Chapter 160: I'm your homeroom teacher

It was the same two very ordinary Hongqi sedans. Zhou Ming, Su Han, and Du Peng were all sitting in the cars, driving down Zhongguancun Street. At the moment, Zhongguancun was just an ordinary street. Although it already had the beginnings of an electronics street and had been established as a high-tech zone, it was still incomparable to the electronics industry centre that it would become twenty years later. At least in terms of traffic, it was nowhere near as congested as it would become in the future.

Their destination this time was the School of Finance at Renmin University. Perhaps for most people, the first thing that comes to mind when they mention finance is various universities of finance, but in fact, the originator of domestic finance schools was the School of Finance at Renmin University, and this would even be the case twenty years later.

The current capital city had not yet become the most congested, and the car soon arrived at Renmin University. Looking at the gate of Renmin University, Du Peng turned to Zhou Ming and said, 'Zhou Ming, what on earth were Yang Lao and my grandfather thinking, actually letting you come to Renmin University to lead a class to study in the United States.'

'There's no other way. After all, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the current Dota Project have sounded an alarm for the country. Even a superpower cannot withstand the power of financial warfare, let alone us. So they want to take advantage of the fact that the United States and other Western countries are currently focused on Northern Russia, and quickly train a group of people who understand finance. Sending students to the United States and other Western countries is the most direct way to do this.'

Zhou Ming continued, 'This is what it means to learn from the barbarians to overcome them. And I think I also need to learn the theoretical knowledge and ideological understanding of finance and capital. If I can understand this deeply, I won't have to keep following the Tower Project around and drinking soup from their butt, and I won't have to go through the trouble of making Mr. Meta responsible for everything.'

Zhou Ming was speaking from the heart. He kept saying that he was using Meta because it was the best way to make the most of his talents, but in the end, wasn't it because he didn't understand it himself that he had to hand over full responsibility to someone else and let them lead him by the nose? Only when you understand it yourself can you control your own destiny.

'Of course I understand that. After this trip to Northern Russia, I also understand the horror of finance, but there's no need for you to be the lead teacher, is there?' Du Peng said.

'I think it's probably because no one else is qualified for the position,' Zhou Ming said.

This answer surprised Du Peng, and he really wanted to ask why, but thinking that they had now arrived at Renmin University, in the end Du Peng held back and didn't ask.

When they arrived at the Finance College building, several middle-aged men were waiting at the door, and Zhou Ming and the others knew that this was the dean of the Finance College.

Zhou Ming got out of the car and walked up to shake hands and say hello to the dean. The dean looked at Zhou Ming and then at Du Peng, and his brow furrowed: 'You are Comrades Zhou Ming and Du Peng, right?'

The dean's reaction made Zhou Ming flinch for a moment, but then he reacted. The deans of this era were not the beasts of later generations who would prostitute themselves with their students' young daughters; they were all respectable scholars and professors. Now that there was such an important matter placed in his hands, regardless of whether the central government had previously spoken of Zhou Ming's age, when he met him, the dean would always think that this was just Zhou Ming and Du Peng's nonsense.

However, no matter how dissatisfied he was in his heart, he eventually restrained himself and just asked, 'I believe the two of you already understand the purpose of your visit here. I don't care what you're thinking, but I can tell you that you're about to face a very serious matter. Our Renmin University School of Finance is now gathering the best and brightest students selected from across the country. I hope you're prepared.'

Zhou Ming could understand what he was saying, but Du Peng was not happy: 'Mr Dean, of course we are ready, but you should have heard about us and know what we did in Northern Russia. Are you still not confident?'

The dean was not impressed at all: 'I heard about what you did in Northern Russia and I admire you very much, but the situation there is not the same as in the United States. What you did there does not mean anything. Everything is starting over. Don't be too proud.'

The dean is very scholarly, but the secretary who came out with him came out to block the lubricating oil: 'What the dean means is that he is well aware of your achievements in Northern Russia, and hopes that you can continue to work hard here to create more glory for the motherland. The country and the people will be grateful to you.'

After saying this, the secretary gave the dean several winks, and Zhou Ming knew that he was persuading the dean to be smooth. Zhou Ming smiled and then said, 'Please rest assured, dean and secretary, we will. We just don't know where all the students are. Can you take us there now?'

This time, the secretary took the lead and said, 'Of course there is no problem. The dean has a lot of things to do, so let me take you there.'

Zhou Ming didn't mind, so he let the secretary take them there. Just before they left, he heard the dean sigh, but he didn't know if it was a sigh of the Central Committee's decision or something else.

This made Su Han very dissatisfied: 'It's just the dean of a finance college, what's so great about him? Zhou Ming has directly confronted those financial warfare experts in Northern Russia and the United States, and has made a lot of money from Northern Russia. We were personally selected by the central leadership, so what's the problem?'

In response to Su Han's complaints, the secretary smiled and said, 'This is Comrade Su Han, right? It's not like that. Of course the dean believes in your abilities, but he is worried that there is not enough time and that you are young and may not be able to handle everything. After all, studying abroad in the United States and dominating the financial markets are not the same thing.'

A few minutes later, the secretary led Zhou Ming and the others to a graduate classroom on the second floor. According to him, this was the class of international students.

This international student class definitely has a history. After the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, the Central Government has been paying close attention to the development of the situation there. Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the United States continued to plunder the national wealth of Northern Russia through financial warfare. The exact figure is unknown, but the calculations are shocking. Even Zhou Ming casually earned several hundred million dollars there.

Both the plundered wealth and the overall unstable situation in Northern Russia made the Central Government feel deeply uneasy. In order to avoid China being treated in the same way, reform was the only option.

So the supreme leader Yang Dingguo made a prompt decision and immediately set up this financial class, which was made up of carefully selected elite students from major universities across the country.

The central government's aim was to send these promising students to study in the United States, so that they could learn about Western financial knowledge and then return to build their own financial system. When the United States turned its guns on them in the future, they did not expect to be able to compete with the Americans, but at least they did not want to be as helpless as the Soviet Union and be at the mercy of others.

Learn from the enemy's strengths to defeat them.

This is a very lofty saying, but in reality it contains a lot of helplessness. The reason is simple: if you really have the ability, what do you need to learn from the enemy's strengths? Just get straight to work.

'This is the classroom for the finance class. According to the schedule, they should all be here studying by now,' the secretary said to Zhou Ming.

'Secretary, are you sure they are studying in here? Or do we have different understandings of studying?' Zhou Ming asked, pointing in the direction of the classroom.

Faced with Zhou Ming's question, the clerk suddenly blushed, because the classroom was now very noisy. Standing in the doorway, they didn't feel like they were standing in the doorway of a class of elite university students, but more like they were standing in the doorway of a farmers' market.

'I think they must have encountered some problem, and everyone is discussing it. Mr. Zhou Ming, you know, although the students in this class are all elites selected from across the country, they are still young people. Everyone is passionate, and it is inevitable that they will get a little heated during discussions and arguments. It is only natural for their voices to be a bit loud!'

The secretary explained to Zhou Ming like this, but even he himself felt that his explanation was very weak and feeble. However, Zhou Ming didn't care about anything, just nodded slightly at him and pushed open the door to the finance class classroom.

As the classroom door was pushed open, the noise that had been blocked by the door just now immediately came rushing at him, causing Zhou Ming to frown. However, Zhou Ming quickly returned to normal. He glanced at the clerk, who, as a member of the system, of course understood what this meant. He nodded and led Zhou Ming inside.

This classroom was a very common lecture theatre in the university. Dozens of young people were arguing with each other in the front seats, and the scene was relatively intense.

However, domestic students have always had the tradition of respecting their teachers, and when they saw the secretary leading someone in, these students slowly calmed down after being reminded of this.

The secretary led Zhou Ming and the others to the podium in front of the lecture theatre and said to the finance students in a dissatisfied tone, 'You are all elites selected from across the country. Can you act like talented students? Look at what you have become. You are all noisy all day long, turning this place into a market. Do you feel honoured and great? Are you worthy of your status?'

Perhaps the secretary's words had been said so many times that they didn't have much of a deterrent effect on the students below. Immediately, a student stood up with a smile and said, 'Secretary, you're wrong to say that. It is precisely because we are self-aware as elite students that we understand the responsibility and historical mission we shoulder that we are discussing here.'

Another student also said, 'That's right, secretary, we are discussing cutting-edge topics related to finance and capital. If you don't understand, just stop talking.'

The secretary wanted to say something else, but a student immediately pointed to Zhou Ming next to him and said, 'Secretary, why don't you introduce the new student you brought with you?'

After being reminded of this, the secretary remembered that Zhou Ming and Du Peng were still here. However, before he could say anything, Zhou Ming spoke first: 'Hello everyone, my name is Zhou Ming. I'm very happy to meet you all here, but I'm not your new classmate. You will be in my finance class in the future. To put it simply, I will be your tutor and homeroom teacher in the future.'

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