There is a convenience store downstairs from the company building, and I go there every day to buy breakfast. The cashier is an older woman, in her fifties, quick in her actions, scanning codes, collecting money, giving change all in one smooth motion, never saying a word more than necessary to the customers.

Last Wednesday morning, I took my soy milk and steamed bun to pay as usual. She finished scanning and suddenly looked up and asked me, “Young man, is that coin you guys are playing with called $RAVE ?”

$RAVE ‌

I was a bit stunned and said, “Ma’am, you also know about this?”

She waved her hand and said she didn’t really understand, just asking. Then she lowered her head to give change, muttering, “My daughter bought three ten thousand yuan worth.”

I didn’t reply and just took my breakfast and left.

The next day when I went again, she spoke first herself. She said her daughter was so happy the night before, saying it had gone up, earning half a month’s salary in one night. Her daughter sells cosmetics in a mall, earning only five or six thousand a month, but that night her account had over two thousand more, so excited she called her in the middle of the night.

The old woman’s mouth was curved into a smile as she wiped the counter repeatedly, her hand moving over and over.

On Thursday, her words were noticeably fewer. I asked how her daughter was doing, and she said it had dropped. The two thousand earned the day before yesterday was gone, and some principal was lost too. Her daughter said it was just a technical adjustment, and it would go back up in a few days.

On Friday, her hands trembled a little when giving change. I took it, and she suddenly said, “It’s dropped again. My daughter used her credit card to add another position. She said it’s a golden pit, if she doesn’t add, she’ll lose out.”

I didn’t dare ask how much she added.

This morning, when I went again, the cashier was a young girl. I asked about the previous older woman, and the girl said she took leave, saying there was some family matter.

I bought soy milk and a steamed bun, eating outside the door. Suddenly I remembered, the older woman had told me before that her daughter had always wanted to change jobs, hated standing all day selling cosmetics, her knees were starting to hurt. She secretly saved some money every month to help her pay for a training course, maybe learn beauty or something, so she could open her own shop someday.

That thirty thousand yuan, I don’t know if it was for that tuition.

After finishing my bun, I threw the plastic bag into the trash can. I looked up and saw the advertising screen of the building across the street, playing an ad for a certain exchange, with a middle-aged man in a suit giving a thumbs-up, and a line of big characters: Financial freedom, within reach.

Within reach!
#山寨币强势反弹