Crab Vouchers

There is a river in Nanchao Town, and on the opposite bank is the Dongwan Crab Farm.
The crabs from Dongwan Crab Farm are very famous, and only a limited batch is released each year, making it difficult for outsiders to buy.
People in the town can't get crabs, so they watch the crab prices across the river every day.
Today twenty-two taels, tomorrow twenty-three taels, the day after tomorrow dropping back to nineteen taels.
Over time, the crab price became like the weather in town—discussed in teahouses, talked about in taverns, and even by dockworkers loading cargo.
Autumn hadn't arrived yet, when Lin Ji at the eastern end of the town first put up a sign saying he could sell Dongwan Crab Vouchers here.
Someone asked him where the vouchers came from.
Shopkeeper Lin patted the counter and said, "From across the river."
This statement was very useful.
Because the words "from across the river" sounded better than any explanation.
Before long, Lin Ji's ledger recorded the vouchers for customers.
The vouchers listed quantities, prices, and could be bought and sold at Lin Ji's counter.
When the crab prices on the other side rose, Lin Ji's vouchers also increased; when they fell, his vouchers dropped as well.
The first person to sell a crab voucher actually received money.
So everyone believed it.
Whether there were crabs or not, being able to sell for money was enough to consider it a crab.
Whether they could cross the river or not, the price followed Dongwan Crab's trend.
Every day, people shouted prices in front of Lin Ji's counter.
Some made money, some lost money, and more people looked at the numbers in the ledger, feeling they had finally bought Dongwan Crab too.
After a while, Gu Ji on West Street put up a new sign.
The sign read that Gu Ji had obtained exclusive resale rights from the Chamber of Commerce across the river, and from now on, to sell Dongwan Crab Vouchers in Nanchao Town, one could only do so through Gu Ji.
Once this sign was posted, the town suddenly remembered what Lin Ji had said earlier.
Didn't Lin Ji say long ago that his vouchers came from across the river?
Since the Chamber of Commerce across the river now granted exclusivity to Gu Ji, then where did the vouchers Lin Ji sold earlier come from?
Someone went to ask Shopkeeper Lin.
Shopkeeper Lin didn't explain who printed the vouchers in his ledger, nor why the exclusive rights across the river ended up with Gu Ji.
He took out a yellowed invitation card, saying he had been a customer of the Chamber of Commerce across the river many years ago;
then he showed an old receipt, saying he had bought Dongwan Crab long ago;
finally, he displayed a stock release schedule, saying he knew days when the crab farm would open for catching, when they would release stock, and when they could be resold, half a month in advance.
Spectators listened in surprise.
Some said that with a release schedule, it couldn't be an ordinary person.
Others said that Lin Ji's vouchers had indeed arrived, could be sold, and money could be withdrawn, so whether Gu Ji signs or not didn't matter.
But still, some felt something was off and secretly wrote a letter to the Chamber of Commerce across the river:
"Are you guys selling Dongwan Crab Vouchers with Lin Ji together?"
A reply came quickly.
The letter was very polite, saying they knew about Lin Ji's shop in Nanchao Town but had not cooperated with Lin Ji, nor had they sold vouchers through him.
The rumors circulating outside were not accurate.
After this letter was circulated, Shopkeeper Lin still didn't explain where the vouchers came from.
He simply framed the old invitation card and hung it in the most prominent place in the shop;
placed the old receipt on the counter;
and covered an entire wall with the release schedule.
Then he said that Gu Ji's female shopkeeper didn't understand crabs, nor the rules across the river, and certainly didn't understand that real businessmen only care about results and profits.
Finally, he chuckled and said she was just an apprentice, lucky enough to become the shopkeeper, and to take a little cut so that the real owner wouldn't laugh behind their back.
Once this was known, the town's voice quickly changed.
At first, everyone asked whether Lin Ji's vouchers really came from across the river.
Later, they questioned whether Gu Ji was truly a shopkeeper.
And eventually, even the people asking about the vouchers decreased.
Because Lin Ji's counter was still open, the ledger still active, and the people who bought yesterday could still sell today, and the money still arrived.
For many, that was enough.
Every night after closing, Lin Ji's staff would lock the ledger in a cabinet.
Inside the cabinet might be crabs Lin Ji bought long ago, or his old receipts, or a genuine release schedule that saw the tide.
No one knew what was inside.
What everyone hadn't seen was the document from the Chamber of Commerce across the river that handed over these vouchers to Lin Ji.
The next morning, as long as the counter reopened and someone was willing to accept, those vouchers would continue to fluctuate with the crab prices across the river.
It looked so harmonious.
As for whether they really came from across the river, few people cared anymore.