In this life, I will no longer be a scumbag to my childhood sweetheart - Chapter 32

After the farewell dinner, there was nothing much to do at home temporarily.

Since the high school exam results wouldn’t come out for about half a month, Su Zelin planned to go to Shenghai early to sort out that stock.

The next morning, Su Zelin got on the direct fast train to Shenghai early and didn’t even tell his parents. Though Jianglan was still within the Zhejiang province, it was only about two hundred kilometers away from Shenghai.

By setting out in the morning and completing his business in the afternoon, he could return the same day and avoid worrying his parents. Otherwise, his dad might even accompany him. By then, if he found out that Su Zelin had invested several thousand yuan all into stocks, he would definitely stop him!

During the summer vacation, Su Zelin went out early and came back late. So spending all day in internet cafes was quite normal, and since he had graduated, his parents didn’t intervene much.

He set off in the morning and by noon, he had already arrived in Shenghai.

At that time, Shenghai was only beginning to take shape as an international metropolis.

From the west side of the river, looking at Lujiazui, the tallest building was still the Jin Mao Tower.

Taking the subway to work was still a fashionable thing to do; the second line had just opened, and the third line was still called the Pearl Line.

Most housing prices were around three thousand per square meter; buying a house could get a tax rebate and even included a blue account book.

…

Exiting the bus terminal, the crowd was quite large, bustling and noisy.

This kind of place was a mix of people; although Shenghai in 2000 wasn’t as chaotic as in the 90s, there were still pickpockets. Occasionally, a few furtive eyes would scan through the crowd, but when they landed on Su Zelin, they took a look and then moved away.

Su Zelin was also used to the street life; he naturally had a rugged aura about him. Standing tall with a sharp hairstyle and a cigarette in his mouth, he looked tough. No petty thief would choose him as a target, as he usually didn’t carry much money.

There were plenty of taxis in front of the bus terminal, mostly small Jiangs, with occasional old Santanas or VWs mixed in.

The taxi drivers were shouting to attract passengers, but no one paid attention to Su Zelin.

Taking a taxi was quite extravagant at this time; the fare was eight yuan for three kilometers in the suburbs and ten yuan for the city center. Over two yuan per kilometer, and Santanas were a few yuan more expensive. If you traveled further, it could easily reach tens of yuan, so people preferred taking the bus.

Su Zelin wasn’t the kind of person to spend extravagantly or frivolously.

Yet, Su Ze Lin casually opened a door to an old Santana and sat in the back seat. He didn’t want to waste time just to save a few pennies.

“Master, to the Pujiang Hotel!” The taxi driver was slightly surprised.

Su Zelin’s demeanor didn’t look like a local from Shenghai, but he spoke in fluent Shenghai dialect.

Of course, he didn’t know that in his previous life, Su Zelin’s main business base was in Shenghai, having lived there for many years. After all, he would be fluent in the language.

“Alright, sir!” The driver responded, then started the Santana.

This German-made old classic was quite comfortable, spacious, and had a cool air conditioner.

In 2000, the traffic in Shenghai was already quite congested; fortunately, today, the traffic was smooth, bringing him directly to the Pujiang Hotel.

Su Ze Lin handed over the bill, and after getting change, he stepped out of the Santana.

In front of him was a building with a strong new classical style from the British Empire, located at the eastern side of the Waibaidu Bridge in Shenghai, in the northern Bund commercial area.

Of course, Su Zelin wasn’t here for accommodation. Since he planned to return home the same day, there was no need to waste money.

In 1990, the first stock exchange in Summer Country, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), was established in this hotel—specifically in the Kongque Hall—to ring the first opening bell. It marked the formal use of the stock market as a tool for economic development in Summer Country!

The establishment of the SSE marked a shift from over-the-counter trading to centralized trading, symbolizing a milestone in the transition from old to new.

However, the stock market was still quite cold at that time. It wasn’t until 1992 with the Wealth Certificate and the Old Eight Stocks that many people experienced overnight fortunes, which led to a surge in stock market enthusiasm among Summer Country’s talented individuals.

By the new century, the stock market had already developed significantly.

Moreover, from mid-1999 to mid-2001 was the sixth bull market in Summer Country’s stock history, with an overall good market condition, greatly stimulating the enthusiasm of investors.

Su Zelin entered the stock exchange hall, which was already packed with people.

The brokerage department had large screens and small trading terminals where one could view and analyze the market. One could also log in and trade on their own terminals. Big investors had access to computers in the exchange for trading, but many still didn’t understand self-service operations and had to go to the counter to fill out forms and entrust.

Su Zelin went straight to a staff member and explained his intention.

“Do you want to open an account?” The staff member was quite surprised.

Although Su Ze Lin seemed mature beyond his years, he looked no older than seventeen or eighteen.

In this era, stock trading was typically done by experienced individuals with some life experience. Youngsters like him who wanted to invest in stocks were rare.

The staff member hesitated for a moment, then found an appropriate term: “Little brother, are you sure? Do your parents know about this?”

Su Zelin pushed his ID card over, smiling as he said, “I’m already sixteen years old, with full civil capacity. The money for this investment is from my personal independent account, and I take full responsibility for my actions!”

The staff didn’t say anything more; he was just reminding him out of good intentions.

Since the other party insisted, he had to process the account opening and other procedures.

The account was set up with a few dozen yuan, and then Su Zelin invested almost all his money into Shenghai Meilin, leaving just a few hundred yuan for daily use during the summer vacation.

Stepping out of the stock exchange, Su Zelin felt in high spirits.

Everything was ready; now he just needed the stock price to soar.

Feeling hungry, he casually bought a boxed lunch from a mobile vendor on a tricycle.

In the 90s, boxed lunches were at their peak in Shenghai, with vendors scattered at train stations, docks, hospital entrances, bustling areas, and street corners. Even in 2000, they were still common.

Every day, the stock exchange had many investors coming and going. When some felt hungry, they would step out of the trading hall to buy a boxed lunch to fill their stomachs—business was quite good.

The boxed lunch only cost three and a half yuan. The taste was passable—not great, but not bad either.

After eating the boxed lunch squatting at the door, Su Zelin casually wandered around Shenghai.

At that time, the big city didn’t seem very new or exciting to Su Ze Lin.

Since Jiang Lan was so close to Shenghai, and his family had business ties between the two cities, he had frequently visited Shenghai as a child and later made money there after graduation. After a brief wander, his interest waned, and he hopped on the fast train back home.

By the time he stepped through the front door, it was already late afternoon. His parents hadn’t noticed that Su Zelin had made a round trip to Shenghai, assuming he had gone back to gaming in the internet cafes or doing something else.

“You little rascal, all you know is to play, play, play! Even after the college entrance exam, you can’t relax like this, and internet cafes aren’t cheap, you spend a fortune every day there!” Zhao Lixia couldn’t help but nag.

“Mom, I wasn’t gaming today; I went to make money, okay!” Su Zelin grinned.

“Dream on! With how you are now, making money—thankful enough if you don’t go broke!”

Zhao Lixia didn’t believe him at all; she glared at Su Ze Lin, then turned her attention back to her husband. “I told you to keep the lottery prize in advance for him! You wouldn’t listen; now look at your son—once he has a little money, he thinks he’s got wings, ready to take off!”

Su Jianjun coughed, “Young people need to learn about the internet; they can get the latest information, understand the economic development trends more easily, and find opportunities to start businesses and make money!”

From this, you could see that Dad Su had a strong acceptance of new things and a forward-thinking personality, and Su Zelin gave him a silent thumbs up, thinking that his dad’s success wasn’t accidental.

However, Zhao Lixia didn’t think so: “Knowing how to surf the Internet is useless. I heard that people who go there are not good people. Eight out of ten of them play games or chat and make friends on QQ. In short, they do nothing!”

“The son of Lao Liu at the end of the alley hangs out in the Internet cafe all day and is addicted to games. Lao Liu is so angry that he almost broke his legs!”

“You, you don’t care about your own son, but you make excuses for him and encourage him to play!” Zhao Lixia scolded him, and Su Jianjun didn’t dare to say anything.

Originally, he was planning to buy a computer, but seeing his wife’s strong opposition, he was afraid that this matter would have to be put on hold.

Su Zelin walked behind Zhao Lixia, rubbed her shoulders and said with a smile: “Mother, please calm down. How about this, I won’t say any more nonsense. After the holiday, before going to college, I promise that the tens of thousands of yuan in the card will become more than 100,000 yuan. You have to believe me in the future, how about it?”

He didn’t plan to keep the stock speculation a secret from his parents, because this was an opportunity to show off. Only by proving himself, the two elders would let him do it instead of interfering with him.

“100,000? You are daydreaming! There is only one and a half months left in the summer vacation. In such a short time, can your money triple? I tell you, if you raise your pillow tonight, you won’t be able to sleep such a good dream!”

Zhao Lixia looked unhappy, thinking that her son was just whimsical, thinking that the banknotes were leaves on the ground and he could pick them up if he wanted.

Su Zelin thought that it was more than three times, almost four times.

Before going to college, my brother was not a 10,000 yuan household, but upgraded to a 100,000 yuan household!

He didn’t argue with his mother, and laughed: “Then we’ll see!”

“We’ll see, but before you take out the 100,000 yuan, you have to behave yourself!”

Zhao Lixia snorted: “Your father indulges you, but I can’t. If you continue like this, you will be ruined just after entering college! Look at Shiqing, every day during the holidays, she either helps her parents with work or reads books. This is a good example! You little brat, listen to me, from today on, you are only allowed to go out to play for four hours a day at most!”

Su Zelin’s face suddenly turned bitter.

I was planning to have fun during the summer vacation, but now my mother has issued a confinement order.

He turned his eyes to his father for help, but Su Jianjun turned his head away, meaning that I can’t help him.

“Mom, I’m an adult, six hours!” Su Zelin bit the bullet.

“Oh, you dare to bargain with me, it seems that you are really strong, you want to be beaten, right? If you say four hours, it’s four hours. I’ll let Shiqing watch you. If you don’t go home after the time limit, you’ll have to wait for your butt to bloom!”

“…”

In fact, Zhao Lixia issued a house restriction order to Su Zelin, not only because she was worried that he would lose his ambition, but also for other reasons.

Her son went out early and came back late all day, and he had little chance to meet Qin Shiqing. The chance of this future daughter-in-law was already slim, and it was even worse.

So she had to do something to let the two children have more contact in daily life, which was a lot of effort.

In any case, after the house restriction order was issued, Su Zelin could only stay at home most of the time.

His mother was furious, and he had to listen to her words, but it was a bit boring. After surfing the Internet, he was bored to death. As a last resort, he applied for a monthly card at a rental bookstore and rented a few books every day to pass the time.

A few days later, Su Zelin was lazily lying at home, holding a newly rented “D.N.A2” in his hand. This old Japanese comic from the 1990s is still enjoyable to read now.

But what made him a little angry was that some pages with harmonious scenes of the heroine Aoi Jialing were torn off by others. He was very upset when he saw the critical moment, although he had done the same thing before.

“Damn, what fking thing, no sense of public morality, he has been happy himself, but he doesn’t let others be happy!” Su Zelin cursed.

The behavior of tearing harmonious pages of comics is just like tearing chapters with a lot of ellipsis in novels. They are extremely despised. People who rented later basically have to greet the relatives and even the eighteen generations of ancestors of the former.

It was depressing enough to be restricted from going out every day, and now Su Zelin was even more angry.

“Ring, ring, ring…”

At this time, the landline in the living room rang, and Su Zelin threw down the “D.N.A2” in his hand and walked out.

The caller ID showed a number from a public telephone booth.

“Hello, how are you!” Su Zelin picked up the phone.

“Zelin, this is Lu Haoran!” An honest voice came from the other end of the line.

The installation fee for a landline is still quite expensive now, costing two or three thousand yuan. Although it is much cheaper than the four or five thousand or even tens of thousands in the 1990s, it has not yet developed to one for every household.

Lu Haoran’s family is not well off and has not yet installed a landline. Usually, he uses an IC card to find a public phone to call Su Zelin.

Su Zelin was refreshed.

“Houzi, I was just looking for you!”

After reading comics for two days, he was a little tired and planned to make an appointment with his gay friends to have some fun.

“Um, Zelin, are you free tomorrow?” Lu Haoran asked tentatively.

“Yes, I stay at home every day now, and I’m almost rusty!” Su Zelin said quickly.

“That’s good, can you teach me how to surf the Internet? I want to apply for QQ by the way?” Lu Haoran proposed his purpose.

“Of course, but we have to go early. Internet cafes are very popular during the summer vacation. If we go too late, there will be no computers!”

“Okay, then I’ll get up early and leave after breakfast!”

“Yeah, yeah, then it’s decided happily!”

“…”

After chatting with his good friend for a while, he hung up the phone.

Su Zelin felt a little better.

Although Haozi couldn’t break his mother’s house arrest order, it wasn’t so boring to have someone to accompany him online, which was still pretty good.