Ji Ting was checking his phone in the restroom.
The original owner's friends usually got up to all sorts of nonsense when they gathered, so, just to be safe, he had looked up the club's transaction records.
Aside from suspected tax evasion, there was no sign of prostitution, gambling, or drugs. The tips paid to the staff were suspiciously high, though.
I'll leave as soon as I've said my piece, Ji Ting thought. It shouldn't matter much.
The original owner's friends weren't really bad people. They were simply a bunch of rich kids living under their families' protection. They had their vices, but they didn't dare break the law.
After finishing his check, Ji Ting put away his phone, washed his hands, and headed back down the corridor.
The moment he pushed open the private room's door, someone whistled.
"Well, well, what brings the illustrious Young Master Ji here today? Haven't you been ignoring all our calls?"
Before the teasing had even finished, Xu Tianhao rose from the sofa. "Hey, do you guys know what he said when I went to see him today?"
"He told me, with a completely straight face, that he needed to stay home for tutoring and wouldn't be coming out with us anymore."
"Hahahahaha-"
The whole room erupted in laughter. Everyone rocked back and forth, and two of them nearly slid off the sofa.
Faced with their teasing, Ji Ting felt neither embarrassed nor annoyed. He simply sat quietly to one side and waited for them to finish laughing.
"Listen, Ji Two, you're the one-you said it yourself." Zhang Xu wiped tears from his eyes, struggling to catch his breath. "D-don't regret it in a minute."
Ji Ting didn't understand what he meant by regret, but he didn't dwell on it. "Since Xu Tianhao has already..."
Knock, knock-
Two sharp knocks sounded at the door, instantly drawing everyone's attention away from Ji Ting.
"Come in."
The club manager opened the door and leaned halfway inside. "Young Master Zhang, everything's ready outside. Shall I send them in now?"
An inscrutable smile curled Zhang Xu's lips. The others all glanced at Ji Ting, their expressions promising a good show.
"Sure, send them..."
"There's no need."
Everyone froze. At some point, Ji Ting had stood up. He told the manager, "You can leave too. Close the door."
His voice was cool, yet carried an unmistakable authority that brooked no argument.
The manager didn't dare linger and immediately backed out.
The unexpected turn left everyone bewildered. Xu Tianhao's eyes widened. "Ji Ting, what are you doing?"
Ji Ting ignored him. "I'll leave once I've said what I came to say. I won't spoil your fun."
"You're leaving?"
Again, Ji Ting didn't answer. His expression remained indifferent as he said, "I wasn't joking about what I told Xu Tianhao today. I really do intend to take my studies seriously from now on, so please consider me no longer your friend. Don't contact me, and don't come to my house."
"Thank you, everyone. Goodbye."
Seeing him actually turn to leave without the slightest hesitation, a dumbfounded Xu Tianhao instinctively grabbed him. "Holy shit, you're serious?"
Ji Ting calmly pulled his clothes free. "Yes, I am."
"Wait, you..."
"What's this supposed to mean?" Zhang Xu interrupted Xu Tianhao and stood, wearing a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Ji Two, you're really cutting ties with us?"
Ji Ting suddenly discovered a problem: a lack of intelligence could apparently affect hearing, too.
When Ji Ting remained silent, Zhang Xu chuckled. "Fine. I guess we were kidding ourselves today. You want to leave, right?" He picked up a bottle of whisky and slammed it onto the table. "Chug this, and we'll act like we never knew each other."
Ji Ting glanced at the bottle, then calmly raised his eyes. "If I remember correctly, that's Macallan 12-Year Sherry Oak, with an alcohol content of forty percent. If an adult male drinks the entire bottle within a short period, there's an eighty-seven-point-six-percent chance of acute alcohol poisoning, and his blood ethanol concentration will have a one-hundred-percent chance of rising to a level that causes respiratory depression. Without prompt emergency treatment, that will result in death."
The room fell utterly silent. Everyone stared, stunned.
"Zhang Xu, if you believe you can bear the consequences, you'll need to write a statement acknowledging that you hold primary responsibility before I drink." Ji Ting finished with perfect composure, then looked at the others. "Of course, you can sign it too, if you'd like. The court will then find you jointly liable."
Xu Tianhao and the others felt their hearts lurch. Was he kidding? This could actually kill someone. Who would sign that?
Everyone turned toward Zhang Xu, who had issued the challenge. They had intended to persuade him to let it go, but under their gazes, Zhang Xu felt his pride take a hit. "If you dare drink it, I dare write it. I don't believe you'll actually die here today."
Ji Ting shook his head gently, looking faintly resigned. "Zhang Xu, with your level of intelligence, you shouldn't trade options with other people anymore."
Zhang Xu jolted, then his entire face rapidly flushed red. "Ji Ting, you fucking..."
"You asked us to put up money and invest with you before, claiming you knew an expert who was particularly good at trading low-priced stocks. But have you studied the actual leverage metrics for those stocks?"
Ji Ting's tone had grown considerably more serious. It could even be called stern.
If the original owner hadn't given Zhang Xu four million, he wouldn't have been so strapped for cash when buying equipment, nor would Ji Yanzhi have been able to threaten him time and again.
At the thought, Ji Ting's gaze darkened further.
Zhang Xu found being questioned by him both ridiculous and infuriating. "You sound so fucking impressive, as if you know how to calculate any of this."
Instead of answering directly, Ji Ting turned to Xu Tianhao. "Go out and ask someone for a tablet. One with a capacitive stylus."
Xu Tianhao swallowed and glanced at the others' expressions, then ducked his head and ran out.
A few minutes later, he returned, panting, and handed Ji Ting an iPad. "Will-will this do?"
"Yes."
Ji Ting took it and sat back down on the sofa. Without realizing it, the others instinctively gathered around him.
"To understand how to make money from options, the first and most basic thing you need to know is how they're priced."
He quickly wrote an equation on the screen, then circled the time value. "This is the only component that follows a pattern but is difficult to determine..."
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Five heads huddled tightly together, yet not one of them yielded any space.
"This stock has now reached this index level. Taking its opening price into account, is it more likely to incur a loss or turn a profit over the next two days?"
The room was silent for a few seconds. Zhang Xu pressed his lips together and glanced around, then cautiously raised his hand.
Ji Ting pointed with the stylus. "Go ahead, Zhang Xu."
"I just worked it out. This stock is most likely right on the threshold of being at the money, so I think if the index reaches twenty-nine hundred before five, it'll definitely trend upward over the next two days." His confidence grew as he spoke, but when he looked up and met Ji Ting's eyes, his voice dropped again. "Am I... right?"
The faintest smile curved Ji Ting's lips. "Yes. That's correct."
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