First Fame

Monday night, Female Dormitory, Building 3 Room 412, Shan City Zhengfa University.

Shen Zhiyi had just finished showering. Drying her dripping-wet hair, she sat back down at her desk.

A popup from her stock trading software stood out sharply on her Laptop screen:

[Sanjiang Shopping Major Matter Continued Suspension Announcement]

The fingers gripping her towel tightened slightly, and her heartbeat involuntarily sped up.

This was the second suspension announcement. Its wording was more formal than last week's, explicitly stating that it "involved the company's Major Strategic Investment Matter and remained subject to uncertainty."

"Zhiyi, what are you looking at so intently?"

Chen Shuhua from the Opposite Bed came out of the bathroom carrying a washbasin. Catching sight of Shen Zhiyi's focused profile, she leaned over curiously.

She was the Dorm Leader, a Beijing girl with a forthright personality. Both her Parents worked for state-owned enterprises, and she had always been sensitive to Economic Dynamics.

When she saw what was on the screen, Chen Shuhua was Stunned. "Sanjiang Shopping? Isn't that the stock rumored to be partnering with Ali lately? You... you've been watching this?"

Shen Zhiyi instinctively wanted to close her Laptop, but it was already too late.

The other two roommates—Li Jing, a gentle girl from Jiangnan, and Zhou Xiaowen, the Spicy Girl from Xichuan—had gathered around as well.

The four of them shared a dorm room and were usually close enough to talk about almost anything.

"Wait," Chen Shuhua said, pressing down on Shen Zhiyi's hand as her eyes fixed on the striking figure displayed in the holdings interface. "You... you bought it? When?"

Knowing she could no longer hide it, Shen Zhiyi Sighed softly. "Last Wednesday."

"How much?" Zhou Xiaowen asked bluntly.

"My entire position." Shen Zhiyi's voice was very quiet. "Twelve Thousand Seven... all my Savings."

The dorm room fell silent at once.

Only the faint sound of the Campus Broadcast drifting in from beyond the Balcony, along with laughter from the other dorm rooms in the corridor, could be heard.

"Are you crazy?!" Chen Shuhua was the first to recover, her voice rising.

"You put everything into one stock? And a Thematic Stock with such vague news at that? Zhiyi, do you know how big the risk is? What if the partnership falls through, or Ali chooses someone else—"

"I know." Shen Zhiyi cut her off. Raising her head, her wet hair clung to her fair neck, but her eyes were unusually calm. "But I believe him."

"Him?" Li Jing immediately caught that word. "Who? Zhao Chen?"

Shen Zhiyi silently confirmed it.

"I knew it!" Zhou Xiaowen slapped her thigh.

"What happened in class has already spread throughout the whole school. They said Zhao Chen made all sorts of outrageous claims in class—that Bitcoin would break one thousand US Dollars, that Real Estate was going to collapse... Zhiyi, don't tell me he talked you into this?"

"He wasn't talking nonsense." Shen Zhiyi's voice was resolute. She turned to face her three roommates and spoke word by word.

"He explained the Business Logic to me. Ali's New Retail strategy, the trend toward Online-Offline Integration, Sanjiang Shopping's Outlet Value... he analyzed all of it. It wasn't a baseless guess. There was data and reasoning behind it."

She opened her Browser Favorites and clicked on several pages—all reports Zhao Chen had shown her at the Cafe that day:

Ma Mouyun's Public Speech, vague reports from Zhejiang's local Financial Media, and brokerage research reports on Retail Industry Transformation.

"All this information is public. We just never thought to connect it before."

Shen Zhiyi said, "Zhao Chen connected it all, and the way he did it... makes a lot of sense."

Chen Shuhua bent down and carefully read through the reports. Her brows gradually furrowed.

She was a top student in Economic Law and had taken courses on corporate mergers and acquisitions cases. She had a natural sensitivity to Business Logic.

"If you look at it from the perspective of an Acquisition Target..." she murmured.

"Sanjiang Shopping has 168 stores in Zhejiang. It has deep roots in local communities, and that Offline Network really is scarce. If Ali wants to rapidly implement New Retail, building its own network would be too slow. An acquisition or Strategic Investment would be the most direct approach..."

Li Jing said quietly, "So this suspension might really mean they're in talks?"

"It's not just a possibility." Shen Zhiyi pointed to the wording of the latest Suspension Announcement.

"'Major Strategic Investment Matter'—that kind of Official Statement usually means they've already entered the Substantive Negotiation Stage. Otherwise, the exchange wouldn't approve a Continued Suspension."

The four girls stood clustered around the Laptop, its screen casting light over their young faces.

The dorm room was quiet for a moment.

The earlier atmosphere of worry—that Zhiyi had been scammed—slowly gave way to a new feeling of surprise and contemplation.

Zhou Xiaowen scratched her head.

"But... Zhao Chen's just a student. How does he know all this? Isn't his family in Real Estate?"

"Which is exactly why he knows Real Estate is going to have problems."

Chen Shuhua suddenly chimed in, her tone complicated.

"Do you remember those figures he mentioned in class? A 76% debt ratio for property developers, household leverage doubling... I thought it sounded exaggerated at the time, but last week I asked my dad. Several Real Estate projects his Design Institute recently took on have delayed paying their design fees, saying funds are tight."

She paused. "My dad said some people in the industry really are quietly scaling back. They're just keeping up appearances for now."

Li Jing said softly, "My aunt works in a bank's Credit Department. When she came home for dinner last week, she said head office had just issued a document tightening reviews for Real Estate Development loans..."

Fragmented pieces of information, from different families and different channels, came together in this tiny dorm room.