It was five o'clock in the afternoon, nearing closing time.
The large conference room at Xingcheng Securities was packed with people.
A big screen on one wall was displaying the March performance curve chart.
A man in his fifties, dressed in a suit and with meticulously combed hair, was speaking.
"As you can all see, although the overall environment is not good, our performance is not worse than the same period last year, and we have a 30% increase month-on-month. I want to thank everyone here for their hard work."
After a pause, the man's gaze fell on Hu Qian:
"Manager Hu."
Hearing her leader call her name, Hu Qian immediately sat up straight.
The middle-aged man nodded and continued:
"Manager Hu, congratulations on being first in performance again this month, and with a significant increase. Your 500,000 bonus for this month will be deposited into your card before closing time."
"Clap…"
Thunderous applause erupted in the conference room.
Everyone looked at Hu Qian with envy.
"Ever since she joined our company, her performance has been first every month. The rest of us can only compete for second. What's the point?"
"Comparing yourself to others is infuriating. Why is fate so unfair?"
"Hu Qian is already so beautiful, why does she have to be so capable too!"
…
Hu Qian smiled slightly upon hearing her Colleagues' discussions about her.
She applauded along with them, while standing up and continuously thanking her Colleagues who were congratulating her.
"Thank you, thank you!"
…
After the meeting, it was almost closing time.
Hu Qian was tidying up her things when her phone rang.
She looked at her phone, saw it was Zhang Jun calling, and answered.
"Junior, are you calling me at this time to invite me to dinner?"
"Senior, you're joking. I have a university Colleague who asked me to recommend a stock consultant, and I immediately thought of you!"
Hu Qian frowned upon hearing this. She and Zhang Jun's families were neighbors, and they had known each other since childhood, so they were very familiar.
From what she knew, the best-performing of Zhang Jun's university Colleagues worked in the planning bureau.
Besides that one, she hadn't heard of anyone else doing particularly well.
Moreover, they had only graduated a little over two years ago, so their accumulated wealth wouldn't be very substantial.
Having a few hundred thousand in savings was already quite good.
Such clients no longer met her threshold.
The most crucial point was that she wouldn't earn much from such clients, and if they lost money, it would damage her reputation.
"Zhang Jun, you know that the minimum threshold to have me manage your funds is ten million. For your sake, if your Colleague can come up with five million, I'll help, but I have one condition: everything must be done my way."
Zhang Jun worked at a bank and dealt with many people every day, so he naturally understood the meaning behind Hu Qian's words.
He quickly explained:
"Senior, you've misunderstood. If he didn't meet your threshold, I wouldn't have introduced him. Rest assured, I've confirmed he has ten million."
Hu Qian was stunned. To be able to invest ten million in stocks just two or three years after graduation, what kind of person was this?
A strong sense of curiosity arose within her.
Was he a rich second-generation heir or a business prodigy?
"Senior?"
"Hmm, in that case, let's meet at my company tomorrow at 10 AM to discuss the details."
"Okay, Senior, I'll bring him to see you tomorrow."
Zhang Jun breathed a sigh of relief when Hu Qian agreed to meet.
On the other side, Hu Qian was tidying up her things, preparing to leave.
She was very curious about what kind of person Zhang Jun's Colleague was.
It wasn't because of the 10 million, but because he was so young yet could come up with 10 million.
She didn't lack clients with 10 million, but without exception, these clients were all older, middle-aged people.
She didn't have a single client in their twenties who could invest 10 million in stocks.
…
The next day, at 9:30 AM.
At the entrance of the Xing City Binjiang Financial Building.
Zhang Jun brought Lin Yang here.
Soon after Lin Yang sent a message to Zhang Jun yesterday, he received a reply saying to come directly to the company today for a meeting.
To Lin Yang's surprise, Zhang Jun appeared at his doorstep early in the morning, insisting on personally bringing him over.
Seeing his persistence, Lin Yang had no choice but to agree.
Along the way, Zhang Jun was very polite and proactive.
Anyone unaware would have thought Lin Yang was the boss and Zhang Jun was his assistant.
Before them stood a 66-story building.
The building was located in Xing City Binjiang, the financial center of Xing City.
All the banks, insurance companies, and securities firms in the province were concentrated here.
This area was an inch of gold; the daily rent per square meter exceeded fifty yuan per day.
Therefore, companies that could rent offices here were all large corporations; ordinary small businesses simply couldn't afford the high rent.
Xingcheng Securities was located on the 49th floor of this building.
"Ding, 49th floor reached."
As the announcement played, the elevator doors opened.
Zhang Jun held the elevator door open with one hand, while bending over and gesturing for Lin Yang to enter.
"Lin Yang, Xingcheng Securities Company has arrived."
"Okay."
As Lin Yang stepped out of the elevator, he saw a huge signboard with the four characters "Xingcheng Securities" written on it.
"Sirs, hello, do you have an appointment?"
As they approached the company entrance, a receptionist at the front desk asked.
"Yes, we have an appointment. We're here to see your Manager Hu Qian."
"Hmm, you must be Mr. Lin and Mr. Zhang. Manager Hu is already here. I'll take you over."
Upon hearing they were looking for Hu Qian, the receptionist immediately came out from behind the desk and walked ahead to lead the way.
Lin Yang and Zhang Jun followed her, passing several offices and a corridor, before stopping in front of a room with a "Manager's Office" sign.
"Mr. Lin, Mr. Zhang, this is Manager Hu's office. Please come in."
With that, the receptionist pushed the door open.
Lin Yang walked in and saw a long-haired woman in her twenties, dressed in a professional suit, sitting at a desk, typing on a keyboard.
"Manager Hu, Mr. Lin and Mr. Zhang have arrived."
The woman at the desk stopped what she was doing when she heard the receptionist's report, stood up, and walked over to Lin Yang, extending her right hand.
"Hello, Mr. Lin, I'm Hu Qian."
After releasing Lin Yang's hand, Hu Qian openly scrutinized him from head to toe.
She had been curious about what kind of person Lin Yang was yesterday, and now she finally saw him.
Young, handsome, and exuding an attractive confidence.
"Hello."
While Hu Qian was observing Lin Yang, Lin Yang was also observing Hu Qian.
She was dressed sharply, giving off the impression of a strong, capable woman.
"Alright, we're all familiar with each other, why be so formal? Let's sit down and talk first."
Zhang Jun walked to the lounge area, tidied the cushions on the sofa, and then invited Lin Yang and Hu Qian to sit.
"Senior, you're doing well, having such a large office all to yourself."
"Just good luck. Thanks to everyone's kindness and trust, they've entrusted their idle funds to me to manage."
"Senior, don't be modest. Back in school, you were already a prominent figure, and you consistently took first place in the simulated stock trading competitions."
Hearing about the simulated stock trading competition and her consistent first place, Lin Yang remembered who Hu Qian was.
Zhang Jun was right, Hu Qian was a prominent figure in school.
Everyone's evaluation of her was that she could have relied on her looks, but she chose to rely on her ability.
She was beautiful and had a good figure, consistently winning first place in the school forum's campus beauty pageants every year.
Not only that, her ability was even more outstanding than her looks.
She served as student council president, president of several clubs, and was a frequent participant in various competitions; once she participated in a competition, everyone else could only compete for second place.
Even so, her grades were still the best in the entire department.
She was the campus beauty and academic prodigy everyone talked about.
No wonder she felt so familiar at first glance, as if he had seen her somewhere before.