Ding-dong~
The doorbell suddenly rang.
"Who is it?" Zhang Qian slipped on a bathrobe, pulling up her fishnet stockings to cover the torn marks.
"I'm here to check the room," said Lu Liang with a smile, patting Zhang Qian's thigh and walking over to open the door.
The late-night snack he had ordered arrived. Having finished a drink and another battle, he was feeling a bit hungry.
The waiter, experienced as they were, kept their eyes fixed forward, pushing the food cart without being nosy.
A hot pot of seafood congee and a few delicate side dishes.
"Mr. Lu, please enjoy your meal."
After the waiter left, Zhang Qian walked over with her long legs, swaying her posture as she twisted her waist, each frown and smile brimming with charm.
She sat at the dining table as if she was another dish on offer, spooning herself a small bowl of congee. She picked up a spoonful, gently blew away the steam and said, "Good brother, ah, open your mouth, let me feed you."
'The market looks good, might consider buying.'
This phrase wasn't weighty enough; she wanted to know more, like at what price to buy and at what price to sell.
However, she overestimated herself and underestimated Lu Liang.
Lu Liang, a man who had been married once, was willing to reveal a bit of information only because he wanted to maintain this relationship, but he wasn't someone who would lose his head and spill everything.
Until Zhang Qian was 'devoured' again, she still couldn't coax any more useful information out of Lu Liang.
As the night deepened, the battle ended.
The disheveled bathrobe on the carpet and the fishnet stockings with a ripped hole all spoke of a fierce ordeal.
"Naughty fellow... How long has your wife not let you 'pay your dues'?" Zhang Qian was drenched in sweat, with strands of hair clinging to her cheeks and a lingering flush still on her face.
Last year when she was buying a house, she spent over two weeks choosing, looked at a dozen houses before she found the perfect sanctuary.
During that time, she even had coffee with Lu Liang a few times, chatted with him, and already knew he was a married man.
But Lu Liang's performance was too fierce, like a bull, competing with men in their early twenties.
"I've been divorced for a while."
Lu Liang sat at the edge of the bed, lighting a post-coital cigarette.
"Really?" Zhang Qian suddenly thought of something and muttered indignantly, "Men are no good."
People usually think that you get divorced when you have money, not that you have money because you're divorced.
"What are you imagining now?"
Lu Liang pinched out the cigarette and climbed back under the covers, hugging Zhang Qian from behind and feeling their skin press against each other's warmth.
Holding her hand, he played with her manicure and said with a sigh, "I'm the one who was left behind."
Now that he was saying it, it no longer felt the same as at the start; for him, divorce was a relief.
"How is that possible." Zhang Qian didn't believe it.
Lu Liang was rich, good-looking, had a nice personality, and was so vigorous— she thought he possessed all the elements of happiness, so it seemed impossible for him to get divorced.
"Children without mothers make for long stories."
"There are kids involved?"
"It's a metaphor."
"The night is long, so tell me about it."
"It all started during the Spring Festival..."
"Hey, hey, are you asleep?"
Zhang Qian waited and then turned to see that Lu Liang was already lying with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep.
"If you don't want to talk, then don't, but why pretend to sleep."
She muttered to herself, adjusting her position to sleep comfortably, and soon she, too, drifted off.
Lu Liang cracked a smile, opened his eyes, and laid his palm on the 'female heart protector' on her chest, then closed his eyes again.
...
At nine in the morning, the urgent ringing of the alarm filled the room.
Lu Liang rubbed his eyes, and the person beside him had already disappeared, leaving only a few strands of light red hair on the pristine pillow.
The sound of running water trickled from the bathroom.
Zhang Qian emerged, changed into her regular clothes, her tight yoga pants highlighting the beautiful curves of her bottom.
This was a body trained through rigorous practice, otherwise it couldn't possibly be that firm and lifted.
How good the touch felt and how much it reduced the impact, Lu Liang had already verified each detail last night.
He looked over, "Leaving now?"
"I have a yoga class, and if I don't head over now, I'll be late." Zhang Qian came to the bedside, gave Lu Liang a kiss, "Bye-bye."
"Bye-bye~" Lu Liang did not try to keep her because he knew that Zhang Qian would seek him out again, and that she would become even more proactive.
Nine-fifteen, another alarm rang.
Lu Liang turned off the remaining alarms he had set the night before, worried that he might oversleep in the morning.
Today was Friday, the last trading day of the week, he needed to buy shares of Chinese Online as soon as the market opened.
"The market trends these past few days have indeed been very strange."
Lu Liang, wearing his bathrobe and puffing on a cigarette, entered the living room, keeping an eye on the stock market updates at all times.
He noticed that the fluctuations of Chinese Online eerily resembled a Market Maker accumulating shares at a low position, ready to surge at any moment.
Lu Liang dared not hesitate, fearing he might miss the right moment, and began making small, frequent purchases as soon as the market opened.
The opening price was 17.93 yuan, increasing by 0.89% on that day, with one lot equal to 100 shares, totaling 1793 yuan.
Initially, Lu Liang bought only ten or so lots at a time, concerned that the Market Maker might notice him—the metaphorical 'rat stealing oil'.
Latterly, he realized that his concerns were completely unnecessary. Chinese Online had a market capitalization of 12 billion yuan, with 2.42 billion yuan in circulating shares.
The several million shares he owned weren't negligible, but they were at most a comparatively large stone.
Market Makers set a suppression line at 18.00 yuan, creating an illusion in the market of a ceiling that couldn't be breached.
Lu Liang set his own buying line at 17.90 yuan, ready to receive a large number of shares whenever there was a failed attempt to break through the ceiling.
Having read plenty of books recently, he had come to understand the mindset of retail investors well; a failed attempt at breaking through usually led some investors to sell off or hedge, believing that a further surge was hopeless.
Lu Liang then acted as a willing buyer, capable of taking on their shares without driving up the price, securing them at a relatively normal rate.
However, being a willing buyer was only his wishful thinking. Holding tens of millions in funds wasn't enough to be the supporting backbone of a hundred-billion market.
At nine forty-five, the half-hour after the opening bell and before closing, was the most active trading period of the day.
Chinese Online's second attempt to breach 18 yuan failed.
A large number of shareholders completely lost confidence, unwilling to miss the broader market rally and started selling off in herds.
Over the last four trading days, the broader market had risen by 395 points, comfortably closing above 4700 points, an astonishing increase of 8.75%, with total market capitalization soaring by 750 billion yuan.
In contrast, Chinese Online's increase over the past four days was only 5.52%, with two of those days experiencing losses.
When even the broader market couldn't be outperformed, the morale of the retail shareholders holding the stock had long exploded, no longer willing to be tormented.
"The broader market's been doing so well lately, why on earth did I buy this trash stock."
"Even if it can't measure up to the likes of Demon King Storm, at least keep up with Mei Yan, right?"
"To think I still had hopes for you, trash, go eat shit."
"Goodbye, never to meet again..."
A mass of retail investors cursed as they cashed out and exited the market.
Almost instantly, Lu Liang's brokerage account pinged nonstop with notifications of established new trades.
Within a few breaths, tens of millions in funds were gone, with a holding of 588,800 shares and available funds standing at 480.4 yuan, his position was at 99.9%.
Lu Liang was fully invested, once again.
Meanwhile, as Zhang Qian took a taxi home, she too was paying attention to this stock.
As a go-getter in Shanghai, she had her own brokerage account from early on, and had even opened access to the Hong Kong stock market.
But she was cautious by nature, normally only buying funds. With the recent half-year market rally, she had also earned more than eighty thousand yuan.
"Is this reliable? Why are all other stocks so in the red, while this one is just green as grass?"
Zhang Qian stared blankly, absorbed in the screen with Chinese Online displayed on it.
Just a moment ago, the constantly teetering 17.9 yuan suddenly lost its supporting funds, causing the stock price to plummet.
That day, the broader market was up by 1.2%, with a thousand stocks in the green; only 65 stocks were green as grass, with Chinese Online among them.
The daily drop was -2.2%, with the share price at 17.46 yuan. The stock forum was filled with sorrow, countless people cursing their mothers.
"I'll trust you this one time, but if I lose out, next time you'd better sweet talk me into a big feast, and add on five bottles of Black Spade A to compensate me."
Zhang Qian hesitated for a long time, mainly because of her sacrifice last night. If she didn't follow the so-called insider information, she felt it would be a total loss.
She withdrew 580,000 yuan from the funds she had invested, using 80,000 yuan of the profits to buy Chinese Online shares, totaling 4500 shares.
She was very cautious, not wanting to put all her eggs in one basket. Should both the stock and the fund lose value, it would break her heart.