In front of the bank counter at #交易手续费揭秘 , Old Zhang clutched the crumpled remittance slip, his fingers trembling slightly. The fee column read '2%', and he calculated it three times, still finding it thirty bucks more than last year. The financial manager at the adjacent window was enthusiastically introducing a 'Supreme VIP Fee Waiver Package' to a suited customer, the reflection on the glass made Old Zhang squint.

Returning home, he dug out the remittance records sent by his son from abroad and found that each transaction had been stripped of two layers of skin—once charged here, once deducted there. During a video call that night, his son laughed and said, 'Dad, now we use blockchain for transfers, and the fees are just a few dimes.' But Old Zhang stared at the complex QR code on his phone, ultimately just sighing. The next day, he took cash and sat on the bus for two hours to his relative's house in the suburbs, personally stuffing the tuition into his nephew's backpack. On the way back, the bus scanner beeped, deducting fifty cents from him as a processing fee.