Hong Kong.
What a great place!
The climate is so pleasant.
This wasn’t Tang Xin’s first time here, and she had shared plenty of insights and precautions along the way.
Upon arrival, they were greeted by their local partner company.
It wasn’t just Cao Cheng and Tang Xin who came—they were part of a team that included specialized financial lawyers and professionals well-versed in the financial regulations of mainland China, Hong Kong, and the U.S.
There was a lot to do.
But Cao Cheng didn’t need to handle everything personally. He just had to delegate tasks and let the team negotiate.
Things like currency exchange, opening bank accounts.
Most importantly, leveraging the futures market to buy RMB-USD futures contracts…
What did that mean?
Well, knowing there would be exchange rate fluctuations next year and that the RMB would appreciate, it was only natural to position themselves early.
Otherwise, after shorting the U.S. market and returning, they might find that the profits from the short were partially wiped out by exchange rate volatility. That would be a huge loss.
Truth be told,
this time, Young Master Cao was relying entirely on himself.
His memories didn’t include any news reports about exchange rates—unless there were drastic rises or falls, normal annual fluctuations rarely made headlines.
So,
Young Master Cao didn’t know the exact details of next year’s exchange rates.
But he had studied enough finance to work backward. Once he confirmed a major crisis was looming in the U.S., he deduced that the RMB would appreciate.
He didn’t know by how much.
But that was enough.
So, he secured some futures contracts, added options for hedging, and arranged currency swap agreements with local financial institutions…
Using RMB as collateral, they borrowed USD from banks, with contracts stipulating repayment in RMB a year later.
In simple terms, money borrowed at 7.5 now could be repaid at 6.5 later.
Doing nothing, they’d make a 13% profit in a year.
All it cost was a small amount of interest.
And they didn’t have to worry about exchange rate fluctuations.
A guaranteed win.
That was the gist of it.
However,
all of this required negotiation.
With plenty of cash on hand, Cao Cheng had leverage in every discussion.
Finance is ever-changing.
Even if something didn’t exist yet, as long as there was profit to be made, capital would inevitably find its way in.
……
Two weeks later.
The team was exhausted.
But Cao Cheng and Tang Xin were living leisurely.
For the first time, Tang Xin experienced the sheer bliss of doing nothing.
No worries at all.
Especially with Cao Cheng around—it felt like nothing could bother them.
Shopping, strolling, occasionally checking the domestic stock market.
The two looked every bit like a young couple, drawing endless envy and resentment wherever they went.
The fact that they even had bodyguards only added to the “disdain”—clearly, they came from extraordinary backgrounds.
By the end of those two weeks,
the domestic market had been stuck in a sideways trend.
It seemed like bulls and bears were locked in a fierce battle—from around 5,300 points on January 2nd to roughly 5,500 points by January 14th.
A slow, volatile climb.
Signs of a market recovery, with the bulls gaining the upper hand.
Was it going to keep rising?
But professionals knew better. The daily trading volume was sky-high, with massive sell-offs and buy-ins.
Who was selling? Who was buying? It was obvious!
It wasn’t just retail investors jumping in—foreign capital was involved too.
After all, the bursting of this bubble had… certain influences behind it. Deliberately triggered. It wasn’t hard to imagine how many international hedge funds were sitting on paper losses.
They were getting trapped too.
……
That evening.
Tang Xin rested her legs on Cao Cheng’s lap—she was tired after a whole day out.
Cao Cheng was massaging them for her.
Tang Xin scrolled through messages on a laptop.
She was browsing domestic forums, logged into Cao Cheng’s account.
His inbox was flooded with hate.
She was reading through the insults.
At first, it had annoyed her, but after two weeks with Cao Cheng, his attitude had rubbed off on her. Now, instead of getting angry, she burst into laughter from time to time.
“This guy’s insults are filthy.”
“And this one—full of rhymes, mocking you and your fans in doggerel! ‘White dog bloated, followers brain-dead!’ Hahahaha…”
“…” Cao Cheng was speechless.
Tang Xin glanced at him, eyes glinting playfully. “This guy’s roasting you with solid arguments. Hard to refute.”
Cao Cheng kept massaging.
Focused on kneading her muscles, he asked casually, “What’s he saying?”
Tang Xin grinned. “He says, ‘Don’t be such a stock god wannabe.’ Hah, that’s actually funny…”
Cao Cheng shot her a look. What did she know?
A decade later, that line wouldn’t even qualify as a meme.
Tang Xin kept laughing. “He claims you cost him hundreds of thousands. He liquidated his positions in December after reading your post—back when the market bottomed at 4,800. He panicked, saw your analysis, and trusted you. Hahaha…”
“…” Cao Cheng pinched her leg hard.
Tang Xin yelped, glaring. “Ow! Why take it out on me? He’s the one complaining! The market rebounded to 5,500 this month. He could’ve kept profiting, but now he’s down over 500K…”
“Overall, he’s still up, but he blames you for his sleepless nights and lost appetite!”
Cao Cheng scoffed. “Ungrateful bastard. I saved his life, and he’s still whining. Hand me the laptop—let me shut him up.”
“Tell me what to type, I’ll do it.” Tang Xin smirked.
Cao Cheng didn’t refuse. “Tell him: If he’s so smart, he shouldn’t read my posts. A crash is coming—no one can stop it. If he doesn’t believe me, go all in. Don’t let me look down on him.”
Tang Xin typed while giggling, relaying Cao Cheng’s words.
Lately, she’d gotten into the habit of helping him clap back.
Not only had she discovered the joy of doing nothing, but she also found that trolling could be cathartic.
As long as she stayed unbothered, others would be the ones seething.
“Haha, he replied.”
“What’d he say?”
“Calls you trash. Says he’s going all in tomorrow—Tuesday. Any dip, and he’s buying. Never trusting a ‘stock god’ like you again.”
Cao Cheng nodded. “Spine of steel. I respect that. What’s his username?”
“Stock Market Hunter.”
“Great name!”
Cao Cheng chuckled. “Follow him. Remind him daily. Push him to keep adding positions—until he’s maxed out.”
There were plenty like him.
Inbox full of curses.
People regretting ever listening to Cao Cheng.
Some had been grateful—back at 4,800, those who followed his advice avoided losses and even gloated over others’ misfortune. They felt smart for picking Cao Cheng’s analysis out of the noise.
That counted as skill, right?
Their own achievement.
But then,
when the market bounced to 5,500, gratitude turned to vitriol. Now they blamed him for missing out.
Such was human nature.
……
Yet,
the next two weeks showed everyone what it meant to catch a falling knife.
The global situation took a nosedive…
True devastation everywhere!
No one was spared.
It finally stopped after dropping from 5500 to 4200!
At that moment,
Cao Cheng said to Tang Xin, "This is just the beginning. It’ll probably go back to where it came from!"
Those words sent a chill down Tang Xin’s spine—back below 1600?
Her admiration for Cao Cheng instantly soared to its peak.
And…
Everything fell perfectly into place.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
spital. Good news: I've bound a system. Bad news: I'm still a baby. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the middle-aged for being poor — Divorce Comeback System." "Your marriage may have failed, but your luck in love has never run dry. Your childhood sweetheart, out of contact for twenty years, reappears. Her beauty remains, yet her eyes are brimming with tears." [Listen to the childhood sweetheart's sorrowful story.] Chen Zhi looked down at the diaper he was wearing, then at the little childhood sweetheart crying her heart out beside him, and fell into deep thought. Can anyone relate? I'm having a midlife crisis at an age where even rolling over is a struggle.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
