010 Lotus’s Thoughts

“Are you going to the General Affairs Office?” Xia He was somewhat surprised. “There’s quite a lot of miscellaneous work there.”

“Then just assign me fewer tasks,” Fang Qingye replied half-jokingly, half-seriously. “The Credit Department does have power and prospects, but I’m not interested. Besides, greater power means greater responsibility. I’m not very resolute—if I get dragged into trouble, it won’t be worth it.”

Xia He couldn’t help but laugh. “Not resolute? Afraid of the femme fatale trick?”

Fang Qingye glanced at her but said nothing.

Xia He stopped joking and spoke seriously. “Alright then, as you wish. Start in the General Affairs Office. If it doesn’t suit you, you can switch departments later. Anyway, I plan to train you properly. You seemed so low-key before, but turns out you’re quite talented!”

No, please, don’t talk about training.

Can’t I just have a leisurely day?

But that was something he dared not say.

In fact, in his previous life, after finishing his internship, Fang Qingye was also assigned to the General Affairs Office. He wasn’t happy about it then.

I graduated from a 211 university majoring in finance—why not put me in the Credit Department?

Now, thinking back, the General Affairs Office is pretty good—easy to slack off, and you can use the external internet to monitor the stock market during work hours.

The two of them stopped discussing work and chatted for a while about university anecdotes while eating. After the meal, Fang Qingye sat for a moment and then took his leave. Naturally, Xia He didn’t try to keep him.

Just before leaving, Xia He suddenly said, “Xiao Fang, let’s add each other on QQ. If calling isn’t convenient, we can leave messages there.”

“Alright.” Fang Qingye took out his phone, and they added each other on QQ.

“East Sea Swordsman? That’s quite a fierce QQ name,” Xia He teased with a smile.

“Your QQ name is unique too—‘The Thoughts of the Lotus,’” Fang Qingye replied.

“Hey, just to be clear, I don’t have any special thoughts. It’s just a QQ name. Some people who add me keep asking, which is annoying!” Xia He said.

“I know. That name comes from a poem by Xi Murong, titled ‘The Thoughts of the Lotus.’ The first line actually contains your name,” Fang Qingye cleared his throat and recited:

“I am a blooming lotus in summer...”

“Keep going,” Xia He urged when he stopped.

“Sorry, I only remember the first line... Goodbye, senior,” Fang Qingye said and stepped out.

“Goodbye...” Xia He smiled and closed the door.

---

When Fang Qingye returned home, it was still before eight o’clock. Opening the door, he saw his mother, Zhang Meili, sitting in the living room, shelling sunflower seeds and watching TV.

“Finished eating?” Zhang Meili asked.

“Yeah,” Fang Qingye replied as he changed his shoes.

“Did Director Xia ask you to stay longer?” Zhang Meili turned her head toward him.

“Impossible. I’m not close with her, and she lives alone here in the county town. If I stay too long, people will gossip,” Fang Qingye said.

“Hm, good that you understand,” Zhang Meili continued shelling seeds and watching TV.

Fang Qingye was speechless.

His mother was always like this, so he didn’t argue and went back to his room to brew some tea.

In his previous life in Shen City, he had grown fond of coffee, but as he aged, he gradually developed a preference for tea. Later, he planned to use a thermos to steep goji berries to accompany his middle years. Now, having been reborn into his youth, his tea-drinking habit remained unchanged. Whether at work or home, he liked drinking fine tea.

The Jinghai area where Nanxin is located also produces tea: Rugao white tea, Haimen green tea, Nanxin Maojian, Junshan tea, and others. Though not as famous as Biluochun or Longjing, the quality is excellent.

More importantly, Fang Qingye didn’t have to spend his own money; his father’s study was stocked with fine teas gifted by various guests. Today, he was drinking a local top-grade Junshan tea called “Wolf Mountain Spring Dawn,” an authentic pre-Ming harvest.

After brewing a cup, Fang Qingye leisurely opened his computer, ready to do his own thing—naturally, stock trading.

Just yesterday, the 200,000 yuan borrowed from Song Dahai had arrived, so tonight he could plunge into the stock market.

In 2008, global stock markets were bleak—from the Dow Jones in the U.S. to the Frankfurt DAX to Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, all were filled with bad news. China’s A-shares were even more dreadful.

After the frenzy of 2007, the A-shares began to decline from a high in November 2007. Then, the subprime mortgage crisis hit in 2008, triggering a global financial tsunami. The economic environment deteriorated sharply worldwide, and the A-shares plummeted from the penthouse of over 6,000 points in late 2007 to a mere 1,664 points by October 2008—a drop of 72.8%, almost like free fall.

Now it was April, and the market had not yet bottomed out.

Still, even the worst bear markets present opportunities. In 2008, the agricultural sector was the strongest, with leading stock Longping High-Tech standing out and ranked among the ten most volatile stocks of the year.

Fang Qingye had his eyes on this stock.

Its “demon stock” status stemmed from its association with two main topics: first, the government’s approval of a major project for cultivating new genetically modified organisms, which attracted investors eager to bet on companies involved in GMOs, including Longping High-Tech.

Second, the company’s generous dividend policy.

The company was about to announce dividends and capital increase: for every 10 shares, shareholders would receive 1 share and 1 yuan cash dividend, plus 5 additional shares converted from the reserve fund—equivalent to 6 bonus shares per 10 held.

Fang Qingye remembered clearly that when he first entered the stock market, he had once debated fiercely in a stock chat group where someone predicted Longping High-Tech would soar due to its high dividends.

He had scoffed at the time. How could a company with mediocre performance be so generous? It must be a rumor!

Rumors flew everywhere in the market anyway.

But soon after, the company indeed announced the dividend plan, the government released new GMO policies, and the stock price soared beyond reach.

However, right now, none of this had happened yet.

Fang Qingye opened the Tonghuashun trading software and pulled up Longping High-Tech’s K-line chart for a close look.

Two months ago, the stock price surged from 15.5 yuan to a peak of 24.38 yuan, then quickly dropped. Last week’s low was 13.11 yuan, wiping out all gains in just a month and breaking the previous bottom—a breakdown pattern that investors hate.

A breakdown may be a clear sell signal!

Moreover, the weekly K-line chart showed four long bearish candles in a row, quite frightening.

Back then, Fang Qingye saw this and made the wrong call, thinking the major players were offloading shares and hurried to sell.

In reality, it was the opposite—the main players were fiercely shaking out weak hands to reduce the cost of pushing the price higher.

He was so inexperienced back then.

In the A-share market, 99% of retail investors are novices, mere chives to be harvested by the big players.

This time, Fang Qingye didn’t overthink it. Seeing the previous day’s closing price at 14.38 yuan, he simply bought in at that price, putting all 200,000 yuan into 13,900 shares.

He placed the order and expected the price to drop again tomorrow, so the system would automatically buy more.

With everything settled, Fang Qingye exited Tonghuashun and logged into QQ.

At this time, WeChat hadn’t emerged yet, and QQ was bustling—many friends and even more chat groups. Fang Qingye had joined over a dozen stock groups. When he opened QQ, the little penguin icon blinked wildly, accompanied by continuous notification sounds.

But in this life, Fang Qingye was too lazy to check them all; all notification sounds and group messages were muted, and he logged in as invisible, only checking for useful information occasionally.

Today, for some reason, he accidentally set his status to “visible.” As he was about to browse university and high school classmates’ groups for important messages, he noticed his QQ status suddenly switched back to invisible, and a window popped up.

“Invincible Cosmic Youthful Beauty” was requesting a video chat!

Her QQ avatar was a cute anime girl in a sailor uniform, likely from the manga “Landlord Girl’s Adolescence,” probably Nakachie—very kawaii.

Fang Qingye was startled, recalled something, and decisively clicked the “X” to decline.