Showcase of the Wealth
The 3rd Short Story Collection from "Sun on Riches: A Comedy Series"
The Showcase of the Wealth is a sequel to The Rich in China. It continues to tell the stories of Mr and Mrs Mike. Since China marched into the 21st century, the widening of the gap between the country’s rich and poor has accelerated with the privileged leading the wealth reshuffle as China’s market economy develops further.
A large part of the middle class and the newly rich without solid background can’t afford to have a moment of relax for fear that they should lose all their money and fall to the bottom of the social class hierarchy. They are willing to sacrifice almost anything in the pursuit of fame and fortune. And they are not ashamed to flaunt their wealth in ways that could allow, just to make themselves look rich!
In this book, the Mikes keep quarreling as they struggle in the fashionable circles of the upper class in China, trying to move up from the moderately rich to the ultra wealthy. They represent the lives of most rich people in China who aren’t sure for how long they will be able to hang on to their positions, as Marx once remarked they are always in the form of “a breathtaking leap” from one status to another.
Business in Mike’s law firm was booming by the day. With large amounts of cash flowing into the company each day, it soon expanded to become a great empire in the blink of an eye. No one had anticipated an insignificant flush toilet would be the downfall of Mike’s empire. On the other hand, Mrs Mike’s books didn’t sell well. Seeing her purse going empty, she decided to try all out to work on a great story, so that she would be at least remembered and honored after her death. To her great surprise, she was given a high-pay job by an investment bank, who told her that a novelist’s talent was exactly an unparalleled gift they’d been looking for in the industry of capital operation.
The book shows life of the rich in China, like a pathetic peacock whose glamorous feathers have somehow been plucked off. When the master is having dinner, the servants stand at the back and watch him eat, a scene resembles the moment when breeders feed their pets. In the luxurious residential neighborhood, those who stroll after the kids can only be the nannies. Decent people only walk their dogs. And of all the dogs, the most worthy of praise must be the one that looks least like a dog. Billion is the counting unit of money found on the lips of the rich when they are talking, yet it is quite possible that the cash flow in their account is zero or even negative from time to time. The rich don’t have to go out for work, yet they often spend the day at home sitting around and waiting for the sunset. The distance between the rich and the poor seems as long as the circumference of the Earth. Actually after one circle around the Earth, the rich find themselves under the same awkward circumstance as the poor.
Like what Mrs Mike once quoted in her book, “Can the soul fall asleep so long as it remains with the body?”