Chapter 27: Each Harboring Their Own Thoughts

Xu Heng had just replied to Zhao Gaoyang with "I'm here, what's up?" and pushed open the door to the dormitory, only to see Zhao Gaoyang lying on his bed shirtless.

"Damn! Xu Heng, why didn't you tell your brother you were coming back today?"

Zhao Gaoyang had his head facing the direction of the dormitory door, so he saw Xu Heng the moment he walked in and scrambled up from the bed.

Xu Heng placed his laptop bag on the desk, replacing the old computer that had been there: "I thought you all would be returning to school late, so I didn't say anything in advance."

"We brothers think alike; I also wanted to come back early to give the guys a surprise." Zhao Gaoyang enthusiastically draped his arm over Xu Heng's shoulder, his peripheral vision catching the brand-new Dell: "Good grief, you bought a new computer?"

Xu Heng nodded: "Yeah, the old one was too slow, and some things weren't convenient to do on it."

He didn't explicitly say he was playing the stock market, otherwise, given Zhao Gaoyang's personality, he would definitely start asking all sorts of questions.

"Did you make money over the summer break?" Before Xu Heng could answer, Zhao Gaoyang said boastfully, "I made over a thousand yuan during the summer too. Xu Heng, why don't you sell me that old computer? I'll offer two hundred, that way I won't have to play on Bo Bo's computer every day."

"I'm taking that old computer back for my younger sister to use during the National Day holiday." Xu Heng rejected Zhao Gaoyang's proposal without a second thought.

That second-hand computer of his, which was in 99% new condition, had cost him nearly two thousand yuan; even if he could only sell it for seven or eight hundred, Zhao Gaoyang wanting to buy it for two hundred was just wishful thinking.

Although Xu Heng wasn't short of a few hundred yuan, he wasn't about to indulge Zhao Gaoyang's habit of trying to take advantage of others at every turn.

"Oh, oh, then never mind. I'll just earn some money this semester and buy a new computer like yours."

Zhao Gaoyang touched Xu Heng's Dell laptop, his eyes full of envy, yet in his heart, he thought, what's the big deal? A new laptop only costs three or four thousand yuan; I'd even complain about the slow boot speed if you sold me that old-timer.

Having earned money over the summer, Zhao Gaoyang now felt very confident; even if it was only a thousand yuan, clutching it in his hand made him feel like a millionaire.

"Was there something you wanted when you messaged me earlier?"

Zhao Gaoyang said quite proudly: "Hey! Nothing major. Since I made money over the summer, I was thinking of treating the brothers to a good meal after school starts. Everyone else said it's no problem, are you going, Xu Heng?"

Xu Heng looked up at him in surprise. Zhao Gaoyang, who was always stingy, was taking the initiative to treat them to a meal? Had the sun risen in the west?

However, he immediately guessed that Zhao Gaoyang definitely didn't just want to treat them to a meal.

"You invited others too, right?"

"That's right, I also invited a few girls from Cheng Ge's girlfriend's dormitory," Zhao Gaoyang said with a chuckle.

"No one else?"

When Xu Heng asked this, Zhao Gaoyang immediately paused in embarrassment. After hesitating for a few seconds, he said: "There's also the Class Monitor. You know, I'm pursuing the Class Monitor, so I thought I'd ask her out for a meal, but she never agrees. I think maybe my wingman isn't good enough, she's too shy."

After hearing this, Xu Heng was a bit speechless, thinking to himself: Fan Xi is a Class Monitor, how could she be shy about a guy's invitation? She isn't going because she doesn't want to go with you. You can't even see that and you still want to pursue her? No wonder she doesn't think much of you.

But he didn't point it out to Zhao Gaoyang. This guy, who was no less of a pathetic sycophant than he had been in his previous life, had only become more aggressive in harassing Fan Xi after he pointed it out last time.

This showed that persuasion from others was useless on Zhao Gaoyang; Fan Xi would have to reject him in front of everyone. Perhaps once wouldn't be enough; it would take several times for him to give up.

Xu Heng said fine, you find a place and notify everyone in advance, don't go to a restaurant that's too expensive.

Here, Zhao Gaoyang's opinion clashed with his. He said that since he was the one treating, he had to pick a nice place, otherwise, wouldn't he lose face?

"Everyone is a student. What matters is your sincerity. There's no need to go to those big hotels; a roadside food stall at the snack street will do."

It would have been better if Xu Heng hadn't said that; the moment he did, it stung Zhao Gaoyang's pathetic pride.

He thought, don't you guys just think my family background is poor and I have no money? All that talk about valuing sincerity is just bullshit; deep down, you all look down on me.

Zhao Gaoyang sulked and stopped talking to him, and Xu Heng didn't bring up the meal again.

He knew that nothing he said could change Zhao Gaoyang's mind. Persuading him a couple of times was already doing his best; if the situation became hard to manage later, he couldn't be blamed.

Zhao Gaoyang continued to lie on his bed, tapping away on his phone, not knowing who he was chatting with.

Xu Heng, on the other hand, packed his things, took the quilt he hadn't slept in for two months downstairs to hang it up, and finally left the dormitory with his computer.

Seeing him about to leave, Zhao Gaoyang lowered his head and asked in a muffled voice: "Where are you going?"

"Make-up exams for the start of the semester, going to the library to read."

Xu Heng was truly too lazy to chat with him about anything else, and after saying that, he walked away.

Of course, he wasn't just going to the library to read; there was also his daily novel update and stock trading.

Although he didn't need to pay too much attention to Huachuan for the time being, he still kept the habit of checking the stock trend every morning and afternoon and reinvesting the dividends he earned to increase his position.

Huachuan was stabilizing at a price of two hundred and sixty per share and growing slowly. Many retail investors entering at this time could only eat the leftovers, and perhaps the crash after November would make them spit out those "leftovers" along with their principal.

Xu Heng was different. He had started entering when Huachuan was at one hundred and seventy, and he had already made a fortune. Moreover, he knew Huachuan would fall after October of this year, so he wasn't afraid of losses.

During this period, he also dabbled in a few low-priced stocks, such as Renhe, Lengguang, and Haitong, earning more dividends, which was what made some investment companies notice such a strange person in the stock market.

A believer who originally only invested in Huachuan and desperately added to his position had suddenly changed his strategy, tinkering with a dozen small stocks, and all of them had made money.

Not the type of person who just follows the crowd into the stock market!

Some capable and insightful traders immediately began to study and imitate Xu Heng's stock picks, following behind him to make money, and even incited others in the stock market to invest in these small stocks, causing stocks like Renhe and Lengguang to reach their peaks from his previous life early.

Of course, because the Huaxia stock market was truly too prosperous this year, Xu Heng and his group did not attract the attention of most traders and companies in the market.

In the eyes of those people, the big fish were always those stocks hitting the limit down.

Like how they firmly believed that the Huayou they were currently trading would definitely rise in the future!

Well... as for whether they made money later, Xu Heng didn't know, but in any case, there was a high probability they jumped off a building.

On September 1st, the library had no freshmen reporting yet, and the only upperclassmen left were those preparing for postgraduate entrance exams; there were very few of these people.

Even though Xu Heng came to the library in the afternoon, he easily found an empty seat.

He opened his computer and started typing; thirty thousand words wouldn't take more than a few hours, and then it would be time to review his three professional courses: Modern Chinese, History of Foreign Literature, and Introduction to Huaxia Culture.

University make-up exams were relatively easy; as long as you could write a point or two, the professor would barely let you pass, but if you couldn't write anything at all, then even the best professor couldn't save you.

Xu Heng didn't want to go back to repeat his freshman year, so he could only bite the bullet and memorize some content from the textbooks.