. Bender, the owner of a black-hearted jewelry store, took advantage of people's preferences and passed it off as a good one. He sold a diamond worth only a thousand yuan to the Schulmans for a sky-high price of 100,000 marks. After Schulman discovered that he had been deceived, he quietly devised a tit-for-tat strategy and asked to buy another identical diamond, regardless of price. The greedy Bender really fell into the trap. He bought it everywhere and finally bought one for 350,000 marks. But what he never expected was that the diamond his informant purchased from Yangon, Myanmar, turned out to be the same diamond he had sold to the Shulmans before. The plot of this story is very cleverly set up, making people laugh and think deeply when reading it.
The characters are vividly drawn. There are not many characters designed in the short novel, and the author focuses on the portrayal of the two characters Bender and Schulman. If the jewelry store owner Bender is a cunning fox, then the customer Schulman is a clever hunter. No matter how cunning the fox is, it cannot defeat the hunter; if Bender is the devil, then Schulman is the Tao, the devil. One foot, the Dao is one foot high, no matter how high the devil is, it cannot be higher than the Dao. The most important thing in doing business is credibility and integrity, and you can't make unconscionable money. However, Bender, the owner of the jewelry store, ignored this. He opened his mouth and asked for prices randomly. Although he succeeded for a while, he eventually died due to greed and defrauding customers. They paid a heavy price. Not only did they not make any money, they were also compensated 250,000 marks. He really deserves it! It can be said that the novel's portrayal of the character Bender is the most vivid and outstanding.
The theme is implicit and implicit. Through the portrayal and shaping of the character Bender, the novel tells us very clearly that in life, especially in business, we must be honest and trustworthy, and we must not be greedy or unscrupulous. If you disregard your credibility for the sake of immediate gain, then the ultimate victim will be no one else but yourself. The main theme of the novel is implicit and implicit. Although it is not stated explicitly, it is conveyed very clearly. In addition, we can also understand this truth: when a person is fooled, suffers a loss, is deceived, or is taken advantage of, it is often because of greed and insufficiency, and it is often because of greed for petty gains. A large number of facts in life have repeatedly proven that everyone who sees or hears about someone being fooled, suffering a loss, being deceived, or being taken advantage of is all caused by their own greed. Therefore, in order to prevent being fooled, suffering losses, being deceived, and being exploited, the only reliable way is not to be greedy, especially not to be greedy for petty gains.
The language is concise and the ink is as precious as gold. The novel is less than two thousand words, but its theme is clear, profound and thought-provoking. This is attributed to the author's artistic skill in plot design and careful use of language. The identities of the Shulmans are omitted. Their reactions of beating their chests and gnashing their teeth after discovering that they were deceived are not revealed. How they placed the gem of inappropriate quality and price as fishing bait in Yangon, thousands of miles away, is not revealed. explain. The author believes that readers will not delve into these details related to the story, because he has grasped the main theme of the whole story.
○Wessel [Germany]
“This diamond is exquisite and is the most precious gemstone in our store.” Jeweler Bender introduced it to his customers.
"Do you like this pendant, dear?" the male customer asked the young woman standing next to him tenderly.
The young woman in gorgeous clothes looked unhappy: "You ask me if I like it? This diamond is indeed exquisite. I have never seen it before..."
"How much does this pendant cost?" the male customer asked.
Bender’s heart was trembling a little. He had never encountered such a cheerful customer before! "The price of this diamond will definitely not be low." Bender's tone was tentative.
"Of course." The male customer said disdainfully, "How much does it cost?"
The jeweler Bender took a deep breath, as if it took a lot of money to It takes a lot of effort to say this amount! "100,000." There was no sound in the store for a while. The luxuriously dressed female customer said "ah" and looked at the man beside her with her beautiful eyes wide open. The male customer didn't seem to show any hesitation and asked: "Can I pay by check?" Bender didn't turn around for a long time. He felt that it was too sudden, even the two female salespersons standing at the back of the store They were also stunned, as if they didn't believe the question they just heard.
"What?" The male customer looked unhappy, "You don't think I will bring 100,000 marks in cash with me, do you?" The jeweler looked at the customer in front of him blankly, It took a long time before he said: "Of course not, but you know that for safety reasons, we have to verify the check. Please go to the reception room and wait for a moment!"
Bender took the man and woman Jean entered the reception room, and the male customer took out a check, filled it out and handed it to him. Bender glanced at the signature on the check before handing it to a female salesperson. Signed "Carl Schulman".
Bender was relieved after 10 minutes! The check is completely fine. He smiled secretly in his heart - business like this doesn't happen every day. This diamond is indeed worth thousands of gold, and the workmanship is also extremely exquisite. Unfortunately, this diamond has some minor imperfections. It is because of this shortcoming that the value of gems has plummeted. Fortunately, this flaw is invisible to laymen and can only be discovered by gem experts.
Therefore, Bender still sold it as genuine, and it did not affect him to add 40,000 marks to the price. He knew that jewelry did not meet the poor.
One day a few weeks later, the man named Carl Schulman walked into the jewelry store again. Bender recognized him at a glance, and his heartbeat suddenly accelerated: Could it be that he had discovered...
Carl Schulman took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Bender: "This is Our new address. I came here for one thing. Ever since my wife bought the diamond pendant from you, I have been talking about diamonds all day long. What a happier gift. I think she would be very happy if I could give her another diamond, but it would be better if it was set in a bracelet. "
"I'm afraid this is impossible," Bender said with a sigh, "There will be no two identical diamonds in the world."
"That would be a pity." Schulman Feeling lost, he asked, "Hey, do you have any contact with your peers? Can you contact them?" "Yes, yes, sir, we are all in touch." Mr. Bender simply didn't know what to say.
"That's great. If you find it, please call me."
Bender sent people to check around and sent letters to more than 100 jewelry stores. . Now several months have passed and nothing has been found. At this moment, one of the people sent out called from the Far East and said that he had found a diamond of similar quality to the required diamond in Yangon, Myanmar.
Mr. Bender spoke into the microphone: "As long as you can get it, no matter how much it costs!" When Bender got the diamond for 350,000 marks, he was simply ecstatic, but he He always felt that it was somewhat similar to the one sold to Schulman, so he invited the original jewelry appraisal expert.
As soon as the expert saw the gem, he couldn't help shouting: "Hasn't this diamond of yours been sold?" "You are wrong! The one you mentioned has been sold long ago. It’s another one, but someone has already bought this one!”
The expert looked at the gem carefully and said, “It will take two days for the exact identification results to come out, but I remember that the same thing happened for that diamond. There is a slight flaw in this area - if so, it must be the same diamond!"
Mr. Bender's face turned completely white. He panicked, but ran to the phone and dialed Shulman's number. A female voice came from the microphone: "This is a luxury hotel... It is a pity that Mr. Shulman and his wife left two days ago and they did not leave their address.
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