Weiguang and Anliu

After leaving the café, Zhao Chen took a taxi straight back to school.

The afternoon mist on campus had thinned somewhat, and sunlight filtered through the plane tree branches into scattered patches of gold.

Zhao Chen had just reached the dormitory building when he saw Shen Zhiyi standing beneath that old tree, her off-white sweater looking especially soft against the bleak winter scenery.

She held a light gray document envelope in her hand, her fingers slightly tightened around it, as though she had been waiting for quite some time.

"Zhao Chen." She called out to him and walked over with light steps, carrying a trace of barely perceptible hesitation. "I... have something I want to tell you."

The two walked over to a relatively secluded bench.

Shen Zhiyi did not sit down. Instead, she turned around and held the document envelope out to him, her eyes clear and resolute.

"There's 127,000 yuan in here. It's my Lunar New Year gift money from childhood until now, my scholarships, and what I've saved up over the years. You... take it and use it for now."

Zhao Chen froze.

He looked at the ordinary document envelope, then at Shen Zhiyi's fair, earnest face. Somewhere in his chest, a hard corner seemed to be unexpectedly cracked open, and a warm, aching bitterness flooded in.

"Zhiyi, you..."

"Don't misunderstand," Shen Zhiyi said, turning her head slightly. The tips of her ears had turned faintly red, though she tried to keep her tone casual.

"I just think... you even sold your car. For you to do that... you must have run into a huge difficulty. It's not much money, but it should help in an emergency."

She paused, her voice growing softer, as though she were talking to herself, yet also explaining it to him.

"I can tell you're not fooling around. The way you said those things in class... you were serious."

Shen Zhiyi thought of how he had looked standing at the podium.

He had been completely different from before.

When those numbers and trends came from his mouth, they did not sound like showing off. Instead, they carried a weighty certainty.

His eyes were not looking at the students before him. It was as if they had pierced through time itself, seeing a vast tide that none of them could see.

At that moment, he had seemed so far away from her, yet somehow... he had drawn her in, made her want to understand him.

Now that he had even sold his car, it was not because he was wasting money. There had to be something more important he needed to do.

Zhao Chen was deeply shaken, and the gratitude rising within him was incredibly real.

But he slowly shook his head and did not take the document envelope. His voice was gentle yet solemn. "Zhiyi, thank you. But I can't take this money."

A flash of surprise and faint disappointment crossed Shen Zhiyi's eyes, and the hand holding the document envelope slowly lowered.

"However," Zhao Chen continued, his gaze burning as he looked at her, "if you trust me, I suggest you use this money to buy shares in Sanjiang Shopping."

"Stocks?" Shen Zhiyi asked in surprise.

"Yes. Don't lend it to me. Make an investment for yourself."

Zhao Chen gestured for her to sit down, then sat at the other end of the bench himself, keeping a polite distance that still allowed for easy conversation.

He began to explain, his tone steady and persuasive.

"Do you know Ali? Their next strategic focus will definitely be the integration of online and offline business. It's called 'New Retail.' The dividends from traditional e-commerce are nearing their peak, while the data-driven and experiential advantages of physical retail are the next trillion-yuan market."

He took out his phone, quickly found several recent reports on Ma Mouyun's public speeches about how "there will be no pure e-commerce in the future, and online and offline must be integrated," and handed the phone to Shen Zhiyi.

"Look, this is no longer a secret. It's the direction publicly announced by the giants."

Shen Zhiyi took the phone, her fingertips inadvertently brushing Zhao Chen's. Both of them paused slightly.

She lowered her head to browse, her long hair sliding over one shoulder. Zhao Chen could smell the faint, fresh Gardenia Fragrance in her hair.

But her attention was not on the webpage at all.

She was thinking about the look in his eyes just now. They were shining.

It was not the blustering display Chen Hao put on, but something else... a pure focus born from being immersed in a field he truly understood.

His sharply defined profile, the slight movement of his Adam's apple, and those long fingers gesturing through the air as he outlined the trend... Somehow, at one point, she had actually understood what he was saying, and even found it interesting.

How did he know so much? He was like a completely different person from the Zhao Chen she had heard only knew how to go around loudly declaring that he was pursuing her.

"So," Zhao Chen's voice pulled her drifting thoughts back.

"If Ali wants to establish New Retail, it will inevitably need to find offline brick-and-mortar partners."

"And Sanjiang Shopping is an established retail company in Zhejiang. It has dense store coverage and deep regional roots, making it one of the most ideal partnership targets. My judgment is that news of a strategic investment will most likely be finalized before long. Once it is announced, the share price definitely won't remain at its current level."

His analysis was clear and well-organized, with a complete chain of evidence and logic.

Shen Zhiyi looked up and met his confident, candid eyes.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting fragmented shadows across his eyelashes.

For some reason, her heartbeat quickened. Not because of that business logic, but because of how completely he was sharing this with her, and the trust he held for her in his eyes.

"I... I've never bought stocks before," she said softly. There was already more hesitation than refusal in her voice.

"It's alright. I can go with you," Zhao Chen replied naturally.

There was a faint, almost imperceptible note of encouragement and anticipation in his voice as he looked at Shen Zhiyi.