Vol. 1 - Ch. 1 - Misfortunes never come singly

In the bustling shopping mall, among the crowd of people in fancy clothes, a high school student in a school uniform was hurrying around, looking out of place in this environment.

How could a student come here to squander his parents' hard-earned money instead of studying diligently? People looked at him with contempt.

Not caring about people's sharp eyes, the high school student entered the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, a cool-looking ‘young man’ in a neat suit walked out of the bathroom. No one recognized the high school student from before. This time, passers-by peeked at him sideways, and many girls couldn't take their eyes off him, because his cold demeanor had a captivating charm.

The high school student's name was Jiang Ran, eighteen years old. He was not here to spend money tonight. On the contrary, he was here to make money, money to save a life.

Jiang Ran, who had changed his appearance, still ignored the gazes of others as he strode into the luxury store called "Humour Noir" from the side door. The moment he entered, he put on a professional and friendly smile. His frosty aura instantly changed, leaving only a warm and pleasant look, as if he was a completely different person from before. 

Due to the specifics of the brand, most of the "HumourNoir" staff were women, except for Jiang Ran, who worked there part-time. Jiang Ran greeted everyone familiarly, and when the sales ladies saw him, they all looked radiant and smiled.

However, beneath the calm surface, there were actually some undercurrents.

Only Jiang Ran knew that among the four senior ladies on duty tonight, two had hinted to him that they wanted to date, one had confessed directly, and another had even tiptoed to kiss his cheek when he was not paying attention... In such a complicated work environment, if he wasn't careful, there could even be bloodshed.

"Jiang Ran, I heard that you are very selective with your subjects. What subject do you not know? Do you want me to teach you after you get off work~"

"Sister Fei, Jiang Ran has to go to school tomorrow morning, and it's eleven o'clock after he gets off work. Did you watch a steamy love movie about tutors last night and want to try it~?"

"Wow, I didn't expect Sister Fei to be so carnivorous~!"

"What, what tutor! Nini, Xiaoman, I…I don't understand what you are talking about! What steamy love movie?!"

When there were no customers, the young ladies were always keen on making fun of Jiang Ran, which would then turn into veiled mutual teasing. Jiang Ran stood still in the midst of swords and daggers, adhering to the principle of not speaking unless necessary. As long as he persisted until there were customers, the crisis would be resolved. 

Before long, Jiang Ran's guests started arriving one after another. In this luxury store where even paper clips were sold at high prices, customers would buy small gifts worth hundreds or thousands of yuan to help improve Jiang Ran's performance, as casually as drinking a cup of milk tea.

Yes, his outstanding performance was the real reason why Jiang Ran was popular with his colleagues. He seemed to have an incredible ‘magic’ that made female customers never forget him. For the store clerks, Jiang Ran, who was only a part-time worker, would not affect their bonus ranking but could raise the store's benchmark value. Besides, he was also pleasing to the eye. He was really an angel sent from heaven.

…

After getting off work, some of the ladies invited Jiang Ran to have a late-night snack, and some offered to drive him home. However, Jiang Ran was well versed in the art of seduction, and he knew that only by keeping his distance could he avoid being harassed. Therefore, he politely declined them one by one and went home directly. 

In addition to keeping himself safe, Jiang Ran had another reason to go home early tonight:

The opportunity to ‘get rich overnight’ was waiting for him at home.

It was 11:30 p.m. when Jiang Ran returned home, and there was no one waiting for him. His mother had been working an extra job at a nearby convenience store after getting off work for the past two months, and she could only get home after two in the morning. As for his father... he was still lying in the hospital waiting for money for surgery.

Yes, whether it was Jiang Ran's after-school part-time job or his mother's extra work, these were all to raise money for his father's surgery. Even though they had sold everything they could sell and shamelessly borrowed money from everyone they could and couldn't ask for, the Jiang family, who were so poor that even their own house was rented, still needed 50,000 yuan to raise enough money for the surgery. 

50,000 yuan was not a huge sum of money in today's society, but for the Jiang family, this number was enough to break the backs of the mother and son—especially under the premise that they had already given everything. Even with their joint efforts over the past two months, there were still 30,000 yuan missing for the surgery fee, but tonight, Jiang Ran might be able to raise the remaining 30,000 yuan in one fell swoop.

Two weeks ago, a wealthy lady who often came to help with Jiang Ran's job performance intentionally or unintentionally revealed to him a piece of insider news. It seemed that "a Nasdaq-listed company will announce that it will be acquired at a substantial premium after the market closes on a certain day". 

Jiang Ran immediately searched for relevant information after getting off work, but there was no news on the Internet. This meant that what the wealthy lady told him was not secondhand news that was everywhere, but real insider news that might have gold value. 

After sufficient study and calculation, Jiang Ran confirmed that he could use a combination of financial instruments with a total leverage of 50 times in US stocks. That is to say, assuming that the company's stock price rose by 10%, Jiang Ran only needed to invest 6,000 yuan in principal to earn nearly 30,000 yuan. But if the news was false or Jiang Ran's trading timing was incorrect, then the 6,000 yuan would most likely be all wasted, with not a penny left.

Jiang Ran knew that his father could not wait too long. If he succeeded tonight, he could have the surgery at least three months earlier. If he failed, he would have to find another way to make up for the 6,000 yuan loss. Whether it meant selling blood or kidneys, he had to do it.

After careful consideration, Jiang Ran decided to take a risk without telling his family. After more than a week of preparation, he was ready and just waiting for the date mentioned by the rich lady. 

That date was tonight.

Without taking time to eat dinner, Jiang Ran turned on the computer and logged into his US stock account. While waiting for the screen to load, he kept checking the stock price on his mobile phone, but there was no movement for the time being. 

According to common sense, the acquisition announcement could only be released after the market closed at the earliest, but there was no impenetrable wall under the sky. Jiang Ran believed that there would be unusual movements in the market today at some point unless the news from the rich lady was false.

At this moment, on the computer screen, the trading platforms of the stock market were quiet as if the market had closed. Jiang Ran was not impatient. This stock had been like this for a long time because no one paid attention to it. The trading volume was pitifully small. It was also because of this that he could buy a good position in advance without being liquidated under the premise of using 50 times the combined leverage.

Time passed minute by minute, the night was as still as the deep sea, and Jiang Ran sat motionless in front of the computer like a statue. He forgot about fatigue and hunger, and just waited for that moment to come.

At one o'clock in the morning, three hours before the closing, a long-standing sell order for a hundred shares was suddenly swallowed. Jiang Ran put his hands on the keyboard and mouse as if he had been electrocuted, opened his eyes wide, and entered a state of full concentration! For other stocks, a buy and sell order of one hundred shares was a commonplace trivial matter, but for this stock with extremely low trading volume, it was a very rare situation. Intuition told Jiang Ran that the abnormal activity he was waiting for was about to come.

Sure enough, within a few seconds, 50 and 100 shares of higher-priced sell orders were bought instantly. Then, 500 and 1000 shares of buy orders began to be placed on the buyer's seat in the hope of getting low-priced chips, but now was not the stage where you could buy positions so easily. Buy orders with higher prices began to compete with each other. In just a few blinks, the sell orders on the market were swept away! The stock price also soared to 6.6% in one breath!!

Before tonight, Jiang Ran had simulated dozens of times how he would respond and operate when the opportunity came, but when all this really came, this unsimulated nervous experience still made his heartbeat accelerate uncontrollably. As time passed by, the stock price continued to soar!

7.1%!

8.4%!

9.6%!

Then, the increase finally came to the 10% that Jiang Ran expected!!

Should he sell? Or wait a little longer?

According to the results of previous calculations, Jiang Ran should have placed an order to sell before the increase reached 10%. It was actually too late to sell now, but Jiang Ran's hand holding the mouse did not move. He even closed his eyes and started thinking at this critical moment!

After a quick analysis, Jiang Ran believed that the increase tonight would most likely be more than 10%, but in just a few seconds of thinking, the increase had retreated from 10% to 8.3%, and it was still retreating. This was a ruthless slap on his face!

Still not selling? Still waiting?! If you wait any longer, you may not even be able to hold on to 8%!

Jiang Ran stared at the screen and chose to continue waiting.

After more than ten seconds, the increase had retreated to only 6%, but Jiang Ran appeared unmoved by the diving market. At this moment, a new wave of main funds suddenly rushed in, and the stock price rose again, breaking through several pressure points in a row. In just twelve seconds, the increase once again rushed to 10%!

Jiang Ran still did not move as he continued to calmly watch the progress of each transaction.

15%!

20%!!

25%!!!

When Jiang Ran's mouse began to move, the screen showed a 29.3% increase!!!

What did a 29.3% increase mean? This meant that Jiang Ran's floating profit had reached nearly 90,000 yuan at this moment! It far exceeded the funding gap for surgery!!! Jiang Ran smiled. 

Not operating according to the plan was taboo in buying and selling stocks, but tonight, he won the bet! This time, Jiang Ran did not continue to wait. He decisively sold all his positions and made a huge profit of 90,000 yuan overnight with a principal of 6,000 yuan, a fourteen-fold profit!

After the money was in his pocket, Jiang Ran was surprisingly calm. Even when he saw the stock price continue to soar to 30%, triggering the suspension of trading, he did not waver at all.

"Whew..."

Jiang Ran let out a long sigh. He exited the program and closed his phone. Even if the stock price rose to a sky-high level in the future, it would have nothing to do with him. He came here to earn money for his father's surgery. Now, he had done it, and he had done it better than expected. That was enough.

Thinking that his father would be able to have surgery soon, Jiang Ran felt relieved. He stood up and stretched, and all the joints in his body creaked. Then, without any warning, his body suddenly froze and could not move...

What... happened to me...?!

Jiang Ran felt as if countless needles were swimming around in his blood vessels. The stabbing pain made him afraid to act rashly, but it was too late. An excruciating pain suddenly exploded in his chest! Jiang Ran's body was no longer under his control, and he fell straight to the floor.

With a "bang!", Jiang Ran's head hit the ground heavily, and blood flowed all over the floor tiles.

Comments