7. Gatekeeping is a specific role of a best friend.

At 3:30 p.m., Jin Cheng promptly opened the stock trading app on his phone to check the day's gains.

It didn't matter whether he earned more or less, what concerned him most was to compare with the stock market's barometer to ensure that the timeline he was in hadn't changed.

What if the bullish market in the second half of the year disappeared?

What if the market merely flatlined for a few months? Wouldn't he be doomed to have his contact list blown up, turning into a deadbeat debtor of Jiang City?

Owing hundreds of thousands, Mr. Lu didn't take it seriously, but bearing the identity of a deadbeat, normal girls would probably stay far away.

"Hmm... +18%, the earnings are quite decent."

"The stocks selected are mostly recognizable, it seems the overall market hasn't changed much."

In the empty dorm room, Jin Cheng stared at the total assets of 590,000 yuan, his feet propped up on the table, leaning back in his chair in a daze.

He entered the market with 500,000 yuan, kept 20,000 yuan for his pocket money, and after one trading day, the stocks that surged brought him an 18% gain, banking 90,000 yuan.

If calculated this way... about a week or so, plus compound interest, he could effortlessly clear his online loans and still make a small profit.

But this was the typical conservative strategy, not at all suitable for the aggressive and bold Mr. Lu.

Being able to predict market trends put him on par with a deity from ancient Greece who governed rises and falls.

Predict with 100% accuracy? Could he achieve a hundredfold return within a year?

Too small, the vision is too limited.

Predicting stocks meant he could predict stock indices, since stock indices are calculated from a basket of stocks.

Predicting indices meant he could predict stock index futures.

Predicting stock index futures meant he could predict options contracts.

For main board stocks, the ceiling is about 20%.

For growth enterprises market and Sci-Tech Innovation Board, the limit of a skyrocketing stock is 40%, and that's rarely seen.

Mainly these stocks are traded T+1, you buy today but can't sell today, limited operational space.

Stock index futures are different, inherently equipped with a 10x leverage, T+0 trading, permissible to go long or short.

What does that mean?

If Jin Cheng could predict rises and falls accurately, buying full margin that day and selling on a 1% market rise that day could net an instant 10% profit.

And that's not all; markets fluctuate up and down. Predict a downturn that day, quickly go full short, the index falls 1%, he buys to cover, and earns another 10%.

Several fluctuations in one day could let him earn repeatedly, and even if the index didn't rise or fall by the close, as long as there were fluctuations, he could make money.

Now, about options, that's even more fierce. Theoretically, given not too extreme market conditions, leverage in options could reach dozens or even hundreds of times.

In secondary markets, if rises and falls could be precisely predicted, what are a few years, what is a hundredfold profit? They all signal too limited a vision.

It truly doesn't need years; just a few days could easily yield a hundredfold profit.

But after all, it was something from over a decade ago, Jin Cheng couldn't recall so precisely, nor could he afford to risk his only half million in pursuit of hundredfold leverage.

He had a deep understanding of himself; he might try predicting indices, but he definitely wouldn't gamble with options contracts.

The waters of finance are deep; in his previous life, many entrepreneur friends hadn't fully grasped stocks, got seduced by the high stakes of options, expecting a windfall, and ended up bust, facing ruin.

After all, with futures and options, as soon as expiration day arrives, unrealized gains and losses are immediately cashed in, not even giving you a moment to wait.

That's the complexity of financial instruments, if he could predict rises and falls with 100% accuracy, using futures he could earn back and forth in volatile markets.

In wildly fluctuating one-way markets, options could allow earning massive profits.

But the prerequisite for all was foreknowledge, the ability to predict the market movements with 100% certainty.

These financial tools were like a double-edged sword; they could quickly turn tens of thousands into millions, or just as easily cause someone to lose millions in a single day.

It is both the angel and the devil.

The key is whether the manipulator can remain sober, whether they possess the capability to control it.

...

Elsewhere, just after returning to the dormitory, Zhou Sinin was about to edit a WeChat message when her phone vibrated ahead of her, receiving a video call invitation from her best friend.

"Wow! Honey, why are you so smiley today? What's up?"

The caller was Yongyi from Yangcheng, and from her name alone, you could guess she was probably a girl from Guangdong.

Due to their family elders' jobs, the two had known each other since childhood, often traveling together, and this time, they had even enrolled in the same university.

"Guan Guan! Let me tell you, the stocks I bought today made me a profit of 8000 yuan!"

Zhou Sinin threw back the blanket, adjusted the black strap on her shoulder back to its place, casually slipped on a pair of slippers, and ran to the balcony.

She didn't want to be too flashy in front of her roommate, so she deliberately lowered her voice, her big peachy eyes curved up like crescents as she smiled, yet her excitement couldn't be concealed.

"That much? Then I'll have to slit you, treat me to a big meal!"

Yongyi was quickly affected by her best friend's emotions, smiling as if an iceberg was melting.

"Before you were telling me that the market is bad right now, so you were planning to wait and see for a while, weren't you?"

"Ah, how should I put it... I went to check the market today and met a guy about my age."

"Um, huh???"

Guan Yongyi was stunned.

Zhou Sinin held up her phone and, in a rather euphemistic way, recounted her bizarre experiences throughout the day.

"It sounds so weird, you weren't tricked by a scammer, were you?"

Guan Yongyi bit her lip, clearly disbelieving.

The two had been close from childhood, coming from similar family backgrounds, yet their personalities were completely different.

A law student and a finance enthusiast react entirely differently to the unknown.

She had once followed Zhou Sinin into stock trading for a bit; as soon as it hit a 10% stop-loss line, she immediately decided to pull out and cut her losses.

Guan Yongyi had even advised her best friend to stop dabbling in petty trading.

Sunk costs shouldn't drive major decisions; focusing only on breaking even can lead to a total loss.

Hearing about the man's fully green track record, her first reaction was that her best friend might have been deceived.

"Listen to me till the end! I thought maybe it was just good luck during that time slot, so I went back to the exchange in the afternoon and bought a few of the stocks he had bought."

"And then..."

Zhou Sinin said this with a laugh, the corners of her mouth gently curling like a fox who had just stolen some cake.

Stock investor Xiao Zhou didn't have much capital; between the New Year's money from when she was young and red packets from relatives, she had about a little over a hundred thousand.

With the market in a long-term slump and not great conditions, she had lost a portion. When she bought in the afternoon, she used only a hundred thousand in capital.

By the close, she had made an 8% profit, 8000 yuan.

Almost catching up to several college students' living expenses.

"Pretty smart, huh~"

Guan Yongyi couldn't help but slip into her local dialect, making a heart gesture at her friend on screen, "And then what?"

"And then..."

Zhou Sinin blinked her eyes, her beautiful lashes fluttering. She paused, seemingly a bit embarrassed.

"?"

"This... wasn't really an 'and then,' but at noon, I added him on WeChat."

The lazy sunlight cast a hazy outline on the tiny fuzz on Zhou Sinin's neck.

She naturally had pale skin, but at this moment her pretty face turned red, like a cake brushed with a beautiful blush inviting a bite.

"Ha?"

Guan Yongyi's curiosity was piqued, and she immediately sat up from lying on the bed, pulling her long, straight legs close to her body, forming a natural stand for her phone in the middle.

"Zhou Sinin! Are you not telling me something?"

"What?"

"No, I think I've covered almost everything."

Zhou Sinin shook her head.

"You definitely left something out! Why would you add a guy on WeChat?"

Guan Yongyi asked earnestly.

"Is he really handsome?"

"...Get real, you just met him once."

Zhou Sinin was speechless.

"Is he really good at talking, and it was particularly comfortable being with him?"

Guan Yongyi probed further.

"Alright, alright, my queen, can we talk about what we're going to eat later?"

Zhou Sinin couldn't help but recall Lu Jincheng's sharp profile and the ten-plus minutes they had spent together in the car.

"Done for, done for, both handsome and good at flirting, you... you..."

Guan Yongyi grinned, raising a finger and arching an eyebrow suggestively.

Her whole family practiced law, and she had been trained in sharp logical thinking from a young age.

Not directly answering typically means consent, evading the question typically means it hit the bullseye.

"Invite him out for the big meal tonight? Sisters will help you keep an eye on him."