Chapter 73: 072

072 "Do you have a relative who is a high-ranking official at the People's Bank of China?"

Fang Qingye was having a great time playing World of Warcraft when his phone on the desk rang; seeing it was Xia He calling, he checked the screen.

With both hands occupied and unable to pick up, he quickly pressed the speaker button and asked while playing the game, "Senior sister, what's the matter calling so late?"

"Xiao Fang, do you have a relative who is a high-ranking official at the People's Bank of China?"

"What kind of joke is that? If I really had such a relative, would I still be stuck at the Nanxin Branch?" Fang Qingye said casually, his eyes fixed on the screen, clicking the mouse continuously.

"Then how did you predict it so accurately, almost to the last decimal?"

"You mean that?..... I guessed it!"

"Then why couldn't Director Qin and the others guess correctly?"

"That's because their guessing skills aren't good enough!"

Hearing Fang Qingye's words, Xia He was somewhat speechless.

Does guessing require skill?

"Xiao Fang, I want to ask you something serious." Xia He lay on the sofa, changing to a more comfortable position as she asked.

"Speak."

"Why was the magnitude of this rate cut by the People's Bank of China so small? It's simply beyond everyone's expectations." Xia He asked again.

"If a person just ate too much, and you give him an anti-diarrheal, then suddenly find he's diarrheaing too hard and collapsing from exhaustion, and you want to give him a tonic, you have to go easy, right?"

"First hang up a few bottles of saline to relieve the symptoms, then take the great tonic pill, right? If you go straight for the great tonic pill, this patient will definitely be worn to death by the treatment." Fang Qingye said while staring at the screen.

"Oh..... Is this the basis of your speculation? I get it! You mean the two rates will continue to be cut later?" Xia He asked again.

"Nonsense! I said, this is just saline; the great tonic pill is still coming later!..... I'm playing a game, bye....."

Without waiting for the other party to reply, Fang Qingye pressed the stop button and continued his World of Warcraft.

Just as Xia He was about to say something, she heard the phone emit a "beep-beep" sound; the other party had already hung up.

"This guy....." Xia He couldn't help but shake her head.

Forget it, no need to ask; asking won't get anything out of him anyway.

Xia He tossed her phone and half-lay on the sofa.

This Fang Qingye is simply a demon....

As for Fang Qingye, since Xia He's call just now had disturbed him, he lost this round; feeling unconvinced, he immediately started another one. Just as he entered the battle, the bedroom door was pushed open; his mother, Zhang Meili, holding melon seeds, walked in.

"Just now I heard you talking on the phone with a senior sister of yours, saying something about a great tonic pill; which senior sister is it?"

"It's our President Xia." Fang Qingye, without turning his head, stared at the screen.

"So late, and she's still calling you? And asking if you have relatives who are officials at the People's Bank of China? What were you two chatting about?" Zhang Meili asked while cracking melon seeds.

"Mom..... can you stop being so suspicious?" Fang Qingye explained while playing the game: "Didn't we go to Jinghai a while ago? We had a meal with a few alumni and talked about the bank cutting the two rates; today the People's Bank of China has already announced it."

Fang Qingye briefly recounted the whole story.

"Oh, is that so..... Xiao Ye, it seems we really do have a relative who is a high-ranking official at the People's Bank of China headquarters!"

Hearing his mother say this sentence with a straight face, Fang Qingye was stunned; he put down the mouse, turned his head, and looked at Zhang Meili: "Mom? Really?!"

"Fake! Just teasing you."

Zhang Meili burst into a laugh, "Now the biggest official in our family is your Second Uncle; in the future, we'll have to rely on you..... Alright, I'm going to sleep; you rest early too, don't be too addicted to playing!" After speaking, she cracked melon seeds and went out, casually helping him close the door.

I @#$%^&...

Fang Qingye was instantly speechless.

When did Mom become so humorous?

Because of this delay, he lost this round again.

Fang Qingye felt somewhat unconvinced,

and started another round.

Fang Qingye started another round of World of Warcraft; before he had fought for a few minutes, his mobile QQ rang again, and Dongguan Mei's QQ avatar was jumping.

Ignored it, continued the game.

The QQ avatar kept jumping, and suddenly a window popped up on the phone: Youthful Invincible Beautiful Girl requests a voice chat with you!

Ignored it, continued the battle.

The sound of the voice chat request kept ringing until the system automatically cut it off; Fang Qingye had just taken a sigh of relief and resumed focusing on the game, when the voice chat window popped out again!

Damn it!

Is this never-ending?!

Fang Qingye really couldn't hold back; he pressed the answer button and shouted at the phone screen: "What the hell, are you sick?"

"I don't have a sister, and I'm not sick; what's your anger about?" a strange girl's voice replied.

Huh?

Dongguan Mei's voice actually sounded quite nice.

However, right now Fang Qingye was full of rage; having his game interrupted repeatedly, how could he stand it?

He hung up directly, and the world suddenly became quiet.

But this round, he lost again.

Forget it, not playing anymore; it's no fun.

Take a shower and go to sleep!

Fang Qingye stood up, stretched, saw Dongguan Mei's avatar still jumping on his mobile QQ, so he clicked on it.

"Husband, sorry to disturb your game."

"Your prediction was so accurate; they all suspect you have a relative who is a high-ranking official at the People's Bank of China."

"Do you really have one?"

Yeah, right....

Fang Qingye muttered something, tossed down his phone, and went out the door.

The next day at work, Fang Qingye got another call—from Mei Shuwei, deputy director of the Municipal Finance Bureau—and the first thing he said was: "Xiao Fang, I'm impressed, truly impressed!"

Fang Qingye knew he was talking about the bank's "two rates" cut again, so he replied: "Director Mei, it was our President Xia who predicted it. I just chimed in."

"Ha ha, Xiao Fang, you can fool others but you can't fool me." Mei Shuwei's hearty laughter came through the phone.

"I remember at the time, before Xia He made the prediction, his phone QQ pinged—was it you who sent him a message?"

"Nothing of the sort...." Fang Qingye refused to admit it anyway.

"Heh, to tell the truth, Xia He's a branch-level bank president—his head is stuffed with all sorts of trivial work matters... just like me right now. Where would he find the heart to think about these big national macroeconomic affairs?"

"But I'm just a regular employee at a branch-level bank too," Fang Qingye argued.

"But you've only been out of school a year. You still have passion, still have the interest to point at the rivers and mountains and set the words ablaze. Wait a few years grinding it out at the branch level, and you'll sink into these trivialities too."

Seems like, there's some truth to that?

"Last time when a few of us had dinner and made predictions, yours was the most on the mark; Yu Yang's was the worst." Mei Shuwei was thoroughly enjoying this topic.

"Logically speaking, Yu Yang's at a provincial-level unit, and he specializes in researching all kinds of financial policies—he should have predicted it most accurately. Never expected him to be so wildly off the mark.... That young man, his official career has been too smooth. That's not necessarily a good thing."

Fang Qingye didn't much care for Yu Yang as a person either, but at this point he didn't say anything, just listened quietly.

"Alright, enough said. When you come into the city on business and have time, let's chat. I'm very interested in you as a person."

"Sure, definitely. Bye-bye." Fang Qingye hung up the phone.

Go into the city on business to find him for a chat?

Fang Qingye wasn't the type who really enjoyed socializing—why would he go out of his way to the Finance Bureau to bother the man with nothing in particular?

But unexpectedly, just a few days later, he did have something to ask him.