11: Chapter 11 Su Wanqing

Walking out of the lottery shop, the sunlight was a bit piercing.

Jiang Chen checked his balance.

Seventy-four thousand.

Still twenty-five thousand short of a hundred thousand.

The progress was quite substantial.

Now he could relax a bit.

He looked up at the small shops across the street.

The pancake auntie was spreading batter, her spatula clanging "dang dang".

An orange cat lay on the wall sunbathing, eyes squinted, tail flicking.

Very cozy.

Jiang Chen had only walked a few steps when his phone rang.

Wang Hao.

"Hello?"

"Chenzi! Where are you?" Wang Hao's voice exploded from the receiver, raspy with sleep.

"Back street."

"Back street? Why are you there so early?"

Jiang Chen paused: "Buying breakfast."

"Bring me some!"

Wang Hao immediately added, "Two meat buns, a cup of soy milk, make it sweet!"

Jiang Chen couldn't help laughing: "Aren't you in the dorm? Come down and eat yourself."

"Too lazy to move."

Wang Hao said righteously, "I played games until two last night, my whole body is falling apart now. You're my brother, you can't just leave me to die."

"You'll die if I don't buy a bun?"

"Starving to death is still dying."

Wang Hao chuckled, "Hurry up, I'm waiting for you in the dorm."

Jiang Chen shook his head and hung up.

He turned into a breakfast shop, bought two meat buns and a cup of sweet soy milk, and walked toward the school.

Wang Hao's dorm was on the third floor; Jiang Chen pushed the door open familiarly.

There was a strange smell in the room from staying up late; the windows were tightly shut, the curtains drawn, making it dim.

A gap opened in Wang Hao's upper bunk curtain, and a hand reached out fumbling.

"Buns... soy milk..."

Jiang Chen handed over the bag.

The hand grabbed the bag and retracted into the curtain.

Rustling sounds came from behind the curtain, followed by a satisfied sigh: "I'm alive again..."

Jiang Chen sat on the chair by his bed.

The curtain opened another crack, and Wang Hao's head poked out, hair messy like a bird's nest, eyes still swollen.

"What were you doing last night?" he asked indistinctly, mouth stuffed with bun.

"Sleeping."

"Who are you kidding? There's definitely something going on."

Jiang Chen didn't speak.

Wang Hao's eyes darted, and he suddenly leaned in: "You didn't go to see Lin Wan, did you?"

Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment.

Seeing his reaction, Wang Hao immediately got excited: "Holy crap! Really?! You guys have a date? That fast?"

"No."

Jiang Chen interrupted him, "I went to the lottery shop."

"Lottery shop?" Wang Hao was even more confused, "What did you go there for?"

Jiang Chen thought for a moment and said, "Bought a few scratch-offs."

"Did you win?"

"I won."

"How much?" Wang Hao's eyes lit up, "Fifty? A hundred?"

Jiang Chen looked at him without speaking.

The expression on Wang Hao's face turned from anticipation to suspicion, then from suspicion to shock.

"You... don't tell me you won five hundred..."

Jiang Chen still didn't speak.

Wang Hao's eyes began to widen: "Five... five thousand?"

Jiang Chen smiled.

"Holy shit!"

Wang Hao bounced straight up from the bed, his head hitting the upper bunk board with a "thud". He grimaced in pain but didn't care at all.

"Ten thousand?! You won ten thousand?!"

Jiang Chen nodded.

Wang Hao clutched his head, spun around twice, then plopped back onto the bed, staring at him with his mouth open, unable to speak for a long time.

"You... you..."

He pointed at Jiang Chen, his fingers shaking, "What kind of luck is this? You made tens of thousands on gold these past few days, and now you win ten thousand on a scratch-off? Are you even human?"

Jiang Chen was amused: "Just good luck."

"Good luck?"

Wang Hao's voice cracked, "You call this good luck? You must be using a cheat!"

He grabbed the remaining bun and took a huge bite as if venting something.

Jiang Chen really wanted to say 'you guessed right, I am using a cheat'.

"No way, you have to treat me today."

He said while chewing, "You must treat me to a big meal tonight. I'm going to eat you out of house and home."

"Fine."

Wang Hao was stunned: "That easy?"

Jiang Chen stood up and patted his shoulder: "Same place tonight. Get up quickly, there's a major course this morning."

After saying that, he turned and walked out.

Wang Hao shouted from behind: "Hey, did you really win ten thousand? You're not messing with me, are you?"

Jiang Chen didn't look back, just waved his hand.

10:00 AM, Room 303, Second Teaching Building.

Financial Markets and Institutions.

About thirty people were scattered in the classroom. A few boys in the back were napping, while the girls in the front were taking notes.

Sunlight from outside shone through the glass, casting shadows on the blackboard.

Jiang Chen sat by the window in the third row from the back, the sunlight falling right on his textbook.

On the podium, Su Wanqing was writing on the board.

She was widely considered the most charming professor in the Department of Finance, without exception.

Thirty years old, yet she looked as if she were twenty-three or twenty-four.

Her waist-length hair was loosely tied in a low bun today, with a few stray strands hanging by her fair neck, swaying gently as she wrote.

She wore a dusty blue silk shirt with a thin ribbon at the collar, faintly revealing her delicate collarbones. Below, she wore a well-tailored cream-colored pencil skirt that outlined her slender waist and rounded curves.

The hem of the skirt fell just past her knees, revealing a portion of her fair, slender calves. On her feet were cream-colored stilettos, making her ankles look particularly delicate.

The shirt was tucked into the skirt, and that slim waist made it impossible to look away.

As she turned, sunlight shone from the side, faintly visible through the thin shirt.

[Image]

Su Wanqing

The gazes of several boys in the back row were glued to her.

Jiang Chen also took a polite glance.

Very much in sync.

A case of great minds thinking alike.

Su Wanqing's voice was gentle yet clear, with a hint of a lazy lilt at the end, like fine silk sliding past the ears.

She liked to gesture with her hands while lecturing, her slender fingers tracing graceful arcs in the air. The thin silver bracelet on her wrist occasionally clinked, making a crisp sound.

"Last week we discussed the Efficient Market Hypothesis; today let's talk about Behavioral Finance. Traditional finance assumes market participants are rational, but is that really the case?"

She scanned the classroom, her gaze pausing for a moment on the back row.

Jiang Chen had his head down, seemingly spacing out.

Something flashed in Su Wanqing's eyes, but she didn't call on him and continued the lecture.

Near the end of the class, she closed her textbook and scanned the room.

"Jiang Chen, come to my office in a bit."

The classroom went quiet for a second.

Several heads turned toward the back row.

Wang Hao nudged him with his elbow, whispering: "Holy crap, what did you do?"

Jiang Chen shook his head and didn't speak.

He looked up and happened to meet Su Wanqing's gaze.

She gave a slight smile, one that held a hint of deeper meaning.

After class, Jiang Chen headed to the fifth floor of the Second Teaching Building.

The Department of Finance office was at the end of the corridor, very quiet.

He stopped at the office door and knocked.

"Come in."

Pushing the door open, a faint scent of jasmine wafted toward him.

The office wasn't large, but it was exquisitely decorated.

Several pots of pothos and phalaenopsis orchids sat on the windowsill, and an ink wash painting hung on the wall, depicting a Jiangnan water town with small bridges and misty rain.

Su Wanqing sat behind the desk, organizing her lesson plans.

She had changed out of her shirt from class and was wearing a cream-colored knit cardigan, the collar slightly open, revealing her delicate collarbones.

Her long hair was let down, draped over her shoulders with slightly curled ends, making her face appear even fairer.

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with a smile.

"You're here? Have a seat."

Jiang Chen walked over and sat opposite her.

The office was small, and the distance between them was close.

He could smell the perfume on her, not a heavy floral scent.

But a faint, ethereal fragrance, like grass after rain mixed with jasmine, with an indefinable quality.

Su Wanqing looked at him with a soft gaze.

"How have you been lately?"

"Pretty good."