# After the Liquidation

After getting liquidated, Huang Mao lay in bed for three days and three nights.

On the fourth day, he finally got up, opened his phone to check the market—

Good grief, everything was down. Crypto was down, gold was down, oil was down, and even the A-shares he used to look down on were down.

He opened the group chat and found the old bag holders all asking the same question: "What's actually going up? Where's the money?"

Huang Mao let out a cold laugh, turned off his phone, and went out for a walk.

Walking down the street, he noticed the local diners had raised prices—rice bowls with toppings that used to cost 15 yuan were now 20.

He walked into a barbershop and found haircuts had gone up too—wash, cut, and blow-dry used to be 30 yuan, now it's 50. Tony the barber even said innocently: "Brother, the rent went up, utilities went up, we don't have a choice."

Passing by a real estate agency, he found rent had also increased—his old cramped apartment, and the landlord was demanding an additional 800 yuan or he could get out.

Huang Mao was trembling with rage. He pulled out his phone to complain to a friend, only to discover that even shared power banks had raised prices—it used to be 1.5 yuan for half an hour, now it's 4 yuan per hour, and it charges incredibly slowly.

He fell silent.

Back home, his mother-in-law called: "Son-in-law, I heard you young people have been losing money recently? Don't worry, my retirement investment account makes a steady 4% annually. Want to put some money in too?"

Huang Mao almost smashed his phone.

Late at night, he scrolled across a post titled:

"Stocks fall so you'll focus on work; gold falls so you'll face reality; oil falls so you'll go carbon-neutral; crypto falls so you'll stay grounded."

"Everything's falling, except one thing—the cost of living."

"Where's the money? It's in the landlord's pocket, on the grocer's scale, under Tony's scissors, and in your mother-in-law's retirement account."

"And you, my friend, you—are moving bricks at the construction site to pay off debt."

Huang Mao finished reading, silently liked the post, then opened the job search app and searched "construction site brick moving."

A list of results popped up. The top one read:

"South Pars Gas Field Brick Factory Now Hiring - Room and board included, 8,000 yuan monthly salary. Outstanding performers eligible for internal mining project participation."

Huang Mao stared at the screen, his eyes lighting up.

"This time... I'm just moving bricks. No leverage."