Chapter 11: Strategies for Little Apple
“Knowledge is boundless.”
By 10:30, Lu Liang couldn’t help but sigh as he monitored the stock charts.
Since the shift from a rally to a decline, Chinese Online’s activity had sharply dropped, lingering around 17.45 yuan. The 17.5-yuan level seed like a barrier, with tens of millions in funds piled up, gradually eroding market confidence.
Logically, with market confidence this low, the stock should be plumting. But instead, it was slipping down gradually.
Lu Liang suspected that the main investor was tightly controlling the market. The strategy wasn’t particularly clever, but it was ticulous—continuously buying up shares without setting a visible support line.
If there were a visible support line, retail investors could see it in the trading details. If they noticed significant support below, it would raise their expectations, making it harder for the main investor to accumulate shares cheaply.
The market had given him another lesson.
At 11:30, during the mid-session break, Lu Liang got up to freshen up. His position was already fully invested. With the A-shares market’s T 1 trading rule, anything he bought today could only be sold the next day, aning today’s fluctuations wouldn’t affect him.
According to his analysis, the next rally would likely start on Monday, as an intraday surge would be too costly.
Around noon, Lu Liang left the hotel, driving his Bentley back to his apartnt in Xinpu. He planned to move.
The apartnt was nice, a one-bedroom unit that rented for only 2,300 yuan per month, fully furnished for a move-in-ready experience. Except for the diocre soundproofing, it was nearly perfect—but now, he could afford sothing better.
After living there for over two months, he hadn’t bought much, and a single suitcase would hold all he needed.
He looked over at the unit across from his and suddenly thought of Li Manli, a smile tugging at his lips. He’d nearly forgotten about her.
He knocked on the door across the hall. “Manli, are you ho?”
Inside, hurried footsteps sounded, and the door cracked open.
Li Manli, in cartoon pajamas, peeked out, her hair ssy with a few strands sticking up, looking dazed as if she’d just woken up.
“Brother Liang, are you going on a trip?”
Seeing the suitcase he was pulling, Li Manli quickly grabbed a hat, tucking her disheveled hair beneath it.
Lu Liang shook his head. “I’m moving out. I noticed you were ho, so I thought I’d say goodbye.”
“Oh,” she murmured, wanting to ask where he was moving but unsure of her place to do so.
Friends? Not quite.
Neighbors? There’d once been a chance they could’ve been good neighbors, but she’d shut that down herself.
“By the way, are you free this afternoon?” Lu Liang asked suddenly.
Li Manli, after all, wasn’t Zhang Qian. At nineteen, expecting her to take initiative was unrealistic. Winning over this “apple” would require him to make the first move.
“I should be. I don’t start work until eight.”
“Co with to check out so apartnts, give a second opinion.”
Without giving her a chance to refuse, he added with a smile, “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? We’ll grab a al first.”
“But I just got up. I haven’t washed up or done my makeup,” she replied, a bit hesitant.
Part of her genuinely wanted to get to know him better, but she also had a sense of his intentions. Although young, her ti working in the nightlife industry ant she wasn’t totally naïve. Ṝ𝘈₦ǒВÊⱾ
“No worries. I’ll wait,” Lu Liang replied, giving her a wave as he returned to his apartnt.
“Alright, I’ll hurry,” she replied, her heart skipping a beat as she accepted his invitation. It’s just a al, she told herself, and helping him pick an apartnt. Nothing too serious.
When her door closed, a smile played on Lu Liang’s lips. The hardest part—getting her to agree to co along—was done. From here, things would be easier.
Twenty minutes later, Li Manli erged, dressed in a pink hoodie, ripped jeans, and twin ponytails, radiating youthful energy.
“Let’s go.” Lu Liang walked ahead, pulling his suitcase.
He didn’t complint her outfit or looks, because for a girl as pretty as she was, she’d heard such things too often. Lu Liang’s approach was to stand out by emphasizing his strengths—specifically, his wealth.
They arrived downstairs, where his blue Bentley was parked at the entrance. A luxury car worth 4.8 million yuan was bound to attract onlookers.
Unbothered by the attention, Lu Liang opened the passenger door with a grin. “Your chariot awaits, Princess.”
“Brother Liang, stop teasing ,” she replied, cheeks tinged pink as she ducked into the car. She didn’t know the car’s price, but from the admiring looks of the passersby, it was clear it wasn’t cheap.
As he held the door open, she felt like the center of attention, a feeling that filled her with imnse satisfaction.
Lu Liang chuckled, placing his suitcase in the trunk before driving away.
At each red light, the blue Bentley drew curious glances, so intentional, so not. Luxury cars always turned heads.
Lu Liang noticed her subtle movents, smiling to himself but not calling her out on it. He liked girls with a bit of vanity—he could indulge their desires for admiration.
Returning to the Peace Hotel, he parked at the entrance. Handing his keys to the valet, he let the doorman handle the parking.
Tan Tao, bowing, greeted him with a smile. “Welco back, Mr. Lu.”
“The public dining room on the second floor,” Lu Liang said.
Tan Tao led them to the second floor, arranging for the best table by the window.
“Manli, do you have any food preferences?” Lu Liang asked as he perused the nu.
“Just no cilantro; anything else is fine.” Her focus was outside the window.
Beyond lay Shanghai’s fad Bund, and farther in the distance was the glitzy, pri real estate of Lujiazui. Coming from Xinpu to here felt like stepping into another world, and everything she’d seen on this trip so far made her feel like she was seeing the real Shanghai.
After Lu Liang finished ordering, she couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Liang, do you co here often?”
“Just recently, since I’ve been staying upstairs. I’ve co down to eat a few tis, and it’s pretty good,” he replied calmly. His tone wasn’t boastful, which to her, seed humble.
After a 4,200-yuan al, they moved to the café on the sa floor for a coffee break.
Li Manli, unusually proactive, helped him look for a new apartnt, logically analyzing the advantages of various neighborhoods. She clearly didn’t know that he used to work in real estate and understood the city’s layout far better than she did.
But Lu Liang enjoyed seeing her take the lead, and he offered an approving smile, occasionally adding his own comnts.
After a while, Li Manli took a sip of her coffee and asked, “Brother Liang, what’s your budget?”
“Anything works.” Lu Liang smiled, glancing out the window. “Living over there should be pretty nice.”
“Where?” Following his gaze, she looked across the river, where most of the buildings were comrcial offices, not residences.
“Those four buildings next to the Global Financial Center.”
A gleam flashed in his eyes. He’d already decided where he wanted to live; asking her opinion was just a way to spend ti with her.
Checking her phone, she said, “Isn’t that complex called Tomson Riviera?”
“Yeah, I think that’s the na,” Lu Liang replied, taking her by the hand. “Let’s go have a look.”
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