Chapter 10: Choosing a University

"Thanks for the invitation. I have something else to do this afternoon, so next time it's my treat, Manager Min..."

Having finished his business, Li Shuo didn't intend to linger. He stood up and left the bank, with Min Yuerou seeing him all the way to the entrance.

"He looks quite young. I didn't expect him to be earning foreign exchange already. I wonder which family's young master he is. Are there people like this in Kuncheng?"

Staring at Li Shuo's retreating figure, Min Yuerou murmured to herself.

Just then, a familiar figure walked up beside her, hugging her arm and calling out, "Mom, what are you thinking about?"

Min Yuerou was startled and glared at her daughter, Bai Lu. "You're about to go to university, why are you still so loud? Can't girls be a bit more quiet!"

Bai Lu wrinkled her nose. In front of her mother, she could only obediently say, "Oh," but quickly followed up warmly, "What are you thinking about? It's already 12 o'clock, haven't you finished work yet?"

Min Yuerou said casually, "I ran into a handsome guy today. He looks only a few years older than you, probably a recent college graduate, but he's already earning USD..."

As she spoke, she began to lecture her daughter again.

Bai Lu rolled her eyes and shouted, "Stop, stop! Why are you starting again? If I had known, I wouldn't have come to have lunch with you."

Min Yuerou smiled and looked at her beautiful daughter. "Alright, let's not talk about that. Why do you have time to come over today? Weren't you supposed to go to school to estimate your scores?"

"That's for tomorrow. The scores haven't come out yet."

"Tomorrow is for regular Gaokao students to estimate scores. You're an art student; don't you have a sense of whether you can get in or not?"

"Of course I can. Oh, Mom, stop nagging. With your arrangements, I'll definitely get into Lengxi."

...

Li Shuo had no idea that a simple trip to the bank had turned him into "the child of someone else's parents." After completing the foreign exchange settlement and opening his stock account, he took a bus back to Songshan County. Instead of going home, he found an internet cafe and ducked inside.

Now that the financial matters were settled, it was time for his own life decisions.

Others would have to wait until the answers were released tomorrow to estimate their scores and calculate a rough total, but Li Shuo knew his Gaokao score was 536. He only needed to collect the admission cut-off scores from previous years and filter for a good school.

"University cut-off scores generally don't fluctuate much. And if I agree to placement adjustments, the worst that happens is being assigned to an unpopular major. As long as I get a diploma from a prestigious university, it won't make much difference to me..."

"First, I'll rule out finance-related majors like the ones I studied in my previous life..."

"Second, in the future, I'll most likely hoard some real estate, so I can consider places where property prices develop quickly..."

"Lenghai is good. It's Shanghai, the most economically developed city in the country, and it's right next to Kun City. It's close to home, and I might even consider settling in Lenghai in the future..."

"What else? Hmm, if I want a comfortable university life, should I pick a place with more beautiful women? Maybe an arts major?"

"The future is the era of self-media, so I could consider learning something like photography..."

After a bout of self-muttering, Li Shuo quickly determined the university he wanted to attend: Lenghai Academy of Drama.

It was an arts school, ranked alongside the Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy as one of the three major art institutions in the country.

In his previous life, Li Shuo attended the Institute of Accounting and Finance, which wasn't far from Lengxi. Occasionally, when he went out shopping, he would see various luxury cars parked in front of the main entrance of the academy. Back then, Li Shuo was young and ignorant; he only cared about looking at those rare supercars and would even take out his phone to snap photos while the owners weren't around...

Thinking of this, Li Shuo let out a wry laugh.

In his last life, he could only watch the scenery from outside the gates. Why not experience it from the inside this time?

In his last life, he could only shamelessly stare at luxury cars. This time, why not become the person driving them?

By the time Li Shuo returned home, it was already past 5 PM, and he inevitably faced another lecture from his mother.

"You're right, I did play too much today. But since the score estimation is tomorrow, I went online to research universities. Mom, calm down, let your son massage your shoulders..."

He knew Mrs. Chen's temperament like the back of his hand. He would first offer a conciliatory smile and then hint that he had actually been doing something productive.

Hearing this, his mother immediately showed interest. "You went to check on universities? Did you find anything? The scores aren't out yet, are they?"

"Yeah, I found some things. I have a plan. Once the scores are out, just watch—I guarantee I'll get into a prestigious university."

"Really? Sigh, your mother only finished junior high; I don't have the knowledge or experience for this. I don't even know how to guide you. And your father, always out all day... it's time for you to fill out your preferences, and he doesn't even come home to help..."

Mrs. Chen could link everything back to his father. Li Shuo offered a silent three-second prayer for his old man before slipping into his bedroom.

He opened the ICBC app on his phone, clicked through, and jumped into the bank app's built-in securities sub-page.

Min Yuerou was very efficient; by 1 PM, she had already opened a securities account for him. Since Li Shuo had just boarded the bus back to Songshan County, he transferred all his money into the account while on the bus and immediately went "all-in" on two stocks.

Originally, Li Shuo was just looking around, but to his surprise, the stocks he bought this afternoon had already yielded a return of approximately 20%!

When Li Shuo bought them, both stocks were basically at their daily limit down (-10%), but by the market close, they had surged to +10%. In other words, they had both performed a legendary "bottom-to-ceiling" run.

Consequently, the nearly 240,000 RMB he had obtained from exchanging his 29,000 USD this morning had now jumped to nearly 290,000 RMB!

"Did I accidentally catch the bottom of a 'demon stock'? Hmm, I'll just have to see if it continues to hit the daily limit in the coming days."

Li Shuo was quite happy with the 50,000 RMB gain. It meant he not only had the advantage of foresight but also quite good luck.

After thinking it over, Li Shuo selected several other stocks from his memory and added them to his watchlist. They were all well-known "demon stocks"—terrifying entities that could bankrupt retail investors, but for a regressor, they were opportunities.

Of course, Li Shuo had a plan: once they started to drop, he would immediately sell them off and move the money into other stocks.

People today might not understand the characteristics of demon stocks, but Li Shuo knew them all too well. They would often hit ten or even dozens of consecutive daily limits to lure retail investors in, and once the crowd arrived, the big players would immediately dump massive amounts of shares, causing a total collapse.

Since Li Shuo bought at the low point, he could naturally cash out at any time. Furthermore, once a stock hit ten consecutive daily limits, he would also exit and move on to other stocks that hadn't surged yet.

In short, during this upward wave in the second half of 2010, as long as Li Shuo could seize the opportunities, turning 240,000 into two or three times that amount wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, once the 240,000 reached about 1 million, Li Shuo would cash out and exit. After all, this was the A-share market, and even a regressor must maintain a sense of awe.

By the time he finished with the stocks, it was already 10 PM. After washing up, Li Shuo went to bed.

Strangely, while he had a habit of staying up late playing games in his previous life, after being reborn, he could fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. His young body provided him with abundant energy.

The next morning, Li Shuo was full of motivation. He jumped out of bed immediately, threw on some clothes, and went out for a morning run.

After running about 3 kilometers around the perimeter of the residential area, Li Shuo felt his body was fully warmed up, and only then did he head home...

(End of Chapter)