Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When Ju Bingyuan returned, I was in bed analyzing a few stocks.

Seeing that I wasn’t asleep yet, he looked visibly surprised, and his tone softened considerably.

“Are you still waiting up for me this late?”

I nodded, suppressing my conscience.

I could hardly tell him that I was too excited to sleep because I’d just made a killing on the market.

His expression grew even more tender as he reached out and pulled me into his arms.

“I knew you were the most thoughtful one.”

I played along with the devoted lover act for a while before reluctantly peeling back the covers and getting out of bed.

I hadn’t expected him to come back so late.

I was cursing him in my head, but when I remembered that the capital for today’s massive windfall had all been provided by him, he started looking a lot more agreeable.

Ju Bingyuan leaned back against the sofa, looking utterly exhausted.

After a moment, he spoke up on his own.

“Xiao Chen’s kept woman got pregnant in secret and tried to force his hand. She made a huge scene at their family’s gala and gave Elder Lin such a shock that he collapsed on the spot. I’ve been helping him clean up the mess until now.”

At this, he rubbed my head with a mix of relief and gratification.

“You’re still the one who gives me the least trouble.”

Of course I am.

Those women might be after the man, but I’m only after the money.

In the three years I’ve been with Ju Bingyuan, nothing he’s given me has stayed in my hands for more than three days.

I liquidate everything within seventy-two hours.

I have a Master’s in Finance; I have the vision, just not the capital.

Ju Bingyuan happened to be the one to fill that capital void for me.

In Ju Bingyuan’s eyes, I am simple and obedient, never competitive or demanding.

I only want classic bags, large jewels, and solid gold accessories.

New arrivals, limited editions, or designer concepts? I don’t care about any of that.

The CEO circle says I’m low-maintenance; the Canary circle says I’m old-fashioned.

No, no, no-they’re all wrong.

I’m just an ordinary finance person who loves investing.

I only care about what can be sold for the most money to provide the building blocks for my quantitative investment portfolio.

Stocks, funds, bonds-money making money, interest compounding on interest.

In three years, my assets have quadrupled.

He thinks I’m a delicate vine.

In reality, I’m a gold-swallowing beast.

Perhaps moved by my act of “waiting up” for him in the middle of the night, Ju Bingyuan did something unprecedented: he took me to a formal business banquet.

With my status, I usually don’t get the chance to attend such legitimate functions.

Ju Bingyuan mostly takes me to his private social gatherings.

I dressed very simply (because the expensive stuff had already been sold)-not enough to outshine the hosts, but not so little as to be embarrassing.

Ju Bingyuan was very pleased with my tact.

In private settings, these men want their women to be the most stunning in the room to boost their ego. But in these formal settings, they look down on our status and want us to be low-key and dignified-or at least, not to make any mistakes.

This is the main reason why, despite not being a peerless beauty, I’ve been able to stay by Ju Bingyuan’s side for so many years.

Beautiful faces are everywhere, but someone with cultivation, a sense of propriety, and obedience is hard to find.

Ju Bingyuan sometimes teases me, saying that despite my high level of education, I’ve studied myself into a stupor and have no idea how to please him.

Whenever he says this, he pulls me into a playful embrace.

“Besides me, who else would be willing to spoil you like this?”

I usually just lower my head and smile without a word.

He’s wrong. Being dull and obedient is just my camouflage. He has no idea how much revenue I’ve generated for my private vault using this disguise.

For instance, this business banquet was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.

Ju Bingyuan has immense influence in the Shanghai Circle. As his date, I drew a lot of eyes the moment we walked in.

At an event like this, Ju Bingyuan wouldn’t keep me by his side the whole time.

Before long, he was surrounded by people looking to network, and I gracefully made my exit.

I didn’t find a spot to eat snacks and wait for him as he’d instructed. Instead, I took a glass of wine and blended into the social field myself.

He was here for business networking-did he really think I was just a decorative piece for romantic conquest?

However, I had to admit that the status of being Ju Bingyuan’s companion was incredibly useful.

I deflected some meaningless small talk and curious prying, and instead, I proactively sought out several senior consultants from well-known trust companies.

The entry threshold for trust companies is high to begin with, and the capabilities of these consultants were top-tier; they served the crème de la crème of high-net-worth individuals.

Even though my assets had grown several times over, I was still far from their threshold.

But with Ju Bingyuan as my business card, the gates opened with ease.

Over the past few years, I had started to feel a bit of fatigue, realizing that the growth rate of my assets wasn’t what it used to be.

I have some investment vision, but compared to these industry leaders, I’m still far behind.

If they could help me manage my investments, my assets would surely jump several levels higher.

I already knew quite a bit, and by leveraging Ju Bingyuan’s reputation while remaining humble and poised, I naturally hit it off with them.

As I expected, they all agreed to my request.

To them, it was just an extra bit of capital to manage on the side.

My goal achieved, I made a perfect exit.

I would split my funds among several consultants so that the amount with any one of them would be negligible.

They wouldn’t-and wouldn’t dare-try to curry favor with Ju Bingyuan over such a small sum, which also made it easier for me to maintain my disguise for the next step.