Ten Thousand Books, But Only One You

Side Story 05: Dear White (2)

Chapter 5: Dear White (2)

There was a sudden flash of white light as the train plunged into the darkness of a mountain tunnel. Shi Ruijie, who had been dozing off by the window of the train earlier, found himself standing in a ballroom crowded with men and women who were impeccably dressed. He looked down at himself and found that he too was well-dressed in a finely tailored smart brown checkered suit, with a glass of champagne in his hand. Glancing up, he found himself standing in an exclusive circle with four other respectable-looking men—two of them had heads full of grey hairs while the other two looked to be in their thirties.

The scene had suddenly changed. Was he still in the same dream? Was he still Yang Yi?

Shi Ruijie quietly listened to the conversation, occasionally throwing in a nod and a thoughtful hum. As he listened to one of the elderly men lament about how the recent change in the political scene had impacted his businesses badly, Shi Ruijie managed to piece together the few clues he had obtained.

He was still stuck in this dream as Yang Yi, alright. The only thing that had changed was time—it seemed that a few months had passed since the train scene where he had encountered Zhu Lirong. Today, Yang Yi was attending a charity gala with his father and older brother in Shanghai. While they had gone off together to mingle with the foreign emissaries, Yang Yi was tasked to network with the local businessmen. At the present moment, the speaker in his exclusive circle was a young man, who seemed to be a banker from the way he spoke. They were still on the same topic of how war would affect business profits and investments, but this young man was offering some insights into how one can invest in land and real estate at the opportune moment, so that in the long-term one can sell his land at a high price to reap in a windfall. On the inside, Shi Ruijie could not help but scoff. If this book were to follow the trajectory of real-life history, being a landowner would eventually only bring more disadvantages than benefits.

The young man noticed Shi Rujie's change in demeanour and turned to him calmly. With a polite yet withheld smile, he asked: "Does Mr Yang have a different opinion? Perhaps you might be able to share with us your thoughts from a different perspective."

"Pardon me, please continue what you were saying." Shi Ruijie shook his head before taking an elegant sip from his glass. Although he wasn't sure about the future political climate in this book, Dear White, he certainly knew that the author Yu Juan was writing a story about espionage and the various real-life political ideologies. Shanghai was a melting pot of people various nationalities, cultures and political beliefs—but no one would outwardly stand against the current leaderships and governments in the various territories of Old Shanghai. Who knew what would happen to him if he were to launch off into a whole explanation about various sociopolitical movements that would eventually change lives for the better in the modern society which he lived in today?

"No, no," the young man said earnestly. "Mr Yang sounded like he had a different thought. Having studied abroad, perhaps you have a different understanding of how one should invest one's money during times of conflict and financial instability?"

Shi Ruijie broke into a smile to mask his lack of investment knowledge. To be honest, he came from old money. His family had always had a fountain of wealth in their backyard. He had multiple investment portfolios in his name, but they were managed by his personal financial planners engaged by his parents. Maybe after today, he should really spend sometime to understand his investment portfolios...

"Well, there are a few lessons one can learn from history—" Clearing his throat, he was prepared to say a few words about how the economic turmoils after World War I eventually lead to the Great Depression. But he was suddenly interrupted by a few loud banging noises.