Second Uncle

"Since we're neighbors, we should look out for each other more in the future—"

"Ring-ring~" A phone ringtone suddenly interrupted Lin Yumo.

Lin Yumo glanced at the caller ID on her phone, and her expression immediately turned serious.

She casually declined the call, then turned to Guo Yuan and said, "Guo Yuan, I'm still at work, so I won't chat with you any longer. Let's add each other on WeChat!" With that, Lin Yumo opened WeChat's add-friend screen.

Guo Yuan opened WeChat and scanned the code. An account popped up with Psyduck as its profile picture and "Yuqing" as its username.

Guo Yuan casually tapped Add. A moment later, Lin Yumo approved his request and hurried out of the elevator.

Congratulations on becoming friends with your beautiful neighbor. Based on visual estimation, you determined that your beautiful neighbor was 168 centimeters tall, with measurements of 86, 62, and 88—an angelic face with a devilish body.

Guo Yuan's expression turned a little strange when he heard the narration. Who had visually estimated anything? Could that kind of thing even be estimated by sight? This damn narrator was slandering his good name out of thin air!

"Ring-ring~" Guo Yuan's phone began ringing as well. He took it out and saw that it was his mom calling.

Although Guo Yuan and his dad had gone their separate ways, he and his mom remained very close. When his apartment was being renovated, his mom had even secretly come over to act as the site supervisor for a while.

"Hello, Mom. What is it?"

"You brat, if I don't call you, you don't know how to contact me first, is that it? It's been two weeks without a single word from you. I thought you'd gone missing—I was ready to report you to the police! I worked so hard to raise you, and you ungrateful—" The moment Guo Yuan answered, his mom, Cao Hongying, launched into a furious tirade on the other end.

Only after Cao Hongying had tired herself out did Guo Yuan say, "Mom, it's all my fault. I've been busy writing a new book lately and got too absorbed in it. I promise I'll call you every week from now on."

"We'll talk about the future later. Go check on your second uncle now and see what's going on with him. Your phone can still get through, but his won't connect at all."

"Okay! Mom, I'll go right away."

"Honestly, both of you are such a pain." With that, Cao Hongying hung up.

Yes, Guo Yuan had a second uncle.

Unfortunately, unlike other people's second uncles, his second uncle did not help cure mental exhaustion. Instead, he only made his mom's mental exhaustion worse.

Guo Yuan's second uncle was named Cao Bin. He was thirty-seven this year, tall and handsome, with a car, a house, and a respectable job as a university math teacher. The only issue was that he was unmarried and didn't even have a girlfriend.

That was because Cao Bin believed in never marrying, something Guo Yuan's grandparents had nagged him about endlessly.

Cao Bin got tired of hearing his parents nag, so he simply bought an apartment in the city and moved there.

But while he could escape the first day of the month, he couldn't escape the fifteenth. He no longer had to listen to his parents' nagging, but there was no escaping his older sister's. Every few days, Guo Yuan's mom would pressure Cao Bin to get married and even drag him off on several blind dates.

Guo Yuan figured that the reason his mom couldn't reach his second uncle this time was probably because his uncle had gotten fed up and deliberately gone into hiding.

Still, that was only speculation. He had to go check for himself.

Guo Yuan casually hailed a cab and headed to the residential complex where Cao Bin lived.

Familiar with the route, Guo Yuan made his way to Cao Bin's door, felt under the doormat for the key, and opened it.

The instant Guo Yuan pushed the door open, a thick smell of smoke hit him in the face, followed by the sight of takeout containers scattered all over the floor.

A room that was tidy and odor-free belonged either to a cross-dresser or a gay man. Clearly, your second uncle was neither—he was just a normal man. It was recommended that you not enter the bedroom.

Guo Yuan did not disturb Cao Bin. Instead, he tidied up the room by himself.

By the time Guo Yuan had almost finished cleaning, Cao Bin emerged from the bedroom.

"Why are you here?" Cao Bin asked as he put down the tissues in his hand.

"My mom couldn't reach you, so she asked me to come check on you," Guo Yuan replied.

Cao Bin looked helpless when he heard that. "Just tell her I'm on a business trip."

"You should tell her yourself! If I tell her you're on a business trip, my mom will come charging over right after."

Cao Bin sighed, turned, and walked into the study. Guo Yuan followed him in.

Cao Bin sat down at the computer desk. When Guo Yuan entered, he saw that the screen was displaying a stock market K-line chart, while rows of notes covered the desk.

On the other monitor was a data model Cao Bin had created himself for data analysis.

Guo Yuan did not understand stock trading, but he knew that people who truly understood it definitely did not rely on luck. Every stock purchase required extensive data to support it.

Of course, that generally applied to large transactions. Most ordinary retail investors still relied mainly on experience and luck.

Cao Bin was a seasoned stock trader, and with his mathematical expertise, he had made quite a lot of money over the years.

In fact, the money he earned from this "side job" had already surpassed his income as a university teacher.

"Second Uncle, how's the stock market been lately?" Guo Yuan asked with a smile.

"Average," Cao Bin replied without looking up.

"Second Uncle, I've been a little short on cash lately and want to make some extra money. How about I buy some stocks with you?"

"I told you, the market's average. The stock market has been stabilizing lately, and there haven't been any major swings in the overall index. In this kind of situation, there isn't much point for retail investors like us to play the long game, though short-term trading is still possible.

"But if you want to buy, you can keep an eye on this stock. I've calculated that it may see a small increase soon." Cao Bin picked up a sheet of paper from the computer desk and handed it to Guo Yuan.

Guo Yuan took it. The page was covered in dense calculations, making his head hurt just looking at it. "Second Uncle, just tell me which one to buy."

"Buy this one! It'll definitely rise!" Cao Bin pointed at the computer screen, then confidently worked the mouse and bought ten lots right in front of Guo Yuan.

The minimum stock trade was one lot, and one lot was one hundred shares.

The stock Cao Bin bought cost thirty-three yuan per share. One lot cost 3,300 yuan, so ten lots came to 33,000 yuan.

The moment Cao Bin pressed the buy confirmation button, the narrator's voice rang out in Guo Yuan's mind.

Math wasn't omnipotent. His second uncle, who believed he had grasped the laws of the stock market through mathematical calculations, still couldn't withstand the market's treacherous unpredictability. This stock would continue to fall, and his second uncle would lose everything. Following suit was not recommended.

"Second Uncle, are you sure you want to buy this? Why not think it over a little more?" Guo Yuan advised cautiously.

"I told you, it's definitely going up! Just buy it and be done with it."

Seeing how confident Cao Bin was, Guo Yuan sighed helplessly. Life was often like this—more often than not, all one could do was watch others walk farther and farther down the wrong path.

After that, Guo Yuan said nothing more. He stood quietly beside Cao Bin, watching for quite a while as he carefully recalled how stock trading worked.

Second day after releasing the new book. Today I saw some beautiful fireworks. It had been many years since I'd seen fireworks this gorgeous.