Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The Big Octopus Appears

The white hair disappeared outside the door, and Little Blink immediately patted his forehead with his palm.Said: "We are wasting money to advertise in newspapers, and the rural residents don't read newspapers at all!" "According to me, a few billboards should be set up on the road away from the urban area, so that the dwarfs in the countryside can see it." The big liar thought of an idea. Little Blink and Big Liar quickly got into the car and drove to the advertising company.There, they explained to the painter where and what kind of billboards they wanted to set up. When they returned to the office, they met three more buyers.Judging from their travel-stained and tanned faces, it can be guessed that the three of them are all rural people, and all of them are poor.Their clothes were worn and patched.The shoes are all worn out.One of them had barely any shoes on, that is to say, he had only two shoe tops that had come off.Knowing nothing and the little goat leaned over the table, on which there were some steel coins, and they were counting them enthusiastically.After counting.I don't know how to hand over the stocks bought by the dwarfs to them.The buyers were shaking with excitement, and the man without shoes even cried with excitement.

"You know, boy," he said to the little goat, "I came to town to buy shoes, and I heard about these big beans and cucumbers and cabbages here. So I decided not to buy shoes." , and buy a stock, you understand." "You're doing right," said the Kid approvingly. "Any donkey can buy shoes, but which donkey can buy stocks!" "Yes, that's right!" said the little dwarf, nodding his head. "May I ask if you can get seed anytime soon with these shares?" "Soon, soon," interjected Little Blink. "Once we get enough money, we'll get various design experts to work. They'll be able to come up with a spaceship design in no time. You see, then you can fly to get seeds. You know, money can make What a ghost."

The little ones wanted to ask more, but Blinky said, "I congratulate you, dear friends. Congratulations on joining the joint stock company! Now, all your disasters are about to end, and you are about to live happily ever after. Take advantage of the change of funds." A good way, you can't think of it." Blink shook hands with each of the buyers, walked them out of the office, and then swooped in and hugged No-Knowing and Kid. "Ulla, brethren!" he yelled. "Our business seems to be going well!" Things did move quickly and smoothly.It is true that no buyers came that day, but when the little wink and the big liar came to the office the next day, they found that the stock business was quite lively.From time to time, all kinds of dwarfs came to Quan Zhi and the little goat and put money on the table.Among them are not only country people, but also city people.A man told our friends that he had left the country for a long time and had left a small piece of land there.He yearned to work in a factory to earn some money and buy another piece of land, because the harvest on his piece of land was very bad.Later, he finally worked as a worker in a factory, but after working for so many years, he still couldn't save enough money to buy a piece of land.

"I have an ideal now," he said. "I want to use the little money I have saved to buy your stocks. After I get the seeds, I will go back to the countryside to farm." "It's a good thing you're thinking!" Little Blink said loudly, full of emotion. "Farming your own land—what a treat, I tell you! Do you have a lot of money, please?" "Not much money, fifteen Fieldings." "Well, take your fifteen Fieldings, and we'll give you fifteen stocks. Believe me, it's very good. You can't think of anything better if you try to spend a whole year. way to use the money.”

The little man took the money out of his pocket, took the shares and left. "You see," said Little Wink with a smile on his face, "you have to be sincere when you talk to the buyer. He will definitely be willing to give up the money. The buyer likes to be treated politely." More and more people want to buy stocks every day.Don't Know and Little Goat sell stocks from morning to night, but Little Blink only goes to the bank.He exchanged the change he got for big bills in the bank and put them in the safe.Many buyers came to the office very early.With nothing to do, they crowded the streets, waiting for the offices to open.This caught the attention of passers-by.Gradually, it became known throughout the town that the shares of large plant ags were in high demand.

People in the city consider that the stock price will increase in the future.Everyone recalled an amazing incident in the past. At that time, the stock of an oil company was originally one Fielding, and then the selling price was increased. At first, it was two Fieldings, and then three Fieldings. , followed by five fieldings, and on the day it became known that oil was geysering in places where exploration was being done, the stock price rose to ten fieldings apiece.Whoever sold their shares on that day got ten times what they had spent. The little man, who had saved up a hundred or two fieldings just in case, heard many similar accounts, and each of them hurried to buy stocks, hoping to sell them when the price improved.As a result, the two million shares kept in the two safes were quickly sold out.

Seeing that the stock business is going well, Little Blink and Big Liar decide to sell the stocks in the other boxes as well. "It's not clear we can sell the seeds for money," said the great liar. "So, while there are people willing to buy stocks, it's better to sell them." People are really willing to buy stocks.Now, the buyers are not only people from Squeeze City, but also people from other cities.Those who are not interested in stocks are only some rich men.They were convinced that the Big Plant Company—an ordinary joint-stock company—would soon go bankrupt and cease to exist.The rich know very well that all joint-stock companies are set up only for the purpose of extorting other people's money, in short, to deceive the poor.

However, a rich man who was interested in large plant stocks soon appeared.This is one of the wealthiest residents of Raven City - Mr. Big Octopus.The rich men in the looting city are not very beautiful, and the appearance of Mr. Big Octopus is no different from other rich men.His face was slightly wider, with cheeks protruding to the sides, a pair of small eyes like nail heads, and a very narrow nose pressed between the two plump cheeks.Because of his wide and chubby face, it makes people think that Mr. Octopus is always smiling, which makes him look very funny.But sometimes, what comes to mind is not his appearance, but only his property.

Mr. Octopus's fortune totaled a full billion Fieldings, which means he was a billionaire, or as the old rich in Raven City liked to say, Mr. Octopus was worth a billion.It should be stated that the rich lords of the Ravenous City (and the rich lords of other cities as well) do not judge the dwarfs by their talents, wisdom, kindness, honesty, and such moral qualities, but solely by the amount of money they have.A dwarf who has accumulated a thousand fieldings is said to be worth a thousand fieldings; whoever has but a hundred fieldings is said to be worth a hundred; When there was no money, the rich man said contemptuously that he was a villain--not worth a penny at all.

Mr. Big Octopus was the proprietor of a large textile factory called Big Octopus Textiles, which produced countless kinds of textiles.In addition, he also has about 30 sugar factories and several large fields, which are large and large fields. On these vast fields thousands of dwarfs worked, growing cotton for Octopus's mill, sugar beets for his sugar mill, and lunar rye and wheat in great quantities, and Octopus Mister uses these for big deals. When Mr. Big Octopus heard that the newly established joint-stock company had achieved success, he called his chief executive, Mr. Little Crab, and said, "I said, Mr. Little Crab, what's going on with this newly established company? Say yes There are some large plants. Have you heard nothing?"

"Why haven't I heard of it, I've heard of it," Mr. Crab replied. "I've been paying attention to this company for a long time. The company is headed by Little Blink and Big Liar—two very cunning and famous con artists. One of them, Little Blink, has been in prison for fraud more than once. I think their joint stock company is all bullshit, because I don't see any spaceships, so no one thought to laugh at him, because there are no big seeds when people talk to Mr. Big Octopus." "Of course not. But what if there is?" "Well, if there were, these two swindlers would make a fortune and become rich, respectable runts." The big octopus waved his hands impatiently and said: "I didn't mean that!" he said. "It won't matter if they get rich. We don't prohibit anyone from plundering others to get rich. But what if we do have large seeds here?" "What will happen?" muttered the little crab. "Honestly, I haven't thought about that." "Think about it, then: if every poor, stupid man planted large plants on his own little plot, he'd be able to eat without growing us cotton, wheat, or sugar beets. Wouldn't it be Is that so?" "It seems so," agreed the little crab. "If that's the case, then who is willing to work in our factory?" The big octopus continued. "Everybody's going to go to the country and plant big crops for themselves. What's going to happen to our profits then? If nobody's going to work for us, who are we going to squeeze Fielding from?" "Oh, this is not miserable!" Mr. Crab said loudly. "Perhaps, we should buy all these damn stocks to stop the construction of the spaceship?" "I don't think that's the way," replied the big octopus. "As long as we buy stocks at the beginning, the stock price will rise immediately. At that time, we will not have enough money to buy all the stocks. Besides, if we just stop building the aircraft, someone else will build it and finally take it off." To the seeds. In my opinion, the little winks and the big crooks should be persuaded to take the money and slip away, then people will see that it's all a normal scam and they won't fantasize about these damned seeds gone." "That's a wise idea!" said Mr. Crab loudly. "If you agree, I will take a car to Squeeze City immediately to negotiate with Little Wink and Big Liar." "Go, Mr. Crab. I'm counting on you." After this conversation, Mr. Crab showed up at the offices of the large plant company the next morning.In order to divert other people's attention, he bought a few stocks, then called Little Blink and Big Liar aside and said: "I am entrusted by the famous industrialist Big Octopus to talk to the two of you from Plunder City. We can't Shall we meet?" Desperate to find out what the famous factory owner wants from them, Blink and Liar agree to meet right away.As soon as the work in the office was over, they came to the confirmed meeting place-Little Crab's room in the hotel.The little crab first suggested that they have dinner together, so the three of them were sitting at the restaurant table after a while. Mr. Crab, as is the custom of all little men in business, began the conversation on the tangent.He asked Blinky and Big Liar if they had been to Raven, and when he learned they had been there, he went out of his way to praise the city and its inhabitants, saying that the inhabitants of Raven were the smartest, kindest, The most honest dwarf, Mr. Big Octopus, who is a local resident of Loot City, is also the smartest, most respectable, and honest little dwarf, and he also owns a huge amount of wealth that many people have never dreamed of. Thinking of Mr. Big Octopus's wealth, Mr. Crab's plump, rosy cheeks could not help but smile the most cheerful, and his small, bulging, glowing eyes naturally narrowed.Mr. Little Crab shook his head, as if waking up from a sweet dream, he thought that he had made his talking partner have a good impression of the big octopus, so he said: "Mr. Big Octopus entrusted me to talk to you two, you probably already guessed Are you there?" "I think it is to discuss the purchase of a large number of stocks," Little Blink said his guess. However, judging by the expression on the little crab's face, he guessed wrong, and the little wink added: "Unfortunately. I have to tell you that this can no longer be done, because almost all the stocks have been sold out. Within a day or two, we The office will be closed and will be replaced by the Aircraft Design Bureau." "That's the question that the big octopus is very interested in," said the little crab. "Mr. Octopus thinks you don't need flying machines at all. It's not economical because of the huge expense. You'll spend all the money you get from the stock sale and you'll have nothing." "Mr. Octopus is wrong," replied Little Blink. "The expenses will not be so great, and new sources of money will emerge. The construction of such an extraordinary flying machine will undoubtedly interest all little people. The newspapers will publish reports on the progress of the work, introducing readers to various Design and structure. We don't do it for nothing. Our papers love stories and pay for them. What about TV? Movies? You can imagine the contract with TV to broadcast this epic voyage How lucrative is the contract for preparation work. What will happen by the time the spaceship takes off, or the initial experimentation with growing large plants? Thousands of TV viewers will be sitting nailed to their homes in front of the TV. Money will flow into our pockets like a river. There is no doubt about it!" "Maybe Mr. Big Octopus wants to make a fortune by building his own spaceship?" The big liar talked about his personal estimation. "No, no," said Mr. Crab loudly. "Mr. Big Octopus thinks this is a useless, even extremely harmful thing. Can you imagine what would happen if this kind of large plant appeared on our planet? There will be a lot of nutritious food .Everything is cheap. Poverty is gone! Who will work for us in this situation? What about the capitalists? Like you, you are now rich. Everyone looks at you with envy. You have Lots of money. You can satisfy all your craziest desires. You can hire a chauffeur and let him drive for you, you can hire servants and make them do your bidding, clean your house, treat your dog, beat the shuttlecock, give You wear leggings and you have a lot to do! Who should do these things? Poor people who need to earn wages should do them for you. If no one needs anything, which poor people will serve you? . . . You'll have to do these things yourself. If so, why would you want those properties? Now you understand what a disaster this giant plant is for all rich people. When the day comes when everyone will be better off, The rich will definitely have a hard time. Please think about it." Little Blink and Big Liar thought about it, and at first they didn't even know what to say. The great liar rubbed his forehead with his hand, as if it would help him to concentrate his thoughts, and then he muttered angrily: "Why, in your opinion, we should put aside such a profitable business?" "You can see for yourself that it's no good at all," said the little crab. "Then what shall we do?" "No need to do anything," replied the little crab with a cheerful smile. "You just have to hide." "How to hide? Just hide for nothing? Don't you want a penny?" Little Blink shouted. "Hey, why don't you want a penny?" said the little crab in a calm voice. "Take the five million you got from selling stocks and fly away." "Thank you for allowing us to bring our own money!" said Little Blink angrily. "We were going to sell a lot more." "Hey, how much more can I do? This is already five million!" "It's for two people!" Little Blink said loudly. "Hey, two and a half million yuan per person—that's not a lot," said the little crab sympathetically. "Of course it's a lot, but we want three million each," said Little Blink. "Besides, we still have No Knowing and the Kid. We can't just leave our friends like this. We must give them at least a million each. By the way, we can give the Kid half a million." "No, no," put in the great liar. "The kid must give a million too. Otherwise he'll be mad at us." "It's commendable that you care about your friends!" Mr. Crab sighed. "It shows that you all have a good heart. I thought, I can try something. I'm going to ask Mr. Big Octopus for two million for you. But I have to say something first, it's very difficult for me. Big Octopus Sir—is a miser, and won't give his money so easily. I'll have to work hard before he can be persuaded. If you can give me even a hundred thousand out of your two million, then , I didn’t say anything, I will definitely do my best for you.” "Okay," said Little Blink. "I believe that all work should be paid for. No one should work for another. You bring us two million and we'll pay you a hundred thousand." "It's a deal!" said Mr. Crab happily. "You can think I'm on the move."