Complete Domination

Anyone could tell he hadn't suffered at all today!

And looking at the staff members following Xie Ran around to film him, every single one of them wore an indescribable expression.

Jiang Wei was blunt by nature and did not hide it. "Xiao Ran, it's not that I want to say this, but you really dragged Little Fang down this time..."

Xie Ran pulled out a chair and sat down. "How did I drag him down?"

"Little Fang earned over three hundred dollars by himself today, and his voice is already hoarse." Zhu Chuanjia chimed in. He was not as righteous as Jiang Wei; Xie Ran's leisure had simply irritated him, leaving him somewhat resentful. "If you hadn't gone to trade stocks, your team would definitely have won."

Xie Ran was puzzled. "Why couldn't we win just because I traded stocks?"

He was truly hopelessly stubborn. While everyone was speechless, they felt even more sympathy for Fang Huiwang.

Fang Huiwang sneered inwardly. That was fine too. With Xie Ran as a contrast, he might be able to win over a wave of fans.

With that thought, his expression became even more helpless. "Xiao Ran, how did your stocks do today?"

"Not bad." Xie Ran spoke calmly. "They went up thirty percent."

?

Everyone who had been waiting to laugh froze, their faces full of question marks.

Thirty percent????

Was this the legendary luck god? And the kind who got lucky every single time?

Meng Xixi's voice trembled. "Ah, then didn't Brother Ran make three hundred dollars today?"

They had worked so hard all day and only earned two hundred dollars!

"Hm?" Xie Ran looked up. "Not three hundred. One thousand five hundred."

"How is that possible?" Jiang Wei blurted out. "Your principal was only one thousand."

"I used leverage." Xie Ran's expression did not change, and even his tone remained completely flat, as though he were discussing the most ordinary thing in the world. "I used one thousand as margin and borrowed funds from the hotel manager at five times leverage, so I had five thousand dollars in the stock market."

Everyone stared at him dumbfounded.

So-called leverage was essentially borrowing money to trade stocks. The returns were high, but so were the risks.

For example, if Xie Ran had used only one thousand dollars of his own money to trade stocks, then if the stock dropped twenty percent, he would only lose two hundred dollars.

But now, using one thousand dollars as margin, he had borrowed funds at five times leverage and had five thousand dollars in the stock market. If the stock dropped twenty percent, his losses would reach one thousand dollars. His entire margin would be wiped out, and his position would be forcibly liquidated, leaving him with nothing.

Everyone had already thought it absurd enough that he chose to enter the stock market during the brief period of the show's filming.

No one expected him to be so audacious as to use leverage for stock trading.

What no one expected even more was that his stock had actually risen—and by a whopping thirty percent.

With five thousand dollars in capital and a thirty percent increase, his profit was one thousand five hundred dollars.

That was more than the combined income of every other guest present.

Everyone: "..."

Their mindsets had collapsed.

Author's note: Xiao Ran: Basic operation.

Everyone else: Poor QAQ

I saw someone ask whether Xiao Ran and Mark's conversations would be noticed?

I actually wrote earlier that Xiao Ran communicated with Mark in a low voice. Also, Xiao Ran and Mark did not communicate very often in front of others—Mark rambling on by himself didn't count. For example, during yesterday's meeting, Xiao Ran and Mark only exchanged two sentences at the end. At that frequency, and speaking quietly, people generally would not notice.

The occasional time someone noticed was like the earlier situation where that scumbag misunderstanding arose.

I thought everyone would get it from the way I wrote it, so I did not explain it specifically in the story. Apparently it was not obvious enough, so here's the explanation!

I was worried some cuties might not understand leverage, so I gave a simple example in the story. It means using your own money as margin to borrow several times that amount from someone else to trade stocks! It's very risky, so don't try it lightly unless you have an AI friend like Mark!

A Complete Beatdown

For a moment, the atmosphere at the scene seemed to freeze into utter silence.

After a while, Fang Huiwang was the first to recover. He had originally been the highest earner here and had led everyone else by a wide margin. He had thought he could use this opportunity to promote himself once the episode aired.

But now, compared to Xie Ran's earnings, his own income was not worth mentioning at all.

Fang Huiwang nearly coughed up blood internally. He gave a light cough to hide his embarrassment. "So that's how it is... Xiao Ran, you really are lucky."

"This wasn't luck. It was data." Xie Ran spoke calmly. "The financial market is also an information market. Decisions depend on data analysis, not luck."

Fang Huiwang choked again.

It felt like his intelligence had been insulted.

The others also looked at Xie Ran skeptically, all suspecting that he was merely bragging.

It was possible to choose a profitable stock through analysis, but a thirty-percent rise in a single day had to involve at least some luck. Otherwise, Xie Ran should have made a name for himself in the financial world long ago. Why would he wait until filming a show to demonstrate his abilities with a budget of only one thousand dollars?

Though they had their doubts, with Xie Ran's profits absolutely crushing theirs, no one was embarrassed enough to say much on the surface.

Otherwise, they would look far too jealous.

Though they really were very jealous.

"Haha, that's true. Making money in the stock market takes effort too." Seeing that the atmosphere had grown awkward, Zhu Chuanjia could only awkwardly smooth things over. "Xiao Ran must have put in quite a bit of mental effort today too, right?"

"Not really." Xie Ran answered lightly.

Information analysis and processing were the most routine things in the world to him, especially with Meng Feixuan around.

Meng Feixuan possessed quantum-level computational ability. To him, nearly all unencrypted information in this world was transparent.

So Xie Ran truly had not expended much effort.

Just then, someone from the production team's publicity department came to ask the director responsible for filming Xie Ran for today's videos and photos, intending to post some behind-the-scenes treats for Weibo followers.

The director following Xie Ran around had already been wearing an indescribable expression, and now it became even more complicated. If one listened closely, there was even a trace of heartbroken frustration in it. He said awkwardly, "There... probably aren't any photos from Xiao Ran's side suitable for posting on Weibo."

The publicity staff member was confused. "Why?"