# Before September 2023, When Zhonghua Was Still Hard Currency

Before September 2023, when Zhonghua was still considered hard currency, a classmate asked me in advance about buying some for his wedding. The market price at that time was 400-410. I told him, "Why don't you stock up now? I can get them for 400 right now. Otherwise, prices will definitely go up before the New Year, and they'll be hard to find." He said it was fine and told me to handle it when the time came.

A week before his wedding, he asked me to get 30 units—and they had to be local ones. I said, "That many? I only have 10 right now. I'd have to go find them from others at 420 each." He said okay and told me to find enough and deliver them, saying he'd give me a red envelope as thanks. It was 100 kilometers round trip, so I said alright.

After delivering them, he first said he'd pay later. I said, "I've already fronted all this money." Then he claimed, "Didn't we agree on 400 before during the summer?" I replied, "The price was different back then compared to now." But he kept making excuses, saying I was taking advantage of him being in a rush and desperate to buy them, then artificially raising the price. In the end, I just told him, "Fine, 400 it is."

After he paid, I didn't attend his wedding—another classmate brought a gift instead. A few days later, he said he had leftover Zhonghua he didn't use and wanted to return them. I told him, "The ones from my own stock, I'll take back. But the ones I sourced from others? Those can't be returned." After that, I stopped keeping in touch with this classmate.