Gold Gone Mad
Old Li felt like he was going crazy.
Not the kind of crazy that lands you in a mental institution, but the kind where the torrent of the times sweeps you along, leaving you dizzy and disoriented.
He stared at his phone screen, his eyes wide like saucers. Gold prices, gold prices again! That number, like a red-eyed viper, soared high, stinging his heart.
"580...585...590...still rising!" he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse, like he'd swallowed a handful of sand.
Old Li was a retired worker, the most ordinary kind in this city. He'd worked diligently his entire life, tightening screws in a machinery factory for forty years. His pension wasn't much, but it was stable, enough for him to eat and drink, and occasionally buy his grandson a toy.
He'd never had any great ambitions in life, just wanted a peaceful life. But these days, peace was scarcer than gold.
The crazy surge in gold prices had started last year. At first, Old Li just read about it in the news, treating it as dinner table conversation. But later, the price of gold shot up like a rocket, soaring uncontrollably.
"Why is this gold going so crazy?" his wife asked him while she was picking vegetables.
Old Li didn't know either. He only knew that everyone around him was talking about gold, buying gold.
Old Mrs. Wang next door had taken out all her retirement savings to buy gold bars, saying that "gold is the safest bet in times of chaos"; Little Zhang downstairs, newly married, had converted his betrothal money into gold beans, saying it was "a hedge against inflation and appreciation," better than keeping it in the bank.
Even the usually stingiest Old Mrs. Zhao had gritted her teeth and bought a gold ring, saying it was a "family heirloom" to be passed down to her granddaughter.
Old Li started to panic. He felt like he'd been abandoned by the times, becoming an outdated relic.
He started having insomnia. At night, he tossed and turned in bed, his mind filled with charts of gold prices. That red line, like a whip, lashed at his nerves.
"Should we buy some?" he tentatively asked his wife one day.
His wife glared at him: "Buy what? The little money we have isn't even enough to fill a tooth! Besides, the price of gold is so high, buying now is like throwing money away!"
Old Li didn't say anything. He knew his wife was right, but he still felt uneasy.
He started frequenting gold shops. Looking at the glittering gold jewelry, he felt a mix of emotions. He touched the few crumpled bills in his pocket and felt like a beggar standing at the entrance of a magnificent palace.
One day, he ran into an acquaintance at the gold shop, an old colleague from the factory. The old colleague was holding a thick stack of cash, ready to buy gold bars.
"Old Li, are you here to buy gold too?" his old colleague asked him with a smile.
Old Li smiled awkwardly: "I... I'm just looking."
The old colleague patted him on the shoulder: "What are you looking at? Buy it quickly! If you don't buy it now, it'll be too late!"
Old Li's heart was completely in turmoil.
He went home and had a huge argument with his wife. He insisted on buying gold, but his wife refused.
"Are you crazy? That's our retirement money!" his wife cried in anger.
"I'm not crazy! I'm afraid we won't even be able to afford food later!" Old Li roared.
It was the worst fight they'd had since they got married.
In the end, Old Li still couldn't convince his wife. He went to the bank alone, withdrew all their savings, and bought a small gold bar.
The gold bar felt heavy in his hand. But Old Li's heart felt even heavier.
He didn't know if what he was doing was right or wrong. He only knew that the world was becoming increasingly incomprehensible to him.
The price of gold continued to rise, like a bottomless pit, swallowing people's rationality and hope.
Old Li stood on the balcony, looking at the countless lights of the city in the distance, feeling lost. He suddenly remembered a saying his mentor had taught him when he was young: "Don't fight against the times."
But now, what else could he do?