Chapter 9: The Country Bumpkin

There was no train station in Nanhui County, so Zhou Ming and Su Han had to go to Linyang City to catch a train. Director Dai made a quick call, and within minutes, someone at the Linyang station had secured their tickets. Zhou Ming and Su Han then took a car to the station.

As they waited in the station's waiting room for the train to Jiangxia City, Su Han asked Zhou Ming, "Zhou Ming, can your classmate in Jiangxia really help you raise the interest rate on treasury bonds to 15 cents?"

Zhou Ming smiled. He knew Su Han had been wanting to ask this question for a while, but the bumpy ride and her motion sickness had kept her quiet. Now, after resting in the waiting room for a bit, she finally voiced her concerns. Instead of answering directly, Zhou Ming responded with a question of his own: "Do you know the differences in treasury bonds across regions?"

Su Han stared at Zhou Ming, puzzled. "Differences? Aren't treasury bonds issued by the state? How can there be differences?"

"Of course, there are differences," Zhou Ming explained. "The state issues treasury bonds to support national construction. Due to the varying levels of economic development across regions, the interest rates they can offer on treasury bonds also vary. Jiangxia is the economic center of the central and western regions, and it receives the most substantial national support."

Su Han suddenly realized something. "So, you're saying that the treasury bond interest rates in Jiangxia City will be higher than in Nanhui County? Did your classmate tell you this?"

"Yes, the interest rate in Jiangxia can reach around 17 cents," Zhou Ming said. In truth, Zhou Ming had no classmate in Jiangxia City; his judgment was entirely based on his memories from his previous life. If it weren't for his father's potentially imminent illness, Zhou Ming would have gone to Binhai City, where the interest rates were almost unbelievably close to 20 cents. The significant interest rate differences across regions allowed someone in the past to become a millionaire in less than a year by constantly trading treasury bonds between places with different rates.

"But... how can there be such a significant difference in interest rates for the same treasury bonds issued by the state?" Su Han couldn't comprehend it.

"That's market economics," Zhou Ming replied. "When something is in high demand, its price naturally goes up. Conversely, if something is constantly overlooked, its price won't be high."

There was one crucial point Zhou Ming didn't share with Su Han: at that time, banks across the country hadn't yet formed a connected system. The banks operated independently, and the central government couldn't regulate them effectively, leading to the varying interest rates on treasury bonds across regions. Once the banks became interconnected, this situation would no longer exist. However, considering Su Han's limited understanding of the era's economic terms, Zhou Ming didn't bother explaining these concepts in detail. It was enough to make her believe they would make money.

At noon, Zhou Ming and Su Han boarded the train to Jiangxia. After a ten-hour journey, they finally arrived at the Jiangxia station.

"Damn, this train is so slow. It wasted an entire day!" Zhou Ming grumbled as he got off the train. He sorely missed the high-speed trains of the future, which would have covered the distance in just two hours. Now, the ten-hour train ride, although on a sleeper, made him feel like he was falling apart. The worst part was that they arrived in Jiangxia late at night.

With the travel expenses provided by Director Dai, Zhou Ming, adhering to the principle that "not using public funds is foolish," booked a room in a decent hotel in Jiangxia City for himself and Su Han.

However, what Zhou Ming considered "decent" was relative to the era. In his eyes, the hotel was only comparable to an average motel in the future. Even so, Su Han felt very out of place. As she followed Zhou Ming into the room, she looked at the clean white sheets but hesitated to touch them, afraid that the dirt on her clothes would stain them.

Seeing Su Han's reaction, Zhou Ming reassured her, "Don't worry. Since we've paid for the room, you don't have to be concerned. The hotel staff will wash the sheets daily. You could even use them to clean your shoes, and it would be fine."

Su Han couldn't understand this explanation, but Zhou Ming didn't elaborate. After all, changing old mindsets wasn't something that could be achieved overnight.

Exhausted from the ten-hour journey, Zhou Ming and Su Han quickly fell asleep in their respective rooms. The next morning, Su Han, an early riser, knocked on Zhou Ming's door at 7 a.m., waking him up from his sleep.

By 7:30, Zhou Ming had washed up, and he and Su Han went downstairs for breakfast. Afterward, they took a stroll along the Yangtze River before heading to the bank at around 9 a.m.

"Haha! It looks like we're in luck. The interest rate on treasury bonds here in Jiangxia was just raised yesterday," Zhou Ming said happily as he looked at a sign in front of the bank announcing an 18% interest rate for treasury bonds.

Su Han's eyes widened in disbelief. Even though Zhou Ming had explained the interest rate issue to her, and she had mentally prepared herself, she still couldn't comprehend why the interest rates in Jiangxia and Nanhui differed by 6 to 7 percentage points. However, this was beyond Su Han's understanding. All she knew was that Zhou Ming was truly remarkable, a real university graduate.

Soon, Zhou Ming returned, excitedly telling Su Han, "Su Han, this is great! We exchanged over 41,000 yuan in total. After deducting the principal and the interest we owe Director Dai, we still made more than 6,000 yuan in profit."

Su Han was so shocked that her small pink lips formed an 'O' shape. Zhou Ming almost wanted to hug her and kiss her. She couldn't fathom how Zhou Ming had made more than 6,000 yuan just by traveling from Linyang to Jiangxia.

Six thousand yuan! That was a lot of money—enough to take years to earn working in a factory. But Zhou Ming had made it so easily!

Zhou Ming noticed Su Han's thoughts and said, "Making money isn't that hard. You just need to have the right information and be willing to take action. It's like when you ran a restaurant at the factory. Just by having a different name, your restaurant did better than the others."

Su Han nodded heavily, her eyes filled with admiration for Zhou Ming. She realized that, although Zhou Ming made it sound easy—just having the information and taking action—it took someone special like him to recognize the business opportunities hidden in the information, trust his judgment, and even dare to borrow high-interest loans to do business.

With their business done, they no longer had any reason to stay in Jiangxia, so they bought tickets for the next train back to Linyang. However, the earliest train back to Linyang wasn't until the afternoon. With time to kill, Zhou Ming decided to take Su Han shopping.

"Wow, it's so prosperous!" Su Han exclaimed as she looked around at the bustling shops on Jiangxia's commercial street.

As the most economically developed city in the central region, Jiangxia's commercial sector had started early. While Nanhui County was still transitioning from a planned economy, Jiangxia had already introduced shopping malls popular in coastal areas.

For Zhou Ming, these shopping malls were nothing special. In twenty years, these kinds of malls would be everywhere, even in small counties. But now, they were still rare, especially for people used to the counter-service shopping of the time. The experience of being surrounded by goods was a powerful shock to customers.

Su Han was as excited as a child as she admired the clothes in the shops. "The clothes are so beautiful!"

Zhou Ming was pleased to see Su Han so happy. It seemed that women, no matter the era, had a universal love for shopping and pretty clothes. In her previous life, Su Han hadn't lived well. She had married a small factory official arranged by her family and lived a life of poverty. Yet, despite her hardships, she had found ways to help Zhou Ming during his difficult times. Now that he had been reborn, Zhou Ming was determined to make sure she lived a good life. While he couldn't guarantee everything, he could at least ensure that she would never have to worry about money again, and the same went for himself.

The treasury bond business was just the beginning. Zhou Ming hadn't been reborn just to become a "Millionaire Zhou." He aimed to make much more money than that!

"Hey! Don't touch that!" A sudden shout interrupted Zhou Ming's thoughts.

Zhou Ming looked over and saw Su Han standing nervously in front of a mannequin, with a middle-aged saleswoman glaring at her.

Frowning, Zhou Ming walked over and asked, "Su Han, what happened?"

"I… I thought this dress was beautiful, and I wanted to touch it, but she wouldn't let me," Su Han said softly.

Zhou Ming nodded and asked the saleswoman, "My friend likes this dress and wants to take a closer look. What's the problem?"

The saleswoman sneered and said dismissively, "What's there to see? If you're not buying, don't waste our time and mess up our business."

Zhou Ming sighed internally, remembering that this was still the 1980s, not the market-driven economy of twenty years later. In twenty years, if a saleswoman dared to treat customers like this, she'd be fired the same day. But now, in the early days of the reform era, many systems hadn't caught up yet. These sales

people still held their "iron rice bowls," and their attitudes hadn't shifted to that of true service providers, so they were naturally arrogant.

In this transitional era, as the country shifted from a planned economy to a market economy, various clashing ideologies led to all sorts of "characters," and this saleswoman was clearly one of them.

Of course, if Zhou Ming and Su Han had been wearing branded clothes, the saleswoman wouldn't have dared to treat them poorly. But unfortunately, they had just come from the rural Nanhui, dressed in very plain clothes. The saleswoman evidently didn't see them as potential customers, so she didn't bother being polite.

Su Han gently tugged at Zhou Ming's sleeve. "Zhou Ming, maybe we should go check out other stores?"

Just as Zhou Ming was about to agree, the saleswoman spoke up again, "I can't stand people like you. If you can't afford it, don't come here to look around. Have some self-awareness, country bumpkins."

Hearing the saleswoman's insulting words, Su Han lowered her head, biting her lip. She felt wronged but didn't know what to do.

"Really?" Zhou Ming had originally intended to leave the store with Su Han and check out other shops, but after hearing her insult him and Su Han, he couldn't resist the urge to teach her a lesson.