Build

(Our luncheon discussion continued.)

After a moment of happy silence, I said, "Em... Your son's idea is not entirely impossible, and I suppose there are ways to turn it to something beneficial."

"What do you mean?"

"For example, rather than waiting for your eventual meeting with Chairman Mao and all saints, you can now put up a small sum of money and buy for your son one lot of stock of, say, China Eastern Airlines."

"What !?"

"Oh, that doesn't cost much - maybe a few thousand dollars. You can then tell your lovely son that's the seeding money and he owns a very small part of an airline company. He can continue to work hard when he grows up - so that he could buy more and more of the company if he likes!"

The professor of endocrinology laughed, but obviously she was not amused.

PS. Why China Eastern Airlines? Oh, it's just the example that came out of my mind off-hand, and it could be Cathay Pacific or any other - just that, as I learnt latter, the cost of buying one lot is probably least for China Eastern.