How did he get the money?

And how was it exchanged into dollars and transferred to America?

Chen Qing painfully closed his eyes.

Xia Xiaolan was always so sharp, grasping the key points and not letting go, leaving Chen Qing nowhere to hide.

When he opened his eyes, Xia Xiaolan was still there.

Sitting across the table, less than a meter away.

That face was so beautiful – before, just one extra glance would make Chen Qing’s heart race and face flush. Now, though Xia Xiaolan remained beautiful, he had become utterly ugly.

Chen Qing lowered his head:

“I said it was for tuition, for advanced studies.”

The Chen family was just a rural household.

Even Chen Wangda, the most knowledgeable among them, didn’t understand about government-funded study abroad. State-sponsored students didn’t need to pay tuition and received living allowances; basically, all expenses abroad were covered by the state. There was no way they would need to pay $10,000 in tuition.

Xia Xiaolan laughed bitterly.

“Well, you’re not wrong – wanting to make money on Wall Street does require paying ‘tuition fees.’ Even stock market wizards need to pay to learn!”

But stock market wizards didn’t come from 1980s rural China.

And they didn’t trick their families into tuition money only to throw it into the bottomless pit of Wall Street!

Madness!

Any investment made without considering the worst outcome is just reckless gambling!

Xia Xiaolan had never so clearly realized that Chen Qing was no longer that simple village boy from Qi Jing Village – the one who would blush when stealing glances at her, who repeated a year to escape rural life, who wrote beautiful characters and borrowed textbooks to review for her… From 1983 to 1986, after getting into the University of International Business and Economics and then studying in New York, Chen Qing was no longer the person in her memories.

Nobody stays unchanged.

Chen Qing had just changed too quickly. Xia Xiaolan hadn’t adjusted, and by the time she realized it, he had become unrecognizable.

Chen Qing raised his head and was stung by Xia Xiaolan’s gaze.

Maybe Xiaolan wasn’t angry about him losing $10,000.

But she was angry that he used tuition as an excuse to get this money from his family… Chen Qing himself was too ashamed to face anyone. When asking for the money, he truly hadn’t thought about wasting his family’s hard-earned money; he’d been thinking about bigger capital and more profits.

At that time, his few trades had been profitable, and his mindset had become completely unbalanced.

He thought he could control everything.

In an instant, Wall Street had slapped him hard with reality – he was just a lucky novice!

“My grandfather had everyone in the family gather the money, about 80,000 yuan total. He wired it to Beijing, to Han Jin’s family. The Han family exchanged it for $10,000 and transferred it to my account in America.”

Sure enough, the Han family was involved!

“Han Jin knew? Her family knew too? Did none of them try to stop you?”

Xia Xiaolan found it strange.

Chen Qing was too ashamed to speak: “…I had made some money before, and Han Jin had a lot of faith in me. What I lost wasn’t just the $10,000 from home, but also my own $2,000 and Han Jin’s $5,000 investment!”

$17,000.

Xia Xiaolan felt like applauding Chen Qing.

The Han family didn’t stop him because they had no financial knowledge – China didn’t even have a stock market yet. Seeing Chen Qing’s previous successful trades, they thought America was paved with gold, and that anyone could easily make money.

If they weren’t convinced Chen Qing would profit, why would Han Jin invest $5,000?

Han Jin didn’t seem to lack money, but $5,000 wasn’t a small sum.

Xia Xiaolan picked up her coffee, “What’s lost is lost. What do you plan to do now? Should I have let that car hit you earlier, ending it all?”

Never mind the Chen family’s money.

Even though Xia Xiaolan disliked Han Jin and thought her methods ruthless, her dollars were still money.

Chen Qing now had a $15,000 hole to fill.

If things went wrong, everything would fall apart – not only would he disappoint his family, but his relationship would end too.

Even if they broke up, Chen Qing would still have to repay Han Jin.

Die like a coward?

Death wouldn’t solve anything.

Chen Qing couldn’t lift his head under Xia Xiaolan’s questioning.

He wanted to say he’d repay his family and Han Jin… but with $15,000 in debt, how could he repay it without touching the stock market?

In New York, Chen Qing knew the going rate for international students’ under-the-table work – he’d not only asked around but had done it himself.

His initial capital had come from money he brought to New York, plus his remaining living expenses and savings from part-time work.

At $2 per hour, $15,000 would require 7,500 hours of work.

Working 5 hours a day would take 1,500 days.

A full 4 years.

He might not even repay this debt by the time he graduated from NYU.

Chen Qing was good at math; mental calculation quickly showed him what $15,000 in foreign debt meant.

Under Xia Xiaolan’s contemptuous gaze, he could only bear responsibility for his mistakes:

“I won’t kill myself. If I die, no one will ever repay the money. Xiaolan, I’m sorry…”

Xia Xiaolan stood up and flung her coffee in his face:

“This is on behalf of Grandfather Chen. Chen Qing, I can’t help you hide this. I’ll tell Grandfather Chen everything because I don’t believe your words anymore. Your current remorse and guilt are temporary – once these emotions fade, crazy gamblers always think about winning it all back in one go… A gambler’s promises are worthless. You used tuition as an excuse to swindle $10,000 from your family; next time you’ll use illness as an excuse to make them send more money… They’re farmers who scratch a living from the soil – how can they meet your demands? But you’re the Chen family’s pride, their first university graduate, who even went abroad. They’d sell their blood and flesh to support your studies!”

Xia Xiaolan threw down her cup, “This coffee is on me – and it’s the last time I’ll ever buy you coffee. Chen Qing, you’re already a gambler; don’t be a coward too. Honestly, I look down on you.”

If not for Chen Wangda, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t even bother saying this much to Chen Qing.

Yes, Xia Xiaolan had money.

Over $10,000 wasn’t much to her – she’d spent more than that on private investigators!

But while Xia Xiaolan was willing to spend money to have Jim watch Zhou ‘Big Fool,’ she wouldn’t lend Chen Qing a cent!

Zhou Yi was a woman; her drama only hurt her. Instead of living properly as the Zhou family’s young lady, she insisted on dragging herself down the social ladder. She made Jiang Hong sick with anger and disappointed the whole Zhou family… but at least she hadn’t endangered the Zhou family’s foundation. Her desire to be with Yuan Han was just her muddled thinking, not realizing how harmful it was.

Chen Qing wasn’t muddled.

Chen Qing was much smarter than Zhou Yi!

Big Fool Zhou was indiscriminate in love, falling for the parasite Yuan Han.

Chen Qing aimed high in dating – whatever Han Jin was like, her family was well-off.

Big Fool Zhou was focused on true love, while Chen Qing knew how difficult $10,000 was for the entire Chen family yet asked for it anyway… Was this confusion? No, this was greed! This was evil!