“Money! Money! I need more money!” Hatman burst out yelling in his office when he found his industry faced with financial deficit. Meanwhile, the three former burglars were eavesdropping Hatman’s words with their ears sticking to the locked office door. “Never have I imagined that Hatman could be crazier than me.” Crazyman gloated quietly to Muscularman and Badman who were also taking delight in Hatman’s misconduct.
Soon the three noticed that the strange noise made by Hatman was getting louder. It was the sudden sound of drawing knife which came out of nowhere that scared the three out of their wits. “Oh my goodness, someone wants to assassin him!” Muscularman cried, bombarding the lock with his fists. Mastering burglary skills, they broke into the office within seconds, only to find that Hatman was about to commit suicide. Frightened, the three got the knife off his hands and controlled them. “Hatman! Are you crazy? Don’t make silly things!” Hatman didn’t take notice of the words from his friends but commanded, “Let go of my hands, you asshole! How dare you are to rebel against me!” The three had no choice but to release Hatman’s hands, but they stood still beside him in case Hatman continued trying to kill himself.
Luckily, Hatman seemed to have calmed down. “Oh, it should be you, my friends!” Hatman stretched his wrists which had just been heavily grasped by Muscularman, “Forget what you have seen, please.” Badman responded worriedly, “Okay, we promise to forget this, but we don’t think you should put so much emphasis on money. Maybe hat industry, we hope, will go through the bottleneck period though its prospect seemed dismal at present, but what we don’t hope to happen is that we will lose our leader and most importantly, our sincere friend.” Badman’s words succeeded in catching Hatman’s attention. “Alright. I share your points that money shouldn’t be taken priority over lives.” Hatman looked gloomy again, “But I am at a loss how my industry can rise to prominence again. It is the automatically-produced hats that deprive me of customers, but the hardest nut to crack lies in how I can outcompete machines in terms of quantity?” “Maybe quality is the key.” Badman said. “But quality isn’t the silver bullet when it comes to huge demand for hats for the sake that many customers will choose automatically-produced hats as a cheap and easily accessible alternative.” Hatman disagreed, leaving Badman puzzled.
The office remained silent until Crazyman suddenly yelled and broke the silence, “I have a crazy idea. We can build a museum regarding hat culture to raise customers’ consciousness of purchasing goods full of craftsmanship so that our handmade hats will make a comeback in public’s sight. But it’s only my two cents. I can’t guarantee you its effectiveness.” “Two cents! Where are them? Hand me now!”Hatman jumped up out of everyone’s expectation. “What a crazy Hatman!” Crazyman grinned while helping the other two control Hatman.
Soon an interesting advertisement went viral in the public, which read “Want to know more about the profound culture of the costume you wear on your head? Come to Hatman’s and have a look! Hatman is sure you’ll be amazed at the time journey.” Soon Hatman’s hat museum was crowded with excited visitors. “Ticket please.” It was Crazyman who checked the ticket at the gate and attracted visitors with his crazy and funny look. “Stealing displayed items will eventually earn yourself a sentence of long time.” Muscularman became a guard whose duty was to catch thieves, and he turned out to excel at catching thieves in that he knew enemies just the same as himself. “Here we are, everyone. The hat you are seeing now was made by Hatman’s grand grandfather.” Badman, at the same time, acted as a tourist guide who explained the detailed history of hats to visitors with his cunning speech skills. Meanwhile, in the sale section of the museum was Hatman who was promoting his handmade hats to the visitors who were still marveling at the history of Hatman’s hats.
Surely, Hatman made a great fortune, but he took a lion’s share of the interest. “You crazy, greedy miser! Our efforts deserve a nice reward, don’t they?” The three shouted in rage. “Sorry, my friends. Don’t forget who takes charge of the industry. By the way, thank you for your two cents, Crazyman. Here is your extra reward.” Hatman gave Crazyman a coin whose face value was two cents, “then I owe you nothing for the crazy idea.” “It has never occurred to us that you could get on our nerves like that!” The three angrily rushed out of the office and slammed the door heavily, “We resolve to resign!”
To be continued…