Chapter 53: Utter Nonsense

"Heh, you'll see it soon enough. Just be patient."

Unexpectedly, Wu Ya did not answer her question directly at all. He simply kept a faint smile on his lips, his gaze unwavering as he stared at the large screen in front of him, his eyes shining with eager excitement.

“Hmph! I’d like to see what miracle you think you can pull off this time.” Liu Qian, seeing his attitude, felt a surge of indignation. If helping Huang Silu could be called a success, it did seem so—Qiao Ya had stayed, now whispering privately with Huang Silu, the look of disgust in her eyes completely vanished, replaced with utter admiration. But wasn’t that just a bit of luck? It could just as well be called a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse! After all, it was a desperate choice made with no other options, and fortune happened to smile on them at the last moment. There was no other reason that could explain Wu Ya’s decision for Huang Silu as being anything more than a lucky guess.

And now, you claim there are even greater miracles to come? I’d like to see just what kind of astonishing spectacle you can create!

"Heh, keep your eyes wide open and look carefully! Rise! Rise! Skyrocket for me now!" Wu Ya’s reply was an eruption of excitement, his final words almost like an incantation, staring at the big screen with all his might.

Is he really being this dramatic? Liu Qian’s gaze was inevitably drawn to the screen as well.

Boom!

Her entire being froze.

"This... how is this possible?"

If the previous surge in personal bonds had caught everyone off guard, then what was happening now was utterly beyond anyone's comprehension. In just a few sentences’ time, the price of personal bonds had leaped from three yuan straight to nine! That’s a thirtyfold increase from the post-opening low of thirty cents—a terrifying, unprecedented surge.

Thirty times over!

One yuan had become more than thirty in an instant. Such a staggering rise sent not only Liu Qian but the entire hall into chaos.

“What have I done? I bought my personal bonds for only two yuan each—if I hadn't sold them earlier, I’d have quadrupled my money by now!”

“You paid two yuan? I got in at one yuan—that’s a ninefold increase! Curse my lack of resolve! The moment I sold my personal bonds, I lost half my money. Bought into collective bonds, and now I’ve lost half again! This is just disastrous!”

“My money! My money! In a single buy and sell, my five thousand is down to just over a thousand! I drove my car in here, but now I’ll be leaving on a bicycle!”

Those who had abandoned personal bonds at the opening, hoping to recoup their losses with collective bonds, were now beating their chests in regret. Meanwhile, those who held collective bonds from the start were in total despair.

“It’s over, it’s all over. Ruined! Ruined!”

“I bought in at the peak, and now it’s worth no more than scrap paper! Eight thousand yuan, and now I’d be lucky to recover a few hundred!”

“How am I supposed to explain this to my wife? She warned me not to buy, but I wouldn’t listen. I thought I’d strike it rich, but instead I’ve lost everything!”

The hall filled with wails of anguish. Collective bonds had plummeted to the very edge of the screen—if not for the screen’s size, the line would have crashed off the bottom altogether. Starting from face value, they’d dropped to just twenty cents, even lower than the lowest point of personal bonds.

Many had bought in before the market opened, when collective bonds, influenced by market hype, had soared from their ten-yuan face value to twenty yuan—double, and even then there were more buyers than sellers. After the sub-branch had sold out, private trades pushed the price to three times face value. Yet now, they’d collapsed to twenty cents—a complete wipeout.

In a crowded corner of the sub-branch hall:

"Hahaha! Thank goodness I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket! Otherwise, I’d have been wiped out too! Now, not only have I avoided losses—I’ve actually made quite a bit!"

Liu Mingli had arrived early that morning, but with the crowd swelling and everyone’s attention fixed on the big screen, he hadn’t noticed Liu Qian. Now, his face was glowing with relief at his narrow escape.

Luckily, fate had played its hand—he’d arrived just after that mysterious, generous stranger had made his move. Otherwise, he’d never have bought personal bonds, and would now be just another voice in the chorus of lamentation.

“Hahaha, by my calculations, even if I throw all my collective bonds in the trash, I’ll still clear a thousand in profit!”

A net profit of one thousand—this was from personal bonds he’d bought a few days before the market opened, when prices hadn’t yet hit rock bottom. If he’d bought just now, his principal would have grown from ten thousand to thirty thousand!

“I wonder if that mysterious figure is here today, and where he might be. If I could make his acquaintance, it would be the fortune of a lifetime!”

Joy filled his heart and deepened his admiration for the mysterious man who had spent twenty thousand in one go, now grown to ten times its value—and still rising! Who knew how high it would go by the end of the day, when the sub-branch closed? Dozens of thousands—this one trade alone matched the sum of Liu Mingli’s lifetime of toil. No, it was several times more than that.

What kind of person was this? What kind of wisdom did it take to act with such audacity, to buy personal bonds in bulk when everyone else was intoxicated with collective bonds, and in the end reap a fortune? Only those with great nerve and great intelligence could achieve such a feat! Or perhaps, he had inside information from someone on the inside? Either way, to meet such a person would be Liu Mingli’s greatest honor—an opportunity with endless rewards.

“Let me look around—maybe that mysterious figure is right here among the crowd.”

With that, Liu Mingli began to scan the hall, searching intently. Suddenly, he froze. A figure so familiar it was impossible to mistake had entered his sight.

“What is a young lady like her doing here? This is nonsense!”

With a frown, Liu Mingli pushed his way through the crowd, heading straight toward where Liu Qian and Wu Ya were standing. The two of them were still focused on the big screen, completely unaware of the angry middle-aged man making his approach. Seeing a young man standing beside his daughter, Liu Mingli’s displeasure turned instantly into rage.

“You—”

He strode up and had just begun to scold when—

“Look! Who is that? Their account balance has reached a staggering two hundred sixty thousand!”

A cry of astonishment drowned out his words. The big screen had already changed, now showing the movement of all clients’ account balances over the past hour—anonymous, of course, as a reference point for the next round of trading, much like the legendary “stock gods” of the modern era. And at the very top of the list, a figure so dizzyingly large it made everyone’s head spin, drew every gaze in the hall.

An uproar swept the room. The hall erupted.