Chapter 51: Observations and Experiences

Lu Liang had a decent foundation and was willing to learn, so Su Wanyu did not find it exhausting to teach him.

With one willing to teach and the other willing to learn, time flew by.

It was not until Chen Jinchun knocked on the door to remind them that half an hour had passed that she looked at Lu Liang, wondering if his decision was made or if they should move on to the next candidate.

Su Wanyu also looked at Lu Liang with expectancy in her eyes. As she was preparing for the graduate entrance examination, she desperately needed this part-time job to cover her daily expenses.

"Miss Su, you may head back first. Later on, I'll have Xiao Chen notify you whether you've been accepted."

Su Wanyu was very patient and approachable, with a soft and gentle voice that matched her tender and delicate personality.

She also bore a strong resemblance to a Chinese teacher Lu Liang had liked during his elementary school years, and he was quite satisfied with her teaching method.

Perhaps driven by inherent male nature, Lu Liang always felt the next candidate might be even better.

"Director Lu, Miss Chen, then I'll be leaving first."

Su Wanyu forced a smile, a flash of disappointment passing through the depths of her eyes, but she said nothing more.

"Xiao Chen, send the next person in."

Next, Lu Liang interviewed several more candidates.

Among them were veteran teachers with twenty years of teaching experience, as well as Japanese-style subcultures that made one instantly lose all desire to study.

Yet not a single one lasted past half an hour. Some barely finished their self-introductions before Lu Liang dismissed them and called for the next.

Before he knew it, he had already interviewed five or six people. He had originally thought the next would be better, but he never expected that the very first one would be the peak.

As it neared five o'clock, Lu Liang began to feel hungry. "Let's go with the first one. Book 20 lessons first, and have her come tomorrow afternoon at four. One to two lessons every weekday, and weekends off."

"Understood, Director Lu. I'll go place the order right now."

Chen Jinchun found all the private tutors through the education network, and the platform provided relevant contracts to safeguard the rights and interests of both parties.

Twenty lessons totaled 8,000 yuan.

Chen Jinchun looked at Lu Liang with pleading eyes; Tang Caidie was not around, and she had no money to pay for it.

Lu Liang chuckled, "Send me the payment link." He clicked the link, which automatically redirected him to the Alipay payment page.

After submitting the order, Chen Jinchun contacted Su Wanyu and scheduled the official lessons to begin tomorrow.

As soon as five o'clock struck, Lu Liang had nothing else to do, so he simply decided to leave work alongside Chen Jinchun.

"Where do you live? Do you want a ride?"

Inside the elevator, Lu Liang asked casually.

Chen Jinchun quickly replied, "Director Lu, I live nearby at the Jinqiao Community. I can just walk home."

"Alright then."

Lu Liang hummed in acknowledgment and did not press further. When they reached the ground floor, Chen Jinchun stepped out of the elevator. "Director Lu, goodbye."

Lu Liang walked to the second basement parking garage, drove his car, and returned to Tomson Riviera.

As soon as he arrived home, he heard Li Manli's voice coming from the kitchen: "Babies, today we are making crab roe tofu."

Wearing a blue-and-white sailor-style outfit and standing beside the studio lights, she looked as if she were live-streaming a cooking session.

Lu Liang watched with amused interest, suddenly recalling that Li Manli's blogger handle seemed to be Li Xiaomeng.

He downloaded Bilibili, an app with a rather dubious-sounding name.

If Li Manli had not mentioned it was a gathering place for ACG fans, Lu Liang would have thought it was a website of the exact same nature as Pornhub or XHamster.

Lu Liang found Li Manli's live broadcast room and was surprised to discover that the viewer count was quite substantial, hovering around five thousand people.

"Wifey, crab roe tofu is my absolute favorite."

"Wifey, I'll probably be home around seven tonight."

"A bunch of shameless scoundrels, she's clearly *my* wifey."

"..."

Judging by the activity level of the netizens' comments, those five thousand-plus viewers were definitely genuine and uninflated.

There were over thirty Captains and even two Admirals.

Lu Liang understood the tipping rules: topping up 50,000 yuan unlocked the most expensive title of Governor, which cost around 20,000 yuan per month.

The moment the Governor title was unlocked, full-screen special effects flashed across the live stream, and a massive influx of curious visitors poured in.

However, that was only the beginning, immediately followed by more than twenty Auspicious Little Televisions, each worth 1,245 RMB.

At that very moment, Li Xiaomeng's live stream was the most dazzling spectacle on the entire platform.

"Thank you, Passerby Brother..."

Li Manli was so excited she was incoherent, and then she spotted Lu Liang standing at the doorway with a smile on his lips.

Startled, she suddenly understood everything and wanted to shut down the broadcast to catch up properly—after all, a single day apart felt like three autumns.

Lu Liang wore a gentle smile, slowly shook his head, and made a shushing gesture to signal her to continue the live stream.

He walked over to the living room, sat down, brewed himself a cup of tea, and watched Li Manli busy herself in the kitchen.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

Someone had sent him a direct message on the platform.

*Beloved Mengbao*: "Governor-sama, would you like to join our fan club? Mengbao has it really rough, so the next time she does a PK battle with someone, come over and show your support, won't you?"

Lu Liang remembered this was one of Li Manli's only two Admirals. He thought for a moment and replied, "Are you her boyfriend?"

*Beloved Mengbao* replied: "I wish I were."

"Then why help her like this?"

"If she's happy, I'm happy."

Lu Liang was left speechless.

Right at that moment, Li Manli's crab roe tofu was finished, and she turned off the live stream.

With a sweet smile, she carried the tray to the table. "Brother Liang, wait a moment, I'll go make a soup."

Lu Liang stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her willow-slim waist, and teased with a smile, "What kind of soul-stirring potion did you feed that guy?"

The sailor uniform was designed quite reasonably; the top was very short, failing to cover the skirt band and revealing a slender section of delicate waist.

"I didn't say anything special." Li Manli looked toward the screen, terrified that Lu Liang might misunderstand, and hurriedly opened their chat history.

Lu Liang was stunned, witnessing firsthand what true submissiveness looked like: messages sent morning and night without fail, daily inquiries about her well-being, and caring about her streaming metrics constantly, far more than she cared about them herself.

Sometimes, that Admiral wanted to chat in depth, but Li Manli would wait a long time before replying, or simply not reply at all.

Lu Liang couldn't help laughing, easily picturing her expression at the time—most likely one of extreme annoyance, which also reminded him of the first time he ever met Li Manli.

She was naturally that kind of person.

Still, Lu Liang didn't mind.

If girls weren't vain and didn't admire strength and wealth, what would be the point of having money, and why toil away to earn it in the first place?

"Go make your soup, I'm going to take a shower first."

The corners of Lu Liang's mouth curled up as he patted Li Manli's plump backside.

...

The next morning, after finishing his workout, Lu Liang arrived at the office just past nine o'clock.

Today was Friday, the final trading day of the week, and market activity had dropped off significantly.

The index falling below 4,000 points was one of the reasons; institutional investors didn't want to hold stocks over the weekend, and retail investors were too afraid to invest.

The entire market was shrouded in gloom, yet there were always a few individual stocks that carved out an independent trend, rising against the broader market.

Among them was Teli A, which posted a 3.55% gain for the day, closing at a latest price of 9.80 yuan.

"They shouldn't have built up much of a position yet, right?"

Lu Liang furrowed his brow, having monitored the capital movements of this stock since Monday.

Those lurking institutional players should hold no more than fifty million yuan worth of chips in their hands; they shouldn't be initiating a rally just yet.

According to his calculations, they should have waited at least another two to three trading days—around next Wednesday—before triggering a minor rally.

"Probing the market? Or did they collude with the major shareholders?"

Lu Liang considered two possibilities. First, they were using Friday's dismal market conditions to test market feedback.

Second, those institutions had already colluded with the major shareholders, acquiring a massive block of shares directly from them, eliminating the need to accumulate chips on the secondary market.

Lu Liang pondered for a long time without coming to a definitive conclusion, so he temporarily pushed the question aside.

An increase in market activity did him no harm; it meant that even if he stepped up his accumulation pace, no one would notice.

The current ups and downs had little to do with him; he wouldn't expose his position until he held at least forty million yuan as a baseline.

Throughout the four-hour trading day, Lu Liang raised his purchasing limit, increasing single-transaction sizes from under fifty thousand to under one hundred thousand.

By the afternoon market close, his account's equity position had reached 16.5%, totaling 13.035 million yuan, holding 13,369 board lots.

His current floating loss stood at 278,000 yuan, leaving a gap of 26.965 million yuan until his target position was filled.

Lu Liang tidied up his documents and closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

As four o'clock approached, he stepped out of his office and saw Su Wanyu waiting in the conference room.