Chapter Twenty-One: The Stock Market Sage

Back at Liu Beishan's home, Hua Shi'er did not go to sleep. Instead, he sat on the sofa, sipping beer while waiting for the results of the three Bundesliga matches.

Although, as a time-traveler with prior knowledge, he knew the final scores, the prospect of tens of thousands in prize money made it hard for him to remain calm until the dust had settled.

However, as he drank, his eyelids grew heavy. When he opened them again, the warm morning sunlight was streaming through the window; it was already the next morning.

Hua Shi'er quickly pulled out his phone to check the results: Freiburg had defeated Hoffenheim 3-2, and Borussia Mönchengladbach had thrashed Cologne 5-1.

He pumped his fist—the first two matches were correct!

Now, he was only one match away from becoming a millionaire: the game tonight between Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern.

Hua Shi'er got up to wash, heated a bag of milk, and boiled an egg for breakfast. Once finished, he hopped on his bike and headed out.

At 9:30 AM, Hua Shi'er walked into the stock trading hall on time, accompanied by Laizi and Dakang, who had tagged along, nervous to see the results.

When the two saw the 15% profit, they couldn't help but cheer, drawing sidelong glances from the surrounding investors.

Hua Shi'er joked with a smile, "Look at you two, acting like you've never seen the world. This is just the beginning; we'll have profits like this every day!"

With that, he operated the exchange's computer, choosing to sell all his holdings. The 15% gain was safely in his pocket.

"Brother Beishan, why did you sell? It’s still going up!"

Seeing that the stock was still marked in red—which he knew meant it was rising—Laizi grew anxious as he watched Hua Shi'er sell.

Dakang, who had a calmer temperament, scolded him: "Do you know stocks, or does he? Neither of us does, so we listen to Brother Beishan!"

Laizi explained, "I just thought it was a pity, since it's still climbing!"

Hua Shi'er shook his head with a smile, too lazy to explain. The stock would certainly continue to rise, but he had no specific memory of its performance beyond that day. This proved that the stock's trajectory for the next day wasn't in the information he had collected, meaning it hadn't hit the daily limit, so there was no point in holding it.

He entered a new stock code, and a green symbol appeared on the screen—a stock that had opened at the daily limit-down.

When a stock hits the limit-up, it’s easy to sell but hard to buy. When it hits the limit-down, it’s easy to buy but hard to sell. Since his choice wouldn't be affected by the buy-sell restriction, he immediately went all-in.

Seeing him buy a limit-down stock, Laizi panicked again: "Brother Beishan, why are you buying a falling stock instead of one that's going up?"

Dakang shoved Laizi's shoulder: "I said listen to Brother Beishan, stop making trouble!"

"No, I'm just worried for him!"

"Alright, just wait and see the results!"

The data Hua Shi'er had the finance student collect for him featured one stock code per day, each representing a stock that would hit the limit-up. The code for April 10, 2011, was definitely this one; he was certain of it.

In other words, even though the stock was currently at the limit-down, it would undoubtedly hit the limit-up by the close of the market.

That was the beauty of it. By buying at the limit-down and selling at the limit-up, he would make a 20% profit in a single day. It was faster than robbery.

His judgment was correct. Not long after he finished the trade and before he had even logged out, the stock he had bought opened up from its limit-down position and began a visible rebound.

"It's up! It's up! It’s actually going up!"

Watching it rebound by 3% in the blink of an eye, Laizi excitedly lunged at Hua Shi'er to give him a hug, but was shoved away.

Laizi rubbed his chest and complained, "Damn, Brother Beishan, where do you get all that strength?"

Dakang patted Laizi's shoulder and laughed, "It’s just that you're a weakling!"

"Let's go, time to eat!"

Before the market closed at noon, the stock Hua Shi'er had bought had already hit the limit-up. In just half a day, he had made a 20% profit, adding over 4,000 yuan to his account. Barring any surprises, the gains would hold until the afternoon close, allowing him to sell tomorrow and secure the profit.

Don't underestimate the power of a daily limit-up. Even setting aside today's 20% gain, if one were to consistently achieve a 10% daily return, statistics show it takes 47 limit-ups to turn 10,000 into 1 million (10,000 * 1.1^47 = 1.06 million).

To reach 5 million, it takes 66 limit-ups (10,000 * 1.1^66 = 5.39 million).

After one hundred limit-ups, the initial investment of 10,000 would exceed 100 million.

Hua Shi'er had recorded over 360 limit-up stocks. Imagine how much he would make!

Of course, as his snowball grew larger, his influence would increase, making it impossible to go all-in on one stock; he would have to diversify.

But he remembered the economic trends for many years to come. With the big picture in his grasp, he was like a pig standing in the path of a gale—he could fly. As for investing... was that even a problem?

Hua Shi'er’s "god-like" operations in the trading hall completely conquered Dakang and Laizi. The latter no longer had any doubts; in their eyes, Brother Beishan was a stock market genius.

He grabbed a meal at Dakang's place at noon, and when the old man was finishing his shift in the evening, he left on his motorcycle.

On the way home, as the sky grew dark, Hua Shi'er spotted a familiar figure on the side of the road and couldn't help but sigh—Liu Beishan and Chen Nian were truly fated.

He rode up behind her and honked. The person turned around; it was Chen Nian.

"Where are you going? Want a ride?"

Chen Nian hesitated. Deep down, as a model student, she didn't want to associate with a petty thug who got into fights.

However, due to recent events, Chen Nian had been suffering from school bullying at the hands of Wei Lai and two other students. This bullying hadn't been confined to the campus; she was occasionally harassed on her way home, too.

So, when Hua Shi'er offered a ride, she felt tempted.

Seeing her expression, Hua Shi'er knew she was wavering. He laughed, "I'm not trying to hit on you. You tried to help me call the police the other day, so I consider you a friend. Get on!"

Chen Nian pursed her lips, walked over in silence, and sat behind him.

*Vroom.*

The bike started, then braked suddenly. Caught off guard, Chen Nian collided with Hua Shi'er’s back, her hands instinctively wrapping tightly around his waist.

Hua Shi'er laughed, "I told you not to be so careless!" He twisted the throttle and drove off.

Chen Nian knew he was referring to her failure to hold on when getting on the bike. Recalling the moment from yesterday and just now, her face flushed. She raised her hand, wanting to hit him in the back, but felt they weren't close enough for such a flirtatious gesture. She lowered her hand and gripped his waist firmly instead.

Guided by his passenger, Hua Shi'er stopped in front of a tenement building built in the 1990s. Chen Nian said, "I'm going up now," and got off without looking back.

However, just before she stepped onto the stairs, she paused. Still not turning, she said, "Thank you," and walked up.

Hua Shi'er’s lips curled into a slight smile. He locked his motorcycle and followed her up quickly.

Chen Nian soon noticed his movements and turned around, guardedly asking, "What do you want, following me?"

Hua Shi'er rolled his eyes in frustration.

"Look at this building—there must be at least eighty or a hundred households here. In a neighborhood this dense, if you scream, tons of people will come out to watch. What could I possibly do? I'm just looking out for you in the dark and walking you to your door!"

Chen Nian realized he had a point, so she said, "I'm used to walking alone. You don't need to."

"Whether you need it is your business; whether I walk you is my freedom."

Seeing his stubbornness, Chen Nian said nothing more and turned to walk away.

When she reached her door, she froze. The hallway and the door were plastered with flyers. They featured photos of her mother, claiming she owed money and sold fake masks that caused allergic reactions, with the word "LIAR" printed in large, bold letters.

Hua Shi'er reached out to pull one off the wall to look at it, but Chen Nian turned and snatched it from his hand. She didn't say a word, turned, and went inside.

Watching the heavy door slam shut, Hua Shi'er recalled the plot and knew he had to speed things up.

He silently tore down all the flyers from her door before turning and leaving.