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Wei Boxi actually laughed and said, "Mr. Feng seems to have a lot of prejudice against me. I think there are some misunderstandings."

Feng Junzi simply spoke frankly: "Originally, I had no prejudice against you. If it weren't for the way you treated Qin Xiaoya, I wouldn't have gone against Boss Wei. I don't want to harm people, I only want to help them. If Boss Wei has any advice, please say so, so that I won't keep thinking about it."

Upon hearing this, Wei Boxi laughed heartily and said, "So that's what happened. I thought I had offended Teacher Feng in some way. Let me tell you, I didn't do Qin Xiaoya's thing. Who am I, Wei Boxi? I would never stoop to such despicable means. Even if I wanted something from someone else, I would only rob, not steal."

Feng Junzi carefully observed Wei Boxi's expression and felt that he didn't seem to be lying. He suddenly thought to himself, "Qin Xiaoya suspects Wei Boxi, while Zhou Song insists it was Wei Boxi. I naturally assume that Wei Boxi was responsible for the five thousand pairs of leather shoes, but in reality, no one has any evidence." Thinking of this, he realized that he had never truly understood Wei Boxi. Could there be some other reason behind this?

Feng Junzi asked, "If it's not President Wei? Then who could it be?"

Wei Boxi: "One of the reasons I invited you here today is because of this matter. Now that I know you and Zhou Song are not in a cooperative relationship, it's even better. I just want to tell you that there's no future in associating with this kind of person. I still have many things I want to ask Mr. Feng for help with in the future. How can I lie to my friend?"

“I know we can’t doubt President Wei without evidence, but who exactly is it? It seems President Wei knows,” Feng Junzi said, his confidence waning.

Wei Boxi: "I invited Mr. Feng here with sincerity. Xiao Li, hand the things over to Mr. Feng."

Xiao Li took a cassette tape out of his bag and handed it to Feng Junzi. Feng Junzi looked at Wei Boxi with a puzzled expression. Wei Boxi said to Feng Junzi, "Mr. Feng, listen to this cassette tape carefully when you get home. After you've listened to it, you'll know that what I said is true."

Part 1: Deceit and Deception, Chapter 32: The Truth Isn't Always Beautiful

Back home, Feng Junzi was still pondering his conversation with Wei Boxi. He was somewhat disoriented; this man was indeed extraordinary, almost a demon in disguise. Feng Junzi thought he didn't care about the situation, but if it had truly been a direct confrontation, he would have been completely outmatched.

He turned on the tape recorder, put in the cassette tape Wei Boxi had given him, and pressed play. The tape played the audio of two people talking. The recording was short, only a few sentences, but to Feng Junzi it was like a bolt from the blue. It was clearly a phone recording between the two people.

"Are you sure that person said his name was Feng Junzi? How could things be like this? Could it be that Qin Xiaoya didn't want to deal with those five thousand pairs of leather shoes at all? That shouldn't be the case. Old Chen, let's leave it at that for now. Contact me as soon as there are any updates."

"Old Chen, did you inspect the goods after they arrived?"

"It wasn't inspected; it was taken directly back to the warehouse."

“Feng Junzi is a master of deception and trickery. Things aren’t that simple. Go to the warehouse and check it out right away. Call me immediately if you find anything.”

"Damn it, something's wrong! It's a ghost story! All the leather shoes that were shipped back turned out to be left-foot shoes, except for two boxes that were right-foot shoes, the two boxes that that brat inspected!"

Feng Junzi remembered one of the voices; it was the voice of Manager Chen who delivered the goods that day. He was also very familiar with the other voice, as if he were hearing his own voice. It was a voice he would never forget—Zhou Song's voice!

Feng Junzi suddenly felt dizzy and tried to stand up, but then felt the floor shaking and sat back down. He reached out and grabbed the table in front of him, feeling that the cold surface was still real, and Zhou Song's voice seemed to still linger in the air around him.

He instinctively thought that this might be a forged recording by Wei Boxi, but then dismissed the idea. He couldn't possibly be mistaken for Zhou Song's voice; given his familiarity with Zhou Song, this cassette tape didn't need any authentication. It really was Zhou Song who did it, without a doubt.

Suddenly, he understood many things. He realized why Zhou Song, a businessman who wasn't usually generous, had lent Qin Xiaoya a loan when he was facing financial difficulties—because he knew the money would eventually come back to him. He also understood why, when Qin Xiaoya came to him with five thousand pairs of right-foot leather shoes, Zhou Song had remained out of town and encouraged her to borrow money from him.

Zhou Song was perhaps too cautious. No one suspected him, yet he himself went into hiding elsewhere, which ultimately backfired. If Zhou Song had been in Binhai, Feng Junzi probably wouldn't have avoided him, and his scheme to switch places would have failed. Zhou Song deceived Xiao Ya first, and Feng Junzi was actually deceiving Zhou Song afterward. How could so many chaotic and unreal things happen in this world, and the truth be so hard to accept?

Feng Junzi understood some things, but was even more confused about others, particularly why Zhou Song was treating Xiaoya this way—it was terrifying. Then he realized Zhou Song's methods were indeed very clever. If he hadn't intervened, the final result would have been a win-win situation for Qin Xiaoya, with her forever trapped under Zhou Song's control and influence. But why do it this way? Qin Xiaoya already had feelings for Zhou Song; wouldn't a normal development have been a better outcome?

He wondered again, how did Wei Boxi end up with such a cassette tape? When Zhou Song was in Jianjiang, Wei Boxi also went to Jianjiang. What happened during that time? The more he thought about it, the more confused he became, and he didn't want to think about it anymore.

Feng Junzi grabbed his hair, as if the pulling sensation on his scalp could clear his head. He wasn't thinking of Zhou Song anymore, but of Qin Xiaoya. The thought of Xiaoya sent a sharp pain through him. Just then, the doorbell rang.

Part 1: Deceit and Deception, Chapter 33: The Drunken Xiaoya

Feng Junzi didn't want to open the door, but the doorbell kept ringing, so he had no choice but to stand up and walk to the door. He looked out through the peephole and saw that it was Qin Xiaoya outside.

The person Feng Junzi most wanted to see, yet also didn't want to see, had arrived. When Qin Xiaoya entered, her steps were unsteady, she was a little swaying, her hair was messy, her eyes were red, as if she had just cried, and her face was very red. Feng Junzi smelled a strong odor of alcohol.

Qin Xiaoya's gaze was somewhat vacant, seemingly unaware of Feng Junzi's presence. She walked to the sofa and sat down, muttering to herself, "Feng Junzi, can you guess who set this trap for me?"

Seeing this, Feng Junzi knew that Qin Xiaoya already knew the whole story. He calmed down considerably, took the tape recorder, and turned it on. Zhou Song's voice floated in the air again. Qin Xiaoya's expression seemed to be listening to a very distant voice. She said to Feng Junzi, "Turn it off. I don't want to hear that person's voice. This tape was given to you by Wei Boxi, wasn't it?"

Feng Junzi: "Did Wei Boyi also tell you about this?"

Qin Xiaoya said, "Wei Boxi also brought me a cassette tape, but it has one more item than the one I gave you. Take a look at this disc." She then placed a disc on the table.

Feng Junzi picked up the CD and went into the study, putting it into the computer and opening the file. It was a video recording featuring two people: the man was Zhou Song, and the woman Feng Junzi recognized—the "vixen" Qin Wuyi he had met before. True to her name, Qin Wuyi was impeccably dressed in the video; Feng Junzi couldn't see any clothes. To be fair, the camera angles and lighting contrast in the video were excellent, and the visual effects were undeniably realistic and impactful, as if it had been filmed from a hidden camera placed in a corner of a hotel room.

If it weren't for the low resolution of the pinhole camera and the lack of camera movement and switching, Feng Junzi even thought the recording could be submitted to an international pornographic film festival and might even win a major award. It seems this Wei Boxi truly lives up to the "demon" title Feng Junzi bestowed upon him; he can even get his hands on something like this. Feng Junzi isn't surprised by the origin of the tape. He has no time to think about how Wei Boxi got it; his mind is entirely on Qin Xiaoya.

When he returned to the living room, Qin Xiaoya was still sitting on the sofa, but there was a pile of red wine on the coffee table, apparently taken from the kitchen. Feng Junzi liked to collect various kinds of dry red wine because it was Qin Xiaoya's favorite. Qin Xiaoya held her glass, staring intently at the red liquid in front of her, seemingly talking to herself, or perhaps speaking to Feng Junzi:

"Feng Junzi, you must be wondering why Zhou Song did this. I couldn't figure it out either, but the more I drank, the clearer it became. Wine is truly a wonderful thing. Feng Junzi, you are such a kind person, preparing so much of my favorite wine for me."

Feng Junzi wanted to persuade Qin Xiaoya to stop drinking, but after opening his mouth, he couldn't say anything. Instead, he silently picked up another wine glass, sat down next to Qin Xiaoya, and drank with her. Qin Xiaoya continued, "Zhou Song told me about his childhood. His family was very poor, and many people looked down on him. He was always resentful, believing he was better than others. Later, he did become better than others, but then he started to worry that others would really look down on him."

Feng Junzi didn't say anything. He knew Qin Xiaoya was telling the truth. Perhaps he was too familiar with Zhou Song and hadn't noticed the changes in him. He didn't know what had made Zhou Song become like this. Qin Xiaoya suddenly raised her head, looked at Feng Junzi with resentful eyes, and asked, "Before this incident, did you hate Zhou Song? He took away the woman you loved, and that woman is me."

Alcohol is indeed a strange thing. After a few drinks, Feng Junzi suddenly felt that his hidden feelings seemed so ridiculous. Qin Xiaoya had spoken so directly, leaving him speechless. Qin Xiaoya didn't seem to want to hear Feng Junzi's answer and continued, "Before today, I always thought I was very lucky and happy. Although there was a little regret, and that regret was you, I was already very content. But suddenly everything in the world changed. Now, there is only one person I am most grateful to, and that person is you—Feng Junzi. But I also hate you!"

Feng Junzi murmured, "You should hate me. It is indeed all my fault."

Qin Xiaoya: "You're not wrong. You've always thought you were incredibly smart and incapable of making mistakes, and in reality, you haven't done anything wrong. But no matter how smart you are, you can't see through people's hearts. Why do you try to plan everything that others want? You're just a mortal; you can't do that."

Feng Junzi: "I didn't, I just—"

Qin Xiaoya interrupted him, continuing, "Perhaps you see too many unreal things in your daily life, making you feel empty about this world. Even your attitude towards your own feelings is hypocritical. I know you like me, but you've never said it. If I have any aversion to you, it's because your selfless devotion to others borders on hypocrisy; you lack the courage to face the truth. That's why I hate you. Zhou Song is right, you're a hypocrite. If it weren't for you, things wouldn't be like this between Zhou Song and me today."

Feng Junzi didn't want to ask, but he had to: "What exactly is going on between you and Zhou Song?"

Qin Xiaoya: "Actually, we were already living together when you went to Gwangju. Zhou Song deliberately didn't tell you, and I didn't want to tell you either. The situation at the time was very special, and I felt very confused. Now that I think about it, it feels so unreal. Maybe Zhou Song gave me a sense of solid support in that situation, but now it turns out that all of this was fake."

Feng Junzi: "Actually, none of this is necessary. Zhou Song doesn't need to do this."

Qin Xiaoya: "This is another example of your self-righteous cleverness, your self-righteousness in seeing things clearly. But Zhou Song doesn't think that way. Zhou Song is terrified of you, terrified of you. He is also terrified of Wei Boxi, yet he is determined to surpass him."

Feng Junzi: "Why is Zhou Song afraid of me?"

Qin Xiaoya: "Human hearts are the strangest thing. You think Zhou Song is more suitable for me than you. Don't deny it. I only realized this after drinking all this wine. You don't like to compete for anything, especially not with a friend like Zhou Song. You are indeed a hypocrite. But what does Zhou Song have? In terms of wealth and power, how can he compare to Wei Boxi? And in terms of things other than wealth and power, do you think he can compare to someone like you?"

Feng Junzi remained silent, and Qin Xiaoya continued, "But Zhou Song is very clever. His trap seems unnecessary, yet it makes me rely on him without reservation. If everything goes as he wishes, everything I have will belong to him. At that time, he will think he is better than you and Wei Boxi."

Qin Xiaoya spoke slowly and deliberately, while Feng Junzi drank cup after cup. He didn't know what to say, and perhaps listening quietly to Qin Xiaoya's story was the best option in this situation. However, Qin Xiaoya didn't want him to remain silent. She looked up at him and said, "You may only realize today that Zhou Song has changed, but I also feel that you have changed. You are no longer the Feng Junzi I knew when I first met you."

Feng Junzi: "Then who am I?"

Qin Xiaoya: "I don't know. When I first met you, you told me directly not to invest in stocks. But now, perhaps you've been in an environment full of deception for too long, and you've lost interest in the truth. All you're left with are ways to deal with scams. Your world is becoming more and more nihilistic. Look at what you're doing now."

Feng Junzi: "Some things are beyond our control."

Part One: Deceit and Deception, Chapter 34: Zhuangzi's Butterfly Transformation

"Why not? At least you have a lot of choices. Oh! I finally understand. I drank too much today. I was just misunderstanding. How could you like a clothing store owner like me? From the first day I met you, you told me to stay away from your social circle and continue selling my clothes. I drank too much. I was just being delusional. Don't mind me."

Just as Feng Junzi was about to speak, Qin Xiaoya stood up unsteadily and said to Feng Junzi, "It's getting late, I can't bother you any longer, I have to go."

Seeing Qin Xiaoya unsteady on her feet, Feng Junzi reached out to support her. Suddenly, Qin Xiaoya slumped into Feng Junzi's arms, her lips, reeking of alcohol, close to his ear, and murmured in a voice close to a moan, "Feng Junzi, don't send me away. I don't want to leave tonight."

Qin Xiaoya looked so drunk that even if Feng Junzi wanted to get rid of her, he couldn't. Feng Junzi picked Qin Xiaoya up and carried her into the bedroom. Qin Xiaoya curled up, her soft body like a docile lamb. Feng Junzi placed Qin Xiaoya on the bed and gently removed her shoes and coat. Qin Xiaoya remained motionless, her eyes closed and her face flushed. Feng Junzi stood by the bed, gazing at Qin Xiaoya for a long time, then covered her with the blanket, tidied her disheveled hair, and turned to walk back to the living room.

Feng Junzi sat down on the sofa and continued drinking glass after glass of wine. He wanted to drink until he was drunk, just like Xiaoya, so that he wouldn't have to think about anything that might happen after getting drunk. However, this time Feng Junzi discovered that his alcohol tolerance was much better than he thought. When he wanted to get drunk, he simply couldn't get truly drunk.

The red liquid flowed down Feng Junzi's throat, cup after cup, like blood flowing into his veins. Feng Junzi felt as if he had become two people: one person's image gradually blurred and faded away, while the other person's consciousness grew clearer and clearer, as clear as a cat's eyes in the dark.

When Feng Junzi lay down on the sofa, his consciousness remained in a near-transparent state of wakefulness; he fell asleep in this peculiar state of lucidity. In his deep sleep, he had a dream, a dream so real and vivid.

He dreamt of the video on the DVD he'd watched that night, but this time the male protagonist was himself, and the female protagonist was Qin Xiaoya. Real desire surged and crashed against him like a tidal wave, only to recede again and again with swirling eddies. Feng Junzi felt as if he were constantly floating on the peak of pleasure in his dream, and this pleasure had an incredibly real texture.

The next morning, when Feng Junzi woke up, he felt no hangover at all, was perfectly clear-headed, and didn't have the usual headache that comes with drinking. He even wondered if he had actually been drinking the night before. He was still lying on the sofa, but he didn't know when or who had changed him into pajamas, and the wine glasses and bottles on the coffee table were gone.

He went into the bedroom, but Qin Xiaoya was already gone. The bed was made neatly, as if no one had ever slept there. He then went to check every room, trying to find any trace of last night. He discovered that Qin Xiaoya had tidied up almost everything in his house before leaving, leaving it spotless. He glanced at the wall clock and realized it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

He found a note left by Qin Xiaoya under a cup in the kitchen: "Feng Junzi, if you still like the real world after the deception, can you still come to find me?" Feng Junzi turned the note over, and on the back were four hastily written words—"Please!"

(The Complete Story of Stock Market Tales - Deception and Deception)

Epilogue to Part One: Deception is an Instinct

I'm a securities analyst, not a writer, much less a novelist. Maybe I'll write better in the future, but at least for now, writing novels isn't my forte. Writing things unrelated to work seems boring, but painstakingly writing such a long story seems to give me something to say. Boredom and something to say are inherently contradictory.

Some people have asked me if this story is based on the author's personal experience. A novel is a novel; even if these events did happen in some way in reality, it doesn't necessarily mean they were the author's personal experience. I also don't particularly like the ending or the plot, but once I started writing, it wasn't up to me.

"Deception" may be an innate instinct. Many animals and plants in nature are adept at disguising themselves and deceiving each other—for predation or self-protection. Among all living beings, humans are undoubtedly the most skilled and intelligent at deceiving each other. This story is titled "Deception by Gods and Ghosts" because if you patiently read it to the end, you'll find that every event involves a deception, whether benevolent or malicious. It's the first book in my "Strange Tales of the Stock Market" series. While it may seem unrelated to the stock market, I actually want to express an emotion—a disappointment tinged with impulsiveness. Perhaps it's simply to express this emotion that I wrote this absurd story.

Autumn 2004

Part Two: Introduction to Ghost Alley

Have you ever had this experience? You arrive in an unfamiliar place, but the scenery feels familiar, as if you've been there before, even though you've never actually been there before. Or, when you're doing something, you have a vague feeling that you've experienced it before, and you can even recall what will happen next, and then it actually happens.

A friend once told me about this experience: He went on a business trip to a city he had never been to before. After dinner, he went for a walk and suddenly felt that he had been there before, and the scene was exactly as he remembered. He remembered buying a newspaper from a newsstand on the street, and sure enough, he saw a newsstand there.

So he bought a newspaper and wondered what would happen next. He vaguely remembered that a cyclist would fall at the intersection, so he stood there and waited. But after waiting a long time, nothing happened. He thought he was being ridiculous, shook his head, and turned to leave. Just a few steps away, he heard a loud crash behind him. He turned around and saw a young man on a bicycle had fallen at the intersection.

Feng Junzi also consulted many friends in the fields of metaphysics and religion about this matter. Some told Feng Junzi that this is called "wisdom eye," which allows one to see the past and future; others told Feng Junzi that this is "predictive ability," a supernatural power inherent in everyone. The reason why people living in the mortal world cannot feel it is because many things have blinded our minds; it can be said that each of us is like a precious mirror covered in dust.

Feng Junzi remained skeptical of this explanation. His skepticism stemmed from the fact that he had never learned about these things in textbooks, while his partial belief arose from the fact that some events did indeed occur in strange ways. For example, several years ago, one night, Feng Junzi had a very clear dream about a stock that hit its daily limit up. The next morning, the stock actually did indeed hit its daily limit up; Feng Junzi watched in astonishment as it climbed from the previous day's closing price to the limit up price.

After that experience, Feng Junzi kept dreaming about having the same dream again, hoping it would bring him wealth. Unfortunately, he never had another dream like that to awaken his clouded wisdom, and the result was—

result--

result--

As a result, Feng Junzi developed the habit of sleeping in late, and he still hasn't changed it.

Part Two: Ghost Alley 1, Feng Junzi's Dreamlike Enlightenment

"Please stop talking, I'm so scared!"

“You’re scared of this too? Let me tell you another story, and you’ll find that the previous story wasn’t scary at all.”

It was an evening in 2003 at the Haier Villa at the foot of Laoshan Mountain in Qingdao. A group of people were sitting in a private room of the restaurant telling ghost stories. The one who said they were scared was Xiao Tang, the office secretary, and the one who wanted to tell a story was Xiao Gao, the driver and assistant of Chairman Bi. They were a group of employees from a securities consulting company.

The man sitting in the middle was Lao Bi, and next to him was Feng Junzi, also a securities analyst at the company, but not permanently based in Qingdao. He had to return to headquarters for business, and Lao Bi, feigning enthusiasm, took the whole group to Haier Villa for the weekend. After dinner, with nothing to do, looking at the dark and eerie night view outside the villa, someone started telling ghost stories. Ghost stories are like that—they sound scary, but the scarier you are, the more you want to hear them; they're really quite interesting.

After Xiao Gao finished telling his even scarier story, Xiao Tang and Xiao Wang, the two young women in the audience, were trembling with fear. Feng Junzi looked at the group and didn't know whether they were brave or cowardly, so he decided to test them. He said, "Actually, what's scary about ghost stories isn't the story itself. Anyone can make up a story. The real fear comes from each person's inner feelings, especially the feeling of imagining being there."

"Teacher Feng, what kind of ghost story is truly scary?"

"Don't speak, just listen to the wind outside the window. I'm going to tell you a story." Feng Junzi said with a deliberately gloomy expression, "Once upon a time, there was a group of people who locked themselves in their rooms at night and told ghost stories. You know, it's not just people who like to listen to stories, other things do too. Hearing these people telling their stories, these things couldn't help but come over to listen. — Don't look around, even if there's something there, you won't be able to see it."

Feng Junzi's words sent chills down everyone's spines, and no one dared to utter a sound. The private room was quiet, save for the sound of the wind outside. With a half-smile, Feng Junzi continued, "When these people were telling their story, they attracted those things, but the doors and windows were all closed, so they couldn't get in. At that moment, these things tried to squeeze in through the cracks in the windows. If you listened carefully to the 'hissing' sound in the wind, you would have noticed it, but unfortunately, they didn't realize it at the time."

Seeing everyone holding their breath and listening intently, Feng Junzi secretly tucked a coin under his chair with his right hand and flicked it behind him. The coin struck the windowpane with a sharp, piercing sound, startling everyone into screams and shouts, like a pot boiling over.

"Teacher Feng, you can't talk like that! You'll scare people to death!" Everyone was both surprised and amused, and they all scolded him.

"Alright, alright, everyone stop shouting," Xiao Gao said. "Teacher Feng is quite good at studying psychology; he can really scare people to death. But has Teacher Feng ever seen a real ghost?"

"Of course not, has any of you seen him?"

Xiao Gao said, "Of course none of us have seen it, but we all know there's a place where it exists, right here in Jimo City, Qingdao." Jimo is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Qingdao, and everyone present except Feng Junzi is from that place.

After Xiao Gao finished speaking, the room, which had been noisy just moments before, suddenly fell silent again. Someone interrupted, "Xiao Gao, stop talking."

Feng Junzi noticed their expressions suddenly turn serious. It seemed everyone knew what place Xiao Gao was talking about, which meant Xiao Gao was serious and not joking. Feng Junzi's curiosity was piqued, and he pressed Xiao Gao, asking, "What? Is there really such a place? You have to tell me, I want to go and see it sometime."

At this moment, Lao Bi spoke up: "There is indeed such a place called Ghost Alley, and all of us from Jimo know about it."

Part Two: Ghost Alley 2, The Mirror Covered in Dust