Reborn with Consumption System-Chapter 589 - 262: Fishing Master_2

Although spending money like that didn't yield any extra experience, ensuring his parents were well taken care of was a priority. If he hadn't thought that explaining things in person back home would be more readily accepted, he would have sent money to his family much earlier.

Of course, it wasn't too late now.

School let out on the 16th. Han Lie planned to head home around the 25th, after establishing his base stock positions and then taking a rest.

Speaking of stocks, Han Lie's streak of weekly wins in the competition had finally broken.

During the New Year's holiday week, there were only two trading days, so the competition was paused. The following week, Han Lie predicted a sharp decline in the stock market. Consequently, he made no trades and focused on the Ming Capital project instead.

Then, with a 0% return, he ranked third among all the contestants...

Unfortunately, since he made no trades that week, his performance wasn't officially recorded.

This incident caused quite a stir in the competition's discussion forum, with many participants voicing their opinions. Han Lie couldn't be bothered to engage with them and simply issued a statement of withdrawal.

The organizers made a show of trying to persuade him to stay, feigning regret. They then pinned Han Lie's statement at the top of the forum, adding a postscript expressing their gratitude, regret, and so on.

Both Chen Yanfei and Ding Xiang reacted strongly, expressing their confusion.

Han Lie made a special trip to Songjiang to have a meal with them and explain the inside story.

"The competition is hosted by Tencent Finance, in collaboration with Wisdom and Hai Tong. Each party has its own agenda. Never mind the others, can you figure out what Hai Tong wants?"

Chen Yanfei looked thoughtful, while Ding Xiang was utterly bewildered. Argh, I really want to punch something!

"It's simple. In the earlier stages, you can all show off your abilities, do whatever you want. But in the end, the overall champion will definitely be one of their own people," Han Lie said with a nonchalant smile.

"Really?!"

"Would that really happen?"

The two girls' eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's just business, why the surprise?" Han Lie explained cheerfully. "Whether it's Tencent, Taobao County, East Wealth, or any other major corporation, all stock trading competitions involve some degree of shady dealings."

"Think about it. What greater interest is there than securing the overall champion? It can be used for an individual's financial gain, to drive traffic to the company, or even to dupe retail investors into buying manipulated stocks or propping up prices. Through these means, they could easily rake in tens, even hundreds of millions."

"Why wouldn't they fight for that?"

"But..." Ding Xiang still didn't get it. "These are legitimate, real-money trading competitions, aren't they? Holdings are disclosed daily. How can they manipulate that?"

Han Lie smiled and patted her head. Mmm, her hair feels so soft...

He casually replied, "The finals only last a week. Their designated contestant just needs to buy a small-cap stock. Then, they get a public or private fund, or some other connections, to quickly push the stock to hit its daily trading limit a couple of times. Is that so hard?"

"'Stock wizards' emerging from such competitions appear year after year. Don't think they're actual miracle workers."

"Wow... That's really shady, isn't it?" Chen Yanfei asked, finding it hard to accept. This was the first time she had heard about such underhanded dealings. "So, are none of these competitions genuine?"

"Not entirely," Han Lie said, shaking his head. "In competitions like these, quite a few genuine experts do emerge each year. However, because the competitions are so short, luck plays a big role. So, the final rankings don't always reflect true skill."

"The organizers might take the top spot at most. Among the other top nine finishers, there are still many independent experts. It's about half and half, I'd say."

"Only half?!" Ding Xiang's mind was reeling; she felt as if her entire worldview was crumbling.

"Half is quite a lot, okay?" Han Lie laughed and began to tick points off on his fingers, explaining to her. "For instance, some people want to use this to become fund managers. So they make deals with major players beforehand: 'You boost me to a certain rank, and once I'm a manager, I'll do this and that for you.'"

"Others might want to start a private fund. They'll get help from big clients at brokerage firms, and then they'll split the profits after fleecing retail investors."

"Then there are the scammers in the 'financial education' industry who just want to sell courses. They'll spend several million in advance, identify stocks that public funds are legitimately accumulating, and then try to make quick profits by swing trading them—all to get a good ranking..."

"Otherwise, why do you think so many people were constantly contacting me on my old phone number, looking to 'cooperate'? What do you think they were really asking for?"

"They wanted me to join them in their dirty schemes!"

"Fleecing ordinary investors isn't limited to the secondary market. You two... you're just too naive."

"That's terrifying..." Ding Xiang shuddered, her face etched with resentment. "Now I finally understand why my mom always loses money in the stock market..."

Chen Yanfei, being more sensitive, asked worriedly, "So, did you drop out of the competition because of the organizers?"

"It's somewhat related," Han Lie explained patiently. "Actually, the organizers can't do much against truly skilled participants; they wouldn't dare to go overboard."

"For instance, it's highly unlikely they'd help their own contestant achieve five consecutive daily limit-up surges in the finals, netting a profit of over 60%. Do they really take all the spectators for fools?"

"Therefore, if I had continued competing, I might have actually won the overall championship."

"But here's the thing, whether I win the championship or not, it doesn't carry much significance anymore."

"I want to start a private fund, so I needed fame."

"However, thanks to a lecture I gave earlier this year, I gained the necessary fame ahead of schedule. My private fund's subscription quota is already oversubscribed, so I don't need to expand my influence any further."

"The people who need to know about my abilities already do. As for the others, they can think whatever they want." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"My previous eight consecutive weekly wins had already garnered enough attention. This was a good time to give the organizers some face and step back to focus on my own business."

"It's true that someone from the organizing committee approached me through a friend, offering some thinly veiled 'suggestions.' But my decision wasn't primarily because of them; I just didn't want to get dragged into those murky waters anymore."

Chen Yanfei and Ding Xiang understood, though they felt even more indignant about the situation than Han Lie himself.