Chapter 19

◎ Mrs. Feng’s Mysterious Logic ◎

Fan Qi rubbed her eyes, her eyelids heavy with sleep.

A flood of memories rushed into her mind. What did she do last night?

She sat up abruptly—last night, she had cried her heart out in front of Chen Zhiqian and whined about how hard life was.

Was that a dream? Or did it actually happen?

Chen Zhiqian seemed to be pretty good-tempered… didn’t he even hand her a tissue?

No way—that had to be a dream. Crying like that in real life would’ve been way too embarrassing. She reminded herself of the Mandela Effect—when you’re sure something happened, but it didn’t.

Trying to mentally brace herself, Fan Qi got up, climbed on the bed, and turned off the air conditioner. Blessed silence. But then, she looked down and saw a pack of tissues sitting on the windowsill.

So it wasn’t the Mandela Effect. It really happened.

She couldn’t fool herself anymore. Turning off the AC, she got out of bed and pushed open the door.

Chen Zhiqian, who was making breakfast, looked over. “You’re up?”

Fan Qi stuck close to the wall as she passed by, giving a short reply, “Mm.” Then she darted into the bathroom. Sitting on the toilet lid, she propped her face in her hands. Ever since transmigrating, she’d made a fool of herself in front of Chen Zhiqian over and over, like some clown.

Chen Zhiqian was supposed to be a big shot in the novel. And she—she was a badass in the real world. How could she keep losing ground to him?

“Fan Qi, are you done? Come eat.”

“Yeah, coming,” she replied.

After brushing her teeth and tying up her hair, she came out to see a simple breakfast: a plate of stir-fried radish pickles with egg, and two bowls of plain congee.

She picked up her chopsticks, scooped some radish-egg stir-fry onto her congee, and took a bite. “If this were radish pickles stir-fried with edamame, now that would be perfection.”

Chen Zhiqian’s chopsticks paused mid-air for a moment, then he went back to eating.

Fan Qi sipped her congee, wondering what that pause meant. Oh! Maybe he thought she was being ungrateful? That she was pushing her luck just because he gave her an inch?

“I just miss Shanghai food, that’s all.”

“Mm.” Chen Zhiqian’s reply was brief.

After breakfast, they went downstairs together. This time they were taking the subway. They walked side by side in silence. As they passed a newsstand, Fan Qi paused. Maybe it was better if he just kept walking. Walking silently together was way too awkward.

But no—he waited for her nearby.

She bought two newspapers and walked over to him.

“You can get a monthly subscription,” Chen Zhiqian reminded her. “They’ll deliver it to the mailbox downstairs.”

“I like reading different ones. This is convenient enough.” Finally, something to talk about.

They entered the subway station together. Fan Qi planned to read the newspaper while waiting for the train. Remembering she wasn’t alone, she handed him one of the papers. “You wanna read?”

Chen Zhiqian took it and opened it up. Just then, Fan Qi spotted a headline: “Stunner Fan Qi Seen in Lamborghini with Feng Shao Late at Night.”

“Give me that!” she snatched the paper from his hands and flipped it over to read the article.

“The train’s here,” Chen Zhiqian said, and when he saw she was still absorbed in the paper, he pulled her into the car with him.

The subway car was packed during the morning rush hour. Clearly more experienced than she was, Chen Zhiqian quickly guided her deeper into the carriage, which was far more comfortable than being squeezed near the doors like the past few days.

With a bit of space now, Fan Qi took out the newspaper and resumed reading the article.

A photo accompanied it—she and Feng Xueming sitting in a car, waiting at a red light.

In the picture, Feng Xueming was turned toward her, speaking. Probably due to the angle, he appeared very focused on her.

These paparazzi were truly impossible to guard against.

The article claimed that Feng Xueming was extremely fond of this particular Lamborghini, and that no other female celebrity had ever had the privilege of sitting in it. Therefore, it speculated that she must hold a special place in his heart.

Really? Just sitting in his car is supposed to mean something?

She kept reading. The piece listed the various actresses Feng Xueming had dated—some relationships lasted a year, others just a few days. She was the fifth one in the past two years.

Apparently, Feng Xueming had quite the appetite. He had even dated two starlets at the same time before.

After going through the list, the article added that most of these actresses were just using Feng Xueming to stir up publicity. Everyone knew marrying into the Feng family wasn’t really on the table. Just look at how the Qiao and Zhang families formed an alliance through marriage a couple years ago—the Qiao family heir had been in a fiery romance with a former beauty queen, and the Zhang heiress was dating a doctor. Still, the two got married in the end.

Liu Xiangnian’s health was a growing concern. Ever since his son and daughter-in-law died in a car accident, he’d poured all his attention into his grandson. Xu Miao’er was his chosen match—there was no room for surprises. So even if Fan Qi had ridden in a Lamborghini, it didn’t mean a thing.

Was it really just a car? You’d think it was a royal throne from the way people talked. Weren’t they all independent individuals? Why did she have to be the one being “chosen”? Didn’t she have the right to choose too?

“You’re at your stop,” Chen Zhiqian reminded her. “Better get ready.”

“Mhm.” Fan Qi folded up the paper and squeezed her way out.

As soon as Fan Qi stepped into the Yaohua office and hadn’t even sat down yet, Miss Xiang and another female colleague came over, whispering mysteriously, “Fan Qi, are you really seeing Feng Xueming?”

“How’s that possible?” Fan Qi countered. “Just sitting in his Lamborghini means we’re together now?”

“So… is Young Master Feng pursuing you, then?”

“What are you all gossiping about?” Liao Jiqing’s tone was casual.

Still, with the big boss chiming in, the staff quickly dispersed. Liao Jiqing walked over with Liao Yazhe and said to Fan Qi, “Let’s go, time for the pre-market meeting.”

“Got it.” Fan Qi grabbed her notebook and followed.

She took the seat next to Liao Yazhe in the meeting room. He leaned in and whispered, “So last night, Feng Xueming drove you home and ran into your boyfriend?”

“How does he know everything?” she whispered back.

“I heard it on the entertainment news while in the car this morning. Said you were in his car, so I called him to ask.”

Liao Jiqing tapped on the table, cutting their whispering short. Fan Qi turned her full attention to the market analysis.

“Fan Qi, give us your take on Ailai Electronics. You sold it at the high last week, and it closed at 7 cents. That was textbook day trading.”

Fan Qi stood up and explained her logic behind the buy and sell, then gave her current assessment: “On Friday, the main force intentionally drove up the price to attract momentum traders. It held around 9 cents for over ten minutes before fluctuating. If it had closed above 8 cents, today’s opening pressure would’ve been lighter. But it was forced down to 7 cents, so I expect it to open lower today. The price will probably stay underwater all morning. That said, based on the tape, it looks like the main force is still accumulating. The real resistance is at the 16-cent peak from last June. If I were trading it, I’d aim for a touch at that high this afternoon, then let it fall to above 10 cents to form a base. It should oscillate around there for a few days before pushing upward.”

“If you’re confident, it could go up threefold today, right?”

“Exactly. I’ve decided to really squeeze some profits out of this one.” She turned to Liao Yazhe. “Liao-ge, get me 5,300 lots.”

The pre-market call auction began. On Friday, the Liao father-son duo had been involved with some of the hottest stocks. The bidding was now quite active.

After reviewing Friday’s trades and a few key stocks to watch, Fan Qi opened the page for Ailai Electronics. Liao Yazhe glanced over.

“It’s already dropped to 7 cents on Friday, and people are still dumping it? Is that opening price seriously 5 cents? Shouldn’t we hold off? That’s a nasty drop. I doubt it’ll recover any time soon.”

“It’s fine. This is the main force’s last test of support. If they can’t break past the previous high, there won’t be the volume needed to open a new uptrend. For a penny stock like this, the goal isn’t just small gains. If this were a normal stock, a fall like this would be a breakdown.”

Liao Yazhe placed her order for 5,300 lots.

Fan Qi stopped watching Ailai Electronics and helped Liao Yazhe track the stocks they and his father held. In this sluggish market, trading was tough. Mini-funds could come and go freely, but managing large capital like theirs required careful planning to exit positions.

By 2 p.m., most of the rebalancing and stock switching was done. Fan Qi let out a yawn.

“You seem a bit off today,” Liao Yazhe noted.

“Didn’t sleep well last night. I’ll go to the office and make a cup of coffee.”

Liao Yazhe whistled. “Your boyfriend that intense?”

How was she supposed to answer that? “He’s… alright, I guess.”

“Not too satisfied with your boyfriend?”

He wasn’t letting up. “Keep an eye on Ailai Electronics for me. If it breaks past 16 cents, get me out. I’m heading up to rest. Don’t wait for me.”

“Go ahead.”

Fan Qi took her mug to the pantry for coffee. She overheard Miss Xiang’s voice: “Honestly, instead of chasing Feng Xueming, Fan Qi would be better off with the young boss. Can’t you all see how much the big boss likes her?”

“Exactly! As if anyone really cares about being the future Mrs. Feng. The Feng family obviously favors the second wife’s side. Her advantage is just that her own family’s powerful.”

“This morning Fan Qi bought into Ailai Electronics again. I picked up some at the open too,” said Miss Xiang.

“She made so much in just a few days last time—must’ve been luck, right? Penny stocks are volatile; there’s always someone gambling on them.”

Fan Qi walked in. “Miss Xiang, having tea?”

“Yeah! We were just talking about how you bought Ailai Electronics this morning.”

“Just hold onto it for a while, don’t trade in and out too frequently. The price you got today is probably the lowest we’ll see for some time. Of course, that’s just my personal opinion.” Fan Qi was making coffee as she spoke. She noticed a newspaper on the tea table with a bold headline: ‘Xu Miao’er’s Position at Risk? Madam Feng Responds.’

She reached out and picked up the paper. It featured a photo of Xu Miao’er, with the caption next to her mouth reading: “Makes me want to puke.”

Turns out, this was the follow-up to the news from this morning. The paparazzi, ever persistent, had gone to stake out the Xu family residence. Xu Miao’er, who’d just received flowers and gifts a couple of days ago, had now been informed that her fiancé’s luxury car had been seen carrying another woman. Upon hearing this, she reportedly said the sight made her want to throw up—and then drove the reporters away.

Not giving up, the paparazzi tracked down Feng Xueming’s mother. Madam Feng said: “A proper wife should have the grace and composure to tolerate these things. To a man, this kind of situation is like a casual game of mahjong or a round of golf. Would your wife get upset if you went to see a movie?”

The article ended with a summary: Madam Feng’s words carried a double meaning—on one hand, reaffirming the marriage alliance between the two families, and on the other, giving a veiled warning to her future daughter-in-law. As for that girl from the North? She didn’t even register on the radar of someone born into real wealth.