Chapter 27: 026 Buying a Car

Compared with China Youth Travel and BTG Homeinns from the same Imperial Capital tourism sector, Yanjing Tourism had a relatively small market cap, but it suddenly took off in late June 2008, rocketing from around 12 yuan to a high of 30 yuan in just 30 trading days—a gain of roughly 150%—and was hailed as one of the top ten demon stocks of 2008.

Every unusual stock movement has a theme being hyped by the major players behind it, and the theme behind Yanjing Tourism's surge was the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in Yanjing!

Just as retail investors were rejoicing, the hype quickly ended, followed by a high-level plunge—dozens of consecutive limit-down days—and a huge number of investors got trapped.

Right now Yanjing Tourism is still in obscurity, its share price hovering around 11 yuan with thin trading, and it simply can't compare with China Youth Travel or BTG Homeinns.

Who would have thought the Dongguan girl had noticed it too!

"Why?" Fang Qingye asked deliberately.

"According to my quantitative model, the market makers are quietly accumulating chips, but they don't have enough yet—they'll need some more time before they start pushing the price up. I'll let you know when it happens." The reply came quickly.

"Strange." Fang Qingye typed two characters.

"What's strange?"

"You just told the group you don't trade stocks, so why do you care so much about them? Are you just doing simulated trading for fun?"

"Of course not. I work with the Research Center of the Investment Banking Department at the head office of Dongfang Bank, so naturally I have to keep an eye on the market." The Dongguan girl typed back.

That's the only reason?

Fang Qingye was still a bit suspicious and asked another question: "You're not planning to make some money in the stock market yourself?"

"What's the fun in stocks? If you ever get into futures, I'll play along with you."

This girl has quite the mouth on her.

Of course futures would be played—but not now.

The capital wasn't enough.

What's the point without tens of millions, or even over a hundred million?

Of course, Fang Qingye didn't say any of this out loud.

"Husband, are you really short on money? Then you have to earn it properly and come marry me someday. You have to be a supreme hero like Supreme Treasure, clad in golden armor and a holy cape, stepping on seven-colored clouds..." Another string of text came through.

Her chuunibyou was acting up again.

Fang Qingye decisively went offline.

The next day after work, Fang Qingye opened his computer and sold off all his Longping High-tech shares at 40 yuan. After stamp duty and commissions, the proceeds came to 1,108,664 yuan.

Mm, not bad.

Of course, he had to return the 200,000 yuan principal to Song Dahai.

Fang Qingye immediately called Song Dahai to talk about repaying the money, but the other flatly refused.

"You don't need to pay back the 200,000."

"You're generous, but as the saying goes, even brothers keep clear accounts. I can't just do that." Fang Qingye said.

"Ye Zi, if you pay me back you're cutting off my fortune." Song Dahai's tone on the other end was a little helpless.

"What do you mean?" Fang Qingye was baffled.

"Just the day before yesterday, when I was eating at home, I let it slip that you'd borrowed 200,000 from me to trade stocks. My dad heard it and immediately said you didn't need to pay back the 200,000, and that if I dared take that 200,000 from you, I wouldn't be able to take a single cent from the family from then on! Tell me, aren't you cutting off my fortune here... please, please don't pay me back, okay?"

I#￥%……&

Fang Qingye didn't know what to say.

He wasn't sure whether Song Dahai had made the story up, but it was obvious that father and son were using this way to thank him.

"Alright then..." Fang Qingye agreed: "I'll just hold onto it for now."

"Not for now—forever..."

After chatting a few more sentences, Fang Qingye hung up.

Now that he had a million of his own, he wanted to buy a car.

Although his job wasn't far and he could get there on a little scooter, it was inconvenient when going farther away or when it rained.

And going fishing!

With a car he could go farther and not worry about wind or rain.

But buying a car was a big deal, so Fang Qing had to mention it to his parents.

That evening, close to nine, his father Fang Jianwen came back from a social engagement and sat in the living room drinking the tea his wife had brewed. Fang Qingye brought up the matter.

His dad agreed readily enough.

"Buy it if you want. Lots of families in the city have cars now—it's convenient for going out and handling things. I actually wanted to buy one myself, but I don't have a driver's license, and now I don't have time to go to driving school... I'll give you 150,000—is that enough?"

"Dad, I don't want your money. I have my own. I'm just letting you know." Fang Qingye said with a smile.

"You have your own money? You've only been working a few days! Where would you get over a hundred thousand from? You didn't misappropriate public funds, did you?!" Fang Jianwen's tone turned stern.

"Dad, why do you always assume I'm up to something shady?! I'm just a trainee—do I have that kind of ability?!" Fang Qingye replied irritably.

"I made some money trading stocks."

Trading stocks?!

At that moment his mother Zhang Meili, who had been cracking sunflower seeds and watching TV, turned her head to look at him when she heard this.

"Yes, trading stocks." Fang Qingye briefly explained the matter of borrowing money to trade stocks, skipping the part about the modeling, and he didn't dare mention making 900,000—only saying... 200,000 or so.

"Xiao Ye, you've got some nerve. What if you'd lost Dahai's 200,000?! Stop right here, and don't you ever trade stocks again!" his father said with a solemn face.

Sigh...

Hearing his father's reproach, Fang Qingye could only sigh inwardly.

No way around it—his dad was just a cautious, timid sort of person.

His mother Zhang Meili didn't scold him, but asked with great interest: "Xiao Ye, you actually made that much from stocks? I wouldn't have thought it! Tell me, isn't the market about to surge? Will the fund I bought finally break even?"

Compared with his father's cautious, timid nature, his mother was much bolder. During that great bull run from '05 to '07, she had rushed in and frantically bought funds, putting in over 200,000 at once.

Unfortunately, she'd been a bit greedy and hadn't redeemed in time. Now she hadn't made any money and had even lost half her principal, and she had been brooding over it ever since.

Hearing his mother's question, Fang Qingye smiled and said: "Mom, it's a bear market now—a big rally is still a few years away. But don't worry, you'll definitely break even. Just treat it like a fixed deposit at the bank."

"Oh..." Mom sounded a bit disappointed, but her attention was quickly drawn to the new program on TV, and she stopped paying attention to the two of them.

"Xiao Ye," Dad spoke up again at this moment, "How about this? I'll give you a hundred thousand. We still need to buy you a house. You keep a portion for yourself and save it; you'll need money to find a partner and date in the future. Dating nowadays isn't like when your mother and I were young; back then, just strolling through the park or walking along the street was enough."

"Back in your father's time, he couldn't even bear to buy a movie ticket costing two mao."

Mom suddenly chimed in. Dad, hearing this, immediately felt a bit embarrassed and argued, "Didn't you say you didn't like watching movies?"

"You say, which Miss in that era didn't like watching movies? I was trying to save money for you!"

"Alright, Mom, Dad, you two can reminisce about the past slowly; I'll go back to my room first." Fang Qingye hurriedly slipped away.

That's just how parents are; they often argue over past events and drag you in as a judge. How can one possibly distinguish who is right and who is wrong?

Once I slip away and there's no judge left, they lose the energy to argue.

Sure enough, the living room quickly fell silent, with only the sound from the TV remaining.

Although Dad gave me a hundred thousand, Fang Qingye only planned to buy a car costing around two hundred thousand; something for transportation would suffice.

Fang Qingye turned on the computer and searched online. After searching for a long time, he found the Regal to be quite suitable.

The 2.0L Elite Edition is 199,900 yuan; there's probably still a discount available.

It's him!

I'll go check out the 4S store tomorrow.