106: Chapter 106 The Finale

After speaking, Qiao Yichen looked at the three of them and said, "Let's eat first. It'll get cold if we wait any longer."

The four of them picked up their chopsticks again, but the atmosphere had clearly changed.

Lin Wei picked up a piece of crab meat. As she chewed, her gaze began to wander, and her chopsticks hung in mid-air for a long time without moving.

Su Qing lowered her head and slowly toyed with her rice, her chopsticks poking around in the bowl. She barely ate a few mouthfuls after a long while.

Liu Yanran was eating normally, but her gaze would occasionally drift toward Qiao Yichen before shifting away again.

This meal was exceptionally quiet.

After clearing the table, Qiao Yichen leaned back on the sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.

His mind wasn't idle—with 2.6 million in hand plus the 600,000 he already had, he had a total of 3.2 million. Only one thought occupied his mind: the funds were still too low.

The three women finished cleaning the kitchen and came out. Seeing him slumped on the sofa in a daze, they each sat down quietly.

Lin Wei sat on the single sofa, and Su Qing sat next to her. Liu Yanran walked over and sat sideways directly on Qiao Yichen's lap, leaning into his embrace.

Qiao Yichen snapped out of it, looked down at her, and naturally rested his hand on her waist.

Seeing the two of them acting so lovey-dovey, Lin Wei hesitated to speak, opening her mouth and then closing it again. Su Qing leaned against the back of the sofa with her arms crossed, remaining silent as well.

After a few seconds of silence, Lin Wei finally couldn't hold it in anymore. She leaned forward and asked cautiously:

"Um... how much do you think is appropriate to invest?"

Qiao Yichen came back to his senses and looked at her. Instead of answering directly, he asked, "What do you think?"

Lin Wei was stunned for a moment, her fingers picking at her knees. "I... I only have that much in savings. I've been saving up to pay off my mortgage, so it's only about 400,000." She paused, then gritted her teeth. "If it really can double... I want to invest it all."

Su Qing glanced at her from the side but didn't say anything.

Qiao Yichen nodded and then looked at Su Qing. "What about you?"

Su Qing pondered for a few seconds before speaking. "I have about 600,000 on hand; I can take out 500,000." She paused, her tone calm. "But I want to ask clearly, how sure are you about the risk?"

Qiao Yichen looked at her and said seriously, "The source of information is absolutely reliable. But there's no such thing as a hundred percent certainty in the stock market; I have to make that clear."

Su Qing nodded and didn't press further.

Qiao Yichen looked down at Liu Yanran again. She shifted in his arms and looked up. "I have about 800,000 in spare cash. I'll give it all to you."

Qiao Yichen was taken aback. "Don't be impulsive."

"I'm not being impulsive," Liu Yanran said calmly. "Anyway, there's no difference between it being with you or with me."

Beside them, Lin Wei clicked her tongue and leaned against Su Qing's shoulder, covering her face. "Oh, I can't take this..."

Su Qing looked at the two of them and shook her head, though the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Liu Yanran's ears turned slightly red, but she didn't move.

Qiao Yichen was silent for a few seconds before finally speaking. "You don't need to worry too much. Huayuan Technology is currently operating very well. Last year's annual report and the previous quarter's report both showed a growth of several percentage points compared to the same period. This shows that it is fundamentally a very good company. Moreover, the acquisition this time is of a company in the semiconductor industry chain, which serves to make up for previous shortcomings. You can look up this information online."

He paused and looked at Su Qing and Liu Yanran. "Su Qing, Yanran, you two understand these things; you can take a look at the annual reports."

Su Qing had already picked up her phone and started scrolling. Liu Yanran stayed leaning in his arms, but she was listening intently.

"And even in the worst-case scenario," Qiao Yichen continued, "even if something really goes wrong with the stock market, our losses are controllable."

Lin Wei asked nervously, "But what if... what if we lose money?"

Qiao Yichen looked at her and chuckled. "If we lose, it's on me. If we profit, it's yours."

Lin Wei was stunned for a moment, then let out a "Wow!" and turned to shout at Su Qing, "He said if we lose, it's on him!"

Su Qing glanced at her and said calmly, "I heard him."

Liu Yanran leaned in his embrace, saying nothing, just tracing circles in his palm with her finger.

Qiao Yichen gave a final reminder: "If you have stock accounts, you can buy in yourselves. But it must be before the market closes tomorrow afternoon."

Lin Wei said pitifully, "What should I do? I don't have a stock account."

Su Qing was looking at a stock trading app on her phone and didn't even look up. "I haven't opened one either."

Liu Yanran knew a bit more. "This stock is on the STAR Market; I haven't activated the permissions for that."

Qiao Yichen took out his phone and waved it. "I've activated mine. I put some spare cash into a stock account before and bought some bank stocks."

Lin Wei was quick, snatching the phone to take a look. The screen showed a bank stock with a position of 80,000 and a floating profit of over 3,000.

She looked up, her eyes wide. "Does... does this mean you've earned three thousand?"

Qiao Yichen took back the phone and nodded. "Yeah, I've had it for two months and made three or four percent."

By this time, Su Qing had finished looking up information on Huayuan Technology and put down her phone. "Indeed, the performance is good and the operation is sound." She paused. "I don't usually trade stocks. But I deal with many clients, so I can understand these figures."

Having said all this, the meaning was already very clear.

Qiao Yichen took over the conversation. "Then you two transfer the money to my card tomorrow morning, and I'll help you buy in."

Su Qing and Lin Wei looked at each other and nodded.

With the matter settled, Qiao Yichen checked the time and stood up. "It's about time. Let's go back."

The group stood up and headed out. Su Qing and Liu Yanran walked ahead, chatting about something. Qiao Yichen lagged behind. While changing shoes at the entrance, he suddenly leaned toward Lin Wei and lowered his voice:

"Su Qing is putting in 500,000; you should scrape together 500,000 as well. That way you can earn a bit more. Don't worry."

Lin Wei was stunned for a moment and turned to look at him.

Qiao Yichen had already changed his shoes and pushed the door open to leave.

She stood there, blinked, and a smile slowly spread across her face.

He drove Su Qing home first. She lived the closest. As she got out of the car, she waved to them, said nothing more, and turned to enter her residential compound.

The car continued driving toward home.

Arriving home, they went upstairs and opened the door.

Liu Yanran walked straight into the master bedroom, lay down on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

Qiao Yichen followed her in and lay down beside her.

After a few seconds of silence, Liu Yanran turned her head to look at him and finally asked the question she had been holding in all evening:

"How did you get such secretive information?"

Qiao Yichen turned to look at her and said with a smile, "It's a secret. But you can rest assured that I was being quite conservative when I spoke to them."

Liu Yanran rolled over and lay on top of him, her hands propped on his chest as she looked down at him. Their eyes met, so close they could feel each other's breath.

She didn't say anything, just looked at him like that.

Qiao Yichen raised his hand, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing against her cheek.

"Go wash up," he said.

Liu Yanran lowered her head and gave him a light kiss on the lips. Then she rolled off the bed, grabbed a change of clothes from the wardrobe, and went into the bathroom.

The door closed.

Qiao Yichen lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The faint sound of water from the bathroom reached his ears.

He rolled over and took out his phone.

A loan? It was definitely too late to go to the bank now.

He opened Alipay and checked his Jiebei limit—200,000.

His finger paused on the screen before he tapped in. WeChat Weilidai, 150,000. Credit card cash advance, he could free up 100,000.

He scrolled through several more online lending apps. Adding the numbers together, he could probably scrape together another 600,000 in total.

The light from the screen reflected on his face as he stared at the numbers for a while.

The more principal there was, the more he would earn.

He gritted his teeth and began the operations with his fingers.

The Alipay loan arrived instantly, as did the WeChat one. The credit card cash advance would take time, but it should be settled by tomorrow morning. Some online lending apps took only a few minutes to approve, while the slower ones promised arrival by tomorrow morning.

Just as he was about to put his phone down, the bathroom door opened.

Liu Yanran came out wrapped in a bath towel, her hair dripping wet and her face flushed from the steam. SheShe walked towards the bed while drying her hair.，I saw him holding up his phone，He said it casually："Your turn."

Qiao Yichen placed his phone face down on the nightstand. "Okay."

Liu Yanran glanced at him but didn't think much of it, sitting at the dressing table to start applying her skincare products.

He got up, took his change of clothes, and headed to the bathroom. As he passed her, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

Liu Yanran watched him in the mirror, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

By the time he came out, Liu Yanran was already tucked under the covers, scrolling through her phone on her side. He lifted the blanket and lay down, reaching out to pull her into his arms. She leaned in naturally, burying her face in his chest and setting her phone aside.

"Let's sleep," she said softly.

"Mhm."

He turned off the light and held her in the darkness.