Chapter 95: Buying Bitcoin

Gao Hong was so fed up with him she didn’t even want to look at him. She knew there was no talking him out of it anymore, so she snapped, “Cao Jianhua, let me be honest with you—this is exactly your problem. You get a little praise and suddenly you think you’re some big shot. You don’t even know your own limits.”

“If you want to raise livestock, then go ahead. I’m done trying to stop you. When you lose all our money, I’ll be watching to see what you do next!”

Her words were harsh, but after nearly thirty years of marriage, she knew her husband’s temperament all too well.

This whole thing started back in early July, when her husband, Cao Jianhua, was drinking at home with Cao Jianyou from the village.

Cao Jianyou had been working with Cao Zhenggang, and earlier that month they were helping Cao Shujie build a pigsty and pave the ground for it.

That evening, over drinks, Cao Jianyou brought it up and mentioned that Cao Shujie was planning to go into livestock farming next. That’s when Cao Jianhua started getting ideas.

He figured that if Cao Shujie was bold enough to dive into it, he must have some confidence in the venture. That had to mean livestock farming had potential.

So why couldn’t he do it too?

But the truth was, Cao Jianyou didn’t know the first thing about farming. He was just talking for the sake of talking, not seriously suggesting anything.

And Cao Jianhua wasn’t exactly an expert either. He got caught up in the moment and didn’t think things through.

Especially after that one-on-one chat with Cao Shujie, when he’d asked him whether livestock farming had any future. Back then, Cao Shujie had only given him negative feedback. Cao Jianhua took that as a sign that Shujie was trying to scare him off to avoid competition.

Now, with his son backing him up, Cao Jianhua felt fired up. He was convinced that within a few years, he could earn enough to buy his son a fully paid apartment.

“I’m doing it!” Cao Jianhua made up his mind. Tomorrow, he’d go find Cao Jiangang to discuss leasing some mountain land.

…

That evening, Cao Shujie and his father, Cao Jianguo, returned from the orchard on the mountain. After dinner, just as they were about to turn in for the night, Cao Shujie suddenly remembered something.

“Mom, I almost forgot—Fangfang called yesterday. She said she’s coming back tomorrow with some classmates. Can you make something nice for lunch?”

“Are they the same classmates who came last time?” Wang Yuelan asked.

Cao Shujie hadn’t asked for details, so he wasn’t sure who exactly was coming. “Fangfang said they’re coming to check how the May Day fruit trees are doing. So probably the same group.”

“Don’t forget to book two rooms for them at the inn in town,” Wang Yuelan reminded him.

“Yeah, I know,” Cao Shujie nodded.

There just wasn’t enough room at home for all of them. If only his new house were finished and ready!

Back in the bedroom, he found his wife and daughter still awake, sitting side by side on the bed reading. A small wooden laptop table was wedged across their legs, covered with pencils and erasers. After reading for a while, Mengmeng grabbed a pencil and started doodling on a piece of paper. When she saw her dad come in, she insisted on showing off her “masterpiece.”

“Daddy, look!” Mengmeng opened her book and held it up to him.

“Alright, let me see,” Cao Shujie said, playing along. He leaned in close and studied it carefully. “Mengmeng, is this a little puppy?”

“Yes! Daddy guessed it right!” Mengmeng beamed with pride and turned to show her mom.

“Mommy, look! Daddy’s amazing!” she said, full of pride, as if her dad had just won an award.

Cheng Xiaolin looked at her husband, secretly impressed.

Her expression and eyes seemed to say, “Honey, your ability to lie with a straight face is truly something else.”

Cao Shujie laughed and leaned in. “Mengmeng, give Daddy a kiss.”

The little one eagerly leaned over and planted a wet kiss on his cheek, leaving a trail of drool. Then she burst into giggles.

Leaving the mother and daughter to continue playing, Cao Shujie took his laptop into the small room outside the bedroom. He sat on the sofa, opened the computer, and turned on the electric fan.

He’d received a text yesterday confirming his verification on the BTC China Trading Platform, but he’d been too busy to do anything about it. Now, he finally had time.

He logged into the platform and saw that one Bitcoin was worth less than 30 yuan. In just a few days, the price had dropped by half again.

“Damn, it’s dropping this fast?” Cao Shujie had no idea what was going on.

What kind of force could drive the price from 198 yuan per coin in June to just over 20 yuan in barely a month? He didn’t believe this was just because of some hacker attack on the exchange.

He didn’t understand the inner workings of the market, nor did he care to. He just felt that at 20-something yuan per coin, the price wasn’t high at all. Even if it dropped more, there probably wasn’t much room left to fall.

He went back into the bedroom to explain things to his wife, then came out again and used his online banking U-shield to transfer 500,000 yuan into his trading account.

{U-shield – A USB-based security device used for online banking in China.}

That left them with just over 1.07 million yuan in their personal accounts, which he had no intention of investing in Bitcoin.

As someone who’d been through ups and downs, he knew how fast things could change. You never put all your eggs in one basket.

Besides, BTC China Trading Platform had only just launched at the beginning of the month. Even now, its daily trading volume was still relatively low.

Seeing the current price at 28.3 yuan per coin, he noticed a sell order for 56 coins that had been sitting there unclaimed. He placed an order and bought all 56.

After paying 1,584.8 yuan, the 56 Bitcoins were transferred into his digital wallet.

In the grand scheme of the market, this was a tiny transaction—hardly enough to make a ripple.

But Cao Shujie wasn’t done. He kept buying, gradually acquiring another 375 coins at various prices, spending a total of 10,912.5 yuan.

At that point, the larger orders took longer to appear, and he noticed he wasn’t the only one trying to snap them up. Others were competing for the same orders.

He had to keep his eyes glued to the screen, ready to pounce the moment a new order popped up.

After a while, his eyes started to ache.

Cheng Xiaolin had come out of the bedroom at some point. Seeing her husband still glued to the screen, she sat down beside him and asked, “You bought them?”

“Yeah, 431 coins in total. They’re all stored in this digital wallet,” Cao Shujie explained, but Cheng Xiaolin didn’t understand a word of it—and didn’t care to.

She shook her head and said, “As long as you know what you’re doing, I’m not getting involved.”

Then Cheng Xiaolin added, “Let me know when you start making money. I just love hearing how much you’ve earned.”

“Show-off,” Cao Shujie muttered, not bothering to argue.

He then told her, “Go to bed. I’ll make a few more trades and then hit the sack.”

“Mm, don’t stay up too late. This isn’t something you have to finish in a day,” Cheng Xiaolin reminded him.

Cao Shujie took advantage of a sharp drop in BTC prices to snatch up a few more orders—481 coins in total, at an even lower price than before. He spent 13,178.4 yuan altogether.

“Time to sleep!” Cao Shujie said, turning off the screen.

He stretched and headed back to the bedroom.

…

The night passed just like that.

The next morning, as soon as Cao Shujie got out of bed, he heard the barking of the little German Shepherds in the yard. Daha and Erha were probably still asleep, staying quiet.

Still under the covers, Cao Shujie rubbed his hands together for a moment, then quickly got up before Cheng Xiaolin could explode. He stepped into the yard and saw the two little German Shepherds standing inside their cage, peering out and letting out the occasional bark. Their tiny eyes were full of curiosity and longing.

“Wanna come out?” Cao Shujie crouched down by the cage and asked.

The two pups stared back at him but didn’t move. He figured they were still new to the place and needed time to adjust.

“I’ll let you out, but no running off, got it?” he said.

He opened the cage from the outside, reached in, and gently lifted the two pups out.

They were only slightly bigger than his palm, feather-light in his hands. Their paws were still soft and pudgy, and their teeth had barely started coming in—biting anything was out of the question.

Cao Shujie figured now was the perfect time to bond with them.

“Dahei, Erhei, what do you two want to eat?” he asked, amused by his daughter’s naming skills. As ridiculous as they were, they were easy to remember.

The little German Shepherds couldn’t answer, of course, but Cao Shujie didn’t mind. He happily babbled on to them.

Once Daha and Erha woke up, Cao Shujie noticed Daha staring intently at the two new pups. That look—it was dangerous.

He thought for a second and instantly understood. He was speechless. Even dogs could get jealous?

“Daha, Erha, wanna go for a walk?” he asked.

Daha let out a short “woof” in response. That was a yes.

“You little rascal, you’re too smart for your own good,” Cao Shujie muttered.

Daha looked smug, mouth wide open, tongue hanging out, eyes rolled up, and the three tufts of white fur on his head flaring like little flames. The goofy expression was enough to make anyone laugh.

Erha was even more dramatic—it obediently brought over its leash, urging Cao Shujie to hurry up and take them out. Being cooped up at home was driving it nuts.

“You two mutts are way too clever sometimes,” Cao Shujie said as he hooked them up.

Erha looked proud, lifting its head high, almost smiling.

As Cao Shujie led Daha and Erha out, the two little German Shepherds exchanged glances and then followed behind, clearly wanting to come along.

Seeing that, Cao Shujie didn’t object. He found two pieces of string and tied them to the pups. One man, four dogs, they headed north toward Cao Family Village.

They left early and didn’t run into any villagers. In one go, they reached the orchard up in the hills. As soon as they arrived, Cao Shujie caught a faint whiff of fruit in the air.

He was puzzled, wondering if his nose was playing tricks on him. But when he opened the gate and walked over to the Old Orchard, he saw that the kiwi fruits on the trees had grown even larger—bigger than goose eggs.

The apples were starting to turn red too, and the fruity scent was stronger.

It was as if everything had ripened overnight.

Cao Shujie reached up and picked a kiwi. He gave it a squeeze—still firm.

But when he brought it to his nose, the fragrance was unmistakable. “They really are ripe?”

He was sure of it now. The fruit was large, evenly shaped—definitely top-grade for kiwis.

“Finally, it’s time,” he sighed in relief. Now he had to figure out how to sell them.

Daha and Erha had good noses too. They sniffed out the fruit scent drifting from the vines and stood up on their hind legs under the trees, clearly wanting to snatch a few for themselves.

“Well, look at you two, real connoisseurs,” Cao Shujie said, pulling back on their leashes. No way was he letting them ruin the fruit.

As he walked through the Old Orchard, he spotted a few fruits that had been pecked by birds. He picked those and gave them to Daha and Erha.

The two little German Shepherds didn’t have their teeth yet and couldn’t eat them. They just sat there, watching Daha and Erha munch away, drooling with envy.

“Woof, woof woof!”

“Woof…”

The pups kept barking, but it was no use. Cao Shujie thought maybe he’d juice some fruit for them when they got back.

After leaving the Old Orchard, the man and his four dogs headed to the livestock area. On the other side of the wire fence, fifty calves were frolicking and grazing. Everything looked normal, which made Cao Shujie feel even more at ease.

He thought about how, once these fifty calves grew into full-sized cattle, he definitely wouldn’t sell them all. He had to keep a couple for meat.

“Damn, I really went all in on this,” Cao Shujie thought to himself.

Watching how fast the calves were eating, he realized he’d need to act fast. Maybe he should get on the loudspeaker and call for help cutting grass. Better to stockpile now than run out later.

“If it comes to it, I’ll hire two people just to cut grass every day,” he thought.

On top of that, he figured he needed to talk to Cao Jiangang soon about leasing another mountain. If he could contract a whole hillside just for growing grass and grazing cattle and sheep, they could feed themselves. That would save a ton on labor.

Just as he was thinking about all this, his phone rang.

The sudden ringtone startled all four dogs—and even the calves on the other side of the fence.

The constant chorus of “moo-moo eyes” and “woof-woof” barking was driving Cao Shujie to the brink of a headache.

He hurriedly answered the call, and only then did the cow and dog noises finally stop.

“Bro, the four of us just got in the bus. We’ll be in town a little after nine,” Cao Huifang shouted over the phone.

“Got it,” Cao Shujie replied.

“Bro, what are you doing? Why do I hear dogs barking over there?” Cao Huifang asked, puzzled.

“I’m out walking the dogs. Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up,” Cao Shujie said.

But before he could finish, his little sister beat him to it and hung up first.

“What a kid,” Cao Shujie muttered to himself. He continued strolling through the orchard on the mountain with four dogs in tow, checking on the growth of the young fruit trees. Everything was coming along nicely, and satisfied, he headed back down the mountain, ready to drive into town to pick up his sister.

(End of chapter)