After a commotion, the Feng family sat down again to have a friendly discussion. Of course, the cost was that Feng Yu already had several red welts on his body.
"Humph, I thought that little Li was not bad, but he turned out to be a fool! Such a grown man, and he actually listened to Xiao Yu and went to cause trouble. Xiao Yu is so young, what can he learn at school? And he talks about making money with government bonds. Who do you know who makes money with government bonds? Even if they do, it's just speculation and profiteering!" Zhang Muhua was still angry, but she couldn't bear to scold her son anymore, so she turned to scold Li Shiqiang.
"Mom, Shiqiang was also deceived by Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu said it was all Dad's idea. How could Shiqiang not do it?" Feng Danying weakly defended.
"Still not going to call and get the money back?"
"Mom, just believe me this once. This will definitely make money. Teacher Sun said it would work. Besides, this isn't speculation and profiteering. The newspaper said we need to develop a planned commodity economy. This is part of the commodity economy."
Feng Yu used some terms his mother couldn't understand, which finally temporarily suppressed her anger. But in the end, he still couldn't convince her and promised to call immediately, at least leaving ten thousand yuan.
On the way to the battalion to make the call, Feng Danying was still complaining to Feng Yu: "Why do you always blame everything on Shiqiang?"
"You're my sister, and you haven't even married yet. Why are you already helping outsiders! Besides, you saw that Brother Li was involved, so Mom and Dad won't be too angry. And this will definitely make money. In the summer, Dad will buy you a big house in the city."
"You always have the most schemes. Brother Li is a straightforward person."
"Alright, alright, I'm the worst. But think about it, if it weren't for me, would you and Brother Li have met your parents so quickly?" Feng Yu muttered.
When they arrived at the battalion, they hadn't even made the call when the phone rang first. It was Li Shiqiang calling.
"Hello? Brother Li, it's only been a few days since we last met, and you're already calling to find my sister?" Feng Yu teased.
"Xiao Yu, I actually mainly wanted to find you. You know, I found out that government bonds are even more profitable than you said!"
Huh? What do you mean, government bonds can make money now?
It turned out that Feng Yu had only considered the issue of trading government bonds and hadn't thought about the issue of redeeming them upon maturity. Many people had five or ten yuan government bonds, some of which had already matured. Most government bonds were five-year terms with an annual interest rate of four percent. This meant that a ten yuan government bond could now be exchanged for twelve yuan.
As Li Shiqiang said, when government bonds were issued, they encountered many difficulties and were later forcibly allocated to people in government agencies and enterprises. They had to buy them, and the cost was directly deducted from their salaries.
Many people had even forgotten they had government bonds. When they heard that Li Shiqiang was buying government bonds, they dug them out from their homes, and many of these bonds had already matured.
Going to the bank to exchange a ten yuan bond for twelve yuan required a trip and a queue, and many people found it troublesome. Especially the officials who were mainly allocated the bonds; their salaries had increased, and they didn't care about a few yuan.
When Li Shiqiang went door-to-door to buy government bonds, people found out he was buying ten yuan bonds for nine and a half yuan and thought it wasn't worth it. Li Shiqiang didn't get many.
But when Li Shiqiang occasionally saw some matured bonds that could be exchanged at the bank, he bought them at face value, giving ten yuan for a ten yuan bond, and then exchanged them at the bank for twelve yuan.
However, many people still felt it was a loss. For a ten yuan bond, you should at least give eleven yuan. Li Shiqiang thought it was still profitable. For eleven yuan, he could get twelve yuan at the bank. For eleven thousand yuan, he could get twelve thousand yuan.
He called Feng Yu to ask if this was feasible. He thought there was no need to wait for the public trading of government bonds. Feng Yu was stunned. He hadn't expected Li Shiqiang to be so flexible. Could this business be done? Of course, it could!
In his previous life, he had heard of people specializing in this, buying nearly matured government bonds door-to-door for eleven yuan and holding them to earn interest. However, this required a lot of capital and no immediate need for the money.
But what Feng Yu hadn't expected was that some people didn't even know their government bonds had matured. Others knew but were too lazy to go to the bank to queue up, especially if it would delay their work and result in a bigger deduction.
"Brother Li, you're a genius! Those that mature within three months can be priced higher. Don't buy any that mature in more than three months! Don't worry about the interest. When government bonds can be publicly traded, I guarantee we'll make thousands of yuan every day!"
"What? Thousands of yuan every day? That's thirty thousand yuan a month, three hundred thousand yuan a year?" Li Shiqiang was so excited that his hands started to tremble. If he could make three hundred thousand yuan a year, it would be equivalent to his lifetime salary without eating or drinking.
Actually, what Feng Yu said was still the amount Li Shiqiang could earn. Feng Yu could make at least a million yuan! But it would require multiple cities to open up, otherwise, there would be no price difference with just one city's market.
"Brother Li, how many government bonds did you exchange today?"
"Uh~~ only a little over a thousand."
Feng Yu was frustrated. Only a little over a thousand in a day? It would take a long time to exchange tens of thousands.
"What can I do? They're all five or ten yuan bonds. Fifty and one hundred yuan bonds are very rare. I'm just one person, and I had to ride a bicycle in the cold weather to go around."
The jeep Li Shiqiang borrowed had already been returned. He had used it for too long, and his father was afraid of being talked about.
"Tsk~~ Brother Li, you can't do it alone. This isn't exchanging foreign currency; no one can exchange a thousand at once. You're only collecting five or ten yuan per household. How can you make money? Brother Li, do you have any trusted friends who have the time and energy? Have them help you collect government bonds, and pay them a hundred yuan a month!"
"A hundred? I only make eighty or so a month!" Li Shiqiang thought the salary was too high.
"Brother Li, you said you still have to work. How can you have the time to do this? If you skip work every day, it won't be good to explain to your boss. Have them help you collect government bonds door-to-door. The rule is the same: for those that mature within three months, you can offer a higher price. For those that mature in more than three months, offer the face value. For those that mature in more than a year, offer ninety-five percent of the face value."
"Alright, behind my house is the dormitory of the motor factory. There are many young guys who don't work and just hang around. I'll have them help me collect government bonds, and I'll pay them a hundred yuan a month. They'll definitely do it."
Li Shiqiang was getting more and more excited. He had been working for less than a year and was still at the bottom, but he never thought that doing a little business would allow him to lead a few subordinates!
"Alright, Brother Li, you handle it yourself. Hey hey hey~~ Sister, don't grab the phone, I'm not done yet."
He remembered that back then, only the battalion had a phone. When someone's family called, the loudspeaker would announce it.