The car moved through the city streets under the streetlights and soon arrived at Jiahe Garden community. Rui Xiaodan parked the car downstairs and called Ding Yuanying, asking him to come down.
Seeing her standing by the car with a contemplative look, Ding Yuanying assumed the interrogation of Wang Mingyang had failed. He approached her, saying, "Failure is common. If there's an error, it's in my judgment, not your fault."
Rui Xiaodan didn't respond, silently opened the car door, and got inside. Ding Yuanying followed, but she didn't start the car immediately. Instead, she rested her hands on the steering wheel and said quietly, "Yuanying, you're a demon, a supreme rogue."
Ding Yuanying understood and said, "If you really see this as something mystical, it will indeed become demonic."
Rui Xiaodan said, "God is the Tao, the Tao follows nature... These concepts I don't even fully understand managed to convince Wang Mingyang. You not only manipulate money but also souls. Now I realize how far you are from me."
Ding Yuanying shook his head, giving her a definitive denial, "Since you mentioned demons today, let me tell you a ghostly tale. You don't know you, so you are you. If you knew you, you wouldn't be you."
Rui Xiaodan's calm demeanor didn't change with Ding Yuanying's cryptic words. Knowing implies not knowing, which means there's no need to understand the logical relationship between the two. She paused for a few seconds and then asked, "Yuanying, can I ask you for a gift?"
Ding Yuanying asked, "Is it something I can do?"
Rui Xiaodan said, "It's something you can do if you want to."
Ding Yuanying replied, "Then there's no problem."
Rui Xiaodan didn't say anything more and started driving.
The car left the city, taking the ring road to a small rural asphalt road. A bright moon hung on the edge of the sky, casting silver light over the earth, illuminating the winding road. The autumn night's sky was clear and transparent, with soft white clouds drifting gently like ripples in water. It was beautiful. From time to time, Rui Xiaodan glanced at Ding Yuanying, feeling a warm sense of anticipation.
Finally, Ding Yuanying couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"
"You'll know when we get there," Rui Xiaodan said.
Following her memory, she navigated through several villages until the car arrived at the edge of Wangmiao Village. She got out and looked around, then drove along a field path up to the flood control embankment by the river.
Ding Yuanying got out of the car and stood on the high embankment, looking at the village in the distance. "What is this place?" he asked.
The moon shone high, bathing the village in soft, silver light, making the outlines somewhat blurry. A gentle breeze blew, carrying the unique, fresh scent of the countryside.
Rui Xiaodan pointed to the village, "This is Wangmiao Village, Feng Shijie's hometown. There are over a hundred families here. It's the poorest village in this impoverished county. This is the gift I want from you—create a myth here."
"A myth?" Ding Yuanying was taken aback, pondering the word.
Rui Xiaodan said, "The ancient city can't keep you, and I don't expect forever. Leave me something to remember, so I know you loved me like this, and I was this kind of woman. Don't let my memories be confined to the bed."
Ding Yuanying thought for a moment, "Jewels and treasures aren't enough to embellish a woman like you."
Rui Xiaodan shook her head lightly and said, "I'm not that noble. I'm not so high-minded as to not talk about money, which is why I work hard to support myself. If it were about money, I'd ask you blatantly in bed, not come here to be coy. Asking for a car or a house would waste you."
Ding Yuanying looked at her, his eyes showing a trace of doubt.
Rui Xiaodan asked, "Do you know what about you moved me?"
Embarrassed, Ding Yuanying said, "How could I say?"
Rui Xiaodan laughed, "What are you thinking? That's vulgar." Then she quietly said, "There's a kind of cruel beauty in you. I wanted to watch from afar. But you've given up private equity; what else interests you?"
Ding Yuanying, expressionless, instinctively reached into his pocket for cigarettes and a lighter. Finding none, as Rui Xiaodan had taken them when she got out of the car, she handed them to him. On the windy embankment, Ding Yuanying used both hands to light a cigarette, then silently smoked, looking at the village, lost in thought.
Rui Xiaodan said, "Doing something requires capital. If the stocks make double, I can mortgage my hotel shares to borrow at least 300,000 yuan from Ouyang. I won't repay my father's money for now, adding the potential double gain from stocks. Theoretically, you could have 700,000 yuan to use. Even if the stocks lose slightly, timely withdrawal could still gather 500,000 yuan. With more money, you think of grand plans; with less, smaller plans. I have a job and can support myself. If a piece of bread is all you need, I can even support you."
After pondering while smoking, Ding Yuanying said, "There are no real myths in this world. What people call myths are just things ordinary minds can't easily understand."
Rui Xiaodan said, "A godly miracle isn't a miracle if it's still a miracle. But if I have to distribute tens of thousands to every household, you can tell me to do it. There's no need to trouble you. By your logic, Wangmiao Village's poverty is an inevitable result of its cultural attributes. But if a myth changes it, you have to tell me what new cultural attribute it represents."
Ding Yuanying remained deep in thought. When the cigarette was almost finished, he stepped forward, embraced Rui Xiaodan, and stroked her hair. "A smart woman like you is rare. An extravagant woman like you is also rare. Thank you for caring so much."
Rui Xiaodan felt a wave of tenderness, pressed her face to his chest, and said, "I care about you. At worst, it keeps you here a little longer."
Ding Yuanying patted her head and asked playfully, "How much did you take from them?"
Rui Xiaodan couldn't help but laugh. "A bag of dates and a bag of peanuts, plus a meal. But I don't have that kind of consciousness. No one should add value to this. If you have that consciousness, that's different."
Ding Yuanying said, "If conditions allow, this could be tried, but it's definitely a mistake."
"Why?" Rui Xiaodan asked.
"No matter what you do, the market isn't an infinitely large cake. The essence of myths is the strong helping the weak, which might raise two issues. First, does helping the poor mean destructively exploiting market resources? Second, does showing people a glimpse of a better life before dropping them back into poverty give them a mental disease?" Ding Yuanying explained.
Rui Xiaodan said, "Helping the poor is objectively a good thing. Can it be wrong? As for market competition, anything legal is socially acceptable. As a police officer, if everyone obeys the law, society is already wonderful."
Ding Yuanying discarded the cigarette butt and said meaningfully, "Alright, let's first understand the situation."
Rui Xiaodan felt that even discussing an intention, phrases like "helping the poor" and "mental disease" gave a chilling sense of "every move hits the mark, every strike is fatal." Perhaps this is competition? The often-heard phrase "the marketplace is a battlefield"?
She took his arm, opened the car door, and pushed him inside, following him. Before driving off, she glanced back out the window. Her look seemed to say: Today is history; this embankment will bear witness.