It was past one in the morning, and Jiang Ye still hadn't entered the macroeconomics building.
The line of people buying bonds stretched from the ninth floor staircase all the way down to the main entrance on the first floor.
The entrances to police stations in various cities were equally congested, and the seats in the Oil City Grand Theater had been broken.
Even during a famine, when relief food was distributed, there wouldn't be this much enthusiasm.
Besides maintaining order, the police had an additional duty: rescuing those who were physically exhausted or had fallen ill from the queues. Elderly people, in particular, had collapsed in the crowd several times. Standing for four or five consecutive hours without rest was too much for the frail.
Jiang Ye gave up and went to a small roadside restaurant for a late-night snack.
The restaurant's specialty was octopus. An entire wall was covered with glass tanks of various sizes, filled with colorful octopuses staring with wide eyes. The best restaurants in the interstellar era used pure natural ingredients, often displaying live food to customers, signifying, "Our establishment doesn't use deceptive things like food printers." Jiang Ye didn't know what was good, so he ordered all the signature dishes.
Before the food arrived, the door opened, and a tall, beautiful woman walked in. Her tight black dress had a slit up to her thigh, and her fair legs were captivating. Coupled with her sky-high boots, she seemed taller than the doorway itself. Her golden hair flowed smoothly, her lips were a tempting red, and her expression was aloof, like a celebrity who had mistakenly wandered onto the wrong set before a film festival.
The staff were mesmerized and quickly approached her solicitously, asking, "How many people for the lady?"
The woman ignored them, turned, saw Jiang Ye by the window, smiled, and walked over to his table.
"You're dressed so beautifully for a late-night outing?" Jiang Ye was surprised.
"What do you know? I'm slovenly during the day, but radiant at night," Isabelle said. "Damn it, so many people were buying bonds. I thought no one would be buying, so I planned to come out tomorrow morning. Then Tian Rao called me, saying there wouldn't be any left if I didn't buy now. So I dragged myself out of bed."
"That outfit isn't suitable for squeezing into a crowd to buy bonds," Jiang Ye said. "To stand out among the masses, you'd need to wear a dirty work suit, change into sturdy shoes that you don't mind getting stepped on, and shove and kick your way through the crowd. Anyone blocking your path, you'd kick their backside."
"Exactly, that's why I chose not to jostle with them," Isabelle said, stretching her legs and resting her boots on Jiang Ye's chair. "I just needed to come and seduce you so you could reserve some bonds for me."
"No problem, no problem. Even if you came wearing a straw cloak, I'd still oblige," Jiang Ye said, pulling out his phone. "How many bonds are you planning to buy?"
"About a hundred million," Isabelle said, resting her chin on her hand.
"That many?" Jiang Ye's eyes widened.
"I have money and nowhere to spend it," Isabelle shrugged.
"I suggest you don't buy so many bonds; it's better to wait for investments," Jiang Ye said. "Investments have higher returns! Bonds only yield a little interest? And it takes a long time; who knows what will happen in a few years."
A waiter pushed a food cart over and served the dishes. The two of them buried their heads in their food. The signature dishes were indeed very distinctive: fried octopus, with octopus legs coated in batter and spices, crispy on the outside and tender and fragrant on the inside. The octopus, cut and garnished with pineapple slices, had a peculiar flavor. Grilled seaweed wrapped around octopus legs, eaten with soy sauce, was also served with mint leaves. Finally, there was boiled octopus meat dipped in fish sauce, with a strong, intense salty flavor.
"This is a Hainan style of eating. I'm surprised it still exists after all these years," Jiang Ye said, feeling emotional. "I ate it once when I was a child."
"What is Hainan?" Isabelle asked, biting into an octopus leg. "Is it an octopus restaurant?"
"It's a place..." Jiang Ye felt helpless. Ancient place names were indeed difficult for her.
"I will definitely invest more," Isabelle said, returning to the main topic. "I also want to buy a hundred million in bonds."
"You're so rich," Jiang Ye nodded and sent a message to Liu Jizi, asking her to reserve a hundred million in bonds under Isabelle's name.
"Waiter!" Isabelle called out.
The waiter scurried over, "What do you need?"
"Do you have any very small live octopuses?" Isabelle asked. "About the size of my fist, bring me one."
The waiter looked confused. "You want it served live? Without cooking?"
Isabelle nodded. "That's right, a lively one."
The waiter's expression was probably one of disbelief at such an absurd request after working for so long. However, the customer is God, so he obediently retrieved a fist-sized red baby octopus from the water tank on the wall and served it on a large porcelain plate.
Isabelle directly picked up the octopus with her hand and placed it on her thigh.
The octopus seemed frightened and clung tightly to her smooth thigh with its tentacles.
Isabelle poked it with chopsticks. The octopus, scared, crawled around on her leg, resembling a blurred mass of fungus.
"Holy cow, you just want to play with it?" Jiang Ye was stunned.
"There's a rock band on Jie Dian Star, all handsome young men, very talented, with countless fans. When they get drunk, they strip their groupies and throw them into a large bathtub full of octopuses. Do you know what a groupie is? It's a female fan of a rock band," Isabelle said, concentrating on poking the octopus with her chopsticks.
"Holy cow, that's perverted! How can they treat fans like that?" Jiang Ye's brows furrowed.
"They're talented! There are plenty of people willing to get into the bathtub. To attend their parties, you need to make reservations six months in advance, and there's a lottery system. Some people are even willing to spend tens of millions to buy a spot," Isabelle said, her face slightly flushed. "I signed up back then too, but before it was my turn, I received my enlistment notice. So I missed the opportunity to meet my idols and be pushed into an octopus bathtub."
Jiang Ye looked at her with a strange expression. "You're a bit off, aren't you?"
"I was young then, not as normal as I am now. For a while, I was very lost, drinking and listening to rock music all day, acting crazy. My brain was probably a bit problematic. After retiring from the army, I completely lost the desire to get into an octopus bathtub, and I didn't even like listening to that band's music anymore, finding it too violent. Now I prefer listening to Beethoven, Mozart, and Rachmaninoff. And that band no longer exists."
"Disbanded?"
"Dead."
"Heaven has eyes. How did they die?"
"When they were pushing a groupie into the bathtub, they got too carried away and accidentally drowned the person. But the band was rich and bribed a large sum to high-ranking officials on Jie Dian Star, thus avoiding punishment. The drowned groupie had a fiancé. When he discovered that the band members weren't jailed and were still holding concerts, he took a folding submachine gun to a concert and bought a front-row, high-priced ticket. As the band was in the middle of a performance, the fiancé pulled out his submachine gun from his coat, jumped onto the stage, and started shooting, killing the entire band with bullets in front of tens of thousands of spectators."
"Awesome!" Jiang Ye exclaimed.
"Have you heard of octopus people?" Isabelle suddenly changed the subject.
"No."
Isabelle pulled the small octopus off her thigh, put its head directly into her mouth, and the octopus's tentacles waved in front of her mouth.
"This is an octopus person," Isabelle said, her mouth full of octopus.
Jiang Ye almost threw up. He stood up in disgust. "You're not normal at all! Your brain isn't normal now either! What are you doing with it in your mouth?"
Isabelle burst into laughter, pounding the table with a wild abandon.