Chapter 32.1

◎ The First Plush Toy ◎

Liu Xiangnian sat in a conference room, looking out over Victoria Harbour through the glass with an unreadable expression. Across from him, Mr. Yin, the second-largest shareholder of Ailai Electronics, was discussing terms:

“Mr. Liu, if you’re truly interested, I can let it go for forty-three cents per share. Consider it for the sake of your beloved grandson.”

“Ailai’s average share price over the past thirty trading days was just eighty cents. Now you want forty-three?”

Liu Xiangnian stood up. “That’s enough for today. Think it over more carefully.”

After the meeting, Liu Xiangnian’s assistant let out a scoffing laugh. “Mr. Yin, Ailai isn’t the only electronics OEM in Hong Kong. Honestly, your company’s just barely holding it together. Always in the red. Our young master only used your factory because he didn’t have money or resources at the time. Don’t believe me? Just wait—Mr. Liu’s about to buy Weike for him. When that happens, your Ailai shares that climbed from six cents? They’ll fall right back down. Your boss Mr. Huang took a perfectly good company and ran it into the ground. Right now the stock’s up, and we’re still willing to give you fifteen cents per share. You really don’t want to sell?”

As Liu Xiangnian was heading out, Mr. Yin called after him, “Mr. Liu, you won’t be able to acquire this many Ailai shares on the open market.”

That made Liu Xiangnian pause. “Twenty-five cents. Sell it or don’t.”

Mr. Yin hesitated a moment and replied, “Deal.”

After seeing the Ailai shareholder out, the assistant said, “Boss, isn’t this price a bit high? He got those shares through a transfer—if the acquisition fails, he won’t be able to sell them again for six months. We might get stuck with them.”

Leaning back in his chair, Liu Xiangnian replied, “If it’s for the boy’s return, this is money worth spending. This stake alone won’t get us control anyway. Start buying more Ailai shares from the market. Get Xu Xia to initiate the purchases.”

“Yes, sir.”

*

Fan Qi had just finished lunch and was hoping to nap at her desk when someone set a cup of coffee down in front of her. She looked up—it was Liao Yazhe. She took the coffee and took a sip.

“Let’s go, market’s about to open,” Liao Yazhe said.

Fan Qi stood up, her legs sore and stiff. She tapped them a couple times and walked a little awkwardly.

“Fan Qi, it’s Monday and you still look exhausted. Your husband must be something else, huh? Run you ragged?”

“Get lost!”

Fan Qi snapped. It wasn’t what Liao Yazhe was imagining—but it was actually worse, more infuriating.

That book had said Chen Zhiqian never remarried after his wife passed. She used to wonder why. Now she knew. No matter how good-looking he was, with a personality like that, who would want him?

She hadn’t even agreed to start morning runs yet! But this morning, at 5:30, he woke her up, dragged her out to run for a full forty minutes. She was dead tired, and then he insisted they take the stairs home—said it was a great fitness method.

Fitness, my ass! She practically crawled up all sixteen floors and nearly passed out.

At the time, after resting a bit, she felt okay. But by now, her legs were killing her. Did this jerk not understand pacing?

In the trading hall, the console game stocks that had surged for three days last week were cooling off, and the whole sector was declining. Ailai Electronics, naturally, was falling too.

But the data showed no signs of the main players pulling out, so she held her position.

When the afternoon session opened, she immediately noticed Ailai Electronics rising ahead of the rest. Big buy orders kept coming in, pushing the price steadily higher, step by step—this was clearly the work of a seasoned hand.

After a significant climb, the price hovered just under its earlier high. Then a wave of selling came in, locking in profits.

Trading volume dipped, and the price began to rise again. As sentiment picked up, other stocks in the same sector followed.

Soon, the video game stock theme was hot again. Fan Qi watched the price of Ailai tick up continuously—from $0.19 in the morning to nearly double that now.

Manually checking every move was a pain. The stock price stalled around $0.30, forming a base pattern.

Sister Xiang called in: “Qi Qi, Ailai’s gone up this much. Shouldn’t we cash out?”

“Locking in profits is never wrong, but… I think we can hold a bit longer.”

“So should I hold too?”

After hanging up, Fan Qi confirmed there was strong buying support and left it alone. She was too exhausted—she needed to go home and sleep.

She stepped out of her office and walked to the elevator. After climbing so many stairs this morning thanks to Chen Zhiqian, her brain had gone numb. Now that she could take the elevator, there was no way she was walking again.

“Mr. Wang, that’ll do for now.” A voice nearby.

Fan Qi turned and saw Xu Xia from Changxing escorting a familiar face—the director Wang Shaoyang—to the elevator.

Xu Xia glanced at her with thinly veiled contempt. Wang Shaoyang picked up on it and doubled down with his own sleazy expression.

The elevator doors opened. Fan Qi stepped in. Wang followed right behind and waved to Xu Xia.

Inside the elevator, Wang Shaoyang, with his half-bald head and greasy smirk, looked her over like she was a snack. “Fan Qi, fancy seeing you again. What, no hello for old times’ sake?”

“Since when was it my duty to greet you first? Are you the Queen of England?” The elevator reached the ground floor and Fan Qi strode out.

Wang Shaoyang called after her, “Used to be all ‘Brother Yang this, Brother Yang that.’ Now you’re acting like you never knew me?”

What the hell did he mean, “cut ties after getting what she wanted”? Sure, the original Fan Qi had flattered him a bit—but she was just a young girl trying to make it. At most, she said a few sweet words. Nothing real ever happened between them.

“Watch your mouth,” Fan Qi turned and warned him.

Wang Shaoyang walked up to Fan Qi with a forced smile, sizing her up from head to toe.
“You’re smart, I’ll give you that. You knew the Liu family would never let you in the door, so you pulled a flanking move—grabbed onto Liao Jiqing’s coattails to land the opening segment in Who Is the Stock God. Trying to pivot your career, huh? But did you know? That opening sequence landed in my hands. And it’s going to be shot alongside a movie called King of the Stock Kings. You’ve seen the box office numbers for Unbeatable Gambler, haven’t you? If you’re serious about this transition, this is your golden opportunity. Remember what I told you last time? I’m still waiting for your call.”

Fan Qi gave him a deadpan look, as if she had a giant question mark on her face.
“Mr. Wang, no wonder you make movies—your imagination is off the charts. By all means, wait. Wait as long as you like!”

She didn’t want to waste any more breath on this sleazebag. All she wanted now was to go home and collapse.

When Fan Qi got home, she grabbed some clothes and took a shower. The moment she was done, she shut the door, turned on the air conditioning, and flopped onto the bed.

Half-asleep, she heard the phone ringing outside. Barefoot, she ran out to answer it.
“Hello?”

“Fan Qi, are you feeling alright?”
It was Chen Zhiqian.

“I’m fine,” she answered.

“I called Yaohua, and they said you left early. Just making sure everything’s okay.”
There was a subtle sigh of relief from the other end of the line. “I’ve got a dinner engagement tonight, so I won’t be home. Eat something on your own.”

Now fully awake, Fan Qi remembered who the true culprit behind her exhaustion was—and her anger flared.
“It’s all your fault. Dragging me out for a run at the crack of dawn! I’ve been dead tired all day. I’m hanging up—I need a nap!”

After ending the call, Fan Qi dove back into bed. When she woke up again and peeked through the curtain, the city lights were already twinkling outside. She checked her watch—it was 8 PM.

Stretching, she left her room, pulled a tomato and a couple of eggs from the fridge, tossed in a packet of instant noodles, and whipped up a bowl of tomato-egg noodles.

She turned on the TV. The financial channel was broadcasting stock news. Halfway through slurping a mouthful of noodles, she saw a report about the huge intraday volatility of Ailai Electronics. The stock had surged to as high as 35 cents, dipped to 22 cents, and closed at 32.

Swings like that weren’t unusual in the Hong Kong market, but because it was part of the video game console concept sector, it had drawn special attention. She’d need to keep an eye on it tomorrow—if major investors started showing divergence, she’d need to exit.

In her past life, A-share market leaders often had seven or eight consecutive daily limit-ups. That gave time for sentiment to build, for speculative funds to take over, and for leaders to rise first and fall last—allowing for timely exits.

Hong Kong stocks, however, had no price limits. Gains or losses could materialize quickly, and the slightest misstep could leave you trapped.
Speculative traders like her approached the Hong Kong market with extra caution. Once a stock rallied and trading volume exploded, it was a sign to tread carefully.

Then came the sound of a key turning in the lock. The door swung open.

Fan Qi, with her chopsticks poised mid-air, froze when she saw Chen Zhiqian walk in—holding a giant, fluffy, white teddy bear.

Was that… for her?

He stepped inside. Fan Qi’s eyes were glued to the bear as she absentmindedly lifted a mouthful of noodles to her mouth.

“Eat properly,” Chen Zhiqian reminded her. “You’re about to poke your nose with those chopsticks.”

A stuffed toy this cute? Who still cares about instant noodles?

Fan Qi set down her chopsticks and asked, “Where did that come from?”

Seeing how she had completely forgotten about eating, Chen Zhiqian shoved the bear into her arms.

The fur was soft to the touch. It wasn’t the PoPo Bear from the subway, but she really, really liked it.

Watching her focus all her attention on cuddling the teddy bear, Chen Zhiqian smiled.
“I’m planning to give away a ‘Panda Kiki’ plushie with every game console sold. So I went to a toy factory to have some samples made. I asked for one for you too. Last time on the subway, a grown woman like you still couldn’t take her eyes off someone else’s plushie. Come on, eat your noodles—they’re getting soggy.”

Fan Qi set the bear on her lap and quickly began slurping her noodles again.

On the TV, analysts were discussing the rebound of video game console stocks and praising Rong Yuan’s strong market appeal.

Chen Zhiqian looked at her. “You’ve showered already?”

He went to take his own shower. After finishing her meal, Fan Qi washed the bowl, then sat down with the teddy bear in her arms to watch TV. The phone on the table rang. She picked it up.
“Hello?”

“Did you run into Mr. Wang today?” her agent asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Come to the office tomorrow. We need to terminate your contract.”

Fan Qi already had an idea why. She asked,
“What about Mr. Tang’s title sequence? The contract’s not signed yet.”

“You still want that title sequence?” Her agent let out a laugh. “You’ve not only offended Mr. Wang, you’ve also pissed off Miss Xu from Changxing. You really didn’t know?”

Fan Qi paused for a moment. She had been watching the market this morning.
“Alright. I’ll come by in the afternoon, is that okay?”