Chapter 11: 010 Lotus's Thoughts

"You're going to the General Affairs Office?" Xia He sounded surprised: "The General Affairs Office handles quite a few miscellaneous tasks."

"Then just assign me fewer things." Fang Qingye said, half-joking and half-serious:

"The Credit Section does have authority and prospects, but I'm not interested. Besides, the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. My will isn't strong; if someone pulls me into trouble, it won't be worth it."

Xia He couldn't help but laugh after hearing that: "Your will isn't strong? Afraid of the beauty trap?!"

Fang Qingye glanced at her and said nothing.

Xia He didn't continue joking and spoke seriously: "Alright then, as you wish, go to the General Affairs Office first. If it doesn't suit you, we can switch departments. Anyway, I'm preparing to train you properly. I used to think you were unremarkable, but I didn't expect you to be such talent!"

Don't, don't talk about training me?

Can't I just have a relaxed and carefree day?

Those words are hard to say out loud now.

Actually, in his previous life, after Fang Qingye's internship ended, he was also assigned to the General Affairs Office, and at the time he was somewhat unhappy.

I graduated from a 211 university with a finance degree; why wasn't I assigned to the Credit Section?

Thinking about it now, the General Affairs Office is quite good; it's convenient for slacking off, and I can even access the foreign internet to monitor the market during work hours.

The two didn't mention work matters again; they chatted about funny university stories while eating. After finishing the meal, Fang Qingye sat for a while before taking his leave, and Xia He naturally didn't try to keep him.

Before leaving, Xia He suddenly said: "Xiao Fang, let's add each other as QQ friends. If it's inconvenient to call, we can leave messages on QQ."

"Sure." Fang Qingye took out his phone, logged into QQ, and added each other.

"Donghai Daoke? Your QQ nickname is quite domineering." Xia He looked and laughed.

"Your QQ nickname is also unique: 'Lotus's Thoughts'." Fang Qingye replied.

"Hey, let me state in advance, I have no thoughts at all; it's just a QQ nickname. Some people who add me on QQ like to ask about it; it's annoying!" Xia He said.

"I know. Your name comes from a poem by Xi Murong titled 'Lotus's Thoughts'; the first line contains your name." Fang Qingye cleared his throat and recited:

"I am a blooming summer lotus..."

"Recite, continue." Xia He saw him stop and urged.

"Sorry, I only remember the opening line... Goodbye, senior sister." Fang Qingye finished speaking and walked out the door.

"Goodbye..."

Xia He also smiled and closed the door.

When Fang Qingye returned home, it wasn't even eight o'clock. Opening the door, he saw his mother, Zhang Meili, still sitting in the living room, cracking melon seeds while watching TV.

"Finished eating?" Zhang Meili asked.

"Mm." Fang Qingye changed his shoes and replied.

"Didn't President Xia keep you to sit for a while longer?" Zhang Meili turned her head to look at him.

"How could that happen? I'm not very familiar with her. Besides, President Xia lives alone in the county town; if I stay too long, people will gossip."

"Mm, good that you understand." Zhang Meili continued cracking melon seeds and watching TV.

Fang Qingye was instantly speechless.

That's just Mom's temper; Fang Qingye didn't plan to say much more, so he returned to his bedroom and brewed himself a cup of tea.

In his previous life in Shanghai, he started liking coffee, but as he aged, he gradually became interested in tea, and later prepared to spend his middle age with a thermos of goji berry tea, only to be reborn back into his youth.

The habit of drinking tea hadn't changed, and whether at the workplace or at home, he liked drinking good tea.

The Jinghai region where Nanxin is located also produces tea: such as Rugao White Tea, Haimen Green Tea, Nanxin Maojian, Junshan Mountain Tea, etc. Although not as famous as Biluochun or Longjing, the tea quality is by no means inferior.

More importantly, Fang Qingye didn't have to pay for it himself; his father's study was full of fine teas sent by various guests. Today, Fang Qingye was drinking local top-grade Junshan Mountain Tea—"Langshan Spring Dawn," authentic pre-Qingming tea.

After brewing a cup of Junshan Mountain Tea, Fang Qingye leisurely turned on his computer, preparing to do his own thing—naturally, stock trading.

Just yesterday, the 200,000 borrowed from Song Dahai had arrived, and tonight he could charge into the stock market.

In 2008, global stock markets were sluggish; from the US Dow Jones Index to the Frankfurt DAX to the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, it was all bad news. The domestic A-share market was even more miserable.

After the frenzy of 2007, the A-share market could no longer hold on in November 2007 and began falling from high levels; immediately following, the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis erupted, a global financial tsunami struck, the global economic environment plummeted, and the A-share market, similarly affected, jumped straight down from the top floor of a ten-story building, crashing onto the first-floor ground. From November 2007 to October 2008, in just one year, it fell from 6,124 points to 1,664 points, a drop of up to 72.8%, almost like free-fall motion.

And now it is April; the market hasn't hit bottom yet.

However, even in the worst bear markets, there are opportunities. The hottest sector in 2008 was the agriculture sector, especially the leading stock—Longping High-Tech, which performed most outstandingly and was rated as one of the top ten "demon stocks" of 2008.

Fang Qingye was watching this stock.

The reason it was called a "demon stock" naturally involved topics of manipulation and hype. Longping High-Tech had two: first, the state deliberated and in principle approved the major special project for cultivating new genetically modified biological species, undoubtedly making some investors eager to try, turning their gaze toward listed companies involved in the genetically modified field, and Longping High-Tech was one of them.

The other was the high dividend distribution.

The company was about to announce: a dividend and bonus share distribution plan: for every 10 shares held by all shareholders, 1 share would be given as a bonus, along with a cash dividend of 1 yuan; simultaneously, 5 shares would be converted from capital reserves for every 10 shares, equivalent to 6 shares converted and given for every 10 shares.

Fang Qingye remembered clearly that back then, when he had just started entering the stock market, he once passionately debated in a stock chat group with a bunch of fellow investors; someone mentioned that Longping High-Tech would have a high dividend distribution and would surely skyrocket.

At that time, he scoffed at it; how could a company with very mediocre performance be so generous? It must be rumors!

Anyway, rumors were flying all over the market.

But unexpectedly, shortly afterward, the company actually released the distribution plan, and the state newly announced policies regarding new genetically modified biological species, and by then the stock price had already soared; it was too late to chase it.

However, now, none of this has happened yet.

Fang Qingye opened the Tonghuashun software, pulled up the K-line chart of Longping High-Tech, and examined it carefully.

Two months ago, the stock price surged from 15.5 yuan to a high of 24.38 yuan, then fell rapidly; last week's lowest point was 13.11 yuan. That means in one month, all the gains were wiped out, and it even broke through the previous bottom, forming the broken-position pattern that stock investors dislike most!

A broken position might be a clear sell signal!

Plus, the weekly K-line chart showed four long bearish lines, looking quite terrifying.

Back then, seeing this situation, Fang Qingye made an incorrect judgment, believing the main force was dumping shares, and quickly ran.

Actually, it was exactly the opposite; the main force was simply using this fierce method to wash out floating chips and reduce the cost of lifting the price.

Back then, I was too green.

Actually, in the A-share market, 99% of retail investors are rookies; they are just leeks for the market makers to harvest.

Fang Qingye didn't overthink it this time either; seeing yesterday's closing price was 14.38 yuan, he simply bought at 14.38 yuan, investing all 200,000 yuan of principal, purchasing 139 lots.

Just let it hang there; it's estimated to drop again tomorrow, at which point the system will automatically buy in.

After everything was settled, Fang Qingye exited Tonghuashun and, after a moment's thought, logged into QQ.

In this era, WeChat hadn't appeared yet; QQ was extremely lively, with many friends and even more QQ groups. Fang Qingye had added over a dozen stock-trading groups in one go. As soon as he opened QQ, the little penguin flashed wildly, and "Dudu" sounded nonstop.

However, in this life, Fang Qingye was too lazy to click and look. Moreover, the sound and all groups were muted; he usually logged in as invisible, just checking to see if there were any useful messages.

Today, for some reason, he accidentally clicked "visible." Just as he prepared to browse the university and high school classmate groups to see if there were any important messages, he suddenly noticed the QQ status immediately switch back to invisible, yet a window popped up.

Friend "Universe's Invincible Youthful Beautiful Girl" requested a video chat!

The QQ avatar was still a two-dimensional avatar wearing a sailor suit; it should be Chika from the manga "Landlord Girl's Puberty!", very kawaii.

Fang Qingye froze for a moment, remembered something, and decisively clicked "X" to refuse.