Before September 2023, when Zhonghua cigarettes were still considered hard currency, a classmate asked me in advance about buying some for his wedding. The market price at that time was 400-410. I told him: "You should stockpile some now. I can give you 400 per carton right now. Otherwise, the price will definitely go up before the New Year, and they'll be hard to find." He said it was fine and told me to figure it out when the time came.

A week before his wedding, he asked me to get 30 cartons, and they had to be from the local area, not from out of town. I said, "That many?" I only had ten cartons at that time. I had to go to other people's houses to find some at 420 per carton. He said okay and asked me to deliver them once I had gathered enough. He mentioned he'd give me a bonus since it was 100 kilometers round trip. I agreed reluctantly.

After delivering them, he initially said he wouldn't pay right away. I said, "This is all money I advanced upfront." Later, he started asking: "Didn't you say 400 before during the summer?" I explained, "The price then was different from now." Then he claimed, "We agreed on that price back then. Now isn't this because you see I'm in a rush and hard to find them elsewhere, so you're raising the price?" He kept making excuses anyway. Finally, I said: "Fine, 400 per carton."

After he settled the payment, I didn't attend his wedding—I sent a gift through another classmate. A few days later, he said he had leftover Zhonghua cigarettes and wanted to return them to me. I said, "If they're from my stock, I can take them back. But the ones I found from other people's houses can't be returned." After that, I stopped contacting this classmate.