ryethenovel Chapter 596: Strangers
Chapter 596: Strangers
That evening, Ren Yangyang sent an email to her best friend Qin Yu, who was in New York.
It was lunchtime in New York. Qin Yu was just about to leave the office for lunch when she saw her best friend's email pop up. She immediately changed her mind and pressed the intercom button: "Xina, lunch out is canceled. Please send in a tuna sandwich and a hot Americano, thank you."
"Roger that, boss!" Secretary Hina's voice came through the intercom, clear and crisp.
After the 9/11 attacks last year, the situation gradually stabilized, and Qin Yu returned to the United States.
She has long since resigned from her job at Morgan Stanley and started her own fund company, engaging in investment transactions in the securities market. Overall, she is doing quite well, and her personal assets are visibly substantial.
Qin Yu sat back in the large leather chair, clicked the mouse, and an email from her best friend Ren Yangyang instantly appeared on her computer screen. She read it word by word.
After reading the email, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on his lips, but it quickly returned to calm, leaving an imperceptible sense of loneliness on his face.
She picked up the cup of coffee on the table, which had long since gone cold, and strolled to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window is the unique winter landscape of New York. In Central Park nearby, the branches of oak trees sway slightly in the cold wind, and a thin layer of snow covers the grass. Beyond the park, further away, is the Manhattan skyline, with countless skyscrapers reflecting the midday sun, standing side by side, piercing the gray-blue sky.
The view from her rented office is strikingly similar to that of the luxury apartment overlooking Central Park that Morgan Stanley provided her free of charge during her time there. Only now, the space beneath her feet is more open, and the walnut desk crafted by Italian artisans and the furnishings in the office showcase her wealth and status.
Rewind to the early 2000s, when the internet technology stock frenzy reached its peak, the Nasdaq index soared, and the entire Wall Street was immersed in the dream of the new technology economy, with optimism permeating the air.
At that time, Qin Yu, who was still at Morgan Stanley, was filled with doubts. But her Harvard senior, Simons, a top fund manager at Morgan Stanley, told her casually, "Don't let those pessimistic views disrupt your rhythm. The market is always right."
However, she couldn't shake the memory of those papers because they were written by an old friend of hers.
During her time at Harvard, she learned about his "deeds" during his university years from Wu Duo, a classmate of that man, which made her realize that the man's judgment might have a foundation that was difficult for ordinary people to reach.
After repeatedly studying the papers that person published in top journals such as AER and JPE, she was deeply influenced and made a crazy decision: she would take advantage of the internet bubble to achieve her desire for financial freedom.
To this end, she took out all her savings from her working life, bet her entire fortune, and even used a terrifyingly high leverage. This was not just a gamble on wealth, but also a gamble on her career and even her life.
The entire short-selling operation was carried out in extreme secrecy and under intense tension. Countless nights, as the Nasdaq plummeted like an out-of-control elevator, she would become involuntarily excited, and when the Nasdaq rebounded sharply, her heart would feel like it was about to stop. Fear and excitement coexisted. She was awakened by nightmares more than once in the early morning, her pajamas even soaked with cold sweat, because she dreamed that her account was liquidated and wiped out, and that she jumped off the top of a building.
This also allowed the original Qin Yu to undergo a transformation into a powerful figure under such extreme tension.
Fortunately, Huang Xiaochuan's profound insight into human greed and market irrationality, as demonstrated in his paper, was brutally validated by the market. The internet bubble burst like an avalanche, bursting and evaporating one after another, just like soap bubbles in the sunlight.
Qin Yu was fortunate enough to seize the opportunity. When the dust settled, the number in her account made her dizzy, which indirectly announced her success and completely changed her destiny.
She left Morgan Stanley without hesitation, and soon after, a bronze plaque bearing the name "jade capital" was quietly hung in the lobby of a top-tier office building in Midtown Manhattan.
With her first fortune earned during the dot-com bubble burst, her deep understanding and study of Huang Xiaochuan's economic philosophy and market operation logic, and the professional skills and valuable network she honed over the years at Morgan Stanley, Qin Yu and her new company have established a firm foothold in the brutal financial arena of Wall Street.
Today's financial trading no longer requires the same level of nerve-wracking excitement as when she first shorted the Nasdaq. She can now calmly choose strategies and manage risks, allowing her wealth to grow steadily. Her abilities and track record have earned the trust of a growing number of savvy investors, who entrust their funds to her. As a result, she established a dedicated private equity fund, managing hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, truly joining the elite ranks of Wall Street. Her own luxury Upper East Side apartment replaced her former company-provided housing, and her personal Mercedes-Benz S-Class and efficient personal secretary have become standard features of her lifestyle.
These benefits, which she used to have to rely on Morgan Stanley for, now belong entirely to her. She has truly transformed from a company appendage to financial freedom.
Although she already possessed everything that others could hardly imagine, at this moment, as she recalled the email sent to her by her friend Ren Yangyang, an indescribable feeling welled up in her heart.
Huang Xiaochuan's achievements far exceeded her imagination. The once spirited young man in front of her has grown into a peak, and she, Qin Yu, has also successfully climbed her own mountain with her courage, hard work, and almost religious devotion to his judgment.
However, between the peak and the mountain, there is the vast Pacific Ocean and eleven years, as well as their different life trajectories. He is a returning traveler with his wife and children, while she is a stranger overlooking Central Park.
Central Park outside the window was quiet and empty under the winter sun. Qin Yu took a sip of her already cold coffee, and the bitterness spread from the tip of her tongue all the way to her heart.
Secretary Hina knocked softly and entered, placing a delicate paper bag and a steaming cup of coffee on her desk: "Boss! Your lunch."
Qin Yu turned around, her elegant smile returning to her face: "Thank you!"
She returned to her seat, glanced at the transaction data on her computer screen, and temporarily buried her best friend's email, along with the complex emotions in her heart, in a corner.