Chapter 260: Leaving (Part 2)

Peng Shengyou escorted Zhou Ming to the door of the municipal party committee building and said to Zhou Ming, 'Consultant Zhou, take care. I look forward to your performance abroad, and I will always remember that you are the pride of Nanjiang!'

Zhou Ming also waved to Peng Shengyou in return, a scene that surprised the guards at the door. After all, not everyone knows Zhou Ming's identity, but Peng Shengyou, the first secretary of the municipal party committee, is known to every guard. Everyone is in the same system and naturally understands what this position means. Now the first secretary of the municipal party committee is actually seeing someone off at the gate, and the meaning behind this cannot but make people speculate.

Before the guards could process the previous surprise, something else happened right after. They saw Zhou Ming arrive at the door, and immediately someone came up to greet him.

If it was just one or two people, the guards would not have been surprised. In fact, someone who could make the first secretary of the municipal party committee personally see them off would naturally not be simple. It was normal for someone to be waiting outside, and it was not certain that he had come to the municipal party committee building to help someone. However, there was not just one person, but a group of about twenty. There were so many people at the entrance of the municipal party committee building that the guards could not help but be nervous.

A crowd storming the municipal party committee is definitely a major incident that will bring down provincial cadres no matter where it happens. However, this is obviously not the case with Zhou Ming. The leader of these people is Luo Han, and the people following him are all students from the finance class. After they learned that Zhou Ming had been invited by Chen Yunfei to talk at the municipal party committee, they seemed to have anticipated something. After all, the stock market in Nanjiang is not doing well right now, and Zhou Ming, as an advisor to Nanjiang's development, will be hard to blame. Then they all spontaneously followed him here.

'Advisor Zhou, what arrangements did Secretary Chen have in mind when he asked you to come here this time? Advisor Zhou, you must have been praised for successfully preventing the stock market from being manipulated by speculators from Binhai, right?' Luo Han asked cautiously.

Zhou Ming smiled and said to Luo Han, "If my students had told me this, I wouldn't be surprised, but now that you, President Luo, are saying it too, isn't that a bit too deliberate?'

Hearing Zhou Ming say this, the faces of the finance class students immediately changed, and class president Chen Shu immediately asked, "Teacher, does Secretary Chen really want to discipline you?'

Chen Shu asked very seriously. Not only Chen Shu, but also everyone else, including the vice monitor Li Yang and the league branch secretary Ye Ning, looked at Zhou Ming very seriously. This made it impossible for Zhou Ming to joke around and answer lightly. After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ming had to say, 'In fact, it's not a matter of punishment or not. Do you still remember what I told you at the beginning? I'm no longer a development consultant at Nanjiang.'

A single stone has set off a thousand ripples. Zhou Ming had already spoken in a relaxed enough manner, but when Chen Shu and the others heard it, they were still enraged at the time.

'Teacher, you've been relieved of your duties? Why is this so? Teacher, you did this clearly to save the Nanjiang stock market, why are you still being punished? We are here right now, we are going to petition Secretary Chen on your behalf, this is unfair, this is so unfair!'

Li Yang immediately shouted, and under Li Yang's leadership, the other students were also motivated. One by one, they raised their fists high and shouted that they wanted to petition the municipal party committee. The momentum of the twenty or so people startled the guards at the entrance to the municipal party committee. They hurriedly looked over here warily, and even one guard put his hand on the phone in front of him, planning to call the police if there was any sign of trouble.

'What are you all making a fuss about?' Zhou Ming said, and although his voice was not loud, as if it was just a light remark, it made the finance students stop.

Li Yang immediately protested to Zhou Ming that he was serious and wasn't fooling around, but Zhou Ming continued as if he hadn't heard, 'Think about it. The current decline in the stock market can be said to have been planned by me. Even if I were just an ordinary speculator, I would still be responsible, let alone the fact that I am also the development consultant for Nan Jiang. I am committing theft while in office.'

'If I'm not punished, won't that set a bad precedent? If Luo Han does it today and Li Yang does it tomorrow, then our Nan Jiang stock market will become a paradise for ambitious people. This is fundamentally against the original intention of establishing the stock market, so it must be blocked at the source, which is me.' Zhou Ming looked around and continued, 'You still want to give me a wish now, isn't this just messing around?'

The finance students were all at a loss for words, except Li Yang, who was still trying to defend himself, saying, 'But teacher, you are doing this to ensure fairness in the Nanjiang stock market. You are doing this as a last resort!'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'There is no such thing as a last resort. A mistake is a mistake, and there is no need to make excuses. Because if you make an excuse today, tomorrow he can make the same excuse, and in the end the system will be torn apart by all these excuses.'

At the end of the day, Zhou Ming thought for a moment and continued, 'And the most important point, have you forgotten? We have long planned to go to the United States. Do you want to work at the Nanjiang Stock Exchange for the rest of your lives?'

In fact, there is nothing wrong with working here. It is contributing to the construction of the country's stock market and serving the people!

This was the first reaction in the hearts of all the finance students when they heard Zhou Ming's last words, but none of them said it out loud. The reason was simple. They had followed Zhou Ming for so long that they all had a scale in their hearts and could understand the importance of things.

Now they are in the Nanjiang Stock Exchange, and at best they are just accountants, not even traders. Even if they have a certain understanding of the financial system, it is only at the theoretical stage and they have no practical experience. Now even the speculators from Binhai have come here and forced them to be at a loss, so what if one day hot money from abroad pours in? Won't that eat up the domestic economy to the bone?

This is the last thing they want to see. If they want to defend the country's stock market and financial system, the first thing they must do is to study abroad and learn advanced foreign financial knowledge to arm themselves. Only by learning the essence of finance can they ensure that this will not happen again.

Thinking about this, Chen Shu said to Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, I'm sorry, we were too impulsive. Our task now is to study hard. Please rest assured, teacher, one day we will return from abroad and we will definitely not let this happen again!'

Zhou Ming smiled. If they had continued to insist, Zhou Ming would have been furious, but now that they had come to their senses, Zhou Ming was very happy: 'That's right, but you don't need to blame yourselves too much. After all, we are all young people. Isn't it a waste of youth if we aren't passionate and full of youthful exuberance?'

Lohan looked at Zhou Ming, who looked younger than thirty, saying such mature things, but surprisingly, he didn't feel any sense of incongruity at all. It was as if Zhou Ming had the capital to say that. This feeling was strange, but Lohan truly felt it.

...

On Nangang Avenue, a man arrived at the entrance to the stock exchange on a bicycle. As soon as he parked his bike in the bicycle shed, people immediately gathered around him and asked, 'How is the stock market doing today? The stock market in Nangang has fallen for so many days now, it should be going up again, right?'

This person is Lao Yang. Ever since the news of the collapse of the Nanjiang Development Bank triggered the stock market crash, Lao Yang, who was already a celebrity at the stock exchange, has become even more well-known and influential among other investors. Now that he has just arrived at the stock exchange, before he has even locked his bike, people are already crowding around him, asking him questions.

'The stock market will definitely calm down one day, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but in any case, just pay more attention,'

Lao Yang got rid of the others with this sentence. This sentence sounds like nonsense, but because it came from Lao Yang's mouth, it sounded like a wise saying to the others.

Walking out of the carport, Lao Yang arrived at the entrance of the stock exchange. As usual, he first went to the newsstand and bought two newspapers, one for yesterday and one for today.

'Lao Yang, here's your newspaper. Someone must have asked you again just now, right? It seems that you are now really the anchor of our stock exchange, and everyone believes what you say,' the newsstand owner said to him.

Lao Yang has been buying newspapers here for two years, and he is also an old acquaintance of the newsstand owner. Although the owner spread the wrong rumours during the last incident, Lao Yang still gets along well with him. It's just that the newsstand owner's face now seems to be a lot more swollen than before, and the reason is self-evident.

Lao Yang said to him, 'Boss, you're wrong. I just said what needed to be said and trusted the people I needed to trust. Boss, as long as you don't take other people's ill-gotten gains in the future and don't help others spread those rumours, I believe there will still be many people willing to believe in you. After all, you're here every day, and your knowledge of the stock market is no less than some professional investors.'

After reassuring the newsstand owner for a few words, Lao Yang walked into the stock exchange. As soon as he walked in the door, he stopped immediately, because he sensed a very different atmosphere.

Lao Yang is now the most well-known person in the stock exchange, so as soon as he arrived, someone came up to him and said, 'Lao Yang, you're here. Why are you standing here? Don't you also feel that there is something very wrong in the trading hall? In fact, I saw this atmosphere this morning when I arrived, but I just can't figure out what is going on.'

Yang looked up at the market and the man continued to speak earnestly to him: 'I've looked at the market situation and it's still plummeting, just like yesterday. But the fall has been reduced a lot compared to yesterday. I thought the market was finally going to rebound, but now it's basically not moving at all, as if it were suspended above this number by a string.'

'It seems like the stock market is revealing a sense of sadness,' Yang muttered.

His words startled the man: 'The stock market reveals a sad situation? Lao Yang, what do you mean by that? Could it be that the stock market has no emotions?'

Lao Yang shook his head and said, 'I don't know about that either, and I can't give you an answer. But I can certainly empathise with this mood. Anyway, I'll go up and ask Mr Luo.'

After saying this, Lao Yang walked to the head of the stairs. He walked into the familiar office on the second floor, but when he entered, there was only Luo Han in the office. Lao Yang asked him bluntly, 'President Luo, has Consultant Zhou not come in today? I feel that the situation on the market and in the trading hall is a bit strange, like there is some kind of sad emotion in the air.'

Luo Han just looked at the situation in the trading hall downstairs and replied to Lao Yang at the same time: 'Lao Yang, you are not wrong in your feelings, because just yesterday, Consultant Zhou was relieved of his duties. He is no longer our development consultant at Nanjiang.'

Lao Yang was shocked. He muttered, 'How was Consultant Zhou relieved of his duties? He is a good leader of our stock market, and our Nanjiang stock market simply cannot do without him!'

Luo Han, however, shook his head and said, 'Even if you can't do without him, Consultant Zhou is destined to soar high in the sky like an eagle. Our stock market in Nanjiang simply cannot accommodate him. That's why it's only right that he go to the United States to continue his studies.'

At this point, Lao Yang also changed his tone and said, 'I see. Then I believe Consultant Zhou. Since he is leaving, I will believe that his future will be even better. I will always support Consultant Zhou, whether he is in China or abroad.'

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