Chapter 51: The Top Ten Announced

As Professor Wang Xingbang picked up the printed list, the students in the tiered lecture hall held their breath.

Even though they had already roughly discussed who the top ten were in their QQ group chat, until the very end, who could know if a miracle might happen?

"In first place..."

Professor Wang Xingbang drew out the end of his sentence with a playful smile at the corner of his mouth. "Without a single suspense, it is student He Jing, with a return rate of 57.4%."

"Clap, clap, clap—"

Applause suddenly erupted throughout the tiered lecture hall.

Achieving a 57.4% return rate in 45 days and 33 trading sessions had broken the historical record within Shanghai Finance University.

Amid the enthusiastic applause, words of praise rained down upon He Jing.

"Jing-jie is an absolute legend! Please carry us!"

"This is what you call a genius trader. If she can maintain this momentum, she might even go abroad or enter a top-tier international institution!"

"I would love to be Miss He Jing's loyal dog! Too bad she'd never look twice at me."

"When Jing-jie goes to Huaxin Securities, don't forget about us!"

Locked under the gaze of hundreds of eyes, He Jing did not show the slightest trace of stage fright. She nodded and smiled in response to the compliments, fully displaying her poise and elegance.

The senior students standing on both sides of the podium witnessed this scene, and their internal ratings of He Jing continued to rise in their minds.

As everyone knew, internal referrals were a double-edged sword that operated on a collective accountability system.

If the referral went well, promotions and pay raises followed.

However, if someone smuggled in personal connections and used this channel to place an incompetent person into the company, the recommender would at best face a formal reprimand and forfeit their year-end bonus, and at worst be fired alongside the person they recommended.

As the applause began to subside, Professor Wang Xingbang on the podium pressed his hand downward to signal for quiet. His gaze locked onto He Jing, who was sitting in the middle of the second row, and he said with a face full of admiration:

"Student He Jing is not only the top graduate in our Department of Finance at Shanghai Finance University, but also the number one among finance-focused universities, including the Central University of Finance and Economics and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics!"

"Whoa!"

"Gasp—"

Exclamations of astonishment rippled through the classroom.

The students present, including the senior alumni who had returned for recruitment, never expected that both Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and the Central University of Finance and Economics would fall in this mock trading competition.

One had to realize that in previous editions of the Mock Trading Competition, the top spot was virtually monopolized by Tsinghua, Peking University, the Central University of Finance and Economics, and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. It was precisely thanks to generations of outstanding graduates that the financial circle had gradually formed institutional barriers.

Institutional barriers were not limited to the financial sphere; law and accounting circles had their own collegiate cliques as well.

The most widely recognized one to the outside world was the "Five Institutes and Four Departments" and the "Red Circle" law firms within the legal circle.

If you graduated from one of the "Five Institutes and Four Departments," you basically never had to worry about lacking cases to litigate, and you could easily enter a Red Circle law firm to enjoy top-tier resources.

Conversely, if you graduated from anywhere outside those institutions, it was no exaggeration to say that you would need a side hustle just to make ends meet.

Non-Red Circle lawyers and Red Circle lawyers were like the poor and the rich; although both were human beings, their living conditions were worlds apart.

Now, He Jing had outperformed students from all other financial universities to capture first place in the Huaxin Mock Trading Competition. If the financial circle in the future were to form a clique similar to the "Five Institutes and Four Departments," Shanghai Finance University might well secure a place of its own.

Her classmates' praise and her teacher's affirmation did not cause He Jing to lose her head or grow arrogant. Instead, she understood the truth that there was always someone better, and heaven beyond heaven. Her gaze inadvertently glanced toward the left side of the second row against the wall, where Zhang Yang was chatting with his roommate.

If it weren't for Zhang Yang holding the fort and keeping her in check, her tail would probably be wagging up in the sky right about now.

Yet, after going through this whole process, He Jing genuinely admired Zhang Yang's trading philosophy: steady yet progressive, balancing offense and defense. The crucial part was that not only did he play the real-market game, but he also managed the mock accounts of Lai Weijie and Xu Zhiruo—multitasking three accounts simultaneously for trading.

...

Professor Wang Xingbang did not possess mind-reading abilities and had no idea what thoughts were currently swirling in He Jing's mind. After showering He Jing with high praise, he began reading out the rest of the list.

"In second place, Zheng Shaohui, with a 49.7% return rate. It's rather a pity; if the broader market hadn't experienced a collective broad-based decline today, you could have broken through the 50% return rate."

"I will work twice as hard."

The moment Professor Wang's voice trailed off, Zheng Shaohui eagerly expressed his stance.

Moreover, as he spoke, he intentionally softened and sweetened his tone, hoping that the senior alumni here for internal referrals would remember him better.

Even though Huaxin Securities was the top brokerage firm in the country, if another securities firm offered lucrative terms, he wouldn't necessarily refuse them; after all, everyone had to look out for their own future.

"Mm."

Professor Wang gave a slight nod and continued, "In third place, Qi Junze, 47.2%."

"In fourth place, Dong Lulu, 43.2%."

"In fifth place, Xu Zhiruo, 41.8%."

When the three words "Xu Zhiruo" were read out, Xu Zhiruo—who wore her hair in a high ponytail, dressed in a black pleated skirt paired with a bright yellow short-sleeved top, and radiated boundless energy—turned to He Jing in pleasant shock and said:

"Me!"

"Fifth place is me!"

She had never anticipated that Zhang Yang could actually help her break into the top five.

He Jing already knew the inside story, but women are born actresses. Feigning astonishment, she said, "How amazing! Zhiruo was hiding her true strength all along!"

Beside them, Lan Sisi, who had wheat-toned skin and a sharp, spirited short haircut, was equally astonished and questioned, "With your grades in major coursework, you actually managed to get into the top five?"

"If I remember correctly, Zhiruo almost failed a course during the second semester of her freshman year," Wei Yunshi chimed in with skepticism.

"That just shows you don't understand." Xu Zhiruo raised her chin slightly, carrying a hint of playful haughtiness as she said, "I usually just act like an ordinary student to confuse you all, but secretly I was grinding away behind your scenes. My goal was to stun everyone during graduation season!"

Lan Sisi: "..."

Wei Yunshi: "..."

The two of them fell somewhat silent.

Having spent four years together, they truly hadn't realized Xu Zhiruo was actually an academic powerhouse, yet they had no choice but to believe it since the grades were right there before their eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, Lan Sisi accepted the reality and remarked with a slightly sarcastic tone, "You really are a scheming girl!"

"Such a scheming girl," Wei Yunshi echoed once more.

...

On the other side of the classroom, upon hearing the name "Xu Zhiruo," Chen Chuan immediately turned to Xu Jiafeng and asked, "Your goddess is in fifth place, Feng-ge. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share?"

"Oh wow, Goddess Zhiruo is so amazing! Little Fengfeng, give a like, give a like, give a big like!" Wang Liu chimed in, mimicking a high-pitched, affected voice to answer on his behalf.

The banter from his two bad-influence best friends failed to provoke any subtle emotional changes in Xu Jiafeng. He calmly stated, "I've already let it go, and I've accepted the reality that she doesn't like me. You guys can't break my psychological defense."

"You've really let it go?"

Chen Chuan found it a bit hard to believe.

"I've really let it go," Xu Jiafeng repeated.

"Then I must be hallucinating, because the day before yesterday I saw someone holding a class group photo..."

Chen Chuan paused right there, instantly piquing Wang Liu's curiosity. Wang Liu hurriedly asked, "What was someone doing holding a class group photo?"

"What else could he be doing? Secretly shedding tears, of course," Chen Chuan said with a shrug.

"Stop talking, Godfather, please spare some face for your dear son." Xu Jiafeng directly surrendered and acknowledged him as his father. If it weren't for the crowded tiered lecture hall, he would have wanted to kneel down right then and there to Chen Chuan; this was simply too humiliating.

While Xu Jiafeng was openly acknowledging his "father," Professor Wang Xingbang looked at the list in his hand and read out the name of the final student: "In tenth place, Lai Weijie, with a return rate of 38.9%."