the trapped child Sun Xiaomei, and caused no casualties, as well as Lu Yuanzhou's donation of one million yuan to establish the Black Elk Peak Public Welfare Fund, among other things.

It's not over yet.

After the incident reached the school, all the students involved were punished. Although they weren't the main people responsible for burning the mountain, and they weren't going to end up in jail or working on sewing machines, and the wealthy and powerful young master Lu would cover the fines, they still had to bear collective responsibility.

Zhang Yunqi rested well at home for a few days.

The incident at Black Elk Peak really wore him out; he needs to recuperate and rest.

Every day, he would enjoy Zhao Yihan's delicious food, burp contentedly, go to school, make tea, look at pretty girls, and do some studying on the side.

It's almost the end of the second semester of freshman year.

A wave of exams is approaching, and Professor Li Weimin's thesis defense is just around the corner. Although Zhang Yunqi has relatively low expectations for his score, he still needs to put in some effort to prepare.

In terms of research projects, their group had Zhou Dingchuan, who always put more effort into studying than into pursuing women. He led a large amount of data collection and research, making things much easier for Zhang Yunqi. Based on Zhou Dingchuan's firsthand data, he developed a research plan entitled "Symbiosis and Regeneration: A Comprehensive Plan for Micro-Renewal and Sustainable Development of the Wangyueling Zhuxiang Lane Historic District in Lijin City".

The plan is structured into four sections. The initial section on value theory was written by Zhou Dingchuan, the case analysis was written by Liu Ying, and Zhao Yihan was responsible for governance-related topics such as the "sunshine ledger" system, the intangible cultural heritage inheritor protection agreement, and the tiered protection policy for indigenous people.

Zhang Yunqi chose the more practical model section. According to his vision, this project should separate the property rights, management rights, and income rights of the houses, and establish a three-element investment model of government-guided fund + social capital + community fund. The operation model will adopt a co-governance approach of professional operation company + community cooperative.

Business warfare is real-world combat, while university research projects are simulations. He doesn't mind testing his ideas in this risk-free environment.

Of course, Zhang Yunqi was all talk and no action; in the end, it was the honest and stubborn Zhou Dingchuan who actually wrote it down. Moreover, they had many disagreements and argued a lot about their ideas. At these times, the two female team members, Zhao Yihan and Liu Ying, would always stand firmly on Zhang Yunqi's side.

Once, Zhang Yunqi asked Zhao Yihan why he was like this.
Zhao Yihan blushed and hesitated to answer. Later, when Zhang Yunqi got annoyed by her questions, she stomped her foot and said, "It's because you're more handsome, okay?"

Zhang Yunqi was overjoyed.

He finally got labeled as handsome by the most beautiful girl in the department! For the next few days, when he looked in the mirror after waking up, he felt that Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Eddie Peng, and Daniel Wu were nothing special.

Of course, besides studying, he also paid attention to the briefings on Jinzhao Industrial that Ma Shi sent him every day.

The Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road is currently at a standstill. At the request of the State Administration of Taxation, the Provincial Public Security Department has filed a case against Jinzhao Industrial for tax evasion. However, the municipal joint investigation team led by Xu Kai has gone against the grain and turned its attention to Zhang Yunqi, investigating the inside story of how he obtained 50% of Jinzhao Industrial's shares without paying a single penny.

They believe there must be some shady dealings involved!

Zhang Yunqi, of course, wouldn't hold back either.

Liu Mingde's shareholder rights in Jinzhao Industrial have been transferred to his hands. Following suit, he continued to file a series of lawsuits against Xiongsen Group with the Intermediate People's Court of Lijin City, continuing to pursue the 10% of the preliminary expenses for Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road.

This matter seems to have reached a deadlock, and without external intervention, it cannot be resolved in a short time. However, Zhang Yunqi knows very well that as long as he grasps one point, he will not lose the initiative, which is that Xu Kai and Lu Yuanzhou cannot open the street due to pressure from various parties!
Saturday was a clear and sunny day.

Zhang Yunqi got up early as usual, went for a run, took a shower when he got home, turned on the TV, and saw the news that Xiangtai Pharmaceutical's stock price had hit the daily limit.

He's become numb to this news.

In mid-1996, the A-share market was in the midst of a magnificent bull market, and Xiangtai Pharmaceutical had been unstoppable in recent days, hitting the daily limit for several consecutive days. The stock price had soared from 6 yuan per share to more than 40 yuan per share.

It was truly a place teeming with demonic energy!

At this moment, Zhou Dingchuan and Jin Shengze arrived and called out to him at the villa entrance.

Zhang Yunqi went to open the door: "What is it?"

Zhou Dingchuan asked directly, "We're off today, and my roommates and I are planning to go to the hospital to see Lao Ma. Do you have time to go?"

Zhang Yunqi didn't think much of it and nodded, saying yes.

That day, after Ma Rulong came down from Black Elk Peak, Zhang Yunqi saw that he was still perfectly normal, except that he kept saying that he was in a lot of pain. After receiving initial treatment at Wangcheng Hospital, he and the other classmates who had been stung by wasps were also fine and were lively and energetic.

The group then returned to the school in the city.

The next day, when Zhou Dingchuan went to the toilet in the morning, he suddenly discovered that Ma Rulong, who was lying on the lower bunk, was swollen all over, had a sallow complexion, and looked like a ghost.

Zhou Dingchuan was scared half to death!
He immediately woke up the other animals in the dormitory, and the group carried Ma Rulong and rushed him to the hospital for examination. The examination results showed that the guy had liver and kidney failure, which was a delayed-type multiple organ dysfunction caused by bee venom, and his condition was deteriorating rapidly. The doctor recommended that he be sent to a large hospital immediately for treatment such as plasma exchange and hemoperfusion.

That same day, Ma Rulong was carried into the Second Provincial Hospital.

Actually, many people were stung by wasps at Black Elk Peak that day, with varying degrees of severity, but Ma Rulong was the only one whose injuries were so severe that he was on the verge of death.

So this is a bit hard to explain, because the type of bee venom and the individual differences of the victims can lead to very different results. Some people can be alive and kicking even after being stung dozens of times, while others can be dead after being stung once or twice.

Zhang Yunqi went to see Ma Rulong that day.

This idiot's condition requires continuous plasma exchange and hemoperfusion treatment, but in the 90s this was cutting-edge technology and extremely expensive, with an initial estimate of over 10 yuan, and a deposit must be paid immediately.

Fortunately, Ma Rulong's family was relatively well-off.

His mother, Wang Xiufen, was the head of the knitwear counter at the city department store, and his father, Ma Jianjun, was the captain of the third team of the city transportation company. They were a family of two low-level leaders in state-owned enterprises. Although they were not extremely wealthy, they entered a moderately prosperous society 25 years earlier than 98% of the Chinese people.

Zhang Yunqi had heard Ma Rulong boast before that the country's highway transportation had flourished in recent years, and his father, Ma Jianjun, using his position and connections, not only managed a fleet of vehicles but also partnered with others to contract two Dongfeng trucks, earning far more than the average wage earner. Ma Rulong, who was known for his boisterous and playful nature at Xiangtan University and his fondness for chasing after female college students' small, peach-shaped butts, still had some confidence.

These past few days, Zhang Yunqi had suddenly stopped hearing Ma Rulong's flirtatious voice, and he was quite unaccustomed to it. Besides, no matter what, they were classmates, going to share a dorm for four years, and this friendship would probably last a lifetime. It was hard to bear that something like this had happened.

With that in mind, Zhang Yunqi and his two brothers returned to their dormitory.

The five brothers gathered together, bought flower baskets and fruit outside the school, and then drove to the Second People's Hospital of the province.

The Second Provincial Hospital has the best nephrology department in southern Hunan, but illness strikes like a landslide. Ma Rulong is currently in the intensive care unit, so critically ill that he needs a ventilator to stay alive.

The five brothers arrived at the Intensive Care Unit building, walked through the lobby filled with the smell of soda water, and took the elevator to the ninth floor intensive care unit. Before Zhang Yunqi even stepped out of the elevator, he heard a fierce argument.

The arguing was coming from the family waiting area.

As Zhang Yunqi and the others tiptoed over, they saw a middle-aged man pacing back and forth beside a bench in the waiting area. He was wearing a leather jacket stained with engine oil, was stocky, and had dark skin. His fingers were almost poking a middle-aged woman's face across from him. The woman was slumped on a plastic chair, covering her face, her shoulders shaking violently.

Zhang Yunqi was taken aback. He had already met these two people before; they were Ma Rulong's parents, Ma Jianguo and Wang Xiufen.

Ma Jianguo hadn't slept well for days; his eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Wang Xiufen, whose face was streaked with tears, and said, "Seventy thousand! A whole seventy thousand yuan, Wang Xiufen! You're really something. I drive around day and night, 365 days a year, all for what? Because I have no money. I can only watch my closest relative die! And you, you secretly bought some financial products without telling me. What are we going to do now!"

His voice echoed down the corridor, drawing disapproving glances from a nurse in the distance. The nurse said that if he continued to make noise, he should leave and not disturb the patients' rest.

Ma Jianguo looked extremely depressed.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Dingchuan immediately went over and greeted them as "Uncle and Auntie." As the class monitor, he was always enthusiastic and good at doing ideological work. He first persuaded the two to calm down, and then communicated with them carefully for a while before understanding the reason why the couple had suddenly quarreled.

Over the years, the couple worked hard and saved 120,000 yuan through careful management and thrift. This was a huge sum of money in the mid-1990s, but Wang Xiufen kept all of it.

People are all the same; they get itchy fingers when they have a little money in their pockets.

Besides keeping 50,000 yuan for her son's schooling and her husband's working capital, Wang Xiufen secretly purchased a wealth management product from a legitimate financial institution in January of this year through her cousin who works at a bank. The product offered high interest rates and guaranteed redemption. However, the problem is that the product has a lock-up period during which it cannot be redeemed early. This means that she will not be able to get her 70,000 yuan back until January of next year.

By then, Ma Rulong should be able to rest in peace.

Currently, in order to treat Ma Rulong's illness, his family's 50,000 yuan in liquid savings has been exhausted, and 30,000 yuan has been used up just for the deposit. Ma Jianguo asked his wife for the remaining money to pay the fees, and that's when he learned about the situation from his stammering wife.

Ma Jianguo was furious. He immediately told his wife to talk to the sales manager of the financial institution and explain that they urgently needed the money, as it was their son's lifeline! They asked if they could make an exception and get the money back, but it was no use. The money couldn't be redeemed until the contract expired.

Ma Jianguo had no choice but to frantically borrow money from relatives and friends. However, these days, it was already a great favor if relatives and friends could lend him a thousand or eight hundred yuan. After borrowing from several sources, he managed to save up to ten thousand yuan. But for Ma Rulong's illness, it was just a drop in the ocean and did nothing to help.

At this point, Ma Jianguo was completely out of options.

Instantly, the couple were plunged into a gloomy and dejected mood.

Ma Jianguo had been suffering for days and seemed to be at his breaking point. The middle-aged man dug his fingers into his gray hair and slowly squatted down in the cold corner of the hospital. His voice was hoarse as he said, "I've run myself ragged and borrowed from every relative and friend I could. I've run out of money in just two days. The doctor just urged me again, saying that we're almost out of money and your son's treatment may have to stop tomorrow. What are you going to do?"

Faced with her husband's incessant questioning and thinking of her son lying in the intensive care unit, his life hanging in the balance, Wang Xiufen opened her mouth but couldn't utter a single word. She slid off the chair, collapsed to the ground, and sobbed uncontrollably.

Zhang Yunqi had been standing by listening and had already figured out what was going on. There were just too many pitiful people and pitiful situations in this world, so many that it made people numb. But now that Ma Rulong was almost dead, he didn't want to have a black-and-white funeral portrait of the five of them in the middle when they took their graduation photo in dormitory 213 in a few years.

He said, "Uncle, don't worry about the money. Normally, legitimate financial products can't be redeemed directly, but since you urgently need the money, you can talk to the sales manager to find a transferee and transfer the beneficial rights."

Ma Jianguo looked up at Zhang Yunqi.

Zhang Yunqi's words seemed to bring a glimmer of hope to the gloomy couple. But before Ma Jianguo could speak, his phone rang.

It was Zhang Yunqi's phone ringing.

He took out his phone and saw that it was Xu Qingshan calling.

Zhang Yunqi apologized and waited a moment, then went to the window in the corridor and answered the phone.

Xu Qingshan said directly, "Mr. Zhang, this afternoon the People's Daily published a major editorial entitled 'Correctly Understanding the Current Stock Market,' which severely criticized the excessive speculation in the current A-share market and reminded investors to be aware of the risks. Then this afternoon the stock market gapped down, and Xiangtai Pharmaceutical, which had risen for several consecutive days, also turned sharply downwards, forming a gap!"

Zhang Yunqi hadn't read the People's Daily editorial yet. He looked up at the sky outside the window and asked, "What do you think this signals?"

Xu Qingshan said, "Lu Yuanzhou is taking this opportunity to shake out weak hands. He can't possibly miss such a golden opportunity."

Zhang Yunqi laughed: "That's true. As long as the restructuring news isn't made public, Xiangtai's stock price can't possibly reach its peak. As for when it will peak, that's up to Xie Yun to decide."

"No, I think it's up to you, Mr. Zhang, to decide."

"How to say?"

"For us, this is also a golden opportunity. With the People's Daily editorial paving the way, everything is going smoothly!"

"Then push the boat up and smash the plate!"

*******
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