A delivery staff brought the order to the door, and forty minutes later, a steaming hot three-dish-one-soup meal was laid out on the dining table.
Steamed pork ribs with rice flour, braised shrimps in oil, stir-fried vegetables, and oyster soup—very ordinary home-cooked dishes.
"You're so pretty, and the food is so delicious, whoever marries you will be lucky."
Liang couldn't stop praising, and it wasn't just courtesy—he'd often cooked himself before and could tell that Zhang Qian genuinely had the skill.
"Liang, stop making fun of me, try this shrimp." Zhang Qian personally peeled one and brought it to his mouth.
"Delicious," praised Lu Liang.
But he found it strange, Zhang Qian was from the north, why did the flavors she made tilt towards the south?
"After all, I've been in Modu for so many years, my tastes have been assimilated," Zhang Qian said, a bit startled.
Then she added, "Liang, you like strong flavors, so next time I'll make some special dishes from my hometown for you."
"No need, something lighter is also quite nice."
After dinner, Lu Liang took Zhang Qian downstairs for a walk along the Riverfront Promenade to help digest the meal.
The river breeze blew, lifting Zhang Qian's hair, and a sweet smile appeared on her face, making Lu Liang feel momentarily lost in reverie.
This scene gave him a sense of home, but not the home of the past, rather the home he imagined in his mind.
Once upon a time, his wishes were simple.
Get a wife, start a business, work hard, carefully manage his family, have a child before turning 30, then start striving for the next generation.
However, ever since getting married and bringing Lin Wenjing from his hometown to Modu, everything changed.
She became vain, fond of comparing herself with others, always talking about how much money someone made, and how good someone else's life was...
"What's wrong?" Zhang Qian, ever considerate, sensed that Lu Liang wasn't in a good mood.
"It's nothing, let's go back."
Lu Liang wrapped his arm around Zhang Qian's slender waist, and they walked back together.
Let the past drift away like smoke with the wind, he had already cut ties with it, embarking on a new chapter of life.
In the following days, Zhang Qian occasionally went out to handle some affairs, but mostly stayed in Tangchen Yipin.
During the day, she cooked meals for Lu Liang with various recipes, and at night, the bathroom, sofa, balcony, kitchen all became the battlefields where they shed sweat.
In the meantime, the stock price of Chinese Online kept climbing higher and higher.
Zhang Qian was extremely excited, because the next day, she had followed suit by investing five hundred thousand, going all in on full margin like Lu Liang.
The cost price had risen to 20.25 yuan at that time, but now the stock price had already risen to 32.72 yuan per share. She currently held 29,600 shares, now valued at 968,000 yuan, earning her a profit of 387,000 yuan.
The loving look Zhang Qian gave Lu Liang seemed almost tangible, her passion even more intense, wishing she could merge with him and become one.
On Thursday, Chinese Online opened high and kept climbing.
Approaching two o'clock in the afternoon, it hit the daily limit.
The latest price was 34.85 yuan, with 125 million yuan of limit-up funds, the main investor's attitude seemed very determined, and small investors were also very optimistic about the future, collectively shouting "the second Baofeng."
After a long contemplation, Lu Liang stepped out of the study and called over Zhang Qian, who was watching TV in the living room, "Let's liquidate our positions."
Zhang Qian glanced at the market, "It hit the limit-up again today, are we selling off too?"
"Who told you that just because it hits the limit today, it's guaranteed to rise tomorrow?" Lu Liang asked with a smile.
Zhang Qian was taken aback, took out her phone to operate it, looked up with a smile, "I'll listen to you, I've sold them all."
"Alright, I still have some things to take care of, see you later."
Lu Liang touched her cheek and closed the door of his study.
Something felt off to him, a voice warning: June 2nd, Chinese Online, 39.82 yuan.
Today was May 28th, with only six days and four trading days left, there was no reason for the stock price to jump that high.
Also, the trend of this stock was nearing its end, with the market maker's attitude on the limit-up, it shouldn't have been so unsettlingly decisive.
Lu Liang felt something was amiss and took advantage of the market maker's aggressive bid to seal the price at 34.85 yuan, where he began to frenziedly offload shares.
584,500 shares, valued at 20.38 million, had nearly broken the cap that he had just hit, but the subsequent bids from the main force patched it up.
Apart from this doubt, Lu Liang also wanted to test whether his involvement could affect market fluctuations.
Over 20 million was already a significant sum of money, which could have allowed him to corner the market in smaller trading volumes.
"The market maker must be hurting," Lu Liang mused as he sipped lemon tea made by Zhang Qian, suddenly struck by inspiration.
He thought of Baofeng Technology, which, when the market trend was nearing its end, had experienced a similar incident.
In the end, a Sky Floor unfolded—the next day saw the stock open high and climb higher, enticing a large number of retail investors to take over the holdings.
Having just been hammered with 20 million by Lu Liang, the stock still reached its upper limit; the two events seemed to have a curious parallel.
If following this train of thought, the 20 million yuan of capital he unloaded should have been the market maker's doing, flipping shares left to right at the limit-up price, but Lu Liang preempted a portion of it.
Lu Liang spun in his chair, his gaze fixed on the screen.
If his deduction was correct, there should be some unusual movements at the close of trading.
2:40 p.m.,
The last twenty minutes before the market closed.
Chinese Online broke the cap.
The initial 1.25 billion yuan that sealed the cap was suddenly withdrawn—over 90 million gone in an instant, and the remaining 30 million was quickly exchanged in the span of a few breaths.
10.05%...6.56%...3.15%...
A massive wave of selling ensued, and the stock price plummeted.
Because it was limit-up, there were no support funds built below, and the price was smashed down by 13 points in an instant.
The market was dumbfounded, and some retail investors who had bought at high prices were literally crying in the bathrooms.
Because it had opened today with a 5.6% gain and had risen steadily until the cap was placed at 2 p.m., enduring a three-hour journey to the ceiling during which countless retail investors were lured in.
Some entered at 6%, some at 8%, and others at the limit-up price.
Today's ceiling with so much capital locked in suggested at least a high open tomorrow.
Zhang Qian's thoughts also represented the general public's.
Many didn't even get a taste of the success before getting hit by a sudden blow.
Zhang Qian was also watching the market from the living room.
Witnessing this scene, her eyes widened, and she couldn't help but let out an exclamation before quickly covering her mouth, fearful of disturbing Lu Liang's work.
"That's incredible, it's as if he has magical power—he just told me to liquidate my position, and now the stock price is crashing."
Zhang Qian patted her chest, still in shock. If she hadn't listened to Lu Liang, she would have earned 80,000 yuan less.
Her capital of 580,000 yuan had grown to 1.02 million, earning her 440,000 yuan from this wave, exceeding her annual salary.
Humming a tune to herself, Xiao Qu planned to make some snacks to reward Lu Liang for leading her to fortune.
In the study, Lu Liang sank into deep thought.
After a few minutes of turbulence, support funds reappeared below, and the stock price lingered around 31 yuan, with a drop of -2.1%.
Judging from his guesses, there were three possible directions: first, like Baofeng Technology, to execute another Sky Floor play.
However, that was too risky, as Baofeng Technology had recently fallen, experiencing four consecutive limit-downs.
It was said that the heads of several institutions had been summoned by the Securities and Futures Commission for an inquiry—no one should dare to break the rules now.
The second possibility was a lackluster end for today, with continued declines tomorrow and then a pump before unloading next week.
The third scenario involved luring in more buyers by pushing up the price at the end of trading to attract retail investors to chase the rise, then have a small drop tomorrow followed by a significant increase next week.
Lu Liang investigated and found at least three institutions involved, each had been hibernating for over 20 days.
Stepping in might affect the market's direction, but the impact would undoubtedly not be too significant.