A Clever Trick

Smith was flat broke. He lived in a crummy thatched hut in the village, and every summer, mosquitoes would chew him up alive. Smith was so ticked off but had zilch to do about it, so he snapped at the mosquitoes, “Once I strike it rich, you bugs are gonna get it!” Then Smith hightailed it south to find a job.

A few years later, Smith actually became a loaded contractor. The wealthy Smith went back to his hometown with a big grin, living it up in style.

Shortly after Smith got back to the village, he plastered notices all over the place—at the village entrance, on every corner. They read: “To help folks in the village get rich and kick those mosquito bites to the curb, Mr. Zhang Smith is buying mosquito corpses—one tael (about 50 grams) for 1,000 yuan. Y’all jump on board!”

That news hit the village like a ton of bricks. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear, and they all joined the mosquito-swatting army. All day long, the whole village echoed with the sound of “slap! slap! slap!”

After a few days, Smith looked at the two sacks of mosquito corpses piling up at his door and felt a sweet sense of satisfaction. But a few weeks later, Smith noticed the mosquitoes in the village weren’t getting fewer—they were multiplying like crazy! The sacks at his door were almost stacking up to a mountain. Smith was scratching his head, totally clueless what was going on.

One day, Smith was feeling stir-crazy, so he headed to the local dive bar. After a few drinks, he needed to hit the john. He hurried to the bathroom, just unzipping his pants when he heard two guys yelling from the next stall: “How’s your mosquito farm doin’, man?”

The guy called Brother Li replied, “Aight, I’m cranking out half a tael a day—straight up 500 yuan daily. Way better than slaving away in the fields!”

The first voice laughed, “Hell yeah, my haul’s not too shabby either. Thank God we came up with this sick trick—starting mosquito farms! Otherwise, where’d we get all these mosquitoes to swat, and how’d we make bank? Hahaha!” When Smith heard that, he almost passed out from anger.