Chapter 18: 017

017 "Can't go, I have to work overtime tonight"

"Ye Zi, you really are something!" came Bai Ou's soft, very pleasant voice through the receiver.

"What, you're laughing at me for being a bit dumb, even a little foolish?" Fang Qingye asked with a smile.

"That's not it... I just got off the phone with Dahai after chatting a while, and I feel like you've changed."

"Changed? Changed into what?"

"More easygoing than before, and more mature too!"

"Mature? Then why bet with Jiang Chen in front of so many classmates?"

"That Jiang Chen is such a bully! I can't stand it either! You're this confident, you must have your reasons, right? I believe in you!"

Huh?

"If you really lose, don't be discouraged. I can chip in some of the treat money too!" Bai Ou added.

Fang Qingye found it a bit strange. "You're still a student, still relying on your family to support you—where would you get the money?"

"Don't look down on me! My advisor took on a civil case not long ago, won the lawsuit and made a good chunk in legal fees. As his assistant, he gave me 6,000 yuan—want me to transfer it all to you?" Bai Ou said on the other end of the line.

Sigh...

Still think I'm going to lose.

Fang Qingye sighed inwardly, but said aloud: "Keep the money for yourself. Don't worry, I won't lose!"

"Great then, once you make money from stocks, when I come back for summer break you have to treat me, okay?"

"No problem!" Fang Qingye agreed readily.

The two chatted a bit more, then hung up.

Fang Qingye checked the group messages again. Jiang Chen was still blustering there, but he couldn't be bothered to reply and went straight offline.

After getting off work and going home that evening, the group was still buzzing. Some busybodies had already laid out the treat standards for tomorrow in detail, even posting the menu in the group!

Jiang Chen had already agreed, and Song Dahai—this guy—had actually overstepped and answered on his behalf!

Whatever...

Fang Qingye shook his head and paid it no mind.

He still had real work to do.

He opened that copy of "Mathematical Foundations of Financial Analysis" and started reading again.

The next morning at work, Fang Qingye spent the time reading as well. Things had been quiet lately, so he seized the chance to review the theoretical knowledge in the book, aiming to finish today so he could start building the model tomorrow.

After lunch in the unit cafeteria, Fang Qingye was about to head back to the office to keep reading. Walking through the courtyard, Chen Meimei called out to him.

"Fang Qingye, the bet between you and Jiang Chen has already spread through our school's alumni group—everyone's talking about it in the group."

Fang Qingye and Song Dahai went to Nanxin No. 1 High School; Chen Meimei went to Nanxin No. 2 High School.

Hearing Chen Meimei's words, Fang Qingye laughed: "Everyone thinks I'm going to lose, right?"

"Mm, things don't look good. Longping High-tech dropped another two points this morning," Chen Meimei said quietly.

Chen Meimei was in the finance section, and the computers in her office could access the outside internet, so naturally she could see it.

Fang Qingye's expression didn't change much at the news:

"It's fine, there's still the afternoon half-day left."

Chen Meimei tilted her little face up slightly, listening and staring at him in a daze.

How could he be so calm?

Looking at the Miss's cute appearance, Fang Qingye started to joke around.

"If by some chance I lose and don't have that much money, Chen Meimei—could you lend me some?"

"Sure, I've saved up a bit, I'll lend it all to you." Chen Meimei agreed readily.

She can even save money?

Fang Qingye was basically a living-paycheck-to-paycheck person.

"Then thanks."

Fang Qingye finished speaking and headed upstairs.

At 1:30 in the afternoon when the stock market opened, the Nanxin No. 1 High School Class of 2003 alumni group was even livelier. The discussion was all about today's stocks—even the usual perennial lurkers popped up to chime in, some even started learning to trade stocks on the spot: limit up and limit down, orders and executions, longs and shorts... The alumni group had become a stock-trading group in all but name.

"Wow, still dropping—already down 3 points!"

"Can't stop it, just can't stop it. This reminds me of a Li Bai poem: 'A waterfall plunging straight down three thousand feet—/ I wonder if the Milky Way is falling from the ninth heaven.' Jiang Chen's got this in the bag!"

The group was full of people backing Jiang Chen; on Fang Qingye's side, only a handful were cheering him on.

Facts speak louder than words.

It's already dropped this much—what's there to say?

Jiang Chen was even more smug, @-ing Fang Qingye several more times, but got no response.

Because Fang Qingye wasn't online at all.

He was busy.

Not with reading, but because he'd just received the latest news: early tomorrow morning, leaders from the municipal branch were coming to Nanxin Sub-branch to inspect the work, and the branch leaders demanded every section immediately prepare to receive the inspection.

Every section instantly sprang into action.

The Credit Section's workload was especially heavy. Xia He demanded they prepare materials immediately: including the changes in the sub-branch's deposit and loan scale over the past two years, the revenue share of corporate, retail, and intermediary business, net profit situation, and the top-20 corporate client list with amounts, pricing, guarantee methods, and yield rates; within the non-performing situation, list the corporate non-performing loans, and the watch-list loans within the five-tier classification...

Word was that when Section Chief Zhang Qunying heard Xia He's demands, her face went white.

Fang Qingye saw the preparation list and felt a headache coming on too.

This Xia He has gone a bit mad.

It's just a branch president coming—does it warrant this much fuss?

When the leaders speak, those below must obey unconditionally. The entire Credit Section was in complete chaos.

Fang Qingye was once again assigned to input and organize the post-data, and seeing a huge pile of materials his colleague brought over, he could only sigh inwardly.

This afternoon—no, tonight was probably going to be a washout; he might even have to work overtime.

The branch's internal offices were bustling, but the atmosphere in the online QQ group suddenly turned a bit eerie.

Just as the clock struck two-thirty, half an hour before today's market close, the stock price of Longping High-Tech—which had been drooping like an eggplant hit by frost—suddenly lifted its head slightly.

"Signs of a pull-up!"

"Big order! A huge buy order at the second decimal!"

The people in the group who knew a bit about stocks immediately typed out a few lines.

Sure enough, the previously limp stock was like it had taken an aphrodisiac, suddenly springing erect, the price charging straight toward yesterday's closing price and swiftly flipping into the green!

Trading volume also rapidly expanded.

"Holy shit, it's going up, it's really going up!"

"It's broken through the 11.0 yuan round-number mark, already up to 11.05 yuan, a gain of 1.0 percentage point!"

"Still climbing! 11.2 yuan now!"

"Jiang Chen, hurry up and analyze this for us—what exactly is going on?"

At this moment Jiang Chen was already panicking!

Today, in order to watch the market, he had specifically taken the afternoon off and stayed home staring at the computer.

Now seeing people in the group asking him for technical analysis at this moment, he was instantly furious.

Analyze my ass.

If it keeps climbing, I'm going to lose!

Now he could only hope the stock price would only inch up a little, not exceed 11.32 yuan—that would be a gain of no more than 4%—then he could still win!

Watching the stock price still climbing nonstop, Jiang Chen felt for the first time that seeing a green board was so utterly hateful...

The stock price had already surpassed 11.25 yuan! Charging straight at the 11.30 yuan mark!

Damn, it broke through again, but the stock price was like a fiery serpent, showing no signs of stopping, continuing to surge upward!

One psychological price level after another was breached, until the stock price finally settled at 11.62 yuan, a gain of as much as 5.7%! A long dragon soaring skyward, with a long tail trailing behind.

Lost, completely lost.

Jiang Chen collapsed into his computer chair.

Losing the money was a small matter, but where was he supposed to put his face?

Over on Fang Qingye's side, phone calls suddenly increased—classmates he was on good terms with normally, seeing he had won and getting no reply to their QQ congratulations, simply called him directly.

The first call to come in was from Song Dahai. The moment Fang Qingye picked up, he heard him laughing heartily: "Ye Zi, awesome! So awesome! Tonight I'm going to have a good look at that loser Jiang Chen! We're not going home until we're drunk tonight!"

"Go drink, I don't have time!" Fang Qingye replied lazily: "I have to work overtime tonight."