Chapter 011: Madness

That night, the two of them turned off the lights and hid under the covers, poring over guides for short trips nearby. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that they finally drifted off to sleep.

But the next morning, a phone call from Jiang Xiaohan’s supervisor yanked them back from their cloud of dreams to reality.

Lin Luyao groggily climbed out of bed to find Jiang Xiaohan standing there with an apologetic look, holding her phone, saying, “Sorry, Luyao, we made plans last night... but I’m afraid I won’t be able to go.”

With the third quarter ending, all the securities research departments on the sell side were busy preparing quarterly reports for their top recommended companies. Before the companies released their own reports, the analysts needed to settle the overall structure of their own, so that once the latest data arrived, they could complete the research ahead of time and attract buy-side analysts to open their wallets.

Research tasks like these were best left to quick-learning interns like Jiang Xiaohan.

“Oh, it’s nothing. This just means I can catch up on sleep,” Lin Luyao replied, unbothered by her friend’s regret.

So, in the following days, Jiang Xiaohan was glued to her computer, working herself to exhaustion, while Lin Luyao enjoyed a few movies, visited an art exhibition, and checked off several restaurants they’d long planned to try.

“If you keep this up, you’ll lose me!” her friend grumbled, jealousy clear in her tone.

Lin Luyao only smiled in response. Playing alone, she realized, was actually quite lonely.

“You laugh now! Wait until you join Max, you’ll be working until seven or eight every day. Let’s see if you can still smile then!”

Jiang Xiaohan complained about their flimsy friendship as she tossed a pack of tissues at her.

Lin Luyao caught the “weapon” with practiced ease, unperturbed. “Overtime is fine! As long as I get into Max, I wouldn’t mind working until ten every night. I’m not afraid!”

＊＊＊

The holiday ended all too quickly, and soon enough, the day came for her and Zhen Hao’s scheduled interview at XM Fund.

“Good luck, sister! May you add another victory to your autumn job hunt!”

With her friend’s blessing, Lin Luyao set off, full of energy and determination.

The entire interview unfolded just as she’d expected. Every question was familiar, and even without reviewing, she could answer with ease. It was as if those key points were already engraved deep in her memory, an inseparable part of her.

Everything went smoothly.

The only surprise was that, by the time she finished the interview and left the company, Zhen Hao was nowhere to be seen.

That was unusual. Normally, wouldn’t he trail after me from the campus gate, nagging and fussing the whole way?

Maybe I was too harsh with him the other day, she thought to herself.

She’d been stewing in frustration, having yet to hear back from Max. When Zhen Hao messaged her a reminder not to forget the interview, she’d snapped at him, “You’re not my brother. You don’t need to watch over me!”

Should I apologize? The thought crossed her mind, but she dismissed it. No, better not look for him now... Otherwise, if he finds out what I said earlier, he might explode on the spot.

Just earlier, when the interviewer offered her the position on the spot, Lin Luyao had shaken her head and politely declined.

She knew full well: with no word from Max yet, it was unwise to turn down XM’s offer at this time.

But what if? What if, the moment she agreed to sign with XM, Max’s acceptance came through?

She wanted to place a bet with herself—even if her chances of winning were almost zero.