Chapter 32: Whose Opportunity?

The next day dawned bright and sunny.

After a night of light rain, the morning air in Shanghai was exceptionally fresh, carrying the delicate, floral scent unique to April.

On Century Avenue in Shanghai, a brand-new four-door BMW M3 coupe sped down the main road. The roar of the internal combustion engine prompted Tao Yu'ang, in the driver's seat, to press down further on the accelerator.

"Vroom—"

The speed surged once more.

They say the poor play with cars while the rich play with watches, but for Tao Yu'ang, whose career was just hitting its stride, this M3—which cost nearly a million yuan on the road—already allowed him to experience the thrill that wealth could bring.

Shortly after, the car pulled into the parking lot of Building 1568.

He parked with practiced ease in the space reserved for Huaxin Securities and headed straight for the elevator bank. After stepping inside, he adjusted his name badge and pressed the button for the third floor.

As the sensation of weightlessness faded and a "ding" sounded, he arrived at the third floor, where the Shanghai branch of Huaxin Securities was located.

"Good morning, Manager Tao."

"Good morning."

As soon as he entered the reception area, the young receptionist stood up to greet him, and Tao Yu'ang nodded in acknowledgment.

"Oh, by the way, Manager Tao, Supervisor Li mentioned earlier that if you arrived, he would like you to stop by his office first."

Even though Huaxin Securities was a massive, top-tier domestic brokerage firm, in a place like Lujiazui where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, they still had to prioritize cost-cutting.

"Got it."

"Then I'll let you get back to work, Manager Tao."

"Right."

Tao Yu'ang walked briskly through the office area, heading straight for Supervisor Li's private office. While it was called a private office, it was essentially a simple space partitioned off with soundproof glass and privacy film.

"Knock, knock—"

Tao Yu'ang knocked on the open glass door.

Inside sat a man in his fifties with thick hair and gold-rimmed glasses, dressed in a white shirt. This was Li Zhenrui, a senior executive at the Shanghai branch of Huaxin Securities and Tao Yu'ang's direct superior.

"Supervisor."

"Ah, Yu'ang, come on in."

"Should I close the door?"

"No need."

Tao Yu'ang stepped into the office, moved to the side of the desk, and waited for what was next.

Li Zhenrui wore an appreciative expression as he looked over and said, "I didn't expect it, but you're actually quite good at writing market research reports. Have you considered starting a subscription column? The company can provide the resources to promote it."

"Huh?"

Tao Yu'ang was completely bewildered.

Seeing him playing coy, Li Zhenrui laughed. "Don't worry about the increased workload. If the column takes off, doubling your income won't be a problem."

At this moment, Tao Yu'ang was utterly baffled. He had never written a market research report in his life. Furthermore, even if he had, how would Li Zhenrui know?

"You, you’re just too fond of keeping a low profile. Three days ago, didn't you leave work early saying you had something to attend to? It just so happened that a major client was looking for you that day, so I used your computer to log into the backend to approve his subscription funds. That’s when I discovered that you, kid, are actually capable of writing market research reports—and they're even better than what the data department produces."

Li Zhenrui explained the sequence of events and added, "I’m only helping you secure this opportunity because of Shuxue. If you can get this column going, you might just be the next Sun Jiandong."

Sun Jiandong joined China Asset Management in 2004, became the manager of the China Dividend Fund in June 2005, and took on the role of manager for the China Renaissance Fund in January 2008. During his tenure, the China Dividend Fund saw a total return of over 500%. In 2008, despite a market downturn, the China Renaissance Fund achieved a net value growth rate of 29.873%, an outstanding performance that earned it a spot as one of the top ten stock funds in the 2008 China Fund Rankings.

Only those who have worked as fund managers understand that the income gap between a star manager and an ordinary one is like an impassable chasm. Taking a star manager like Sun Jiandong as an example, his annual management fees were at least ten million yuan.

With the company's backing, it would be a lie to say Tao Yu'ang wasn't tempted. But the problem was that the research report hadn't been written by him.

The report file on his desktop was something he had heard Zhang Yang was selling to students at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics; he had specifically acquired it through other student channels as a pirated copy. Initially, he had thought, "What kind of quality could a student possibly produce?" But as he delved into it, he discovered Zhang Yang's terrifying talent. That was precisely why, when he confronted Zhang Yang on Monday, he hadn't forgotten to extend an olive branch.

Talented financial market analysts are highly sought after wherever they go. It’s like the "Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics" of the finance world; as long as you master these, you can conquer the major cities or find success anywhere.

"Have you thought it over? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Li Zhenrui asked again.

"I’ll go back and think about it. You know, Supervisor, I’m already thirty-two, and I’ve been thinking about getting married to Shuxue first."

As Tao Yu'ang used Yue Shuxue as a shield, his brain raced, trying to figure out how to seize this opportunity. Becoming a star fund manager was like a background actor on a film set suddenly becoming a red-hot superstar—the income was on an entirely different scale.

"I see. That’s fine. Go ahead and get married first. We can talk about this again after that."

Li Zhenrui nodded slightly. If it had been any other reason, he might have been annoyed. But because it involved Yue Shuxue, he had to show some respect—after all, her father was a leader in the audit department.

...

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Wudong Road Campus.

A new day began. After a quick wash, Zhang Yang headed straight to the cafeteria for breakfast. There were no investment classes on Thursday, effectively making it a day off—the most pleasant kind of day in university life.

Seeing Zhang Yang carrying his laptop bag and arriving for breakfast so early, many underclassmen immediately recognized him as a senior in the Investment major. While other seniors were busy, only the Investment students typically arrived at the cafeteria with laptops early in the morning, as they were the only ones who needed to trade on the capital markets at 9:15 AM.

Because the current class of Investment seniors was far ahead in the "Huaxin Simulation Trading Competition," the school's online forum was extremely lively. Students from universities like Tsinghua, Peking University, Fudan, Central University of Finance and Economics, and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics had all come to scout for intelligence, wanting to know why a B+ tier university was outperforming A+ tier ones.

In a thread with over 400 replies, a student from the Central University of Finance and Economics asked if the Investment students at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics were on steroids, as some of them had yields approaching the 50% mark, while their own highest was only 35%. The gap was obvious.

Students and alumni from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics chimed in:

[Little Flower]: "Fortune can change in thirty years; don't underestimate the poor students of our school!"

[Little Naughty]: "A 50% return? This batch of seniors is truly insane. Maybe our university's Investment major will reach an A-level!"

[White Girl]: "I hope my alma mater rises quickly. I'm working like a beast for others now, but if the major's rating reaches A+, maybe I'll get a little reflected glory."

The forum's discussion about the Investment seniors brought unprecedented attention to the "Huaxin Simulation Trading Competition." All the students at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics were looking forward to the birth of a new flagship major; it was a matter of school honor.

After eating, Zhang Yang took his computer to the library. Because laptops were valuable items requiring registration, the underclassman Li Xiaochun, a Finance student with two braided pigtails, finished the registration and cheered him on: "Good luck, Senior Zhang Yang! Crush the other finance universities!"

"Sure, I'll do my best," Zhang Yang said with a faint smile.

He loved surfing the web, so he was naturally aware of the posts on the university forum. After registering his laptop, he headed straight to the Financial Analysis Room on the sixth floor.

He was actually looking forward to seeing whether Changan Automobile would hit its daily limit today. If it did, he would need to help Lai Weijie take profits on his simulation account and ensure the score remained in the bottom three of the top ten.

As for Xu Zhiruo's simulation account and password, they had been sent to his QQ last night. Now, he had to operate three securities accounts simultaneously, one of which was a real-money account.