Chapter Sixty-Nine: She Made a Hundred Million (Part Two)

Over the next few days, Yu Ling felt as though she were living in the purgatory between hell and heaven.

On the first day, the stock market opened with Starlight Technology remaining lifeless. Its share price stood completely still, even dipping slightly. Staring at the ticker, Yu Ling turned pale, her palms slick with cold sweat, and her lunch tasted of nothing.

On the second day, the morning session remained sluggish. Just as she was on the verge of despair and ready to cut her losses, a massive, mysterious block order suddenly poured in at two o'clock in the afternoon! As if injected with adrenaline, the share price instantly surged upward like bamboo shooting from flat ground, skyrocketing by five percent in a straight line! Clutching her frantically beating heart and staring at the red numbers in her account, Yu Ling could hardly believe her eyes!

On the third day, favorable rumors began to circulate quietly. First, a fringe financial forum published an in-depth analysis pointing out that Starlight Technology had made a breakthrough achievement in the extremely niche field of nano-coating materials, with its patents about to be approved! Following that, an insider casually leaked on a stock forum that the company was in close contact with an international giant, negotiating a major partnership!

The rumors spread like wildfire! Starlight Technology's stock price went completely mad!

On the fourth day, the market opened straight to a limit-up lock! The buy orders piled up to a million lots, making it completely impossible to purchase shares!

On the fifth day, it continued with another limit-up lock!

On the sixth day, still a limit-up lock! Although the ST warning label remained attached to the stock, those vibrant red limit-up boards looked more dazzling to Yu Ling than the most beautiful roses in the world!

On the seventh day! The market opened with an astronomical volume sealing the limit-up once more! Compared to when Yu Ling first bought in, the share price had multiplied tenfold! The numbers in her account transformed from a lonely six-digit figure into a dizzying seven-digit sum—one million!

In just one single week! One hundred thousand had turned into one million!

A massive, surreal ecstasy completely overwhelmed Yu Ling like a tsunami! Looking at the continuously ticking digits in her account that represented pure wealth, she trembled all over with excitement, and tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes! She had succeeded! She had truly seized the opportunity! She had proven herself! This wealth was earned by Yu Ling herself! It had nothing to do with Zhao Chen! This was the foundation for her independent future!

She rushed out of the study, sprinting like a gust of wind toward Zhao Chen, who was leisurely pan-searing salmon in the open kitchen, and wrapped her arms tightly around his slender waist from behind!

"Darling! Darling!" Her voice was choked with emotion, her cheek pressed tightly against his broad back. "I... I made it! Starlight Technology! It went up tenfold! I made one million!"

She cried out incoherently. The immense joy made her completely forget her previous panic and suspicions, leaving only a pure desire to share her triumph and profound gratitude toward the man before her. It was he who had inadvertently handed her this wealth code!

Zhao Chen was jostled slightly by her impact, but the spatula in his hand remained as steady as a rock. He turned off the stove, spun around, and wore a look of perfectly calibrated surprise and delight. "Really? Tenfold? Lingling, you're that incredible?"

He lowered his gaze to look at his wife in his embrace, whose pretty face was flushed with excitement and whose eyes shone like stars. His amber eyes brimmed with tender smiles and a hint of deeply hidden, triumphant cunning.

He reached out, his thumb gently wiping away the tears spilling from the corners of her eyes with a cherished touch. "That's wonderful. I always said our Lingling is the smartest." He paused, his smile deepening with a touch of pampering teasing, "Shouldn't you treat your husband to a nice dinner tonight to celebrate the birth of our family's stock goddess?"

"Dinner! Absolutely!" Yu Ling nodded vigorously, laughing through her tears with an imposing aura. "You pick the place! The most expensive one! My treat!" At this moment, the solid one million in her account gave her unprecedented confidence and grandeur! This was money earned through Yu Ling's own capability!

The Dome of the Eye, Haicheng's top-tier cloud restaurant. Located on the top floor of a CBD skyscraper, its 360-degree wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows offered a panoramic view of the dazzling city nightscape, making one feel suspended in the galaxy. Fragrant dresses brushed past one another amidst clinking glasses, and the air flowed with the scent of luxury and money.

Zhao Chen had reserved the private viewing booth with the best location and utmost privacy. The table was draped with pristine white linen, and exquisite silver cutlery glittered under the candlelight. Waiters moved silently, serving priceless appetizers and champagne.

Yu Ling wore a perfectly tailored, champagne-colored mini dress that Zhao Chen had prepared in advance. Wearing delicate makeup, she sat opposite Zhao Chen. Outside the window flowed the galaxy, before her sat her beloved's handsome, smiling face, and in her glass was golden Dom Pérignon with fine, bubbling effervescence. She felt as though she were stepping on clouds, and everything was too wonderfully surreal.

The grounded sense of security and joy brought by the one million in her account made her glow with radiance. Raising her crystal champagne glass across the flickering candlelight, her smile blossomed like a flower: "A toast to my guiding light! Without your insider tip, I never could have caught this bull stock!"

Zhao Chen smiled and raised his glass as well, his amber eyes reflecting a mesmerizing tenderness in the candlelight. "A toast to my stock goddess wife. It was your unique vision that seized the opportunity." The crisp clink of their glasses sounded exceptionally pleasant in the quiet private room.

The sweet, cozy atmosphere reached its absolute peak.

Right at that moment, the massive curved TV screen embedded in the wall of the private room—which had been playing a soothing background of jazz music—was suddenly interrupted by an urgent breaking financial news broadcast!

The serious and hurried voice of the female anchor instantly shattered the romantic atmosphere within the private room:

"Breaking financial news flash! Following today's market close, Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed company Starlight Technology (Stock Code: XHKJ) has issued a sudden emergency announcement!"

The screen displayed Starlight Technology's bright red stock code alongside the K-line chart featuring seven consecutive limit-up boards, accompanied by a striking bold headline: [Breaking! Starlight Technology Announcement: The company is about to initiate bankruptcy liquidation procedures due to major financial fraud and the invalidation of core technology patents! Trading of the company's shares will be suspended starting tomorrow!]

The news anchor spoke at a rapid pace, every word falling like a blade:

"According to the announcement, following preliminary verification by regulatory authorities and the company's internal audit, Starlight Technology's previously claimed breakthrough in nano-coating material technology and international giant partnership intentions are entirely false information! Its core patents have been confirmed invalid due to unpaid annual fees! The company's actual liabilities far exceed its assets, its cash flow is exhausted, and it is no longer able to repay maturing debts. Company shares will be suspended from trading starting tomorrow and will very likely enter bankruptcy liquidation procedures directly following the delisting sorting period. Investors are advised to exercise caution regarding risks..."

Boom—!!!

Yu Ling felt her entire world collapse in an instant! The heavens and earth spun around her!

The champagne glass in her hand slipped with a crisp crash, shattering onto the mirror-smooth floor as golden liquid and crystalline shards splashed everywhere!

All the color drained completely from her face in a split second! Her lips trembled, yet she could not produce a single sound! Her eyes stared fixedly at the glaring four characters "Bankruptcy Liquidation" on the screen, her pupils dilated with extreme terror!

That dizzying one million in her account, that symbol of independence and future, that wealth that had just granted her supreme confidence and joy, instantly vanished into thin air before those four words of bankruptcy liquidation! No, it had turned negative! With an ST stock delisting, it was worth absolutely nothing! The one hundred thousand principal she had invested was completely washed down the drain!

"No... impossible..." she muttered to herself, her voice hoarse and broken as if scraped by sandpaper. Despair like an icy tide instantly engulfed her from head to toe! Her body trembled uncontrollably, darkness flickered before her eyes, and the strength supporting her seemed to be instantly drained away!

She slid off her chair abruptly, her legs turning to jelly, and collapsed limply onto the cold floor as if all her bones had been removed! She remained completely oblivious as the hem of her expensive champagne-colored gown became stained with golden wine and glass fragments.

"It's over... it's all over..." Tears rolled down like broken beads, spilling uncontrollably and streaming wildly across her paper-white face. Massive panic and despair seized her, freezing her to the bone and making her shake like a fallen leaf in the wind. "My money... it's all gone... gone..."

The fragile fortress of independence she had just built crumbled into dust under the heavy hammer of reality. The helplessness after the agreement expired, the financial distress, the immense loss... Every bit of fear she had intentionally suppressed now rushed back a hundredfold, a thousandfold!

Zhao Chen had already stood up the moment her glass shattered. Now, he swiftly rounded the table and knelt on one knee before Yu Ling the very next second she collapsed onto the floor. Ignoring the messy debris and expensive alcohol, he stretched out his arms and pulled his trembling, frightened little wife tightly, tightly into his warm embrace.

"Lingling! Lingling! Look at me!" His voice was low and powerful, carrying an unquestionable, stabilizing force as he tried to call back her shattered sanity.

Clinging to him like a sole driftwood, Yu Ling grabbed the fabric of his shirt at his chest, her fingernails digging into his flesh through the cloth. She raised her tear-stained face, her eyes hollow, despairing, and filled with self-loathing. "It's gone... it's all gone... I'm so stupid... I shouldn't have trusted it... shouldn't have played the stock market..." Intense self-blame and a sense of failure threatened to swallow her whole.

Watching the shattered light in her eyes, Zhao Chen felt as though his heart were being ruthlessly squeezed. He cupped her tear-streaked cheeks, his thumbs firmly and tenderly wiping away her endlessly welling tears. Lowering his head, he pressed his forehead against hers, his amber eyes gazing deeply into the despair at the bottom of her eyes. His voice was low, clear, and carried a strangely comforting power, driving every single word into Yu Ling's chaotic heart:

"Silly girl, what are you afraid of?"

Pausing slightly, the corners of his lips curved into a helpless yet doting arc, uttering words that instantly halted Yu Ling's crying and caused her brain to completely short-circuit:

"I'm the one who ordered that bankruptcy announcement to be published."

Yu Ling's crying stopped dead! She jerked her head up, her tear-soaked lashes trembling violently as she stared in disbelief at the handsome face inches away, as if seeing him for the very first time. Tears still lingered on her cheeks, but her expression shifted from despair to extreme bewilderment and shock: "...You... what did you say?"

Watching her stunned appearance, the smile in Zhao Chen's eyes deepened, mixed with the mischief of a successful prank and profound indulgence. He reached out and gently brushed away the very last teardrop on her cheek, his motion as tender as handling a rare treasure.

"Without declaring bankruptcy," he explained leisurely, his voice low and melodious like the strings of a cello echoing in the quiet private room, "how could we drive the share price down? How could we buy this company at the lowest possible price?"

Straightening up slightly while remaining kneeling on one knee before Yu Ling, his gaze locked tenderly onto her dazed eyes as he delivered the final, earth-shattering line:

"The acquisition is complete, and the paperwork is settled. This Starlight Technology, along with the truly valuable elements behind its expired patents—" he paused, his tone as casual as discussing tomorrow's breakfast, "—is my gift to you: 35 percent of Starlight Technology's shares, worth over a hundred million, a wedding anniversary gift."

Boom—!!!

It felt as though countless thermonuclear bombs had detonated simultaneously inside Yu Ling's mind, blowing her consciousness completely out of orbit!

A bankruptcy announcement... he was the one who ordered it? To buy it out at a low price? To give it to her... as an anniversary gift?!

She sat slumped on the floor, her expensive gown stained with wine, tear tracks still wet on her face, but her gaze completely out of focus. The massive influx of information hit her like a monstrous wave, instantly leaving her stunned and stranded on the shore. The illusory gain or loss of one million in her account became petty, laughable, and entirely insignificant in the face of the absurd reality of being gifted a 35 percent stake in a corporation.

Time seemed to freeze. Only the voice of the news anchor on the television screen, solemnly broadcasting the grim news of Starlight Technology's bankruptcy, served as the most absurd background noise of the moment.

Watching his petrified, vacant-eyed little wife in his arms, Zhao Chen sighed helplessly yet dotingly. Carefully avoiding the glass shards on the floor, he slid his arm beneath the bend of her knees and effortlessly scooped the rigid Yu Ling up into a horizontal carry.

"The floor is cold," he murmured softly, carrying her like a fragile treasure back to the dining table and gently depositing her onto a soft seat.

Next, he picked up the unopened, older vintage Dom Pérignon champagne bottle still on the table. With a slight twist of his wrist and a crisp pop, the golden liquid filled with joyful effervescence poured into a brand-new crystal glass.

He gently slid one of the glasses toward Yu Ling, who was still experiencing an out-of-body state.

Lifting the other glass himself, his amber eyes brimming with a tender smile brighter than the galaxy outside the window, he raised his glass elegantly and solemnly toward her dazed, blank face:

"Can we start celebrating again now?"

Leaning forward slightly, his low, magnetic voice filled with endless affection and a touch of teasing, he asked clearly:

"My boss Yu?"