Chapter 18: Ordinary, Yet Recklessly Bold

Chen Youwei was feeling rather annoyed.

It was Friday, and as the market opened, Takumi Energy hit the lower limit straight away. With this kind of disastrous trend, things would likely keep falling when trading resumed on Monday, unless there was some good news about a merger or acquisition over the weekend. Otherwise, the bloodbath would not stop.

Zhang Long—damn that jinx.

...

"Brother Chen, there's nothing I can do."

Zhang Long offered a wry, indifferent smile. "At this point, we can only hope for some favorable news over the weekend. Just keep an eye on things, and see how it goes when the market reopens next week."

"Also, you can't fight against the market. Even a hundred million in the stock market is just a drop in the ocean."

"All those stocks stuck in your account—seven or eight of them—haven’t had any rebound news lately either. If you’re not going to cut your losses, you’ll just have to wait and watch. Better to pause trading for now."

Hearing this, Chen Youwei frowned. "Those stuck stocks were all supposed to be bottom-fishing picks you mentioned before. Not one of them has gone up—this is absurd! Back then, you promised the profits would multiply, but now everything’s at a loss."

"Are you guys even competent?"

"Uh..."

Zhang Long was at a loss and rolled his eyes. "The first time you bought Takumi, you made two hundred thousand and didn’t sell. The second time, you doubled down on the pullback, made another five hundred thousand, and still didn’t sell. Brother Chen, if you don’t take profits when you have them, then even the gods can’t help you. There’s no breaking this curse."

"Oh, so now it’s my fault?"

Chen Youwei sneered coldly. "If you’re not capable, just say so—don’t make excuses. You should be glad I’m not asking you to pay for my losses. Just answer me: can we make the money back next week? Cut the nonsense."

To be honest, at that moment, Zhang Long wished he could send a pile of crap down the internet line and smack it right in Chen Youwei’s face.

Clients like this—shameless and impossible.

"Will you let us sell when we’re in profit?"

Zhang Long took a deep breath. "If you want to wait for a fifty percent profit or even higher, to be frank, that’s almost impossible. Every day there’s a sea of red in the stock market. Finding even a few stocks that can still rise is already a feat. No company can guarantee that. You need to trade properly."

"Turn long-term into short-term! If you only hold long-term without trading, you’ll only see easy money in a bull market."

"Think about it, Brother Chen."

...

Friday’s work was a whirlwind, a mad dash to the finish.

There wasn’t much to say about the winning trades; if they needed to be sold, they were sold without much argument. But for the losing ones, it always took some effort to convince clients to sell, since holding over the weekend carried higher risks.

Takumi Energy was one, but there were two or three other stocks as examples. Most clients listened and sold.

The truly stubborn ones would just have to stay stuck.

As for Chen Youwei, Zhang Long sometimes suspected the man was mentally unwell. He couldn’t understand how someone like that had managed to amass a fortune in the tens of millions—perhaps he’d inherited it.

He always picked up the phone, clearly had plenty of time every day, and wasn’t busy at all. He could day trade if he wanted to. It couldn’t be that he was avoiding short-term trades just to save a bit on commissions, could it? Well, maybe he was.

His thinking was fixated—trying to use the fewest trades to capture the biggest gains. Maybe that was just Chen Youwei’s way. Strange, but impressive in its own way.

"It’s alright, Brother Wang..."

On the last call of the day, Zhang Long sounded relaxed. "We lost a bit today, but we’re still up overall this week. Wins and losses are normal. Take a good rest this weekend, and we’ll fight on next week. With the National Day holiday coming up, the market will be even more volatile—plenty of opportunities ahead."

"Thank you, Xiao Zhang. Have a good weekend."

"You too, enjoy your weekend."

After hanging up, Zhang Long stretched lazily.

A busy week had finally come to an end, and the results were outstanding. Just this week, Qian Caiying alone had added four million, and other clients had chipped in another three million or so. Combined with the previous two weeks, the total was fifteen million, making him number one in the entire investment department.

And as for trading commissions, the last two weeks had totaled forty-five thousand, and now it had shot up to one hundred and thirty thousand. If next week brought in another seventy thousand, he’d hit the two hundred thousand mark and qualify for the thirty-five percent performance bonus. Even after taxes, that was a hefty sum.

Of course, three weeks and a hundred and thirty thousand in commissions put him at the top of the department, double the second place.

Zhang Long had truly become the dragon in his name.

...

"The facts are right in front of us."

In the second conference room at Shengxin, a circle of people were gathered—the deputy head of the investment department, two directors, and eight team managers. On the screen were the trading records of Zhang Long’s clients: some wins, some losses, but overall, big profits.

At the same time, they listened to recordings of Zhang Long’s conversations with clients and read his trading suggestions.

"Anything special?"

The deputy head glanced around, his voice serious. "The recommended stocks were all ones the company had previously pushed, or they were daily recommendations from this month. The only difference is that Zhang Long strictly adhered to both technical and fundamental analysis, explained it to the clients, and gave them confidence to trade. Is there anything unique?"

"No, just strict execution."

"Zhang Long sticks to the plan himself, and makes his clients do the same. That’s how he’s achieved these results."

Liang Xue was silent—indeed, that was the case.

Still, many people didn’t believe it. They kept asking how Zhang Long maintained his client trading and managed to get them to add funds. That was the reason for this meeting, but in the end, there was nothing surprising.

By tracing the trades, listening to the calls and reading the messages, his entire work routine was clear.

The core was strict execution.

Never mind whether the analysts’ recommendations would make money—just clearly explain the reasons for buying to the client and convince them. If once isn’t enough, try twice, and if twice isn’t enough, try five times, until the client trusted him completely.

He was like a machine—absolutely rational in his analysis and trading.

Ordinary, nothing flashy.

But precisely because there was nothing flashy, that was the most remarkable thing. Too many ideas lead to hesitation—if you don’t believe yourself, how can you convince your clients? The classic paradox.

The meeting ended, and each team went off to learn.

...

"This is reckless."

Except for Liang Xue’s team, the other seven teams in the investment department stayed late, studying Zhang Long’s approach to maintaining client trades and encouraging additional investments.

After listening and comparing Zhang Long’s trading and call recordings, as well as his messages—

"It’s just luck," one team leader said, frustrated. "He started with Takumi Energy at the five-yuan support level, and after two waves up and down, he won the clients’ trust. But if he’d guessed wrong, there’d be nothing afterwards. He just got really lucky."

"And those daily recommendations, every report has five stocks, and Zhang Long would pick two or three for clients. Some of those got stuck and lost money, too."

"But his clients seem to listen to him. Most of them even cut losses when told. That’s odd."

The team members all nodded.

But the manager didn’t mince words. "The key isn’t that he guessed right with Takumi Energy—it’s his unwavering rationality in recommending and analyzing trades for clients. He doesn’t care if it’ll make money or lose; even if it loses, he tells the client to sell and looks for another opportunity. There are always more chances."

"Unlike you lot—when the client wins, you’re fine, but when they lose, you don’t even have the guts to call. Useless."

"Be tougher—if you need to act, act."

It sounded simple, but even if everyone understood the principle, putting it into practice was hard. Facing a client’s losses, it was impossible not to feel guilty. It’s not easy to always be tough.

But Zhang Long was different—this guy really was tough. He’d keep urging clients to cut their losses, no matter how stuck they were.

So bold. If the client sold at a loss and the stock rebounded, he’d be cursed to high heaven. Truly reckless.

No wonder he was called Zhang Long—the Dragon.

"From next week, toughen up—be bold!"

The team manager scanned the room, especially at the supervisors who handled client trades. "It’s the final week for results—if you don’t toughen up and keep being soft, you’ll be out. Get it together!"

"If Zhang Long can do it, so can we."

"If you’re still soft, you might as well quit..."