Chapter 1001: Stocks Have Risks

Facts proved that the saying 'birds of a feather flock together' still held a lot of truth.

At the very least, among Zhao Fusheng's circle of friends, everyone who heard about this matter, though surprised, quickly accepted it.

Well, Ms. Fan Baobao still didn't know.

Including Zhou Yun, they all strangely kept any news about this from Fan Baobao.

As for why.

Zhao Fusheng later suspected that this group of people were all waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

After all, given Fan Baobao's personality, once she found out and realized she had been kept in the dark for three whole years, Zhao Fusheng would be in trouble.

So, Zhao Fusheng felt he had to choose the right moment to reveal the truth.

This was the result of his consideration during a post-coital moment of clarity.

Men are often clearest in their thinking at such times, after extreme relaxation, when their thoughts are most lucid.

Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, the Spring Festival was almost upon them.

Following his mother's instructions, Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao took the train back to Ninghai. During the Spring Festival travel rush, train tickets were incredibly hard to come by. If not for pulling strings, buying four soft sleeper tickets would have been quite difficult.

Fortunately, Ye Jing had a friend in the railway department who helped them get four tickets.

At that time, the railway system was still the legendary 'Big Brother Iron,' especially during the Spring Festival rush. Railway officials had their eyes on the top, and it wasn't easy for ordinary people to get internal tickets.

Sitting in the train, Fan Baobao and Yang Panpan were chatting idly, Zhang Qian lay on his bed lost in thought, while Zhao Fusheng was engrossed in a financial magazine.

“Hey, it says here that Shengda Technology and Tencent Technology are the most promising internet companies to go public this year,” Fan Baobao leaned over to see the magazine Zhao Fusheng was reading and said in surprise.

Clearly, she didn't usually pay much attention to such news.

That was perfectly normal; every profession has its own expertise. Even Zhao Fusheng, if he didn't deliberately follow such news, would be out of the loop.

Many public intellectuals often say that the masses are too ignorant, too focused on entertainment news, and don't care about the true pillars of the nation who make contributions and sacrifices.

But let's not forget: it's not that the people are too dull, but that the official propaganda for these national treasures is insufficient.

Think about it: most distinguished scientists only have their names reported by the media when they leave this world. Who is to blame?

Some things cannot be scrutinized too closely, because once they are made too clear, many people will lose face.

Zhao Fusheng understood this principle well.

“Yeah, I didn't expect Chen Tianqiao to move so fast,” Zhao Fusheng said with a faint smile, but inwardly he grew alert. No wonder James had contacted him; it seemed that, barring any surprises, Chen Tianqiao had accelerated his plans to list on NASDAQ.

He wondered if, in this life, Chen Tianqiao would ascend to the throne of the richest man.

But regardless, in Zhao Fusheng's view, this was a good thing for him.

Although Chen Tianqiao had always worried that Zhao Fusheng would covet Shengda Technology, in fact, he didn't realize that Zhao Fusheng's mind had never been on that from start to finish.

This was probably a gap in perception.

Chen Tianqiao thought Zhao Fusheng would be like other investors, wanting to oust him as founder, but in reality, Zhao Fusheng was thinking about how to cash out when the stock price peaked after Shengda Technology went public.

Both had their own plans; perhaps from the very beginning, this business deal was fraught with mutual distrust.

“Hey, when Shengda Technology goes public, will you have a lot of money?” Fan Baobao still remembered that Zhao Fusheng held shares in Shengda Technology and belatedly asked.

She was never very sensitive to such matters.

“Sort of, I should have a considerable income then,” Zhao Fusheng smiled. “Don't forget, you also invested money back then, so my shares include yours.”

Fan Baobao rolled her eyes at Zhao Fusheng and ignored him. There was no need to split hairs between them.

The train arrived in Ninghai the next afternoon. Without notifying anyone to pick them up, Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao, with the help of Zhang Qian and Yang Panpan, carried their luggage to the doorstep.

“Come up and sit for a while,” Fan Baobao said to Yang Panpan. To her, Yang Panpan was not just a bodyguard and assistant but also her best friend.

Yang Panpan shook her head. “I still have to catch a bus home. I'll come by when I leave.”

Zhao Fusheng didn't bother with Zhang Qian; even if he didn't come up today, he would definitely bring some older kids from the welfare home to pay New Year's respects to his parents the day after tomorrow.

After all, the biggest sponsor of the Red Star Welfare Home was now the Wanda Group.

Back home, it was a scene of joy. The elders beamed with happiness, and little Fan Beibei clung to Zhao Fusheng like a mad girl, refusing to let go.

Well, Fan Baobao was once again ignored by her little sister.

In response, Fan Baobao felt she seriously needed to consider whether, as Zhao Fusheng suggested, she should take Beibei to the capital for school in the future.

At that time, the issue of taking college entrance exams in a different province wasn't so severe. Fan Baobao didn't know how hard it would be to obtain the capital city hukou that she and Zhao Fusheng had just gotten. She only knew that after she was admitted to the People's Art Theatre and Zhao Fusheng bought a house in the capital, they somehow became residents of the capital, people under the emperor's nose.

Of course, this was something Zhao Fusheng insisted on. So, though she didn't quite understand, Fan Baobao agreed.

Originally, according to her plan, her hukou would have been moved back to Ninghai after graduation.

“You two, you never call home. Do you know how much your mother misses you?” Father Zhao sat on the sofa, smiling at Fan Baobao and Zhao Fusheng.

Having learned in advance that his son and Fan Baobao were coming home today, Father Zhao canceled all his engagements and deliberately freed up his evening.

Otherwise, given his habits, even though the Spring Festival was the day after tomorrow, he would still have had dinner parties or other social engagements today.

“Dad, that's not fair. Baobao and I take turns calling home every three days. It's you who are too busy to answer our calls,” Zhao Fusheng said with a pout, unceremoniously exposing his father.

Father Zhao's face reddened slightly. He glared at his son and was about to exert his paternal authority when Mother Zhao glared at him and said, “Don't take your anger out on my son. So what if the stocks fell? Why are you picking on my son?”

“I... that's not what I meant,” Father Zhao immediately fell silent, lowering his head and keeping quiet.

“Stocks?”

Zhao Fusheng was startled and looked at his father in surprise. “Dad, you're trading stocks?”

“Yeah, I bought a little,” Father Zhao looked up, a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

“Hmph, lost over two hundred thousand, and you call that a little? I think you've got some money and don't know who you are anymore!” Mother Zhao showed no mercy to her husband, scolding him directly. “They fool you, and you fall for it. Look at yourself—you can't even manage your own company, yet you try to play the stock market. Do you think you have my son's genius brain?”

Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao almost burst out laughing. Fortunately, Li Yuan was there to drag Mother Zhao into the kitchen to cook, leaving a sheepish Father Zhao to explain to his son and daughter-in-law.

“Well, I followed a business friend and bought a little—less than five hundred thousand worth of stocks. In a month, I lost...” Father Zhao said with a wry smile to Zhao Fusheng.

He was quite candid, not feeling at all embarrassed about being scolded by his wife in front of the younger generation.

In fact, Father Zhao was that kind of person. Even though he was wealthy now, deep down he was still that honest, loyal man.

If he was wrong, he admitted it and took his punishment.

That was Father Zhao's consistent style.

Fan Baobao, on the other hand, didn't mind. Although losing over two hundred thousand would have made her heartache a few years ago, now that their circumstances were different, she remained calm and even comforted Father Zhao.

Zhao Fusheng, however, frowned. “Dad, will the stock market open tomorrow?”

“Yes, the last day,” Father Zhao said, a bit puzzled, and nodded.

“Whether it does or not, as soon as it opens, you should liquidate your positions. From now on, stay away from the domestic stock market if you can,” Zhao Fusheng said with a very serious expression. “And our family's company should try not to go public, understand?”

Father Zhao was bewildered, not understanding why he was suddenly so serious.

Zhao Fusheng smiled bitterly. He couldn't tell his father that the domestic stock market didn't follow the rules of a market economy, and that someone as honest as his father would just be a lamb to the slaughter.

Moreover, although he couldn't remember the exact time, if his memory served him right, the stock market was about to take a big dive in the next couple of years until before the 2008 Olympics.

At that time, people thought that with the Olympics, the domestic economy and stock market would surely take off, and many blindly bought in.

In the end, it was a tragedy for all.

Like a song by a certain mentor on 'The Voice,' many became shareholders of PetroChina, singing 'Standing on the High Ground,' desperately hoping for a bull market.

But facts proved it was just a game, just a dream.

Forget about breaking even; in the Chinese stock market, those who could make money were gods.

The vast majority relied on hearsay and so-called inside information to trade stocks. Even around 2015 or 2016, there were online writers pretending to be stock gods, writing novels to scam people.

Under such circumstances, trying to get rich by trading stocks was nothing but a fool's dream.