Chapter 26: 025

At this moment, Fang Qingye was still at work; seeing the call was from Song Qingdong, he didn’t answer immediately but stepped out of the office to find a quiet spot before picking up.

Song Qingdong’s voice came through the receiver at once: “Little Ye, my company’s loan has been approved—thank you so much.”

“No need to thank me, Uncle Song. This was mainly due to Director Xia’s efforts—she personally went to the city branch for this matter, and your company’s strong creditworthiness played a key role. I merely offered her a small suggestion.”

Fang Qingye’s tone was humble.

Song Qingdong laughed heartily on the other end: “A small suggestion? That night when I treated you to dinner, not even Director Xia budged. I don’t know what you told her, but getting her to change her mind was no easy feat.”

“I’ll certainly thank Director Xia, but first I must thank you, Little Ye—how can I repay you?”

Song Qingdong paused, then continued: “You don’t have a car yet, do you? How about I buy you one? The new Camry—how’s that? You’ve saved me several million in interest.”

“No, no, absolutely not,” Fang Qingye hurried to reply.

“What, you don’t like the Camry? Then how about a BMW 3 Series? Young people all love BMWs.”

“Uncle Song, you misunderstand. I can’t accept your car. With Da Hai being such a close friend, helping out was only natural. Besides, if word got out that you bought me a car, people would think it was a bribe!”

“Hehe, Little Ye, you’re very cautious… alright, I’ll remember this favor.”

After chatting a few more minutes with Song Qingdong, Fang Qingye hung up.

In truth, he wasn’t worried about bribery—his current status was still that of an intern; who would think an intern was being bribed? And even if it counted as something, it was barely a favor fee.

Perhaps Xia He might think so.

But it wasn’t necessary—he could buy a car himself if he needed one.

Kai Rui Company quickly repaid its loan and immediately secured another loan of 24 million yuan in the shortest possible time. This caused a major stir in the Nanxin real estate sector.

Dongfang Bank was the first to respond to the county’s call to help local real estate enterprises overcome their difficulties!

As a result, it received praise from county leaders—and the benefits weren’t just verbal.

In counties like Nanxin, fiscal surpluses at year-end typically ranged from hundreds of millions to over a billion yuan, all deposited in the county’s major banks.

It’s only fair to spread the wealth.

But since Dongfang Bank actively responded to the county’s call and helped real estate firms, the leaders wouldn’t forget—come year-end, the fiscal surplus deposited in Dongfang Bank would naturally be higher than in other banks, helping meet the city branch’s deposit targets.

This also caused a major stir within the Jinghai Branch system: Xia He was the first branch manager among the seven county districts under Jinghai to openly support real estate.

But rumors said certain individuals at the provincial branch criticized Xia He’s actions—until she personally traveled to the provincial capital to give a detailed report to a senior official, after which the criticism vanished.

Of course, none of this concerned Fang Qingye. His focus was entirely on stock trading. By May, Longping High-Tech continued its meteoric rise, surging past the 30-yuan mark!

At this time, news broke: the state had reviewed and preliminarily approved a major science and technology project on developing genetically modified crop varieties—companies involved in the GMO field would soon benefit greatly, and Longping High-Tech was one of them.

Simultaneously, Longping High-Tech announced its dividend distribution and capital reserve conversion plan: every 10 shares would receive 1 bonus share, a cash dividend of 1 yuan, and a capital reserve conversion of 5 additional shares—equivalent to 6 shares given per 10 shares!

With these two major positives, retail investors flooded into the stock; forums and TV commentators alike hailed it as the ultimate investment.

“The 40-yuan barrier? Easily broken! Hitting 50 yuan isn’t even a dream!”

That night, Fang Qingye turned on his computer, logged into QQ, and opened the stock group he’d once joined. A QQ user named “Stock Whiz” was boasting loudly in the group.

He was even posting screenshots of his holdings.

Holdings: 35,785 lots; floating profit: 2,587,264 yuan.

The group erupted in shock, flooding with flattery.

A shill.

In his past life, when Fang Qingye first entered this world, he’d been swept up by their words—only later to learn they were shills.

Once the herd of Jiucai had boarded, they’d swing their scythes and cut ruthlessly. He’d pretend to be your loyal partner, swearing to share fortune and hardship, but behind the scenes, he was part of a syndicate whose other accounts had already raked in massive profits.

50 yuan? Pfft…

Breaking 40 yuan was possible, but hitting 50? Pure fantasy.

When good news is exhausted, bad news follows.

Fang Qingye opened Tonghuashun and placed sell orders for all 13,900 shares of Longping High-Tech at 40 yuan, ready to liquidate them all at once.

Time to go—buy another stock. He’d already set his sights on one, but needed to wait a while.

After finishing his trade, he glanced again at the stock group and noticed, suddenly, that Dongguan Mei and Jiang Chen were also in the group—why were they silent today?

Since losing the bet, Jiang Chen had reportedly become much more subdued, rarely talking about stocks in front of friends or classmates.

Once very active in this group, he’d now become a lurker. Fang Qingye didn’t initiate conversation either—they were all lurking, fine.

Fang Qingye browsed a bit longer, grew bored, and prepared to log off—when suddenly, a message popped up in the group, publicly mentioning “Stock Whiz”: “You’re a shill!”

It was Dongguan Mei.

Dongguan Mei’s avatar kept blinking: “Do you even have a conscience? Lying to these retail investors?”

Dongguan Mei had a strong sense of justice.

Fang Qingye sighed inwardly.

Naturally, the other side objected: “You understand? Prove it—post your holdings screenshot and your trading records!”

“I don’t trade stocks at all.”

As soon as Dongguan Mei sent this, the group erupted in mockery.

“If you don’t trade stocks, why are you even here?”

“She’s just a troublemaker—group admin, kick her out!”

Of course, a few had clearer heads.

“Don’t you remember? Earlier, this young girl claimed she’d modeled and predicted Longping High-Tech would surge—and she was right!”

“That’s just blind luck! Who uses models to trade stocks? Do you?” Someone immediately countered—apparently they knew each other well.

“I don’t even know what a model is.”

“Exactly—how many here understand? She’s just bluffing.”

“Ohhh, I get it now.”

Fang Qingye watched their public chat with curiosity, finding it amusing.

What kind of logic is this?

No wonder they get slaughtered like Jiucai .

Fang Qingye shook his head.

Dongguan Mei’s temper today seemed milder than before; she didn’t retaliate against the mockery. Fang Qingye assumed she’d logged off—until he noticed her little penguin icon blinking again, this time sending him a private message.

“Husband, I was bored earlier and checked the group list—I just realized you’re in this group too!”

Huh?

No wonder she was quiet—she’d been doing this all along.

Seeing she was speaking normally today, Fang Qingye replied: “I’m here. What of it?”

“You trade stocks? Then follow me from now on,” she replied with great confidence.

“You just said in the group you don’t trade stocks at all,” Fang Qingye typed back.

“Have you never seen a pig run even if you’ve never eaten pork? Let me tell you—I’m a born king of the stock market! When I descend upon the market, all under heaven will celebrate!”

Just a few sentences in, her otaku nonsense returned.

Fang Qingye ignored her.

Seeing he didn’t reply, she typed again: “Husband, did you buy Longping High-Tech too?”

“Yes, I bought it recently. Today I placed sell orders.”

“Aaaah… Husband, you really listen to me! Wife is so pleased.”

What an incredibly self-absorbed person.

Fang Qingye shook his head.

I bought Longping High-Tech—what’s it to you?

Fang Qingye prepared to log off—when she sent another string of messages.

“Husband, I’ll recommend another stock to you—guaranteed big profits!”

“What stock?”

Fang Qingye’s curiosity stirred, and he typed back.

“Beijing Tourism.”

Seeing those four characters, Fang Qingye was internally startled.

Just as I thought.