Zhao Chen and Shen Zhiyi walked side by side along Ginkgo Avenue towards the school gate.
Most of the students surrounding Zhao Chen just now have dispersed.
Only a few particularly persistent people were still guarding the door of Law School. When they saw Zhao Chen coming out, they waved to him from a distance.
Zhao Chen nodded towards them, then turned his head and looked at Shen Zhiyi.
"You haven't spoken much tonight. What are you thinking about?"
Shen Zhiyi walked very slowly, and the high heels made a slight crunching sound on the ginkgo leaves.
From the beginning of the speech to now, she has been listening most of the time--
Listen to Zhao Chen talk about his years at Zhengfa University and his days of studying at Library,
Talking about the dilemma he faced after taking over the family business,
Talk about his repeated reflections before making his first major investment decision.
Some of these words she had heard before, some were the first time she heard them.
But no matter which one it is, listen to it again on this familiar campus,
It's like soaking a piece of film that has been developed and printed in the developer again.
Details that were once blurry suddenly become extremely clear.
"I was thinking that when you stood on the stage, you were completely different from the boy sitting in the back row of the classroom."
Her voice was very soft, carried by the night wind and drifting towards the ginkgo forest behind her,
"In my freshman year, you always sat in the last row by the window.
My only impression of you is that you memorize notes very carefully and you are never among the top three in exams.
At that time, you didn't talk much to the people in the class, so you left right after class.
To be honest, I had almost no special impression of you at that time."
Zhao Chen put his hands into his coat pockets and walked very slowly.
"At that time, I was just an inconspicuous rich second generation.
My family does real estate and makes a little money, but it's not a big deal.
In a place like Zhengfa University, the rich second generation is not a rare person.
It's normal for no one to pay attention to me."
"Until that class in November."
Shen Zhiyi suddenly stopped and turned around to look at him.
Ginkgo leaves fell silently from the branches behind her, swirling under the street lights.
"I was so impressed by the class that day.
The teacher asked you to analyze a Real Estate case. It took you less than five minutes to stand up.
It dismantled the cyclical patterns, policy trends, and financial leverage transmission mechanisms of the entire real estate industry.
You said at the time - 'Real Estate's golden age is over, and in the next three to five years, the industry will undergo a round of deep adjustments.'
Everyone in the class was stunned. The teacher was stunned for several seconds before letting you sit down."
Zhao Chen was silent for a while.
"That was my most important lesson."
His voice was very low, as if he was speaking to himself,
"I just woke up from my sleep, and the memories in my mind haven't been completely sorted out yet.
When the teacher called the roll, I was still thinking about other things, so I stood up and expressed my intuitive judgment as it was.
After I said it, I realized - those words sounded too advanced in 2016."
"But you were right about everything."
Shen Zhiyi looked at him, the light from the street lamp came from behind him, casting a soft halo on her face,
"I've noticed you since that class.
Not because you predicted Real Estate Crisis--
It's because when you said those words, there was something in your eyes that I had never seen in any of my classmates.
It's not confidence, it's not showing off, it's a kind of certainty. It's like you've seen the future with your own eyes."
"Later we gradually became familiar with each other."
Zhao Chen took over her words,
"After that class, you bought Sanjiang Shopping with me.
I'm still thinking, this female classmate is so brave, she will buy it when others ask her to."
Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but curl the corner of his mouth.
"That's because a woman's intuition tells me that I must trust the man in front of me.
But I was really sure that you were not an ordinary person. It was later when you analyzed Bitcoin and Blockchain in class.
You told your classmates at that time - 'Bitcoin is one of the most valuable assets in the future.'
That was the first time I saw someone dare to be so sure of the future value of an asset.
I was thinking at the time, this person is either an egomaniac, or he has spent time to understand Bitcoin that others cannot understand."
"More importantly, to understand the value of Bitcoin, you need rich imagination-imagination of the future." Zhao Chen explained.
"That's why you said in today's speech, don't let your imagination be limited by your major."
Shen Zhiyi turned his head to look at him.
"But don't let imagination replace professionalism."
Zhao Chen took over her words,
"The reason why I dared to put all my wealth into Bitcoin when it was still in its very early stages,
It's not because I'm lucky - it's because I learned one thing from Zhengfa University:
After you have dismantled all the risk variables in advance,
The remaining uncertainty is no longer a risk, but a cost.
This thinking framework is the superposition of legal thinking and economic thinking."
He stopped under the streetlight at the school gate,
"In Library, this is what I was doing when my desk was piled with laws and economic principles."
Shen Zhiyi looked into his eyes.
The light from the street lamp came from behind him, casting a soft halo on her face.
She remembered when she passed by his desk on the third floor of Library,
Sometimes you can see him frowning and writing furiously. Besides a pile of professional books on the table, there is also a thermos cup with paint peeling off.
There is a thin crack on the edge of the lid.
She never spoke to him at that time, she just slowed down her steps a few beats.
At this moment, he handed her the questions and answers he had buried at that time, as if he had never let down anyone's attention -
Including myself who hadn't really met him at that time.
She suddenly felt that there were some things that she no longer needed to ask.
And those words that she always wanted to say in the right place but never had the chance to say them out,
Now it can finally fall down without any hindrance.
She lowered her head and gently kicked away a ginkgo leaf at her feet with the toe of her high heels.
Then he raised his head and looked at him again. The smile on his lips did not fade, but his eyes suddenly became serious.
"You promised Dean Zhou to come back every year to give a lecture. I will accompany you then.
Not just as an alumnus and Henglong Legal Department lawyer—I also come as your partner."
She said the last few words very steadily, without raising her voice, but looked directly at him with her clear eyes,
"What you said today, 'Knowledge changes destiny, is something I have personally verified'--
When I heard it in the audience, I was more certain of one thing than ever:
The identity you are most proud of in your life is not the actual controller of Era Vanguard.
Chairman is not Henglong, or even Forbes is a name on the list.
But a graduate of Zhengfa University."